Settling In

Beezly is finally settling in to her new home.
It took her about 24 hours to warm up to the notion of interacting with the other dogs.  It was almost as if someone had flipped a switch, suddenly she decided that chasing Phoebe around the yard would be fun and now they have a grand ol' time running around.

Of course the giant breeds have short energy bursts and then they are ready to pass out, so play time is never more than a few minutes.

The stinker has taken to ripping branches off of our shrubs.  I don't mean chewing them off, I mean ripping them. She just grabs a hold and with one yank, the branch comes clean off, and then she brings the stick to you. I don't encourage playing fetch with a stick, altough she does like fetching the football.

Beezly has had diarrhea (TMI) since she arrived.  At first we attributed it to the long car ride and new home, but it has persisted. The vet checked her and discovered she had a parasite, so now she's on some meds. Hopefully that will clear things up, as I'm tired of following her around the yard with a waterhose to wash down her pudding-puddles.

True to the breed, she's a very quiet dog.  She's been with us 4 days now, and it was only just this morning that I heard the faintest of "woofs" out of her. She's a very sweet dog, usually content to lie next to my recliner or at my feet, or if I'm in the kitchen then she sprawls on the floor in there.

 

So at the end of the day, Phoebe is enjoying having her new playmate, she comes in from playtime exhausted!

And when we walk all three girls each evening, they are doing very well together. Beezly is learning to sit when we reach each intersection. On rare moments, I do actually get all three to sit together, just not long enough to actually take their photo.

Olivia has accepted her new sister. Of course she makes no effort to play or really interact with her, but at least she's not trying to bite her head off either. I'm not too sure I foresee therapy pet work in Beezly's future, especially if we can't get her to stop mouthing everything, as I'm afraid she'd accidentally bite someone, and if we can't get her hind legs and hips in better shape, then I don't think she could handle the long walks along the tiled floors of the facilities we visit.

Time will tell what the future holds for us, for now we're just all settling in.

Never cease to be amazed!

I took Phoebe to the Jefferson Memorial Forest this past Friday for their monthly Howl at the Moon hike.  None of the usual hikers or dogs we were accustomed to seeing were there, so it was a totally new group for us to be around.  There was a husband/wife with their 2 dogs Beetle and Wendy (pictured above), and a German Shepherd named Ethel and a Standard Poodle named Jagger.  Jagger is a guide-dog in training, and Ethel already is a guide dog.  Her owner was a young woman named "Mary" who is blind. 
I thought for sure we'd be taking a very easy trail since we had someone in our group with a disability.  Shame on me!!  Apparently Mary and her father are frequent hikers at JMF and know the trails well.  She and Ethel navigated the trails with no problems what-so-ever!  The only problem came when the group would stop and Ethel would keep going, trying to pass us, thus causing her owner to run into the back of me.  After the first time, I made it a point to let them know we were stopping so she could stop Ethel.
So not only was I amazed at this young woman's independence and ability to get around even on uneven ground, my very own Phoebe proceeded to amaze me with her own behavior.
Before we got started on the hike, we all introduced ourselves and our dogs.  Since Ethel is a guide dog and people/pets aren't supposed to approach her while she's working, I made it a point to keep Phoebe away.  Ironically, she never even tried to go to that dog like she did the other three.  And since I didn't let Phoebe get near Ethel, this also meant she never got close to Mary (until the hike was over).
Despite never getting close enough to really interact with them, somehow, Phoebe seemed to know there was something special about this pair.
Despite Phoebe's own lack of hearing and diminished vision, she knew.
We started off at the front of the pack, but after the first break when we had paused to give the girl and her father a chance to catch up to us, we then took a place in the middle of the pack, and this is when the trail started to get a little more rugged.  There were several points along the trail that it was very narrow and there were steep drop-offs to one side, too narrow for Phoebe to walk next to me, so I'd let her leash out and allow her to walk in front of me at the end of the lead.  Several times during this, she would suddenly stop and look back.  At first I thought she was looking to make sure I was still there, but then I noticed she would lean to one side or the other as if to look past me.  I finally realized she was checking to see if Ethel and her owner were still keeping up.
Phoebe did this several times along the way when the trail was at it's most rugged.  Once she had confirmed they were still back there, she turned around and kept going. 
For whatever reason, it was as if Phoebe had appointed herself as their guardian for the evening.
Once the hike was over and we were back at the cars, the young woman finally approached Phoebe and petted her.  Like I said, this was Phoebe's first contact with her, and yet she somehow knew from the get go that there was something special about the girl and even now, Phoebe didn't try to pop Ethel on the head as she does with all other dogs she meets for the first time.  She knew.  I don't know how, but she knew not to bother Ethel.
I will never cease to be amazed by animals and their perceptions and insights to other beings!

Beezly

Finally, the rescue-gods have smiled upon us.  I loaded Phoebe in the van Saturday morning and we made the 3 hour drive to Avon Indiana, just west of Indianapolis, to meet what we hoped would be come our newest family member, Daisy.
OMG! What a sweety! 
The girls hit it off and how could you NOT fall in love with that sweet face? 
The rescue organization is delivering her to us on Friday, I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

We've renamed her "Beezly".

Beezly is a 10 month old English Mastiff that hasn't had the happiest of beginnings in this cruel world.

She was found living in a small apartment, confined to a crate she'd outgrown for the overwhelming majority of the day.  Her owners had put a pinch-collar on her (hate those things! Wish they'd outlaw them!!) and never took it off and even worse, never loosening it to allow for her growth.  When she was recued, it had to be cut off. 

I don't know what the hell people are thinking sometimes or if they even think at all.

I'm not too sure she's ever been brushed in her life, as she seems to still be sporting her winter coat, it's very thick and she's shedding something awful. 

I've already got an appointment with our vet and with the groomer for the afternoon she arrives and she's already enrolled in obedience school for the following week. 

Our home is getting ready to turn in to a 3-ring circus (again), but who cares?!

Phoebe behaved so well at the meet and greet, and minded her manners.  I was sooo proud of her!!

I'll post more photos soon once she's in our home and interacting with Olivia and Phoebe.

Random pix

This was from the Walk & Roll event at 4th Str Live, Phoebe was quite a hit with many of the children there.

 Saw this moth at a friends house, isn't it way cool?  Looks like an owl.  Nature is amazing!!

 This was Phoebe's present she got on her 1 yr. anniversary.

I took Phoebe to work with me on "take your dog to work" day.  She did very well.  It looks like she's trying to eavesdrop at my boss' door.

Olivia modeling the "saddle blanket" I made...

And our model Phoebe.

My 2 beautiful girls!!

3 months+

Egads, has it really been over 3 months since my last post?  Time flies when you're having fun and that's what I've been doing, having fun.  Well okay, not ALL fun, but some fun.

I've been quilting up a storm. 
I finished the crazy quilt I was working on back in the spring when attending quilting classes and have since finished another small quilt with dog-themed material, a "saddle blanket" with a patriotic theme for the girls to wear on there pet-therapy visits around July 4th, Memorial Day, Flag Day & Veterans Day Holidays, and I'm now working on  biscuit-quilt.  So many projects, so little time!!!!

Both girls are doing well, both still visiting nursing homes and Phoebe has even added a childrens group home to her tour of duty.  She does SO well with the kids!  One of the counselors told me after our last visit that the hour they got to spend with Phoebe was often the only happy time those kids had all month ('til our next visit).  So sad, and yet, so nice that we can give them something happy to look forward to.
Phoebe just celebrated her 1 year anniversary with us this past weekend.  I had recently entered her rescue story in a contest and was informed this past Friday that her story won (and it wasn't even the kind of contest I had to beg people to go and vote for), so we're awaiting her gift package in the mail.  That all took place due to the world of Twitter.  Here's the link to that company's website and her story: http://www.ilovedogs.com/2012/06/reader-rescue-story-phoebe/

I resumed horseback riding lessons in May, and continue to ride most weekends at another facility just to help them keep their horses exercised so they don't get fat and lazy, and I'm loving every minute of it!!  If only we could get rid of automobiles and go back to the days of horse & buggy!

About a month ago I took a tour of Undulata Farm in Shelbyville...  what an awesome place!!  If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.  It's free, informative, and breathtaking. The historic house was amazing all by itself, but throw in the tour of the stables and the saddlebred horses and it was just a great time!!

I'm still going to the gym during the wee hours of the morning, although I've scaled back to 4 or 5 days a week instead of 7...  I can't keep going thru life exhausted from a total lack of sleep all the time.

Happy 4th of July to everyone out there!
I'm actually working today, my choice.  I'd rather take my holiday on Friday and have a 3-day weekend. 

Just had to run outside and get a hug from one of the local police officers.  Whenever they pull over somebody or there's an accident out here on the main road, they direct the victim(s) into our parking lot to get them out of traffic, so when I saw 3 police cars pull onto the lot, I had to go stick my head out and see what was going on.  One of the officers is a long time friend of mine, an even older friend of my husband's and was in our wedding, so I wasn't just frisking a random officere, it was a justified hug.  ;)

I'm on Twitter daily now, so if any of you are on twitter-land, look me up!