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Cute Things in Tiny Packages

05 Monday May 2014

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I’ve always been a fan of bigger dogs.  They are the best to cuddle with.  It’s so easy to lean in, wrap your arms around, and bury your head in the fur of a big pup.  Riggins is the perfect size.  When he cuddles up in bed with me I can throw my arm around him and snuggle up next to him.  I tend to get a lot of big dogs coming to my house for dog sitting.  On the DogVacay site, that I use, some hosts will only accommodate small dogs and often a big dog owner will look for someone who has a big dog too.  Their thinking is a big dog person already knows how to take care of their beast.  I tend to think big dogs are easier to take care of than small dogs but most people don’t agree with me.

Lately I’ve had a number of small dogs come through my door and into my heart.  Let me tell you about just a few:

download (3)CREATURE – Creature is acorgi/spaniel mix.  At four years old she has a ton of energy and is full of smiles and happiness.  Let me tell you the two big negatives ofcorgis (andcorgi mixes) that you have to get over if you fall in love with one.  First of all they shed like amo’fo’.  Secondly their little legs actually make it difficult to walk them with a leash attached to the collar.  The leash is constantly getting tangled up in their little legs and you have to work hard at keeping the leash up over their

The Monroe

The Monroe

head in the correct walking position.  It’s kinda a pain in the bum.   You need to get a walking harness if you want to make it easy to train them to walk on leash well.  Creature is so darn cute those things don’t matter.  The best thing about Creature?  She squeaks.  She is like a squeaky stuffed toy and whenever she is happy or excited she squeaks her head off.  That means whenever I come through the door, or take her for a walk, or suggest we go to bed, or suggest she comes give me a hug she goes into a hilarious squeak fit.  She also is the best poser and has what I call the “Marilyn Monroe” pose.  When I want to take a picture of her I tell her to “Strike a Monroe” and she sits down with her head turned up and to the side.  Hilarious!

download (4)LESTER – Lester is apuggle.  That’s a pug beagle mix.  He is a little ball of awesomeness.  I’m not usually a fan of pug or pug mixes.  No offense to the breed but it just doesn’t fit my lifestyle.  Any short snout type dog isn’t usually a great hiker which means not a great companion for me.  I would never dare say such a thing to Lester.  First of all it would destroy his feelings.  That is what it seems like.  He is like a living super happy Eeyore who, with one negative comment from the human he loves, will be sent back under that sad little rain cloud.   You just don’t want to ever disappoint that

LOVE ME!

LOVE ME!

face!  Lester is the best cuddler.  He is also one of those dogs who HAS to be under the covers with you.  This can be annoying but not when it is Lester.  It’s very comforting to have his little warm fuzzy body up against your legs while you sleep.  He is also the king of pictures and every single time I snapped my camera and then took a look I laughed out loud.  His face … adorbs!

downloadDAMSEL – Damsel is a schnoodle.  That is a schnauzer and a poodle mix.   She is also Dragon‘s new sister.  Now you know I adore Dragon so Damsel had a lot to live up to.  Her dad told me she was younger and, although old enough to be house trained, was having problems and overall was taking a bit to settle into her new family life.  I was expecting the worse.  I drove over to their house to pick them up (their folks had already headed off on their vacation) and opened the door to nonstop barking from Damsel.  Since she is still in training she was in her crate while Dragon came to the door to meet me with some happy kisses.  I looked over at the crate and gasped.  Loud.  Dragon is sofriggin’ adorable I had expected a similar looking dog.  The mug looking at me from behind the bars was the kind of face only a mother could love.  I

My shadow.

My shadow.

was not sold on this kid at the moment.  I got her on leash and took her home.  By the time we got to my house I was converted into a Damsel lover.  First of all she decided she loved me which is always a plus.  Damsel had to be with me constantly.  I actually had to finally figure out a way to secure her to the car seat because she didn’t want to be there.  She wanted to be in my lap ALWAYS.  Typing at my computer … in my lap.  Watching tv … in my lap.  Sleeping … as close to my lap as possible.   She also quickly proved to be a pro off leash hiker just like her brother and her ability to leap like a bunny got me some great action shots!  There is nothing funnier than a dog that leaps like a bunny.

Of course there have been a ton of others.  Chloe, Sadie, Hank, Maisie, Fredo, Dot, and on and on.  If I keep writing this blog would go on forever.  Every time a little dog wiggles his/her way into my heart I think I love little dogs the best.  Then I give Riggins a hug and get snapped back to big dog reality!

Happy Ending for Lab Animals

29 Tuesday Oct 2013

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pizap.com13830707453031I like to live in ignorance.  It makes my life much easier.  I don’t want to know how the chicken I’m eating is raised, killed, or prepared.  In general I don’t want to see the face of anything I’m planning to eat.  If I had to there is no doubt I’d be a vegetarian.  I also don’t like to know what is tested on animals, what kind of animals, and the side effects.  Personally I think testing of certain drugs on animals can be life saving (for us silly humans) and I agree animal testing is an important step in some research.  Just as long as I don’t have to see it.  Testing things like eyeliner on animals?  That’s ridiculous.  I don’t want to purchase any make up that someone in the lab thought, “Hey … this may be toxic.  Before we let women slap it on their face let’s see if Fido reacts to it.”  All that being said animals that are used for experiments, even those I give my reluctant stamp of approval on, don’t have a good life.  In fact I dare say their lives suck monkey butt.

Last Friday the dogs (Riggins, Asscher, Miles & Lulu) and I headed out to go to the Laurel Canyon Dog Park.  We were almost there before I remembered it was closed on Friday mornings.  I grabbed my phone and clicked on my “DogGoes” app to see if there were any parks close.  There was one in North Hollywood, not to far away, that we had never tried before.  I decided to give the Whitnall Dog Park a shot.  When we got there the first thing I noticed was that the park was a muddy mess.  I knew that would make all the dogs happy and there would have to be baths all around when we got home.  Asscher (golden retriever) was in heaven.  It took her no time at all to get muddy.  Mud is her middle name!

pizap.com13830706460351Since it was so moist it was kind of crappy.  They seemed to be working on cleaning out the mud and putting in some sort of drainage.  If it wasn’t for the mud the park would be great.  It’s huge and there is small park just as big (actually it’s 1/2 the size but still way more space than is usually given to the wee ones).  The two parks don’t share a fence like most dog areas, so if you go to the small park just drive a bit further down the street to find it.  There is a lot of grass (swamp land) so I can see how, once dried out, it would be fabulous.  Best of all the people and dogs were nice.

I met this one woman who introduced me to her 3 dogs.  One of her dogs was an older beagle.  She told me his story.  (I don’t remember his name.  Let’s call him Bob.)  Bob had been a lab animal for years.  She adopted him about 2 years earlier from the Beagle Freedom Project.  I said he was a lucky dog and her response was that she was the lucky one.  She said the little dog had taught her so much about trust and love.  When Bob came to her he was very skittish, wouldn’t take treats out of her hand, and would be very hesitant to walk on grass.  He would only sleep on hard surfaces, probably similar to the feeling he had in his lab cage.  She had him sleep on the bottom of a crate and then slowly added towels one by one and then a pillow so that he would be more comfortable.  His dog siblings taught him how to be a dog since he hadn’t had that experience before.  Now he is in a loving home and gets to go to the dog park everyday!

According to the Beagle Freedom Project 96% of animals used in laboratory research are beagles.

“Beagles are the most popular breed for lab use because of their friendly, docile, trusting, forgiving, people-pleasing personalities. The research industry says they adapt well to living in a cage, and are inexpensive to feed. Research beagles are usually obtained directly from commercial breeders who specifically breed dogs to sell to scientific institutions.” – Beaglefreedomproject.org

Although most of their rescues are beagles they do help all animals that they can that are released by the labs, and even recently took in a couple of pigs!  All their rescues are done legally, which I like.  They aren’t suggesting violence or destruction of these labs but instead are there to work with them to help the animals on to the next phase of their lives.  The good phase!  This wonderful organization is always looking for people to adopt and/or foster.  They also have events to help raise money and will be happy to receive any tax deductible donation.  Just visit their site and friend them on Facebook page for more info.

(Pictures are of Riggins, Miles, Asscher & Lulu enjoying the dirty muddy park!)