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Dog Days

It’s hot. Again. Ugh.

I’ve seriously had enough of the heat. I am SO ready for these dog days of summer to end.

Speaking of dogs, I had an interesting kind of day today. As most of you know, all of our dogs are rescue dogs. CeCe, who is no longer with us, Meg and Belle were all adopted through American Brittany Rescue (ABR). K, the newest member of our family, came from the National Brittany Rescue and Adoption Network (NBRAN). Both of these organizations are run completely by volunteers. Neither has a kennel or any other kind of brick-and-mortar facility. They both rely on people to volunteer to provide temporary foster homes for dogs that they have rescued until suitable forever homes can be found.

Many rescue groups like ABR and NBRAN have Web sites that list all dogs available for adoption at any given time. You can’t just talk to a person that’s seen your dog on the Internet to determine whether they’ll be a good fit for that dog. One of the steps in determining a home’s suitability is a home visit. That’s where a volunteer representative of the organization goes to physically meet with potential adopters at their home to make sure the people are fit to adopt a dog. Another step is the vet check, where your veterinarian is contacted for references.

Anyway… today I did a home visit for NBRAN in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. I met some absolutely delightful people and several nice dogs. These folks are not only looking to adopt an NBRAN dog, they’re also going to serve as foster parents. Which is fabulous, because dogs seem to be coming out of the woodwork these days.

I rode my motorcycle to Shepherdstown and then continued on to the WV place, where Hubby and our dogs were going to meet me. Unfortunately, Hubby is really busy with work and can’t get away. So now I’m here all alone. No Hubby. No dogs. Just me.

It’s VERY quiet. And sort of lonely. I miss Hubby, of course, but I also miss my dogs.

Speaking of dogs, check out this neat picture I stumbled across on Flickr today. It’s a memorial to dogs who lost their lives liberating Guam in 1944.

If you have a few more minutes, you should read this short article about the War Dog Memorial. It’s touching.

Meanwhile, I’m going to go walk down the hill and say hello to CeCe. She’ll always be here with me.

CeCe in 2008, a few months before she died. Her cremains are scattered all around the WV place.
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Revisiting “The Nose Game”

I was just checking out my YouTube videos and noticed this one only had 180 views. It is one of my favorites. That’s mainly because CeCe is in it and I can see the goofy way she used to bark when Hubby came home (her whole front end lifted with each “woof”!).

Meg is the all-time Nose Game champ, but Belle and K are learning.

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A Year Ago Today…

… we said goodbye to our sweet little CeCe.

Even if we do now have three dogs (amazing, isn’t it?), we still miss this little girl.

I posted all my favorite pics of her in a set on Flickr. They show her journey from shortly after being rescued at 7 1/2 years old to just before her death at 12 1/2.

If anyone ever asks me, “Why rescue a dog?” C and her story is the very first thing that comes to mind. She was a bit neurotic, but super sweet.

She deserved a better life.

We think we did a pretty good job making up for all that she endured during her life prior to becoming our Pretty Little C. I think she knew even to the very end just how much she was loved.

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Brittany Games

I know I’m supposed to be posting Christmas-related stuff. But I’ve worked far too many hours over the last couple of days to dig anything up. Besides, I remembered this cool video I’ve been working on.

Actually, I posted this video previously. I have edited it substantially since then, however. AND I added music. So it’s way cooler. You really should take a few minutes to watch.

First, the high resolution version for folks with high-speed connections.

There’s a low-resolution version, too, for those with slower connections or a limited amount of free time.

Let me know what you think. And be sure to share it with your friends, too!

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Do Dogs Mourn?

We’re all slowly adjusting to life without C. We’re not forgetting about her (not possible), just trying to work around the hole her passing has left in our lives.

I put together a sad-but-cute video — only two minutes long — showing one aspect of how Meg has to learn to adjust. I’m not sure this is mourning behaviour per se, but it’s certainly one example of the many little, everyday things we didn’t anticipate would remind us that C is gone.

There’s a lot of text at the beginning, but reading it is necessary for you to “get” what’s going on in the video. There’s music, too, so adjust your volume before clicking the play arrow.

The first video is the high-resolution version for people with fast Internet connections…

I also posted a lower-resolution for folks with slower connections…

They are both the same video, just with different playback quality.

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A Maryland Weekend

Neither Hubby nor I could bear going to the WV place this weekend without our little C-dog. So we spent the weekend in Maryland. Hubby did lots of stuff he’d been meaning to do at the MD house. I started my Christmas shopping (ugh). The unspoken motivation for both of us was just to do whatever it took to take our minds off of C.

I’d never really thought about how much both dogs are a part of the WV place. Whenever Hubby and I were there together, the dogs were there.

I didn’t post every picture I took of them (you’d think I was one of those crazy-obsessed dog people), so you’ll just have to trust me when I say I have a ton of pics of both girls in WV. We have lots of fond memories there together. I’m sure I’ll share more pics someday.

For now, I’ll leave you with this image of me with my doggie “helpers.”

Neither of the girls were ever away from us for too long. They did love to go off exploring though. C hated the ride to and from (she never did grow fond of car rides), but she loved being there.

For a dog that tended to act like a princess when we were “back in civilization” at our Maryland place–she hated to get her feet wet, she hated being in the rain, she much preferred hanging out in the house–she could sure get dirty. And stinky. She had a tendency to roll in stuff like turkey poop, deer poop, cow poop, etc. She loved rolling in grass, wet or not. She even had one very memorable roll in a bog.

Like I said, I’ll post more pictures one day. Most likely, in the form of a slide show. For now, the pain is still far too fresh.

We miss our little CeCe.