Sadie Is 8 Years Old Today

Sadie turns 8 years old today and still acts like a puppy in someways. You can read here a lot about her first 7 years, so today I'll just write about this past year. She is living proof not to give up on hounds when they are puppies and destructive, no matter what you try.

She also had separation anxiety up until the age of 5 years old. At that time I was working and gone around ten hours per day from the time I drove to work and returned home. She would spend those times in the biggest indoor heavy wire kennel you could buy. It wasn't much taller than she was but it was long enough for her to turn around. The teeth that she has lost or are damaged today is from her attempts of chewing her way out of that steel rod kennel.

When I would relay the stories of her destruction as she was growing up (many were funny) to co-workers, ALL of them suggested I get rid of her. ALL of them suggested she was a nut case ... she wasn't, she was just a bloodhound, a breed that is somewhat obnoxious when they are young.

So I turned down those opinions, and even the one person that wanted her, because I never give my hounds away no matter what. As she grew older she turned into a great house dog that has the run of the house.

She still loves to roam the field, taught as a 12 week old puppy by Winston. He showed her where all the good spots were in the field and could tell she had tracking tendencies.

Even with fewer teeth, she still likes to chew on an occasional stick. Where she use to use just her small front teeth, now she will try to get the stick further back in her jaw.

Last August I decided to get a 2nd bloodhound, more to help Stella have a permanent home and not really realizing just how much she would change Sadie's life for the better. That first night Sadie wasn't real excited about her new companion ... she had always been the "leader of the pack" ... still is.

After spending all of her 7 years with short legged basset hounds while following The Bloodhound Property Laws, she now had a hound almost as big as she was, just as strong and also followed those same Bloodhound Property Laws.

Her life was about to change ... as it turns out it was for the better.

Stella had Sadie running more and playing like she was a puppy again. It reminded me of the time Sadie was a puppy and was tormenting Winston with her abundance of puppy energy.

Sadie shared her water, gave Stella the chance to choose what bones and balls she wanted but still kept her bed and daily meals off limits. I bought this dog bed the day I picked up Heidi and for Heidi ... but Sadie took over the bed and Heidi decided my bed was a better place to sleep anyway.

She still likes a game of fetch, inside on bad weather days or outside. Once she is playing that game it is all she focuses on, even when Stella tries to get her to play.

Stella has also taught Sadie how to lay down and relax, enjoy the sunshine, and the yard without having to explore and track stuff all the time.

Of course after the week camping trip to Colorado and Utah last June, Sadie has liked riding in the FJ. She and Stella make all the local trips around town as long as I am not going for groceries and the temps are below 80° if I am stopping somewhere. If we are just out driving with no stops, then she rides with the air conditioning on.

Last December the morning that Winston hurt his back and couldn't walk, it was the first time I could ever remember that Sadie got up on my bed. Being the "leader of the pack" she knew something was wrong with him ... She showed concern for him the next few weeks.

The morning I came back without Winston ... Sadie knew her good friend was gone. Winston was the basset hound she chased as a puppy, played with him as a puppy and would sleep with him when it was cold outside.

She could tell what happened to Winston.

She continues to roam the field, run in the backyard just like Winston taught her as a puppy. She still gets so excited for her daily walks and her meals that she hops up and down on her back legs when the word food is mentioned. She always grabs my hand with her mouth as we start the daily walk ... every time.

She is still 'the leader of the pack'

Deep in thought about what she will be doing in year 9 ... never a dull moment in her life in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.

Cool Temps - New Blogs - Some Fetch

With house rules stating that after April 1st, clothing will be t-shirts and cargo shorts, it's days like today where there is a temporary bending of that rule and a sweatshirt is allowed to be worn. Why? 52° at 2pm is why. How the weather experts said it would be mid 60's today, makes me wonder if I should come out of retirement for part-time work.

I'll get to the new blogs I found today, and other stuff I did today but first a short story on how my two bloodhounds are different. They look the same in color but that is about the only thing they share in common ... except sleep and eating.

Some of those differences are ... Stella will not fetch a bone, Sadie loves it. Stella can and will open doors to go outside, Sadie will wait for me to open the door for her. I found out just today that Sadie will not touch a banana but Stella will gobble it down as fast as possible the first time I turned my head and wasn't looking. Stella will howl for food while Sadie will give you "the stare" for me to feed her. They are great friends though.

When I realized it was still too wet for a walk in the fields, I just wasn't in the mood to have soaked shoes and cool temps combined ... it was time to play fetch with Sadie. As you can tell she was really excited (joke) as she saw me walking out with my camera and her bright orange bone.

She started off well but just like me she has a very very short attention span. It wasn't more than a two or three runs that she went into her pose that tells me "come and get it" ...I held out until she brought it back to me.

Whoever thought a bloodhound would love to play fetch? She has since she was a puppy in 2008.

This is the pose I was telling you about. Yes, you have seen it before, it very similar to the pose she has when she is demanding a walk in the field.

I held out though and then when she laid the bone at my feet, I threw it the opposite direction. As you can see, Stella doesn't like playing fetch, unless it's a frisbee.

The last toss to the left proved to be the last of the day. She lost her attention, found a different smell, focused on that and headed for the house ... without the bone.

Stella was still hot and heavy on a scent she had picked up underground. Maybe a yard mole track since they don't operate I'm told until 7pm or 7am. Luckily Stella is not into digging holes or craters trying to capture moles.

It was late this morning as I was finishing all my online reading and a cup of coffee. I was about to log off the computer and get up when a blog on someone's blog sidebar caught my glance ... "Encinitas" was the title. I had to click it since that was my old neighborhood from 1977 to 1984. Before I could even finish reading the first post, click here, I decided to start reading their blog from the beginning.

It wasn't soon after I started that with more coffee that I saw they had visited and stayed in other areas I had lived over the last 40 years. Those being the Pacific Northwest and around the area of Dillon Lake, Breckenridge Colorado. Needless to say the mind was flooded with old memories as I read and looked at their photos.

It's a great blog to take a look at. It has an interesting story along with great photos, plus a few places that you don't see on other travel blogs. The blog has been added to my sidebar and it's name is Trekking With The Bs.

Of course that blog had one listed on it's sidebar that looked interesting. After opening it up I had seen it years ago and through all of my blog changes I had lost their link. Today I saw they had 24 posts on the topic "Indiana". She had taken some photos of buildings that I have seen multiple times and a few places I'd been to before I started blogging in 2011. Like one does sometimes when it's local ... you take places or buildings for granted when others see the beauty in them. I need to get out more without the hounds.

When the weather is not optimum sometimes it means more time for book reading, online reading or doing stuff on the computer with spreadsheets or changing the blog design. I am still not finished with my template design although I have decided again that the current fonts, the crimson and white color combination is what I like. I would like some separation between the posting area and the sidebars.

I don't have the programming knowledge in how to draw a thin single vertical line between the sidebars and posting area. I assume I could do that in Blogger under their css section of the template adjustments. I see other templates that has each of those in their individual section. I'll am going to take a look at those templates, replace it with my fonts and colors and see if I can some up with something that works.

So I've played around this afternoon with that. It's still a work in progress.

Heidi really has me stumped today. Just a few days ago I thought I was seeing progress in her terrible skin issue. Then it exploded a few nights ago. Nothing had changed in her diet, bedding or activity ... it just went nuts with redness and chewed hot spots.

This morning her skin was so bad that as soon as I started to pet her, she rolled over on her back so I could see how bad her skin looked on her stomach, legs, paws and armpits. She had a bath a couple of days ago so shampoo might be the cause although it has been used before with great results. I think today it will be a 20 minute soak with Epsom Salts, a cold water rinse and a night off from the ointment to see what tomorrow brings.

Thanks to the people that commented or emailed me their thoughts on my blog changes. The feedback helps in what needs to be done.

It's football weather in May, here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana today.

Sadie's Afternoon Game Of Fetch

Needless to say after Friday morning's excitement around noon with their workout of chasing the deer, the rest of the day for the hounds was anti-climatic. The hounds were fed, they napped, they did nothing ... remember they are retired, just like me. I started the afternoon walk aware this time. I made sure I had the right lens attached (200mm), I put the 6' standard leash in my back pocket in case I needed it and I looked ahead to make sure the coast was clear.

After Stella finally caught up with me and Sadie, she immediately started tracking the path of the deer this morning and was heading for the 'no fly zone'. I called her, she stopped and I put the leash on her .... just for a short distance. After I unleashed her, she stayed in front of me most of the way home.

I needed to wrap up some laundry I had been doing, plus finish some games of Mahjong ... all with the purpose of "wasting time" until my IU game comes on at 10pm. The game before starts a little after 7pm, which I planned on watching so I am basically trying to find anything to waste time until the games come on.

The day turned out to be so nice that I decided it was time to play some fetch with Sadie ... she loves it ... Stella has no interest, at least not fetching balls or bones. I hear that Frisbee is her specialty.

I feel fortunate that everything worked out for Stella and Sadie, before - during - and after the deer chase. I was relieved I didn't have a long trip trying to find them once they got away this morning. Probably good that Sadie is a little older and Stella seems to like staying nearby.

Another night of March Madness and all is good here in 'the tropics' of Southern Indiana.