A Dog's Soul

A Dog's Soul

Every dog must have a soul
Somewhere deep inside
Where all his hurts and grievances
Are buried with his pride
Where he decides the good and bad
The wrong way from the right,
And where his judgment carefully
Is hidden from our sight.
A dog must have a secret place
Where every thought abides,
A sort of close acquaintance that
He trusts in and confides.
And when accused unjustly for
Himself, He cannot speak,
Rebuked, He finds within his soul
The comfort he must seek.
He'll love, tho he is unloved,
And he'll serve tho badly used,
And one kind word will wipe away
The times when he's abused.
Altho' his heart may break in two
His love will still be whole,
Because God gave to every dog
An understanding Soul!
Anonymous

Thanks to Lisa Hartman for this forward!

Fantastic Blog for Staffie lovers

I discovered this blog (permalink below) yesterday and am very impressed with the level of information and the just plain funness of it.

Today's entry is fantastic. There is a plethera of information on dog attacks (great statistics!), breed banning, and responsible (and irresponsible) breeding. Click the link below to visit the blog:

http://spaces.msn.com/members/nkbapbt/Blog/cns!1p7bcHLh2LrtNds-vOXM-awQ!605.entry

I am pleased to find that we (the blogger above and me) share a common idealogy in what constitutes good breeding, good dog ownership and the consequences of breed banning.

So, if you're interested in Staffies (or Pit Bulls as she calls them), then link to the site and read away! Let me know what you think!!

The joys of ear cleaning

Brin has dirty ears. She has always had dirty ears. Our vet says she will simply always have dirtly ears. So, like the faithful human I am, I clean her ears frequently (our vet says to do it at least 3 times a week). Brin loves having them cleaned -- so much so that she comes to me on 'non-cleaning' nights and flapps her ears at me.

Well, now Pru -- who has pristinely clean ears -- also wants her ears cleaned. I have tried to fake it with her and just rub her ears, but she knows I use a bottle with Brin and will sniff at the cabinet until I give in to her.

Question: Since her ears do not need cleaning and I do not want to use the cleaner on her, will water cause any harm to her ears? The vet's office said no. But, I want you folks' thoughts on this one.

And by the way, neither will settle for a simple ear rub. They really like the cleaner and tissue procedure. Too weird, huh!!!

One of my favorite things in life

One of my favorite things in life is cuddling with my girls (and Neo too!). It gives me great satisfaction to be close to them. Rob and I were sitting out on the swing, enjoying the evening last evening and (one at a time) the girls climbed up and sat between us - resting with us for a bit of time and then going off to do their own things. We both agreed that these times must be a little piece of heaven on earth.

This morning, around 3 AM, I awoke to Brins breathing in my face. She was (as she is every night) sleeping between us - head on my pillow and back facing Rob. I look around the bed and there too was Pru, down near my knees with her head resting on my legs. Thank goodness for a California King bed!!! If you're wondering where Neo is - he is too well behaved to come up on the bed without permission. He lays over on our pillow shams and waits until the alarm goes off in the morning to get up. He's such a good boy!!!

I wonder: Do these dogs also treasure these cuddly times? Do they have the feeling capacity to understand and cherish the smells, touches, and movements of these times? I do so hope they do!!

Do they really seek revenge?

Okay, so my oldest son has lived with us for the past few months - getting married in June and wanted to save up for a new home - brings home a beautiful boxer female puppy. Brin and Neo did very well adjusting to having a pup in the house (man boxers are hyper!) but Pru, who does not do well with new situations and/or others, did not care for the puppies antics. Pru would lunge at her - never biting her though.

Okay, so son moves out, but returns home almost every evening for supper (lol!!) and of course brings the pup with him. Well, Pru was in a bad mood last night and lunged and snapped at the pup when it jumped up in her face (pup usually avoids Pru). So I put Pru in the house so that the rest of us could relax a bit.

Pru went in to my bedroom and went pee on my side of the bed! I'm serious - right in the middle of my side!!! Do you really think that she was getting revenge for being put in? Totally cracks me up!!! I hate changing bed linens at 11 PM. And of course, Pru hung her head in shame and was remorseful, so I couldn't really be mad at her.

But revenge, really????

A new conversation place

I cannot put into words how excited I am to begin this blog - a new place to converse with one another about the wonderful breed of English mastiffs.

It is my sincere hope that we will create a community whose culture is based on love of the breed, on truth, and on knowledge.

With that said, let's start the conversation!!