Anybody want a dog?

Rosalita had one of those nights. It was just warm enough - but just cool enough - that she couldn't make up her mind. Under the covers....on top of the covers....under the covers....on top of the covers. What makes it particularly bad are two things: she makes a HUGE production of how hot she is when she comes out from under. I'm talking snorting, spewing, everything but actually saying, "OMG I'm SO HOT!" The second thing is that when she gets that way, she pays no mind to what's the head or the foot of the bed. Where ever she happens to be sleeping when she gets hot, she heads out nose first. As a consequence, the bed clothes, sometime during the night, begin to resemble a huge laundry pile. Nothing is tucked in, anywhere. I've tugged, Tony's tugged, and as a result neither of us have covers. But Rosalita always finds a way back under...when she's cold, that is.

What it takes to make a dog happy

I subscribe to one of those "whatever of the day" things - this one about dogs. Today's post was a list of the 12 reasons a dog is happy all the time. I've seen the list before, in various permutations, but felt it merited a post here:

1. Everyone has the potential to be a good person (or dog)
2. You are never too old to make new friends
3. It doesn't matter what you did in the past - it matters only what you do now
4. Regrets don't do any good - just live for today
5. One should try to be happy every day
6. You are never too old to play
7. Food is a very good thing
8. Treats are a really, really good thing
9. Massages are the best relaxation
10. Money doesn't buy you love
11. One good toy is better than 10 bad toys
12. You don't need money to be happy

Although I realize that our lives - as humans - are not quite that simple, many of the things on this list ARE that simple. Go kiss all your pooches on the nose - once (at least) for you and once for me.

Thunder and Lightning

Thunder and Lightning. With Capital letters. We had storms roll through yesterday, and at our house, Thunder and Lightning is the girls' time to see exactly how much mom and dad love them.

Thankfully, Ruby and Rosalita pay little attention, other than to look at Emily, the border collie, to try to figure out what the hell she's up to. Emily, you see, wants me to sit on the couch and let her crawl up behind me and wrap herself around my neck. Literally - from shoulder to shoulder. Yes, really. Now, understand that this is the dog with the bad hips - she will not - can not - get up on the couch. Unless there is Thunder and Lightning. Loretta, the younger golden, used to pay no mind to Thunder and Lightning. Until she observed Emily and the attention she received. Loretta is a very jealous dog. So, in addition to the Emily-stole, I have a 70 pound golden in my lap. Daisy, mercifully (for me, anyway) goes and hides in the tiniest spot she can find when there is Thunder and Lightning. Last time I had to rescue her from behind the toilet in Tony's bathroom - she had wedged herself in so tightly she couldn't get out.

It's going to be a looooong Spring.

What do you do when.....

One of the girls here at work (and yes, I mean "girl," as in one of our wonderful and oh-so-capable student assistants) has a fairly new puppy - probably around 8 months old now. She always has questions for me, the undisputed resident dog expert. Her question today? "What do you do about the FIVE DOGS when it rains?" My response? Vacuum and mop A LOT.

She laughed, but I spoke the truth. Even though our backyard is mostly grass, they always to seem to find the one spot that isn't. And roll in it. Multiple times. Actually it's all pretty manageable except for Rosalita. You remember Rosalita - she's the almost-50 pound dog that sleeps under the covers. It gives spa treatment a whole new perspective. Most people would pay upwards of $200 for a full-body exfoliation....

Bringing home Daisy...and Loretta....

Tony says we got a two-fer. LOL

Loretta is a "Bush-bucks" baby. Remember back when we got the first tax "rebate?" Well, Susanna, the love of my life, had died about a year before. Tony decided that if we spent real money (as in real money) for a dog, they wouldn't get cancer ('Nanna had leukemia). So, to the $600 we got from the prez, we added a couple of hundred bucks, and picked out Loretta. Hey, don't grimace - the woman's show-quality dogs were $1,500 and up. Loretta, being only "pet-quality," was a bargain at $800. Anyway, one of the cool things about getting a dog this way is that you literally get to see them from almost day one. We saw Loretta for the first time when she was 3 days old. Of course, we didn't know which dog was Loretta yet LOL. In order to get Loretta, we had to agree to certain things (gee, you think the $ alone would have been enough, huh?). We agreed to 1) let the breeder pick out which would be our dog based on our habits and the households habits and the dogs' emerging personalities (we did get to pick the sex); 2) have her spayed, 3) not to breed her, 4) had her microchipped, 5) a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember, and 6) (and this is where Daisy comes in) to return her to the breeder if for any reason we didn't want her any more. We visited the "dogs who might be Loretta" quite a few times before we actually got to find out which one was Loretta. On one trip, about 3 weeks before Loretta could come home (no, still didn't know which female would be Loretta) we met Daisy. Daisy had been returned to the breeder (per the agreement) by the couple who purchased her. Seems they wanted children, couldn't get pregnant, settled for an expensive dog, got pregnant, didn't want dog any more. We volunteered to take her home with us. (Imagine that.) The breeder couldn't let us have her at that point, because there was a good chance Daisy wouldn't live - seems like the assholes neglected to take her to the vet, only returning her when she was at death's door. Republicans, no doubt. Anyway, it turned out that her medical problems were serious but very manageable - thyroid problems solved by a half a little tablet 2x a day. She got on medication, but was still terribly depressed. The breeder finally said we could take her - so, Daisy came home one week before Loretta. It was a rough few weeks. She was depressed, had NO hair, and didn't want to interact with us or the other dogs at all. She was 5 then; she's 11 now. See - some stories have a happy ending! So, to this day, when I say something about the $800 Loretta costs, Tony insists that we really only paid $400 for Loretta, and $400 for Daisy....That's Daisy in the picture...isn't she pretty?

And a good time was had by (almost) all

We got to spend some time outside last night - grilling hamburgers even, and here it is cold and raining today. Everybody was out except for Emily - her last xrays weren't good, and I'm truly beginning to worry about the quality of her life. It's by no means time to call it quits yet, but she loves to be with us and it really broke my heart that she chose to stay inside last night. Tony thinks she might have vision problems - she hasn't really like to go out when darkness is encroaching for quite some time, so maybe that's it. I know what parents must feel - if I could take her pain, I would.