doglight
  • Home
  • About
    • Godlight
    • Writing
    • Graphic Design Projects
    • New Media
  • Contact

Monthly Archives: May 2012

woofstock

Posted on May 19, 2012

Today (my youngest spawn) Zor and I went to Woofstock.  That’s a pet health fair held annually as a fund raiser at Wiggley Field next door to the dog park.  We took the dogs.  It stressed Cobie out; I knew it would.  It’s hot, it’s crowded, it’s noisy–these are things that stress me out.  Still, he only bristled at one other dog, and he came away like a good boy when I hauled on his leash and said come on. 

I’m not generally in favor of snapping around on a leash to correct a dog, but when he starts to bluster, I use what’s fasted so things don’t escalate.  Cobie actually likes other dogs; it’s the people that stress him out.  Me too!  I used to blame this on myself; if I were not such a hermit, maybe Cobie would be better socialized.  Then I realized one of his parents was also a nervous and spooky dog.  Now I think some of his spookiness is probably due to genetics, and maybe it’s for the best that he’s with a less social person who doesn’t mind not having a lot of company. 

Kelly, on the other hand, was excited but well-behaved.  That is, until she stepped out of her harness because she wanted to go off and pee in peace.  Afterwards she stood and let Zor swoop her up.  She wasn’t too crazy about going into the harness again, but she didn’t actively fight, either.  She’s my sociable dog.  I try not to think how much easier life would be if I only had Kelly.  I love Cobie a tremendous lot, but the truth is, he’s a huge pain in the butt–literally and metaphorically.   When Kelly gets excited she makes an ear-splitting ki-yi-yark! sound.  When Cobie gets excited he tries to yank me off my feet, and since he weighs a hundred pounds I figure it’s just a matter of time until he succeeds.

A fight did erupt while we were there, and I was thankful it didn’t involve either of my kids.  Well…sometimes I say Cobie “picks a fight” because I’m afraid that’s what it looks like to the owner of the other dogs, but I’ve never seen him flare up unless another dog was crowding and bullying.  Then he bristles up and skins his lips back from his ever so long teeth and snap-snap-snaps scant fractions of an inch from the other dog’s face.  I consider this a big bluster and a flat out warning:  Knock it off, Chief, I’m not kidding.  But I do worry how other people perceive it.  And of course, I get him away from whatever dog has pushed his buttons asap.

At Woofstock you pay $10 for a punch card and then go around to the vendors and pick up freebies.  It’s like trick-or-treat for dogs.  Cats aren’t disallowed, but most cats probably would not enjoy a day there.  It’s really hard to keep an eye on an antsy dog while you’re talking to vendors.  My husband was supposed to go with us this year, but for the third year in a row something came up.  I had to agree that what came up was an opportunity, but he’s promised no matter what comes up next year he’s going with us to hold Cobie part of the time.

The other reason he has to be watched is because everyone wants to pet him, but Cobie doesn’t want to be petted.  You’d think, or I would, that people at a dog health fair would be able to read dog body language well enough to know, especially when there was a big display about dog body language!  But they don’t.  Ordinarily Cobie loves kids, but he was clearly signalling, no kids either.  So I felt on edge trying to keep people away.  A couple of kids tried to sneak up and pet him anyway, even after I told them not to and he hid behind me.

Dear world, a dog that is hiding does not want you to pet him!

Lots of people want to be the exception.  They want to be the person Cobie likes.  Cobie only likes the people who gave him to us, and us, and one friend of Zor’s.  If you want him to like you, you have to come over a lot and ignore him until he relaxes.  That might take weeks.  Oh hell, I have no idea how long that would take.  No one except the one friend has tried it (did I mention I’m a borderline hermit?)  This is just my theory.  I think if someone came over a lot and ignored him, he’d eventually relax.

Meanwhile Kelly will be your friend.  She loves everybody!

Meanwhile I wish I had more places to take Cobie where he could be around people who would ignore him.  It’s sad that people stress him out,  because when he’s not stressed he’s an amazing varmint.

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Posted in Critters and Varmints, Diary | Tags: dogs |

Frail

Posted on May 13, 2012

Frail (Dust, #2)Frail by Joan Frances Turner

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I loved this book when I began reading; the combination of lyrical prose and zombie dystopia appealed to me on every level. Unfortunately before I was a hundred pages in the style changed, the language became more common. There was a period in the middle of the story where there were so many characters, all with suburban names (Amy, Lisa, Billy…really? An evil overlord named Billy?) Some character names began with the same first letter, adding to my confusion. I made notes to tell them apart. The style then took yet another turn, and it seemed as though the author was channeling Dean Koontz during his Christopher Snow period, which might have been a good thing except the tale became somewhat surreal and even more difficult to follow. Also the odd combinations of simile and metaphor became distracting.

I give this book two Ds–one for Disjointed and one for Disappointing.

View all my reviews

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Posted in Entertainment | Tags: book report |

further adventures of Hurricane Cobie and Kelly Doll

Posted on May 2, 2012

Them’s my two mutts, in case you forgot.

Preface:  Once upon a time, Mr Moth expressed the opinion that Cobie wasn’t all that smart–not compared to Hannah, at least.

Because if I don’t, I suffer extreme heartburn, every night before I go to sleep I eat a mint.  It can be a Lifesaver or a starlite mint or a candy cane, it doesn’t matter just so’s it’s mint.  And because I have dogs, when I get down to the last bit, I break it in two and give a tiny piece to Cobie and a tiny piece to Kelly.  Kelly doesn’t really like mint, but if I don’t give her any she feels left out.  She tries to figure out ways to keep Cobie from getting her piece of mint without she actually has to eat it.

Two nights ago, she dropped her piece of Lifesaver on the dog bed and laid on it.

Cobe half-circled for several minutes, obviously agitated.  Kelly pretended to be asleep.  I pretended to read.

Because the weather’s been so changeable I have both my summer blanket and my winter blanket on the bed.  Whichever I don’t want, I put on the floor overnight.  Surprisingly, neither dog has tried sleeping on that blanket, but finally on this night Cobie went over to it and started scratching it up.  SCRAPE SCRATCH SCRABBLE.  Left paw, right paw.  SCRATCH SCRITCH SCRUPP.  On and on.  At great length.  I considered making him quitit but I wanted to know why the hell he was doing that.

So did Kelly.  She got up and went over to the blanket to supervise.

As soon as she arrived, Cobie made one of his on-a-dime 180s and dashed back to the dog bed where he quickly found and snarfed up the sliver of mint.

Kelly went HUFF! and laid down on the nicely scratched-up blanket.

Win-win.

I submit that Cobie has complex problem-solving skills.  He should go into management.  Or get married. 

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Posted in Diary | Tags: dogs |

Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Godlight
  • Graphic Design Projects
  • New Media
  • Writing

Archives

  • October 2016
  • March 2016
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • February 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • May 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011

Categories

  • Critters and Varmints (18)
  • Diary (55)
  • Entertainment (7)
  • Maintenance (1)
  • Things (2)
    • Gadgets and Gizmos (1)
  • Uncategorized (18)
  • Writing (19)

WordPress

  • Log in
  • WordPress

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Goodreads (Currently Reading)

Goodreads (Read)

Categories

RSS

RSS Feed

CyberChimps WordPress Themes

© doglight
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.