Conversations With Faith ~ Bathtime

 Faith has been suffering something terrible from the heatwave we had a week or two ago. 

Itching, itching and scratching, leaving big fur balls all over the house. 

The weather has been lovely and she is getting better. 

I haven't been home much. And these days I get so tired after a trip to town. Even on the next day. It now takes a day for me to recover. But I needed to take care of my best little friend and try to help her. 

So I finally managed to give her a bath with an itch-reducing shampoo. 

Faith: Let me out of here, I don't trust you no more. 

Faith does not like to get wet. Some Labrador mix you are, I tell her. 

Faith: What's my breed got to do with anything?

Me: Labrador retrievers fetch birds that fall into the water after being shot by the dog's master.

Faith: There's something wrong with that argument.

Me: What?

Faith: I don't see any guns. I don't see any birds. I certainly don't see any masters. And the only water I see came out of that bucket you just poured over me.

Me: Sorry.

Faith: That's all you have to say?

Me: No, I did give you a bath to try to help you get rid of that horrible itch you've been suffering from for the past week. 

Faith: So you did it to help me?

Me: Of course I did it to help you. 

Faith: Well, you sure took your time, I've been itching forever. And I've got news for you, it hasn't helped much. 

Me: So what should we do?

Faith: Maybe there's a pill, a very good tasting pill I could take. I think you should call that nice Dr. Vet who came to see me special. 

Me: OK, I will try to figure something out. Meanwhile, I will wipe you down with the wipes and spray a little itch spray on you. Would that be agreeable?

Faith: Yes, mommy, that sounds like a plan. 

A wet, miserable and annoyed Faith. 

Then on Friday, I started her on Benadryl and that has helped a lot. 

But we're in for another heatwave with temps in the high 80s to mid-90s. For us in the canyon, mid-90s often goes to 100 F. 

Summertime and the living is easy, as the song goes. 

I made a decision to not complain this summer, so I will try to stick to it. 

I may post about how I cope. 

But I had never expected Faith to suffer so. This is the first summer she's had any issues with the heat. 

She's a senior dog now, maybe that has something to do with it. Even though her general health is excellent. 

Someone Had A Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dear Faith

Happy Birthday To

You!

Yesterday was the birthday I estimated to be close to Faith's real one. No, I didn't forget it, I just forgot to post it here in time. 

I was tired from my corona virus booster, but made it out of bed to play with her and let her run around in the yard for awhile. 

We played catch with the orange ball in the house and I almost whacked my treasured Royal Copenhagen bowl. It was OK, but after that we celebrated with ice cream after dinner instead of catching balls inside thehouse. 

Happy Birthday, Dear Faith ~ You Are The Best Friend Ever!

Rockin' Dog Faith

The weather has been so nice lately that it's getting more difficult to want to go inside after we come back from our walk. I have this big rock in my yard, a perfect place to sit awhile.

So I did that, thinking I would enjoy the nice outside a bit longer. But Faith had other plans. For some reason, me sitting on a rock was the funniest thing she'd ever seen in her life. 

She jumped up on the rock, tried to climb into my lap, while almost pushing me off the rock. Then she'd jump down, run to the front door, run back at a great speed and up on the rock she'd jump. Then she'd start licking my cheek. She's never licked my face while inside the house or anywhere else before.

She was having so much fun on that rock, I make a point of sitting on it often now, so we can have some playtime. 

This girl is my very best friend ever. I love her so and she loves me right back. 

The Mattress Bed

 

Recently, Faith hurt her back when she jumped up on my bed, where we sleep together, I under the covers, she on top. 

She wasn't badly hurt, but she slept on the floor, on the bedroom carpet. I wanted her to have a proper place to sleep, so I ordered a mattress bed for her. 

By the time it arrived, Faith had recovered. So I put it on the bed to see if she'd sleep on it.

This is what happened:

Me: The bed is soft, Faith. Feel it, it's soft.

Faith: It's new, it smells new, who knows where it came from.

Me: It came from Amazon.

Faith: Figures, that's where all your stuff comes from.

Me: So you prefer this scratchy old Army blanket?

Faith: Smells familiar. 

Me: Come on, try the new bed. It's soft, very soft you will like it. 

After a while, Faith fell asleep, head on the new bed.

Then a bit more of her moved onto the new bed. I don't know if she did this in her sleep or not.

But soon I found her with most of her body on the new bed.

This is probably only interesting to me, but I thought it was cute enough to be posted here.  

I hope it made you smile. 

Faith And Her Shadow

Look, Faith found a new friend! Just kidding, it's only her shadow.

I think she's fine without another dog friend, which is good since I'm happy with just her to take care of. 

Conversations With Faith

 

Me: So did you hear what happened at the White House?

Faith: Lots of things happen at the White House, I think that pretty lady who talks to the press caused a ruckus. 

Me: I don't think that was her fault and that's not what I was thinking about. I was thinking you may have something to say about this new arrival at the WH. 

Faith: I hadn't heard. Has the German shepherd dog been rehabbed and allowed to come back?

Me: No, he's still in Delaware.

Faith: I bet he's missing his parents a lot.

Me: Yes, and they're missing him, but it's all for the best and I'm sure they see each other in Delaware. 

Faith: So what's the big news? 

Me: Guess!

Faith: Ah, I know, it's a cat!

Me: You're right, the much talked about and anticipated Biden cat has finally arrived at the White House. 

Faith: Cats are small and up to no good. Will it be allowed to roam freely in there?

Me: What do you mean, up to no good?

Faith: Well, for example, it could jump up on something and overturn some precious porcelain object, like a vase or a statue even. It could break and cost a lot of taxpayer money to repair or replace. 

Me: What do you know about taxpayer money?

Faith: Not much, all I know is that humans always complain about how it's spent. Spending on a WH cat, hmmm, you see what I'm saying?

Me: I don't think it would cause a revolution, exactly.

Faith: No, but maybe a small uprising. Anyhow, what's the name of this critter?

Me: The cat's name is Willow.

Faith: That's a very pretty name. How many dogs are there in the WH now?

Me: Only one, the young one, his name is Commander, I think.

Faith: That's a clever name. Calling him, you wouldn't have to say come here. Just Commander and he would think you said come here. It sounds so much alike. 

Me: It does, indeed. What a clever girl you are.

Faith: I know, that's why you can rest assured that no cat will ever set a paw in this house as long as I'm in charge of it. 

How Our Dogs Love Us

After Samson died, Faith has become super protective of me. She rarely leaves my side.

If she wanders off when we are outside and I call her, this is the response I get. 

It feels truly wonderful to be so loved.

Trouble In Paradise

 

Faith, who will be eight years old in April, has never been sick or injured in her entire life. She's never vomited, torn something while running full speed and ducking just in time to get under a barbed wire fence or playing in the mess under one of these junipers.

Until now, when she injured her cheek. I first noticed it after she scratched and bled the other day. So I treated the wound with antibiotic cream and dug out one of these cones, I had two. She definitely didn't like it, showed me she was really disturbed by it.

"Don't worry, mommy will fix it for you," I said, and petted the top of her head. Then I got the scissors and started cutting to trim it back.

Doesn't she look miserable, poor thing.

Here I've cut it back some, but, based on the location of the injury, I could cut it back some more.

Here is the final result. And what would we do without duct tape? 

She can run around and go in and out of the dog door.

And she can chew on her balls and nyla bones, I think so anyway, after I show her that she can. We'll see. She's really miserable without them. 

Poor thing, I hope this wound heals well and really, really fast. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ A Dog Speaks

 No words needed:

Me, My Dog And Snow

 

You know how much snow cheers me up, particularly around Christmas time. Snow is part of my childhood memories. The Swedish Christmas traditions I grew up with. I have no memory of a Christmas without snow.

The morning after our recent snowstorm, Faith and I went for a walk in the snow. It was still cold, the snow crunched under my feet and glittered in the sun.

It didn't take long for Faith to remember how much fun running and rolling in the snow can be. She's missed her brother and the snow was just a wonderful distraction for her. 

As we started downhill, toward home, Faith discovered this. A part of the divided trunk of one of our more fragile junipers had broken off in the storm.

Faith seemed to understand that something was different with this tree. I would perhaps give her too much credit saying she looked concerned. But she definitely alerted to a different scenario in our backyard. 

I'm sad, this is one of the two trees I visit regularly. It's the most fragile one in my yard. I feel it's a shame when these trees become part of someone's yard and must be trimmed back for fire safety regulations or other reasons. For now, there's nothing I can do, Mark will cut it up and cart it away later.

So Faith and I walked back home, where we found a near perfect row of icicles hanging from our roof. 

Conversations With Faith

 

Faith: Who's that pretty dog?

Me: Her name is Lilli and she lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Faith: That's very far away, isn't it?

Me: Yes, it is.

Faith: What breed of dog is she?

Me: She's an English cocker spaniel. 

Faith: Are they hunting dogs?

Me: Yes, they were bred to hunt the Eurasian woodcock, which lives in England.

Faith: Phew, that's a lot to absorb. So do we have an American version of the cocker spaniel?

Me: Yes, we do. Our American cocker spaniel looks different, smaller than the English, and was bred to be a family pet. The American cocker has less prey drive than the English version.

Faith: Do I have any prey drive?

Me: You sure do, you're always chasing rabbits and ravens, even though they always outmaneuver you.

Faith: Let's change the subject. What's that under Lilli's head?

Me: Looks like some sort of pillow. 

Faith: So dogs in Denmark get pillows?

Me: Lilli has one, maybe it belongs to her mommy. 

Faith: But you don't know. 

Me: No.

Faith: You better stop writing about things you don't know or you may get in trouble.

Me: Maybe if you stopped asking so many questions.

Faith: Can I have a pillow?

Me: Why? You have your very own soft blankie. You have three or four very soft blankies, actually. I think that's enough.

Faith: You are right, I think I would get a crick in my neck if I had a pillow. 

Faith to herself: Bred this way, bred that way, it's criminal how they play around with us dogs. Some breeds are so fancy and full of themselves even though they are absolutely useless, all they do is get cuddled by their owers. I'm sure they all have pillows to put their heads on. 

Breed one this way, another that way, if humans aren't careful, they may breed a MONSTER dog by mistake. 

Me: Did you say something?

Faith: No, mommy. Good night.

Me: Good night, sweet dog of mine. Love you.

Faith: Love you too.

Conversations With Faith

Me: I bet I know what you want.

Faith: Please.

Me: Oh, Faith, please don't look at me like that.

Faith: I see what's on your feet.

Me: Hiking boots, I know. 

Faith: So are we going hiking?

Me: No, but we'll walk on the road. 

Faith: Yippee!

Me: You sound like a cowboy!

Faith: What's a cowboy, I thought all cows were girls?

Me: They are.

Faith: People are so strange...

Conversations With Faith

 

Me: What are you doing?

Faith: Guarding what's mine.

Me: There are no thieves in this house.

Faith: You never know. 

Me: Samson doesn't chew on bones and he's never played with a ball in his life. I think you're being unfair and worried about nothing. 

Faith: He's not the only one who lives in this house.

Me: What? You're worried about me?

Faith: Someone who looks just like you ... been known to take balls and put them in the closet. 

Me: That's just to keep them from rolling under the couch.

Faith: Whatever...

Me: Sorry, I'll try to make sure you always have your ball.

Faith: Thank you, mommy. I know you mean well.

Conversations with Faith - California Condors

 

Faith: What are you hemming and hawing about?

Me: Hemming and hawing, you're a dog, how do you know weird words like that? You're for sure the smartest dog I've ever known.

Faith: I know.

Me: So I was reading the Washington Post on my Kindle and the name of our town came up.

Faith: That's exciting, I hope they spelled it right. Why?

Me: Because some California condors had trashed this woman's entire deck. 

Faith: Why? Were they mad at her?

Me: I don't know. But do you know what the biggest problem was?

Faith: I bet they pooped all over the deck and didn't clean up after themselves. 

Me: Faith, you're absolutely right. It was like shoveling up concrete, the poor woman said. 

Faith: How many birds did this to her?

Me: The paper said 15 to 20 birds and you know they're giant birds. 

Faith: I know, she should shoot them if they come back.

Me: You are not allowed to shoot them, they are what's called endangered. I read there are only about 160 of them flying free in California and some more in other countries. So very few of them are left. 

Faith: It's sort of sad when animals disappear. I'm glad I'm a dog, I don't think we'll disappear any time soon. 

Me: It's pretty cool though that we live in condor territory, don't you think?

Faith: Personally, I think we live in raven territory. But they've left us too. 

Me: I know, Uncle Bob stole them.

Faith: How can you steal a raven?

Me: He is very kind to them and then he feeds them horse treats. You weren't nice to them,  you used to chase them all over the place. So no wonder they left us. 

Faith: I know, it was so much fun chasing them. Stole the ravens. I say, what's the world coming to? Pooping big birds and faithless ravens, I don't know...

Conversations With Faith -- The Great Migration Of The Swedish Moose

Faith: What are you watching?

Me: The Great Annual Migration of the Swedish Moose. 

Faith: What's that?

Me: Swedish TV has set up 29 cameras along the annual trek of the moose and show them on TV, walking through the forest. 

Faith: How far do they walk?

Me: About 400 miles.

Faith: That sounds like a very long way to walk. Why do they do it? Is it for excercise?

Me: No, they spend the winter in the coastal areas and then they trek back to the mountains for the summer. And it's all for food

Faith: So their food doesn't come in a can or a bag, like ours?

Me: No they eat grass, weeds, and leaves off trees.

Faith: Like the cows next door?

Me:  Yes, but the moose have to walk through deep forests and swim across a wide river that's very cold. I just saw that the water temperature is 32F. I'm just watching it now, this is a very big river with a long way from shore to shore. 

Faith: Do you see any moose.

Me: No, just a Swedish forest and the river. 

Faith: No moose. Sounds boring.

Me: No, it's not boring to me, 

Faith: Do you miss Sweden?

Me: A lot sometimes., 

Faith: Any moose yet?

Me: No.

Faith: Sounds like a good show to go to sleep by. 

Me: It's called Slow TV, I think. And you're right it's a very good show to go to sleep by. 

Faith: Wouldn't work in America, people want fast-moving shows here. 

Me: You can click at the bottom and move forward to where the moose are. Little squares show you where they are and other animals too. I saw a herd of reindeer, and a red fox running on the rocky shore of the river, looking for something to catch for dinner. And I've seen cranes too, and many water fowl. And just now I saw a beaver working on his house.

Faith: Good, but it still sounds pretty boring. I think I will take a little nap now. 

Me: OK, sweet girl, mama loves you.

Faith: You forgot my birthday.

Me: I know, but I remembered later and gave you some ice cream to lick on. 

Faith: But nothing on your blog. Nothing like what Samson gets every year.

Me: I'm sorry, but it doesn't mean I don't love you.

Faith: It just means your'e old and can't remember stuff.

Me: That's what it means. 

OK, here it is: On April 28, 2021, Faith had her 7th birthtday.

Happy Birthday, dear Faith, Happy Birthday to You.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note:

The moose is the National Animal of Sweden and Swedish TV documents the annual migration of some of the moose from their winter home in the coastal areas to their summer home along the slopes of the mountains to the west. 

The migration of the moose, as documented on Swedish TV, covers about 400 miles with 29 cameras set up along the way. 

The most exciting part, I imagine, is waiting for the moose to show up at this wide and very cold river. The first moose arrived at the river on Sunday and began to swim across. This was duly noted in the newpaper part of Swedish TV at svt.se. 

I took some photos, but right now I'm having problems with Google photos. So no moose today.

Link to the Great Swedish Moose Migration

Conversations With Faith

Me: So Faith, I just read about the president's dog Major Biden.

Faith: What about the president's dog? Is he in the army? 

Me: No, Major is his name. And he nipped someone. Again!

Faith: Imagine that! Will he be in trouble? 

Me: I don't know, but I think he will have to go back to school, again.  

Faith: Why do you think he keeps up this bad behavior? 

Me: I guess he's upset he has to live in the White House, not in his own home. There are probably too many strangers there that make him feel insecure. What do you think? And what can be done to help him so he won't nip again?

Faith: I think he was spoiled by his daddy before his daddy became president. Now his daddy has less time to play with him. 

Then he had to move from the only home he's ever known. 

Then he has to put up with a bunch of SECRET people. Did you know they all wear dark suits and dark glasses? That alone would scare a dog. 

You do know most dogs that nip or bite do it when they're insecure or scared, don't you? 

Me: Oh, Faith, that sounds so true to me. What a smart dog you are. 

Faith: I know, but this nipping problem is kind of easy for a dog to understand. 

Me: What would you recommend they do to make Major feel more secure.

Faith: First, his people should spend more time with him and be his major walkers, not use some hired dog walker. 

Second, they should pet him and give him lots of treats. Maybe he could sleep in their bed. Unless it's too fancy a bed in this White House. 

Third, those SECRET people should look less INTIMIDATING. Dress in lighter suits, maybe. And they should most definitely take off their dark glasses when they're around Major Biden. 

Finally, this is not the time to bring a cat into the White House. Cats and their claws have a way to make even the bravest dog feel a bit insecure. Until we get used to them and allow them to  become part of our pack.

Me: I'm sure President and Dr. Biden pet Major a lot and give him treats, but great advice about cats and the Secret Service people. Do you want to write a letter to the president and tell him?

Faith: No, I think the president will have to figure this one out for himself. I mean, he must be at least as smart as me if he's the president of all of us. 

Me: You're right, I'm sure he will figure it out.