Tummy rubs. My dogs love tummy rubs. I think that humans like backrubs best, but dogs, well they really like tummy rubs. I guess it would just feel to vulnerable to me to have someone rub my tummy. When I was pregnant, total strangers thought they had some weird right to touch my belly. How Rude! I think that is so invasive of a person’s privacy. But my dogs, they love it and ask for it daily. (Since I have never had a pregnant dog, I don’t know how they feel about it, maybe they don’t like it during that time for the same reasons that humans don’t, it is just to vulnerable.) Louise and Sofie are both submissive animals in my pack, so I figure they get on their backs and just sort of say, ‘Hey, aren’t I cute, please don’t hurt me!’ Come to think of it, I do not remember ever having seen The Muffin Man, our old alpha cat, ever, in all his years, show his belly. All the other cats in the pride do, but not him. The other cats lie on their backs and show their bellies very often, but around here, if you want to keep your hand in one piece, I would not try to rub any cat’s underside (S C R A T C H!).
Tummy rubs are a big deal in our house. I tend to give them in the morning before work and definitely find time for some before the pups go to bed. Sofie is a big one to throw herself on the ground and roll over immediately if she thinks she is going to get yelled at (smart dog). 
Rubbing a dog’s tummy is different than scratching (I look at rubbing more like massage). I like to give all my animals a good scratch in some of their favorite ‘scratch zones’ regularly. Have you noticed that most dogs seem to have a scratch trigger spot down near the inside of the back leg (kind of between the ribs and mid-hip). This makes their back leg kick as a reaction to the scratching motion. I think the dogs like it, but I don’t know for sure. Something tells me it is probably a protective response (more so in male dogs) to protect their private regions. (Is that TMI (To Much Information)?) Louise also really likes to be scratched on her flanks and top of her tail (as I watch the short little black hairs fly). I am still exploring Sofie’s scratch zones, but I know she likes her chest done.
Does your furry have a special scratch zone?
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, animals, Cat, cats, cute dogs, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, nature, Pet, pets, postaday, submission, tummy rubs
It must have been BLACK LAB day at the dog park. There were like a million dogs and most of them had Labrador Retriever somewhere in their blood line (or so it looked like). There were a zillion black, 2 browns, and few yellows but mostly Labs. Little Sofie was actually the smallest of the pack, not that she minded. 
Going to the dog park is always kind of hit or miss thing for us. Some days there are only a few dogs, or even none, but this time there were many. It is hard for me to tell whether the girls really enjoy it or not. My dogs stay very close and tend to avoid getting into it with others. Lulu will run to see what is happening when a whole bunch get loud and snarly, but I usually call her back before she gets to close to that kind of action. Sofie gets hot really fast, especially on humid days, which it was, so she runs and then takes to sitting under my bench in the shade. Dog parks actually kind of scare me. There are times when I go and some dogs get stupid, and then owners get stupid, and it is just not fun. This time was good. They were tired, which was what I wanted, and they were ready to go home when I was. I always enjoy seeing all the different breeds of dogs usually at the dog park but it definitely was Black Lab day this time.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, animals, Black Lab, dog, dog park, DogDaz, Labrador, Labrador Retriever, Pet, pets, postaday
The other day I past a milestone on the DogDaz blog. Over 400 followers and over 22,000 hits. This is incredible to me. I started writing the blog the end of November last year. It was a way to deal with my love of animals but also for me to talk about all the incredible things that I learn from them. I never really thought a lot about how public a blog is and how many people I would interact with on a daily basis. I set myself a personal goal to post everyday. This has not been easy, since I travel a great deal and work incredible hours. But, so far, I am doing it. My posts are not always to the level that I would like them to be, but it seems that the ones I think are the weakest sometimes get the most good feedback and comments. I wish I had more time to read other people’s blogs and many times I want to comment but am reading them on my SmartPhone with limited ability to type something decent, which can be frustrating. I ‘Like’ people’s blogs, which my Phone lets me do easily, but commenting is not as easy. I enjoy visiting so many people’s sites and getting views into their animal world, photo world, food world, and just family life,but it has become a huge task to keep up. I wish I could just do this all day and night, but alas, one must live in the real world to be able to blog about it, and I do not chose to live ‘in’ the blogworld all the time (you know what I mean?)
What an incredible gift this internet is. I wonder if people really understood the power that this tool has to allow us to see incredible sights from far away places that we may never visit physically but can virtually (and interactively and instantly). Don’t get me wrong because I love paper books, and ebooks, and magazines, and photographic essays on nice heavy paper, but I can see the world here from my computer in a way that I could not as a child. The internet has allow me totally new ways to socially interact that I could never have imagined. I have more high school friends than I had in high school and can see all my family pictures instantly, thanks to Facebook; I stay in touch with old and new business associates via Linkedin; I Skype with my family when I am overseas and also now with my college student; I blog on WordPress, and reblog on Tumbler, and even Pinterest; I work with my community service group via GoogleDocs. Though I have been emailing since the technology was launched, I can now instantly answer via my SmartPhone if I want to. Here on my blog, my animals get to be stars and I get to write about what I love. Less than a year ago, I would not have known how important every blog post would be to me.
THANK YOU, whomever is reading this, for an incredible time. Come back again and I will do my best to make you smile, laugh, and maybe think about something you had not thought about before. You are my blessing – and clearly – I am blessed.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Blog, cats, DogDaz, Dogs, Facebook, Pet, pets, postaday, Skype, SmartPhone, Wordpress
I am lacking inspiration and yes, I know why, but still it is hard to get moving on anything. It doesn’t help that the heat has returned and it is really unpleasant to be outside. So the dogs and I took a trip to PetSmart to return 2 big bags of kitten food that the kittens no longer need and to buy some new cat food and of course to get them treats. I was actually very excited about taking them on an adventure because we have not done that much the last few weeks. When we got to the store, I figured that I would be safe and I backed the truck up to the curb, so that when I let the dogs out, there would be less of a chance of them running into traffic. Well, you know how in parking lots that have those cement bumps on the ground for cars to park against, I think they have some special name like… “curb stops,” or something. 
When I opened the back door of the truck, the dogs were good and stayed until I told them to come out, but when Sofie jumped down she landed right on that cement bump and then proceeded to careen into the real curb, which was only 6″ or so away, and landed chin first. I was initially worried that she lost a tooth, but she appeared just dazed and did not whine or cry. So, being the ‘let’s just keep going no matter what,’ kind of person, I went into the store with them. It was about 5 minutes later, as we were admiring the guinea pigs (Note: please go to animal rescue (even guinea pigs), do not buy live animals from pet stores unless they are from an animal charity), that I realized she was bleeding all over the place. She had really scraped her chin bad. Thank goodness she did not loss any teeth. I swapped her down with a tissue but then went to the in store vet and asked them for some wet guise to clean her up. She did not like me touching it, but otherwise was ok and wanted to sniff and explore. We had a great exploration of the store, got 2 new eggcrate beds for their kennels, and a new rope toy. Did you notice how you always spend more money if your kids are with you in the grocery store (really, they have scientifically proven this to be true), well I absolutely spent more money because the dogs were with me in the pet store (or was it because I was suffering from Mommy guilt because one of my furries got hurt.) Good thing the cats weren’t with us or I would be broke.
“Lulu, I got a boo boo, can you make it feel better?” – Sofie Bear
Post Script: Sofie does not want me to touch the boo boo, but I have been trying to put antibiotic cream on it. She has been licking her paws a lot and I think that is because she is trying to rub it. She also won’t let me take a picture for you to see. But she is fine.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
“No Mommy – I do not want you to touch the boo boo and I really do not want you to take any pictures of it!”
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, Animal rights, Animal welfare, animals, dog, Dog People, DogDaz, Dogs, Guinea pig, nature, Pet, pets, postaday
Parker & Titan
While in New York taking Peanut to school, I had the opportunity to visit with my 14 month old grand nephew, Parker Jaxon, and my grand nephew cat, Titan. Titan is a very big guy and has been around many rotations of the earth before P.J. came along. He is a very tolerant cat and seemed to take the baby’s ‘little to hard’ pats, in stride. A few weeks ago I wrote about Madelyn Dawn, my 17 month old grand niece (from my other nephew), and the special relationship she appeared to be having with a nanny goat. Teaching children to be kind to animals is a pattern you set up for their whole life. There is still so much animal (and human) abuse on the planet. We teach by example. We teach others, especially children, by how we live. Taking care of your animals and having the children help feed and walk them can teach respect and compassion. Stopping violence against animals also is being recognized as an essential part of childhood education through a program called, humane education, in the schools. I believe that if you live the life you want your children to emulate and start teaching from the minute they are in your care; then there is a good chance they will grow up to be animal conscious humans – kind and caring. As the saying goes…. “All you need is love… and a cat.”
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal abuse, animal awareness, Animal rights, Animal welfare, animals, cats, DogDaz, humane education, nature, Pet, pets, postaday
“But Mommy! I am not sleepy! Why do I have to go to bed? It is not fair. Can’t I have one more cookie? I need a drink of water! It is much more fun to sleep on your bed! But Mommy I HATE MY BED!”
I find it funny how Sofie is so like a human child. I am not saying this because my human baby has left and gone to college. I think that Sofie is actually entering the ‘terrible teens.’ She will be two in November. I don’t know if dogs have the same type of growth spurts as humans but she definitely is in a defiant and willful phase. It reminds me a lot of what we called the ‘terrible twos’ (which Peanut did not go through until about three). This is the phase in a child’s growth when they refuse to do almost anything they are asked. They are exploring the world and pushing the limits. I read that in the dog world it is called ‘terrible teens’ because for a dog that lives 10 to 12 human years, when they are about 2 years old that is ‘teenage’ in cognitive growth.
According to the DogChannel.com
“Adolescence can be a challenging time for puppies and their owners. It tends to begin anywhere between 9 and 14 months of age for most puppies, but it can start earlier. There is no set time period for how long adolescence lasts, however, the majority of puppies are through the worst of it by 11⁄2 to 2 years of age.
This phase can be so trying that many adolescent puppies are given up because the owners, not understanding that it’s a phase, assume their formerly wonderful puppies have gone bad. An adolescent puppy’s behavior may be far from perfect, but this is a very natural stage of life, one that all growing mammals go through.
1. Understand the adolescent brain.
Before you can help your puppy through adolescence, understand what’s going on in its head. “The puppy’s brain is going through incredible changes [during adolescence],” says Melissa Alexander, author of Click for Joy (Sunshine Books, 2003). “The cerebral cortex becomes a leaner, meaner thinking machine.”
The puppy is changing from a baby to an adult that can think, reason, make decisions and learn. The adolescent puppy might seem to listen to its owner and obey commands one minute and not the next. The puppy really hasn’t lost its brain; it’s simply in transition.
2. Don’t accept the challenge.
At some point after 9 months of age, some puppies become quite challenging. They may refuse to follow a known command or growl when you reach to take away a chew toy. These challenges are normal and short lived (usually occurring just in the beginning of the adolescence). Prepare yourself so you don’t answer the challenge. In dogs and especially in adolescents, aggression begets aggression. If the puppy issues a challenge and you react angrily, the puppy may escalate its behavior, too. Instead of becoming angry, take a deep breath and think before responding.
3. Train, train and train some more.
If you began training the puppy before adolescence began, continue the training. If you didn’t begin training then, start now. By establishing guidelines for acceptable behavior, you can prevent bad behaviors – such as dashing out the front door, growling over a toy and raiding trash cans – from becoming habits. Keep the training as simple as possible by using clear commands, a lot of positive reinforcement and setting the puppy up to succeed by asking it to do known exercises.
Use positive training with rewards your puppy really likes. Make food treats special or use a toy your puppy loves Use your voice or a clicker to mark the behaviors you want to happen again. Daily training will help keep your puppy’s behavior from spiraling out of control during this stage, and will help keep your relationship with your growing puppy positive.”
Or I can just complain endlessly on my blog until she gets to the other side of this phase … BOL!
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, animals, cute dogs, dog, Dog People, DogDaz, Dogs, Pet, pets, postaday, terrible teens
This week has been wonderful for butterflies in the garden. I capture this shot of an Eastern Black Swallowtail on the grape right before Louise tried to eat it. A Yellow Swallowtail actually landed on her and freaked her out a bit (it was cute but I could not get the camera out fast enough).
Butterfly on the Grape
August 2012
Sofie Chasing Butterlies
Both dogs don’t really understand flying insects very well. I see them constantly trying to eat bees and jump after butterflies. We also have these very large furry spiders that kind of encase the house in webs this time of year. I was bringing in groceries the other evening and one swung down over the front door and caused me to drop the case of water that I was carrying and run. I worry that one of the dogs will try to eat one of the spiders and die: they are really scary looking.
V found a whole family of new born mice inside the extra vacuum we store in the garage the other day. This is a sure sign of fall coming our way. Mother Mouse must have come through the bottom bar and up the hose and had her babies in the inside bag (how smart is that?). While V was working in the garage there was this nibble nibble scratch scratch noise and upon closer inspection, unzipped the bag part of the vacuum, and all these little pink babies fell out. They were quickly scooped up and placed back in the bag and brought outside, with the hope that Mother Mouse will move them somewhere else (outside please!). I guess the Black Snake, who always leaves his skin on the garage shelves for us, will tell us where the mice are… because that is life in our garage in the late summer.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, butterfly, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, Eastern Black Swallowtail, Fall, mice, nature, Pet, pets, postaday, rat snake, Spider
Here we are waiting for Mommy to get home from taking Peanut to college many hours away.
We are tired of waiting and she always seems to leave us behind. Someday we want to go with her. We promise that we will be good, We won’t throw up in the car, or bark at every thing that passes, or try to get in the front seat, or any of that. Well, I can’t speak for Sofie. She doesn’t do well riding in the car. Sofie turns kind of green if she can’t see out the front window all the time. Mommy tries to make her lie down but she doesn’t like to listen. Sofie tries stepping in between the front seats, which is a big ‘No – No!’ I don’t know how to tell her if she just laid down and closed her eyes she would be ok. I don’t like the car very much either, except I get to be close to Mommy and that I like. And if I stay behind the front seat, I get cookies! I love cookies. Maybe that is Sofie’s problem, because she does not like cookies very much. She spits most of them out and gives them to me. The only cookies she seems to like are the little one’s with molasses in them or the real chicken pieces that Mommy makes. It is not natural, a dog that doesn’t like cookies. Maybe Sofie is really a fox or something. She does smell funny at times. I do hope that Mommy comes back tomorrow like she said she would. V is going to leave us at the Dogcare place overnight tonight because K8 has to go back to college too, and we have never ever ever slept at a kennel before. I hope that they keep Sofie with me, ’cause she gets scared and needs me to protect her. When Mommy gets home this time I am going to make sure she never goes away again… (I have a plan for Sofie and Nine to eat a hole in her suitcase (don’t tell her please.)) – Lulu Belle
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, Cookie, cute dogs, dog, Dog People, DogDaz, Mommy, Pet, pets, postaday
Lulu Dreaming
on Peanut’s Bed
Mommy has taken the younger human, Peanut, somewhere. We do not know where but we know that there were lots and lots of suitcases and bags and stuff that left the house and went into 2 of the big moving things with wheels that we ride in to go places. This seemed different than other times because almost all of Peanut’s stuff went with them. Will Mommy be back? Will we ever see Peanut again? Her room seems different. It is clean: there are no clothes or hair-things or shoes to chew on. I like Peanut’s bed and that is still there (thank goodness). She lets us on her bed (well me actually, Sofie does not really like to jump up so high). I like being on her bed (and so does Muffin and Nine). Mommy does not let us on her bed (but I know that Sofie sleeps there when no one is looking – she jumps on the stool at the end of the bed and uses it as a step). I do hope Mommy comes home soon because I always miss her when she is gone. Can I have Peanut’s room if she doesn’t come back soon?
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, cute dogs, dog, Dog People, DogDaz, Dogs, funny dogs, Pet, pets, postaday
Tummy rubs. My dogs love tummy rubs. I think that humans like backrubs best, but dogs, well they really like tummy rubs. I guess it would just feel to vulnerable to me to have someone rub my tummy. When I was pregnant, total strangers thought they had some weird right to touch my belly. How Rude! I think that is so invasive of a person’s privacy. But my dogs, they love it and ask for it daily. (Since I have never had a pregnant dog, I don’t know how they feel about it, maybe they don’t like it during that time for the same reasons that humans don’t, it is just to vulnerable.) Louise and Sofie are both submissive animals in my pack, so I figure they get on their backs and just sort of say, ‘Hey, aren’t I cute, please don’t hurt me!’ Come to think of it, I do not remember ever having seen The Muffin Man, our old alpha cat, ever, in all his years, show his belly. All the other cats in the pride do, but not him. The other cats lie on their backs and show their bellies very often, but around here, if you want to keep your hand in one piece, I would not try to rub any cat’s underside (S C R A T C H!). 
DogDaz Zoo 