SNOW DAY

Yesterday was a nice snow day for Tippy and I. There was already some snow on the ground and it continued to fall throughout the day.  As much as Tippy loves to play in it, I decided to let her off leash on our morning walk. She did GREAT!

She waited patiently while I closed the gate so the cows wouldn’t escape.

Hurry up. I want to run!

Well, maybe impatiently.  Then she was off exploring all of the sights, sounds, and smells.  I’m pretty sure she appreciated the fact that she didn’t have to go at my pace.

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She stayed fairly close and came every time I called her.  The fact that she knew she got a treat might have helped slightly.

One of my favorite things about playing in the snow is how cute she looks with a white nose.

Thanks for letting me play!

Later, while Tippy was taking a nap, I read some of the blogs that I follow.  I was inspired by Becoming a Wild Family to stop procrastinating on a quilting project.  It was originally supposed to be a Christmas present for my nephew eight years ago. I had gotten the quilt top put together, but had barely started on the quilting process.

Log Cabin quilt top

I worked on it periodically for a couple of years and then just put it in the closet. My main problem was the time it took to even get it out and start quilting.  If I didn’t have at least half of a day to work on it, it didn’t seem worth the effort.  I purchased a small quilting frame so I could keep it set up and work on it when I only had 30 minutes or so to quilt.  That might have worked, but, two years later, it was still in the box.  Not now!  Yesterday, I put it together, put the quilt on it, and quilted for a couple of hours!

In the frame

My goal is to get it finished by June so I can give it to my nephew and his wife on their 5th wedding anniversary. Yes, I am the Queen of Procrastination, but I am going to do this!

Tippy and I hope all of your snow days are full of fun and productivity!

 

 

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: FRISBEE

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HOW DOES SHE KNOW?

Note:  There is only one picture in this post.  You’ll thank me later.

Tippy doesn’t get sick very often.  When she does, it is because she has either gotten into something rotten she has found or has eaten too much, too quickly.

Back in the summer, we had taken a walk in the back field.  I saw her run up the hill toward the gap in the fence.  When I got there, she was sniffing what appeared to be where something had gotten sick.  I made her get away from it and come in the house.  A few minutes later, she started whining, wanting to go outside.  I thought she was wanting to go do what dogs do, eat the pile of yuck, so I wouldn’t let her out.  A couple of minutes later, I heard her gagging and had a mess to clean up!  I told her I would listen to her from then on.  As she had never gotten sick in the house before, I wonder how she knew that it was something that she should do outside and not in the house?

Fast forward a couple of months and she got sick again.  But, this time, it was more than a one or two time thing.  I had listened and taken her out when she wanted to, so no mess to clean up.   But, again, she showed recognition that she was sick and that she might have to go outside quickly.  How do I know?  She slept beside me, on the floor in the bedroom.  She had never spent the night in the bedroom before and hasn’t since.  That night, she woke me up about every two hours to go outside.  I took her to the doctor the next day.  She didn’t have a fever, so she thought she might have gotten into something that upset her stomach.

If you read my last post, you know that Tippy has had restricted freedom for the last three weeks.  Today, she ran out the door when I was trying to put a box out to be recycled.  Usually she will wait on me, but I think the call of freedom was too great for her today!  I watched, and she took off at full speed under the fence.  It reminded me of a prison break.

She ran in the opposite direction from where the cows are fed in the winter, so I just let her be, planning to go find her if she wasn’t back in 15 minutes.  She returned in fewer than 5.  Since she came back quickly, I decided to let her have a little of her normal freedom back, and left her out for over an hour, checking on her periodically.   She did great, but must have found something to eat while she was out and about because, after we came in for the night, she asked to go back outside and promptly threw up twice.  She has been fine since, so I think getting it out of her stomach was all that was needed.   She is sleeping on the couch now, but, you can rest assured that if she wants to go back outside, I will take her!

Do your dogs know when they are sick and ask to go outside?  I’m curious to know if it is a normal behavior or not.

RUNNING WITH THE WRONG CROWD

As with people, dogs can get into trouble when they run with the wrong crowd, or should I say, the wrong pack.  Tippy found this out a couple of weeks ago.  We had gone for our walk in the neighbor’s field and she disappeared before we got back.  She does this sometimes, but always comes back within 10 to 15 minutes.  I figure she can’t get into too much trouble in that short period of time.  However, on that day, the neighbor called to let me know that he had seen Tippy and the neighbor’s two Pit Bulls barking at his cows. Uh oh!

He was actually very nice about it and said he didn’t think they would do any harm, but he had three new calves and they were aggravating the mom’s to death.  He asked me to keep Tippy up for a couple of weeks, until the calves are better able to take care of themselves.  He also told me that he has had problems with those Pit Bulls for over two years.  I have since learned that they run the horses that belong to their owner.  That’s not good.

So, for over a week now, Tippy has either been inside, tied out, or on leash.  She’s not happy.  I feel bad for her and wish I could make her understand why she isn’t allowed to run free.  If I could, I’m sure she would chose freedom over hanging out with the other dogs.

Yesterday, I’m convinced the Pit Bulls came by for a visit and she really wanted to go out to play.  Here is what I saw and heard.

I think I see my friends. Can I go out to play?

Please, mom. I really want to go out.

In case you didn’t hear me, I REALLY WANT TO GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!!!!

Fine! I guess I’ll just have to take a nap!

Naps over. Maybe the stare down will work.

When that didn’t work, so she made one last ditch effort.

I did eventually take her out for a nice walk, but only after I was sure that the Pit Bulls had moved on.  I have figured out a way to let her get some running in with little potential for “escape.”  I drop the leash, throw a treat, which she will run to retrieve and devour, then run back to me and sit down to wait on the next treat to be thrown.  This has the added bonus of working on her recall.  Sure wish I had made that a priority when she was a puppy.

Just a few more days and I will let her have more freedom.   Living on a farm, I hate to have to keep her restrained – especially since she’s used to being able to run free and she has so much energy.  But, having grown up on a farm, I also understand that she can’t be allowed to aggravate the cows.  For a long term solution, I am researching GPS dog collars that will allow me to keep track of her when she is out of my sight. Maybe that will keep us both from getting into trouble in the future.

Tippy and I wish you all a very happy and trouble free 2018!