Grief

I expected to be devastated by letting Mahone go; however I was totally taken aback by Bob and Marley's grief. Bob has been cuddly and refused to be more than 4 feet away from me at any time; normally he is very aloof and while very curious he does not feel the need to interact with me regularly. He has also become very vocal, meowing and chirping as he follows me around.

Marley seemed to realize Mahone was missing at dinner time. She was looking around for Mahone when I called her to dinner. She ran into her crate and stared at Mahone's food bowl spot. She lightly whined and refused her dinner and breakfast. On our walk she didn't spend much time sniffing and she kept a close eye on me. I tried to entice her to play and she refused, she just looked away and sighed.

This is my favorite picture of my two troublemakers.
They spent a great deal of time sleeping together and following each other around.

It seems very easy to find books that refer to human grief at the loss of a pet; however, I have not found anything that addresses the grief other pets feel at the loss of a friend. I've totally been taken aback by the level of distress they seem to be feeling. I'm sure many people will say they are reacting to my grief; however, I think they actually notice Mahone is missing and they are grieving. I'm not sure what I can do to make them feel better.

Goodbye Mahone

For the last 18 years Mahone has taken great care of me, he ensured my feet were never cold, he saved me from having to eat any peas and he was always ready to listen. I first met him when he was a few days old and his head was twice the size of his body. He came to live with me when he was six months old and the first thing he did was bite me and proceed to fight with the other cats in the household.

Mahone had a lot of wonderful traits, however he was just never very bright. It took him a year to figure out I had a purpose besides giving him baths. It took him another year to realize he liked to be cuddled and laps were fun places to hang out. He was always very accepting of any other pets I brought home, especially my blue betta.

Mahone assigned himself a few jobs that I enjoyed such as foot warmer and pea eater; however, he was also an official boyfriend picker. I'm not sure when he assigned himself this job but it was most annoying, basically if he didn't think a boy was worthy of my attention he began to mark (yep, pee on stuff that didn't belong to him) the boys possessions. Given a choice between cleaning up cat urine or fining a new boyfriend...well Mahone always won.

He had excellent recall skills and had I discovered clicker training earlier, I'm sure Mahone would have had quite a few tricks up his paw. He used to play fetch until he became 5 years old and the thought it was dumb game. He had the loudest purr I have ever heard, he would sit in my lap and people could hear him purr over the phone.

Mahone was not particularly athletic, he prefered finding the best nap spots. I always thought "had he been a person" he would have been the high school jock, who scored 5 touchdowns in a single game and now lived for his tv and beer while reminiscing about the good old high school days.

We loved Mahone and he is greatly missed.

Dog Expo

Last weekend I attended the Dog Expo and I had such a great time. Well, as good a time as I can have without Marley. There was so much to see and so much information was available. I managed to catch Splash Dogs, K9 Hangtime (frisbee) and Uncle Matty the dog trainer.

We started the day by watching a bit of Uncle Matty, who is a delightful man. He had his well trained German Shepard, his wife's puppy and two clients at various stages of training. It was quite amusing because the puppies all kept breaking their sit/stays because of the distraction. Well, a couple of minutes into his workshop he taught everybody how to properly use a choke chain, which we took as a hint to move on to the next activity.

The frisbee dogs were awesome, the one pictured below is also a seizure dog (he tells his owner when she is going to have a seizure). The other dog was a rescue from a puppy mill who was scared of everything when he was adopted. They was simply amazing, they spent a lot of time teaching us how to introduce the frisbee to a dog and how to increase their desire to play with a frisbee.

I think I want to teach this to Marley.

My favorite kibble was available and I spent quite a long time quizzing the employees about any potential changes to their kibble formulas (Natura was recently purchased by Proctor and Gamble)

They answered all my questions and addressed all my concerns. They had samples in dog bowls which allowed me to see the size of the kibble and I left with a ton of samples. There were so many food companies there that I spent most of my time collecting information about ingredients and nutrition.

There were so many products available such as beds, clothes, collars, toys and of course hats. I so wanted to get Marley a hat, conveniently forgetting Marley dislikes being dressed up. I still think she would have looked fabulous with a new sombrero!

I also caught Splash Dogs which looks like so much fun and I think its an activity I would totally enjoy (Marley is not fond enough of water to actually enjoy this activity). I have to keep reminding myself Marley has to buy into an activity.

I would like to thank my friend Lucas & Josie's mom for taking photos for me, I managed to show up to an event with dead batteries in my camera.

Cat Protector

Mahone has had some really good days recently. I've started to feed him canned food twice a day instead of only in the evening. He is actually feeling a bit feisty, I caught him playing with Bob. Mahone was sitting on a stool and reached down and batted at Bob. Bob responded by crouching down and batting a Mahone. I was so surprised I stopped everything to watch and make sure Bob didn't accidentally injure Mahone.

The play continued for a few minutes and then Mahone jumped off the stool and they started wrestling. Bob quickly got Mahone in a head lock and at that moment I saw a black streak run between the cats turn around and body slam Bob. Bob jumped up and took off running with Marley and Mahone in hot pursuit.

I was totally caught off guard, I didn't realize Marley would feel protective towards Mahone.

Emergencies

I've always been very safety conscious, I've kept earthquake kits at work and in the car. I've attended a pet first aid class and I have great friends who will always pitch in during an emergency. As prepared as I've always felt, I recently found out my emergency plan was totally ineffective.

A fire recently demolished the building in front of my apartment. It was the scariest experience of my life. Marley started growling and barking at the front door and I shushed her; she kept it up and I finally looked outside and all I saw was orange. I managed to shove a cat into the carrier and run out the door. I spent the next 4 hours outside while the fire department put out the fire. I am very lucky the fire only killed my plants, my neighbors lost windows and their doors were broken down.

I feel really good about the following things:

• Marley's leashes are by the front door and Marley was excited to see me pick up the leash.
• I didn't lock my front door on my way out; the fire dept didn't need to break down my door.
• I managed to remain calm and helped one of my neighbor stay calm.
  
• I was calm enough to grab the cat carrier and Mahone.

These are some things I need to work on:

• I need to keep the cat carrier by the front door. I startled Bob when I retrieved the cat carrier and he hid under the bed.
• I need to keep an emergency kit by my front door or replenish the one in my car. If my building had caught fire I would have been stuck without any pet paraphernalia.

I hope everybody remains safe and I hope my experience helps you avoid a similar situation. Marley is such a good girl, she remained calm. Actually, I think she thought we were having a midnight walk. Overall, I'm grateful everybody is fine and the only damage was to buildings and not people or pets.

Hagan Dog Park

We recently attended the grand opening of Hagan Dog Park. It is the first dog park in Rancho Cordova and it is the result of over 5 years of fund raising by committed volunteers. It is over 2 acres and is split into three sections. There are 2 large dog areas and one small dog section. All sections have a concrete pad and access to water. There are a ton of trees within the large dog sections and the small section is simply huge.

The event was simply one of the best I have attended. There were fly ball and agility demos. There were a ton of booths with information. It seems like the entire city turned out to support the dog park.

Marley patiently waiting to enter the park.

Ribbon cutting ceremony.

It was very well attended.

There were various city officials, who attended the grand opening. Including, a police officer and a narcotics dog.

A search and rescue dog was also part of the festivities.

As soon as we were allowed to enter the park Marley found the best rolling spot.

She rolled around for about 10 minutes totally ignoring all other dogs. She always looks so happy when she is rolling around.

Rescue Me event

The Local Bark hosted the most amazing rescue event. I don't really know if other rescue events are run the same way, however this was simply fabulous.

They started the event with a rescue dog parade. Basically, all rescue organizations were invited to the microphone with their rescue dogs and they said a few words about each dog's history and the kind of home the dog needed. I was incredibly impressed with Chako Pit Bull Rescue, they managed to convey the joy of owning a pit bull without minimizing some of the problems that may be encountered with the breed.

I found the event very helpful because I had Marley and I was able to discuss various breeds with the rescue groups. For instance, I've always wanted a German Shepard and I spoke to them about the differences in size and energy. They were great about discussing my needs and the type of German Shepard I should look for when I'm ready for a new dog. I wish more people who are shopping for a dog had attended this event, I'm sure they would have left with a new understanding of their new dog prior to bringing him home.

I couldn't believe this cutie was still in rescue.

Marley participated in the cutest trick contest and came in second. The winner had the coolest trick I want to teach Marley.

We also participated in their Dog Park workshop. Their facilities are nice and the outdoor play area is really large.

Overall, it was a wonderful event and I would highly recommend attending something similar if you are looking for a dog and want more information on the specific breed or are considering a rescue dog.