"In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semihuman. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming partly a dog." -Edward Hoagland

For some reason, I can not convince myself that this is the last week of school and I need to study.  There are several reasons for this:

1.  It's the end of the semester, and I'm burnt out.
2.  There is always something really interesting on t.v.
3.  If I'm not sitting around thinking about my own problems, I'm sitting around thinking about my friends problems.

Anytime I think about complaining about my life, whether out loud or to myself, I think about what other people are going through.  If my friends have heard me say it once, they've heard me say it a million times..."it could always be worse".  And it could.  I know it could.  I'm tired of being in college.  I'm tired of worrying about what kind of job I'll get with my "liberal arts" degree (History), and I'm tired of wondering what the next step is that God wants me to take.  I'm a pretty laid back person, I'm not a worrier like a lot of other people are.  I know that God is 100% in control, and although I don't always show it, and even though sometimes I catch myself not trusting Him, I know that He IS in control and I believe this helps me have a pretty calm demeanor and helps me to not stress about things like other people do.  I'm pretty thankful that I have this mindset.  I try and stay positive and find a balance between taking it one day at a time, and also planning for the future.  There are certain things that will happen in our life that we have ZERO control over, so why worry about it?  Sometimes, every once in a while, I lose my mind, and usually my boyfriend Jimmy is the recipient of this craziness.  He doesn't handle it very well (sorry Jimmy), BUT, he always, always, always forgives me.  All I have to say is "I'm sorry" and he instantly forgives me and he never brings it up again.  Why can't I do that?  We should all do that.
The doggies are all doing good.  They keep me sane!  Their daddy has introduced them to a new snack:  mini marshmellows.  They go CRAZY over them!  I know, I know...they aren't good for them.  But fried chicken strips, french fries, and milkshakes aren't good for me either.  We only live once.  I love seein' those wittle bitty tales wag over marshymelloths!
BTW, Kate is still perfect.
Does anybody know of any good wedding websites other than theknot?  I have informed Jimmy I think we should get married next December.  We'll see!
Also...for anybody who likes to do bible study, try these out:
www.shepherdschapel.com   you can watch videos on your computer of his bible study he does each day.
www.biblestudysite.com    this guys teachings go along with Dr Arnold Murray.
Peace nga!

It's been a while...

It's been forever!  As always, life gets in the way of taking time to write about my puppy dogs, and other things. 
The dogs are doing great.  Kate is undoubtedly the BEST dog in the WHOLE world.  She is absolutely perfect.  We did have a situation not long after she got out of "jail" where we were outside, and she saw someone across the road that had a dog, and she decided to take off after them.  I had to chase her, and the ground was wet because there was dew on the grass and I slipped out of my flip flops as I was running.  She really felt bad afterwards, and now as soon as I do the "kissy noise" she hauls butt to come back to me no matter what she is doing.  Other than THAT, she is a princess.  She doesn't get on my furniture without asking, she doesn't bark, etc, etc.  I just LOVE her.  She and the poodles don't play yet, but they all like to snuggle together which I think is just precious.
Is it sad that I dream about the day that I can have my OWN house, so that I can put ceramic tile and/or hardwood floor throughout the WHOLE house so that not only will it be easier to clean, but I will be able to get more dogs without feeling bad...?   =D  Hehehehe
I can't wait for school to be out.  I'm totally stressing out about graduating next year because I need to find a real job asap.  Last night at work I had not one, but TWO perverts call me and try to get me to talk about my personal life.  Wtc?  (Ok, if Kate were wearing pants, I would swear that she just crapped in them, holy moly, she is S-T-I-N-K-Y).
Also, I want to post a link to a website that I found that goes along with the bible studying that I've been doing.  God gave us a brain people, he wants us to  use it. 

www.biblestudysite.com

Human v. Dog

Ok...I havn't posted in ten years.  Sue me.  School started and I've been busy.  Really busy.  What is the deal with school getting harder the closer you get to getting out?  It's like they WANT  you to fail.  I'm so close I can taste it, and they are REALLY pushing me!  Ug!
Anyways, guess what?  Kate got out of jail!  Last weekend to be exact.  I would take some pictures and post them, but my camera died.  Grr. 
Kate is an absolute angel.  She sleeps with me every night.  She lays her head on my pillow and I put the cover over her and wrap my arms around her and it's like having a little furry body to snuggle with.  Isn't that the best?  She hasn't pottied in the house ONE time folks.  I absolutely love her to pieces and I can't imagine why anyone could do that to her.  Can you?  People are mean.  I think about it every single day.
The poodles are really getting along with her.  I knew they would.  She has even started trying to play with Mikey...not Jordan, only Mikey.  He kinda looks at her like she is crazy...I don't think he knows how to play with any other dog except his sister.  But he will learn.
And another thing that is on my mind...human babys v. dog babys.  What is your opinion on this?  I'm about to tell you what my opinion is about it, in case you were worried.  Here it goes...
I know that we as humans are more valuable to God than a dog.  I know that when you have a baby, you are filled with an immense love that you never experience unless you HAVE a baby...I don't have to have a baby to know this and/or understand it.  What gets me is why do so many people have a baby and all of a sudden the dogs are kicked to the curb?  Are your dogs THAT much trouble?  Mine aren't.  They go pee and poop outside, I feed them once a day.  Once a month I give them heartworm and flea and tick preventitive, and once a year they go to the vet and have a check up.  They are obviously worth it to me.  I know that everybody is different, we all have different ways of going about things and of living our life.  But if I hear one more person tell me that basically my dogs won't mean crap to me once I have REAL kids, I think I'll scream.  Just because YOU don't have enough room in  your heart to love your dogs AND your kids, doesn't mean that I won't.  I have sooo many friends that have a baby and get rid of their dog, and I'm not talking about illness related (ie your kid is allergic to your dog, because that's a different story).  That's fine if that is the choice they make.  But I also have lots and lots and lots of friends that have five dogs and have their first child, and they do perfectly fine.  I will ALWAYS love my child and take care of my child, and I will ALWAYS love my dogs and take care of them as well.  We will be one big happy family.  It make take some getting used to, but it would never occur to me to get rid of one baby to make room for another.  Just sayin :)

Hot Dog!

I went to the library today to see my mom.  She said that earlier in the day, a lady came in all in a tizzy and said that someone had a little dog out in the car, and the car was NOT running.  Mom and a co-worker went outside and saw the dog in the car, and of course it was panting like crazy.  The thought they knew who it was, so they stuck their head into the room where the dvd's are and asked if anyone had a dog in their car.  A woman looking at movies said it was her car, and her dog.  The lady that originally came in and "tattled" confronted the lady, and the lady with the dog said "Well, I left the sunroof open for him!  He goes with me to pick up my grandson from school all the time and sits with me in the car!"  The confrontation ended with some really nasty language and that lady being asked to leave the library, more or less.
So, what the hell?  Are people seriously stupid?  Yes, they are.  It was over a hundred degrees outside this afternoon. 
What is the deal with people that leave their dogs in a car that IS NOT RUNNING!?  Uggggggggggg!!!!!!!!  Lemme tell ya something, if I EVER get the opportunity to confront someone that has left a dog in a car when it's hot, OR cold, they will wish they'd never been born :)
Anyways, Kate is doing really well!  She is so sweet, and all the neighbors love her.  She gets to get out of jail on September 11th, and I can't wait.
The only thing that bothers me is that she has started going to the bathroom in her house.  My mom said she may have..."jet lag" in a way.  Like, she is so lost as far as time and everything else because she is locked up 24/7 that she has just quit trying to hold it all together.  I'm really hoping that she will go back to being housebroken once she is free.  I think she will be. 
I still havn't heard her bark! 
That's okay though...her little sister Jordan barks enough for all three dogs!  Any suggestions on getting a dog to quit barking so much?  She is such a brat!

It's hot.

Holy moly, it's SUPER hot out here.  Ya know, I lived in Oklahoma City for a bit, and it was pretty hot there.  It's funny though, because nobody there belived me when I said it was hotter in Arkansas.  Well, I don't know what the temperature is there, but it feels way more humid here then it ever did there.  I got off work today and the temp was 107!!!  It's absolutely unbearable and I feel so much pity for any person that has to work outside.  Can you imagine working in a factory right now?  Those people are better than I am, I just don't know if I could do it.
Kate has gone outside one time today, but I'm not going to take her out again until after the sun goes down.  She has been acting a tad more hyper here lately.  I can't decide if it's because she feels better, or because she is going stir crazy being locked in the bathroom.  I wish so bad that I could ask her.  I also wish so bad that I could find out where she came from.  Then again, maybe I don't want to know.  I secretly check craigslist almost every day to see if anybody has posted a "Lost Dog in Paragould" notice.  It scares me!  I've never had a dog that wasn't 100% mine.  I mean, Kate IS 100% mine, but she didn't start out that way, which makes me anxious.  I'd hate to fight somebody, but I totally would if I had to.
I've thought about getting a new tattoo.  I only have two, and they are small...I'm not THAT kind of girl.  But, considering the fact that dogs are pretty much my life, I really would like to get a tattoo that is dog related.  Any suggestions?  I thought about getting the silhouette of a poodle...but what about Kate?  She isn't a poodle (shhhh, she THINKS she is).  And what about Carley, my miniature dachshund and the first love of my life who currently lives with her grandparents?  I'm going to really think hard before I ink my body, but I'd love some feedback.

Whats yo dawg eatin?

Today, I have dog food on the brain.  Let me tell ya a little story.  I worked at a store that sold dog food. They sold other stuff too, but dog food is what brought a lot of our customers in.  We sold several different kinds of dog food.  It was so much more expensive than what I had always bought for my dogs at Wal Mart, and at first I was extremely skeptical.  But, after they educated me on what I was selling, and after I began doing research of my own, well, let's just say I've never looked back.  Good dog food is so important.  And there are SO SO SO many bad kinds out there.  Why is is that we obsessively look at the labels on our food, but we never look at the label on  our dog food bag?  I never had before.

Go to Wal Mart, Target, or any grocery store, and pick up a bag of dog food.  Seriously, I double dog dare you to do it.  What is the first ingredient?  What are the top 5 ingredients?  I bet anything, in no particular order, the first five ingredients will include corn, chicken or animal by-product, and wheat.  And possibly some kind of gluten something or other.  I even dare you to pick up a bag of...SCIENCE DIET!!  Yes, yes, I know.  Veterinarians sell it, so it HAS to be good.  Guess what folks?  That's just not true.  Vet's get a kick back from Science Diet for selling it in their clinics, and that's the truth.  Veterinarians are not nutritionist, and believe it or not they actually don't know THAT much about nutrition, so they don't always know what is good and what isn't.  Science diet isn't any better than Ole Roy.  (The only exception is if your vet prescribes a prescription science diet food for your dog, and I would still be leery). 

Now, does this sound good to you?  Do you know what chicken by-product is?  It's basically what it says it is:  the by product of the chicken.  It's everything BUT the nutritious meat.  It's beaks, feathers, feet, organs, etc.  If beaks and feet are so healthy and filling then why aren't they in more of OUR foods? (McDonald's chicken nuggets being an exception.  Hahaha, sorry!)  And do you know how much nutritional value that corn has in it?  Well, it's not much if any.  Corn is a cheap filler, bottom line.  The dog foods in these big "box" stores, even stores like Petco, all have preservatives in them.  They sit in a warehouse for 6 months before they are on the shelf.  They are filled with all this junk, and then most of us feed it to our dogs.  WHY?!  We want to eat healthy, don't we want our doggies to eat healthy, be healthy, and live a long life? 

Let me tell you some of the biggest things that I noticed after I switched to a quality food.  Yes, it's more expensive, but it's more FILLING, so they literally eat about half as much as they would normally eat.  They go potty less.  I don't know about you, but I am more regular when I eat nutritious foods then when I eat fast food two times a day.  Their "waste" doesn't smell as bad.  Honestly, it doesn't.  And their hair or coat will look so much differently! 

Having said all this, I know that depending on where you live, some of these good doggie foods can be really hard to find.  Google it.  There is a place in Jonesboro that sells some really great dog food.  Hollywood Feed.  They just opened not to long ago and I'm soooooo glad they did.  Even some of the feed stores sell some really great food.  It's worth looking into :)

Kate

Today when I got home, I heard Kate upstairs, scratching on the door of the bathroom.  She heard me and wanted out!  It made my heart happy.  It also made me super sad that she is locked up.  Kate goes back to the doctor tomorrow for her second round of heartworm treatment.  So far, everything is going good.  She hasn't had any weird side effects, and she actually doesn't act like anything is bothering her.  I can't wait until this ordeal is over! 
It's just been in the past few days that my mind has actually wondered "Is this going to work out?  Did I make the right decision?"  I mean, Kate is precious and behaves perfectly, but I based my decision on keeping her on her being perfect for ONE day.  This makes me laugh at myself for so many reasons.  I pride myself on not being rash, on thinking things through.  I can't imagine something happening that would make me not want to keep Kate, and I'm the type of person (as I believe all people should be, for the most part) that when I decide to keep a dog, I'm keeping the dog, no matter what. 
And I'm actually watching Toddlers and Tiaras right now.  This also got me thinking about how people that don't have kids, like myself, do the same thing to their dog that these parents are doing to their child.  I used to work at an upscale dog boutique, and I've seen people drop some major moolah on their four legged friend.  I've also heard those same people talk about how they keep their dog in the laundry room 24/7 because of the hair or because they aren't housebroken.  I clean my house whether there is dog hair everywhere or not, don't you?
Guess what folks?  Some dogs shed.  If a dog isn't housebroken, it's because you didn't housebreak him/her.  Trust me, I would love to spend all kinds of money on my dogs, I'd much rather buy cool stuff for them then for myself.  But bottom line is that I want them to be a DOG.  They have the right to act like a dog, think like a dog, smell like a dog, and behave like a dog.  There is freedom in that.  My dogs may not have a bed that costs $200, but they get nine kinds of attention from me, and hugs, and belly rubs, and I kiss them until their furry little cheeks can't take it anymore.  We play and do exciting things and go for car rides, and they are happy. 

No, he can't have CHOCOLATE!!!!!

Dogs are allergic to chocolate.  How many times have you heard this?  I've heard it over and over again my whole life.  People just absolutely freak out if they think you are about to give a dog ANYTHING that has even the tiniest amount of chocolate in it. 
The truth is, chocolate IS dangerous to dogs, in large amounts.  If your dog eats one m&m, chances are he/she will be fine.  If he eats a whole bag, then he might get sick.
What we do NOT hear is how many other foods are extremely poisonous to our furry friends.  Chocolate is not the only food that they don't need to eat.  Did you know that onions are toxic to dogs?  What about grapes and raisins, stems from a tomatoe, the eye of a potatoe, and sometimes lunchmeat?
One night my boyfriend was making something using avacado.  One tiny sliver of avacado fell in the kitchen floor and my toy poodle, Jordan, ate it before we could even think about picking it up!  She pretty much projectile vomited four about two hours afterwards.  Obviously, she was fine afterwards.  But when I did a little bit of research I found that avacados are toxic to dogs, and her reaction was totally normal.
Lunchmeat seems to be a favorite of dogs, and its pretty easy to pick off of your sandwhich when you have those big puppy dog eyes staring at you.  It can have bad, bad consuquences.  One tiny piece of lunchmeat can cause your dog to have a bacterial infection, which nobody wants. 
There are lots of things that are dogs shouldn't eat, besides just chocolate.  I'm a firm believer that whether your dog gets human food is your preference, but some things are okay and some things are not.  If you just can't say no to your baby, then do a little research so you know what to say yes to.

Heartworms

Ok, it's Sunday night, and I just left my parents house.  I'm pretty excited to see my two poodles, Mikey and Jordan. 
I pull into my parking space and low and behold...I see a dog.
Yup, there is a dog running around in the yard, a little dog with white hair, and from my car he/she looks pretty stinkin' cute.
I get out of my car and head towards my door.  I stop and watch her.  She has made herself at home two porches down.  I know she doesn't belong to the people that live there becuase I'm outside fifteen times a day with the poodles, and I would have seen this dog.  I make that funny noise, ya know, the one that you make when you want a dog to come to you (I don't know how to spell that particular noise).  She comes to me and I melt.
It looks as though she has been sleeping under a car, as she is covered with oil.  Her leg hair is all matted up, and someone has shaved her body all the way down to the skin.  So close that she has what looks like razor burn.  I talk to her and she seems sweet, but a little shy.  I decide that if she is still there in the morning, I'll take her in and at least give her a bath...
Well, guess what people...she was still there in the morning.  In the exact same place that she was when I left her the night before.  I pick her up and take her upstairs and give her the best bath that I can.  I give her some food and water, and I leave her in the bathroom.
What in the heck am I gonna do with this dog?
She is sooooo sweet, might I add.  She didn't move a muscle the whole time I was bathing her.  She let the poodles smell her all over, and she smelled them back.  I can see it in her eyes that she is a good girl.
I have to take her to the vet and see if she is healthy.  In my heart, I know she won't be.  But I keep telling everyone, my mom, my sister, my boss, my boyfriend, that if she has anything seriously wrong with her, something that will cost hundreds of dollars to fix, I'll call one of the rescue places and see if they can take her.
Yea....right.
I took her to the vet on Tuesday morning.  Guess what?  She has heartworms, some other intestinal worm that I think the vet called "whip worms", ear mites, and a skin infection from being shaved so close. 
And as I'm sitting in the examination room listening to the vet tell me everything that is wrong with her, she looks up at me and just barely licks my nose.
So, she started heartworm treatment on Thursday.  Lemme' tell ya, it's very sad.  She has to be completely confined for 60 days.  She has to take a medicinal cocktail everyday.  She can't play, or basically have a life of any kind.  This is the first dog I've ever had that has had heartworms.  For some reason, hearing other people talk about it doesn't do it justice.  It's horrible to watch her be so lonesome and not feeling well.  I can't even find one fault in this dog.  She doesn't bark, cry, or jump.  She doesn't get car sick, she isn't food aggressive, and she likes the poodles.  She isn't hyper, she doesn't tear thing up, and she is housebroken. 
How on earth can someone do this to an animal?  How could anyone do this to HER?
I've never let myself stop and pick up a dog off the side of the road, I know that would turn into a real bad habit.  But, I feel as though she was basically delivered by the stork to my doorstep.  Everyone thinks I am crazy for paying seven hundred dollars to treat a "stray" dog for heartworms.
But she isn't a stray, she is Kate, and she is my newest furry child.