Category Archives: Pet

Greyhound Stories

Posted on May 19, 2015 | Leave a comment

Years ago I was a leader in a volunteer organization and I began and led a weekly project with my volunteers guided by their own leader. The organization is Greyhound Pets of America. They take “retired” racing and other hounds from racetracks mostly, fix them up, and take great care adopting them to good homes. It keeps them from being shot when they lose a race or can’t make any more puppies.

I met a gal today at a specialty pet store where we get Zoe’s food. She’s currently volunteering for a local GPA, has a Grey from there and is fostering another, a Greyhound/Coonhound mix. The Coon people wanted a Grey to make faster hunters. He saw a raccoon and ran away so they wanted to shoot the dog. This brave lady intervened. The guys just wanted faster hunters and out here, y’all shoot the ones who don’t make the cut.

While I was volunteer leader at a GPA weekly “turnout” when they take the dogs out to exercise and socialize and eliminate, they had 32 dogs in individual crates. The track dogs felt comfortable there as it was their experience as they’d known no other. They were turned out three times per day.

One came in that was an AKC (show) dog and the dogs didn’t like him for that. Also, he’d been raised with show Rottweilers so thought he was, you get it, a Rottie. I had to take him alone, across the street to a fenced yard and let him go. Man, it was a treat to see that dog run. As a joke I suggested subliminal tapes at night that said “I am a Greyhound, not a Rottweiler.”

The lady and I have five things in common. Of course we love dogs and volunteer. We save/adopt/foster orphans and strays. We appreciate the Greyhound for all its glory. We feed our pets best quality food. We abhor animal cruelty.

Here’s another. Martingale collars that were born to fit dogs like Greys, Silken Windhounds, Collies, anyone who can slip a collar easily. I have two from this great company, all Asian silk and hand-sewn. A Martingale is a two-looped collar with no buckle that offers added control. They have them in the store and can order. Now that is a specialty store. Write in if you want more info.

I put one of my two with a 3/4″ braided leather collar. I’ve arthritis since 25 and often there’s ice on the sidewalks so between the 1.5″ collar and flexible 6′ leash it gives me control. Their shop has a relationship with this growing company and our conversation began with her admiring Zoe’s unique collar, asian silk, emerald green with dogwood flowers and brass trim. I love Greyhound stories!

Must go. Dog went to the vet today for a heartworm test and she’s lethargic. Ate dinner but needs to go “you know where.” Cheers! Here’s to GPA and Greyhound Rescue. Dee

 

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Knock and Run

Posted on May 14, 2015 | Leave a comment

That’s tough to do around here. There are seven families per floor. Our neighbors are having people knock on the front door and leave. They need an elevator to do so. I know everyone on the floor so it’s not any of us.

Backstory is that this neighbor’s young grandkids show up a couple of times a year and at their age all they want is to see Zoe, our old dog. Sorry, Grandma and Grandpa! They sometimes stand in the hall and just whisper “zoe” and she rushes to the door to see them.

I ran into Grandpa the other day and he told me of this issue, something I never did in my youth and would certainly never dream of in adulthood. I did knock on their door the day they moved in and gave them pasta and sauce and pots so they wouldn’t have to order in or go out for dinner.

He said “I thought Zoe might have learned to knock on a door. She would never leave, though, she’d always stop to say hello.” I replied “yes she would, and especially if your grandchildren are around!”

Ah, neighbors. As it is, our bedroom is way in the back and even Zoe, lifted by Otis The Elevator (me) to the bed at night, is unaware of hallway sounds so we can’t help find the culprit.

I find it hopeful and helpful that neighbors are so kind and watch out for each other. Another neighbor, when my husband is out of town on business, checks on me and Zoe at least once per week. It is so sweet of him to do so. No, he doesn’t knock and run. He’s usually off with his recycling or to an appointment somewhere and just checks in to see if we’re OK.

There is something to be said for neighborliness and camaraderie. A Swedish neighbor taught me Kottsbullar (Swedish meatballs) and in return I taught him true Texas Chili (Pedernales a la the great Lady Bird Johnson) circa 1962.

The neighbor who checks on me is also a Swede. Are they taking over here? Now there’s Irish. I’ve been given several packages that belonged to someone with the same Irish name I was given at birth. I introduced myself to her today, and her kids. Now we know when packages or drycleaning goes to the wrong Dee, where to send it.

We’re up in the air right now, things happening and in flight. This certainly will not be our final destination but it’s good to know we’ve friends around. I need to get a dinner party together before my husband is off for a while. I think I’ll do a pork roast with hard cider gravy and apples stuffed with corn bread. Southern, I know. I’m smelling and tasting it now, in my mind. That’s how I cook.

I’d actually rather bone out and butterfly a leg of lamb and marinate in a sauce from Jacques Pepin, one of my culinary heroes. Roasted potatoes with garlic, green beans with salt, pepper and a touch of butter and all we need is dessert!  I’m thinking fresh vanilla ice cream with a berry coulis and fresh raspberries and blackberries. Let me call our neighbors on another floor. I used to help take care of their dog who died last year, perhaps the new additions would like to come along as well. Zoe has friends and has been termed, by me, a “cougar.” She only flirts.

Y’all take care. Y’all means you, dear reader, in Texas-speak. All y’all means the mess of you who just got together for real BBQ. Just so you know. Cheers! Dee

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The Candy Man

Posted on May 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

Love is in the air. I took our old dog Zoe out for a late last, last chance as her first one was too early.

Yes, there was a guy with two snickers bars and a package of M&M’s. He was giving them to his girlfriend because he finished off the last of  her Girl Scout cookies. Imagine once they’re married, telling that story to their kids and grandchildren.

I know a guy who was and still is in love with me. How do I know this random guy is in love? Who would do that if he were not? My husband moved halfway across the country two weeks after he left me. We’d been going out for three weeks. A former neighbor he introduced me to asked why he moved back and he said, “her.” And you thought he had me at hello.

Walking a dog introduces you to many interesting people and I’ve many stories to tell but I hope this one has a happy beginning, as did ours. Cheers, Dee

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Silent Commands

Posted on May 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

My husband is brilliant but not good at this or changing toilet paper rolls. He doesn’t send a signal to leave a party. I do. Sometimes he understands that signal.

Who does understand these signals? Our dog. Lucky for us. I learned from my first dog’s trainer nearly 25 years ago to use hand signals for come, sit, stay, down and whatever.

Said trainer would have used German commands for his Shepherds as he ascertained my old dog to be rude and look his Alpha dog in the eye. Verboten. But I learned a lot from him and she went on to a sweet life after being abused by a Deputy Sheriff and dumped at a shelter for a year before I rescued and rehabilated her. She was the darling of the Park and it was so sad to tell the kids she was gone.

Now our “new” 11 year-old dog is the unofficial “mascot” here as she loves everyone and doesn’t pee every time someone pets her head. Hand signals. Silent commands. Learn them. Your significant other will appreciate you for that knowledge.

When my husband needs sleep I can get Zoe out of the room with a simple hand gesture, not a word spoken. For family happiness and all of dog-dom, Dee

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Family

Posted on April 20, 2015 | Leave a comment

My dad called yesterday. I was teaching my Swedish neighbor how to cook Texas chili. He taught me to make Swedish meatballs and wants a Kitchenaid mixer so I had him use the one I’ve had for eons and assemble the meat grinder on it and grind nearly 5# of chuck and short rib I butchered for him.

I couldn’t take Dad’s call because I was hands-deep getting ground beef into the saute pan with my husband and two guests. Dad called again and I told him what’s going on here (not pretty).

He said he called because he was worried about our old dog because of the new Asian/Midwest dog flu that kills dogs. In 11 years he’s never met our girl Zoe but cared enough to call, I love him for that. And I’m his daughter, not a dog owner on the street to whom he is telling this story.

I checked it out and AVMA and the state and numerous news reports including Reuters say a dog came from China to Chicago and reports vary but from 1,200 – 5,000 dogs are sick. Six have died but others become carriers and never show symptoms of the disease or look sick. I just read it’s killed another six dogs in Ann Arbor MI. It seems concentrated now on IL, WI, IN and MI.

So, don’t let your dog near another dog on the street, in the elevator, lobby, especially dog parks, vet offices, doggie day care. A lot of organizations in the Midwest have shut down for this disease. From what I’ve read antibiotics might help but some vets want vaccinations against pneumonia. Does that latter vaccine exist? If so these researchers could help so many humans in addition to dogs. Pneumonia seems to be the last disease human patients die from because their immune system is compromised.

From what I’ve read nose to nose dog contact is the best way for direct transfer. It can stay on your clothes 24 hours and if you pet another dog you must wash your hands (face if she kissed you) and some germs last 48 hours, this is a nasty bug.

OK, Dad, you made me do the research. You’ve never met our Zoe and I dread the day she leaves us, but you love me and my husband so you care about our dog you’ve never met. You thought about me for this issue, for what I’ve put into it over decades, and let me know your concern. I thank you and love you for everything, especially the Buick. Dee

 

 

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A Brief “Date”

Posted on April 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

Yes, our dog Zoe likes every dog she meets but, as a flirtatious “cougar” who was spayed at five weeks has two favorites and just flirts. She does not date.

I know that if we are threatened in any way I can call upon Miko and his dad J. Yes, I made J an interesting quesadilla of pork, cheese and my homemade salsa after Zoe and my “last chance” walk.

Miko is an imposing dog, huge and with gravitas. So is his owner. I feel safe here alone with Zoe and thank my neighbors, all, for checking on us while my husband is away on business.

Now Zoe and I just have to teach G, a Swede how to make Texas chili! I’ll have to issue a challenge. But I have to pass my final exam first, Kottsbullar, Swedish Meatballs he taught me. Then we make Texas chili and I test him. Then we toast, I guess, there are no wagers on this as yet.

I’m enjoying making a different homemade salsa every time and making menus for my husband and for guests. I change things, pizza for young kids as they get to make dough (for us, tomorrow) and roll out my dough and choose toppings. What they choose is so interesting as it tends towards personalities. One is brave, the other just cheese. That might be a great study. Fr. Cap and Fr. Murphy would have liked that. RIP Fathers. To friends, cooking, safety, Dee

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Oh, hon…..

Posted on April 7, 2015 | Leave a comment

I did have a good night’s sleep without him because our dog went to sleep on his side and he didn’t kick her accidentally in the middle and have her jump off and beg to be lifted back up (she has no hips so can’t jump up) as she loves her pack, that is us, her humans.

Zoe is a gorgeous dog because she gets 20 hours per day beauty sleep and doesn’t need moisturizer, only a bath care of moi every two weeks with Mane and Tail shampoo and a comb-out at least 24 hours later. She doesn’t like blow dryers.

So, my husband was off at work for seven months. Then home for three weeks. Now he’s away for a few days and I’m talking to him. Oh, hon, can you check?????? I need those papers to file X. Dinner will be ready in five! Whenever I say anything he asks what? Not you, dear, I’m talking to the dog. OUT of my kitchen, you already ate. Good girl.

It’s not fair. Send him away. Bring him back sick and I literally bring him back to life with broth, soup and solid food then he’s itchy and twitchy and bored to get back to work so now he’s back. Now I have to take our old dog out and will awaken with my hand on his pillow. Probably talking to him, as well. Married life. Single gals will not get that this is not a spread in a getting married magazine of laying on the sofa together reading the NY Times and doing the crossword.

It’s about real life. Missing each other, arguing from time to time, reaching out for a hand or arm crossing an icy street and knowing you don’t even have to ask or look, we both thought it at the same time. That’s marriage. Not crossword puzzles on the sofa.

He’s arranged to come home every weekend. Oh, I love him so. Now I’ve work to do. Taxes, menus, cleaning, dog walks and bath. I don’t have time to write. Cheers! Dee

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Dog-Naciousness

Posted on March 24, 2015 | Leave a comment

Our 11 year-old hip-less wonder dog is not spoiled at all. She has only one toy. It is an open rubber sphere that contains a latex toy with a squeaker. The sphere lasts ten years then we need another. For a year it’s been a latex gorilla with squeaker that I laced into the toy. She loves it.

If we gave Zoe the latex toy with squeaker she’d have decimated the toy and squeaker in about thirty seconds. It’s the same with stuffed animals. Get the squeaker, tear it apart, leave batting all around and “mom” gets to clean up.

Aside from vets et al we are pretty self-sufficient on the dog front. Our dog has been with us for 11 years, adopted at just six weeks of age and we had to have her hips excised at six and nine months of age because she had the worst x-rays any vet had ever seen. She grew her own and has been happy and healthy ever since, even acing her first senior blood panel last year.

Our guest bath has a garden sprayer, 10′ garden hose and fixture that allows shower water to be put into the hose and not the spigot, but does not inhibit water flow for human showers when turned off. I place a mat in the tub. Zoe wants to be clean so goes right in. Ok, I have to lift her but she wants this.

I have already lined the floors with dog towels and have extra after she shakes off water and I have to dry her. I believe the entire mechanism cost under $40. Zoe is an Aussie mutt and doesn’t need breed-specific grooming, just wash and wear. My husband is allergic to her dander, however, so I have to do this every two weeks. I dry her off, take her out, clean the bathroom and wash her towels.

She eats frozen raw food and I keep her with some of the same brand for dry in case of a road trip, to make sure her tummy is OK with it. It was the only thing she would eat as a pup after I tried everything in a specialty store so, we stuck with it and there are still caretakers who will not abide by my wishes in regard to frozen raw food. I will not change my dog’s routine so a caretaker can impose his/her will on her for a weekend and make her sick on trash food. That’s why we now have sleep-over caretakers and don’t take her to other places.

She loves her in-home caretakers. Once she dragged me down the street after this guy, who turned out to be a live-in caretaker from a year before. I didn’t recognize him 100′ ahead of us walking away, but she surely did and he greeted her warmly and does so today.

We’ll lead a quiet life until the squirrels come out from their apartments in the trees. Don’t worry, she is on a leash and will never get one. She sleeps like I would wish, to dream. When awake, she is happy all the time. She is a presence, perhaps sent to me by fate or other means, and when she took that tortilla last night my husband accidentally dropped on the floor all we could do was laugh.

Similar to the mustache incident years ago. Brunch, guests. Puff pastry. She got a croissant and passed us at the dinner table in order to get to her sacred place to eat it. She had it in her mouth like a mustache. We were all laughing so hard there was no way to reprimand her. She showed she’d grown her own hips and could now get up to the stove. Here’s to bravery, silliness and strength. And a favorite dog. Dee

 

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K Knows

Posted on March 17, 2015 | 1 comment

Our neighbor knows that her grandchildren stand in front of our door to whisper her name and get our dog Zoe to bark, thus making me walk outside and let her play with our dear young friends.

Until today I never knew that Grandma knew but the grandkids love our dog and are getting older and will get over it and ask Grandma and Grandpa for horses or Ferraris so the dog thing for ten minutes a day is looking good right now.

All I wish is to tell every young person to be all that you can be, as I see these children loving our Zoe for years I know that they will be good emotionally because their hearts are true. Even if I couldn’t see it, Zoe does as she runs out to see them and she can smell a rat. She does not like bad people or bad dogs. She loves cats!  But these kids are smart, have good hearts, and are kind.

They are arriving soon. I will assure that their canine neighbor is ready for their arrival. Why? Because she loves them as well and would do anything to assure their safety.

Perhaps we can have one or two walks this weekend. Zoe, you and your charges have to ask parents and grandparents and we have to cross at the crosswalk. Yes, the one I had the city create and needs to be repainted. I was thinking of you all the time. Slainte, Dee

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Posted on March 16, 2015 | 2 comments

There was post-stock market crash “beanery” in an old political town of mine. People would line up around the block and get beans for a few cents during the Great Depression.

I found it one day, a dive, my favorite, with nice owners and waiters. They probably only had twenty tables. It was tiny but cooked the best corned beef and cabbage on rye in town. Brown deli mustard on the table.

After I knew them a bit I started to arrange all our staff lunch birthday, going-away, baby and retirement parties there. I’d call, land lines and rolodexes back in the day, and say I’d like a reservation. They inevitably said, “Ha! We don’t take reservations.” If the owner or his son answered they’d just ask me what I needed and were very kind to accommodate whatever I asked.

I’d tell the others it’s Dee! Oh, Dee! And please have a table for 14 at noon. They did and only did ordering for the few they didn’t know. Plus they always placed four quarts of Pabst Blue Ribbon on the table with glasses out before we arrived.

Tomorrow I’ll wear a green tee shirt I bought the other day. I got it for half what my new dog collar cost. Tomorrow our dog Zoe, age 11, (we’ve just had her for 11 years after shelter adoption on 3/6) will wear a birthday/adoption gift, a 1.5″ Asian silk hand-made Martingale collar, emerald green with cherry blossom pattern. There’s a party and she will look stunning after I comb her out. I will just be at the back of the leash while she greets her public…… [Oh no, paparazzi!! Please, no pictures! Security, just help me to the limo.] That last part was her dream. Her feet are moving and eyes blinking in her sleep. She’s actually thinking of treats, or squirrels.

Apparently they’ll have green beer at the party. I think not for me. I did that once at age 22. And I met a really nice guy in the pub, a high school science teacher who took me for a first date to a movie the following weekend, Caddyshack, which I hated. That and him getting a beep during the movie (he was on teachers’ student suicide watch that week) got me out. He was a nice and smart guy, but no more dates and in the end I got my prince, who also doesn’t drink green beer, or anything but Dr. Pepper.

Back then, everyone knew my name. Now they know my dog. Kids stand outside our door and whisper her name hoping she’ll bark and ask to come out. These particular ones arrive later this week. We’ll be ready.

I hope my Greek friends don’t mind reading this for celebrating St. Patricks’ Day and that my Irish friends would perhaps try moussaka. It might be closer to a Shepherd’s Pie than one would think. Add a bit of eggplant and and a rich, eggy bechamel on top. I love it and it’s great to do in advance to actually enjoy guests instead of spending all my time in the kitchen. My husband hates eggplant.

So raise a pint to St. Patrick, wear your green and enjoy a bit of conviviality with your family, friends, colleagues. Darn, I wish I could have found a Piper. Bagpipes, I miss the sound of the streets of Scotland. Slainte, Dee

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