Furbabies: Remembering What It's All About

Being a pet parent can be stressful. We’ve all been there. Whether it’s puppy potty training, learning obedience, working through one specific issue or a rescue dog with a traumatic past, sometimes it can get overwhelming.

I don’t know about you, but when I get stressed out and overwhelmed, I can get cranky. And although I hate to admit it, my frustration is sometimes taken out on my furballs. Before you get any ideas about what I mean, let me explain. We try very hard to teach the dogs rules and boundaries and manners. But they are far from the most well  behaved dogs I’ve met and at times I wonder what the heck I’m doing wrong. When I come home from a long day at work and the dogs are couch hopping like they know they are not allowed to the cats are bugging each other and getting into any little thing on the counter, sometimes I reach the boiling point. And then I yell. In an angry voice. Loudly.

The cats scatter and run off to hiding places and the dogs hit the floor, laying on their bellies with big sad eyes. And I immediately feel awful. Am I wrong to feel frustrated or upset? No. But do they deserve such a harsh response? No.

Just over the weekend we had several visitors come over. I’ve talked about teaching dogs the “Place” command and we try to use this when guests come over to teach calmness instead of overly excited energy. Well, as 5 people walked in the door one after another, all hell broke loose so to speak. Instead of going to and staying in their place, Ares and Chaos were running around the room, wiggling their bodies with joy and jumping up on people for attention. Chris and I were trying to control the chaos but our verbal commands were falling on deaf ears. And we got frustrated. In retrospect, none of our visitors were too upset with the craziness and it really wasn’t anything to get upset about.

We went over to my parent’s house and their new neighbors came over to chat. I was worried my dogs would make a bad impression by getting excited and jumping all over them. So I left them inside to stare out the glass front door wishing they could meet these nice new people. As it turned out, they had a little dog who escaped the house and was running up onto the deck just minutes after I came back inside. And I thought nothing of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my furry family members more than words can express. But just like other family members and friends, sometimes I take them for granted. There isn’t a second thought that they will all be there to greet me when I get home and snuggle on the couch or make me laugh with their silly antics. Unfortunately, as I’m sure most of you can attest, this won’t always be the case. It’s not something any of us want to think about, but that sharp pang of realization pushes me to remember what it’s really all about.

 

Why did I adopt these furry creatures into my life in the first place? To nurture and love them, fulfill their physical and emotional needs, to foster bonds of companionship, develop trust and security, to share my good days and bad. Certainly I wasn’t expecting them to be perfect or never make mistakes just as I am not perfect and make plenty of mistakes.

Sure, there will be still be days that I lose my cool and let the frustration get to me. The last time I yelled at them won’t be the last. Sure, there will be times I will overthink the situation and worry about things that don’t really warrant the waste of energy on stress. But I think we should all try to remember why we love them and gave them a home to begin with. Because, sadly, they won’t always be there to greet us at the door, snuggle on the couch or make us laugh. So what if they occasionally couch hop or sneak into the kitchen or jump on some guests. They don’t judge me for my mistakes or demand perfection from me. They just love and appreciate me for me and I owe them the same.

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

It was so nice to have an extra day this weekend but the weekend still didn’t seem long enough! Lucky for us in NKY, it was beautiful sunny weather with summertime temperatures. Chris and I left our little zoo behind to visit the Cincinnati Zoo with some friends.

 

We told our furballs about all the animals we saw, including the new baby giraffe Nasha. 

 

 

It was fun to appreciate all the amazing creatures that share our world and learn about them. The Sumatran Rhino is one of only 9 left in the world! And I always enjoy petting the goats in the petting zoo area. 

 

 

I would like to say that our furbabies were fascinated with our tales from the zoo adventure, but they were more interested in lounging.

 

Chris and I also attended the wedding of my friend and had a great time celebrating with her and her new husband. I am sure Penny and Lola were very excited for their mommy and daddy to tie the knot. By the time we got home it was late but Ares and Chaos woke up to hang with us for a little while and the kitties were ready for their nocturnal playtime. It’s always nice to come home to family members who greet you like you’ve been gone for weeks.

 

I would say the dogs’ favorite part of the weekend was going over to my parent’s house for a day of summer fun. They got their very own baby pool to play in on the deck. They were dragging on their morning walk since they are not used to the heat yet and flopped down in each shady area we passed. So we thought a little pool of their own would be a nice escape from the hot weather.

 

Ares hopped himself right on in. He was jumping around and splashing water everywhere, just having a good time. But Chaos was hesitant at first. He would dip his paw in and then pull it out quickly and back up, unsure about the cold water. Then Ares would splash him and he would run around the outside of the pool and try to play without getting in. Finally I stepped in and then the big scaredy dog jumped in.

 

 

 

After the boys did a little swimming, okay wading, and cooled off it was time for a treat. I whipped up some homemade pupsicles with plain nonfat yogurt, blueberries, wildberry concentrate and lemonade Crystal Light. We just couldn’t wait for them to freeze all the way but Are and Chaos didn’t seem to mind lapping up the slush off the deck.

 

We had a good mix of relaxing and hanging out with family and getting out and doing some fun things. What cool stuff did you do with your furbabies over the weekend?

Boston Baby: Sir Snorts A Lot

Ares snorts all the time. To say he snorts a lot would be a huge understatement because he probably doesn’t go more than a few minutes without snorting. He’s a little furry black and white snorting machine.

Boston Terriers are among the breeds considered to be smushy face dogs. That’s the technical term but basically it just means dogs with short, flat faces. Some people find the snorting comical or endearing while others find it rather irritating and annoying. But the latter probably just have never met a dog like Ares.

Snorting is a preferred method of communication for Ares. He snorts to convey an array of emotions. It takes a trained ear and spending way too much time talking to Ares to learn the meaning behind all his various snorts.

He snorts when he’s excited. Usually these snorts are quick, in close repetition and pretty loud. He will generally break out the excited snorts when we are getting ready to go somewhere and he knows he is coming or when he’s awaiting some delicious treats he knows are for him.

 

He snorts when he is mad. I know it’s hard to believe with that sweet, innocent little face, but Ares tends to get into trouble from time to time. We like to use positive reinforcement for good behavior but sometimes bad behavior cannot simply be ignored. Ares is much more stubborn and less sensitive than his brother Chaos so sometimes it takes a firmer approach to discipline him. If I have to tell him no in my “mean voice” or take away his beloved blanky, he gets a little upset. I get a big burst of a snort followed by a bark and then usually another big, loud snort. We have a mini stare down and then he finally gives me one final snort of indignation and turns his back to me or trots off to get into something else. I feel like it’s his version of sticking his tongue out at me; like he’s sassing me. And he rarely does this to Chris. Rude.

He snorts when he’s bored. If it’s raining too hard to take a walk or he is the only furbaby who wants to play, he will plop down on his belly, lower his head and give out a long, slow snort with a sigh at the end. Like his life is so tragic and hard, er, ruff. It is also accompanied by this pitiful look. And I mean pitiful, not pit-i-ful.

 

He snorts when he plays. These are more like pulsing snorts. They aren’t in such rapid succession as the excited snorts but still short and close together, just with longer pauses in between. The playful snorts are also at an even tone and he throws in some play barks, growls and head tilts to mix it up.

He even snorts when he sleeps. Yes, plenty of dogs snore when they sleep. Some of them I’ve heard can rival and surpass their human counterparts on the snore scale. But Ares snorts when he sleeps. They start out long and kind of quiet and then as he falls deeper into sleep they become longer and louder, just like a snore, but clearly a snort. It’s a good thing his roommate Chaos and the kitties don’t seem to mind when they sleep by him. But it can be quite distracting for us humans.

Yes, I realize an entire post on my dog’s snorts is a little ridiculous. But don’t tell me you don’t know your owns furbabies’ styles of communication just as well. Or that you didn’t find this at least a little bit entertaining.

Have a snortin’ good Thursday!