The heat is over, next worry - phantom pregnancy

I definitely hope Kimmy won't develop it!

Kimmy on a walk

Sniff sniff



Visiting friend Sunny





















Horses!

This morning I went for a walk with Kimmy and we were walking through fields (off leash), when I suddenly see her bolt in top speed after something - it was a brown hare. It happened so quickly, before I even realized, she was chasing it into tall grass - and then she lost him (clever hare). Must be the natural prey instinct.

Then we walked past a fenced field with sheep. Kimmy stood at the fence, looking at the sheep, while they came closer and started baaaaing at her. I saw her hackles slowly raising, so I calmed her down and told her not to worry, the sheep won't bite ;)

It was a nice walk, and when I got home, I was drenched in sweat, so I took a very careful shower (last time I took a shower I slipped, fell, and cut my big toe open!!!). I am turning into an old biddy ;)

Cuddle time

(photos taken by Benny)

Dog jokes

How to photograph your puppy....

1. Remove film from box and load camera.

2. Remove film box from puppy's mouth and throw in trash.

3. Remove puppy from trash and brush coffee grounds from muzzle.

4. Choose a suitable background for photo.

5. Mount camera on tripod and focus.

6. Find puppy and take dirty sock from mouth.

7. Place puppy in pre-focused spot and return to camera.




8. Forget about spot and crawl after puppy on knees.

9. Focus with one hand and fend off puppy with other hand.

10. Get tissue and clean nose print from lens.

11. Put cat outside and put peroxide on the scratch on puppy's nose.

13. Put magazines back on coffee table.

14. Try to get puppy's attention by squeaking toy over your head.

15. Replace your glasses and check camera for damage.

16. Jump up in time to grab puppy by scruff of neck and say, "No, outside! No, outside!"

17. Clean up mess.

18. Sit back in chair with lemonade and resolve to teach puppy "sit" and "stay" the first thing in the morning.



What is a Cat?

1. Cats do what they want.

2. They rarely listen to you.

3. They're totally unpredictable.

4. When you want to play, they want to be alone.

5. When you want to be alone, they want to play.

6. They expect you to cater to their every whim.

7. They're moody.

8. They leave hair everywhere.

CONCLUSION: They're tiny women in little fur coats.

What is a Dog?

1. Dogs spend all day sprawled on the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house.

2. They can hear a package of food opening half a block away, but don't hear you when you're in the same room.

3. They can look dumb and lovable all at the same time.

4. They growl when they are not happy.

5. When you want to play, they want to play.

6. When you want to be alone, they want to play.

7. They leave their toys everywhere.

8. They do disgusting things with their mouths and then try to give you a kiss.

9. They tend to go right for your crotch as soon as they meet you.

CONCLUSION: They're tiny men in little fur coats.

The end is near?

The end of her heat, of course. If I'm not imagining things, I think the swelling is starting to come down finally.

Kimmy and I had a nice walk this morning, thank goodness it didn't rain as the previous mornings. Most of the walk was off leash and we practiced recall and Kimmy did really well. At one point a tractor was passing and she briefly considered running after it, but after a few metres, she turned again and ran back to me. Good girl - she's finally starting to develop impulse control! :)

I gave a bath after lunch and then brushed her fur and boy did I end up with a load of hair on the brush! I don't know why she's shedding so much. Maybe she's changing coats for the summer?

Gerry and I weighed her last night, she's now 64 pounds!

Watermelon

Kimmy waiting patiently to see if Benny leaves her a bit of the juicy watermelon...

When will it be over?

Kimmy has been bleeding for 16 days now... I am soooo ready for the heat to be over. It's not just because of the obvious mess (blood drops), but her mood swings, and the mild paranoia that I feel every time I take her for a walk - she's now very fertile and one moment of inattention could mean unwanted pregnancy.

And even if she stays on the leash, there is the nuisance factor. Whenever we pass other dogs, if they're male (and it seems that the whole world has only male dogs when we go out!), they smell her "heat scent" within a split second, and naturally go crazy barking and trying to get to her, while she goes crazy and wants to get to them!

Kimmy, you hussy! ;)

And the less I walk her, the more unspent energy she has, so that's a bit of a vicious circle. Plus now it's been raining for the last two days and so the walks are quick around the block affairs and Kimmy is not very happy about that.

Her frustration manifested itself in chewing up my beautiful blue leather shoes, waaaah!

Kimmy, I love you, girl, but leave my damn shoes alone!

Tomorrow we're invited to oldest brother in law for a birthday party in honor of his youngest daughter who turns 1 year old. As is his habit, he invited us on Friday - yep, two days in advance. Of course, I had already made plans for Sunday. But faaaamily is faaaamily, and not attentding this party would be very rude (plus Gerry is the honoree's godfather).

The party starts at 12 noon. But I already made plans for 3 PM. We're looking for a new babysitter, and a young Slovak girl is coming to meet us and see if she likes Benny and of course, if Benny likes her.

I didn't want to cancel on her because, after all, we arranged this meeting long before we got BIL's invitation. So I am going to try and swing it both ways - I will attend the party at noon, then shortly before 3 PM take Benny and drive home to meet the babysitter for an hour, then return to the party.

I am sure that BIL and SIL won't like it but oh well, maybe just maybe they should invite people more than 2 days in advance! (Although I must say that their personal record is inviting us on Saturday morning for a Saturday afternoon party - yep, same day! So 2 days of notice is actually an improvement!!!)

Went to Fressnapf

It's a shop similar to PetCo, where they sell food and other items for animals. Benny loves to go there because they sell gerbils and hamsters and bunnies.

As we were browsing the isles, Gerry says: "Oh, look, a Doberman!" I looked up and saw a dog that really looked like a Doberman, but when I came closer, I thought it must be a cross. For one, it was smaller than the average adult dobe bitch, her ears looked funny (uncropped, but half erect, half floppy), and the markings that are supposed to be rust colored were more like grey. Plus her head was really small and weird looking.

Another thing I noticed was that she was incredibly shy. It's normal for a very young Dobe puppy to be shy with strangers, but a grown up (and this one definitely was an adult because she already had some grey hairs on her chin) Doberman is aloof but not shy - and they love positive attention and normally would seem very eager to be petted and sweet talked to.

Plus she had no tail, and I mean not even a stump (!!!), whoever docked her did so at the very edge of her butt) so there was no way to read her "tail language". Pity.

We looked at her and then Gerry turned to me and whispered: "Gosh, seeing this one, I really realize how beautiful Kimmy is!" :)

Why dogs bark

Earlier in the week the Telegraph reported that a council was running free courses to help people "understand why their dogs barked" following the publication of Defra advice on the subject. Defra may not have a full time Minister to help farmers, but readers will be relieved that at least it can give us the top ten reasons why our dogs bark:

• 1. Over-dependence on an owner, resulting in separation anxiety.
• 2. Fear or phobic reaction to sights or sounds, inside or outside the home.
• 3. Territorial.
• 4. Attention-seeking.
• 5. Social - calling to other dogs in the district.
• 6. To signify the dog wants to play.
• 7. To signify aggression (it is important not confuse 6 and 7).
• 8. Predatory or chase behaviour.
• 9. Frustration, e.g. because the dog did not expect to be left behind.
• 10. Senility.

The Telegraph provided an alternative version: David Sapsted's top ten reasons why his dogs bark

• 1. As a good way to ruin the end of Frost so you never discover why the retired librarian did it. 2. To scare away imaginary foxes. Real foxes, on the other hand, are left undisturbed to slaughter the chickens.
• 3. Because why would anyone want to be asleep at 3.20am?
• 4. To draw attention to the fact that they missed out on the Bacon Fries during your round at the pub.
• 5. Because some other dog three counties away decided to bark.
• 6. To frighten off that ugly beast they have just spotted in the reflection of the oven door.
• 7. As a warning to passing aircraft that 30,000 feet looks low enough.
• 8. Because it's too damned quiet out there.
• 9. To alert you to the hazards posed by that leaf that has just blown past the window.
• 10. Because they can.

Kimmy

Kimmy is 8 months old!

"Feel sorry for me!"

Kimmy is milking it. Look at those sad puppy eyes. Just begging for a cuddle!

"If you don't pet and scratch me, I will keel over, I swear!"

"So you keep fussing with the camera instead of tending to my emotional needs? Fine!"

"I won't even look at you, now that I found someone better to cuddle with!"

What's up with the leg, Benny?

"I'm hugging Kimmy with it, Mommy!"

We're quiet

With this heat going on, we keep to ourselves pretty much. Kimmy is not in the mood for a lot of outings, she naps a lot during the day, much more than usual. Her bleeding got a bit heavier, too.

I can't believe how incredibly swollen her vulva is! I mean, I have never seen a bitch in heat before, but I had no idea it could get so big! Poor girl. It must be uncomfortable!

She's a bit short tempered, too, so it's best to keep her away from unnecessary stress. Oh, and of course, from other dogs, especially male ones.

Yesterday in the morning, when Ben was at school, I drove to the woods, to take her for a stroll there, because it's a place without people and animals, and where I can let her off leash for a bit without risking her getting pregnant.

So what do I see as I got out of the car and took Kimmy out and started walking towards our usual path? A large group of children (preschoolers) with their teachers. Apparently, they went for a walk, and to mate matters worse, they had a male Jack Russel terrier with them (class mascot?).

Thank goodness Kimmy was still on the leash, she didn't bark, but her hackles were up, she stood up on her hind legs, and it was clear she wanted to go closer to the kids. Then the JRT started barking his head off, obviously he smelled a bitch in heat, and so I immediately turned around and dragged Kimmy in the opposite direction.

She would never hurt the children, of course, all she would have done would be run to them and play, but I can only imagine how scary it would be for the kids (and their teachers!!!) to see a big black dog running towards them.

As we walked deeper and deeper into the forest, I imagined the poor terrier trying to mount Kimmy in an attempt to mate with her, and all I could do was giggle and think "Good luck getting so high, buddy!" Ha ha ;)

We went as far as possible away from the kids, and then I could finally let Kimmy off leash and she was happy to run around and sniff with abandon. I must say she never strays too far from me, it's like she has a built in sensor that tells her if she passes certain distance from the beacon (me), because she always keeps looking to me and adjusts her distance in according to where I am.

We were there for about 45 minutes, then drove back home and Kimmy napped for most of the afternoon.

Kimmy and Arco