Question to those of you who blog:
It seems the pet blogging community is a tight group, even when many of us don’t know each other. I am amazed when I’m reading comments on someone’s blog post and see a different person commenting that has a blog I follow. Do you find that too?
I’m testing out posting from my phone today. The girls like their snacks.
So this weekend I decided to try something new with the girls. We went hiking!
The girls and I do regularly go to a local park to walk around the lake there but I was hoping to go more onto a trail like hike. It was ‘interesting’ to say the least. We went to a park with a 7 mile paved loop. The plan was to start on the pavement, then cut through on one of the off road trails through the middle.
Bella had a so-so time. During the first 5 minutes of walking Bella needed to go to he bathroom and stepped off the path….right into a sand spur! For those of you who don’t have these they are little hard balls with thorns poking out in all directions. She jumped back on the path, got down on her elbow licking her paw. I managed to get it out but she didn’t want to get in the grass so she pooped in the middle of the paved trail. She was very uneasy in this new place.
Because of the sand spur I decided to stay on the trail. This trail attracts bikers. Not mountain bikers but Lance Armstrong type bikers. I kept Bella away form the side they were passing us on but then some schmuck and his friends decided to buzz us on both sides-one of them going off the trail to run by Bella. When we stopped for water her tail was tucked tight and she refused to drink which worried me (it’s still hot here). I did dump some cold water on her head (which just pissed her off I think). So we headed back.
Daisy was a champ and popular with everyone who saw her. She had on her backpack to carry our water and she walked right by me the whole time. I was lucky that the type of area this was isn’t conducive to squirrels. I could hear people talking about her as they rode up behind us. Some even slowed down to watch her walk. I think she likes having a job to do. I took her off the path 5 different times and she wouldn’t pee. Of course near the end she squats in the middle of the trail to pee!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klfy1XhnQwg&fs=1&hl=en_US]
A little bit about my sweet Bella. She is most likely a puppy mill dog. She seems to have little to no socialization. She is scared of pretty much everything like her own tail hitting something and making a noise. After having her a few months, she did improve. I got her a doggie friend and she improved even more. I started her on prozac and she continued to improve. Now she is almost unrecognizable compared to the skinny, scared dog I brought home.
This however, does not mean she is free from anxiety. On the contrary, it is still an everyday presence in our house. Daisy ignores it completely. I try to not baby her when she is freaking in general although she does come to me for reassurance that things are cool.
So, last night I was sitting enjoying Law and Order. I didn’t hear any noise and I didn’t hear Bella leave her crate. I glanced up and what did I see? Yep, Bella scrunched in with Daisy. Daisy had already put herself to bed. I am so glad she is an easy going dog. I got Bella out and she was shaking all over so I sat on the floor with my hand on her until she settled down. I stood up and was going to encourage her to get into her own crate. She wasn’t having it. After about 2 steps she dashed back into Daisy’s crate. Like any good mom, I made sure to take a picture before getting her out and into her own crate. As you can see, Daisy was unaffected by it all.
But we both fit!
Just sweetness sniffing around….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlPGjqJ9jy0&hl=en&fs=1]
