When a new delivery driver started this route, she memorized every home that had a pup and left a Milk Bone on top of each package she delivered. It didn’t take long for all the dogs dog in the neighborhood to recognize the sound of her truck and bark like crazy whenever they heard it.
Toby can hear the engine a half mile away. If we happen to be out for a walk when it is coming, he will plant himself in the middle of the road to wait for his personalized biscuit delivery. He puts on such a performance that sometimes the driver has to stop traffic to give my little monster a Milk Bone. Woe to the dog several houses away that can see my boy eating his treat and yet is too far away to get hers!
And yes, Toby will climb the steps to get to his biscuit if he gets the chance.
What can I say? I am a sucker for Milk Bones.
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Would you like to see what else Bitey and Toby are up to? Then pick up a copy of Dream Our World. Inside the boys visit the Museum of the Imagination and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Against my will, I got to learn something recently.
A couple of weeks ago I failed to duck low enough when walking under some stairs and whacked my head. I bump myself often enough that I quickly forgot about the incident. A few days afterward, I started getting a big lump on my head. Then I developed chills and fever with joint pain, skin pain, muscle pain and what I presume to be tendon pain because there aren’t a lot of muscles in the hands. Just to make things more fun, I got terribly itchy as if I had dipped my head in poison ivy.
The fever came and went for a few days before I felt like it was behind me. With the fever seemingly gone, my head now feels like someone beat on it with a hammer leaving little circles of pain all over it. While we all know our hair moves in some throwback to when it was more efficient at capturing heat and signaling our emotions, we are rarely aware of it. I have been blown away by how much my hair moves in a day. It is an agony every time it does, yet it constantly does so. The swelling, pain and itchy rash have moved down from my scalp to cover my forehead and the left side of my face to my cheekbones.
Initially I thought I had hit my head hard enough to split the scalp and develop an infection, but I don’t believe that is what happened. It looks like more like I am having an autoimmune reaction to an injury.* I think the itchiness and the swelling are Koebner phenomenon where 11% – 75% (Way to narrow down the numbers, scientists!) of lucky psoriasis patients can develop symptoms that resemble psoriasis whenever their skin is injured (mosquito bites, tattoos, acne, etc). With the way I hurt myself, I can’t see this as being good news. Plus, symptoms can take anywhere from as little as 3 days to as much as 20 years to develop. Sure, that will be easy to keep track of. No problem.
In the meantime, the only way I can get through my days is with an ice bag on my head. I haven’t been able to sleep more than 3 hrs a night since this happened because the itching is so bad and it’s too painful to have my head touch a pillow.
I think what hurts the most is that my hair was finally starting to grow back. All the swelling from this trauma is likely to make it fall out again.
I really need to order a chemo hat.
*Funny since my doctor told me explicitly that I do not have an autoimmune disease.
You should have my fur instead. It is glorious!
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If you would like to see what Geordie and Toby do when they aren’t bringing me ducks, check out a copy of Dream Our World. Inside the boys explore the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
Toby has altogether too much time on his hands. Um, paws.
Why, what do you want me to think about?
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Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Dream Our World. Inside, Bitey and Toby explore the museum of their dreams and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun! (Dream Our World is also available through your local library’s Inter-Library Loan System.)
Yesterday was a day or horrors for my little guy. For the second time in a month, Toby stepped on a bee. Well, I’m presuming it was a bee. We were walking in some grass, not even near clover or other flowers, when Toby jumped and started waving his paw around. As soon as he got stung, he started vomiting and having diarrhea. I filled 6 bags full of puppy stuff before I could even get him turned around to head back home. He suffered like that for 4 – 4 1/2 before he finally fell asleep. It was not the day either of us had planned.
I stepped on one of these creatures about a year ago. Whatever the stinging thing is, it hides under the grass and gets you when you step on it. Most would say these are ground bees, but my understanding is that ground bees live underground, not that they hide in the grass.
The good news is that Toby seems to be feeling better today. He is a bit tired, and his appetite isn’t quite what it normally is, but he is much more chipper. I was just wondering if anyone knows what stinging thing might be lurking in our grass. Or, what ( if anything) can you do for a pup who is having a reaction like this. My human doctor seemed to feel that the only bee sting reaction you need to worry about his anaphylaxis. Is the same true for pups?
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To find out what Toby likes to do when he is not suffering from being poisoned by nasty critters, pick up a copy of Dream Our World! Inside, Toby ad his big brother Geordie explore the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
On Tuesday I decided to trade Toby in on a skinny puppy with short fur and big eyes. Not a bad bargain.
When we got to the groomer’s, Toby figured that if he never got out of the car he wouldn’t have to get a bath. He firmly planted himself on the seat and refused to budge while I tried to tempt him with beef cubes and sweet words. The whole time I was struggling, the lady in the car beside us was laughing and laughing. She said she used to have a Cairn terrier, and he was equally stubborn. She asked if she could take a picture of Toby to send to her daughter as their pup had died several years ago and was still deeply missed by the family.
We talked for a few more minutes, and she mentioned that her Cairn’s dad was named “Robbie” and was from a town not far away. I was stunned for a moment. I asked, “Did you adopt your pup around 2006?” She said that sounded about right. Robbie was my dog’s dad too! It turned out that her dog any my Geordie were littermates!
Happy memories of brother biting.
One day the two brothers showed up at the vet’s office for checkups at the same time. These photos are of them doing their Smothers Brothers “Mom Always Liked You Best” routine. (The one doing the biting was, of course, my boy.)
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If the story is not about me, then who cares?
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If you would like to see more of my boys’ adventures, then pick up a copy of Dream Our World. Inside, my pups view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun!
If you’d rather skip the adrenaline rush of white water rafting and instead enjoy a calm sunset at the beach, then consider purchasing this peaceful Lighthousepainting.
Memorial Day is just around the corner. That makes it a perfect time to show someone you care about your patriotic side with this Armed Forces Themed Quilt. Each block depicts an aspect of military life while the corner blocks show the human side of our soldiers.
I drew each picture for this quilt, then hand appliqued and hand embroidered every one. Even the quilting is done by hand. Gift this labor of love to someone you love!
This is so upsetting to me that I can barely type. I find that I use this blog as a way to keep track of incidents, though, so I am making an entry today.
When Toby and I go out these days, I take a can of Halt spray with us because several neighbors have been irresponsible about leaving their dogs out without leashes. One is a pit bull that is aggressive toward other dogs, and I have been afraid of having a run in. Instead we had an encounter with a different little dog that I have written about in the past.
Even though I am very frustrated that this family has been so irresponsible with their dog – to the point of endangering my own – I have tried to be kind. I can see that they adore their little dog, and the dog loves her family deeply. I’ve never said a bad thing about the family, and I have even defended the little dog to others. She is not a bad dog, she is a fearful dog, and her family is doing her no favors by not protecting her with a leash or fence.
When Toby and I got to the corner of the street where the little dog lives, we could see her in her front yard. I looked at Toby and said, ‘Let’s let the little dog enjoy her day outside. We’ll walk a different way.” We turned and went and were already on a different street when the dog saw us and came charging. If you’ve ever been present for a dog attack, you know the circling/growling/biting the aggressor does to disorient her prey. The victim dog has to keep spinning to protect his flank, and when he is turned around and dizzy the aggressor will either head butt him in the ribs to flip him on his back exposing his belly or she will jump on his back and bite him.
Not wanting Toby to be flipped and bitten, I tried to spray between the dogs so the aggressive girl wouldn’t want to come near him. Unfortunately the little girl dog lunged at Toby and got hit in the forehead. I felt so awful. I still feel so awful. I never wanted to hurt anyone. ..not this dog, not her family, nor did I want my own pup hurt.
As I figured would happen in a small community like this one, I am now the town pariah. I am the mean lady that hurts elderly dogs. Somehow folks never noticed the more than dozen times the little girl dog attacked my Toby. Somehow they ignore the other dog walkers in the neighborhood referring to her as “The Bad Dog on X Street” because she chases and bites their dogs. I have watched a neighbor with back problems painfully bend over to scoop up her senior Yorkie to keep her from being attacked yet again by this little girl dog.
Now Toby and I are on everyone’s poopy list, and I have a feeling that if we need help no one will help us or if we accidentally step out of line, everyone is going to be all over us. I feel bad for Toby. I haven’t taken him for a walk since the incident. He misses his friends and his exercise and doesn’t understand what is going on.
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Come visit with Geordie and Toby during happier times. In Dream Our World, they view the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun.
For years, scientists have known that plantsemit chemicals into the soil to communicate with each other. The plants send chemical messages through fungal networks to warn other plants about threats in their environment. Plants also emit electrical signals to sense and respond to what is going on around them. That lovely scent of a freshly mown lawn? It is actually all those blades of grass and flowers releasing chemicals as a cry for help with whatever is damaging them.
For those who feel they are doing something extra ethical by not eating “something with a face” and instead eat plants, this article might be interesting.
It turns out that not only do plants use chemicals, electrical signals and fungi to signal distress, they also make sounds. While above the limits of ordinary human hearing, the sounds plants make can be heard by insects and animals.
Last week we had an island of sunny dryness in an otherwise cold and rainy fortnight. Everyone in town cut their lawns at the same time. Imagine the disturbance in the Force that day. For those with ears to hear, the clicking-screams must have been deafening.
Like I care. I’m going to keep eating grass whenever I want!
I think Toby’s biggest complaint about the Great Mow Day was that all the tall grass clumps he chooses for #1 were gone at the same time. It was so hard to decide where to go.
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Feel like celebrating something galactic for May the Fourth? Then why not add an Alien Hand ASL pillow to your decor! The pistachio green hand forms the American Sign Language sign for “I love you”. This pillow would make a great gift for someone you think is “out of this world”!
Come join the boys at the Museum of the Imagination in Dream Our World where they experience the world of art from a canine perspective and enjoy a day of unsupervised fun!
The Adventures of Bitey Dog 