Not so Wordless Wednesday — Letters from a Doggy Inmate

 

Dear Bloggers,

It’s my first night at Doggy Central. I’ve been here before, but somehow this time it’s different. I really didn’t want to go this time. Once again, Mama happened to mention that the hotel was doggy friendly. She told me that in the fall after I finish up class we’ll pack up a doggy backpack for me and hit the road all together. But for now, I’m trapped at Doggy Jail Central.

.

Yes, the people are nice, but they are not MY people.

It is an all night party here. We don’t have cages at Doggy Central. We are “free” to roam around our little dog area. There are plenty of interesting back ends to sniff.

However, you have to be a bit careful around here– Lot’s of dominating type dogs. I’m really not into that! A couple of my deep growls and that’s the end of that! You have to show everyone who’s the Alpha and then they’ll leave you alone. I’ll bet that Yorkie will think twice next time he tries to jump ME!

I’ve found a cell mate – a pug that’s planning a break out on Sunday. He’s working on a tunnel under the plastic play house. I hear him scratching now.

The dachshund says that he can do a nice tattoo of a mermaid on my belly if I trade him one of my greenie snacks. I don’t want a mermaid. I might like a nice bone or picture of steak. I’ll talk to him more about it in the morning. The poodle is trying to sniff my butt as I write this. He’s okay. I’ll sniff him a bit later. The Dachshund says that Greenies are like gold here. I can get anything I want if I have enough greenies – extra treats, belly rubs from other dogs, extra wet food! I’m going to save mine. Who knows what I might have to trade them for?

I can hear a lonely hound in the big dog side howling a mournful tune.

Wow! He sounds just like Johnny Cash!

Come back soon family!

I’ve scratched the first day of my imprisonment stay here into the wall behind the fake grass indoor potty.

 

One night down! 4 more to go!

AHHH— OOOOOOOO!

Opie

Inmate #007

Where the Wild Snorkies Are – A bed time story for naughty doggies!

By Storese Meatstack as told to Opie’s Mom

Inspired of course by Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are – Our family’s favorite bedtime story!

The night that Opie put on his Human suit and made mischief of one kind

And another

His mother called him “WILD THING!”

And Opie said “I’LL EAT YOU UP! Or GRRRRRRRR!”

So he went to bed without eating anything.

That very night in Opie’s crate a blanket forest grew until his ceiling hung with soft flannel and the wall became the world all around and a freeway tumbled by with a private van for Opie and he drove all through a night and day and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are.

And he when he came to the place where the wild things are they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws. They also yipped their terrible yips and barked their terrible barks and howled their terrible howls!

Till Opie said “BE STILL!” And tamed them with the magic trick

of sniffing all of their butts and they were frightened and called him the most wild thing of all

and made him King of all wild things.

And now, cried Opie, “Let the wild rumpus start!”

Play Wild Rumps Video Now Please 🙂

 

“Now Stop!” Opie said and sent the wild things off to drink water.

But Opie – King of the Wild things was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.

Then from far away he smelled duck, potato and liver treats and little boy feet.

So he gave up being king of the wild things

But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go we’ll eat you up – we love you so!”

And Opie said, “No!”

The Wild things yipped their terrible barks and howled their terrible howls and sniffed each other’s butts, but Opie got his leash and caught the magic van ride home

And drove back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day and into the night of his very own home

Where he found his supper waiting for him

And it was still…. In the bowl!

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Wordless Wednesday – Canine Boarding Photographic Planning

Almost wordless Wednesday

We are going away for a week and Opie must be “kenneled” while we are gone.

In order to accustom him to the boarding facility, he’s been having sleep overs.

For those who are thinking about how to do this here is a pictorial account of what we are doing to get Opie ready for our trip away.

First, off to the Dog Park!

This is so he doesn’t associate riding in the car with going someplace unpleasant —

All the time! ( Trips to the vet, the groomers, the day care — YUCK) Instead, think of trips to the dog park, the pet store and to pick the boys up from school and just to have a really good SNIFF FEST!

Here he is at the dog park!

Good times!

On the way home we stopped at the pet store and bought some new treats and extra food.

Highly recommend – Welcome Home Duck sticks ( really easy to break up into smaller pieces, unlike any of the jerkies which you need to take the kitchen shears to cut reasonably.)

Then we went home for a bit – mostly to gather up his food for the two night sleep over, his snacks and to write his name on his harness (Just like camp – we have to label everything!)

Then…

another Car ride, and soon we were at Doggie Central.

The idea behind going to the park was to make him a little tired before we leave him at the Doggie Central boarding facility. We also wanted to give him some quality play time with some canine pals. Not pictured is all the affection he got at home. Beau coup Tummy Rubs and lots of duck treats for sitting and staying like a champion.

That night we missed him terribly in the night! There was much vocal complaining from his hu-brothers and I’ll admit I didn’t sleep as well without him walking on me at least once during the night. Every time I heard a siren go by I worried that the facility was burning down with my dog in it.  I finally had to get up and play a little IPAD scramble to clear my head.

Yes, I’m a true mom!  Paranoid to the max!
However, Opie seemed to pass a decent night.

Here are today’s Webcam pix.

I love the webcam!

WHEN THE SAVE FUNCTION WORKS AND I DON’T HAVE TO HIT ALT PRINT SCREEN TO GET AN IMAGE OF MY DOG!

Weirdly, the save function for the webcam is not working!

So, sorry for the picture of my screen fellow bloggers.

However, if you choose any facility for your dog make sure they have a webcam. I think it’s stupid for them not to have one. They are not that expensive, easy to install and the peace of mind they give a dog owner is really measurable.

I wonder if they could put webcams in the schools too! At least the pre-schools!  Just a thought.  ( Paranoid Mamas of the world UNITE!)

(And yes, I am doing weight watchers online. I have a blog there that I am not paying much attention to. LOL)

Still, it’s reassuring to see him running around the next morning. He seems calm and the little dominator dogs that were their back in January do not seem to be there today. Excellent!

I fully expect him to be worn completely out when we pick him up tomorrow morning.

Two nights at Doggie Central!

I forsee a special chicken breast dinner for a certain Mr. Furry Pants. 🙂

 

Hopefully, these two nights will be enough to prepare him for the 5 nights coming up. It won’t seem as if we’ve abandoned him.  That coupled with a few extra perks we’ve arranged should make it more bearable.

The real question is whether we’ll be able to stand it.

Once again, Thank God for Webcams!

Don’t board your dog without them!  

 

 

My Collar — a Love– Hate Relationship

Hi guys,

Mom let me write this posting!  I wanted to complain about my collar. 

I ‘m tired of it.  I wear it all the time and it’s noisy! 

This isn't mine, but my mom is looking at them on the internet. I don't like pink!

When I was at the shelter, I didn’t have one. Then the lady from the rescue came and got me she put a collar on me that had this dangly thing on it. 

When my mom got me from the rescue lady, she and the boys took me to a big pet store. Gregory and Michael, my human big brothers, picked out a pretty blue collar for me that had waves on it. I don’t know what waves are but that’s what they said it was. It was a Martingale like the black one I had on. They changed my collar right there in the pet store. That day I also got another tag to add to the other one. I was very jingly like Christmas bells. 

For a while I really liked that collar.  But, I got tired of having it on all the time. I jingled every time I moved. 

Scratch my ear. Jingle, jingle! Sit up. Jingle, jingle! Lick my parts. Jingle, jingle.

It’s annoying!

Dad said I was too noisy so he took the rings off the tags and put all of them on one ring.  That made things a little better, but then my license came in the mail. Dad added a THIRD tag to the ring. Mom bought some of those rubber things you can put around the tags and keep them from making a lot of noise.  It was very chewy.  Mom had to dig it out of my mouth.

Collar too loose

Then Dad said my collar was too loose. He tightened it but it was still really, really loose. I hoped he wouldn’t notice, but he notices everything. He’s the one that picks the stickers out of my chin and pulls stuff out of my paws when I can’t quite get it.

 New Collar

A few days ago Mom got me another collar. She tried to get a smaller blue one like the one the boys picked out. But they were out of them. My new collar is smaller and it’s red with a funny design on it.

I don’t’ think mom likes it though. She says it’s too thin and she’s always rubbing the edges trying to make duller.  She’s not happy about how short my hair has gotten right around the edge.

Why do I need a collar at all?

Actually, I don’t see why I need a collar at all.  I asked mom and we had a talk about it.

Conversation with Mom as translated from the original Snorkie

Mom: Opie, did you knock the screen out of the bedroom window the other day trying to get that grey cat?”

This isn't our gas man but he wears that orange thingy. I hate him!

Me:  Well, yes Mama. That cat doesn’t belong in our backyard, and she poops under the swing set and that’s gross and…

Mom: Did you bark at the gas man when he came through the backyard to read the meter?

Me:   Yes, and he doesn’t belong in our backyard either. He’s ..

Mom: Opie,  did  the gas man leave the fence gate open when he came in?

Me:  Yes, he did, the ….

Mom: And what would you have done if I hadn’t closed the window?

Me: Jumped out and chased him all the way out of the yard.    

     

“I should mention that I realized that I was about to lose the argument here so I started licking my parts and pretending I wasn’t listening. My human brothers look out the window or play with their game boys when the lecture starts. I don’t have thumbs so I have to make do.”

Mom:  Now, Opie, you know we don’t want you to get lost, right?  We do our best to keep you safe in the house. We take you off leash in the house and at the dog park and in our backyard.  We never take the collar off, because it’s got all your information on it. If you ever got out of the yard and got loss, someone could read your tags and know who you belong to. It’s got all our information on it and if for some reason we didn’t get to you quickly, Randee’s information from Lhasa Home rescue is on it too.  You have to have your Culver City License because if animal control gets you before any of us, then they will take you to Culver City’s No Kill shelter.

Do you understand why you have to wear the collar now?

Me: Well why do I need it in the house?

I love open windows don't you?

Mom:  Are you going to stop jumping out the window and knocking the screen out?

Me: (Lick, lick, lick) Wait! What about the microchip? Hasn’t that got everything on it too.

Mom:  Yes, it does little Doggins, but how do we know that whoever gets you will have the little doohickey necessary to read the microchip.  The tags are a great back up.

Me: Oh all right.

Mom could tell I was disappointed about not taking off my collar. She gave me an extra long tummy rub and played a long time with me and Hedgie.  Later, I got a little piece of breakfast ham too!

I guess all those tags and the collar are a sign that Mom and Dad care about me and want to keep me safe. 

I guess I’ll have to endure it. Mom says that if she may buy me a new collar soon. She doesn’t like the red one very much.  Oh well, she says it’s this or doggie outfits.  She said something about having to indulge her desire to dress me up. What does that mean?

Oh well!

Smell you later,

Your friend Opie

Lovin’ Life at the Dog Park!

 

A picture is worth a thousand words! And here are a few of mine on the subject of the dog park.

 

 Opie loves the dog park!  Here he is doing the whole getting acquainted butt sniff thing!

Getting to know you, getting to know all about your, hmm, hmm.. cup of tea..

Our little city has a great little dog park. We call it  “The Bone Yard”  I think it’s cool even though shade is at a premium in this park.  This park is the result of  a positive grassroots movement of pet owners that really worked hard to make the city get this thing “up off the ground.”   That’s not only cool, but rad as well!  It is a monument to pet advocacy. I feel uplifted every time I go even though when it was really being put together I had no pet and can claim zero credit for the parks creation.  

Those Kudos go to our local Friends of Animals community organization!  Bravo! Bravo! Bravo.

So what’s so great about the Bone yard?

Well, it’s divided into two sides — one for dogs under 25 pounds and timid dogs and dogs over 25 pounds. All the really humongous dogs are on one side of the fence and the itty bitty guys and timid guys  are on the other side.  Sometimes you see big guys with little buddies on the big guy side of the fence Opie certainly shows some interests in a particular big reddish labrador looking doggie over there. They sniff each other through the chain link fence. 

Hey Dude, How're they hangin' .. Oh sorry..they're not.. Awkward!

There are just a few rules for the park.

1. All the pups must be fixed ( This is not a ’60’s love in for pups!)

2. All dogs have to be licensed ( and the requirements for that are totally reasonable and the license is only $25) See my previous posting  about pet licensing. I am an advocate of that!

3. And if your dog is aggressive, ornery or just nuts.. don’t bother bringing him/her. The Bone Yard is all about friendly romping and good old fashioned butt sniffing. Cujo will have to stay home and chew on his mama and daddy for kicks.

4. All dogs must be OFF LEASH within the BoneYard.  At first this didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I noticed that dogs that come in on leash with nervous owners are really fearful and harassed by the other dogs. The owners end up tied up in their own leash from their dogs nervous circling .   Last week, two young women entered the park with their little poodle. They kept her on leash and she tied them up. I started looking for cameras. Surely we were being punked.  At the time, I didn’t have my camera or you’d be in for a treat. 

It’s really great to see the dogs roaming freely all over their section. Some folks take the opportunity to pay good hard games of fetch with their pooch.  The doggies fetch, run around, play, wrestle or just hang out under their owners bench in the shade.  There’s fun lovin’ in the air!

The park boasts a really good little doggy and people water fountain.  My only problem with it is that sometimes sand gets in the doggy part. I always scoop out all the muck and rinse it as best I can. Some owners are a little more concerned about that muck.  So they bring little portable doggy water bowls with them and fill them up on the people part of the fountain.  Now the picture I have here is not a picture of the fountain at the Bone Yard, but its the same type of thing.  Ours looks a little lower. I think the one on the big dog side is like this.

Image by brododaktula via Flickr

 

The rest of the rules are no brainers extrapolations from plain old good manners. The rules are clearly posted at the park and also at the on the Friends of Animals website. So, really there is no excuse for breaking the rules. People have donated pooper scoopers and lots of people pick up after their own pet  poo as well as those of others who are a bit too oblivious to notice the steaming mountain behind the only shady bench.

Really, I am telling the truth.

 Besides butt sniffing,  Opie likes to do what most dogs like to do at the park. Run around like a crazy dog! And man oh man is he fast!  He can really book when he wants to get from point A to point B!

I’m the white blur heading full tilt toward that unsuspecting white dog. Ramming Speed!

 

Image via Wikipedia

 

Now, I am in search of a dog beach near our house to take Opie. I know there is one at  Coronado Island in San Diego.  However, that’s just a little further from my house than I’d like.  If anyone knows about any dog beaches in the L.A. area, please comment about it and let me know. 

Opie’s a California Doggie Dude, but he’s never been to the beach. I think that’s tragic.  I know he’ll go nuts about the seagulls and other  birds. He’ll dig in the sand. He might be afraid of the surf, but shouldn’t he get a chance to check it out a little bit?

He promises not to poo in the sand….much!

Really, would that face lie?