Dear Nine –
I know that you have been waiting in Peanut’s window but she is not coming back until Thanksgiving in November. You will be older then. Snow may have fallen outside. You will have found many new dragons to slay around the house over the months to come and you will go on many new kitten adventures. You will still play with Sofie and Stella and the rest of the pack but I know you don’t know, that she will not be here to see it. Keep doing those really cute poses and funny antics though because Mommy will do her best to catch you on camera, and we will send it to Peanut so she can see you from far away. I am sorry, Nine. Life is different around here now. You will not be able to help her with her homework or chew on her pencils. But she will come see you again. And when she does she will give you the biggest hug you ever had in your whole short life because I know that she wanted to sneak you into her suitcase and take you with her. But we will have a fun time here at the zoo. It will just be different. But it still will be fun. I promise, – Mommy
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, Cat, cats, DogDaz, kitten, 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
animals-animals-animals: Fossa (by A. Jaszlics)
A relative of the mongoose, the Fossa is unique to the forests of Madagascar, an African island in the Indian Ocean. Growing up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long from nose to tail tip, and weighing up to 26 pounds (12 kilograms), the fossa is a slender-bodied catlike creature with little resemblance to its mongoose cousins. It is the largest carnivore and top predator native to Madagascar and is known to feed on lemurs and most other creatures it can get its claws on, from wild pigs to mice. Unlike mongooses, and more like felines, the fossa has retractable claws and fearsome catlike teeth. Its coat is reddish brown and its muzzle resembles that of a dog. The fossa is also equipped with a long tail that comes in handy while hunting and maneuvering amongst the tree branches. It can wield its tail like a tightrope walker’s pole and moves so swiftly through the trees that scientists have had trouble observing and researching it. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-for-Wildlife-and-Nature/279792438707552
Tags: Animal, animal awareness, Big Cats, DogDaz, nature, 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
Noel 2012
Kitchen Sink
Nine: Making the bed
Not sure why Noel decided to sit in the kitchen sink but I was lucky enough to catch a picture of her. Animals do the silliest things. Noel is an especially funny cat. You will find her in some really weird places. Now, Nine, he likes to make the bed, which is a very cat thing to do.
Where are some of the silly places your animals like to be?
The Muffin Man
In my pocketbook
Miss Kitty
Watching TV
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, Cat, cat post, cats, DogDaz, Pet, pets, postaday
Dear Nine –
DogDaz Zoo 