Jealousy...

I have a very jealous person in my life.. this person fights anything that comes around me, blocks anything that gets close to me, and scowls at anything that may get more attention than her. If you haven't guessed already, this particular "person" is Isabelle. Most of this intense jealousy stems from the presence of other dogs. As I have shared with you, we have other dogs in our household. Her biggest enemy... Matty. My sister and I have insanely spoiled these dogs. Matty and Isabelle can be playing and having the best time ever until one of us step into the picture. We can reach down and touch either of the dogs and a full scale dog fight breaks out. Isabelle thinks she in invincible. She would take on a whole Pit Bull dog pound if the opportunity arose. We have to watch her very close to make sure this does not happen. Just yesterday she went for a dog that's nose was as big as her whole body. He was coming close to my boyfriend Michael  and I wanting attention and she went nuts. Isabelle is like me, she only has a select number of people that she is close with, but once she has let you in, she is not letting you go. If anyone gets too close to me, she gets between us. If Michael is at my house, Isabelle lays on his shoulder curled up glaring at me, daring me to get close. She knows the people that we belong with, my Mom, Dad and Sister, Michael and my grandmothers. She has adopted a few more people along the way, but its not easy stealing her heart. So if your around any of us and she is not sure... you better watch out. Oh, and don't even think about bringing another dog into the picture or its over!!

You can see in the picture Isabelle lurking in the background as Matty asks for attention. Martha Stewart's article on training jealous dogs says to only give a dog attention if one dog is around. If they are both around make them ask for attention. You can use tricks such as asking the dog to sit or do a trick. This would be helpful if you were just starting to raise two new dogs. I have a feeling this will not go over too well in my house!

105 year old dog!!!

What do you consider old for a dog, 10, 12, 16, or 18? Well, I got my dog Rose when I was 3... I am 22 and she is still laying on her bed in my living room. She is soon to be 19 years old. Rose is a walking miracle dog. Rose is a staple of my community. To my family, she is priceless. To anyone who knows her, she is a legend. This legend may not be as strong as she once was, may not be as energetic as the rest, her vision and hearing, nonexistent. In my family, there are 7 cousins, Rose has witnessed each birth, and each life grow into its own beauty. We have a picture of my cousin Luke, who is now almost 16, sharing his teething cookie with Rose! We also have pictures of the baby, Jed who is now 7, also sharing memories with Rose. I live in a very small town so everyone in the community is friends with Rose. Rose, you see, is a traveler. She would set out in the mornings to visit her dog friend Lucky at the old Brinkley's Hardware Store. Sometimes she would come back on her own, and sometimes Mr. Brinkley would bring her home at Lunch. Down my driveway there is a store called the Mini- Market, it is a small convenience store. In the summer, Rose prance in, straight to the candy aisle, get a Blow Pop, and walk back out! Whenever my Mom would go in, she would have to pay Rose's tab. I live next to a park where the Kindergarten class from the elementary school comes every year on a field trip. Starting with my kindergarten class, Rose made it an annual thing to attend the field trips to the park. With each new class, every year, Rose would walk to the park and join the fun.

Now Rose is tired and old. I never imagined that a dog could live to be almost 19 years old. Sometimes Rose gets outside and runs like she is a pup, and other times she can't hardly get up. She is in pain some days and we have debated on whether to put her to sleep because we do not want her to suffer, we can't do it. Every time we think it is the right choice, we back out. For the past several years, most of our memories of Rose are just her laying in her basket. We can't stand not walking through and seeing her lay there, even if that's all she can do anymore. Rose is definitely the old lady of the house. We are very fortunate to have a life full of memories with Rose!