No, he’s not solely mine, he belongs to my hubby as well, but that doesn’t matter. He is still “mine” as far as I’m concerned: a wonderful blessing from God that I enjoy every single day.
We were doing tricks this morning (he rolls himself up in the blue blanket) and when he looked up at me, I just had to get the camera!
So I told him to stay and went off to get it, and he stayed. Then I told him, again, “head down” and he did it and click. 🙂
I am LOVING this show! It is so fun, and it’s been very useful as well.
But this last episode with the young bloodhounds, Duke and Daisy, was such a kick. Watching them act like Quigley used to was hilarious (okay, sometimes he still does act like that!). The clip below shows them running across the sofa, which Quigley did once long ago when he was so excited about my hubby coming home. In fact, that’s when they did it, too.
Duke’s snatching the pillow was typical as well: The dog guy, Justin, arrives and is talking to the owner and suddenly here comes Duke with the sofa pillow, which means the woman has to break off talking to deal with him. And then he runs under the table with it… ! ROTFL!!!
Yeah. Quigley does that with a sock. Or shoe, or anything he thinks we might value (a paper towel recently used! Hey, his discriminatory powers aren’t all that great). He trots in while we’re in the middle of watching TV and makes sure we notice, then when we tell him to bring it to us, the game is on.
Just like Duke.
And they are SO gorgeous and cute. The hound pleading look… yeah, we get that one too, the way they kind of wrinkle up their eyebrows while they beg. Quigley, however, does NOT drink from the sink faucet, because I would never turn it on for him. He will drink from the dog water fountain on the walking path — the only one of our dogs to do that.
Anyway, Justin had some suggestions for dealing with various behaviors that I think I’m going to use. The sit/stay for when my guests arrive is the first that I’m going to work on.
Here’s the clip of just the Duke and Daisy part from last night’s episode: “Duke and Daisy”
Love it.
Wow. I got this link off of Power Line. It’s an article in the current issue of The New York Times Magazine by Melissa Fay Greene about service dogs for children with disabilities — including autism and fetal alcohol syndrome. Not only can they alert parents to the fact their child is having a seizure, but they can disrupt unwanted behavior — like habits of pulling out one’s own hair or throwing horrible temper tantrums. (I’ve noticed Quigley has a tendency to disrupt unwanted behaviors as well — like me or my hubby talking to each other, or trying to use the computer! Maybe we just need to train him better. I could use a “check email” disrupter or a “I think I’ll check the web for a bit” disrupter.)
Anyway, Greene’s a great writer and her article moved me to tears several times. Which is I why I’m drawing your attention to it. It’s a fairly long piece but very much worth it (Thankfully all on one page so you don’t have to keep clicking; and there are no side ads for the most part either.) When you finish, check out the video at the start… I am amazed at what a blessing dogs can be for us.
Yes, I watched this year’s Super Bowl, though I’m only mildly interested in football. But my hubby went off to the exercise club and left it on so I could watch the commercials. So that’s what I sat down to do. Mostly I thought they were… meh. They made me feel alienated from our culture. I do realize they are not aimed at me. However… one of them stood out. It had to be my favorite simply because of its name: Go Run, Mr. Quiggly! Plus I think it’s funny.
If you didn’t see it… here it is. Of course, as most of you know, my Mr. Quigley spells his name differenlty and doesn’t look anything like than this one.
After all that serious stuff I’ve been doing in the last few posts, I thought now might be the time to share another dog video from Life With Dogs TV.
In this we have to do a bit of detective work involving several suspects… Jed, Xena and Tank… hmmm… Make sure your sound is on.
Enjoy
It’s been a good week. I’ve been busy getting caught up, and even made some headway on Sky. All the way to page 14 of ch 2, and hopefully will finish it today or tomorrow. But it’s not left me much time to write many blogs.
So… I’ve got another video to share. I found this one quite by accident on a site called Life With Dogs. It makes me laugh so hard I cry. Maybe it’s a dog person’s thing. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen Quigley be this weird. Maybe it’s because it’s Julia Roberts the dog doesn’t like…
Anyway, if you need some laughter today… here you go.
Well, I spent the day basically pre-occupied with my dog.
He made it through the night without throwing up or having any more diarrhea. He also didn’t move from his sleeping spot and drank nothing. I gave him his pill this morning and the Fast Balance GI, which he wasn’t excited about. Then he ate a cereal bowl full of rice, chicken and water, along with a small dog biscuit that is part of my husband’s morning departure routine — and that was it for the day.
Except for leaping up to bark ferociously at his nemesis — a large, white male dog who gets walked by our house every morning — Quigley slept in the living room. He didn’t come and wait in the kitchen for us to do tricks. He didn’t come when I got out the cheese to make my lunch (usually he does, hoping for a tiny sliver which he usually gets). I tried to get him to eat/drink some more rice, but he wasn’t interested. He just lay around and slept.
So I got to spend the day trying not to worry, trying not to make up horrid speculations relative to dehydrated dogs, trying not to call the vet again, all because he wasn’t eating or drinking. My husband wanted to wait til tonight and see how he did, so that’s what I did. But it was hard. Doubly so because our cooler wasn’t working. When the air coming in was hotter than the air already there, I turned it off. And with the interior of the house at about 86 degrees for much of the afternoon, it was hard to do anything.
Except think about how Quigley wasn’t eating or drinking anything — even though he rarely eats or drinks anything during the day. So that was stupid, in addition to being sinful.
But oh well. At day’s end, Stu came home and Quigley woke up. He ate more dog biscuits (part of the evening return routine). He ate two bowls of rice and chicken. He went for a walk and drank water when he got back… So now I am feeling much more at ease.
Also, the cooler’s been fixed and the air is now cool and much more comfortable. Now I have to go fold the laundry before I can go to bed.
Above is Big Splash, the 11 month old Red Tibetan Mastiff that has been deemed the most expensive dog in the world, having been sold to a Chinese coal baron for $1.5 million dollars. Hey, he’s the same color as Quigley. But his hair is much longer. They say that red is a lucky color in China and that mastiffs are regarded as holy dogs. They are believed to be the reincarnations of Tibetan monks and nuns who weren’t good enough to be reincarnated as humans or to get into Shambala, or the heavenly realm.
I’m having trouble understanding why the soul of a failed monk in the body of a dog would be something desirable? Are they expected to work harder in service because they have been demoted to a literal dog house?
On the other hand, my husband is convinced that Quigley is really a person inside — if so maybe one of those failed monks took a seriously wrong turn…
Tibetan mastiffs are an ancient breed, developed among Chinese nomadic tribes to guard livestock. They’re said to be very intelligent and very alert to danger. I can also see where that long hair would be of great benefit out there on the frigid, windswept mongolian plains…
Apparently these dogs are the new status symbols of the super rich in China. They can grow to weigh 280 pounds, though 180 is more the average. Big Splash already weighs that much, so he’s going to be a big doggie when he’s grown.
You can read the whole article Here.
Quigley has some bumps on his head around his ears. He’s had them for a couple of weeks it seems and after several days of waiting for them to subside, or thinking they might be getting worse, and then wondering what they were, and speculating all over the map, suddenly TODAY I decided they were getting worse.
In my examination I found what I thought was a blob of sap on his neck under his ear, got the mayonnaise to take it off, and discovered the hairs coming off with the mayo and underneath, very definitely a lesion.
So I called my hubby about taking Q to the vet. After discussion, Internet research, and more discussion, we agreed that’s what needed to be done. I called, thinking no way he’d get in today, but… they had an opening in an hour from when I called.
Quigley LOVES going to the vet. He gets so excited. He jumps up on the counter in the reception area, wants to smell everything, jumps up on the counter in the exam room, because he knows right where the treats are, or wants to help with the computer. He jumps up to greet strangers, as well… He’d really like to get hold of one of those stethoscopes everyone seems to carry around.
Despite all that, everyone seems to love him. He’s very good about holding still for the doctor to examine him or the animal tech to take his temperature. If I could just figure out how to break him of the jumping up on people he’d be perfect.
Anyway, the bumps are not an allergic reaction as we’d thought, but probably the result of bug bites, maybe ants since we recently had a big problem with them, and/or bacteria. The lesion she said was definitely bacteria, so he’s on antibiotic for the week. At which time all the bumps should be gone.
Anyway, we got home around 1, I caught up on all the regular things I didn’t do, ate lunch and then just crashed, that no doubt the result of going to bed at midnight and waking up at 6… so I took a nap. 🙂
Yes, that’s Quigley. In disguise. I think he actually likes to wear it. Or maybe it’s just anticipation of the treat he gets afterward. No, I’m sure he likes doing the tricks first. Those of you who were reading this blog when we first got Quigley might appreciate just how amazing it is that he will allow the bandana and sunglasses to even be put on him, let alone wait patiently for me to take his picture!