Poodle Commands

Mr.Puppyjackpot and I are heading home, after a weekend trip to the cities for our first ever Wild Hockey game. It is Monday morning and we are currently traversing the “bog road”, which reminds me of my first trip down this road. Almost 16 years ago I moved to Warroad with my heart poodle, Anna. This road gave me a serious pause, in the “this is a good move” mantra that was running through my head, and occasionally being said aloud to Anna, who was happily snoozing in the backseat next to my prized possession, my personal computer. Yep, it was on this road that it dawned on me that I had never asked if there was internet connectivity up here, and based on the road, the trees and the overall lack of civilization I was a bit concerned that my PC might become a doorstop!

My fears were unfounded, Warroad had dial-up, and while slow, it allowed me to connect with my poodle peeps on the informative, fun and somewhat volatile “Poodle Support Group”. Who knew that all these years later I would be sitting next to my husband writing my blog on my iPad, happy to be headed home. 16 years ago I knew nothing about husbands, IPads, or blogs! I wrote stories, but on my PC in Word Perfect!

Today on our way north, I pointed out the rest area where Anna and I stopped on that initial trip, and it got me thinking about those early years with Anna. She was not quite three when I moved to Warroad, the same age Vivian is now. She loved a car ride and like Vivian would jump in the back seat and snooze until we got our destination. It did not matter if the trip was 18 minutes or 18 hours, she would lay down in the back seat for a little nap. However, just as I remember doing as a child, at every town, she would pop up as though to ask “are we there yet?” On longer trips she would occasionally sit up, woof once, and lay her head on my shoulder which was her signal for “get off at the next rest area please”!

Anna was not quite two when she discovered the horn. I was living in Shaker Heights Ohio, and would often take her with as I ran errands. A couple of places I frequently stopped at were the dry cleaners and a favorite Chinese food restaurant that were in the same strip mall. One day while waiting for my clothes, I heard a horn honk. Turning around I saw Anna in the driver’s seat of my car, so I smiled and waved at her through the plate-glass window of the storefront. As I turned back to pay, I heard another short bleat of a horn but paid it no mind. One more somewhat longer blast and the owner of the cleaners wondered aloud, ” who is honking their horn?”, with a shrug of my shoulder’s I indicated I had no idea, went out to the car and praised my sweet poodle on her good behavior in the car!

A couple of days later I went to pick up my Chinese food order. I am patiently waiting for my food when I hear a short beep, followed a short bit later by a slightly longer beep, then beep, beep, beep in rapid succession. In walks the kid who delivered for the restaurant asking, “who owns the poodle in the red Oldsmobile?” I indicated it was me and asked if something was wrong, to which he replied, “I think she wants you to hurry up, she is sitting out there honking the horn!”

So my city poodle, who knew to stop and sit at every curb, knew which way was right and which was left, learned another new command that week. That age-old obedience command “No Honking!”

Peggy and Anna 1995

Time for a flu shot!

August, September, October; how time flies when you are having fun and then recuperating from having fun!

August found me and Mr. Puppyjackpot flying to Europe on a long- planned and much- anticipated Baltic Cruise. Since this is not a travelogue, I will not bore you with details but suffice it to say we had a fabulous time and the hardest part of the trip was leaving the puppies!

I often hear from other dog owners that they have never left their pups in a kennel, AND NEVER WILL!! They always say that last part quite adamantly as though a stay in a boarding facility is akin to a prison sentence. Then they ask me, “What do you do with your dogs when you travel?”

Guess what? We leave them at the kennel. I strongly believe that you should get your dogs accustomed to boarding from the time they are young. Get recommendations, find a kennel that you think you might like, visit it a few times prior to leaving your dogs, and then leave them overnight for just one night the first time. See how it goes. Once they get use to it, and realize that when they go to the kennel, you always come back for them, it will be fine. The kennel we go to is clean (probably cleaner than my house), spacious, and the owner keeps track of eating, peeing and pooping. What more can you ask for? The puppies arrive wagging their tails, and when they leave they always pause to give Mrs. Kennel Owner a good bye lick. I love my dogs, but frankly I am not going to give up traveling for the next 15 years. Not to mention, if every dog in my extended family showed up for Christmas there would be no room for the people.

Vivian has been somewhat lax on her therapy dog visits, although through no fault of her own. August was a busy travel month and so we only were able to visit once. Upon our return from Europe both Vivian and I were excited to get back to work and we had fun reuniting with all of our friends. Vivian got lots of pets and I got lots of reprimands for being gone for so long. Shortly after that visit I came down with bronchitis, which quickly morphed into pneumonia and thus ended our visits for several weeks. But Vivian, ever the therapy dog, simply transferred her work to home, and became a home health therapy dog!

Earlier this summer I mentioned that I have been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. While unhappy with the diagnosis, and not thrilled with the treatment, I am happy to know the devil I am dealing with now. I am not an RA blogger and don’t intend to become one, but if you want to know more, RAWarrior.com is a great source of information. What I do know is that the dogs have been a great source of comfort, cheer and reason to move this summer and fall. When my depressed immune system decided not to fight the nasty European bug I caught, I could have easily fallen into “woe is me” syndrome; however the dogs wouldn’t let me do that. They have to be fed, they have to potty and they require a certain amount of petting everyday or they get crabby. Mr. Puppyjackpot would say that sounds a lot like his wife!

So with a little lovin’ from Therapy Dog Vivian, her big bro Ike and the fabulous Mr. Puppyjackpot, I am feeling better, back to work and looking forward to our visit to the Warroad Senior Living Center tomorrow. To all of our local fans, visit the Marvin Windows and Doors Health Fair and the Warroad Senior Living booth October 28th and 29th. Vivian will be there from 2-5 PM for petting, photo opportunities and some emotional support before you get your flu shot!

Thankful for Therapy Dog Vivian!

With our graduation from Therapy Dog Class and passing of the Canine Good Citizen test, Vivian and her pal Chloe were ready to take on their first Therapy Dog assignment!  On the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, Vivian and Chloe made their debut at the Warroad Senior Living Center!   I put together a little program talking about Therapy Dogs and how they are trained and what to expect when Vivian and Chloe visit.  Then it was on to visiting with the residents.  How much fun we had!  To see the faces light up when the dogs came near them, and to hear the stories of their dogs over the years was really neat.

While Chloe stayed in the big room with Jayne and about 15 residents, Vivian and I headed to a couple of rooms where the residents couldn’t get out.  Our first visit was with a woman who was losing her vision, but she loved petting Vivian.   She couldn’t get over how soft and curly Viv’s hair was!   Her friend was visiting and he said he always called her “Poodle Hair” because she had such curly hair, and told her that Vivian looked so much like her, and was as beautiful as she was!   You gotta love a smooth talking gentleman!

Off to my friend Elaine’s mom’s room, where Vivian not only enjoyed the petting but did try to steal a Beanie Baby Bear.  The “leave it” command worked, but she did look back at it longingly as we left.  She is 18 months old; you can only be on your best behavior for so long!

Visiting Tillie!

 

Back to the big room, where Chloe joined us for a quick trip through the memory care unit.  Chloe has a special lead that allows the resident to “walk” her, without Jayne giving up control of the dog, so Chloe got walked around the memory care unit by one very happy resident.   It was a great afternoon and we are looking forward to beginning our visits next Saturday. 

 

As I look back on the last year I am thankful for so many things; Greg, the dogs, our health and our families and continued employment in these tough times.  I am also thankful that I decided to blog about bringing Vivian into our lives because it was through the blog and our mutual love of our pups that I became friends with my colleague Jayne and we decided to train our dogs for this work together.  This has been my goal since the day we brought Vivian home, but it really is more fun doing it with someone else.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!