Category Archives: Amazing Animals

July 20, 2017 · 9:19 am

Amber at 4-1/2 Months

Amber has decided she likes Molly’s bed under my computer counter. She goes in and out over and over, stepping on my feet, making my chair swivel, squeaky toy in her mouth. She thinks it’s a great game.

I think we’re over the hump on her digestive problem now. She has remained playful and happy throughout, but is now almost completely back to normal. I’m going to start giving her a bit of puppy food again and we’ll see if that’s a problem or not.

She is spending more and more time with us inside. We taught her “PLACE” (the big bed in the living room) and she either plays contently or goes to sleep, over and over.  She and Molly sit together on the bed, or Molly chooses to sit elsewhere, but isn’t freaking out. Amber is dive-bombing her less over time.

One of her favorite things now is for either my husband or me to come over and sit on the floor beside her ‘place.’  She knows it’s then okay to come sit with us, play, and love – and we do a lot of that.

This morning we worked on “DOWN.” She didn’t want to cooperate at first, but changed her mind when she discovered she got a cookie if she was down.  We’re working on SO many things all at the same time. One of the important things now is to take food from our hands without teeth. I’ve found that if I touch her eat, she will take the treat more gently. Who knew?

We keep reminding ourselves, one day at a time.

Meanwhile, I’m making sure that a couple of times a day, Molly and I sit together. She’s my lap dog, and she loves it. I don’t want her to feel she’s getting lost in the shuffle of training the new puppy.

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July 18, 2017 · 4:41 pm

Hummingbird Birdbath Update

We’ve had a really poor year for hummingbirds.

How many we have varies from year to year. One year we remember fondly we would try to keep our heads perfectly still and count the number we could see. There were SO many, we would be laughing, unable to get an accurate count.

This year we had seen a few, but far between, in that our spring was longer, wetter, and cooler than normal. While that was wonderful for humans, I think it discouraged the hummers from coming to see us.

We went ahead and built the hummingbird bird bath above, hoping that when they finally came, they would enjoy it.

All of a sudden yesterday, while I was in the front talking to our wonderful handyman Foy, I saw FOUR at one time in the wisteria! I was amazed. Either our wisteria hasn’t bloomed enough or at the right time, or I wasn’t in the right place at the right time, to see them.

Since then, I’ve seen TWO at once several times going to the deck feeders.

But not one have we seen even TRY the bird bath!

I decided months ago that it didn’t really matter to me if the hummers, or any of the other birds, liked the birdbath or not. I love the LOOK of the thing, and I’m even happier with the SOUND. I find it very relaxing to stretch out in a chair, cold drink or hot coffee at the ready, feet propped up, closing my eyes and enjoying the sound.

Foy and Judy had some iced tea before they left yesterday and Judy mentioned the ‘water feature.’ I told her it was built for the hummingbirds, but that they didn’t seem to like it. She just looked at me and said, “Their loss.”

Isn’t that a great attitude? :0)

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July 17, 2017 · 1:25 pm

Interesting Situation

Right now, our friend Foy Brown is using his tractor and brush hog to try to get the area where the greenhouse and tower base are, plus trying to clear some of the land in the back as a good fire break. He’s having his lumps not getting stuck. My husband is monitoring, to be there in case there are questions or problems.

Amber

He just brought Amber in from the deck and dumped her into the office with me. That’s no problem, but Molly is under my feet in her bed, and Abby, the cat, is sprawled out on my husband’s chair.

Molly

 

Abby

 

It will be interesting to see if we can all co-exist for awhile together, or if I’ll need to leap up and let Molly and the cat out….

Smoke is outside somewhere, so she’s missing out on the possible excitement.

 

Smoke

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July 17, 2017 · 12:55 pm

Amber Update

$251.22 later, we have discovered that Amber

  • Doesn’t have worms or parasites
  • Doesn’t have any type of blockage
  • Looks great to our wonderful vet

She DOES have

  • A slight fever
  • An obvious gastrointestinal upset
  • May be really sensitive to food (though she eats anything and everything she can find with great relish)

As of this morning, we’ve switched from feeding her half a can of the easy-on-the-tummy dog food we keep on hand to a whole can twice a day mixed with a combination of probiotics to help her get her regularity back and metronidazole for the fever, which signals a mild infection.

While we were there, we weighed her. She now weighs 41.6 pounds. We got two cases of the special cans of dog food, a 6 pack of Sentinel, since she’ll be in the 50 – 100 lb zone the rest of her life. I just fed her, using a can of the special food, plus the two kinds of probiotic and the crushed up antibiotic. She ate it all quickly with relish.

The vet was really happy with how HAPPY she seems, even at the vet’s. She wanted to play with a little girl while we were there, and also another dog. She didn’t do a great job on the leash and didn’t calm down until she was up on the table in the vet’s office, but he was smiling at how affectionate she is.

Unless we have continuing problems with her digestion, our next appointment is August 7th, when we take her in to be spayed.

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July 15, 2017 · 11:55 am

“Place!”

We’re making some progress on teaching Amber to stay on the dog bed in the living room while we’re spending time together in the living room. She’s really antsy, but she’s getting the idea. It’s to all our benefits, because this allows her to spend much more time with us. Otherwise, she’s busily driving Molly nuts, dive-bombing her, licking her, trying to get her to play, putting a paw on her, or chasing her, if Molly won’t settle somewhere. There’s also the issue of one or more of the cats taking exception to her chasing them.

We say, “PLACE!” and lead her to the dog bed, making her lie down, and then saying, “Good Dog!” and giving her a treat. We might have to repeat this a couple of times, but she’s getting the idea!

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July 14, 2017 · 9:52 am

Amber at 4 Months

 

We’re giving our ‘no-pull’ leash to a lot of use lately. She has a hard head and – when she sees something she wants – she goes after it full force. If we have her on the regular retractable leash, if we’re not paying strict attention, she’s strong enough to pull us over. She just doesn’t react much to a hard pull with the leash on her collar.

I’m using, and I’m encouraging my husband to use, the special leash that has a strap that goes around her belly, and then practice walking around NOT letting her get far away from us each day. There is plenty of time for her to explore on the many walks we take each day.

While SHE is learning to stay with us and not pull on the leash, WE’RE learning to keep our attention on the dog!

 

This is Amber in the office with us this morning. As you can see, the poor dog doesn’t have anything to chew on or play with. Poor Amber.

We’re making progress in several areas, though –

  • sitting and waiting when we feed her, not going to the bowl until we say, “Okay.” (We’re also using a hand gesture so she has to meet our eyes before we allow her to eat.)
  • She usually sits when we ask….
  • She and Molly are learning to co-exist (although Amber saw Abby, the cat, and went running after her, causing much hissing and spitting) on the way to the porch for her leash and a walk.
  • She understands hurry up – knowing it means please take care of business with no beating around the bush – particularly if we’re having to stand in a blowing rain as we wait for her
  • She lives for good girl – because it means she gets a treat
  • She comes when she has nothing better to do
  • She is beginning to learn that if she paws all of the water out of the water bowl, she doesn’t have anything left to drink…
  • She is learning that if she calms down, she gets to spend more and more time inside with her family

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July 11, 2017 · 12:33 pm

Sweet Amber is on the Mend

Amber was hungry this morning, having spent the night in her crate with no problems. I fed her half a can of the ‘sicky food for dogs’ I had on hand for Molly and Bambi. I got it from the vet, and I think it has lamb and rice in it. Anyway, we have found it to be easy on the tummy. Amber sniffed at it for a second – because it was different – and then dived in and ate every bit.

Since she’s been out several times today and has only peed, she is still on the back porch until further notice.

She has enjoyed her walks, though, and has had fun playing with each of us a couple of times, fetching toys and playing tug of war.

I’m hopeful that by tomorrow things will be completely back to normal.

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July 10, 2017 · 10:18 am

Loves Water, But Hates Baths

To make a long story more palatable, Amber had a disaster in her crate last night. I don’t know what she ate (she’s like a vacuum cleaner outside, scooping up everything), but we started off the morning hosing down the porch, her crate, washing all the bedding, and bathing Amber for the first time.

She really surprised me. She loves her kiddie pool and rarely passes it without jumping in and at least walking around, drinking water. The reality of a ‘bath,’ though is a whole difference ball of wax. And trying to hold a big wriggling puppy who has ‘stuff’ all over her (to say it the most delicate way possible), juggling the hose, holding onto her collar, and trying to soap her as she twists and turns and flips like a fish is a real trip. Finally, my husband hosed her while I held her collar with one hand and her leg with the other. We didn’t do a great job, and I think I ended up as wet as Amber, but we got the job done.

We squeegeed the porch to get as much water off as possible. Her crate and it’s tray bottom are drying in the sun. Her bedding is in the dryer.

She is acting as boisterous as always, tail wagging furiously. She wants to come in the house, but that isn’t happening. We haven’t fed her, but are making sure she has access to water and that I take her out more often than usual.

I’m relieved that she doesn’t seem to be feeling bad. I feel awful that she spent even a minute in the yucky crate. I’m going to read up on anything else I should be doing for her.

Poor baby.

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July 9, 2017 · 10:28 am

The World is an Exciting Place

Amber was 4 months old on July 7th. We’ll take her in to the vet’s around the 20th to get her weight, and then she’s scheduled to be spayed on August 7th, when she is 5 months old.

  • Yesterday Amber discovered a turtle! She crept up slowly on it, sniffing. Then she jumped straight up in the air with a yelp. I thought maybe the turtle had nipped her, but she was just excited. She tried to bite the shell, but it was too big. I FINALLY got her to continue with our walk, but it was a close thing.
  • She chased a dragonfly that was dancing in the tall weeds to the east of our house. She jumped and jumped, trying to dance and fly, too.
  • She played in the kiddie pool. She cavorted around, as usual. Suddenly she jumped up – I guess to get out – but slipped instead, going completely beneath the water for the first time. She came up laughing and shaking off the water.
  • She TRIED to bite at a red wasp – like the one that stung me last week – but I steered her in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.
  • She learns what things are by chewing or eating them. Unfortunately, this results in some less-than-tasty mouthfuls, although we differ on which is which at times…
  • We’re learning that, unless she changes quite a bit on maturing, she is NOT going to be a watchdog. She greets everyone as a long-lost brother or sister, trying to get as close to them as possible, licking and tasting as much as they’ll allow. She might smother someone in love, or – when she’s bigger – sit on someone, but happily would welcome an intruder in, showing him her toys.

 

 

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July 8, 2017 · 1:36 pm

Beautiful Rainy Day

Zen to Zany

We’ve had  a very rainy, restful day.

We made a brief trip to get mail and run errands, but mostly we’ve just enjoyed the rain and the relatively cool day because of it.

I got a small start on painting the sun and moon wall hanging today. I’m just trying to get the basic color blocking done first. I have to admit I’m intimidated by all the shading needed on this piece. I’ll go slowly and do the best I can.

Otherwise, Molly and Amber are finally beginning to call a truce to the hostilities around here. They’re definitely moving toward détente.

 

Here are Molly and Amber on the dog bed in the utility room. Molly definitely has a defensive posture, but Amber is slowly making her realize Amber doesn’t want to hurt her.

 

Amber moves in slowly. If she moves too quickly, Molly snarls a bit.

 

Here is a meeting of the minds (and noses) – at least for a bit. Each day Amber is taking less time to calm down after the initial coming into the house chaos.

Quiet, restful day here. I hope you’re enjoying a wonderful Saturday, too.

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July 3, 2017 · 3:00 pm

Monday Afternoon

APA

I’m taking it easy today. I was up much of the night when I should have been sleeping. After we took care of animals, my husband took care of things while I grabbed a nap ( only interrupted by two phone calls and the UPS delivery guy), trying to catch up a bit.  I’m feeling better now, but energy is low, so I’ll just do what I need to do, not pushing.

 

Molly

Molly seems to be resigning herself to the fact that, no matter how irritated she is, the big, bumbling, super-enthusiastic, bull-in-a-china-shop puppy is not going away.  I didn’t get a picture (the animals won’t cooperate with a very amateur photographer), but yesterday the two doggies were lying in the little bed I keep by my feet under my computer area in the office. I think Amber is missing all her puppy litter buddies at times. She was nuzzled up tight with Molly when my husband saw them.

Amber

Again last night the two of them were side by side on the much larger dog bed we have in front of the entertainment center in the living room. I went to get the camera, and they separated, not to get together again the whole evening. :0(

This morning, in the interest of trying to keep things quiet so that I could get a nap, Amber is in the office and Molly is on the bed in the utility room.

This seems to be a significant first step in getting our animal family to accept one another. I don’t worry about the cats. Abby hisses a lot when Amber is around and makes herself scarce. Smoke actively stalks Amber when we take walks, taunting her. When they get close – nose-to-nose – Smoke either bounds away or whacks per Amber in the mouth.

I’m hopeful that in the fullness of time, our family will meld.

 

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July 2, 2017 · 1:47 pm

New Toys!

Most puppies like to chew on things, but labradors – and Amber in particular – bring chewing to an art form. NOTHING is sacred. We have to be alert 24/7 to be sure our favorite whatever-it-is hasn’t been declared a chew-toy by Amber and an end eaten off, if not devoured completely.

Two of Amber’s newest legitimate chew-toys, however, haven’t cost a thing and we’re delighted. In the picture above you can see a glass ‘apple’ paperweight. My husband bought it for me years ago. It’s really heavy and I love it. Amber loves it, too, and she cannot seem to hurt it. She chews on it, rolls it around, jumps after it with a happy yipe, then chews on it again. She can’t actually get the whole thing in her mouth.

The other toy she loves best is a plastic water bottle, minus the top, minus the blue ring that’s left when you unscrew the top, and minus the label. She makes a LOT of noise and just loves dashing around with it in her mouth, crunching like mad – a maniacal look on her face, then diving after it when she drops it, over and over. We had a fun morning with her with us in the office. I then took her for a walk and put her on the porch.

____________________

We left Amber on the back porch while we went grocery shopping. It’s about an hour later now than when I was typing the above.

I asked my husband if he would walk Amber. He came back a second later, saying, “Did you see what she did to the porch?”

She had somehow gotten up high enough to pull out what was in a basket we had hanging – dragging

  • a half roll of paper  towels down and shredding the towels into tiny bits all over the porch,
  • a bottle of Clorox Cleanup – spilled, but not ingested (we think/hope),
  • all of the towels we put on her crate at night, and all of her toys out of the laundry basket
  • plus she had ‘pawed’ all the water out of her water dish

It looked like something had exploded, or possibly the remains of a ticker tape parade after everyone went home.

So, in addition to putting away our groceries and cleaning up the kitchen, we’ve now cleaned and mopped the porch.

NOW we’re having another Amber-and-Molly-learning-to-co-exist lesson…

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July 1, 2017 · 11:53 am

Kiddie Pool

“Haven Cooling Off” – Itchmo

I love this picture. This is NOT Amber, but it’s very close to what she looks like in her kiddie pool.

We had hard rain and high, gusty winds yesterday and last night. The result was the kiddie pool looked AWFUL this morning. Of course, Amber rushed right into it anyway. :0(

I’ve just spent half an hour emptying the pool, scrubbing it with Simple Green, rinsing it thoroughly and then filling it up with nice clean water.  I took Amber for a walk and she went right to the pool, jumped into it, swam around, pawed the water, drank a bunch of it, and had a big time. She didn’t thank me for cleaning it up, but I was MUCH happier when she got in the pool THIS time. :0)

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June 30, 2017 · 10:22 am

Amber’s New Discoveries – June 30, 2017

Earlier I told you it has been raining hard here.

My husband took Amber out first thing this morning and she took care of business when the rain was just starting. But, we’ve learned the hard way that she really needs to go out TWICE in the early morning to avoid problems on the porch. When he came in from the second time, he said, “Waste of time.”

When I visited her after we got the kitchen cleaned up and coffee made, the rain was coming down hard, but pretty much straight down. When I went out just a few minutes ago, it was obvious that the rain had changed direction, blown in onto the porch, leaving puddles everywhere. It was raining less, so I went ahead and took her out again to see if I could get her to take care of business again.  We were successful!

While we were out, she went over to the kiddie pool. She walked around the outside of the pool, drinking. Then she stopped abruptly when she heard the water coming down the downspout at the corner of the house. She crept up to it   s – l – o – w – l – y, never taking her eye off of it. When she was almost to it, she stopped again, leaped up in the air, and turned so that when she hit the ground again, she was running in the opposite direction. I laughed, and THAT caused a flurry of running as fast as she could to the end of the retractable leash, getting stopped abruptly, then rushing back in the other direction to the end of the run, over and over until she wound down. Since it was still raining pretty hard, I was glad she wound down relatively quickly. She did not want to go near the downspout again.

When we got back onto the porch, there was so much water on the floor I wanted to squeegee it. I didn’t want to put her on the deck leash because she would get even more wet. So I tried to squeegee while she was there with me. WHAT FUN! Amber thinks the squeegee is the best toy ever! She jumps up in the air to leap on it. She tries to bite it, but it’s moving, so she can’t. AWWWWW. We did this over and over. I discovered that my yelling, “NO!” in a stern voice was completely ineffective. I did the best I could and then tried to use a towel to dry her off a bit. Same problem. She LOVES to try to bite the towel, turning around as fast as possible to play the new game.

I gave up, using the towel to try to wipe off the table as well as possible with Amber still trying to bite it. I discovered that the ceiling was dripping onto the table. :0(

SO – we BOTH made discoveries this morning. I think mine will be more expensive…

 

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June 29, 2017 · 11:28 am

More Additions to the Lewis Family

My sweet Black Moor Goldfish, Boo, died a couple of days ago. She wasn’t all wiggly as usual and went downhill from there. I have no clue what the problem was, but I liked her a lot and it made me sad to lose her.

We got two more fish yesterday and have all appendages crossed that they’ll be healthy, happy with each other, and happy with the accommodations. One is another black Moor goldfish I’ve named, “Soot.”  The spotted one I got because my husband said she was the ugliest fish he’d ever seen. I immediately fell in love with her. I’ve named her, “Freckles.”

Freckles is a lot more active than Soot. I’m not sure what that means. I know they’re compatible because they came out of the same aquarium at the store. Time will tell, but I’m hopeful.

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June 29, 2017 · 11:21 am

The New Gate is a Lifesaver

The 2nd Carlson Walk-Thru Pet Gate is saving our lives.

Poor Molly is still freaked out by Amber, mainly due to the fact that Amber is larger than Molly now and outweighs her by some 15 lbs or so, and has a habit of launching herself into Molly’s face over and over. We’ve had quite a logistics problem with trying to give Amber more inside time, control the interaction of the dogs and the cats, and live to tell the tale.

We put up the 1st walk-thru pet gate at the suggestion of my good friend, Cathy. We didn’t know such a thing existed. The installation of the walk-thru gate across the doorway to the porch probably saved one or both of us from falling on our heads trying to scramble over the one we had that had to be low-enough-she couldn’t-get-under-it and high-enough-she-couldn’t-get-over-it. We had to try to hold onto the brick beside the door while trying to balance and get our leg high enough and over the gate, and then down onto the floor without stepping on bouncing Amber. Quite a feat for old folks like us. We will never be able to thank Cathy enough for giving us the link to this and explaining what I didn’t see at first – the fact that people can walk through the middle of it without causing disruption of the installation of the gate. HEAVEN!

We put the 2nd gate up a couple of days ago now, across the opening to our office. Now all the animals can be inside the house at the same time and not have to be in each other’s faces or tearing around the house like madmen with the high drama that accompanies that. I had Amber in the office with me for a lot of the morning today. Molly went in and out of the house as she wanted without being dive-bombed more than once, and we are still sane. Hooray!

Dealing with a labrador pup is quite an adventure. She is almost NEVER still. She smiles – even while barking or yiping – (which she is doing much less now, thank goodness) – and her tail is like a metronome, always wagging happily. She hardly ever WALKS, always bounding from one place to another with joy, mouth open, tongue lolling, and sharp baby teeth right there.  She DOES love to lie down in the shade – particularly to chomp on a delicious stick – but only stays 30 seconds or less. She leaps headlong into the kiddie pool several times a day, walking around and around, slurping water and splashing. We walk and walk (a good thing for us to do) to try to give her time and space to take care of business, to give her exercise, and to show her the perimeters of the civilized part of our property.

Our animals’ needs are the focus of our days right now. We barely get started with something and need to take a break to get someone in or out, walk Amber, etc. It makes for really busy, happy days.

 

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June 28, 2017 · 9:36 am

Destructo-Dog

Amber – 3 mos old

How can you look at this face and believe my husband calls Amber “Destructo-Dog?”  She looks sweet and innocent, doesn’t she. And she IS sweet – just not innocent.

She hasn’t destroyed anything today – yet. And she SEEMS to be finding her toys as we’re in the office, rather than moving from one no-no to another… Part of this could be because we’re spraying things heavily with Bitter Apple spray. Part of this could be that we have gotten her some rawhide bones to chew on. Part of it may be due to the fact that both my husband and I are ‘armed’ with flyswatters…

Living with a labrador retriever puppy ain’t for sissies – to paraphrase Bette Davis’ wonderful quote about getting old.  In a lot of ways this is just what we needed. We’re still grieving over the loss of Bambi, our almost 14 year old pit bull. Trying to meet Amber’s 24/7 needs forces us to live in the NOW. We tend to be sedentary, and walking her at least 8 times a day for varying lengths of time and distance gives us good exercise we could probably otherwise avoid. Our problem-solving skills are being taxed, trying to find interesting things for Amber to play with/chew on, new games, keeping her from destroying everything in the house, etc. is straining our less-than-nimble brains. Our attention to detail is being exercised, keeping track of what she’s doing, where she is, making sure we have treats in our pockets, flyswatters at the ready, and are foreseeing possible difficulties, as when we let Molly in the house a few minutes ago. (All went very well. Molly was on the far side of the new office gate. Amber was on the near side and didn’t launch herself at the gate.)

We’re so busy that the only time we have to grieve is late at night, and then we’re so tired we’re falling asleep before our heads hit the pillow. We aren’t having any trouble getting to/or staying asleep – unless we’re hurting or having to go to the bathroom. We used to prowl around at all hours, reading until we got sleepy again.

Sometimes I wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into – particularly when it seems that she’s really trying to get on my last nerve. Then she wags her tail and demands love and the doubts evaporate.  Amber is going to be a wonderful addition to our family.

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June 27, 2017 · 7:48 pm

Molly and the New Gate

After a lot of effort today, we got the 2nd Carlson Walk-Thru Pet Gate from Chewy.com installed across the office doorway. I don’t know if the product description wasn’t clear or I read it wrong, but we had a hard time getting this one to fit, even though we had extensions.

Since Amber was either slithering under the gate my husband made years ago, or leaping over it, we gave up using that one. Now she can’t get over or under it, and it’s securely attached to the doorway, so even if she jumps up and puts her paws on it, she can’t get out.

I invited Molly to come into the office. She has a bed under my computer counter, plus another one to the right of the picture above. She was afraid to me through the doorway.

 

I kept trying to get her to come in, but she would just look at me from the doorway. I finally enticed her with one of Amber’s treats, and she was over the problem.

I just put Amber out on the porch because she was driving me nuts. I invited Molly in, and she readily came in and settled into her bed under the computer counter with one of Amber’s new rawhide bones. My husband points out that Molly doesn’t NEED one, because she isn’t teething, as Amber is. I pointed out that it was the BALANCE of the thing – that Amber shouldn’t get all the toys or treats, and that Molly wanted one. He acquiesced.

Today seemed like a long day, with errands first thing, then our friend helping with the rotator for the ham radio tower, then getting Amber excited about the rawhide bones, fixing her dog run attachment piece, putting up the 2nd dog gate, taking Amber out several times, planting stuff in the garden, weeding, dinner prep, etc.

We’re ready for a nice relaxing evening. I only have a bit of prep left on dinner, which is in the oven. If we don’t have a rented movie, we’ll either watch one from our collection, or we are both in the middle of good books. We’ll bring Amber into the living room and see if we can get her to calm down enough to stay awhile. :0)

When it’s dark we need to go out to the shop and weigh the ham radio tower antenna. (My husband tried to do it earlier, but he couldn’t see the readout on the scales in the sun.)

I hope you’ve had a fun, productive day.

 

 

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June 25, 2017 · 3:48 pm

Tomato Feast!

Today’s harvest.

At lunch we enjoyed two of the tomatoes, some of the celery I grew that I showed you a couple of days ago, and some radishes I grew. We had carrots from the store and a hard-boiled egg. Nice, crunchy good-for-us lunch!

My husband put the different style thermometer in the greenhouse for me this morning. I got seed packets from the store and will read up on when I’m supposed to plant each of them for a fall garden.

 

We’re trying to have Amber inside with us more and more during the day. My husband took her for a long walk and then we brought her inside while we ate lunch. She dive-bombed Molly, of course, so I put Molly out while we concentrate on Amber for the moment. (She’s asleep beside my feet now as I type this.) Later I’ll bring Molly in and hold her in my lap while Amber cavorts around, wheeling, spinning, and wagging her tail, and see if we can make progress on melding the various members of the family…

Have a wonderful Sunday!

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June 24, 2017 · 11:33 am

Trying to Meet the Challenges of a Lab Puppy

Yesterday Amber finally got us to admit that the nice metal gate that my husband made years ago to keep our pit bull, Bambi, and our cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross, Molly, in the office with us will not meet the challenge we have before us.

Amber is fine until one of us leaves the room, she sees Molly, she sees a cat, or her toy rolls under the gate, or…. She proved yesterday morning that, unless one of us sits at the gate, like a gatekeeper, flyswatter in hand, ready to jump up, yell, “NO!” and swipe her with the swatter, the gate will not keep her in. She can still slide under it, though she won’t be able to do that much longer at the rate she’s growing. She can easily leap over it, and that will get easier as she gets larger. The gate is a joke, only making it harder for the people to get in and out.

We ordered another Carlson Walk-Thru Pet Gate from Chewy.com yesterday. We just got confirmation that it has been shipped today and we should get it Monday or Tuesday.

It comes with a couple of extensions, and we still have the ones we didn’t need for the doorway to the porch, so we think we can make this work, though our doorway is 48 inches wide.

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Our efforts to allow Amber to come inside with us seem to be working, albeit slowly. This morning, for example, we had Molly sit beside my husband’s chair at the table while we were eating breakfast. We brought Amber in. She ran around like a mad thing for a few moments, and then zeroed in on Molly. My husband was ready with the flyswatter, and soon Amber got the message that if she dive-bombed Molly, she got swatted. She finally decided to lie down at my feet. This worked well until Molly decided to move. We went through the whole thing again, but a shorter amount of time.

Molly is learning that Amber is not trying to hurt her and that her people are aware of the problem and are trying to make the problem go away – eventually.

I’ve been told that Amber will be in ‘puppihood’ until she is 2 years old. Some have said 4 years. I remember my mother telling my brother and me from time to time, “I’ve read all about this stage and you’re going to skip it.” It didn’t work very well for my mom, but maybe it’ll work for us…

Meanwhile, Amber showers us with love (and slobber) every time we see her. Since we see her very often during the day and evening, we’re building a good relationship. One day at a time!

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June 24, 2017 · 10:59 am

Boo Has a New Bowl

A new bowl for Boo arrived this morning!

I decided that she really didn’t have enough room to swim around much in the old bowl. I ordered a new drum-shaped 2 gallon bowl. It’s a bit harder for me when lifting it back up onto the divider, but I’ve figured out that I can fill it totally by putting the clean, empty bowl on the divider and then using the extender cable on the faucet to fill it up. :0)

 

I would like to do everything I can to keep Boo happy. She actually swims over to meet my finger – wiggling at me – when I stop and talk to her. I love her bulbous eyes and really wiggly body with all the fins.  I’m beginning to think I am unable to get a good picture of her. Here is one I found on the net that gives you a better idea of what she looks like.

 

Black Moor Goldfish – Pinterest

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June 23, 2017 · 12:58 pm

Sweet, Innocent Puppy…

Amber – 15 weeks

You might be saying, “Awwwwww! What a sweet puppy!”

I’m sporting a new bandaid on the index finger of my right hand from an innocent game of tug of war with her rope. The thing is, you’re playing, having a good time, and suddenly, she cheats, biting YOUR end of the rope – and my finger in the process…. The lesson is that if you’re not the one with the sharp teeth, you’d better pay better closer attention.

This morning my husband was letting Amber have a time in the living room with him. He routinely keeps the retractable leash on her, giving her lots of room to play with her toys, and sitting on the part you usually hold. He then reads a magazine. This morning, all of a sudden Amber was free! He was still sitting on the end of the leash, so – Amber had quietly chewed through the end of the leash that goes to the part you clip on her collar ring. The clipping part was still hanging on the ring – minus the leash. My husband tied the end of the leash around the clipping end so we can still use it, but now we know we can’t depend on that keeping her corralled.

When we returned from Lunch Bunch and errands, I immediately took Amber out to do her business. That accomplished, my plan was to put her in the office behind the gate, refill my coffee cup, and spend some time with her. In the time it took me to get to the kitchen, Amber was out, wagging her tail at me. (She had jumped over the gate.)  Thankfully, my husband picked her up and deposited her over the gate into the office again. I climbed over and went to my chair. Happily enough, she is content (for the moment) to take a nap right beside the wheels of my chair.  I’ll remember not to move my chair…

It might sound like I’m griping, and that would be true – at least on the surface. Amber is definitely a handful. She needs constant care and/or supervision, lots of attention and love, lots of play time and exercise, AND lessons on entertaining herself with hopefully approved activities, AND the idea that it’s OKAY to take a nap and rest at least a little bit every once in a  while. Gradually, we’re adapting to each other. I held Molly in my lap last night while Amber cavorted around, trying to get Molly to play with her, diving at her face, leaping around the room. Molly wasn’t happy with the situation, but she’s beginning to realize that Amber is a big, lumbering puppy who means her no harm. Annoying, yes, but dangerous to her, maybe not so much.

We’re managing to have some quiet times during the day, where everyone takes a deep breath and gets a bit of rest. Then one of us goes out to play or walk Amber, maybe bring her inside for a bit, feed her, etc. Over and over again, until late at night when it’s crate time. It’s going to work out. I’m still looking for good sugar-free energy drinks…

 

 

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June 22, 2017 · 10:11 am

Silly Humans

My name is Amber. I came to live with the Lewises, a kind-enough couple, but kind of doofus, 5 weeks ago. I’ve been making wonderful discoveries almost every day since then.

For example, I found a squeaker with a new voice in this bright orange bone this morning! I love it!!! I walk around with it my mouth making it squeak continuously. I can drive my older sister, Molly, nuts with it. If I could smile with it in my mouth, I would. :0)

My humans put up a metal gate across the opening of the office, thinking it will make me stay in here with them. My mom went to the kitchen to let Molly in. Was she surprised when I showed up in the kitchen and jumped on Molly! The humans then finally acknowledged that the gate is a joke. Maybe they’ll leave it down now.

My dad took me out with him to the shop. I LOVE going out to the shop because he feeds me a biscuit. I even stop there when my dad ISN’T there, hoping.

My dad put me on a string and then went in and out of the shop throwing stuff into a barrel. Then he did something at the bottom and fire came out of the top of the barrel! And little bits of black stuff started sailing around, all over the yard around the barrel. One landed close to me. I immediately went to sniff it. YUCK! It smelled bad, so I jumped backwards and barked at it Then I crept up on it again, slowly, my tail wagging mightily. I then tried to bite it, even though it smelled bad, because I can’t tell what stuff is until I taste it BLECK! It tasted even worse than it smelled. I spit it out, then sneezed, and my dad laughed at me.

After my walk, I’m back on the porch for a morning snooze. I have to tear up things on the porch before my humans come out again so they’ll feel secure…

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June 21, 2017 · 10:59 am

Dog with a Ball

As Amber calms down more, she is discovering that life is really good. She’s an exuberantly happy three-and-a-half month old, fast-growing yellow labrador retriever puppy. She’s gained 20 lbs in 5 weeks. Our vet said, ‘She’s a beautiful dog.” :0)

Every day she discovers another thing she loves. So far, she loves

  • jumping into her kiddie pool several times a day, walking around the perimeter and drinking water
  • squeaky toys. The purple ball in her mouth makes a delicious squeak. She loves to fetch, but wants to hoard the toy when she gets it.
  • shade. Every time she finds a shady, grassy spot, she dives for it, lies down, stretches out, and rolls – in Heaven.
  • sticks. She rarely completes a walk without having grabbed – and many times eaten – a stick.
  • butterflies. She jumps and tries to play with them.
  • cats – but they don’t like her.
  • Molly – but she doesn’t like her.
  • people – she wants to be with us 24/7. She is learning that the better she acts, the longer she gets to stay inside with the people.
  • chewing. Though many toys are provided, she wants to chew on EVERYTHING. We have to watch her like a hawk with a rolled up newspaper, a flyswatter, and a stern, “NO!!!!” with us.
  • treats. She’ll do almost anything for one. She even cheats – pretending to do her business, or peeing several times in the attempt to get more treats. She watches our hands and our pockets, alert for any chance she’ll get one.
  • her crate and other safe places. She readily goes into her crate each night. We got a soft bed to put in there, plus she has a couple of soft toys for snuggling. During the day she pulls out the laundry basket that holds her toys so she can sleep between it and the wall. (Kind of like me in a restaurant. I like the wall behind me.)

Each day is a new adventure. We’re adapting to each other now and things are getting into a bit more of a pattern.

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June 20, 2017 · 12:24 pm

Oh, Baby!

Amber at 15 weeks today.

We just got home from taking her to the vet for her last puppy shots, a rabies vaccination, and a checkup.

We brought her home 5 weeks ago. She weighed 16 pounds. Today she weighed 36 pounds. She’s a BIG baby!

The vet checked her arm pits where the harness was chaffing her. He said they would just heal on their own. He thought she looked and acted GREAT.  She was friendly and cooperative with him. We scheduled her to be spayed at 5 months, August 7th. We got more samples of Sentinel, to protect her from Heartworm. We can’t buy any yet, because even the 3-pack wouldn’t be the right dosage as fast as she’s growing.

Amber met the vet’s dog, a grown female labradoodle named Ellie. They got along fine, both sniffing and wagging tails.

Amber didn’t fuss with any of the undignified things that happen to dogs on the table at the vet’s. She didn’t seem to even notice the shots.  The vet noticed the “Thunder” leash we were using and asked about it. He hadn’t seen it before. We explained that if she pulls on the leash, the strap around her squeezes her. Her reaction is to slow WAAAAY down, or even stop and sit. This is really a good thing when you have a big dog and you’re not as young or strong as you used to be. Since she’s growing like one of our weed trees, we feel good we found it.  She still will run around or through our legs, if we’re not paying attention, so it’s still a challenge to walk her when she’s off the beaten path of our land.

We let her stick her face out of the window, with her riding in my lap, on the way home. Suddenly, she turned around, looked at me and licked my cheek. We all laughed.

I feel relieved that her underarms are healing well.

 

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June 20, 2017 · 9:48 am

Eyelashes

The few times that Amber is still – and I think I can count the times on one hand in the month she’s been a part of our family – I’m struck by her eyelashes.

I don’t think I’ve ever noticed a dog’s eyelashes before. I love a dog’s eyes, and I’m partial to dark noses, but I love Amber’s eyelashes. I still haven’t gotten a good picture of them, but if you look carefully, you can see that they are light, like her hair.

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June 19, 2017 · 12:32 pm

Roadrunner

Photo Credit: Christopher Schwarz/Audubon Photography Awards

We saw an amazing sight out the window of our office this morning. A roadrunner much like the one pictured above was standing in the grass with a tiny snake in his/her mouth. The tail of the roadrunner seemed longer and fuller to me than the ones we usually see. It stood stock still, then looked around as we watched. Then it turned around, flew up to the top of our well house, and then walked over the edge where we couldn’t see it anymore. We don’t know if he/she is feeding babies in a nest somewhere, but it was obviously taking the snake to someone else. Amazing sight!

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June 19, 2017 · 11:48 am

New Collar and Tag on the Way

It doesn’t show in this picture, but Amber is wearing a never-used collar we ordered for Molly. Her poor underarms are healing from the chaffing she got from the harness. We think this happened so suddenly because she loves to jump into her kiddie pool and then out again on a LOT of our walks. The wet harness then rubbed against her skin. :0(

I ordered a new collar in a deep purple with a purple tag on it. Since Amber will have a tag and is microchipped, we decided to forego having her name on the collar she will probably soon grow out of.  The collar is an inch wide, so it shouldn’t cause her any rubbing. If it does, we’ll see it more quickly on her neck than we did on her underarms.

She goes to the vet tomorrow for her last puppy shots and her rabies vaccination, plus we’ll ask our good vet to look at her underarms to see if there is anything more we should be doing. I’ll be interested to see how much she weighs tomorrow. We think it will be around 30 lbs.

I sprayed the basket she keeps trying to chew with Bitter Apple spray this morning. She still chewed on the basket until I whacked her with the flyswatter, yelling, “NO!” crossly…

Poor baby. She only has 3 toys in here and two people –

She’s not following many of the suggestions for stopping bad behavior yet, such as spraying her with a water bottle (she LOVES that, trying to bite the stream of water and play in it); shaking a can with coins in it (she stops for a second, then wants to BITE the can); and now the Bitter Apple spray. I’ll keep spraying, just to see if I didn’t spray things well enough, but this is like living with a little kid. She’s always looking for something to get into, and if she’s quiet, it probably means she’s eating something you really like…

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June 18, 2017 · 9:56 am

Feeling Bad

zazzle

Today I noticed a new ‘doggy smell’ when I petted Amber. I made a mental note that we should give her a nice bath very soon. Then she was stopping and licking the floor all around her. We finally stopped and really looked and found that the harness she has been wearing had caused a bare, sore spot under her arm.

We took the harness off, bathed the spot carefully, and put triple antibiotic ointment on it, not having anything specifically for dogs. That seemed to ease the problem, since she stopped trying to lick it.

Since we need to put her on a leash to take her out several times a day, I got concerned that we didn’t have a collar for her. At this point, trying to ‘trust her’ not to spot one of the cats, Molly, or something else while out and running off after it is ludicrous, so I hunted all over the house.

I rummaged around and finally came up with a collar we got for Molly years ago, but it was too large and couldn’t be made any smaller. It’s 14″, just the right size for Amber – for at least a couple of minutes. I was concerned because it’s storming outside, dark as night right now (at 9:45 in the morning) and we should be walking her.

I feel bad because I didn’t really check her for problems with the harness. She’s so active that it’s difficult to look at her carefully, but we’ll start now, and insist that she allow us to look at her all over from now on.  We had been concentrating on touching her mouth, her ears, and her feet, but we should have been making her lie down and let us check her from stem to stern.

We have an appointment on Tuesday to get her last puppy shots and her rabies shot, and we can ask the vet to look at this place and see if we need to do more. For now, the ointment seems to have given her some ease.

 

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June 17, 2017 · 12:33 pm

Adaptation is a Beautiful Thing

I’ve told you that, even though we’re stubborn and slow, Amber is teaching us lots of new behaviors, such as

  • providing a new plastic bottle to chew on, free of bottle cap, cap ring, and label;
  • coming to entertain her or take her out every hour and a half or so,
  • changing her kiddie pool water,
  • giving her a treat every time she takes care of business or happens to do what her people say.

I’m happy to report that Amber is beginning to see the pattern of our lives after living with us a little over a month now.  We’re able to let her into the house to hang out with us for a longer and longer time. We’re trying to do this at least a couple of times a day, and NOT entertain her so that she finally lies down and is calm and companionable – at least for awhile.

This morning I wanted to get out and fight with the weed trees that are growing just off the civilized part of our back yard, cutting off our view of the valley below. I put her on the dog run after filling a bowl of water for her, figuring that if she could see me working, she wouldn’t get upset. That seemed to work pretty well. She is catching on to the fact that whining and barking don’t bring people.

My husband was looking for me because he wanted me to help him move a REALLY heavy 1/2 inch thick piece of metal up onto the CNC table so that he could cut it to make a base for his new-to-him ham radio antenna. He saw I was deep in the weed trees, hacking away. He got us a cold drink and moved Amber from the dog run to the long leash on the deck. We all sat out there together – (even Molly! – sitting by my husband where she knew the leash didn’t reach) – and cooled off and talked. We put Amber on the porch when I went out to help my husband.

I cut some more weed trees, and quit when it started to rain. It’s still storming now, with some pretty gusty winds, so I brought Amber into the office. I’ll need to mop up the back porch before she can go back out there. (Fingers are crossed that my new greenhouse makes it through this storm.)

She is lying down behind my chair, having played with all the toys in here, chewed on my basket, the leg of my chair, and the trash can. She is learning “no!” and we played with the rope, the ball, the plastic bottle, and the bone.

We’re adapting to each other a bit more each day. Things are getting more calm – at least sometimes.

 

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June 16, 2017 · 9:19 am

Lifelike Bird Pins – Take 2

Lifelike Bird Pins Embroidered by Paulina Bartnikby

by Christopher Jobson on June 6, 2017 – Colossal

 

 

“Warsaw-based embroidery artist Paulina Bartnik stitches colorfully lifelike brooches of birds and other tiny creatures in a dense style called needle painting. Each object begins as a piece of wool which she prods with a special needle in a process called dry felting which results in a surface ideal for embroidery. She then paints with a needle directly on the felt and embroiders the finer details.”

 

 

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