Tag: dogs

Disgruntled

Feeling the hostility: could it be all that solar energy?

Just trying to mind my own business but difficult to do when so many people are acting out their anger. My little town known for being so polite at the four way stop sign is showing signs of being frayed around the edges.

I was so excited to go to the dog park with the dog I am pet sitting. I have been watching dogs and their owners have fun in that dog park for a number of years while doing my show from the station at MVC. When I got the chance to take the dog I was sitting to the park I was so pleased. As it turns out everyone at the park knew Woody and he was welcomed back with open arms. The next dog I took care of the exact opposite happened. Winston has not been trained as well as he could be and has some behavioral issues. I had hoped being around other dogs would help some of these issues. He did good with the other dogs for the most part but the owners did not like Winston. He is ball obsessed and would often go after the ball and then refuse to drop it and would often go and attempt to take the ball swing out of their hand. I was working on distracting him by playing just with me but not before one owner started screaming at me about my dog. I will tell you that being screamed out in front of a bunch of strangers and their lovely dogs is not a nice feeling. When I asked her why she was being so hostile she replied “because I’m frustrated.” Aren’t we all lady. There is a small enclosed area which hardly gets used so I took Winston there while I worked with him not to be so aggressive while playing ball. I try to go at times there are not many people around but occasionally for what ever reason another dog owner wants to come in the small area I warn them about Winston and his challenges. Today a man who I have seen there before who has dealt with Winston and been frustrated with his behavior decided he wanted to join us with his dog. He was holding the ball thrower that Winston goes crazy over and I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea. He then blew up at me, screaming who did I think I was that I could have a whole pen to myself etc, etc, etc. This place that had charmed me with the good vibes of dogs and humans connecting and playing together was soiled with his anger and meanness. 

People are so disgruntled these days and acting out in ugly ways. It’s exhausting to be around.

My two best friends

grace&sweetieI have a dog. She is a rescue that came to me when I lived on the Big Island. I had wanted a small dog for about a year and one day she appeared. Of course there is more to the story than that.
I was housesitting which included watching over the cat, four dogs, one horse and 40 chickens. I was driving home from Pahoa town going down the narrow two lane road that led to the beach when I spotted a small dog running along side the road. Oh that’s not good, road kill I thought as this could be a busy road on the weekends. I turned the car around and went back to the spot where I had seen the dog, got out of the car and started calling here Sweetie come here and there she was looking up at me, so I scooped her up and put her in Big Red (my jeep) and back to farm. I knew I couldn’t let her out with the other dogs that often had a pack mentality so I wrapped her up and found a chicken cage to put her in. That night she slept with me in the loft while the other dogs scratched and whined at the door. She was so small, I felt like I was taking care of a baby. It was the weekend so I had to wait to Monday to call the animal shelter to find out whom she belonged to as she did have a tag on her collar. I find the owner and take the baby dog who is really maybe 4 years old back to the owner, who is this eccentric woman who tells me that the dog was kidnapped and that she hasn’t had the dog that long. The crazy woman raises exotic cats and had this large outdoor cage where she kept the cats and did say that when she went away she would leave the dog in there with the beasts. The whole time she is telling me this story the little dog is sitting on my lap, she has made no attempt to acknowledge her owner. We both noticed this. I leave feeling sorry for the little dog but thinking maybe I wasn’t ready to have a dog as this one seemed so needy.
About two months later the crazy woman calls me up to say that it is not working out with the dog, the cats want to scratch her eyes out. And since you saved the dog maybe you should take her. I was living in this koa wood cabin at the time that had not been occupied for a while so I was sharing it with some critters that turned out to be mongoose. It must have been mating season because they had started to show them self to me more often and I could tell they felt I was taking up to much room. I have a YouTube video about how I tried to capture and relocate them. Anyway a friend mentioned that the dog would probably help discourage the critters. So I took the dog. She had a Hawaiian name that meant something like sweetheart but I kept forgetting it so I just called her Sweetie. Well my friend was right she went into and under and over that cabin and made sure that we two were the only ones living inside.
Sweetie has been my best friend now for 8 years.
She is rat terrier/Chihuahua mix? Everyone has an opinion as to her breed. I am a bit of a dog snob and never thought I liked Chihuahua until I met Sweetie but of course she is not your average dog. She does not nip, or yap and has learned how to visualize her inner German shepherd so rarely shakes. She understands English; she likes people (women more than men), is polite to dogs and cats and will poop on command.
More about Sweetie later.