Dog People

My dogs spend quite a bit of time in my front yard when the weather is fair as it 

has been lately.  Living near several public places, (the historical society, the 1912 

Center, the high school), ensures a good amount of foot traffic past my house and 

both Nosey and Seamus have their regulars - friends and admirers who stop to see 

them, pet them, give them treats and throw the frisbee.  Occasionally some cold 

hearted person will walk by without even a glance at their sweet and friendly faces, 

but that doesn’t happen very often.

And then some times you get someone like today. A guy stops, pets them, talks to

 them for a minute and then - WAVES to them and says "b’bye".  Wow.  What a great 

guy!

Dog Advice on Metafilter

I’ve had a couple of promising second interviews and in hopes of starting full time work 

soon, I asked the following on Metafilter:

“Dog advice needed - How to keep my dogs happy while I'm at work?”

I’ve gotten some great responses including this one:

Other things - get a big Kong for each of them and fill it with treats in the morning. Hide 

treats around the house. Leave the TV on. Get someone to check in on them during the 

day. Hire a walker. If your house is set up that way, some folks swear by a doggie door 

so they can go in and out at leisure.

Sometimes I call home home and talk to my dogs when the answering machine picks 

up. I have no idea if they listen or not, but it makes me feel better (and kind of weird, 

but whatever.)

Read all the responses here.

Seamus and Nosey Flynn Wait for Spring

Look! The cold, white ground is gone,

The grey still comes and goes

But sun comes near as often now.

We remember the road to the green fields,

We remember the smell of the light dew 

As the ball goes sailing over the grass,

The flight of the birds as we come near

The sound of the bees, the sight of the stream,

And running down the trail through the big, tall trees.

Wait for us green fields

We are coming.

Benadryl for Dogs

Seamus


We had a scary evening with our pup Seamus on Monday. With no warning,
his face started to swell up - first around the eyes, then his jowls and forehead
and after about ten minutes his front legs started to swell. It was 11:30 pm, and
I am still unable to drive due to ankle issues, so my daughter called her boyfriend
who took her to but Benadryl.

I did some rushed research on dogs + allergies that night (here and here for example)
and benadryl is a pretty safe bet if you use it correctly. First of all - use tablets, not
liquid. Correct dosage is also important. Most sites recommend 1 mg per dog pound.
The capsules come in 25 mg so we gave Seamus two (he weighs about 60 pounds).

Within an hour of taking the benadryl his swelling started to go down. Tuesday
all of the swelling was gone except for a little around his neck and Wednesday
he was completely back to normal.

We don't know what happened exactly - allergies? spider bite? But from now on
I will make sure to keep Benadryl on hand at home.  Of course, if your dog has any
health conditions or is on any other medication, check with your vet before giving
Benadryl.

Does Independence Have to be Noisy?

Fourth of July - my least favorite holiday
because it is usually hot (though only 80
or so here today) and it upsets my dogs.

Here’s a few pointers for how to deal
with fireworks and dogs. My plan is to
sleep with the bedroom fan on high for
the noise and the door closed so the dogs
can’t here them.

Art for Dog Lovers

The Wurst Gallery has a great exhibit online : The Wurstminster Dog Show . I was surprised and excited to see Glen of Imaal Terriers included. (Nosey Flynn is a Glen). The Glen art was by Todd Hoffman of Portland, Oregon and showed a feisty Glen with a human arm in its mouth and the caption “You sir, have just met a Glen of Imaal”. I like that - tough, but polite. Here is a fragment of the entire print.













While this is one of my favorite pieces in the show, there are LOTS of really cool pieces here, in all kinds of media. The only bad thing about it is that once the original is gone - that’s it. There are no other options. This seems like a huge oversight of marketing. Imagine how many people would have would have bought prints of postcards or totes - all with their favorite dog or a dog they used to have or a dog they want to get someday . . . It would make a great fund raiser for the Gallery and maybe a portion of the proceeds could go to the Humane Society.

Or here. I made a donation to A Place to Bark today in memory of Bonnie. )Bonnie and Fergus are to the right - Bonnie is the golden one and Nosey is below.

B is for Bonnie Girl - My last letter

So this will be my last entry in the
encyclopedia of me. I'm feeling a
little constricted with having to write
about myself exclusively. BUT I think
I am going to use this idea for christmas
presents for my children. The encyclopedias
of Tyler, Reilly and Delaney (respectively).

But today - B is for Bonnie. You can see
a photo of her if you look in the sidebar
at right. Bonnie Girl was our dog for
over 13 years. She passed away this June.
We own her mother Fergus, which means we
had Bonnie from day one. She was a very
sweet dog, quite shy, extremely gentle but
with frequent moods of joy. she had a good
sense of humor. We loved her lots and that
is why B is for Bonnie.