Wordless Wednesday -If looks could kill

Missing my queen of the doggie spa

Truth is, I  don't miss that Charlee  NEVER missed an opportunity to lay down in a  mud puddle, and only a few times in her life, even in the most  frigid weather, did she opt out of laying down a pond, lake or  ocean.

Old Orchard Beach January 2011

 I don't miss that as she got older and her coat grew thicker, it sometimes took 2 days for Charlee  to dry.  I don't miss the extra muck that Charlee brought into my life, my home,

 my car and my bed. I don't miss that forever wet dog smell that used to permeate our lives.   I don't miss that I was  almost never successful at calling her off something if she wanted to cool off it in bad enough.  She sometimes lulled me into a false sense of security and then would sneak back at the first chance.    Nope don't miss that. Not really.

February 2010 Dundee Pond - seconds before laying down

Beck and Finney both have lovely smooth coats and I highly recommend them.  Finn's double Collie coat  is made for work.  His coat is like a car with a new coat of wax.  Water beads up and it rarely gets through to  his undercoat.   Even if Finney is out in  pelting rain, the rain beads up and falls off and he  dries in a heartbeat.  Beck plays hard in the muddy woods, but his lovely soft single coat is the easiest of any dog I ever had to clean . He is usually dry and all the dirt/mud that turned him brown is usually gone by the end of a hike.  What doesn't flake comes off with a few wipes from the small  towel I keep in the car.  

I wish I had a video of the very first time we took Charlee to Belle Island Marsh in Revere MA .  She went under the bridge that leads to the fire tower at dead low tide and basically played slip and slide. She ran, frapped (frantic rapid activity period) ,  lay down and wallowed. .  Charlee  drew a squealing, laughing crowd  that ran from one side of the bridge watching her.They  muttered  things like "OMG how will get hat dog home?"  "Glad that's not my dog!" 

When Charlee  did come out, she was basically black from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail.  She was covered in sludge (basically sewage) that even after half dozen baths never washed out. She had to shed that coat out to get her whites white again.  Ah memories. 

Evergreen

I walk my two dogs to all of Charlee's favorite haunts. It is like walking down Charlee memory lane daily.   Last week we were at Hinkley Pond. You know the bridge that leads to the waterfall?  Charlee would lay down  to spa at the top,   in the green slippery algae and look like she was about to plummet to her death.  We have visited Capisic Pond. Did Charlee lay in the pond? No she always chose the muddy run off.  I could go on, but I  won't.  What's a little a dirt anyway? What I  wouldn't give to have her back -wet, dirty,  stink and all.     

Wordless Wednesday Way back edition

Speechless Wednesday

My happy place is under construction .That's not some mumbo jumbo psycho babble. Literally,  my (former) happy place is filled with downed trees, front end loaders, and dump trucks. It even has a port a potty.

Evergreen Woods is walking distance from my house, and for the last 9 and a half years I have snuck off to  hike there with my dogs. Having access to 150 designated off leash acres that were so beautiful, and so accessible was one of the reasons I purchased a home where I did.

My dog Charlee died last month and I have known for many years that one day I would bring her ashes to the fork in the road that led to her favorite stream. The stream that she always lay down in was like a fountain of youth for her. After a quick dip she would out run and out play even the youngest dogs.

It was Charlee's most favorite place to go to on earth,  Just walking past it used to  bring me to tears just thinking about the day that would ultimately come.
When my last dog Dina died it took way to long to figure out what to do with her remains, but  Charlee had made it so clear to me so many times.

It took me a month to make myself go back in the woods without Charlee.  and I was really upset last Sunday afternoon to find the spot I had picked out those many years ago to bury her ashes was under construction.  The actual spot was a  wood chip pile over a story high,  roads had been widened,  and there was a whole new road!  When I called Evergreen first thing Monday morning, and I mean FIRST thing, I was told it was not Evergreen's doing. The city of Portland needed access to sewerage. Ok, I can understand that. It is not like they are putting up a parking lot or rows of ugly prefab homes. Ok, I told myself, at least they are not paving the road, and it is still a bit of a secret.

But the reality is that my special spot is gone.
Nothing stays the same right?

All I can say is that I am glad that I held onto to Charlee's ashes. I can't tell you how glad I am that my dog is not under that big pile of wood chips. At this point, Charlee's ashes may or may not end up at Evergreen, and right now I am content with keeping her in the gorgeous and totally unexpected pottery urn that my vet gave me. Thank you so much Casco Bay Vet!



Jared Charney photo



I have been reflecting for the last few days that maybe it is time to find a new happy place in more ways than one .

Thanks for being my best friend Charlee RIP 3/8/2011

Charlee, you were my best friend, mentor and muse for almost 11 years.

We will always miss you.

Wanted to share a few favorite photos of my girl. 

 Pictures are not in order, I am too fried to have order right now.

Last spring in front of our house and my 4 O'Clocks

This past summer.

Life with kids!

05 at a Freestyle demo for Rotti Rescue

My most favorite painting by Portland artist Elizabeth Fraser

from a photo that was on the cover of Down East Dog Magazine.  

A few weeks ago

Last winter at Evergreen on our "Red Neck Agility"  log

Capisic Pond 07?

Pretty much every day of her life. She was impossible to keep thin. 

 Dog died on Fat Tuesday. Coincidence? We think not.

 Willard Beach last summer

Charlee's somewhat infamous still life

Dog in a Blue Wig 

Charlee did everything full speed ahead.

 To quote a friend, she was a force.

Best cell phone shot ever. 

Higgins Beach, last winter on a wicked wicked cold day.

Dina and Charlee 1999

Charlee paw-picked Beck for us.

2011

OOB in January

Looking good for a gal of nearly 12



Good Dog!

The List and/or There is Superstition and/or Is Beck our co-pilot?

Recently I spent a mindless few hours watching a way stoopid Lifetime movie on Hulu, and it got me thinking in all sorts of directions that had nothing what so ever to do with the story line. Thank you ADHD. The gist of the story was that a woman was looking for a man, and she had a list of 10 things that she wanted to find in a mate. I think to a degree, we all have lists in our heads, or maybe even on paper, of things we want and things we don't want. There are  things we can  accept and things we cannot.  There are things we will settle for and things that we won't.  I think this applies not only to partners, but to animals also.
When it comes to dogs, I am very  conscious of my  mental list of wants  and cannot haves.

I remember when we adopted Charlee , I got an earful from the rescue about what I had listed on the application of  what I wanted in a dog. "She is a rescue" I was told, "pick a few things, don't be unrealistic."

Charlee met the two most important things on my then must have list. She was good with and approved by my older dog who was succumbing slowly to a brain tumor, and she was good with my kids. 


When we got Finney, at the top of my list was a dog who could work with me to help reactive dogs. Finn has helped hundreds and hundreds of dogs, both in private sessions and in group classes and I thank him for that.



Which leads up to the now. I am not actively looking for a dog. My long range plan is to get a puppy out of one of my favorite dogs when she comes into her next heat. Time line is  late summer early fall. These pups hit all the things on my new extensive and really almost border line insane updated list. The wonderful line of Spaniels are  super sweet and ubber versatile.



At the top of the next dog list, they need to be able to work and carry their weight around here as Charlee and Finney have. This many sound harsh, but I don't have room in my house for a freeloader dog. I need a dog who can come to work with me as demo dog, and I want a dog to train and compete in multiple venues.

Next dog needs to be able to tolerate and hopefully enjoy the revolving door of kids and dogs. Next dog needs to get along with Charlee and Finney, and next dog preferably will be quite a bit smaller than current dogs.  There is more but it is pickey-unie and I will spare you.

So who turns up?

Beck.

Is Beck supposed to be our co-pilot?

Beck came to us not even close to fitting in. He resource guarded everything. people,  food,  toys and space in my house. My dogs didn't like him and he started out a wild jumping bean. Beck is the  first dog ever to come in my house and  openly challenge Charlee.  Not to worry, he has had a mega attitude adjustment.  Beck  was leash reactive and even got a bit scary with Buck, another male foster dog we had. Then there is that thing about jumping over my outside gate, which he has done half a dozen times. Said gate is over 5 and a half feet tall. The last time he tried it, I had run out to the car to get something and the dog  wanted to come  with.  Beck got his paw wedged in a top picket and he was dangling and screaming, hanging off of  the ground.  I broke my fence to release him.  Fell back, flat back on my ass.

Dog was fine.

My doggie must have list is exhaustive and Beck has stepped up to meet them all. He has a nice food and toy drive, he is smart and athletic , he is fabulous with my kids , great in the car and my dogs do like him. He has turned into a tremendous puppy uncle and baby sitter of other young foster dog in need of a good time.

He has a nice biddable temperament. His learning style is smack dab in the middle between my two dogs, not to fast and not too slow, but just right. His leash reactivity seems minor and very trainable and he has improved about a million percent.

He loves all of us equal -unusual for any dog!

Beck loves people, I mean he loves people. He will wag his tail at anyone he sees at any distance.

Beck was so wired when he first got here, he didn't nap for close to 2 weeks. He just stood up and watched. The dog  is an ace napper and cuddlier now, and sleeping right now curled up next to my middle daughter, Finney and me.


My son has asked for us to keep him for his 18th birthday presnt. Many (and I mean many) of our foster dogs take an instant dislike to my son. I think in part it is because he is male and tall and the other part is that his room is down stairs and he startles the fosters a lot when he comes upstairs for mid night snacks. Beck adores him. My son at times has anger issues and Beck goes over to him and puts his head in his lap, which is a behavior that I have trained autism assist dogs  to do., It is very grounding for people, and dogs need a certain temperament to stand the heat so to speak.

This is the one thing that really kills me and makes me re-evaluate and rethink placing him.


Around here, I have pushed the Charlee's gonna die panic button close to a dozen times. All for good reason. Dog has more lives than a cat.  This is what she looked like in August.

Aside from having the tumor on her toe that the vet and I thought was cancer, she had lost a ton of weight and a good portion of her fur. The vet thinks cancer would have killed her already. Turns out the loss of fur was from too much soloxine , the meds she has taken for 10 yeas to regulate her thyroid. Charlee is  wonderful and fat and fluffy and most of the fur is back now.  Wow huh?

Charlee AKA Old Ironsides, doesn't' appear to be going anywhere any time soon -and that is  GREAT!

Beck has had several inquiries and none have been a good fit. The last email I read did sound fine and after I read it, I cried for about 10 solid minutes. Everyone one who meets him or reads about him tells me that this is my dog. Us animal people have that thing where we think our dogs we are supposed to  find us.  My friend Jo tells me "what else does this dog have to do, he has told you a million times over he is your dog. "

Here is where I get totally weird. I feel if I place Beck,  Charlee will  die and if I keep him she will live.

I know that is totally whack, but it is the brain circle fart that keeps poluting  my head and I keep  coming around to it.

Oh what to do, what to do.

Do you have Lists?

How likely are you to follow them?

How likely  are you to follow your heart?

Charlee has done helped hundreds of kids
learn how to be safe around dogs.
Love her.

February sucks reasons to be cheerful

We loved these dog's ears so much we will foster her soon along with a few PUPPIES!
Gotta love that!

We LOVED  Roosie's first night of school and
  LOVE that he is going to do Rally!

We loved fostering and placing this wonderful dog now named "Lucky",
 even it if was in an ice storm.

We love visiting Strive. 

We love off leash romps.

We love poop picker uppers. Good dog Milo!

We love Charlee and hot pink winter coats.

We love Beck and think he is a phenom.  More on him soon!

We loved seeing Gooddogz/owner trained  service dog Barley at a Nose work class.

We love our Dog Powered service dog friends!








If you  want to feel more more love, you can click the images to embigger them.
February is a dark, dreary, depressing, month.  I just found out that the whole state of Maine should be taking vitaimin D. Off to the store.

Wordless Wednesday Snowzilla edition

Home is where the heart and stomach are

Charlee checked  in to Kelly's Roast Beef. Revere, Ma

I had business to take care of in my home town of Revere Massachusetts yesterday and brought Charlee in the car for company. Being with me in the car, or just in the car, is pretty much Charlee's favorite thing after food. Finney has also decided that he loves the car, or just being any where I am, but like any good Mom , I have to spread my time and love around, and it was Charlee's turn. Charlee is putting up with 2 young male foster  dogs, acting foolish all over her house a good portion of every day. Today is Finney's turn to come to work with me, and with the amount of humping and violating that has been going on here, he to has earned some time off for great behavior.
Revere is the original GTL town. That's stands for gym, tan, laundry, ala Jersey Shore in case you are out of the loop.  Revere has changed quite a bit since I was a kid, but one thing that hasn't changed is Kelly's Roast Beef, and I had a craving. Both my daughter's are vegetarians and I rarely cook or eat meat. I was a vegetarian for nearly 6 years, but got horribly anemic and no amount of iron pills and spinach helped me. When the doctor told me to try to eating meat or give up some blood for a leukemia test,Kelly's roast beef was my first meal.

I have to say I still have some guilt about eating animals, and I nearly asked them where and how the beef was raised, ala Portlandia, but decided that I would take a leap of faith for my gullet's sake, and just hope the cows were treated well.




For the first time ever I have had something positive happen when I tweeted my location on Four Square, and 40 minutes later I got to meet up with my cousins and former foster Stella (Evon). My cousin mentioned that she thought the dog would be nervous and think that I had come to whisk her away from her new life. I had never heard of that. When I have re-met former foster dogs, they either collapse in a puddle of happy mush, or greet me and the kids like anyone else, then after a few minutes a light bulb seems to go off and then they collapse in a puddle of happy mush.

Before I go on, let me say that Stella hit the Jackpot. She got a great home complete with lots of trips to her grandparents house, which is where I met up with everyone yesterday. Stella is genius smart. This is the dog who figured out how to get out of a crate that no other dog has figured out. She had hit the latch with her paws, then pick it up and hold it with her  teeth and BACK UP.  That required a major amount of reasoning power.

When she met me outside, she hid behind her Mom like a little kid going to school for the first time. She absolutely knew who I was. No question. And her Mom was right. The dog thought I had come to take her. She did warm up to me, and gave me lots of gentle kisses, but the dog never took her eyes off my cousin. In this photo, she settled near me, but she is still giving me the stink eye. After I got over my slightly bruised feelings, I was thrilled for the dog and my cousin.

Kind of looks like she is saying "oh no you won't."

In case you never saw it, here is Stella and I on Good Day Maine teaching hand targeting.

It's nice to be wrong sometimes

My friend Mary, of Marysdogs.com (check it out...go now!) is on the cusp of joining the failed foster club. She called me in July and we spoke at length about the dog she saw on the Internet in a high kill shelter in Arkansas. This dog reached off the Internet page and spoke to her. His soulful eyes haunted her.

Mary got an earful from me about how I felt bad, but that there was no way I would pull a dog from the middle of no where, where I had no inside friends or contacts, and especially not one who looked as messed up as (soon to be) Aaron did in the his shelter photo. Mary got the "we can't save them all" speech from me and then she was delicately redirected to try to help a local dog . I told her about all the resources it would take to save this one dog, and how many other dogs she could save with that time and money.  I told her how there were no guarantees, and how "rescue sucks", and how I personally did not like the look in his eyes, or his tucked up fearful body posture.

"No way, don't do it!!" I told her and gave her a few horror stories to mull over.

Mary was gracious and appreciative of my time, and thanked me for my views, then she went and pulled the dog anyway.  :)

 

 If you have not followed his story,  go to Marysdogs.com. She is a great writer, and she has woven together a great story.

 

I  me up with Mary yesterday at Old Orchard Beach and  got to meet Aaron in person.

 

It is nice to be wrong sometimes.



Aaron checks out the ocean for the first time

aaawww

Dogs don't understand the concept of luck. 

Good boy Aaron,  Good girl Jazzy.

Finney and Aaron had a  beach "bromance"








Charlee says "Every day is polar dip day."