Still in Pensive Mood

The old year has made her exit and the noise that ushered in 2013 has now become for me a muffled sound, and the fireworks a mere fizzle. 2013 I suppose came in with her own noise maker. It was not the bang I expected as I watched the party revelers in Time Square from the comfort of my family room. For me there was no loud excitement but a quiet realization that I had lost my old friend 2012 and would have to get accustomed to the new friend 2013.

Here we are into week 4 and so far I don’t like her. I do not like this new friend. She has brought me nothing but bad news so far. I heard news of the Illness of one friend, and the death of two others, one very sudden. As I was writing this blog the phone rang with news of another death.

This makes me again reflect on 2012 my old friend and I find myself remembering her with fondness. The memories are heart -warming and take the biting sting and the pain away from the sadness I feel for my friends.

I am happy about the things I experienced in 2012, and all that the year gave me. I enjoyed two vacations which included a trip to my beautiful Barbados, and one of the best vacations of my life. I was able to continue to educate myself, attain more spiritual growth, reaffirm my faith, and enjoy various forms of entertainment. I had successes with the children with whom I work as a volunteer and I made many new friends by being active in the community and at church. 2012 was a year of real growth.

It is said that bad news come in threes, and my three came very early in the New Year. Still I am going forward with optimism and expectancy that the rest of 2013 will be filled with blessings and not just good news, but exciting news. I expect loud excitement, days that open and close with a bang and sweet sounds of music all the way.

I won’t fear this new friend, or discount her and give her a failing mark; not just yet. I will give her a chance, get to know her, and if by any chance she fails to live up to my expectations I won’t be disappointed. After all, she gets to be around for only three hundred and forty more days.

How do you feel about entering the New Year? Do you just accept her with fear or do you welcome her with anticipation?

I would love to read your thoughts.

Precious Bajan

In Pensive Mood

As 2012 draws to an end I find myself reflecting on the kind of year it has been. At the same time I am wondering just what is around the corner. What will 2013 bring?

2012 has certainly been a tumultuous one for the whole world. It has been a year packed with challenges, widespread violence and demonstrations, mass murders, economic woes, and natural disasters. Of course many of us had our own personal challenges as well.

In spite of the trials and challenges in this now old year of 2012, I still like the idea of celebrating Old Year’s Night rather than New Year’s Eve. Yes it is the same night, but the sentiment is different. I want to celebrate the old year as my good friend who came to stay for a while but now has to leave. I want to celebrate 2012, all the memories good and bad.

 Entering a New Year for me is like entering a new relationship. I am always a bit apprehensive and fearful at first. It is fear of the unknown and the stranger whose visit came too soon.

Just as in a new relationship, the New Year may start off with a bang, but as the year progresses and commitments, trials and challenges enter , the bang become a mere tap, or a muffled sound. It is then I face the reality that life is not always a bang, but a combination of ups and downs, highs and lows, loud excitement and sometimes just plain dull sounds.

2012, thank you for the bangs and the muffled sounds.  I thank you too for the friendship, and for allowing me to stick it out with you for 366 days. I celebrate and salute you my friend.

2013, you’ve yet to earn my friendship.

A very Happy New Year to You All.

Precious Bajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a Dog’s Life

The two dogs are as different as night and day. Darwin likes to give love and Sydney likes to receive love and never gets tired of being patted. Darwin loves to play fetch and never tires of doing so. If Darwin had his way we would be playing fetch all day.

Walking Sydney is a pleasure. She is very happy when walking and actually runs and skips just like a kid would, and wags her behind in excitement. (Shepherds have no tail to wag) She is happiest when strangers pay her attention. She also loves the outdoors and prefers to stay outside all day during nice weather. She likes to lie under a tree or under the sunshade on the deck. We say she likes to enjoy the finer things of life. Sydney loves flowers and nature. Darwin much unlike Sydney prefers to be indoors and he does not trust strangers but loves being with other dogs. Sydney does not care much for other dogs especially when they misbehave.

We have some very funny moments with the dogs. One such time is when Sydney takes away Darwin’s toys and his bones. She will secure them under her paw and Darwin does not have the nerve to try to retrieve them. I think she gets a real thrill out of watching him cry and whine for us to get his belongings away from her. I can almost hear her saying, ‘’come get it you little coward, I dare you.” Sydney does not want a toy until Darwin wants to play with it. Every toy he starts to play with she will take away. Sometimes she is nice and gives it back to him.

Sydney is now 3 years old and Darwin will be 3 in December. They are both very obedient but Sydney still has a stubborn streak and Darwin is still the “greedy dog” and wakes at the same time every morning whining to be fed. Sydney stays quiet and waits until she is called for her meals.

And so dear readers these are some of the joys and trials of being a dog owner. We must admit that the dogs have brought a lot of joy and love into our home. They are my great companions and I never feel alone with them always by my side. They love to be wherever we are in the house. One may say that they shepherd our family.

We got Sydney the female due to an error, but we now see it as a blessing in disguise, because if Sydney was a male who challenged us the way Darwin has, we probably would have never purchased the second dog, and would have missed out on all the joys of having them both.

Dear readers, I hope you enjoyed reading about Sydney and Darwin as much as I enjoyed writing about them, and that I have managed to bring some laughter into your days.

Stay connected for the book.

Precious Bajan

It’s a Dog’s Life

After the dogs’ graduation from Obedience school we were sure life with them would be so easy, but this was not to be. They both developed new bad habits and other ways to keep us on our toes. One bad habit was frolicking all through the garden.

Sydney remained the “bitch” she really is and many of the commands that she followed during obedience classes she chose to ignore at home. Just like kids they had one behavior for home and one when out in public.

Darwin was relentless in his efforts to be the dominant one and Sydney retaliated every day. He has now given up on that. He still tried for months to get her food but we continued with the training at home and then suddenly that behavior stopped, “thank God!”. Sydney still takes away any toy Darwin chooses to play with and makes him cry. Daily he comes to us crying and we have to retrieve his toys for him. In addition to that, Sydney refused to obey the command “Sydney come!” If she was outside and the weather was very nice and we called her in, she would look at us and then turn her face away as though saying, “Are you talking to me?! I don’t think so.”  I think here we were the not so smart ones. After all she is a shepherd and so would love the outdoors, especially during nice weather. We then decided that she could remain outside as long as she was not misbehaving, like running all through the garden and ruining the plants or barking at the neighbours.  We let her decide when she should come in and that worked well.

Readers it will amaze you to know that Darwin has become the more obedient of the two, but his table manners still leaves much to be desired and he still wakes us up daily at 6:00 A.M. Some days as early as 5:00 A.M. Darwin seems to be always hungry and we have to feed him twice as much as Sydney if we want to get any sleep at all. Of course that means more exercise as we have to make sure that he does not become obese.

Sydney continues to parent Darwin and cleans his face and ears and wherever she thinks needs to be cleaned, and Darwin dares not move away from her grip

This is all for this blog this week. Tune in next week for the final episode of “It’s a Dog’s Life.”

What do you think of the journey so far? I would love to write a children’s book based on this story. What do you think of this idea?

Precious Bajan

It’s a Dog’s Life

Dear readers, I am back from a hectic couple of weeks and a short trip to Vegas. I apologize for not posting anything during this time.

When I first decided to start blogging, I feared that I would not get pass number one. Now I can’t believe that I am writing my 8^th post. I must admit that I never thought writing about the dogs would be so much fun for me.

After the two dogs settled into our home and their routines, we enrolled them both in Obedience classes. Sydney had completed her beginner’s class by the time Darwin came. She loved going to the classes as she likes to socialize, especially with people and did well in her beginner’s class.

We then enrolled Darwin. He loved going as he got to play with other dogs, but more so for the treats. He also did well in his class and graduated.

The next step was to enroll them both in the intermediate class. We decided to take them at the same time. Big mistake!

The two dogs could not be separated. There were times when they had to perform a command separately, but one would not do it without the other. We could not believe these two dogs that were always fighting had gotten so attached to each other.

When they were doing a leashed walk, my daughter would take one dog and I the other and would proceed in separate directions. This was very stressful as they would each be looking back for the other and pulling in that direction. There were times I swear I saw tears in my daughter’s eyes. Darwin especially was so dependent on Sydney and always looked to her for leadership and approval. We think that he thinks she is his mother.

Darwin would not walk without Sydney. We were so surprised at this and the trainer too expressed her bewilderment as she had never before encountered this behavior.  I must admit that Sydney is very maternal and acted (still does) as Darwin’s parent.

Anyhow, we managed to get through the class and so we then had two very obedient and well trained pups, or so we thought.

Sign in next week for the continuing saga of Darwin and Sydney.

Precious Bajan

It’s a Dog’s Life

My dear followers, it was not all bad with Darwin. Let me share some of the great moments with you.

Darwin loved to put all his favourite things in his bed. Our shoes, especially our warm fluffy house slippers were among his favourites.  Anytime we could not find our shoes, we just had to look in Darwin’s bed. It made us choke with laughter to watch him struggle with my son’s size 12 running shoe, dragging it with his mouth to his bed.

One night we heard a clunking, clinking noise coming from the kitchen area. We investigated and there was Darwin, dragging his bowl into his bed. It was so funny and cute we all had to laugh. He did this often as a pup.

When he was hungry, which seemed to be always, he would lie down with his head in his bowl and sometimes he would fall asleep in that position. We had never seen a dog do this.

One of the not so funny moments was when he ate the heels off of my favourite and very expensive high heeled winter boots. He also ate a few heels from other shoes.  He only ate the ones with a high heel. I think he mistook them for a bone.

Sydney seemed to like all things electrical. I can’t tell you how many adapters she ate. We had to be so careful, as we were scared that she might one day be electrocuted. There were also the nights when we would get a phone call from my daughter while on her walks with Sydney. She would chew her way out of her leash and we would have to drive where my daughter was to pick them up as she could not walk with her like that. Now that was stressful!  She loved to walk with her leash in her mouth, but that all changed after obedient school. PHEW!!!

Darwin tried hard daily to be the dominant one, but Sydney would have no part of it. When he tried to be, she would just put her paw on him and hold him down. She was probably saying, “Over my dead body buster!”

And so the puppies continue to make us glad, mad, laugh and cry daily.

It’s a dog’s life!

Dear readers, I hope, whether you own a pet or not, that my blog brings some fun moments into your day. If so, then I would have accomplished my goal. Well, did I? I’d love to know.

Precious Bajan

It’ a Dog’s Life

Dear readers, it saddened us to admit that Darwin had a pig’s appetite and behavior. His first day here when he swallowed his food in seconds without chewing, we thought he may have been very hungry, but each meal time his behavior remained the same. This puppy was, and still remains a challenge, and a real pain.

Perhaps Darwin had to fight off the older dogs at his first home and so he learned that bad behavior early in his life. When we first got Sydney we noticed that she was small for her age, so knowing her personality, perhaps she did not fight, and so she was underfed. Darwin was a lot bigger at two months than Sydney at three months.

Darwin came with another bad habit. He cried, barked and whined all night. The first few weeks at our home, we never got any sleep. I felt like I was a new mother all over again.  He eventually settled down and got accustomed to his new home, but then he developed a new bad habit.

Every morning at 6:00 he started whining and crying for food.  It was as though he had a clock in his head. He continued this behaviour until someone woke up to feed him. We never got to sleep in any weekend.

As a puppy first thing in the morning, Sydney would first go out to the “bathroom” and then come in to be fed. Not Darwin, he would not go out until he was fed.

Sydney was afraid of the vacuum cleaner, mop, anything that made loud noises or moved. Darwin was afraid of nothing. I have never met a dog who did not run from the room when you turned on the vacuum.
My friends, Darwin has not changed, and the challenge continues.

Readers, is Darwin so different from any other dog, or is Sydney the exception? Have you ever experienced a dog such as Darwin? Please share.

Precious Bajan