I Am A Dog Owner...

This is going to be a wee bit of a rant.  I apologize in advance.

I live in a very rural area (perhaps you have figured this out already).  Yet, I live at the top of a housing development in a very rural area.  There are a small number of houses in this development, with most home owners owning 2 - 8 acres of land.  So we are not close to each other.  In fact, I can see only one other neighbor from where I live.  I can't see the rest of them until I drive down my access road and out into the development.

There are neighbors that live on the access road and neighbors who live down below in the main part of the development.  We are mostly friendly with the neighbors who live off of the access road and know very little about the rest of the neighbors down below, except that one time we found a dog that belonged to the son of one of our neighbors down below.  We didn't know it was their dog, but eventually, through my husband driving around and asking people, we found out that their son was visiting and the dog got away, so we were glad to be able to reunite them.  They brought us a lovely fruit basket as a thank you, which was unexpected.  We were just glad the dog was back home.

I know....I haven't ranted yet, but I have to set this up properly.  Give me a minute.

We have some neighbors who live on a dirt road behind our development.  One house in particular I always admire when I drive past.  It is picture perfect.  A redone farmhouse with a large wrap around porch, pool in the sideyard and well manicured lawn.  There was always a dog asleep on the porch in the shade of this house.  It was like a Norman Rockwell photo.

In fact, of the neighbors we have in and around our development, all but two that I know of, are dog owners in the sense that they have dogs.  Some of them are dog owners in the sense that they are responsible for the dogs and others just "have" them.  It's the latter that are a featured part of my rant.

Let's start with that Norman Rockwell photo.  One day last year, not unlike the heat we are experiencing now, we had a three day stint of high heat indeces and temps in the upper 90's.  I was driving out of our development, and had just made the turn from our main road to the rural route that adjoins it, when walking down the middle of the road I see a very haggard looking dog.  I look at the temp gauge in my car.  It is 94 degrees.  That asphalt had to be extremely hot.  The dog looked disoriented.  I stopped my car, got out, loaded the dog into the back seat and drove home.  I opened my garage, put the dog inside on the cold floor, got a small small water bowl and put some water in it, and dipped my fingers in the water and wet the dog's muzzle.  This dog looked elderly, but familiar.

My husband wasn't home and I had to be somewhere, so I called him on his cell and explained the situation.  I also said that the dog looked familiar and I was going to think on it as to where I'd seen this dog before, but in the meantime, when he got home, he was to check her and if she was no longer panting and quiet, he could give her a full bowl of water and some treats.

I went to my appointment.  On the way home it occurred to me that this dog looked alot like the Norman Rockwell dog on the picture perfect porch.  So I drove to the house, parked, and knocked on the door.  Nothing.  I saw a neighbor's door open across the way, so I walked over and asked if they knew if the folks were home.  "No," the neighbor replied, "They are on vacation."

"Well, you see," I said.  "I've found this dog that looks alot like the dog that I've seen on their porch."

"Oh MY GOD! Thank GOD!  You've found Holly???????????" screamed the neighbor.  Now I was really confused.

"Well, I don't know that I've found Holly, but I found a dog that reminds me of the dog I saw on this porch." I replied.

"They lost Holly the day they were leaving on vacation," the neighbor went on to say.   "She just wandered away from their house.  We told them we would try to find her and we've been looking for her."

"Well," I said.  "She was in plain view this morning, walking down the middle of the hot road, tongue to the ground, disoriented and already showing signs of heat exhaustion."  Pffft....I think that went right over the neighbor's head....you could almost see it whizzing off into the distance.

"Can I come and get her?" asked the neighbor.
"You can come and verify it's her," I said.  "And if it is, you can bring her back.  Would you be keeping her in your house?"
"Oh good, because they are coming home tomorrow and they will be so relieved.  Yes, she can stay in our house until they get home."

Turns out the dog WAS Holly.  Holly was 19 years old....19 YEARS OLD!!!!!  Maybe it's me, but I don't think I would have headed on vacation if my 19 year old dog was missing.  I don't think I'd leave my 19 year old dog laying on the porch day after day, because disorientation occurs in older dogs and they can wander, not knowing where they are.

Holly went home, and I saw her on the porch for another year.  Then I never saw her again, so I assumed she had passed on.  A younger dog was soon on the porch, and I realized something.  These folks never let the dog in.  No wonder their house was picture perfect.  I am a dog owner and that means when I get a dog, it can come into my house and live with me.



Dog owners who use these should be made
to sleep in them for a week and
experience first hand igloo living.

 Next scenario...neighbors down the road in our development had two dogs who inhabited two igloos in the back section of their yard.  I never saw them walk the dogs, but then again, I was not around all day watching to see if it would happen.  The woman would often tell folks she "rescued" both dogs.  Uh huh....so that's why they are living in igloos....because they are "rescued."  Soon, they moved the igloos from behind their house to the front area of their driveway, one under each of two shade trees.  I cooked up schemes in my head about throwing the dogs treats until they recognized me and spiriting them away...but these were just pipe dreams because I'm really a law abiding citizen.  Instead I contacted Animal Friends and had them send them one of their letters about dogs chained outside.  I know they must have received the letter, because for about a week after that I understand they allowed the dogs to live in their garage.  But then they were back outside again.  Then the igloos disappeared and so did the dogs.  I am a dog owner and my dogs will never have to live in igloos because I know that when I rescue a dog, I am rescuing them from a life of loneliness and solitude and I want them to be a part of my life.  A dog in an igloo is not rescued.  It needs to be rescued.



Horses can become very angry and agitated by dogs
and ultimately will go after them.  The horse will
always win this battle.

 Finally, there are my favorite neighbors.  The ones whose house I can see.  They have three dogs.  One is a bird dog, two are small yappy dogs.  All are very cute.  Their dogs live with them in their house and share in their lives.  The smaller yappy dogs are happily ensconsed in hair bows.  One of them has been known to actually come into our horse pasture and have a bark fest at our horse Parker, who looks unperturbed and munches his hay.  Horses can kill dogs.  One mighty uplift of that front hoof or kick with a back hoof, and a dog's back can be broken.  We alerted our neighbor's to this fact.  It seemed for a while the small yappy dog did not appear, but then the bird dog started to invade.  We turned our electric fence on in the lower pasture--where the bird dog gained access--and listened for the first howl.  We hated to do it, but it was for the dog's safety.  That first howl came.  A few days went by, and then a second howl.  Since then the bird dog has learned not to enter the horse field.  It normally only takes one shock.  Our own loving dog, Ollie, our Golden Retriever, was shocked by the fence early in his life with us.  It only took one time and he gave it a wide berth.  Same with our lab, Ike.  Since then our physical fence has saved any of our other dogs from experiencing the shock.

We love dogs, but we don't let ours run wild.  Even when we didn't have a physical fence, we didn't let our dogs run.  We walked them on leashes.  Ollie and Ike were the only two dogs we allowed off leash because they stayed within range and came on call.  Daisy, Moe and Bethy were walked on leash.  When Burton came, our first deaf dog, the physical fence went in.  Yes, it cost alot of money to put that fence in.  But I'm a dog owner and I'm responsible for the lives of my dogs.  I don't want them infringing on anyone else's property, especially if they may be harmed.

I take owning dogs very seriously. 



Too bad this dog doesn't live next door.

 I may not be winning any hospitality awards soon, because I may have to go have some talks with some neighbors.  A week ago, the igloo people put their igloos back out and they have two new dogs inhabiting them.  This past week I caught the bird dog going to attack our chickens (who stay diligently in their 100 yards of farm near the barn).  Even after my husband had a serious talk with the owner, the dog was running wild tonight again down our access road.  Some people need to come with a warning label.

Aaarrrrooooo!