Lilly has figured out that certain getting-dressed routines mean various things that may or may not involve her having any fun. The other day in my mad dash to get out of the house and deal with
eldercare issues, I found her glued to one spot, just looking out the window. At first, I couldn’t figure out what she saw. When I realized a bunny had caught her attention, I figured a little border
collie obsession wasn’t a bad thing for her with me being so busy. …
Back in the mid-1990s, when I was on staff at the American Animal Hospital Association, I helped with logistics for the big annual veterinary
conference. Think of it like throwing some 50 special events every day for thousands of your closest colleagues in a strange city for four straight days. It is exhausting. The exhibit hall was
always one of big draws, with oodles of free schwag and other tantalizing things to get people into the various booths, where the oh-so-charming sales folks could work their magic. …
My friend and colleague Susan McCullough over at The Allie Chronicles
sent me this link today. It’s a blog post from Patricia McConnell that addresses the
underlying theme of Champion of My Heart: What do you do, how do you feel when a dog you hoped would do X (insert expectation) can’t, won’t, or doesn’t like to do X? …
A couple weeks ago, I popped by a craft event at the Grange. (Rural people know. Others can look it up.) And, I would have snapped up
one particular item pairing, if the knitter had had something in Lilly’s size. Ready … ? This person had hand-knitted dog sweaters with matching hats for dog moms. It’s silly, but way cute. I
would love to have a little matching thing for us girls to wear for photo ops and such. …
Ginko reigns as the undisputed sofa captain at Chez Champion of My Heart, but last week, in preparation for holiday guests, I washed and hung out the garage sale comforters that typically cover our
furniture while Tom did a thorough upholstery cleaning. That meant our big boy suffered an entire day without piloting the love seat. Check out our ghetto scat mat (as Elayne at Days of Speed is fond of calling homemade solutions). Two words: Bubble Wrap …
Most nights, Lilly and Ginko sleep in the basement in their hard-sided crates. The temperature down there stays around 55 degrees year-round. Even on the crazy-coldest nights, like we’ve had over
recent weeks, it stays steady. We treat them a bit like birds in that we cover their crates at night with some insulated drapes I once made for our dining room. As an experiment, I used my greenhouse
thermometer that’s capable of showing temps both inside the crates and in the basement overall. Here are the results. …
After I rescinded my top dog toy pick for the 2009 holiday season because the plastic was too
hard and noisy, I went with the Busy Buddy Twist ‘n Treat from
Premier instead, as Lilly’s main gift. It came last week, and I’m sad to say it is WAY too easy, even at the hardest setting. The
kibble literally pours out. Help?! …
Amid the rampant belt-tightening, dogs fair better than human friends and even family in the holiday shopping rush. Human hangers-on and family gift obligations get the heave-ho, but dogs? Well, they
remain KEEPERS even in tough economic times. Or, so says, an article in yesterday’s New York Times (Fewer Gifts and Frills …) …
An industry expert told me while I researched the history of dog toys that plush toys always
outsell other kinds of dog toys — by far. It has less to do with relative usefulness in a dog’s life and more to do with likely impulse buys by the girls who shop for dog toys. (And, let’s face
it, in the dog arena, the consumer is definitely a woman.) I got to thinking about this factoid while sewing back together a bunch of plush toys who’ve seen better …
When Elayne over at Days of Speed asked about Lilly’s favorite ball, which is apparently all the rage in Chicago, I confidently told
her where to find them, how I usually buy several at a time. Yet, I find myself in a small panic. Our local grocery store no longer has these Flexi-Foam balls, which are the ONLY ones Lilly likes. Oh, the trauma. …
