thentherewasjade

2011-10-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

This is Quinn. He is Jade's newest friend. We don't have Bob anymore. Seems his owners decided that he needed to be fenced. We miss him. Quinn belongs to a friend who also has 2 other dogs. Quinn is exactly like Jade though. Same personality. What you see here though is a shaved Quinn. I will try to get a picture of him next spring when he has his full coat again. You won't believe its the same dog. I've got to try and get a picture of him smiling too. It won't be easy as Quinn is camera shy and turns his head when you try to take his picture.

2011-06-17T17:29:00.001-07:00

All right, I said I would do it and here it is. She will also try to climb in my lap in the car. Her butt is on the console and the front half in my lap. She is so uncomfortable and wiggles around trying to find a good spot, but ends up leaving after about 10 minutes. In this chair, though, I can't get rid of her. She will go to sleep and so will my legs!! Gotta love her.

My new radar

2011-05-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, after 4 years, my one ear has decided to stand up!! I always knew that I was "different" from other dogs, but this is the last straw!! I can maneuver it around to the back, side and front. Nothing gets by me now! If you thought I was cute before, just check this out! Mom says that I'm only half flying nun and now I'm half Rin Tin Tin. Unless you are really OLD, you probably don't know who Rin Tin Tin is. I don't, but Mom says its a good thing. Now I can hear those darn mice coming a mile away!

2011-01-04T06:17:00.000-08:00

Alright, now I've seen everything! I'm 61 years old and its definitely time for me give up the ghost. We have been having a problem with really tiny field mice. They are so small that they can slide in almost anywhere. Every so often, one will find its way in and then its all out war. Despite their size, they can out run a greyhound. I have known since day one that Jade was afraid of her own shadow. Even though she is about 75 pounds, not exactly a "small" dog, she believes that she is a little lap dog (she will lay in my lap any time I allow it). So, I wasn't surprised that when we were chasing a mouse, that she didn't want any part of it. She stayed back, just watching, and rooting for the home team. The mouse suddenly changed direction and ran right at her. It was then that I got to watch in amazement, a 75 pound dog literally "dance". I would have given anything to have had a camcorder at that moment. She put ballet dancers to shame. After several seconds of River Dance, she was out the doggie door! I've decided that I will have to get a photo of Jade in my lap. Look for it in my next post.

2010-09-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know that you won't believe this, but I swear its true!! Jade has had Ricky under her paw since the day I brought her home. We have had more arguments about how many treats she should have and when. I have a strict rule. NO TREATS until she eats all of her dinner!! Of course, that rule has been broken too many times.! She will eat a little bit of it and then come and whine or bark at me, trying to get a treat. I will look at her bowl and then tell her no, she has to eat it all. Then she will eat a little bit more and try again. It is a drag that goes on every night until its finally gone and she gets her treats. Last night though, she did something she has never done before and it was so deliberate that I was shocked. Her buddy, Bob, was here. (The black lab from up the street). He came in the dog door right after I had given her dinner. She was eating and so I told him that he would have to wait outside until she was done. He went. She had eaten about 1/3 of her dinner when she came and got me. I looked at her bowl and told her no, she had to eat it all. I went in the living room and sat down. I saw her looking at me and then I saw her go out. The next thing I saw was her coming back in with Bob in tow. She took him to her bowl and stood there watching him eat her dinner. When he was done, she escorted him back out and then came to me again. This time, of course, her bowl was empty and she was so proud of herself! I was flabbergasted! I knew that she was smarter than the average bear, but I never thought that she could do problem solving like this!! She blew me away. Now, I have to watch her the whole time until her food is gone so I will know who ate it!!

2010-05-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's her laying on the couch. BUT not only on the couch, but on the pillow too! Nothing is too soft or too good for Jade! Without a doubt, she is Queen of the house! A while back, my daughter bought me a case of the most wonderful dog shampoo in the world. It was Oster's Black Pearl for black dogs. (If you look back at her puppy pictures, she was almost all black). Not only does she smell wonderful for two full weeks or more, the black parts actually sparkle like diamonds!! It is so wonderful and I loved it!! Guess what? They discontinued it!! Claim that it didn't sell! Seems people with black dogs don't wash them? At any rate, I noticed that Walmart is now carrying Oster dog shampoo. So, what I am asking everyone to do is, go to your favorite Walmart and ask the manager if he can get Oster Black Pearl Shampoo! I figure that if enough Walmarts ask for it, Oster will start making it again! What do you think? AND everyone with a black dog should buy this product!! Its amazing. I promise you will LOVE it!! Look, even the brown parts on her shine!

2010-04-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

For those of you that have been following this blog, (Probably one or two of you), you will remember Jade has had some memorable moments in her short life. She has saved her Daddy's life, jumped into a trunk to make sure she wouldn't be left behind, eaten paper towel tubes, just to name a few. One thing that I have never mentioned though is her uncanny ability to know where she is while traveling in the car! Every dog I have ever had, has been content to hang out the window or sleep if the trip was long. NOT JADE!! She is alert to every turn. The only time she sleeps is on the interstate and then, only if you maintain the same speed! The second that you take your foot off the gas to slow down, she is up and on the console, checking out where we are going. AND she remembers!! A good example is Jekyll Island. As soon as we get on the off ramp of 95, she knows! She gets excited immediately. The closer we get to the Island, the more excited and she will start to whine as we cross the bridge. Another example is the park here in Newport, or any of her favorite spots. She will get excited when she recognizes the route we are taking and then, if we turn and go a different direction after she has decided that we are headed to the park, she will have a fit! She will whine and pout! I could list about 15 different places that she recognizes long before we actually get there. If she jumps on the console and starts looking around and you say to her, "Jade, do you know where you
are?" Her ears will go up and she will look all around . You can tell
the minute she realizes whereshe is. Its amazing. If she could
talk, I wouldn't need the Garmin!

2010-03-03T10:50:00.000-08:00

I just have to tell you all about "THE BIG FIX". Newport, Tennessee, is a little town surrounded by a bunch of even littler towns. We would be lucky to have one of everything, but we don't. Its a wonderful place to raise children though. Little or no crime. Absolutely beautiful scenery. And, more than anything else, a community that cares. Our local shelter put on a two day event where anyone who could not afford it, got their cat, dog or both, neutered/spayed and a rabies shot for free. Puppies also got a Parvo virus shot. Over Saturday and Sunday, 7 or 8 Vets; innumerable volunteers put through 140 animals a day for a total of 280 pets. It was amazing. Ricky and I volunteered on Sunday. Never again!!! From now on we will be there BOTH days!! It was the most fulfilling and wonderful thing I have ever done. We were blessed with recovery. We got the dogs after the operation. Our job was to make sure that they woke up in a reasonable amount of time and that they were breathing okay and everything was fine. I got to take care of Chihuahua's and great Danes and everything in between. I got more kisses in one day than I had in my whole life! If you have ever worked for someone and been taken for granted or not appreciated, you have to do this! You will leave with no doubt that you had performed a service that you were genuinely LOVED for! We were given breakfast and lunch of some of the best food ever! A man who didn't even have a pet brought in a quiche that was fantastic! I thought I had done something wonderful by being there for 8 hours until I saw a man that had put in 14 the day before!! I am so proud to be a part of this community. Please! Please, go to www.animalrescuesite.com , click like crazy and then go to the Shelter Challenge and vote for the Newport Animal Shelter!! They sure do deserve it!! If you are ever out our way, please stop in and see the best little town there is! We are nestled in the middle of the Smoky Mountains. Ya all come! Hear? :-)

2009-10-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

I'm really proud of our Animal Shelter here in Newport. It may be a small town, but the shelter is on the "one". October 17th and 18th, they are having a free clinic for spay/neuter and rabies shots. Ricky and I have volunteered to help out. They also have a regular deal where they ship our unwanted dogs to cities that don't have enough! Instead of putting them to sleep, they are given another chance in another city! On average, 40 or so dogs and cats are put in a truck and taken to Cincinnati, and a couple of other places, where they are given homes. I don't know who thought of this, but they deserve an award! If you go to the Animal Rescue Site, and click to give free food to the shelters, they also have a shelter award program, where you can vote for your favorite shelter. Please go and vote for the Newport Animal Shelter in Newport, Tennessee. They deserve it!! After all, that's where we got our "baby" Jade!! If nothing else, she makes a great pillow!!

2009-09-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

Well, our little girl is certainly grown up.
She has gone from the scared little puppy to this! She now frolics in the waves like it is nothing. She still hasn't tried swimming, but I haven't gone in with her yet. I am definitely going to do that next time. We had a little problem this time though. A man came up to me and said that I was not allowed to take the dog off the leash. I had to educate him. Yes, it is the rule of the hotel that all dogs must stay on a leash and so, whenever you are on their property, you must do as requested. However, it is the law of the land, no one can own the ocean. So, up to the high water mark is public property. As such, you may do whatever you want. I say that hoping that everyone is smart enough to know that it is never okay to take a vicious dog off the leash. It is never okay NOT to pick up after your dog. Other than that though, as long as your dog does not go beyond the high water mark, go ahead and let them have fun!! On Jekyll Island, the beach is seperated from the dunes by large boulders. The high water comes all the way up to them, so there is no problem. The dogs cannot go beyond the high water mark unless they climb the boulders. I have seen dogs capable of doing that, but that's the exception. Most dogs do not even want to try. Go Jade, GO!

2009-06-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

Well, Jade has had quite a week! Unfortunately, my camera has a problem. If I leave the batteries in it, they go dead in a week or less. If I leave them out, I miss all the great photos! Any ideas, anyone?
She had some bad news to begin with. We had gone out of town for 5 days and when we got back, the dog food bowl was empty. That had never happened before. The "boys" haven't been back since. She misses them horribly. I'll have to see what I can do.
In the mean time, her week began with her going out her dog door to find a raccoon eating her food! She was so shocked that she backed back in!!! The food bowl is about 4 feet from her door. Now I know why the food ran out when we left town! Thats going to be a hard one to overcome. The raccoon left quickly as he was as surprised as she was. Then, we found a fox cub in the middle of the road. I think someone had hit it with a car or something. Even though there were no signs of injury to its body, just the fact that it was sitting in the road and didn't run at first when I approached it, let me know that it was confused and maybe even in shock. When it finally did try to run from me, Jade tried to catch it for me. Of course, she never got very close (chicken through and through) but she did try! It was very young, looked healthy and since there was no other signs of injury, I'm praying that it was found by its mother and has made a recovery. Although it didn't run very fast, it didn't take it long to disappear in the long grass. I wish I could have caught it and taken to the vets. I think maybe with rest, it would be okay though.
Then, Jade was surprised when she went out in the morning. There were two absolutely beautiful young deer in the front lawn. They seemed to instinctively know that she was no threat, so they didn't even run when she barked at them. They just stood looking at her and her at them for several minutes. Of course, I ran and got my camera which didn't have any batteries in it! By the time I got it set up, they were leaving! The funny part is that Jade has gone from a couch potatoe to a porch potatoe!! She doesn't want to miss anything!
I love my camera, but I don't ever want to miss another shot like I did today, so I guess it will have to go for repairs. In the mean time, Jade is on watch!

The picture that I added was an old one. Probably about a year. Jade, Ricky and my brother in law, Berle are standing in front of a caboose that is in our town park. Our town is small, but we have a really nice park! Newport can be proud!

2009-04-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

Jade got to go to Washington DC on vacation. She wanted to see President Obama, but no such luck! She did get to see a lot of other wonderful sites. She particularly liked the blooming Cherry Trees! That's her in front of the Reflection Pool and the Washington Monument. She also got to see the Viet Nam Wall. It was too crowded to get a picture, but I'm glad that she is a "she" and I didn't have to worry about her lifting her leg on it. There weren't any other dogs around, but she did make a friend. A little girl fell in love with her and spent about a half hour petting and playing with her. Of course, Jade ate it up. Any attention is right up her alley. There were so many squirrels though! Jade would have loved the chase but I couldn't let her go and as a result, I almost had my arm pulled out of its socket several times. I know that when I'm a few years older, I won't be able to hold her back. Either that or I can plan on spending a lot of time on the ground.

2009-01-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

Well, my daughter was here and fixed the problem I had with pictures. So, here are the latest in Jades life. She now had TWO boyfriends!! I wish I had been that popular! These guys actually belong to a neighbor, but come up here at least twice a day to eat and play with Jade. We have named the boxer, Jake and the lab, Bob. We don't know what their real names are. The boxer is as big a chicken and Jade is. He won't come here without Bob and last night, he barked at something, Jade ran into the house and hid behind me and Jake ran home! I went out to see what was happening, expecting a bear, bob cat or something ferocious, but nothing was there. Who knows, Jade will run from a turkey!

Bob always has dirt on his nose! I wonder what he does with it? I would like to see what he looks like without it. Both are just the sweetest boys in the world. Jade goes out every morning and stares up the road, looking to see if they are coming yet. She can't wait for them to get here. Ah, puppy love!

Too young to date?

2008-10-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Gee, I thought that when my daughter became 21 years old and I didn't have to worry about her anymore, it was over. Now, my newest (daughter?) has a boyfriend! She has great taste because he is soooooo handsome! AND he really loves her! The question is: is she too young to date? She will be 3 in January. I guess that makes her 21 too. So, I had better stay out of it. Anyway, he showed up at the house one night with a few of his buddies. She only had eyes for him though. It was love at first sight. He returned many times after that. Always with friends. Then disaster struck. His friends refused to accompany him and he is much to shy to come by himself. So, the love struck ( is it puppylove?) lovers have been apart ever since. Since we know where he lives and since she can't drive yet, we take her by there every chance we get. He runs out to the car, she whines and carries on something horrible. He puts one paw on the door where she is leaning out and they touch noses. Its too cute! I have tried to take a picture many times, but as soon as he see's me, he runs! So, I keep the tinted window up and just watch through the side view mirrors. I would let her out to be with him, but there are two brothers who come running out to the car too. They want to chase us, and I'm afraid that they might not take to her, so she only gets to whine longingly. He is a gorgeous boxer with huge brown eyes. Like I said, very handsome. I keep hoping that some day, when he's older, that he will get over his shyness and come to the house for her. She will be waiting. After all, they are soul mates.

Jade in heaven!

2008-04-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a picture to go with this, but unfortunately, I wasn't there when it happened. I had dropped Jade off at the groomers. I take Jade to The Grooming House every 3 weeks for a bath. The "owner/groomer" is Kim Grimmette, whom I highly recommend to anyone in the Newport area. Anyway, there is a day care right across the street from Kim's. Somehow, 10 little rugrats waddled over to see Kim and what she was doing. Jade just happens to LOVE children. The problem is that she gets SOOOOO excited that she sometimes knocks them down. Kim solved that problem by keeping Jade on the table. That way, all the kids got to pet Jade without being mauled by an over exuberant Jade. Of course, Jade was in heaven. 10 little hands were within licking distance! Not to mention that she was the center of attention, which is where she likes to be the most! The love went both ways too. The kids got to pet a dog and learn that not all dogs are mean or dangerous, plus they got to see what a dog groomer does. It was a good day for everyone, but especially for Jade!

OOPS!

2008-02-19T06:51:00.000-08:00

Do you see the picture of Jade in the trunk? Well, she did it again, only this time it was my brothers trunk. The trunk in the picture was empty except for the one piece of luggage, my brothers trunk is anything but empty! She was back out as fast as she went in. It was so quick, I couldn't even think of getting a picture! She was truly surprised by what she landed on. I don't think she will be doing that again.
I was working on the property, trying to get it cleared. Someone had run over a Vole and killed it. I took the rake and threw it as far as I could. The next thing I knew, Jade was bringing it back to me. I threw it again, telling her NO at the same time. She thought it was a game and brought it back to me again. I finally gave up. We now have a dead Vole in the yard that is probably going to rot there. She goes over to it every now and then and tries to get it to play with her. Obviously, dead is not something they instinctively know about. I don't think I will put a picture of that on the site. Your welcome.

Merry Christmas

2008-01-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

We took Jade for her bath right before Christmas. Kim, at the Grooming House in Newport, always puts a bandana around her neck or something to make her even prettier. This time, we were surprised with a Santa's hat! She told us that she had bought one for all of her customers, but Jade was the only one that would leave it on. We had to have a picture of that! The only problem was that although she would leave it, if you let her move around, the hat wouldn't stay on the top of her head. It would end up under her chin! We happened to have our own Santa's hat, so it only goes to say that this is the picture we took! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Go for a ride???

2007-12-30T10:28:00.000-08:00

Well, she did it again! Every time I think that she might turn out to be a normal dog, she does something strange. We were loading some things into a friends trunk. When we didn't let her get into the car, she decided she was going, no matter where she had to ride! No one will ever leave Jade home!
My husband and I have had a few arguements about her sleeping in our bed at night. I have awakened too many times to find myself hanging off the edge of the bed because Jade is in the middle. She's not JUST in the middle, she takes the WHOLE middle! So, we were discussing this problem again the other day when we decided that the problem wasn't Jade (of course not) it was that the bed was too small. We have a queen size, but absolutely need a king. It happens to be a water bed too, so we can't just change the mattress, we have to buy a whole new bed. Also, since Jade moves a lot during the night, it has to be a motionless, which costs quite a bit. So, we now have to try and find a waterbed dealer here in the mountains. Should be entertaining.
I also discovered another Jade quirk. I mix whatever meat thats leftover from dinner into Jade's dog food. I know that I get tired of eating the same thing over and over, so I try to make her dog food a little more appealing. However, if you want to talk about spoiled, she's gotten to the point that she doesn't want leftovers!!! If she has prime rib one night, she doesn't want it the next night! I thought my husband was bad about left overs, but Jade has him beat! There are some things that are so good that Ricky doesn't mind eating it two nights in a row, but not Jade! What would she do if she had to eat plain dog food every night? What really scares me is that she is going to be two years old next month.....what is she going to be like 5...6 years from now??

2007-11-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, your not going to believe the latest Jade quirk. I was walking her when she started "marking her territory"! Do you believe this one? I have never seen a female dog try to lift her leg to go! The only thing I can think of is that she saw a male dog doing it and thought she would do it too! Unbelievable! She is not good at it naturally. Kept falling over. Then, when it wasn't working right, she tried just backing up to a bush! I was laughing histerically. I'm sure that people passing by thought I was a basket case. I have seen her try to hump Capone, and was told that when a dog is fixed, that sometimes happens, but this??? It has to be a Jade first! She really is quite a dog. She's ours though. Right or wrong, good or bad, she will be with us all of her life. Who knows, we may make a world record someday!

a miracle?

2007-10-25T05:05:00.000-07:00

The good Lord, not only gave us a best friend, He gave us a miracle. My husband is diabetic. I was working out on the property with a friend of ours. We were trying to stock up on fire wood for the winter. Ricky, my husband, was inside the house alone and Jade was out with us. All of a sudden, Jade began barking like crazy. Gary, our friend, went to see what was happening. Jade was standing at the front door, barking at something inside. When Gary got there, he thought that Ricky was on the other side of the door, teasing her or playing with her in some way. When he got close enough to see in, he could see that Ricky was in trouble. He started screaming for me. I was all the way at the back of our property and could barely hear him, but when I did, I came running. My sister had diabetes all her life and I was very familar with insulin shock and diabetic coma's. The minute I saw Ricky, I knew that he was going into a diabetic coma. I was able to give Ricky what he needed. He made a full recovery. If it hadn't been for Jade, I don't know what would have happened because neither Gary or I were going to go into the house for quite a while and Ricky wasn't in any condition to get help.

We got Jade at a shelter. We thought that we were saving her life, but it turned out that she was saving ours! She might not be "pure bred", but she's our "pure miracle".

2007-09-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

We had to go to a funeral in Florida. On the way back, we stopped and spent the night in Jekyll Island at the Caribbean Beach Resort. Its right on the beach, and Jade had the best time! Even better, she got a boyfriend! As you can see, it was love at first bite. The people in the background were the owners of Jade's love interest. They were there for the week. She was just so happy that we ended up spending an extra night just so that she could have a good time. Boy, what we do for our dogs! At any rate, Jekyll Island is dog paradise. As you can see, as long as the dogs are well behaved, no leashes are required. They romp and play to their hearts content. Just make sure you carry water! And, of course, a poop bag! If they drink the ocean, I can guarantee you that there will be a lot of vomiting going on. I don't remember his name, but he was a beautiful yellow lab about 8 months old. Even though his owners swore that he knew absolutely nothing of the ways of love, he begged to differ! He would follow her anywhere! Chicken Jade has always been afraid of the water, but while playing ball with her boyfriend and two other dogs, she forgot where she was and found herself in the waves before she knew what was happening. It was wonderful!

They are going to tear down the Caribbean Beach Resort at the end of this month. Cracks in the foundation because of it being built on sand. However, they are going to build a new one. I can't wait! If you are a dog owner and love to show them a good time, this is where you should go! The price is right too. Tell them Jade sent you!

2007-09-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

I'm patiently trying to get your attention,

you know I adore you and - OH! did I mention

I love to be near you, to share the same space?

Just look at this "follow you anywhere" face!

You know I'm your faithful, dependable friend,

so eager to serve you, true-blue to the end.

I'm sitting here staring at you like a sap,

hoping to find a soft spot for a nap-

What do you mean, I'm too big for your lap?

2007-09-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

Its lonely out here on the deck by myself;

I sure didn't mean to knock over that shelf!

How long will I have to endure this disgrace?

How CAN you stay mad at this cute little face?!

My "heart"

2007-08-14T09:30:00.001-07:00

2007-08-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

I just had to record a milestone. Jade has learned what "go pee" means!!! I was always able to tell Max to "go pee" and he would. I thought that was really cool and came in handy many times, but I never thought that I would have another dog who would do that. For those of you who are unfamiliar with doggie habits, males will pee immediately and on anything. Its called "marking territory", but females can be a real pain in the legs. They do not go immediately and sometimes can take hours to go. They have no desire to mark thier territory and will go only when they have to. There is no way of knowing when that is. However, Ricky thought that Jade was smart enough to learn this trick and surprised me by teaching it to her. All I can say is: you go girl!

Jade's vacation

2007-08-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

We went on vacation to Florida, or at least we thought it was our vacation. It turned out to be Jade's. The first hint should have been that while we drove for 12 hours straight, she slept the whole way. Then when we got there, we were exhausted and she was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Thank God for Capone. He is my daughters West Highland Terrier. Fortunately for all of us, he has as much energy as Jade does. So, Capone took over babysitting services while we rested. If I hadn't seen it for myself, I never would have believed that two dogs could play non-stop from 7am to 11pm. With the exception of putting food into the body and getting it back out again, they played!

People tell me that I spoil my dogs. Could be. At any rate, Jade's dinner consists of Beneful Dog Food mixed with whatever meat we have had for dinner ourselves. Her favorite dinner is when we go out to eat. She sits in the car and patiently? waits while we eat. When we come out of the restaurant, we had BETTER have a doggy bag! She knows that she will get a small treat then and has to wait until we get home so that I can mix it with her dog food. That's my way of easing my conscience. If I mix it, I'm not feeding her people food, right? I'm just making her food taste better! At any rate, my daughter is very strict on the "people food" thing. Capone is absolutely NOT allowed! The first thing she had to do was train her mother, and then the dog. It kills me. I'm convinced that my "grandson" feels that I don't love him! He is also convinced that if he doesn't eat it, Jade will get it! The funny thing about that is, Jade could care less. She is so used to getting people food that its not a novelty to her. Any dog could come up and push her aside and eat her food. She would wag her tail because she KNOWS that her owner will just give her some more! BUT, the bad part was that this little 20 lb. Terrier was trying to put down 40 lbs. of food every day. He would eat his bowl of food and then attack hers. ( That is the dry food that stays in Jade's bowl just in case she gets hungry during the day. By the way, it is possible for a 20 lb dog to eat 40 lbs of food because his digestive system is in high gear at all times. He is the only dog I know that can poop twice or even THREE times in one walk!! He did this every day that we were there, which was one week. He also managed to down a large Milk Bone dog biscuit and a small rawhide daily. From now on, whenever someone says something about "being full of it", I will think of Capone!

Now, Capone is a very well trained dog. At least that was until Jade got there. In order to keep her from getting food before him, he managed to get into the garbage and eat 3 large Ravioli's. He had spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen floor. My daughter also informed me that he had diarrhea for 3 days after we left. Like I said, "full of it".

Capone is the proud owner of a doggie door. It is the smallest one they make, I think. Jade weighs approximately 65 lbs. If you have ever seen a really fat woman try to squeeze into a girdle, you would get an idea of what it is like for Jade to get through the doggie door. She was not about to let it get the better of her though. She absolutely loved the idea of being able to come and go as she pleased, so squeeze she did. In and out, in and out. She had a ball. Like I said, this was HER vacation! The only bad part is that after she gets home and sleeps for a couple of days, she is very depressed. You don't dare mention the name Capone. After she spends 5 minutes of running around trying to find him, she then pouts for hours.
It took us longer to get over "her" vacation than it did her. It will be awhile before we try that again. We are hoping that we can get Capone up here in Tennessee for "his" vacation. We live in the woods on the top of a mountain. There are all sorts of animals that Capone could only dream of, having been city born and bred. I'm sure that it will be a vacation to remember!

Interior decorating by Jade

2007-06-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

We absolutely love Subaru's. We have had 4 now. Our last one had 189,000 miles on it and all we ever had to do was give it oil changes and replace the brakes once! Terrific cars!! So, when we decided to get a new car, of course, it was another Subaru. Now, Jades nails grow at a ridiculous rate! We try to keep them cut, but it is almost impossible to keep up with. Up until now, we never had a problem, other than my arms which look like chopped hamburger most of the time. The new Subaru has been outfitted with the cheapest, lousiest material they could find. I don't know why. They always had beautiful material before that outlasted the car. The Forester has a console which Jade has claimed as her "throne" from which she survey's the world as it passes. She wasn't in the new car 5 minutes before I noticed that there were several holes in the material from her nails. Then I noticed that there were also holes in the door under the window. I was able to make a cover for the console, but I have no idea what we are going to do about the door. Thinking of keeping her off of it is mute. I know that all dogs love to lean out the window and have the wind in thier faces. Doggie heaven! But Jade takes it one step further than any other dog I have ever had, just like she does with anything else. She leans out so far that her face is actually in the front window! I have watched her struggle to stay out there even when we are getting on the interstate and doing 70 miles an hour!!! Most dogs give up at 40 or so, but not Jade! The wind has to try to rip her ears and lips off of her head before she returns to the inside of the car. Even then, she will try a couple more times, just in case the car has slowed down since the last time 40 seconds ago. Then she looks at me with complete disgust and lays down on the back seat and goes to sleep. That is, until she feels the car slow down and then she is up and at it again. If we happen to have all the windows closed and the air or heat on, she figures that her rightful place is in my lap! Now, she weighs 67 pounds. She is not what you would call a "lap dog". You can't tell her that though. I have seen her contort her body in ways that would make a pretzel jealous. I humor her when I am not driving, but trying to tell her that she cannot be in my lap when I am driving has turned into a war of wills. First, she tries bullying her way in. If that doesn't work, she tries the "sneak approach". She can slowly inch her way in without you even realizing it before its too late. Finally, she gives you the "hang dog look". She makes you feel as though you have just destroyed any hope of happiness in her life! She can bring you to tears. I haven't figured out how to make her understand that its a matter of safety. She only knows that her "Mommy" is rejecting her! Its bad enough that when she stands on the console, her "flying nun" ears are directly in my line of sight. As a matter of fact, they have even been known to hang out directly in my eye. I have also been the recipient of a huge wet kiss on the lips when I turn my head to check out whats next to me or to see what I am backing into.

When we bought the car, we were really only going for an oil change. We took her with us, which we do most of the time. We just walk her around while we wait. This time, however, it was very hot out. We were trying to find a shady spot with a breeze, when one of the men came out and told us that they were "pet friendly" and that we could bring her in! I tried to warn them, but they didn't believe me. As is her normal nature, she thought that everyone in the show room had been put there for her to play with. She gets down on her elbows with her butt sticking up in the air, tail wagging like crazy and she begins to bark. Either that or she leaps up on them and almost knocks them off thier feet. Then she tries to tear around the area as fast as her little? paws can carry her or until she comes to the end of her lead and is brought up short and almost choked to death. Of course, everyone thinks she is adorable and incourage her to more antics until my arms are almost torn out of thier sockets. I think that we will leave her home from now on when we go to the dealership. I do have to give them credit though. How many car dealers allow you to bring your dog into the show room? If you are ever in Knoxville Tennessee, be sure to stop in Grayson Subaru and tell them that Jade sent you!

2007-05-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

So, when she isn't hiding or running away, she's destroying. She loves toys with squeakers in them. She can find one and remove it in a record time of 27 seconds. We timed her! She can have all of the stuffing out almost as fast. The worst problem with this is that she will eat it. The squeaker, the stuffing, it is all edible. She has also developed little idiosyncracies. She knows her way around. She also knows what belongs and what don't. If she notices anything, and I stress anything out of the normal range, she goes crazy. We had an old car with a cover over it, that sat in the same spot for a year. One day we were trying to sell it, so we removed the cover. She went crazy. I bought a plant, I hung a wind chime, a limb fell off of a tree, and each time, she had a hissie fit. I will give her credit though. No one would dare come into the yard without her noticing it immediately.

She is also a waterfall. Her tongue is enormous. She can hold a cup of water in it. When she finishes drinking, water pours from her mouth where ever she may go. I have to keep a mop by her water bowl. I made the mistake of giving her a drink while we were traveling down the road. Everything was fine until she finished, and decided that she needed to stick her head out of the window. Needless to say, the waterfall was immediately blown back into the car. Everything and everyone was covered. She is also a lover. She loves to give kisses. Now, I appreciate the sentiment, but have learned the hard way to avoid kisses immediately after drinking. That big tongue of hers can wet you down normally, but after drinking, you need several bath towels to try to stem the flow. You will never need makeup remover with Jade around. My daughter allowed us to keep her Westie over night once. Of course, all that playing meant that a constant supply of water was needed. I can only tell you that poor Capone looked like a drowned rat the whole time.

Life with a tornado

2007-05-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Jade also turned out to be a big chicken. I was out on the deck, sweeping the autumn leaves off when I moved a table to clean under it. Wasps had carved out a home there and I found out the hard way. One of them attacked me and stung me on the foot at least 3 or 4 times. Jade was laying by the door, minding her own business when it decided to attack her too. It stung her on the nose several times before I could get her in the door. It was horrible, poor little thing. Now, whenever she hears the hum of a bee or wasp, she either runs for the house and if she can't get in, she will run for the first person available or hide under something. At the time this happened, she was very little, maybe weighing 20 lbs, if that. She now weighs 70 lbs, so she's not a little puppy anymore, but she will try to get under anything. Sometimes its so small that only her head is under, but she thinks she is hidden. AND, of course, if I'm out there, she wants me to pick her up! I would love to talk to the Dog Whisperer about this.
The first time we took her to the dog park, she refused to get out of my or my husbands lap. She was sure that every dog out there wanted her for lunch! She finally found a little Terrier and sensing no threat, attached herself to the poor dog. Even though she was a puppy at the time, she probably weighed 20 lbs more than the Terrier. As much as it tried to get away from her, she was determined to keep it as protection. The second time we went, she was a little braver, with emphases on the "little". She would run for the little dogs who would run from her and then if a big dog approached her, she would run for our laps. Its still that way today. The closest dog park is 50 miles from our house, so we cannot take her as much as we would like. I'm sure that if she could go more often that she would overcome her fear, but we can't. We did take her to my daughters. My daughter lives about 800 miles away. She also has a dog. It is a West Highland Terrier named Capone. Believe it or not, they are a perfect match. Capone has endless energy and sometimes plays too hard. They alternate between trying to kill each other to seeing who runs out of energy first. They range from the lowest corner to the top of the highest piece of furniture. For Capone, this is natural, but for Jade, who thinks she is the same size and will not be outdone, she will follow him no matter where he decides to go. When we have to leave, both of them will mope for days.

2007-04-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Jade was unlike any dog that I had ever had before. She was very easy to house break, but that is where "easy" ended. Everything else was a fight. She had enough energy to power the electric to New York City. She could pull all the stuffing out of a toy in 2 minutes flat. Unfortunately, I became her favorite chew toy. My arms and hands were covered with blood everyday, AND she bit HARD! I tried every method know to man to get her to play a little gentler, but found that the only thing that worked was biting her back! Have you ever had dog hair between your teeth? I do not recomend it. BUT, it worked!
She would and still will, eat anything! She ate weeds, rocks, wood, bark, paper, cardboard, material, and anything else she could get her teeth on. One time, I emptied a roll of papertowels and thought she might like playing with the tube. I threw it to her and then answered the phone. It couldn't have been more that 2 minutes that I looked at her to see if she was playing with it. It was gone! She had devoured it. Of course, everything that went down came back up. That is how I discovered a lot of things that I didn't know she had eaten. The Vet had given me some pills to try to stop her from throwing up all the time, but nothing would keep down things like cardboard. Max's favorite toy was a pair of socks. I would put one inside the other, balled up and pushed to the very bottom, and then I would put a knot in it. It looked like a ball with a streamer. Jade ate hers. I have several boxes in the back bedroom. At least one edge on every box is chewed. She never leaves a mess, she eats it.

First there was Max

2007-04-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Max was my heart. He was with me from 7 weeks of age to 13 years. Quite old for a Rotweiller. His birthday was August 8th and I had to put him to sleep on August 12th. I really probably kept him longer than I should have, but I was selfish. I didn't want to let him go. He had developed heart disease, blindness, arthuritis and weakness in his back legs. If it hadn't been for the pain, I would have kept him longer. He had been everywhere with me. He was my constant companion, "my heart". I even have a "America's funniest Animal" tee shirt because of him. He would grab my hand and pull it down to his rear for a scratch. If I didn't respond, he would growl and do it again and again until I did what he wanted.
The day that my husband took him (I couldn't bear it) to be put to sleep, I sobbed uncontrollably for hours. I proceeded to cry every day thereafter for 6 months! People would tell me that I needed to get another dog, but I didn't ever want to get that attached again! The heartbreak was more than I could bear. Finally, my husband couldn't stand it anymore. After 6 months of watching me bawl, he said, "Go get another dog!"
At first, I wanted another Rotty. Then I decided that the best thing I could do would be to adopt an unwanted. I spent months in shelters. If you have never done that, its heartbreaking. You want to take all of them home! Finally, one day, I came across what looked like a 6 week old Rotty mix. The people at the shelter thought she was half Rotty and half Chow. Now, I had had a Chow before. He was a sweetie, but I found out that I had been VERY lucky! Most Chows can be mean. I had decided that I would never have another one, even though I loved Teddy very much. (Teddy Bear) Strike one. Strike two was that she was a female. I always liked males the best. But, she was soooooo cute!
And so, she came home with me. She stunk so bad and her fur was matted. First thing was a bath! She was petrified, but it had to be done. Then we discovered that she had a cough. Our first night together was a horror. She coughed and cried all night long. The next morning it was right to the vets. Kennel cough. The following weeks was force feeding medications, which she hated. We discovered that she was afraid of everything! We also discovered that she threw up every time we put her in the car. Strike three! I take my dog with me everywhere. What was I going to do with one that threw up all the time? Back to the Vets! We also couldn't help but notice that tears constantly poured down her little face. Introverted eye lids. For those of you that have never heard of that, it is where the eyelids curl under and scratch against the eye, causing blindness if not operated on. Strike four! She had to be 6 months old before she could have the operation, so I had to put ointment in her eyes twice a day and sometimes 3 or 4 times. I was determined that she would not be blind.
So was the beginning of our lives with Jade. The complete opposite of Max in every way but for better or for worse, she was ours.