Adventures about pet therapy, dog rescue and urban life in the 'Burbs
It’s Throw back Thursday and while this lovely pooch is NOT Sam, he easily could have been. A photo from the past sent by my friend at Not Afraid of Color who is likewise owned by also has a Standard Poodle, sweet Cole. Thanks for sending a delicious smile and recollection of a terrific talent, LeeAnna. Hope this image makes your day as much as it did mine.
Live, love, bark! <3
Sam here…back from our big road trip. Boy, oh boy…was that something else! Remind me to NOT jones for another road trip for a while. Ok, we all know I’ll run out and stand next to the car every chance I get but still for some unknown reason wanting to go, go, go, I can never remember what it is that I don’t like about riding in the car specifically but I really don’t. What is wrong with me??
Any who…it’s that time again where the nice folks from pet therapy evaluate me say nice things about me. But first, they had to check me out and make sure I was stable enough to continue to do therapy work. Stable enough? What does that mean?! I was beyond happy when mom pulled up in the hospital parking lot. I leapt with joy down the hall knowing I was gonna see my fur-iends and nurses there. My paws were crossed that the big hunk of a girlfriend, Truffles would be there so I could say hi and impress her…like I always do (heh, heh). And sure enough…she was there!!! Oh joy, be still my beating heart. <3
The visiting vet was so nice to me and gave me loads of treats as she was examining me. If I remember correctly her name was Dr. Roberts, but truthfully I was so excited she liked me that I kind of forgot and just gave her some “sugar” on her nose. Ooh, ooh, I love me some tasty treats. My girlfriend Truffles pushed me out of the way a couple of times to get some of those tasty treats but that’s ok, she deserves lots of yummies and by golly if I can be the prince to get them for her, so much the better. Remember, I’m a gentleman when it comes to the ladies. The mere fact that she’s twice as big as me doesn’t have anything to do with it. So there. I think the vet really liked me though. What do you think?
She sure knew how to rub my ears just right and it was great being back at the hospital too. I pogo-sticked my way down the hall toward the volunteer’s office to meet her. Good thing there weren’t too many people around or mom would have been embarrassed to pieces. A couple of the nurses I especially like came by for snuggles and tail wags on their way to their shifts. I happily obliged them with both and a nice lean on their legs and they showered me with attention. It’s so good to be back. We took a leave of absence while my Omi was recovering from her illness. We’ll be visiting patients next week and I for one, can’t wait to bring smiles to everyone we’ll get to visit with then. Color me one lucky dog!
Live, love, bark! <3
It’s been said that pet owners often own a dog that resembles themselves, appearance wise. They are also accused of making connections that may or may not exist (he just knows when I’m… [insert whatever emotion here]. There is science that supports the notion that owners frequently choose a dog that looks like themselves. Not sure I buy that whole dark eyes similarity thing but think there are other physical traits that probably underscore the decision.
Sure there are examples everywhere of owners having dogs that look just like them. The tough looking sergeant who has a Bulldog, the thin-faced librarian with long straight hair who owns an Afghan Hound. I first became familiar with Standard Poodles back in the 70’s, after puppy-sitting a beautiful Standard with thick silver hair over a weekend. We earnestly began searching for a breeder and found our first pup shortly thereafter. Her hair was black and we were told that odds were extremely good that she would turn silver as the hair between the pads was silver-the first sign that the overall color may change. Like Dalmatians who are born without spots, silver Standards are born solid black and turn in the first few months. Mandy, as the kids named her, never did turn silver-colored, she stayed a beautiful, shiny black pup adored by her family. Back then my hair was semi-long and Mandy’s more often than not was also on the long side. We did sorta look-alike if you didn’t take into account her hair was black and mine was a blonde version of Little Orphan Annie. But the curls were similar enough and more than one person mentioned it to me. I pooh-poohed the idea but it did make me pause and wonder…do owners really look like their pets? Over the years, I’ve owned 5 different Standard Poodles. All were exceptionally fine-looking, curly haired specimens with Einstein-like smarts. Then I got Sam. Since I tend to think of myself as somewhat clever, even sweet, it seemed the similarities were now taking different paths.
It’s been noted more than once that while Sam is super sweet, he’s either stupid or extremely stubborn (the trainer said there’s a fine line between the two and thought Sam was more stubborn than dumb). Our hair coloring was fairly similar before Mother Nature decided to go south and turn silver (maybe I’m taking after Mandy now after all these years). And I have been accused of being somewhat stubborn in the past and came to the conclusion that Sam and I share that trait as well as the curls. Since returning from our California trip a few days ago, I’ve especially noticed he decided that rules are merely suggestions and therefore should be summarily ignored. Listening to the Alpha B*tch isn’t particularly necessary or welcomed. Today I took Sam with me to the Post Office to mail off a couple of packages. In the past, he would follow fairly close, sit net to me when I stop and wait for the next command. Today however, he pulled like a stevedore and could not be dissuaded from zeroing in like a laser on one particular young pregnant woman standing in line ahead of us. His look was not like anything I’d ever seen before, quite obsessive and I had to put him into a downward stay position after he tried on 3 separate occasions to lunge toward her, not in a threatening manner mind you, but more in the manner of “Hey, I want to be over THERE and you’re not going to stop me!” sort of way.” WTH??!! It was then that I realized we both are fairly stubborn. I’m steadfast in my beliefs (being recently reminded of having an irrational position of a pre-disposed opinion formulated with no benefit of any experience to the contrary). I don’t know why I do that, call it intuition, but the reminder kept gnawing at me all day long. Sam may well need to go for a refresher course on proper manners especially since we’ll be starting up our hospital therapy work soon. Oh sure, he’s still as sweet as pie, but this pulling and other naughty, stubborn behavior won’t be tolerated at the hospital no matter how cute or sweet you are. But do you think there’s a training class for uprights to un-train the stubbornness out of me?
So for now I ask, ‘mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s more stubborn than them all…him or me?’ But we’re both mostly sweet so maybe there’s hope. 😉
Live, love, bark! <3
We arrived back in Denver last night, after fighting 50 mph winds along I-80 in Wyoming. Yikes…when it’s windy in Colorado it makes me crabbish so I always wonder how folks survive in places like that. Don’t know about you, but I needed a smile after driving all day yesterday. Having owned two Old English Sheepdogs before Sam joined to round out our little 3-ring circus, this one make me chuckle. Enjoy!
Live, love, bark! <3
Yawn…Sam here. The Wi-Fi is super spotty and s.l.o.w. and it’s taken all my special dog powers to add this post. I haven’t been able to read your blogs but will as soon as we can get a decent Wi-Fi signal.
We made it to just shy of the Utah border today and boy am I tuckered out. This traveling thing is exhausting.
While we were traveling homeward, there was some parade thingy for the Broncos for winning the Super Bowl. So there are about 5 million people in the entire state of Colorado and over a million of them showed up for this parade! Downtown Denver was a sea of orange. See…mom told you about Bronco mania and she didn’t exaggerate it at all. The Broncos have demonstrated a ton of class and made the city proud. Congratulations to Peyton and the rest of the team. Way to go.
See you guys once we get a decent Wi-Fi signal! P.S. The Quality Inn in West Wendover, NV leaves a lot to be desired. 🙁
Live, love, bark! <3
By now the excitement of Super Bowl 50 may just be a bit of a memory for most of you and you’re back in the saddle gearing up for a work week. But if you’re part of ‘Bronco Mania’ you may be (a) nursing a hangover, (b) trying to get your voice back, (c) still savoring the sweet taste of victory with your office mates or (d) all of the above.
Denver has a complicated love affair with its Broncos and their appearances in Super Bowls. Sure they’ve been at least 8 times but as Phil Simms likes to point out it, the Broncos stumbled into the playoffs and had only won twice before yesterday (can anyone explain why that guy hates the Broncos so much and manages to remind me of his disdain every. single. time he calls any of our games?).
Denver is nuts about this team…I mean really nuts as in crazy insane to the point where most are convinced that God loves the Broncos because of the the bright orange sunrises and sunsets we’re known for in the area. People get tattoos of the logo, paint their house & dye their hair a garish shade of orange, and other stuff like that.
Denver has been the laughing-stock of the NFL over the years and the butt of many a late night joke (the team wore vertical stripped socks back in the 60’s-gah…who does vertical stripped socks?!) and embraces and encourages the phenomena of ‘Bronco Mania.’ Not many people gave us much hope at winning this game against the Carolina Panthers who had the best record in the league, and yours truly was at the front of that line. While it is just a game, it seems to be something far more important to many Bronco fans. Not sure if its my competitive streak or the city insanity that grabbed me by the throat at Super Bowl time since I’m not nearly as rabid during the regular season but it was very apparent yesterday (surely some of you can relate to what I’m talking about?). Sam clearly sensed my distress and tried to console me in his special way to put things into perspective. I only began normal breathing in the final couple of minutes. Don’t ask me if I recall any of the commercials or halftime entertainment. I was way too keyed up to have anything memorable stick although the Heinz Weiner dog commercial did make me smile.
Yesterday we finished packing and organizing all of Wayne’s things to be shipped back to Denver and now that Super Bowl #50 is over, we can now breathe a sign of relief and relax our achy muscles. Personally I had expected the Panthers to wipe the field up with the Broncos but was surprised they managed to pull off the upset…the defense showed its spunk and got win #200 for Peyton and the city will bask in the fact that its beloved team won its third Super Bowl. There was tons of jeering, cheering, screaming and gnashing of teeth on my part (e.g. ‘sheesh, guys…will the offense ever score??!!’). As Sam doesn’t deal well with loud voices, he tried to calm me down by doing his ‘therapy thing’). We’re heading back to Denver tomorrow to try to avoid bad weather so keep us in your thoughts that we make it without being blown to kingdom come through Nevada and Wyoming again. Happy trails, sports fans-here’s wishing you a super week!
Live, love, bark! <3
After a few days of organizing, sorting, purging, re-organizing and re-sorting the contents of numerous storage units here in Northern California, I just have one thing to say. For-get that…I’m leaving for Narnia.
We haven’t had any opportunities to visit more interesting venues beyond storage units, the local U-Haul outlet and a couple of groovy Starbucks along the way to the storage units. With winter weather threatening a safe and uneventful return drive to Denver in one piece, I’m anxious about extending our trip to include a visit up the coast to the Pacific Northwest. Color me sad. 🙁 Looks like we’ll have to do that trip once the weather is more temperate. The idea of any more white-knuckle driving through the Sierra and Teton mountains doesn’t hold much allure for this nervous Nellie after surviving the vicious winds and snow of Wyoming. 🙁
So far Sam seems content checking out the neighbor cats from behind the patio door (which incidentally he’s bonked into now 3 times-when will he ever learn?). The grey squirrels residing here command the same insignificant interest as the red ones in Denver and he clearly has continued his resounding loathing for mailmen here as he does in Denver though he nearly knocked one down by leaning heavily against him on our walk the other day. The dog is completely shameless when it comes to garnering attention from passers-by, be they ‘ax-murdering’ mailmen or people just out for a casual stroll. Clearly any and every front porch is Sam’s sole dominion and is worthy of poodle death to all who invade it. Mostly he’s been spending his days California dreamin’ in the sunlight.
Live, love, bark! <3
As Sam hijacked the blog earlier this week, I thought I’d throw in my 2 cents worth today regarding our trip. Oh what a difference 981 miles makes on geography and the gardening soul. Although we uprights have been working hard on clearing out storage units, I must say I’m savoring our walks around the neighborhood where Wayne used to live before we head over to the units every day. Having lived in Colorado for nearly a 100 years, I do double takes whenever I’m somewhere where gardens look markedly different. Trees and plants here in California are so unusual to my Rocky Mountain eyes. Italian cypruses, lemon trees, evergreen (but not pine) trees, deciduous trees with leaves (in February no less!) AND of course, the ubiquitous palm tree thrown in for good measure simply make my head spin. Where I would normally see plants like these on table tops, you’ll see them outside in gardens around here. 
In the Sacramento area where we’re staying, there are tons of sweet gum trees that have prickly seed pods. They are everywhere and one can only imagine how the trees look when in bloom. Right now the pods are all over yards, patios and sidewalks. How’d you like to step on one of these puppies retrieving the newspaper in the early morning? Yeah, me neither. Even Sam has started looking where he walks in the backyard (though he still runs into the patio door with some regularity-dingbat dog). 😉
Am planning on taking a bag of these land mines gum tree pods back home with me–think they could be spray painted and turned into a real showy door wreath with a little creativity. Time will tell…that and whether or not they continue to hurt like the dickens while being handled. O-u-c-h!!
Live, love, bark! <3
Sam rarely has his tongue out but when he does, it’s usually a keeper. What a goofball! 😉
Live, love, bark! <3
Sam here. I decided to commandeer the blog today since Mom is celebrating, albeit via long distance, her ‘baby’ brother’s birthday today (happy, happy Tim-we love ya) and tomorrow is Ground Hog Day. Till then all I can say is: don’t let the door hit you in the tush, January. Spring is just around the corner, regardless of what that rodent says tomorrow and I for one am excited about supervising work in the garden again. Woof, woof!
Mom and dad are busily clearing out dad’s storage units and breathing dust but look forward to being able to enjoy some of California beyond its traffic and…ahem…interesting drivers. Happy Monday. 😉
Live, love, bark! <3