Life with Lucy #12

Happy weekend eve. Not too many pictures today. Lucy’s busy at school. She’s got sit, down, stay, heel, and come pretty much figured out. Which we think is awesome for a dog. Especially a spoiled one who lives with moi, the treat lady.

However, we had company recently, and the paramount things they wanted were for her to shake hands, and roll over. Who would have thought? Not us, apparently. Now she’s learning how to roll over. Have you ever tried to teach a dog to roll over? It’s not as easy as it sounds. For kicks, try to photograph it while you’re doing it. Fuhgeddaboutit. Not happenin’.

When she gets a little better at it, and I have another set of hands to take photos, I’m sure she’ll be happy to get me to post some pics. In the meantime, Lucy and I wish you a fun weekend!

Life with Lucy #11

Happy Saturday! Lucy is back this week with a new accomplishment. I’m so proud of her.

Hi, everyone. It’s me, Lucy. I’m so excited. My world opened up in a big way this week. There’s this place outside Mom calls a deck. I’ve never been on a deck before. It felt funny on my feet. When Mom first brought me outside on it, I was afraid to leave the door. I barely sat down I was so scared. I shivered. I didn’t want to go out there.

Since the weather has warmed up, Mom and Dad go outside to use this thing they call a grill. It smells like meat. Yum! I don’t want to stay in the house by myself, so I had to go outside with them. The grill smelled so good, I did take a few steps toward it. Then I backed up because I wasn’t sure about the deck.

Every day Mom takes me out there. Some days, well, okay, most days, she bribes me with treats. Don’t look at me like that. Who in their right mind turns down a cookie?


The other day a bird landed on the edge. I was so curious about the bird, I forgot about the deck. I ran over to sniff it, and it flew away! Then I was stuck. I was far away from Mom and the only way to get to her was to walk. I was very careful. Slow steps. Tiny steps. And you know what? I got there. Close to mom. She gave me a cookie.

Every day I practiced walking on the deck. Every day it got better. Now it’s a wonderful place.

Did I tell you I don’t have much hair? The sun feels so good. I think I’m a summer dog. I like to just laze about in the sun. The deck is a great place to do that. And the smells! Its high enough, the breeze brings everything my way. And I can watch everything in the yard from up here. You should try it. It's nice!

It’s been fascinating to watch Lucy work through her fear.

She reminds me not to be afraid of what I want to accomplish, especially with my writing. And that it all starts with baby steps. But we have to take those steps to get where we want to go. Even if they are scary sometimes. No one can do it for us. We have to want it bad enough to take the risk.

Every day is truly an adventure. Sometimes they don’t come with fanfare, they arrive in silence, bit by bit, and then one day, there you are. Where you always hoped to be.

Life with Lucy #9

Happy Friday, Everyone. Lucy’s back this week with a tale of woe…be sure to give her a hug at the end would you?

 Hi, it’s me, Lucy. I’ve had a tough week. Really it was the weekend that got me. My pack left me to

go to Atlanta for a wedding. I had to spend two nights by myself at the kennel!! I love the kennel lady. She is so nice to me. But I have to sleep by myself and be all alone without my pack and I don’t like it. At all! I scratched and scratched at the door, and barked. No one would take me home. When I went out for my walk, I didn’t want to go back in my kennel.

Then Mom and Dad came back and I was so happy! I jumped up and down, turned in circles and licked them like crazy.

Yesterday I got to go out in the rain and play in the mud. It’s fun to chase a ball in the mud. You should try it sometime. It’s slippery and gooey between your toes. Then you get to lick yourself dry. Yum.

It’s sunny today, so Mom says we’re going to the park for a walk. Won’t that be fun!
 

Lucy needed her rain coat this week

Lucy did have a tough weekend. Lest you think we’ve gotten the perfect dog, she does suffer from separation anxiety in a big way. It was heartbreaking to have to leave her, so we made the trip as short as possible. Fortunately our kennel keeper understands, so she spends as much time as possible with Lucy, and takes very good care of her.

We are addressing the problem, but it takes months to work it out. We’re starting by teaching her to stay, which she does beautifully most of the time. Now she’ll stay on her blanket while we’re out of sight for about twenty minutes. She knows we’re still in the house, but she’s stopped whining and scratching at the door if she doesn’t see us. She just sits and waits. So it is getting better. We just have to be consistent, and patient enough to let time do its work. And truly, she’s worth every minute. I couldn’t have asked for a better companion.

Life with Lucy #8

Lucy trying to get Keegan to play ball. Again.

Greetings! Lucy has this week off, so I get to tell her story of the week. Well, she thinks it’s kind of my story…

If you’ve been following along you know about her trying to get along with the cats. She’s made the most headway with Keegan as you can see.

Our nightly habit has been for me to sit on the sofa and she lies against my leg while the cat sleeps on my lap. He’s a big guy, nineteen pounds, so there’s no extra space. Every night they’ve been getting closer and closer, now they sleep with their heads almost touching.

One night this week Lucy raised her head and sniffed Keegan and he didn’t move right away. The cat just looked at her. Then he got up, turned around so his behind was towards her. She put her head back down, and he takes his tail and starts flicking the tip of it on the dog’s head.

At this point, I’m feeling really mother nature-ish. ‘Look! They’re having a silent conversation! How sweet! I knew they’d be great friends!’ *Sigh* Aren’t I smug?


While petting both of them, I look up to see what the guy with the remote is watching on television. I look back down just as the dogs mouth is getting ready to close around the cats tail.

I did what any girl would do. Made that horrible, “Eeep!!” sound we all hate, yet can’t seem to stop doing when faced with bad surprises and about jumped out of my skin. This action promptly surprised both animals and they leapt to the floor simultaneously. They looked at me, then at each other. If only you could have seen their faces. I realize they are animals, not human, but the, “What’s her problem?” expression still came through loud and clear.

Life with Lucy #7

It’s Friday. I’m not much of a ‘squee’ girl, but if there’s one thing that makes me happy just by its very existence, it’s Friday. Well, okay, Saturday. And Friday is like Saturday eve. It’s also Lucy’s day here at Fox Tales and she’d like to talk to you about things that make her happy.

The pink squeeky dog goes on lots of trips.

Hello, it’s Lucy time. Do you have things in your life that make you happy? I do. My toys. I love my toys. I carry them around all the time. When I’m not carrying balls, that is. I play with them, and I throw them around. I give them to the nasty cats, but they don’t appreciate the simplicity of my happiness. Mom even lets me take them on car trips!

My dog’s life is good. People could learn from a dog’s life. Do you have toys? Not like yachts, airplanes or race cars, but simple toys. A piece of rope or a stick works too. Get someone to throw it for you. Then run like the wind, all out. Chase it high and low, not worrying about the weather, your boss, or your significant other. I do that with my Mom. She throws the ball or my hedgehog and I run. Simple. Just run. Of course its way more fun to run all out, in circles, around Mom. She laughs. I smile. It’s all good.

Her beloved hedgehog.

Maybe it’s the point in life I’m at, or whatever a therapist would say, but Lucy not only brings me happiness, she’s one of the happiest dogs I’ve ever seen. And it’s not about us, she was that way when we met her. She wags her tail, her body, and you can just see the happiness shining out of her eyes. It’s really made me think about how complicated we make our own life. I’m starting to pay more attention to the little things and how hard I make things. All by myself. Now that I’m aware, it must be time for change.

You go on, now. Have yourself a great weekend. And find some simple toys to play with, would ya. Much love, Lucy and Sutton.

Life with Lucy #6

Happy, Saturday! Thanks for tuning to check up on our dearest, Lucy. To quote a popular dog personality, ‘You don’t get the dog you want; you get the dog you need.’ Well, I’m not sure what that says about us because Lucy fits just right. She’s not perfect, but her shortcomings of which there are few, don’t seem to blow us out of the water or anything.

So here she is to talk about one of her favorite subjects – the ball.

Hi, y’all. It’s me, Lucy. Do you have a ball? I love balls. I carry them around, I chase them, I chew on them, and I play fetch. And keep away, which my Mom is diligently trying to talk me out of. But it’s so fun! I don’t want to stop playing keep away. Balls make me feel good. Yellow, blue, orange with holes, bigger blue with holes, a pink rubbery thing, and my very favorite, tennis balls.



Catz don’t play with balls. At least the catz in my house don’t. Just this morning I brought my very favorite tennis ball to Keegan and dropped it right at his feet. Ask Mom, I don’t do that often. I wagged my tail and sat, waiting for him to throw the ball. He hissed at me. Actually hissed! Catz are just rude.



I’ve got to go. All this thinking about balls has made me want to go outside and play keep away with Mom. See you next week!

 

Here’s our lovely girl with her favorite toy. Wishing each of you a weekend full of love.

Life with Lucy #5

It’s another Friday with Lucy. I have to tell you she is as sweet as she could possibly be. Er, except for bath time. She didn’t like the groomer one little bit. Well she liked the lady just fine, but not the process.

Hi, it’s me. Shiny, clean and smelling good, Lucy. Have you been to the groomer? Mom took me. They had a shower there. Almost like the big water thingy Mom gets in. I’m not going in there. It’s wet. Mom says I should like the water because I’m part Labrador. Well that may be true, but I’m part pit bull too, and that part isn’t having anything to do with wet stuff.

I confess. I got bribed with treats. They tasted like steak. I let them get me wet for another piece of steak. And then I let them scrub me with flowery smelling shampoo. That part felt good, except I didn’t much like it around my face, I wiggled, and ducked my head and finally shook water all over Mom and the nice groomer lady. She has a very soft touch and a nice quiet voice. It helped me not to be so nervous.

Nervous, shmervous. Nothing and nobody is clipping my nails. I like the tap-tap-tap sound they make on the hardwood floor at home. Mom says it’s good for me to get my nails clipped. If it’s so good, she can do it next time. I put up a valiant struggle. I backed up, I rolled over, I sat, I laid, I yelped, I went forward, heck I would have turned inside out, but it was all to no avail. I came home with short toe nails. Thank heavens Mom drew the line at nail polish.

I did get a really cool scarf tho’. Kinds suits the season, don’t you think?


Every week is an adventure. She really just keeps me smiling. What’s not to love about that? Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Life with Lucy #4

Greetings! It’s been an interesting week around the Fox household as Lucy makes herself at home. She’s doing her best to fit in, and we love her dearly. There are just some things that have to work themselves out. Read on.

Hello, it’s me, Lucy. I don’t know who YOU are. I can’t smell you. There are no butts in my line of sight to sniff. But Mom says you are there, and I trust Mom, so I believe her.

I love my new forever home. I love almost everything about it. Except one thing. It haz cats!! Cats are evil. I’ve tried my best to make friends with both of the cats that live here. The first few days they hid under the bed. That was fine with me. I could smell them but Mom wouldn’t let me get under the bed to meet them.

Then they came out! They were sneaky. Look at this one trying to creepup to me when I’m sleeping next to Mom’s desk. Her name’s Fiona. I brought her my balls to play fetch with me, and all she does is glare at me. When she’s sitting on the kitchen chair and I walk by, she swats at my head with her paw and hisses. She’s very small. Not much bigger than a squirrel. But she’s got a big attitude.

And the other one! His name is Keegan and he’s a big guy for a cat. He hissed and swatted at me when I tried to sniff his butt. I only tried to say hello. It’s not my fault he’s rude and doesn’t sniff in return. He doesn’t run from me like Fiona does. He holds his ground and hisses. Especially in Mom’s lap. We don’t fight over being there, we just try to nudge each other out of the way for space. Mom says we have to share. I think it’s not me that needs the lesson in sharing. It’s those nasty cats.

On a good note though, I had second breakfast today. Dad got up to answer the phone and I ate his sausage and cheese omelet. It was awesome! I even licked the plate clean. It’s going to be a fun day!

Remember, it’s been years since either one of us has had a dog. So it’s the little things the catch us by surprise.

No, she didn’t get yelled at for eating the eggs. It wasn’t her fault because she hadn’t been taught yet not to eat from our plates. The issue hadn’t come up. I was at the stove, and when I turned around there she was standing on the sofa leaning onto the side table, licking the plate to a shine. She looked at me and wagged her tail. Truly, I had to turn away and laugh. How could you not?

Once breakfast was finished however, she did get lessons on not eating from our plates. And she’s fine with it. Have a great weekend everyone!

Life with Lucy #2

One of the first things on the agenda after adopting a shelter dog is to take it to the vet for a check-up. So that’s what we did first thing on Thursday. And then on Monday, we went back again in a hurry. But I’ll let Lucy tell you the rest.

 Hi All,

It’s me, Lucy. Mom says I’m supposed to tell you what happened this week. For some reason she thinks you might be interested in my life. That’s good, cuz it’s a dog’s life.

Mom took me to the vet. The car ride was very exciting. I had the whole back seat to myself. I got to smudge up all the windows with my nose, and roll around. Now it smells like me, and I feel more at home.

The vet’s office was even better. A whole buffet of smells waited just inside the door! Waiting for the vet got really boring so I decided a little nap would be a good thing. Then the vet came in and I liked him until he got close to me and I smelled him. Then I didn’t like him so much. I barked and told him to stay away. It didn’t matter. I must have been a bad dog cuz he gave me a shot in the butt.

Monday I woke up with a really bad cough. Mom told me she thought I might hack something up I might need later, so we should visit the vet again. I did my best to be a good dog, and I didn’t bark at him this time. And again I got a shot in the butt! I’m not liking this place so much. He told me I can’t play this week. No balls or toys. I have to rest and take these icky pills.

Mom thought she could fool me by wrapping the pills in roast beef, or cheese, or even once a hot dog. It didn’t work. I spit them out every time cuz they taste awful. That was only after I ate the meat though. Who spits out meat?

I have to go take a nap. No balls until I quit coughing. But I only cough when I do stuff. Like walk. It’s not so bad right? Bye, now.

That’s my Lucy. Yes, she did have a case of kennel cough, but the vet said if she rests and takes all her meds she’ll be fine. See you next week!