only backgroundI'm a wife, mother and grandmother. I'm opinionated. I contradict myself frequently. Most of all, I love my kids. I believe in them. I fight for them. They're weird and wonderful. If you want to know more, here's a bunch of other stuff from my old site.
Archive for the ‘dog’ Category
As you all know, I love my dog. Belle is a beautiful American Pit Bull Terrier who thinks she’s human. Luckily, she does understand that she’s different enough that she must go outside to use the bathroom. That’s lucky because I’d hate to clean up her messes in the house. That’s not so lucky because the messes outside are pretty bad.
I guess the only part about owning a larger dog that I don’t like is the yard clean up. That dog poops constantly! The piles are huge and you just never know where one will show up. I go out to clean up after her every two or three days and you’d think there were a half dozen dogs out there.
Thank goodness Nick helped me yesterday. It had rained for several days so there was a larger than normal build up of dog poop out back. I had only one pair of disposable gloves left so we each took one and went to work. We filled up a small garbage bag in about 20 minutes.
I have a feeling the neighbor’s dog has been getting into my backyard and doing its business there. I see that dog in the front of the house all the time, even though we have a leash law here, but I’ve never seen it out back. Yet. There’s just no way Belle could possibly poop that much in 4 days.
I guess if this is the only problem with Belle that I have, I’m doing pretty good. And really, it is my only complaint. She’s such a wonderful dog. I just wonder if I could train her to use a litter box….
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I know I’ve dropped the ball on my intention to post at least one picture each week of Kendyll and Belle. It’s just been a busy couple of weeks and pictures were either of Christmas or other people. Never fear, we’ve got a girl and pibble pic today!
I engaged in a little debate this past week regarding pit bulls and was surprised at how many people have pit bulls and also how many people are so anxious to believe the hype surrounding this breed. When someone states that a pit bull’s jaws exert 3 or 4 times the pressure of the average dog, my mouth drops open. Not only have scientific studies dispelled this myth, but the study also showed that both German Shepherds and Rottweiler have more powerful bite pressure than a pit bull.
I could go on, as you all know, but I won’t. Not now. I know my dog. I know that when my neighbor, Tammie, stopped by here on Saturday to trim Belle’s nails, Belle cried like a baby. She never snapped or growled or acted at all aggressive. She whined. And yelped. She learned that from Kendyll.
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ACK!
I spoke too soon. About Belle and tearing things up, I mean. Oh, my! She isn’t a destructive dog and she really isn’t at fault. She’s just way overdue for a nail trimming and that is causing some majory problems.
Belle jumped up on the couch, as usual. Kendyll was on the couch with an afgan covering her and Belle nestled in beside her. Then someone knocked at the door, Belle leaped from the couch with threads caught in one of her nails. the afgan trailed behind her and ripped. UGH!
I have no idea when I’m going find time to get that dog’s nails trimmed. They’re so thick and long right now that I’ll need a plasma cutter to do the job. Of course, with Christmas right around the corner, we really do have to get Belle groomed for the company. I don’t want her thrashing at our guests, you know?
Another job to add to my list, I suppose.
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When Kendyll walks in, Belle goes bonkers! She races around, jumps up on the couch, pants and whines. Her tail is perpetual motion. The most dangerous part of any Pit Bull is the tail – that thing will smack you to the ground when it’s in full swing!
Belle doesn’t stop her nervous energy until Kendyll pays attention. Belle wants a hug and some loving from her girl and she doesn’t rest until she gets it. I think Kendyll knows that and gets a kick out of Belle running all over the furniture. Eventually, though, they both settle down and Belle gets the loving she wants. I’m never sure exactly what Kendyll is saying to Belle when she pets her like this, but Belle seems to understand.
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I start them young around here.
Okay, actually, I have never forced a single one of my kids to follow the Steelers. Chris is more interested in college football; Jesse and Boomer both love the 49ers. Nick likes the Steelers and Levi likes Philadelphia. Maggie like the Steelers because she wants to wear my Steeler clothes. The important thing has never been the favorite team but rather that each kid understand and love football. Because I do.
Kendyll is on her way to being another Steeler fan, though. She loved her new black and gold cheering uniform that her daddy bought for her. She and Belle even did a little cheer for all of us. I’m still not sure how Kendyll got Belle to join in, but here’s the closest thing to proof that I have.
And consider this your Girl and Pibble picture for the week, too.
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That question sends my dog into seclusion. Seriously.
Several months ago, my online friend Deb stopped by to visit me. Before she came, I insisted that my son give my dog a bath. I wanted Belle to smell nice for our company. Nick asked Belle, “Want a bath?” and since Belle had never been asked that before (Brian usually just picks her up and puts her into the tub) Belle wagged her tail and got very excited.
And then Nick put her in the tub and Belle was not happy at all.
So now that question is enough to send Belle hiding under a table or behind the couch. She’s not a girly girl when it comes to smelling like a rosebud, that’s for sure. We’re lucky that she doesn’t have long hair although I’d love to have a shed ender to clean up her coat a little anyway. (Amy says they work great, by the way!) We also keep Belle in the house most of the time so she doesn’t have much of a chance to get really dirty. Nevertheless, she does start to smell like dog after a while so a bath is definitely in order.
With two holidays right around the corner, this seems like a really good time to plan a sneak attack on the puppy. Hopefully, Nick and Boomer will be able to lure her into the bathroom and get her into the tub without too much whimpering. I’ll let you know how it goes.
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Kendyll has a cold. Poor baby! Her nose is stuffy for a while, then it gets runny. And her eyes are watery, too. Her appetite seems fine, though. She ate sausages for breakfast (4 of them!) and noodles for lunch. Now, finally, she’s sleeping.
She gets a little clingy when she’s sick, just like Grammy. Since I know how she feels, I just walk away from the dishwasher, the picking up or whatever I have to do and site and hold her. I don’t mind; she lets me cuddle her so I’m happy to sit there as long as she wants.
Except. While I was sitting on the loveseat, holding Kendyll and watching Diego, Belle climbed up next to us. First, she kind of snuggled up next to me. Then she snuggled closer and put her head on my lap. Then, before I knew what hit me, not only was my lap holding 25 lbs of baby but I had also become the comfy chair for 65 lbs of Pit Bull. Yeah, the dog got on my lap, too. And my lap really isn’t that big.
I would have loved to show you a picture but there was no one else here to snap the camera. Besides, I doubt you could have seen me behind Kendyll and Bell anyway. Thank goodness for whatever or whoever walked past the house, prompting Belle to leap from my lap to bark at the window.
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I know I’m probably overdoing it but I have my reasons. I’ve got yet another adorable picture of Kendyll with Belle. Kendyll was getting tired and instead of climbing up on my lap as she often does, she decided she wanted to cuddle with Belle. Binky in her mouth, sippy cup and blanket in her arms, she climbed up next to Belle and relaxed.
Belle never moved. She barely opened her eyes.
And if you’re curious, the reasons I’m trying to make an effort to post pictures of both Kendyll and Belle are because:
- I know from experience that if I don’t get these pictures posted, they’ll just collect on my computer and I’ll forget about them until this machine dies and I need a new one.
- Jesse is still in Hawaii and wants to see how his niece and his dog are growing and getting along
And so, there you have it. If these pictures don’t appeal to you, just skip over them.
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I love keeping my camera on the kitchen counter. It had always been in my office but lately I’ve been leaving it in the kitchen. That’s why I’m getting so many pictures of Kendyll and Belle lately.
The two of them are almost always together. When Kendyll is upstairs napping, Belle will go outside or lay on the couch. When Kendyll is watching TV or playing, Belle is right by her side.
I suppose it’s odd to me because Belle was full grown, spayed, and very settled in the family by the time Kendyll came along. Belle realized immediately that the new family member was someone we all loved, so Belle just loved her, too.
Dog’s are such interesting creatures. They’re so “in tune” with the humans in their families. Too bad more humans don’t learn a lesson or two from dogs.
Notice that Kendyll is totally unaware of my presence but Belle is alert and making sure I’m not going to upset her Girl. Well, she’s probably also hoping I don’t stop Kendyll from sharing some of the cookies and cheese twisties she’s eating, too.
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A very long time ago, back when my dad was a kid, the American Pit Bull Terrier was the most popular dog for families with children. No, really. It’s true. In fact, they were known as the “babysitter” or “nanny” dog. That’s because Pit Bulls are really very gentle with kids.
I know. I know. You’ve heard the TV reports or read the newspaper articles or know a friend of a friend of your cousin’s husband’s sister or maybe you actually watched a Pit Bull tear apart a small child. Whatever. For one thing, if it was a Pit Bull, it was not behaving according to the breed’s nature and for another thing, was it really a Pit Bull? Because there are over 20 breeds of dog that are mistaken for Pit Bulls.
Regardless, this post isn’t about trying to convince people who prefer the sensational over the truth. This post is about one Pit Bull: my beautiful Bella Donna aka Belle. She used to belong to my son Jesse and me. He picked her out, I paid for her. We both have loved her. But Belle has decided that she belongs to Kendyll. Belle loves Kendyll just as much as every human in our family.
I’ve been around dogs all my life and I know that some dogs are food aggressive and some are not. Belle is definitely not food aggressive. Whenever Belle eats, Kendyll likes to sit by the dog dish, scoop up food in her hand and watch as Belle eats the food from her hand. I usually just sit and watch, totally amazed at how the dog and the baby have devised this little game.
The other game they play is that Kendyll runs to the kitchen and points to the dog biscuits. I hand her one, Belle sits patiently and waits until Kendyll puts out for Belle to take. Kendyll claps and points for another biscuit. And another. Until I hide the biscuits and tell her “all gone.” I really think Kendyll and Belle are in cahoots against me.
But this biscuit game has changed recently. Now, Kendyll takes a few bites of the biscuit first, before handing it to Belle. She didn’t do this once or twice. She does it with every biscuit. And Belle just sits and waits until she hands it to her. The dog is patient, that’s for sure. Of course, Kendyll has always shared her food with Belle so perhaps Belle is now returning the favor. Here, then, is the vicious Pit Bull waiting for the grandbaby to share the dog biscuit.
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