Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
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Collin Bogle via Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
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Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
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Jeff Jett – LinkedIn
Tag Archives: amazing animals
Sneaky Amber
Amber is getting sneakier as she ages.
Her newest “trick” is getting into the trash. This is not your “dump the trash can over and strew it all over the place” type trick. It’s much sneakier. She KNOWS she is not supposed to get into the trash. When we feed Amber and Molly in the mornings, we have Molly on one side of the gate that is in the doorway between the dining area and the living room and Amber on the other, or Amber will sneak by us as we’re fixing breakfast and eat Molly’s food after wolfing down her own.
While we’re distracted, she quietly goes to the trash can beside my living room chair, takes ONE piece of trash out and distributes it in several pieces. She doesn’t dump the trash can. She takes one and ONLY one piece out each morning. She never gets into the trash at any other time of the day – just in the morning. It’s as if she’s taunting us.
If I remember to dump MY trash into the can beside my HUSBAND’S chair, we’re okay. If I forget, the one piece of trash is on the floor when we finish breakfast and are on our way to the office.
We let her in to the dining area as soon as Molly finishes eating. She and Molly like to sit down on the floor beside the dining area table, hoping for a bite or a plate to lick. She knows she’ll be fed – and a good amount. She knows she’ll get a bit extra from our breakfast. She knows she’ll get clobbered if she gets into the trash. The taunt continues….
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
I Love Dogs – Take 1
Roger Caras – Facebook.com/FortheLoveoftheDog
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, Favorite Quotes
Amber is a Wonderful Challenge
This is Amber, our 16-month-old, 92 pound (the last time we took her to the vet to weigh her on his scales) yellow Labrador Retriever ‘puppy.’ So far, all we’ve heard about labs being very puppy-ish through two years is true. Amber likes to try to scrunch herself up so that she can sleep in Molly’s bed here in the office. (There is a larger bed just on the other side of my desk – complete with chew toys – but she and Molly like this one best.)
For comparison, here is Molly (our elderly cocker spaniel/schnauzer cross) sleeping in the same bed as I type. (Amber went out to play in the rain.) As you can see, this bed gives Molly a good bit of spread-out-room.
Our latest battle of wills involves Amber going in and out. When the door opens in either direction, Amber is like a bull charging at a red target. She runs right over Molly or the cats, plus us, if we’re not careful. We’re trying to get Amber to sit and wait until we say, “OKAY” before she goes in or out. This is a real test of wills. We have to start getting her to sit before we even touch the door, then keep watching and making her sit until the door is open. If we’re successful, she sits until we say ‘okay’ and everyone lives through the action. Otherwise, not so much.
We WILL prevail, but it may take awhile…
Filed under Amazing Animals, character-building exercises, Family
Companionship
Smoke apparently was up much of the night catting around. She isn’t saying much, but plopped herself down on my calendar this morning and seems not inclined to be particularly sociable until further notice.
She just allowed me to pet her. We have two cats, Smoke and Abby, neither of whom purr worth spit. They seem really happy and spend a lot of time either beside us, being companionable, or sitting on us when they get the chance, often for hours if we’ll allow.
We adopted Smoke from our vet’s office. She was in a cage with some others when we brought one of the doggies in. I went over to the cage and she came right up, rubbing up against my hand and much as she could with the cage between us. My heart melted, but we already had a cat, plus two dogs, and really didn’t need another cat. That night I dreamed of her and named her Smoke in my dream. I told my husband. Being a ‘keeper’ as far as husbands are concerned, he agreed that we did, indeed, have room for another.
This is Abby. We adopted her through a newspaper ad, describing her as a ‘lap kitty.’ It actually took us a day and a half of trying to calm her down in one of our bathrooms before she warmed up to us. In the end, the ad was more than correct. She is now fat, sassy, and a wonderful cat. Smoke is the head cat, though, even though she was adopted second. Abby defers to her in all things.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
92 Pound Greeting
This is Amber. She is 16 months old now, weighing 92 pounds at last weigh-in at the vet’s. Words to describe her include, “energetic, sweet, exuberant, loving, boisterous, cute, unrelenting, playful, and ‘watch out!'”
Each morning I come down the stairs half asleep. My husband usually makes it downstairs before I do, letting doggies out and starting to feed animals. Sometimes Amber greets me at the bottom of the stairs. Other times in the living room, or the kitchen. I’ve learned to ‘brace for impact’ as we TRY to teach her not to dive-bomb us.
This morning she caught me as I was going to my recliner to retrieve the shoes and socks I had left there last night. She caught me from the side, causing me to almost fall onto the couch while I was trying to sit down in my chair. I took some time to love her, rubbing her all over and cooing to her, trying to get her to calm down. She’s like a volcanic eruption, though. It’s hard to contain all that love and enthusiasm. (I held my feet up off the floor while greeting her, having learned the hard way that allowing her to step on my toes results in soreness and bruises.)
I got her calmed down, only to have to start over when I tried to stand up. She finally heard, “SIT!” and complied – just long enough for me to get completely up and around the chair. She circled around, over and over, tail wagging madly, as I made my way carefully to the kitchen. I finally got through one of the dog gates and closed it between us.
I AM smarter than this dog – I THINK.
We WILL get her to SIT and STAY one of these days ‘real soon now….’
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Family
A Committee of Vultures
“A GROUP of vultures may be called a ‘cast,’ ‘committee,’ ‘meal,’ ‘vortex,’ ‘venue’ and even ‘wake.'”
My husband and I were surprised to see something we’ve never seen before on the way to shop for groceries today – SEVERAL buzzards or vultures in one area NOT because they had found something to eat on the road. There were some sitting on the ground, others sitting on a fence nearby, still others on a big boulder – all at the entrance to one home that is down the hill from the road.
They were just sitting there. They weren’t flying around, playing in the wind currents, squawking, or anything. It was really strange.
Stranger still, on the way HOME after we had finished shopping, we saw them AGAIN, still sitting there…
As the sentence at the top says, one can call a group of buzzards or vultures by several names. I like ‘committee,’ of vultures, in that I’m reminded of politics….
Filed under Amazing Animals
It’s a Dawg’s Life
Amber took advantage in the rain let-up for a minute to take a swim in her clean kiddie pool, thanks to my scrubbing it out yesterday and refilling it. She is now wet and happily sprawled out in the foyer, taking a nap. I took some pics last night that I wanted to share. She has taken to sleeping upside down, back legs sprawled, half-on and half-off her bed n the evenings while we watch TV or a movie.
She won’t let you come up to her, no matter how soundly she seems to be asleep. I even had to turn on the camera in the office and get the flash ready before I came out to the living room to get these pics, but she will stay like this for a LONG time, very comfortably sleeping.
She has such a hard life. Don’t you feel sorry for her?
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Why Does a Dog Have So Many Friends?
email from Bill Lites
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, Friendship
New Cat Bed?
We got a new food and water bowl set up, and then put a tray under it, trying to get Amber to give up her ‘play-in-the-water-dish’ game. So far, it has worked pretty well. Having the water bowl up in the air seems to take it out of the toy category. Fingers are crossed that this continues. Meanwhile, Smoke decided this morning that this was a grand new place to sleep! She even stayed there as Amber stuck her head down through the hole where her food dish goes to check Smoke out.
I would think that having Amber slurping water right over her head would be disconcerting, but Smoke didn’t seem to be bothered at all.
Maybe this allows Smoke to be trampled by the ‘playing-dog-fight’ between Amber and Molly t one less time during the day.
As I walked to the office after taking these pictures, Smoke followed me and is now asleep on the shelves beside me, on top of my calendar and to-do list…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Wet Amber
Ambrose Bierce via Email from Bill Lites
We got a kiddie pool for Amber last year. She was a cute MUCH SMALLER puppy last summer and was a little intimidated by the water. We finally got her to walk around and drink some of the water, but she didn’t want to actually swim in it much.
Now, since the weather is so beastly hot already here – and it’s not even officially summer yet – I let Amber out and she comes back sopping wet. She heads for the pool immediately, leaps in, walks around, drinks some of the water, then lies down in the middle, saying, “Ahhhhhh!” She may do this several times while she’s out. Then she barks at the door, wanting to come in. She’s 93 pounds of bull-in-a-china-shop wet puppy – and exuberant in her (1) wish for a cookie for barking when she wants to come in, and (2) wish to snuggle with her people.
I now keep dog towels at the front door and at the garage door so that I can at LEAST keep her from dripping all over everything. I’ll make this a routine until our weather cools off – hopefully in October – scrubbing out and refilling the pool every 3 days or so. She LOVES her kiddie pool now. She really doesn’t understand why we don’t care to snuggle with her until she dries off….
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Best Deal Ever Made
M. Facklamemail via Facebook/FortheLoveoftheDog via email from Bill Lites
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family, Favorite Quotes
“Musical Dog Bed”
Our pets play “musical dog bed” as we used to play “musical chairs.”
The dog bed is technically Molly’s.
Molly-June2018
This is a small bed. Molly is about 25 lbs. She is a Cocker Spaniel/Schnauzer cross. She often gets run over or chewed on by our 93 lb Yellow Lab Retriever, Amber, and needs a break.
I just took this picture of Abby, one of two cats who love this dog bed, too. Abby takes great joy in spreading out as much as possible so that neither Smoke, our second cat, nor Molly, can share.
Earlier today, Amber decided that SHE wanted to get into the bed, but was only able to manage her back half.
After working at it quite a bit, she was finally able to get most of her into the bed. The picture doesn’t show it, but Abby sat a few feet away, watching, and Molly spread out on the bare floor next to my computer chair.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
The Best Teacher
Facebook.com/ForTheLoveoftheDog via email from Bill Lites
Filed under Amazing Animals, Favorite Quotes
Delights of Living with a Water Dog
One of the many challenges we’ve had with our SWEET 15-month-old, 93-pound Yellow Labrador Retriever PUPPY, Amber, is that to say ‘she is a water dog’ is one of the biggest understatements out there. When I scrubbed out her kiddie pool a couple of days ago and was refilling it, she wouldn’t even wait for the water to start filling the pool before she was in and out, barking at the spray head on the hose and playing in the water.
This love of playing in the water translates INSIDE, as well, to our aggravation. We try to have water bowls readily available inside and outside for our dogs and cats. Everyone ELSE just goes over and quietly drinks from the large plastic bowl we had. Since Amber delights in putting a paw or two in the bowl and happily spreading the water all over the floor, we switched from the plastic bowl to a large untippable stainless steel bowl. She doesn’t dump it, but manages to splash the water everywhere on a regular basis.
Today we got a new set up we ordered, hoping to solve the problem. This is a food and water bowls combo. The bowls fit into the table-like top, and the top fits onto legs. The table and legs are made of heavy-duty plastic. Since we know our dog well, we found a stud in the wall and screwed the whole thing into the stud. This is a super-sturdy set-up.
We tested it with Molly, our 25-pound, elderly Cocker Spaniel/Schnauzer cross, to make sure she can reach the water. She doesn’t like it much yet, but she is able to reach the water and drink.
Amber looked at it, wagged her tail, and went to do other dogly things.
I just checked, and there was water on the floor. So Amber went back sneakily – when we were otherwise occupied – and managed to splash water out. There is still some water for thirsty dogs and cats to drink, however, and the assembly is still in one piece, still firmly anchored. So we’ve made the problem a bit better, but now need to look for something to go under this to catch as much of the water as possible…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
Animal Pictures I Love – Take 14
National Geographic – Suzi Eszterhas – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, animal paintings, Creativity
Animals Pictures I Love – Take 13
National Geographic – Michael Nichols – http://www.greatbigcanvas.com
Referee
I let Amber out JUST as the mail lady came up the driveway. :0(
I tried to get Amber under control, but I didn’t have the zapper in hand and Amber was SOOOOO excited that someone came to see her! She was trying to jump up, her wagging tail whipping my leg. The lady was smart, throwing a dog biscuit out from her. Of course, Amber went right after it.
My husband came out then, complicating the issue. Amber started being exuberant again, acting as though we hadn’t spent hours and hours working with her. My husband got frustrated and grabbed Amber’s collar. All of a sudden, both of them went down on the grass in a pile. I put the package that the lady has just given me down and went to help my husband up. He wouldn’t let go of the collar – being a stubborn man – and Amber wouldn’t give an inch, either.
Finally, we both held Amber down while the mail lady started back down the driveway. When she had gone far enough, Amber quieted. I felt like a referee between my husband of very stubborn streak and Amber, a big dog with small brain….
No one was hurt, but nerves were frazzled on all parts. Amber has 11 more months to do some growing up and calming down while we try to teach her to be social without being ‘deaf’ to commands and over-exuberant. (We’re told that things will get better when she hits the 2-years-old mark. ) I’m afraid there is no cure for my husband’s stubborn streak.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Challenges, Family
Just as We Laid Our Guard Down….
Amber
Our sweet ‘puppy’ Amber was a year old March 7th. She now weighs 93 pounds. We’re HOPING that she is now as large as she will get, but people in the know say she could continue to grow for another year! They also say that this lumbering bull-in-a-china-shop with very little brain will continue being a puppy for at least another year….
Amber has improved a lot since I last wrote about her. She is adapting to us and our lifestyle pretty well for a pup with little brain. She is certainly smart and canny enough to manipulate her owners. We FINALLY got her to stop yelling at us when she wants us to take her out. She had been regularly coming to sit beside me while I was working at the computer and then yelling, “WOOF!” quite loudly, scaring my hair off. If I had a cup of coffee in my hand at the time, I would spend the next 10 or 15 minutes cleaning up before I could take her out. (We have learned that, at this point, we can’t trust her outside by herself. She tends to find something wonderful to chew up in the front yard. When she destroyed TWO NEW WELCOME MATS that had been in place for about 20 minutes, that was the wake up call for us to get off our duffs and take her out, rather than letting her out.)
When we’re outside, we tend to bring Amber and Molly with us. We did this a couple of days ago, using the time between rain storms to take them out and walk around the yard. When the doggies had taken care of business, I let them in, as it had started to rain. My husband and I finished looking at something and then came in – to find that Amber had decided to completely dump her water bowl all over the floor. We had a mini-lake!
She hadn’t done this for a long time, but she of little brain remembered THAT was fun!
We spent a half hour mopping and toweling up the mess. My husband got a larger, heavier metal bowl that has no rim to put in place of the one she dumped. We put it in the corner made by the wall of the bathroom and the doggie gate to the living room. We’re hoping that this placement is secure enough she won’t decide to ‘play’ in the water anymore…
Lesson: One cannot trust a yellow Labrador Retriever ‘puppy’ outside OR inside without pretty intense supervision!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“Fetch” or “Tug-of-War?”
My husband is asleep in his chair, snorking away, while I’m at the computer. All of a sudden, Amber shows up, trying to stuff her ball into my lap. Being a multi-tasking smart dog, she simultaneously lifts up with her head, making my left arm bounce up, over and over, off the keyboard. This is quite distracting, to say the least. Finally, she looks up at me with her beautiful, liquid, big brown eyes and my heart simply melts. Knowing she has manipulated me once again, she laughs and leads me to the door, impatiently waiting as I find my jacket and I am herded out to the front yard, accompanied also by Molly, our schnauzer/cocker spaniel extremely fuzzy white dog.
The biggest problem in all this is that I’m never sure what game it is that we’re playing. Amber wants me to throw the ball, but she doesn’t want to give it up. I finally throw the ball for her. She snaps it up on the run and returns to me. I try to get her to drop the ball into my hands. She doesn’t, of course. She runs around squeaking it madly, smiling with glee, around the ball, over and over. She wants me to play tug of war with it, but she has the advantage – teeth over fingers on a ball slimy with dog spit.
Finally, she gives it to me and I throw it across the yard as hard as I can. Molly knows to stay out of the way, having been run over many times, but she barks encouragement as she watches. Amber runs like a mad thing, snapping the ball up and running a victory lap or two around the yard, squeaking the ball and laughing. Then she comes to me and we go through the whole process again. For a time she doesn’t seem to need me there at all. She teases me with the ball, then runs with it squeaking around the yard, drops it, grabs it up again, runs…..
I may never know what game we’re playing, but I don’t think it matters much. We play until one or both of us are tired. Then we all troop inside, I wash the ball and my hands, leaving the ball on the divider for the next time. Amber drinks a ton of water and collapses into a satisfied heap on her bed or by her dad’s foot.
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
One Year!
Today our 91-pound yellow Labrador Retriever ‘puppy,’ Amber, is one year old!
Amber at one year – 3/7/2018
I sang the birthday song to her, but she just sniffed my jeans pockets to see if I had any treats.
Our lives have really changed since we got her 10-1/2 months ago –
Amber has trained US more than we’ve trained HER. She has taught us to
- always get up with an alarm clock, even on weekends, to take her outside
- feed her twice a day, being careful to not upset her tummy
- put probiotics in her food to help with her digestion
- put drops in her water to help keep her teeth clean
- allow her to walk right up into my husband’s chair during the evening for a good snuggle
- make me jump out of MY chair when she looks expectant and get on the couch so she can snuggle with ME
- keep treats in our pockets at all times
- keep her shock collar and zapper charged up all the time (even though we mostly just need to warn her with some sound now)
- keep her supplied with chewy and/or squeaky toys in every room
- become a gated community, with gates at the office doorway, doorway between the dining area/kitchen and living room, and at the utility room doorway
- respond to a loud, close bark to take her outside
- accompany her when she goes outside so that she doesn’t eat anything that catches her eye
- understand that all bets are off – training ‘gone’ when visitors are here
- realize that she loves people and will get into the vehicles with the UPS, Fedex, or mail people
- understand that anything left anywhere within reach is fair game for a good chewing and/or destroying
- acknowledge that she is the center of our world, around whom all things are planned
- realize that in an argument with a 91-pound puppy, be careful what you wish for
Amber is the proverbial bull-in-a-china shop. If your drink is on the table, she won’t usually bother it with her nose, but her wagging tail will get it every time. She’s a sneaky pete. If you wanted to eat something later, don’t leave it on the counter in the kitchen unless you have the gate closed. It WILL mysteriously disappear. A bounding dog is a strong signal to get out of the way….
An exhausting, wonderful start to what we hope will be a good, long relationship. We’ll be grateful if her brain someday catches up with her exuberance. Happy Birthday, Amber!
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
The Battle Over “OUT!”
We thought we were doing a good thing when we taught Amber to bark when she wanted to go out, or was outside and wanted to come in. Soon we realized we had created a monster who LOVES ordering us around. She just comes in and then barks to go out again – and loudly enough it hurts your ears! My husband thinks it’s hilarious when I’m concentrating at the computer and Amber comes up to me and then makes me jump straight up in the air out of my chair with a loud “WOOF!”
Since we have now ALSO learned that letting her out alone results in all kinds of things leaving the garage, the front porch, and other surrounding areas and showing up in the front yard – either in one piece or damaged beyond repair, we are now TAKING her out. It’s now 10:10 a.m. central time and she’s been out 4 times already. This is a battle. We’re trying to get things done and we’re never sure if she REALLY needs to go out or is just pulling our leg. While it’s a problem concentrating or bringing something to completion, it’s also good in that it forces us to get up and moving. I’m also trying to play with her a bit while we’re out, taking a ball or something with me for her to retrieve. It’s good exercise because I make it a point to go out past the shop to my garden in one direction, and then all the way across the top of our part of the ridge line to my greenhouse and then back to the house. Just in CASE she doesn’t demand it on her own, we have an alarm set to remind us that we should go out again.
We’re having ‘discussions’ now about how many times it’s reasonable to take her out. Obviously, Amber would essentially enjoy being out most of the time. When it’s cold and wet outside with a gusty wind, we are less happy about staying out there with her for very long, telling her to ‘hurry up!’ and wanting to come right back in.
‘Discussions’ with a 91 pound lab puppy aren’t very productive…
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
creativeartworksblog 