Wagging Our Tails

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog, dogs, German Shepherds

Thank you so very much for all of your compassion and kind words. It helps so much. And it's wonderful to feel like dog people are a tribe. We all love our pups with abandon, even though we know they won't be here forever.  Having that understanding and support from all of you is amazing. Argo was feeling particularly perky this afternoon, so we took some family photos. The way dogs live in the moment is such a blessing. We had fun today, and I desperately needed it. I'll share more photos soon, but I liked the way this one fit with one of my favorite quotes. … [Read more...]

Stella the Wonder Dog

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog, dogs, German Shepherds, STELLA

There was a time, years ago, when a wild beast came to live with us over Thanksgiving weekend.  She ripped plants from their pots, barked at the cat, peed on the floor (but never outside), and drove Argo into a nervous tizzy.  We changed her name to Stella and worked desperately to find a way to understand her. Eventually she got better. It was a rocky start, but after the first year, Argo and Stella melded into a funny little team. Argo taught Stella how to be a dog.  She watched and copied. They ran around the yard playing a strange game of tag only they know the rules to.  When they … [Read more...]

My Trusty Dog Argo

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog, dogs, German Shepherds, STELLA

I've been mostly absent from the internet for the past few weeks. It's hard to dive back in without an explanation, and oh, this is so hard for me to explain. Argo was diagnosed with terminal cancer a few weeks ago. We rushed him out to a specialist in Buffalo and spent days getting opinions and second opinions. J, Stella and I crowded into Argo's inpatient kennel for visiting hours, holding his paw, rubbing his belly, feeding him every favorite food we could procure on our binge trips to Wegmans. In the end, there's nothing we can do to fix him. We didn't think we'd be able to take him … [Read more...]

Robot House!

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog

The dog hair situation in our house seemed so out of control during prime shedding season this year. When Woot had a Neato Robotics vacuum on sale, I bought it on impulse (so out of character for me) and I'm not sorry I did. I still need to get the big beast of a vacuum out every week or so to get the really hard to reach spots and our sisal rug, but running the robot vacuum (which has been named Robot House, of course) every day means I no longer live with pet hair dust bunnies. I did worry how the dogs would react. Stella's not necessarily scared of it, but she's not a fan. Argo, … [Read more...]

Contraband

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog, German Shepherds

I have a massive knot in my shoulder. At my last appointment, my physical therapist gave me a tennis ball and showed me how to use it to work the knot out. I had to hide the ball in my purse when I brought it into the house so Argo wouldn't see it.Someone told me the glue they use to put fuzz on tennis balls is bad for doggie teeth, so Argo has fuzz-free rubber balls instead. I hung my purse on the back of a chair in the kitchen, and a few minutes later noticed him sniffing it with interest. Even though he hasn't played with a tennis ball in years, he still remembers the smell.So now my … [Read more...]

I miss all the excitement.

Filed Under: Argo the wonder dog, STELLA

Stella hates the stove.  When it's in use, she lies on the kitchen floor watching us carefully like she's expecting the oven door to open up and swallow us whole.  She won't eat, she won't drink, she won't let the person cooking out of her sight.  And even when the stove is not in use, if she has to walk past it, sometimes she'll do the same quick little scurry run we all did as kids when we didn't want the monsters under our bed to grab our ankles. She's never been hurt by our stove, there's never been an incident in the time we've had her, but on the list of Stella's nemeses, the stove is … [Read more...]