Authentically Mine

At first glance I thought, "Well that's a cute idea." Then I started thinking about the dogs. I fall somewhere in between thinking my dog is like a child and believing that a dog is a dog is a dog already. That said, I think that renting out dogs, while it may provide some social and emotional benefits to the humans (and a great deal of financial benefit to the owner of the busines) might just be confusing to a dog...don't you think?

Dogs with voices? Come on you say...well check out this site. Click on any one of the videos, the animal talk stream-of-consciousness style. Very effective I think. You will definitely will want one or all of them! Here is one of them to start off with. Really you should watch them. Even though they are shelter dogs and the story makes you want to adopt them all, they are lucky ones at a great shelter and their "voices" have a great perspective.

This was one of the webby-nominated websites ('activism category').

This morning felt like spring. The sun was out it was incredibly windy which made it feel like there was energy just spiraling around me as I walked Marley. I just noticed this week on our walks that I pretty much hear the same birds in the same areas of our walk. I also realized that you can easily mistake the coo of a dove for the hoot of an owl. Then there is the woodpecker…I wish he would figure out that the telephone pole is probably not as rewarding as if he moved 20 feet over to the real tree. It was a nice morning after a long night of tossing and turning.

I knew it would come, the part where it got harder as I started to taper off my medication. It started coming last night. I was up at 3:00 AM and tossed and turned until 6:20 AM when I finally got out of bed. The thing is, as much as I could not sleep I did not want to get up and read or do anything else either. So I would sleep in 20 minute spurts before tossing and turning again. Once I was able to actually drag myself out of bed, shower and walk Marley I felt much better.

A co-worker brought in her dog today and I am doggie sitting for a few hours while she is in meetings and I swear it really is so nice to have a dog laying at your feet while you type away – my Miss Independent Marley hardly ever lays near me when I am working on the computer at home. She much prefers the king sized bed. Go figure!

Hi ya all - Marley here "guest" posting for Michelle this morning. So she gets this dog crazy news letter from PetCrazy.com. I was reading it this morning while I had my MilkBones and thought I would pass it along. Really people pay attention to what us dogs are trying to say. By the way Michelle is most guilty of #2 and #3. Which ones are you most guilty of with your dog?

Top 10 Peeves Dogs Have With Humans

1. Blaming your farts on me..... not funny... not funny at all!

2. Yelling at me for barking. I'M A FRIGGIN' DOG

3. Taking me for a walk, then not letting me check stuff out. Exactly whose walk is this anyway?

4. Any trick that involves balancing food on my nose. Stop it!

5. Any haircut that involves bows or ribbons. Now you know why we chew your stuff up when you're not home.

6. The sleight of hand, fake fetch throw. You fooled a dog! Whoooo oooooooo what a proud moment for the top of the food chain.

7. Taking me to the vet for "the big snip", then acting surprised when I freak out every time we go back!

8. Getting upset when I sniff the crotches of your guests. Sorry, but I haven't quite mastered that handshake thing yet.

9. Dog sweaters. Hello ??? Haven't you noticed the fur?

10. How you act disgusted when I lick myself. Look, we both know the truth. You're just jealous.

I am angry and hurt and sad. :(

I took Marley swimming like I have every week for over 18 months. She is always a spaz when she gets there because she is so excited and she is always dying to get in the pool.

Just like every other week she goes into the pool excitedly and she has her regular swim. Then when her time is up we get her out and dry her off and we are talking...and well Miss Marley the sneaky pants water LOVING lab goes back up the ramp to the pool and starts to step in it. I say, "MARLEY NO!" and she belligerently steps in and lays down on the steps. Then as I get closer she swims a loop then gets out.

I look at the owner and say, "I am not sure if I should say "bad dog" because I don't want her to equate the pool with bad".... as if a lab could equate bad with anything water related.

When Marley finally gets out of the pool the owner looks and me and says, (did I imagine the snootish tone?) "I think you really need to look into getting Marley under conrtol," she pulls you in here and obviously doesn't listen." When you said, "No." she should have froze. WTF? Is she nuts. A lab? A pool with water? and she thinks she is going to freeze and stand still? Why don't we just parade squirrels around in front of her to and expect her to stay.

Of course I immediate get internally defensive but keep it in. She thinking Marley has issues has NEVER come up before, not in the entire year and half we have been going there. Mentioned in passing maybe but never spoken to me like this before. Then she launches into saying, "You know, Marley needs to know who is boss AT ALL TIMES." Now granted Marley is a challenge. I know and admit this. We adopted her sight unseen and she barks too much for my liking and is very independent, not a snuggler and can have selective listening. This woman works with dogs all day and has to understnad that not all dogs are model dogs and good dogs can be challenging. We have done OK for 8 years with Marley.

As an aside Marley is a breeze client this woman - all she does is sit on the edge of the pool and throw a toy and Marley swims and retreives it and the swimming helps strengthen her muscles and get out some extra energy. The woman does not even need to get in the pool with Marley as she needs to with at least 50% of her clients. She gets $37 dollars for 30 minutes and all she has to do is throw the damn toy and Marley and I are happy.

The woman continues on about how she is concerned and worried about my safety and what IF something happens with Marley and another dog, or what IF Marley pulls me down.

I felt so insulted as if someone just criticized my child, my husband or my parents. I feel it is as if suddenly she only wants "good" dogs - or only thinks "good dogs" are the all the time well behaved ones. I was "this" close to telling her that if this is suddenly going to be a problem we do not need to come to her place any more ... but we have already paid for the next 3 visits and Marley loves it and the extra exercise helps.

I feel like for 18 months this has not been an issue and now it is. And last week she made me feel badly because she said she was "cutting us a deal" and not raising the prices on us because she knew money was tight. I did not ask for that and if she was trying to be nice she should have taken my payment and never said anything about the increased price. This was the same week a bank maintenance glitch caused my ATM card to be declined. We pay 3 weeks ahead so it was not like we were behind and stuff happens. She said it was fine the next day when we dropped a check off but after seeing her every week for a year and half I felt weirdness.

So it is the 2nd week in a row I have left there with a bad vibe from her and if she thinks Marley is out of control I have to start wondering if it is worth it. Plus she never says any of the negative stuff to Adam.

I know Marley has given none of this a passing thought. In fact by Marley's standards the woman could hate her and as long as Marley gets to swim, Marley will be happy. I feel sad though for Marley. I think I need to go snuggle with her.