the dream life

Reiki dog

Woody has had some digestive troubles this week. Several times he had to go out in the middle of the night, which is highly unusual as Woody really values a full night's sleep. It's been very stressful for him, trying not to "go" in the house. Thursday was a particularly rough day.

On Thursday night I woke to discover him sitting in the corner of the dark bedroom smacking his mouth. I took him out and he did his business but he was clearly distressed and worried about the fact that he didn't feel well. 

When I brought him back inside and put him on the bed, he refused to lie down and just sat there, smacking his mouth again. In the past, I'd tried to send Reiki to Woody only to have him back away from it, but since he was feeling out of sorts, I thought I'd try again.

I put my hands on his lower back and asked for the Reiki energy to flow. I felt it start up immediately. He responded, but he didn't move away. Within two minutes, he was stretched out, snoring.

He was much improved on Friday and the vet gave him a clean bill of health.

I'm glad to know that he's open to Reiki when he feels that he needs it.

Dog parking

This evening we decided to take Woody to our new favorite dog park. It has a big dog side and a small dog side, so he can play without fear of being knocked down by someone huge. It's also spacious with a brushy hill and a little trail that he likes to "hike".

When we arrived there were about six other dogs there and they were all super friendly. They welcomed Woody, tails wagging. They sniffed him and encouraged him to join their pack. Woody, however, just looked at them, like he wasn't sure what they were, then came over to stand with me and Tracy. 

Woody has always loved to play with other dogs and I was completely surprised that he didn't start running and yipping. The only thing I could come up with was that it had been so long since he'd had any dog socialization, he'd started to believe that he was a human boy and could no longer relate to other canines. 

We hiked with him on the hill and he was perfectly joyous,  

but I felt badly that he didn't want to join the other four leggers and talk about dog stuff. 

Finally, just before we left, he met up with a sweet little puggle named Taylor and they did some circle running. 

I guess we're going to make more of an effort to get him out there in the dog scene. 

Or maybe he's just a hike with mom and dad kind of guy.

Sunday fix

If at 5:17 p.m. on the Sunday of a three-day weekend you find that you've done not one thing that you hoped to do and that you're all out of sorts in general, a good solution is to buy a bunch of food, eat it outdoors, then take your boys to the dog park. For good measure, when you get back, grab your tiny book light and read in the way back of the dark yard.

Pin-up boy

I normally don't enter Woody into competitions, but this one benefits Kentuckiana Pug Rescue so, please go vote for Woody. He's #375. I chose this picture of him because of the front paw tuck in, which is one of my favorite pug moves.

Dark corner

Sometimes Woody looks at something that we can't see and barks at it ferociously, as if he can't believe we don't see the whatever it is, as if we've lost our minds for not jumping up and taking care of it, leaving him to protect us. Just now, he was asleep at the foot of the bed when he woke up, looked above the lamp on this bookcase

and really let something have it. I looked but couldn't see anything - no flying creature, no anything. After a while, he stopped barking, but he kept staring at that place.
I took the picture with my computer from across the room, so it's not stellar quality, but I still don't see anything. Do you?

It's the boy's birthday

Today is Woody's third birthday.

It was three years ago that we drove to Russell Springs, put him in a box and brought him home.

It was the best thing we ever did.
We sang to him today and gave him a biscuit (not a dog biscuit, an actual biscuit). Dog partying will commence this weekend.

*Update* Woody's birthday part has been cancelled due to predicted ice and snow. I guess it's not spring just yet.

Weird round people up to no good

I’ve had an unusual amount of things to say about M&Ms lately, but I feel compelled to share the latest in Woody’s television viewing habits. There are a few things that Woody always barks at on tv. Other dogs, for instance. That is barking that is followed by crying and whining and sometimes the bringing of toys to the television in an attempt to get those dogs to play. He also barks aggressively at cows, horses, mules, donkeys and moose. Moose seem to be a particular nuisance in his opinion.
Now, there’s a new…um…animal that has him all upset. You may have seen the series of commercials starring large M&Ms that have haircuts and wear go-go boots and get their pictures taken in photo booths and basically act like people. Well, Woody hates those M&Ms. He saves his most ferocious barking for them. He jumps up from a dead sleep when he hears the first two notes of the music from those commercials.
I guess he just doesn’t like to see candy act that way.

Look how cute they are

I love the part of my day when I get to come home to these two.

Surprise mugs

Look what the pug fairy left us today.

Thank you, pug fairy!

Vegetable orchestra

Woody really loves this video of the vegetable orchestra. He digs their sound, man. Tracy is thinking of making a carrot instrument, playing it for Woody, then letting him eat it. That would pretty much be a pug dream come true. Especially if the carrot had peanut butter on it.