Pets are good therapy

Sounds like a lovely place to me. Where life and death are intertwined. My Grandpa's wake was at home in Western Kentucky. Most everyone nearby traveled by horse and wagon so going to a city would have been really difficult. The fiuneral was in the church and the cemetary next door. It all felt connected. I was just 5 years old but I remember my youngest uncle sitting up all night next to his Daddy. His dog next to him.

Love Ginger

Hi all, in the hullabalu of the new forum, I lost this topic in my favorites column, anyone know how to get it back?  I am getting used to the new format, but in the beginning it certainly was a shocker!!  karen

Thanks Wren, I found it.  I do like to keep track of our furry babies and all they do for us.

Hi Kathy. I'm 51 and I too love animals. Yep we belong here.....

Oh I know how you must have felt about clipping the nail and it bleeding. I remember we had the most beautiful, very elderly golden labrador, and she never liked her feet being touched. Her nails were so long that she couldn't get a good grip on our floor boards and (she was very arthritic too, so just getting up onto her feet was an effort). I told Maddie (the dog) that Daddy only wanted to trim her nails and that it wouldn't hurt a bit. Imagine my absolute horror when he did the first (and only) snip, and she yelped and blood spurted everywhere. Oh my, my heart went out to her. When we had to take her to the vets a short while later to be put to rest, I told the vet about the nail and he said in older dogs the nail bed can grow right down to the tip of the nail. I gave my husband such a terrible time because I thought he must have just been a bit lapsidaisy with his cutting, even though he swore he only did the tip.

I have four dogs and I am very reluctant to clip their nails now, so I save it for when they need to go to the vets and let them do it.

Cheerio, Kate

Hi Karen, I'm sure Sawyer (love the name by the way) was just beautiful. We had the same thing with our coffee table and Maddie's tail which just never ever stopped wagging. Being a lab she was definitely on the porky side and was very sedate towards the end, except for the tail that is - it was a real thumper.

I've had cats too and I do miss not having them now (4 dogs are enough) but I have to say I don't miss the damage they did to my furniture, floor coverings and door frames - apparently all are great scratching posts.

I don't have any problems with clipping the white nails were you can see the quick ... but the dark ones - ouch!  I tell my cat Oliver that clipping his nails does not hurt but you would never know it from the fuss he makes!

Kathy and Kate ... welcome to the funnest thread!  Everyone here has bragging rights and all of us have the best pets around!

3jaysmom, your dog being protective of you whilst youré not well made me think of my experience and funny story about my girl Jilly (who it would seem can do no wrong by me).

She's a border collie and I knew she would be great running next to me while I rode a bike. This was a hair-brained idea of mine, as I hadn't been on a bike for over 30 years, but I figured she would encourage me to be more active and riding a bike would make her run (I cannot run myself, not that I can't, but I hate it as much as the dentists!).

So day 1. I get driven down to the lake by DH and he walks with the other 3 dogs around the lake which has a bike/walking track around it and the best bit (for me) was it is relatively flat, except for one smallish hill - more about the hill later.

Because I hadn't done this with Jilly before and there were always loads of other people, dogs kids etc, I wanted to have control of Jilly until I knew she could be trusted to only run by my side and not go off chasing a bird/ball/butterfly etc, so I had the brainwave of having her on a long leash and I would peddle at a safe speed for both of us. Last thing my husband said to me was "do you really think you should be riding a bike in thongs (flip-flops)?" I dont think back then I really took safety too much into account, so I just looked at him like he was mad or something. I mean it was going to be a leisurely ride around a flat lake. I was not participating in a marathon or anything.

I tell you, this went really really well until the hill. She was perfectly well behaved and we passed allsorts of distractions and she never deviated from being about 4' away from me. But then I came to the hill and yippee... I was going down it. So like a little kid, I took my feet off the wheels and we both tore down it at great speed - and I seriously let out a whippeee as we hurtled along. When we got to the bottom, we passed a man walking in the opposite direction, and wouldn't you know it, Jilly was suddenly fixated with something he must have been carrying (freshly caught fish I suspect) and although she was running forward, her head was turned back to look at him and as she did that, she came closer and closer to my front wheel, until I had a micro-second to decide what to do, so I just instinctively turned the handle bars and therefore the wheel away from her head. This turns out to have been a bad move on my part as the law of physics states that even though the bike might have come to a sudden stop, I didn't. 

I knew before I even landed on the ground, that I had badly broken my ankle...  So there I was, laying there on the path, Jilly madly licking my face and I was in a real pickle. I had to lay there until some nice walkers came to my assistance and called an ambulance and my husband to come and pick up Jilly, but not before a lycra clad serious type ran past me saying "nice place for a picnic" poor dear had to run around me you see. I couldn't believe it.

Anyway, getting back to the protective dog. After surgery I had a cast on the back of my leg but not the front as the swelling was too bad. And I was totally bedridden and in terrible pain. When I was back home I thought Jilly would have sensed that I was injured and would have been very gentle with me. Wrong. She jumped up on the bed 3 times and straight onto my leg - it was agony and the only times I ever cried. She continued to always jump up on the bed but I then got a full cast on my leg and nothing could penetrate it. 

So in my case, Jilly just carried on life as normal. I suppose I could have insisted that she be kept away from the bedroom, but I just wanted her to be near me, no matter what. She really was the best medicine for me and heck, I knew that it was my own stupid fault that I was in that predicament. Not hers.

Cheers for now, Kate

Welcome Kathy and thanks for the tip. Never heard that before.

I've got a couple cats, both named after food products.  I don't know if they would protect me, but there's a great story about a blind cat who fought off a rapist and saved his cat mom. One never knows what a pet might do for someone who gives them everything, mostly love. Here's the link to the brave kitty story.

http://open.salon.com/blog/gwen_cooper/2008/10/01/night_of_the_hunter

had the bright idea to do the same thing with my doberman, years ago, with the same result.. falling..

  yet, i watch ceasar milan on skates, with his dogs.. i guess he really CAN train his dogs better..huh?  hahaha 3jays

oh, marybe; i hope your successful in getting her to your house!!she doesn't know what she's missing.. it makes me so sad, when they're out on their own.. but, we have a few here, that just won't be teased, cajoled, or ordered in.. we've only had success with one. my neighbor leaves her screen door open, and she comes in and out at will. always goes out to "do her business".. so, both of them are happy.

   my neighbor, actually got her to trust her enough to cage her, and take her to her daughters, when they tented.. then, home, and she came back in the house, right away. she's her cat, now..she's soo happy, having sara(the cat) and when she vacations, we feed her. she comes in my patio sometimes when the dogs have been barking. i think she's been with dogs before..

  my little man got scratched awhile ago, by the cat we had, and he won't go near a cat now.. i tell you; the little boy is afraid of everything!!!but, he's "my man!!!"3jays

kathleen, faking it! lol

Our oldest cat came from a shelter. Her mom had developed a relationship with a couple who fed her. They invited her into the house a number of times but she wasn't interested. They came to realize she was expecting and one day or two she was missing. She returned to eat once again and then returned with her kittens one by one  bringing them into the house. The couple adopted her as theirs and when the kittens were old enough they broughtall but one of them them to the shelter. They kept their favorite. These had to be the most socialized wild kittens ever. Our daisy, now 15 years old is just sweet all the time.

Ginger 

Karen ... LMAO!  Some tricks they pick up really quickly.  Others - they act dumb!

If she is a Lab, half the water is on the floor!!!!

LMAO, so true, so true