Oddities

 

Today will be short.  I’m a bit down.  Don left you know.  Gee, I miss the little guy. No one is humping me from behind when I least expect it, no one to tackle me as I  daintily eat my dinner, no one to steal my bed when I  rest my weary bones.  Anything I want to do I can. Isn’t it odd?  Shouldn’t I be thrilled the little pest is gone?

With his departure my walks decreased by about 100%.  When Don was here we were on a military schedule.  Out at 6:30 a.m. for a walk, crawl back to bed until 8 (shh, don’t tell anyone about that because owner is embarrassed about it) breakfast, rest time for an hour while owner zoomed around making a mess of the condo, then a good hour and a half of pure pleasure walking and sniffing.  Don meant I was guaranteed that time outdoors, always heading in new directions, meeting new dogs, messing about with boats so to speak.   Ahhhh.  Pure bliss.  This does not take into account the fact that later on in the afternoon we’d head out for another hour’s walk.  My posterior was getting back into fighting form– and you all know that has been a concern for me since the Fall. (Do Your Ears Hang Low – September 29, 2009 posting) My role as teacher of the younger generation has been taken away from me.  I’m just drifting aimlessly through life, feeling useless and unappreciated. It has really played with my head.

We hit the cross country trails out at Trout Lake the other day.  It is all uphill…but a gentle uphill so it doesn’t feel tough.  The snow was falling the entire time we were out  which made it ultra beautiful.   Although it was easier heading out on a trip without Don, we all missed him and it put a bit of a damper on the outing.  

I get the feeling I will be going for a visit to Lane and Dan soon. All of the talk around here is Iditarod this, Iditarod that. This is odd to me.  They go on one dogsled ride over  a year ago and suddenly they are headed to the Iditarod. Do they know anything about it? NO! Have they any idea how cold it will be in Alaska?  NO! Have they got friends up there?  NO!  Do they know anyone in the race, going to the race, who has ever been to the race?  Well, when you put it that way, YES. Owner’s cousin and her family are big mushers.  In face they own about 40 dogs up in Canada and they love to race them.    Check them out at:  http://www.willowbendsiberians.com/

Sue and her family won’t be racing in the Iditarod but they are owner’s one teensy tiny tie to the big race!  Other than that the closest these guys have ever been to a dogsled race is reading Gary Paulsen’s Winterdance.  I think owner practically fell off the couch laughing when she read that book. Maybe they will get that on DVD some day and I can listen to it as we journey back  to Texas.

My mental health is stable  for now.  I’m managing to deal with my grief. I hear Don has gone to hang out at someone else’s house for a few days as he gets used to being without us.  He’s the talk of the town in Telluride. Everyone is trying to come up with a great place for him to call home. For a short while I thought it would be here but…no go. A friend of a friend has talked about fostering him in town  for a while so maybe we could do a little babysitting once in a while. I bet Don would be surprised to see us.  Do you think he’d pee on the furniture to pay us back for returning him to the shelter?  

 

My eyes are peeled and my ears are open as I try to discern when I shall be shunted down to Wash-n-Watch Dogs for a short haul.  Lane’s place is at a lower altitude so hopefully it will be a bit warmer and I can find a sunny spot to work on my tan. 

Here are some fabulous photos that Benj and College dug up re dogs and sleds and snow.  If you have some time to spare…take it and enjoy the shots. Gorgeous is a word.   See ya later.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/02/dogs_and_sleds.html

Things Don taught me.

 

 

Please call Second Chance in Ridgway if you want a great dog with a loving heart.   He’s ready for forever love.  He’s still young,  very smart, housebroken,  and ready to be trained to fit into your home. With some dog school training he will be  doing party tricks for your guests in no time. He’s 40 pounds of pure strength with sturdy legs and those great paws that don’t collect ice balls!  He’s meant to live where he can hike and cross country ski with his people. His most important goal in life is to be WITH HIS FAMILY as much as possible.  He’s a joiner not a loner. His name is Don Juan.   Call Allison at Second Chance -- 970.626.2273, all staff will be able to help.   For more information on Don read through the many blog postings we made during the five weeks he was living in our home. Please pas this posting on to anyone interested in acquiring a first dog or a dog companion for their current dog.

 To say owner is sad that Don went back to the shelter is a lie…she’s a basket case! She doesn’t feel up to posting a ton of Don photos as they only make her sadder which leads to more tears.  He is a real love bug.  He just wants to be at your side all day long – not like me, Casey the chowbrador,  I prefer my own space whenever and wherever I can find it. Owner was sure when people saw how cute and heard how fantastic he was she’d be beating potential owners off with a stick. I actually  heard some whispers about taking ME to the shelter and keeping Don….they must have been jesting, eh? 

Don  can’t be ours because we travel too much.  He also would not do well in our apartment in Texas when we are there.  He likes to be outdoors living an active lifestyle.   Have you ever gone on a walk in The Woodlands….about 20 minutes is all you can handle in that sweaty environment.  Don likes a good march at a fast pace in cool air.    I will miss him because he became a very good friend.  A new dog can teach an old dog new tricks.  Here are a few he passed on to me while he was here.

1. Never settle for the floor if a dog bed is handy.

2. Never settle for a dog bed if a cushion is handy.

3. Never sett le for a cushion if a human bed is handy.

4. When on the human bed be sure your place  your nether regions towards the humans.  If you should pass wind….it will wake them up and remind them how much they love you.  This is evidenced by their warm  re citations of, “oh Don!” “OOOOOHHH DOOONNNN.” (I’d like to say they never say OOOOHHHHH CAAASEEEY…but they definitely do that too.)

 

5. When you pee, (especially on a snowbank)  pee enough to fill a bathtub.  You  never know when you might get out again.  Enjoy the scenery while you are stuck waiting for that minute or two.

6. Even though I’m  a girl dog Don taught me it is Ok to lift my leg to scent those hard to reach branches.  It works like magic. I had always wondered why other dogs did that; now I know.

7. Never miss an opportunity to check a kitchen counter.  Who knows what could be up there.  He snagged a crust of bread this way.

8.  When lying on a window seat…. periodically growl at people passing  by outside in case they can hear you.  Let them know you are on guard protecting your humans. So far my growl is puny and pathetic but I promised him I’d work on it.

8. When sniffing, keep the nose as low to the ground as possible.  Try to  bury entire head in a snowbank to get an extra good whiff. I tend to sniff from about 3 inches off the ground, but my experience is a lot less enjoyable than Don’s and I miss a lot of interesting action under the snow.

9. Exercise…the more the better. Keep yourself in shape for any adventures that may come your way. Cross train is Don’s catch word….play fetch, cross country ski, brisk hikes, slow leisurely long walks, and jump for treats. Apparently jumping works the joints well. (I need my arthritis pills before I do any major jumping.).

10.. Act first and then think….for example if you see an open bag of dog food, dive in.  After you’ve had a good munch think about what you are doing and get out and hide. Pretend to sleep as if you never even noticed the opened bag. This is definitely my favourite new trick of all time.

11. Look cute while sleeping.  If you have a snaggle tooth, let it show. Humans like this.

11.  Always be on good behaviour around humans. You never know who might become your forever owner.

12.  Human tears are for licking.  This provides comfort. Plus we love the salt.

12.   Always remember you are worthy of love.  Love will find you..we are dogs.  Dogs are adorable.

It’s only been 24 hours Don but the house isn’t  the same. Owner can’t stop crying.  I am searching for you everywhere.  I know you went back to the shelter but I keep hoping it is a nasty trick.  It’s not nearly as much fun eating my breakfast without you trying to butt in….those were good games, eh? So for now we  live for an  exciting call from the shelter that someone worthy of you dropped by and took you home to be their main man. This call could get curly haired to encourage owner to drink some of that incredibly expensive champagne he bought her for Christmas.  If the new owners  ever need a babysitter……we are here and would love to see you again. They should give us a call.

Good luck Don.  It’s a tough world out there but we think you have the inner strength to make it!  Love you, Don.  See ya around buddy.

Special, special, Read all about it!

Special posting today as Don’s time with our family starts to narrow down.  All we want is for little Don to find a home of his own with his own forever people to love him.  He’s a doll.  Energetic, happy, snuggly, loving, never turns his nose up at dinner, loves a good chew on a rawhide, rolls around showing off his stomach to all and sundry…what more could anyone want. He’s never met a dog he didn’t like.  He’s never not enjoyed an activity whole heartedly.  He’s learning to fetch. He’s an all around great guy.  We will miss him when he leaves but he can’t come with us to Texas, when we go back for a visit.  Someone somewhere must need a good loving dog.  He’d do best with energetic people who are around a lot OR who have another dog who could use a companion. Every bit of information we have learned about Don (his likes, dislikes), his schedule…we will share happily.  We don’t think he’d be great with really  small children….he’s pretty energetic and might bowl them over accidentally.  Kids who want to hike, fish, cross country ski, ride bikes and be loved by a good loving guy….Don’s the man!

This is a photo essay of Don  out cross country skiing today.  A month ago he didn’t know his own name; now he is leashless most of the time we are out skiing.  

What a man…..11 months and solid muscle! 

 

 

Here he is leashless and loving it.

 

Rear view…..how cute am I?

 

How far away am I allowed to go today?  Wow…this far!

 

No, I’m not eating her hand; I’m eating cheese.

 

 

Cheese is great and all but where the heck is curly haired going?

 

I’m outta here man; I wanna run! It’s all downhill from here and that is a good thing!

 

Yup, I peeked.  It is pretty here.

 

The rumour is if I don’t find a local family I’ll be heading back to the  shelter. They are great and all but I really want my own home.

How can you resist me?  Look at my little tooth poking out. I’m adorable.

If you need a loving faithful companion, I’m your man. Just call Second Chance Humane Society in Ridgway and ask about Don Juan…..they’ll help you out. Information below!

Shelter Manager:
Allison Dooley
970.626.2273
allison@secondchancehumanesociety.org

Everybody was dancing in the moonlight

 

Don’t forget you can follow Casey’s (the dog)  words of wisdom at Telluridedogblog.blogspot.com or be a fan and  follow her on Facebook at Telluride Dog Blog.  She posts Tuesdays and Saturdays. 

 

Don the foster dog and I got a little dirty today so we had to get into the glass torture box.  Can you imagine she put us in there together.  It was very embarrassing.  I’m not used to someone seeing me au naturel. You would wonder who she could live with me for seven years and not noticed  my tendency to modesty. Here we are curled up in front of the fake fireplace; I’m fluffing up and Don is drying out.  Don’t let it get around, but I’m starting to enjoy the little fool’s company.

Saturday was a special night in Telluride. Just to be fair…they weren’t really dancing in the moonlight but they sure were skiing in the moonlight.  Cindy Farney put on a really cool spread on the Valley Floor, and might I add  she did this  completely out of the kindness of her heart.   Due to “dog prejudice” we could not attend but I hear it was great.   Fantastic comes in  many forms…first the food was delicious, second the food was free, third the food was eaten in the moonlight, and fourth you had to ski to the various stations to participate in the progressive dinner party. Nothing like exercising your food off instantaneously.  It was open to anyone in town; cross country ski rentals can hit the roof on this night.  Owner and curly haired were bowled over by how much fun it was.  Who cares if the moon wasn’t quite as brilliant as the night before; everyone was in a good mood and being outside in the cold crisp air by the light of the moon was novel and exhilarating. 

Owner has no idea where all this fog substance came from.  It didn’t appear foggy at all, there was no fire,  but a lot of photos  kitchen   had this fog.  Rather eerie—former residents of the Valley Floor in attendance? Perhaps.   She told me the hardest part about the whole night was being able to get your skis on and off in the dark…..she can hardly see in the daylight so you can imagine her problems.

Every time they go out they think about how much fun Yael would have found this sport.  It is the perfect sport for her because she loved the Valley Floor and walked it every day.  Best news – no mosquitoes in the winter, no bears to think about.  All the loops that the Nordic Centre manages to work into the trail add a lot of distance also. 

Owner and Curly haired had to walk three minutes to get on the cross country trail. They slapped on their skis and skied about a mile to the first pit stop. Lucky owner…they landed at the dessert table and everyone knows that Cindy has always known how to  make GREAT COOKIES, GREAT BROWNIES….dessert as a first course. Who’s complaining?  How much fun is it to ski right  up to the table? It was a perfect temperature for a night out on the VF but  even so the brownies really wanted to freeze to that pan.  Everyone laughed and joked about needing to use their ski poles to pry out the dessert.

A young boy, (and not this boy in the photo but we love his photo) kept saying where’s the stupid bread?  Where’s the stupid bread?  He seemed so happy and contented that his words didn’t matchc his cheerful face.   After a few repetitions owner realised he was only asking, “where’s the soup and bread?” She’s had her hearing tested and they told her she’s fine but I have my doubts. 

On they skied.  Slowly the trail was lightening up as the moon began to rise from behind the mountains.  Everyone’s eyes were adapting to the light. Some people had lights on their hats to help them find their way.  This is not CITY DARK….it is DARK DARK as you can well see from this photo.  That’s the little groomed track on the left that a lot of the Nordic skiers like to use.  Those incredibly fast skate skiers have to zoom right down the centre lane. I know owner and curly haired want to learn how to do that too.  Lauren and owner and another woman, Linda, are tossing around the idea of taking a lesson with Midnite.  My camera better be handy for that.

Although I wasn’t allowed to attend this event, apparently Cindy did a great job with the soup.  Everyone had a cup of Leek and Potato to warm them from the inside out and the word on the street is that it was delicious and really hit the spot.  Of course, Cindy bread is equal to the best bread in France so there were no complaints about that either. On they zoomed to  the drink table…about half a mile or so away.  Hot cider awaited. Nothing like a little hot apple cider to warm the bones.

By now the moon was on the rise. Brings to mind another song but I’ll let that slide for now.   Everyone was in awe.  Nothing beats a night out in the crisp clear air, watching families enjoy themselves on their skies, and doing all of this by the light of the moon.  As our friends Michelle and Chuck can attest… .when the moon begins to rise in Telluride there is no stopping it.  One second you see a tiny bit of light behind a mountain and the next there it is  -- full frontal!  Crazy.

If you haven’t visited Cindy Bread while you are in town, you are missing out on some great treats.  Try the  croissants!  I may only be a dog but I know a good thing when I steal one.  Cindy may not run the bakery any more but her quality still exists.  If you haven’t been out on cross country skis in the moonlight – well head to Cindy Bread and pack a picnic and take off.  You’ll never regret it.  I’m going to go as soon as the rules change and dogs can zoom about on the Valley Floor.  Can’t do it yet but you never know…..a dog can dream.  See ya later.

 

 

( I mentioned that I’m starting to like this little foster dog, eh?…but he still needs a home as we have to go back to Texas for a couple weeks and he can’t come with us….we have broken him into fine shape for someone who likes exercise and wants an incredibly loving companion).

Can dogs go crazy?

 

Life is driving me insane.  Everything I know and understand has turned upside down.  One minute my food and water are next to the kitchen and then they are in the back bathroom and then moved downstairs to the hallway ….oops, no, now in one of the spare bedrooms.  The furniture is all scrunched  together, plastic bags are covering everything, and then strangers come to visit and take over our upstairs. What the hell is going on around here?  If curly haired was here none of this would be happening.  In fact I heard owner say,  of course this happens when curly haired isn’t here.

 

What happened was Shannon (Marjenhoff)  dropped by and told us we were bland. Personally, I like bland.  My fur stands out against bland really well and  bland makes me happy.  Bland means nothing unusual is disrupting my world.  Anyway, Shhhhhhhannnnon  told us red and mustard, yup red and mustard was the way to go.  Owner has absolutely no artistic talents whatsoever so bought into the programme completely.  The night before the strangers arrived owner had a few nightmares….mustard, what was I thinking?  mustard?  Luckily there are all different colours of mustard and ours was just the pale mustard seed. 

Decorating advice led  to complete and total disarray in our household  and what felt like hundreds of trips to Alpine Lumber for yet ANOTHER gallon of paint.  We couldn’t even sleep  in our usual spots. This made Don as happy as could  be since it meant he got paroled for the night (read out of the crate).   He bounced right on to the bed in the spare room and didn’t move a muscle for ten hours.

I’ve been watching him.  Creeping suspicion tells me that Don knew Shannon  from somewhere else and somehow he’s responsible for this entire shamozel going on in our condo. It’s obvious he’s in love with her.  He spent a lot of time fawning around  hoping she would take him home. Unfortunately, she didn’t.

While all this was going on we were still trying to take care of the birds.  They are actually getting downright demanding.  One bird spent a bit of time traipsing around our front step as if he wanted to come in and get his own damn bird seed.  Who does he think he is!  I decide, well really owner decides, if he gets fed.  We ran out of “cow fat” (yum my favourite) this week so the birds got a lot of peanut butter mixed with bread crumbs, oatmeal and a few cranberries. We are apparently running a restaurant for gourmand birds.  Our offerings had huge appeal…so much so that a neighbour’s dog came by and would not leave until he had eaten the entire mess.  I think he was just stupid; probably thought he was eating the cow fat because the snow retained that odour.   What self-respecting dog eats cranberries?  Well, maybe Eloise, she does eat carrots after all.

Don’s poster is up  at Mountain Tails and no, it isn’t a wanted poster.  Well, actually it is I guess.   It is a  “family wanted” poster.  He’s still looking.  We had a good lead but it fell through like leads tend to do. He’s settled right down and now owner can get out of the house and enjoy some of what Telluride has to offer.   We figured out he simply had to get out of his crate.  All he  wanted was to chillax with me in the front hall on a dog bed chewing yet another disgusting tendon thing that he likes.  Poor guy, he’s only nine months old but he’s spent a lot of time living in a crate.   Don’t get me wrong, he says everyone at Second Chance is super nice.  In fact we met his regular Wednesday dog walker in town the other day.  We were wandering around peeing on a few walls and benches when suddenly a woman yelled, “Hey is that my Donnie?”  My first thought was, well Lady if he’s your Donnie, what’s he doing with us?”  However, Don went berserk and jumped all around  kissing her and basically acting a bit nuts. He was happy to see someone from his past life who knew him “when.”  We all like to have people who knew us “when.”  In fact   owner has a few of those old timers coming  to hang out with her in a week or two.  Can’t wait for those stories….oh wait I digressed, right?  Sorry.

 

 

Check out the new reds and golds….Yahoo.  We love it.  But what we really love is our painted hallway door.  It makes us all happy!

Anyway, the furniture has all been moved back into place, new places for us but soon they will be old places.  Everything is fresh and clean and bright.  Actually my fur looks pretty darn good up against the red walls in the living room.  Shannon was right.  We were bland. Wow, and I didn’t go crazy.   See ya later.