Update on the doggies 7/21/05

A quick update on the doggies:

Booboo is healing. She has many stitches in her face, the most pronounced is over her eye. Luckily she didn't suffer any lasting damage to her eye... and hopefully not to her sight. She is not as energetic as usual. I figure that is due to feeling icky and not having her sister around to play with.

Muffin is still with Jake - and the plan is for her to stay there. She is still confused and hasn't eaten since the incident early Monday morning. Jake asked me what he should do to entice her into eating... I told him to try people food on top of her dog food. Unfortunately, he has no people food in his house (Yes, that is actually what he said... funny thing - I believe him). She is also peeing all over the place when she sees him. She has always done that - a submissive thing. I guess he is unhappy that she does it while on the couch. hmpf. Hope his girlfriend (don't know if she is one of the ones he was messing around with while we were together or not...) likes the lovely odor of doggie urine.

And I miss Muffin. The house seems empty without that big galoot running around, stepping on my feet and trying to always climb into my lap. Booboo misses Muffin and Maegan misses Muffin. But she can't come back. All I need to do is take one look at Booboo's stitched up face and I know that I can't take that risk.

But I still miss her - and feel terrible that she is living in a less loving, less doggie friendly enviornment.

so that is the update - I guess things work out, not always as we want them to, but they work out nonetheless.

Sometimes love isn't enough... 7/18/05

This morning I had to relocate Muffin to her dad's house -- the relocation took place at about 4:00 am. This occurred right after she attacked her sister, Booboo. Right there in bed, I'm laying in the middle of the two dogs, and Muffin attacks Booboo.

It was pretty bad. I tackled Muffin and held onto her with my arms wrapped around her hips. I tried to pull her away from Booboo, but Booboo isn't one to run from a fight. Unfortunately, Booboo doesn't normally win fights. This time was no exception. I screamed for them to stop - finally Maegan heard me, came in, and got Booboo out of the bedroom.

The first thing that I did was to call Jake - to tell him that he had to take Muffin. However he didn't answer his phone. I left some kind of garbled message -- I was hyperventlating - I always do when I get extremely scared or upset.

So, I checked on Booboo, saw that she was pretty tore up, got Muffin's collar and leash and took her out to my truck. I drove straight over to Jake's house, praying that he was actually there. When I got there, "someone's" car was in his drive. I didn't care. I knocked on the door until I woke him/them and he came to the door. I handed him the leash, told him what happened, and told him that I was going to take Booboo to the vet. Oh, and Muffin can't live with us anymore. Then I got into my truck and drove away.

I did a lot of thinking about this situation. It isn't new. Muffin has attacked Booboo in the past. She has also attacked other dogs. She and Boo squeezed through a hole in the fence and attacked our neighbor's pit bull last Thursday evening. Muffin seems to have an agressive streak that I can't erase.

I did one on one training with Muffin last November - January. It helped immensely. She seemed like a different dog. She hadn't attacked Booboo since... until last night.

I tried everything that I knew of to help Muffin stay with us. But nothing worked.

I guess that sometimes love isn't enough. I thought that if I loved her enough I could help to change her personality - make her into a less aggressive dog. If I loved her enough, I could find a solution to keep her. If I loved her enough, it would work out to be okay. But it isn't enough. Not always...

Pappy - 7/8/05

Today is my Dad's birthday! He turned 71 this year. That means that he was born in 1934 - during the Great Depression.

My dad tells stories about his childhood - he was 1 of 10 children - and he was the ruffian of the bunch. He grew up in rural Alabama where the Great Depression probably didn't have as much of an impact as it did in the north. His family grew much of what they ate - although they didn't live on a farm, they seemed to have a garden and fruit trees. And since he was one of the older kids, he had the job of climbing on the roof three times a day during the summer to lay out fruit for drying. In the morning, he put the fruit on the tin roof of the house to dry. At noon, he had to climb back up on the hot tin and turn the fruit. (he didn't wear shoes in the summer --ouch!!) Then in the evening, he collected the fruit.

Although his family didn't have much in the way of material goods, it didn't seem to be an issue. Maybe most of the folks back then didn't have much. So, no one knew any different.

I'm so lucky that I still have my dad. I have watched him age in the last couple of years, and I know that I don't have a lot of time left with him. So, I plan to try and enjoy what I do have.

Happy Birthday, Daddy.