One Part Inspiration...

I usually greet him with "Hello Dawg".  He still thinks his name is "Hey!" or "Stop That!"  He alternately annoys me and delights me.  He is a willing companion, but also gets in my face when I want to be left alone.  On days when I have him inside, he rests his head on the lintel between the mud room and the kitchen (and his paws, if I let him) as if to tell me that he would gladly come and be with me where I am, if only he had my permission.  Every time I go to the mud room to get something from the freezer, or stack/unstack the dishwasher, or sweep, or load the wash, he gets up and wags his tail, hoping that I will give him some love. He is built like a linebacker.  Given the freedom to run, he could clock 30 -40 km/hour easily.  He has no stop button though, and often runs over Kola without noticing her tumbling.  He has very little insight and a truckload of hindsight - as in "oh right, I wasn't supposed to chew that", or "may...

It was such a busy day!  I had to help load the sheep into the trailer, so my people could take them to market. At least, that's what they said they were going to do.  I kept busy running through the tall grass, and figuring out how to crawl through the small spaces in the gates and the fence.  PHEW! That was harder than I thought.  After the sheep were loaded into the trailer, I lost interest and ran through more tall grass and dug for moles. They were gone for a very long time.  When they came back I welcomed them home with sloppy kisses.  Soon they left again.  They talked about going to look at weed whackers - whatever those are, and a tractor.  While they were gone, I looked after the place.  I found a tree fungus and chewed it off the tree and carried it to the front yard so my people would see it when they got back.....  What a treasure! Then it got hot, so I crawled under the front porch and lay in the cool soil until ...

"SHOTS day".   I wasn't really looking forward to it.  I didn't like taking my kids to get shots, and I felt no different about taking the puppies.  I asked my daughter to accompany me - that way she could hold my hand while they got innoculated. The appointment was for noon.  There was much discussion about how to transport them.  I phoned the neighbour to see if she had a cage, but she didn't.  So I cleaned out the plumbing supplies my husband had left behind a large Rubbermaid box, placed the puppies in it, and we were on our way.  When the doctor said it was our turn, I pretended to go into the examining room.  But when my daughter turned around, there I was, gone.  I stayed out in the waiting room, and browsed the brochures and pamphlets on all the diseases and conditions that animals carry.  I came to the conclusion that a veternarian clinic is a dangerous place to come.  There are so many dangers lurkin...

The puppies are now three weeks old (plus one day).  They have found their back legs, although they do look a little drunk when they wander around.  They fall down.  They get up.  They whine and bark, and then are exhausted and go back to sleep.  It is such a hard-knock life.  We named them Henrik and Danielle (after the Sedin twins on the Canucks team) because they were born on the night of game 7, when Vancouver beat Chicago and made it to the next round of the playoffs.  Henrik is all about making his voice heard.  And Danielle is all about cuddling and snuggling.  When they were one week old, they got colicky.  I don't know if puppies can be colicky, but they sure kept us up at night with their sharp little cries.  One night, I was up several times to rescue them from crawling out from their bed.  Henrik was the one I rescued most.  The last time, my husband got up and put them back in bed.  We were both exhaus...

I had never had a dog before Kola. She is a Chocolate Lab. (thus her name) I always imagined myself to be a Collie lover. I didn't have a clue about Labradors until I met my husband. He grew up with a Black Lab named Cole and was convinced that we should carry on the family tradition of having a Lab. I didn't need a dog. I had three young kids. I really didn't want a dog. I already had several jobs to take care of. I might have agreed to a stuffed dog, a wind up dog..But then, I got outvoted. My daughter enlisted the support of her brothers to "buy" a dog. "Now Mommy, I have it all worked out....we'll each put in some money so you won't have to buy the dog..." along with many assurances that they would take care of the dog and love the dog and there would be no problems with having a dog. Many a parent has had the same assurances. And many a parent has found the reality of bringing an animal in the house is that there are more responsibilities en...