My Blog
I Am Your Dog (Anonymous)
I am your dog, and I have a little something I’d like to whisper in your ear. I know that you humans lead busy lives. Some have to work, some have children to raise. It always seems like you are running here and there, often much too fast, often never noticing the truly grand things in life.
Look down at me now, while you sit there at your computer. See the way my dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now. That comes with age. The gray hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle.
You smile at me; I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine? Do you see a spirit? A soul inside, who loves you as no other could in the world? A spirit that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing for just a simple moment of your time? That is all I ask.
To slow down, if even for a few minutes to be with me. So many times you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen, of other of my kind, passing.
Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly, sometimes so suddenly it wrenches your heart out of your throat. Sometimes, we age so slowly before your eyes that you may not even seem to know until the very end, when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and cataract clouded eyes. Still the love is always there, even when we must take that long sleep, to run free in a distant land.
I may not be here tomorrow; I may not be here next week. Someday you will shed the water from your eyes, that humans have when deep grief fills their souls, and you will be angry at yourself that you did not have just “One more day” with me. Because I love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me. We have NOW, together.
So come, sit down here next to me on the floor, and look deep into my eyes. What do you see? If you look hard and deep enough we will talk, you and I, heart to heart.
Come to me not as “alpha” or as “trainer” or even “Mom or Dad,” come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and let us look deep into one another’s eyes, and talk. I may tell you something about the fun of chasing a tennis ball, or I may tell you something profound about myself, or even life in general. You decided to have me in your life because you wanted a soul to share such things with. Someone very different from you, and here I am.
I am a dog, but I am alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses, and I can revel in the differences of our spirits and souls. I do not think of you as a “Dog on two feet”—I know what you are. You are human, in all your quirkiness, and I love you still.
Now, come sit with me, on the floor. Enter my world, and let time slow down if only for 15 minutes. Look deep into my eyes, and whisper to my ears Speak with your heart, with your joy and I will know your true self. We may not have tomorrow, and life is oh so very short.
Love, (on behalf of canines everywhere)
We Had A Surprise Pawty!!
If you want to see the photos of our pawty, click on the photo of the two of us sitting in front of our pool. If you want to read about the pawty, you are in the right place.
For the last few days we knew something was up because Mommy was busier than usual. Today she was up bright and early, cleaning the house in a way we know means company, preparing food, and putting things out for guests. We hadn’t a clue who the guests were, but we love it when anyone comes. Little did we know the guests were for us – it was a pool pawty.
The guests included two female French bulldogs (not related – they had never met before), one of them brought a life jacket); two female chihuahuas (also not related – and they had never met before), both of whom were wearing bikinis and rarely left their moms’ arms; a female fox terrier wearing a cute dress and matching hat, who was very shy; a 14 year old male dachshund who was a bit grumpy; and a male toy French poodle who was either dancing around on his hind legs or trying to hump one of us even though there were five girl dogs there.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun. There was food for the humans and treats for the canines. We got to dive and swim. We thought our guests would join us but only the French bulldog who had brought a life jacket did, and she didn’t get off the steps.
Then it started raining, not a little rain but a torrential downpour. We had to get out of the pool and we all huddled under the covered part of the pool area. Suddenly there was the loudest thunder you could imagine – all the moms jumped and a couple of them screamed. All us canines took off in different directions, and our moms who had been trying to stay out of the rain came flying after us (our mom had the hardest time cause there are two of us and we went different ways hehe). Once they caught us, they took us inside where we sat in their laps – most of us were shaking like crazy. After the rain everyone stayed for awhile and we got to play with each other.
It was a wonderful surprise pawty, and it wasn’t even one of our birthdays.
DP and Other New Members: How to Customize Your Page and Other Information
CUSTOMIZE YOUR PAGE: To make your page pretty, start with the Customize options at the top of your screen. They enable you to change your Background color, background image, and the color of the other areas listed i.e. user box, profile box etc. As for the background image, when you click that there are standard options provided. Or you can use you own. A lot of MDS members use a personal photo as the background image. Others use an impage from photobucket. You can change your colors and background image whenever you want.
GIFTS: The toys and icons on the top of MDS pages are gifts and awards. As for the gifts, you purchase these gifts using doggie dollars. You can purchase them for yourself, and you can send them to friends. The piggy bank on the upper right of your page, next to the sun, shows how many doggie dollars you have in your bank. You are given 10 when you join, and then you get one each day you sign on (after 24 hours have passed) – so if you sign on at 10 one morning you don’t get the next one until after 10 the next morning. When you click the piggy bank, it shows all the gifts that are available and how many doggie dollars each costs. Most gifts are at least $10 doggie dollars, but every now and then there is a special limited edition that is only $5. You can also earn doggie dollars – when you click the piggy bank it shows how. The ability to purchase doggies dollars with real dollars was just added.
AWARDS: The awards are earned – i.e. when there is a photo contest and you enter. There will be an announcement when the next one is taking place. The blue bone you get when you have more than 50 pals.
PAL REQUESTS: In the upper right corner of your page, you will see a photo of two dog faces and under it the word pals. In the parentheses will be the number of people who have sent you a pal request, if any. Click on pals and it will show you the outstanding requests. Click accept for each one you want to accept.
When you want to send a pal request, on the page of the pal you want, on the left hand side under the word Home is Pal Request. Click on that. Then you will have to copy a validation code and click again. If you entered the code correctly, there will be a message saying your request has been sent or something like that. If you didn’t enter it correctly, you will get that as a message and can repeat the process beginning with clicking pal request.
SPECIAL BARKS: To learn how to send the special barks you see everyone using, there is a blog here in the Forum section How to post pictures etc.
Summer Dangers For Dogs
Last year I wrote two articles about how to keep your dog safe during the summer. I recently noticed that they are still available online. Monty’s blog about the cocoa mulch emphasizes how important it is to be aware of hidden dangers. Here are the links to the two articles:
http://www.housepetmagazine.com/04/Summer.htm
http://www.petplanetmagazine.com/display.php?content_option=CMS&ref_id=306
PRINCE PUPS
Our goals as Prince Pups are to exhibit Princely behavior on MDS, and to be treated as Princes by our humans. We give out tips and assignments to achieve these goals, usually every week. If you would like to be a Prince Pup, please send us a bark. We will send you your own princely crown and Prince logo. We will include you in the tips we send out. Here are past tips:
Tip # 1: Divas like compliments. Two easy ways of complimenting MDS divas are to bark something nice or to send a virtual card or gift from Glitter Graphics or any of the other graphic sites. For divas you know personally, you might consider a lick or a sniff (be careful where you sniff though, as some divas do not like to have their butts sniffed).
Tip # 2: Princes are generous in spirit. For example, they seek to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Today’s assignment is to seek out at least three MDS members you don’t normally interact with, or those with whom you have had issues with in the past, and leave a nice bark.
Tip # 3. Princes help damsels in distress; they also help all who are in distress. Find at least two MDS canines who are having some sort of problem, whether it be their own health, the health of one of their human or canine family members, or other type of difficulty. Express your empathy/sympathy – in your own words, via a virtual card, via your actions for family members, or by whatever creative means you choose.
Tip #4: Princes are “other” oriented. Learn something new about at least 3 MDS members, and post a specific bark to each of them showing interest in what you have learned.
Tip #5: Princes continuously expand their circle of friends and acquaintances. Send pal requests to at least 3 MDS member with whom you are not already pals, and leave each one a bark saying why you would like to be pals.
Tip # 6: Princes form bonds by recognizing things they have in common with others. Find an MDS member whose household has the same number of canines as yours (or close if your can’t find the exact number). Start a "bark-versation" in which you share perspectives of living in a single or multi-canine household.
Tip # 7a: Princes help bring others together. Find at least two MDS members who have something in common. Choose members that you know, but who don’t know each other. Introduce them to each other, tell both what they have in common, and explain to both that this is why you are introducing them to each other. This will require some "hunting" but the hunt should be fun (we canines enjoy a good hunt, don’t we?).
Tip 7b: Princes have regal posture, conveying the impression that they deserve royal treatment. Practice sitting in front of your human with your butt firmly on the floor, your front feet evenly spaced in front of you, and your head high. If you want to see an example, check out Zack’s photo in his tuxedo. Granted, his clothes add to his regal appearance, but even without the tuxedo his posture says it all.
Tip 8a: Princes have a good sense of humor and enjoy being amused. Find a blog that amuses you, and leave a bark on that blog saying what you enjoyed about it.
Tip 8b: Princes also enjoy being amusing. At home, do something that amuses one of your humans. Leave a bark on your page saying what you did and how your human reacted.
Missing In Action
In case you’ve noticed we have been MIA from the site except for briefly popping in (and we hope you have noticed because if nobody notiticed we weren’t here that would be really sad) it’s because our mommy is working on a project.
She used to be a management consultant, and she is volunteering her time to help our county figure out how to reduce the euthanasia rates in our shelters. She thinks the real problem has become lost in the struggle between Peta-backed proponents of no breeding and the owners of show dogs as well as breeders. The focus is on whether or not to pass a mandatory spay/neuter ordinance. Mommy is very much in favor of promoting spay/neuter and making low cost spay/neuter available, but doesn’t want any government making medical decisions for us or other pets. She also knows that even if there was no breeding in Palm Beach County there would still be pets being euthanized at shelters. (HOW can people do that to innocent dogs and cats?)
Anyway, she is spending all her time on research, interviewing people in person or on the phone, and writing a comprehensive report. If you leave us a bark, we will bark back when she does give us access to the computer.
Wags,
Zack & Quincy
Kisses from Gigi
Belle, do not read this – we do not want to hurt your feelings (and we haven’t given up on you yet). Anyway, we were left at home all day today. We weren’t exactly alone because Daddy was here, but he was on his computer and we are never allowed on that one, only on Mommy’s which she did not leave on for our use while she was gone. She went somewhere with Aunt Tina and Gigi’s mommy.
She did bring us a surprise – kisses from Gigi! (When they dropped Gigi’s mommy off, that’s when our mommy saw Gigi). Gigi planted kisses on our mommy’s mouth, and when she came home and we kissed her, we were quite surprised to receive the kisses from Gigi. Now if our mommies would just get us together we could get our own kisses direct from Gigi.
Wags,
Zack & Quincy
Another Lunch Out
Well, Mommy took us out to lunch again to meet some of her friends and their dogs (who are our friends). We went to a place called Panera Bread. They had a very nice outside area; luckily it was covered because it started to rain really hard. <u>But they did not serve us any food or even any water</u>. Our mommies must have know that though, because they brought water and treats for us. Mommy is going to post a photo of us at the restaurant. Shortly after that photo was taken, it got kind of boring. So I (Quincy) went to visit a couple at the table next to us. He was sitting in a chair, and she was sitting on the banquet. There was plenty of room, so I hopped up next her and politely sat there. I wasn’t sniffing her or trying to get their food (although it smelled yummy). I didn’t even have my elbows on the table. But almost as soon as I sat down, the lady screamed at the top of her lungs. I looked around to see what was the matter, ready to protect her even though I didn’t even know her. That’s when I saw she was pointing at me while she screamed. Mommy turned around, saw me there, and tugged on my leash so I had to get down. She apologized to the couple for my joining them and explained she didn’t know my 6 foot leash would reach that far. Mommy’s friends were laughing; they said the way the lady acted you would think I was a 16 foot python, whatever that is. Well, we had a good time anyway, but we like the first restaurant better.
Wags,
Zack & Quincy
Training 101 for Your Human
This is for canine eyes only – please do NOT let your humans read this.
I am developing a training program for my mommy, and it is working! So I thought I would share my success story with my MDS pals. Mind you I am in the very early stages, but I have achieved astonishing success so far.
My goal is to get Mommy to do what I want, when I want her to. My strategy is to make subtle changes and then progress to bigger ones. I began with our morning routine. The way is used to go was that as soon as she wakes up (and it’s not always at the same time) she takes Zack and me into the yard so that we can go potty if we need to before our walk. Then she makes the bed, throws on some clothes, brushes her teeth and hair, puts some lotion on her face, takes her vitamins, puts her water glass away, and asks Daddy if he is ready to walk. This is the pattern for every day except Tuesday and Friday when there is the extra step of putting out the garbage.
So I began with step one. When she got up and invited Zack and me to into the yard, I pretended to still be sleeping. Much to my surprise, she took Zack into the yard, came in, made the bed, etc. I tried that for several days and she let me sleep in. So then I took it to the next level. After she and Zack went into the yard and came back inside and she went to make the bed, I didn’t move. Amazingly enough, she made the bed around me! I had to change locations a time or two, but she worked around me. I have done this for three days, so tomorrow I am going to add a new step: once she has made the bed, I am going to scratch on the sliding door to tell her I now want to go potty in the yard.
You might be wondering what the big deal is about the changes I have trained her to make, and the answer is that there is no big deal. That’s the beauty of my method. I am getting her used to doing as I ask about things that don’t really matter, so that when I get to the things that do matter she will be trained to do as I request.
There is one important thing I forgot to mention. I use lots of positive reinforcement. The days she let me sleep in, I made a big deal of wagging and kissing her when she and Zack came back inside. The days she made the bed around me, I again gave her lots of kisses and wagged like crazy. These rewards are a very important component of her training.
I will keep you informed as to how the training progresses. If any of you want to try my method, please do. And let me know how it goes for you. If we unite, together we can change the expression "Cats rule, dogs drool" to "Dogs Rule" (who cares what the cats are doing).
Approximately 30 days later
I (Quincy) have had an important breakthrough in training my human. It has to do with communication. Her inability to understand my vocalizations has been aggravating me for some time now. Despite the fact that I have put forth the effort to learn her language and can recognize and respond to many words and phrases, she has not put forth the effort to understand mine. I know she can tell the difference between the sounds I make, because she comments "that’s his big boy bark" or or "that’s his baby sound" or (my least favorite) "he sounds like a chicken." But she is clueless as to what the different barks mean and doesn’t try figure it out.
So here’s my breakthrough: whenever I want something - and it could be anything – I go and scratch on one of the many sliding glass doors in our house. First she tries opening the door to let me out. If I don’t go out, she tries to figure out what I want. She checks the water bowl to make sure we have water, she looks to see if one of my duckies is missing, she looks to see if Zack is teasing me, she gives me a cuddle, etc. If it’s meal time and she hasn’t yet fed us, she gets the food! This is what I call real progress!
Wags,
Quincy
Rejection Is Never Easy
Our "date" with Belle did not go well. Where to begin? We did the usual glad to meet you sniffing (and we were very careful not to approach her butt cause Mommy told us girls don’t like their butts sniffed). Even so she gave us the cold shoulder. There were 10 dogs at the meetup, and Belle played with every single one but us (but then all the others were girls). We were just starting to make some progress with Belle when this stud named Joe (another yorkie) entered the picture. He was one of the approximately 50 other small dogs at the dog park. Joe obviously had a thing for Belle. Not only did he sniff her butt, he tried to hump her. So Belle’s daddy picked her up and held her. Joe didn’t get the hint – he kept jumping towards her and he just hung around waiting for his chance to reach her. Finally Belle got down from her daddy’s lap, and Joe jumped on her again. We were about to come to her defense when her daddy picked her up again. Joe had such a firm grasp of her that he was lifted in the air along with her.
Joe didn’t get the hint that Belle did not want that kind of attention. He also didn’t get the hint that he had intruded on a private party. We didn’t mind outsiders joining our little group, and there were quite a few who did, but the rest had manners. Why oh why did we have to get stuck with an ill-mannered outsider male yorkie with the hots for our Belle? Finally Joe left the dog park. Then we had a chance to just wander with Belle a little and our whole group had our pictures taken. Mommy had made bandanas for all the dogs in our group – burgundy for the girls and blue for the guys (that would be us) in the same pattern. Lots of humans were commenting on our being dressed alike.
Anyway, our big day is over, and we are very tired. We just had dinner and are going to rest our weary paws. We still think Belle is very pretty but we now realize we are just meant to be friends. We are a little sad, but Mommy says that love is never easy and that when we meet the right girls we will know.
Wags,
Zack & Quincy
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