Bark Bark Bark

There is a joke at our house about how Joe picked out Nestle at the city shelter. He says he picked Nestle because all the other dogs were barking and she wasn't. It was true. She was just sitting there acting like a good dog. Well, we went out front to do the paperwork and for some reason I went back to see her again and she was barking up a storm with all the other dogs. I should have known then what we were in for. Nestle didn't stop barking that first weekend at our house. I can still remember I was sitting at the dining room table writing a paper and she stood there barking away. I ignored her for as long as I could, after all, I'd been told you should ignore them and eventually they "get it." Not Nestle. Chaco used to go to another room to get away from her. We went through multiple bark collars with her. She just kept barking through them, even the one the dog sitter/trainer used on her. Zapping Nestle only meant she'd bark more. Seven years later it hasn't changed. But with impressionable Gidget around (Daisy and Hattie were never into barking- they always had a look like, "We'll just let her bark it out and waste her energy"), I had to do something. I remember how at our previous house we had a barking dog next door. He was bored, his guardians didn't spend much time with him. But he was annoying! I read once where you could put pebbles in a soda can and shake it when they dog barked. So I did. And either it worked or we moved. I don't remember which now (probably both though). The spray bottle works well with Gidget, but spraying Nestle made her bark more. Last week I had a spray bottle in one hand and the Squirt can filled with pebbles in the other when someone walked by the house and Gidget began to bark, followed up by Nestle. Coordinating that was a little difficult but I hope we're on the right track. I've asked several people for help but everyone just says, "Sounds like you need Cesar Millan. And since I don't think he'll be at my house any time soon, well, we'll just keep shaking the can and squirting the water.

Gidget turns a year old

Gidget turned a year old yesterday. It's hard to believe that the twenty-some pound puppy we brought home at the end of December is now full-grown dog sitting between Joe and I on the couch tonight. I haven't weighed her recently and she still looks very young- thin and svelte– but she's definitely somewhere over 60 pounds. Her tail is barely off the ground but most of the time it's thumping a wall anyway. It's interesting to watch her behavior develop as she does. Seems like we make one step forward and two back. But it's also hard to believe that a year ago this time we were sadly watching Daisy fight her cancer. Her diagnosis came at the end of August and I remember Labor Day weekend because Joe was in Houston and Daisy had just had her biopsy and it was freaking me out that it wouldn't stop bleeding. We had no idea that that was minor compared to what was ahead. I can look behind me and the painting of Daisy is looking over all of us from the stairwell. I know that in some way she's with us and that she made sure Gidget came to us, but I admit I miss her. Each one of the dogs brings something unique to our household and to our relationships with them. And sometimes we don't realize it until it's too late. With Gidget, as much as she drives me up a wall running around and barking at things that aren't there, I remember to savor my time with her as I didn't understand to do with Daisy until it was too late. I better go do a little bonding with my dog. Daisy is looking over me and making sure that I do!

Gidget gets spayed...a few new photos

I have been up to my eyeballs finishing my new book, Rocky Roads: The Journeys of Families through Suicide Grief. Now that it's out to the readers, I feel like I an get my head above water again. Gidget gave me many breaks since we are housebreaking her. This morning she was spayed and the tech shared with me her vitals from the monitor. He said they were some of the best he'd ever seen. That's my girl!

A Growing Girl

Gidget continues to develop. Her ear isn't flopping anymore and they seem to be growing themselves as well as her tail. She's almost as tall as Hattie, too. It's like she's not a baby anymore but how quickly the 2 1/2 weeks have gone. She is slowly learning manners and I think I've finally broken her of grabbing my pants and pulling (the worst was when I had workout pants on for a walk and she managed to pull my pants down!).

Gidget moves in

As I write this, Gidget (formerly Ariella) is running around the room. Actually, she was just standing here acting she was trying to figure out what a computer is. She's been in constant motion and I have to admit has been good about learning what are toys to play with and chew and what's not (I think taking off with my boot last night taught her pretty early when Joe chased her around). We drove to Roland, Oklahoma, Tuesday where it snowed all the way from Amarillo to Roland (about 700 miles from Albuquerque). We hadn't taken Chaco on a road trip in several years and he really struggled. I'm not sure if he thought we were going to give him away (or trade him in) but he also has been struggling with watery eyes and I'm sure that didn't help. In some ways it was easier to travel with him this time. He turns nine tomorrow on new year's day (we'll have had him seven years) and I didn't feel so paranoid about leaving him. I can leave him in the car with a whole lot of food and he won't touch it. He's too busy worried about where we are going without him. He kept waking me up in the motel room wanting to go out in the rain and snow. I took him for a run on a country road the next morning and he really wanted to interact with the cows but they didn't want anything to do with him and kept backing away. I was nervous meeting Gidget. She came from the Ahimsa Rescue Foundation (see site here) where she had been the product of backyard breeders. She and her parents were removed from the home and that's how they ended up with Ahimsa. I had never gotten a dog that I'd never met. What surprised me, although I'm not sure why, was how much smaller she was in person. The photos that Teresa Morton, of Ahimsa, had emailed us showed what looked like a bigger dog. I'm adding some photos here including one of Joe holding her at the dental clinic (Teresa's husband is a dentist) where we picked her up. Chaco really struggled on the way home, getting comfortable, and finally some benadryl knocked him out so he could sleep. He was a good sport although he kept sitting on top of Gidget (not on purpose, I think he's just not aware!). When he settled into the very back of the car, she sprawled out in the middle seat and went to sleep. Our only catastrophe was that despite our best efforts to get her to pee, she didn't until we were somewhere in Texas and then she decided to do it in the car! Daisy's bleeding had prepared me well and I had enough plastic and towels down that it didn't seep through. When we stopped for her to pee shortly after, she did and has been good about doing it outside since (waking Joe up twice last night to let her out). The drive home was very uneventful until we hit Cline's Corners in New Mexico and a storm that hadn't been predicted so early (or was on the weather map). The canyon that leads us through the Sandia Mountains into Albuquerque was snowy and icy and Chaco sat in my lap the whole time while Gidget wanted nothing to do with me but to stay sprawled out. The dogs here are adjusting to a new sister. Nestle is afraid that Gidget will steal her food and Hattie wants to play with Gidget but Gidget is still a little wobbly on those big legs and can't keep up with her. I'm sure that will change soon. Happy new year, everyone!

Puppyhood is upon us again

I admit that I wasn't happy that we had no plans for Christmas Day. The reality is that I spent most of it working, something I try not to do on holidays. But after getting stuck overnight in Dallas thanks to weather and a plane that left without me, I had work to do. Yet it was on Christmas night that we found out we are to be the new pet parents of a rescued German Shepherd puppy who is three months old and currently residing in Oklahoma. I knew eventually we'd another dog. I didn't plan to do it this soon though. During my dissertation research, a question we often pondered was when is it okay for someone grieving a pet to get a new one? And I think my own experience is reminding me that it's different for all of us. I felt a little weird talking about it at first, like I was dishonoring Daisy. But what I realized was, if Daisy were alive and could talk, she'd be telling us to open our home to another dog. We have the room and are willing to give the time and energy. I wanted another German Shepherd because I wanted a chance to use everything I learned about Daisy's immune system to help another dog. Tomorrow morning we are on our way to Oklahoma to pick that dog up. I will write more about her story once she is with us. In the meantime, I spent today preparing for puppyhood– pulling the crate out, buying the puppy food, and making a vet appointment for Monday. I have been asking Daisy to lead us to the right dog at the right time. I know she's taking care of this and helping it all to fall into place. And I know she'll be guiding us on our trip and back home with the "new" fourth member of our family.

Another roller coaster week and an anniversary

I keep thinking that each week things are going to get better and Daisy will be stable and we'll be able to return to somewhat of a routine. I can say that as far as I know today, all is relatively quiet. We can't visit Daisy today because the vet clinic is closed but I think that might be a good thing to help her healing. She had a drain put in last week but it wasn't put in at the hole that was leaking since the hope is to get that hole dried out so it will begin to heal. When we saw her yesterday, the leaking had not fully subsided but was getting close. And Daisy definitely wanted to go home. She was very mellow the first few days she was there but late in the week she showed signs of being her old self (which tells us that she's feeling better and knows she's getting better) which means she's ready to run and play. Joe also said that he could feel part of her hip which he hadn't been able to do since the tumor popped up on her leg. We plan to bring her home Thursday because my mom is coming to visit her from Chicago on Thursday for the weekend. In other news, it was five years ago Friday that I found her at a 5K race here in Albuquerque. She followed the first race walker in. I still don't know what possessed me to take her home but something told me I had to. I didn't think Joe would let me keep her since we already had Chaco and Nestle and he (Joe) had been attacked by a German Shepherd as a kid. Joe was in Thailand at the time and after a day of being followed around by this puppy who wanted to bite my ankles, I was about 15 minutes from calling the other woman who said she would take the dog if the puppy didn't work at my house. It was the intervention of my neighbor who saw the puppy in the window of my door and said that I had to keep her and that Joe would love her. And he did.

Happy 4th Birthday, Hattie!

Hattie turned four today. It's hard to believe it's been almost four years since Hurricane Katrina changed so many lives, including ours. We will never know what the very beginning of Hattie's life was like but we know she's a happy dog, er, queen of the Linn-Gust House (don't tell Nestle!). I wanted a Golden Retriever, Joe brought me a Cur we named Hattie. She was meant to be part of our family and we're grateful for all the dogs who also got adopted because of Hattie. Joe's friend Craig returned to Mississippi and took 15 dogs to Maine where they found new homes (except the one who died). Happy birthday, Hattie!

Looking for Dog Rescue Organizations

We're looking for dog rescue organizations that would like to buy discounted copies of Ginger's Gift to sell and then let the organization keep the profit. Any interested organizations should contact me at: michelle@gingersgift.com. We want to help where we can!

Middle-aged Shepherd in New Mexico needs a home

A friend emailed this information last night. She's trying to find a home for the dog in the photo. The dog is in New Mexico. If you're interested, please email me at michelle@gingersgift.com and I'll forward you the contact information. Thanks!

Fetchapalooza Part II

A few more Fetchapalooza photos. I honestly don't get why black dogs aren't adopted. While I only have one black dog, it's not because I don't like them. I'm not even breed specific. Heck, we don't even really know what Chaco is. Still, it was sad to see that several of the dogs left Sunday afternoon were black dogs. But it surprised me earlier in the day to see one yellowish looking dog with brown spots still looking for a home. Later, her new family came by and they bought her a new collar and leash from TLC Pet Hospital, the table next to me. I told the man I was glad they adopted her, their second dog. Her name is Bella and she is the yellow dog on the left in the photo above.

Fetchapalooza

On Saturday morning, I took my dogs out to run a little earlier because I needed to be at the ABQ Journal (where Fetchapalooza was to take place) around 7:30. As I was coming back to the house with Daisy, I stopped to say hi to an older woman who walks regularly in the morning. She remembered Daisy's name and went to pet Daisy. I was a little nervous because Daisy has this bad habit (thanks to everyone who encouraged Hattie to jump on them when she was a puppy...) of wanting to jump on people. Daisy, however, forgets that she is not 25 pounds anymore and when she stretches, she is about 6 feet long. But Daisy went and stood next to the woman and let her pet Daisy. Whew. Then when I brought Nestle and Hattie out, I saw a woman in the next block. But she didn't have her dog. I knew instantly the dog had to have died but I didn't want to assume. She confirmed my suspicion when I asked and Nestle went to her and leaned on the woman so the woman could pet her. The woman said she needed some dog attention and was glad to see us. So before I even left for Fetchapalooza, my dogs were offering hope to others. All before 8 am on a Saturday! The Fetchapalooza event was incredible. About 630 dogs found homes! I was there for two days speaking several times about Ginger's Gift, talking with people, and watching people with their pets– both old and new. I partnered with TLC Pet Hospital (my vet clinic) for the booth. You can see the crowd coming in. They had to hold people back until all the pet organizations had unloaded and were ready. It was incredible watching people come by with their new additions. I saw two kids arguing over who was going to walk the new dog to the car. My hope is that in several years they still will be arguing about the same thing! But many of these people appeared to already have pets or had pets in the past so hopefully all 630 found new and happy forever homes. Some animal organizations went home without any pets and the event set a national record for adoptions in a single event. Enjoy the photos! I am shameless about posing with the Petco mascots by the way. I buy my food there for Nestle, Daisy, and Hattie as well as Ginger's food when we are in Chicago. We need that free 10th bag!

JayJayPooh Bear needs a home

Please help Jay Jay Pooh Bear find a home!

This is a wonderful, extremely loving, smart and gentle dog. JayJayPoohBear is very shy at first, but the moment he feels relaxed, he will fall in love with you. His mix is Husky and ChowChow (because of the prevalent blue markings on his tongue). He’s 6 yrs. young, weighs 60 lbs. and is fully vet checked. Pooh Bear’s devotion is big, strong and true, just as he is. He likes other dogs, but takes some time to accept them, so he needs an experienced handler (he’s fine with my two little dogs). Pooh’s deep, baritone bark is resonant, but if you say “sshhhh!” he softens the tone. We're presently working with a fabulous trainer to overcome his deep fears from being kept in a backyard his entire life. JayJayPoohBear is making good strides and needs further work.
For more details and to meet JayJayPoohBear, please call Sharon 718 783 3432 or woofwoof.sharon@gmail.com. JayJayPooh Bear is in Brooklyn, NY, but could be adopted by anyone who wants to give him a good home.