The Dog Blog: December 2016

Friday, December 30, 2016

Hot dog! It worked

QUALITY TIME WITH DIXIE.

THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I've had walking Dixie has been her pulling. I didn't walk her as much as she tried to drag me along.

Dixie wasn't the strongest puller I've ever encountered. She's a beagle, for one thing, and she's missing her left-rear leg, for another.

And she's not even in the same universe of pulling as our late mutt Lady. Lady was a sled-dog type (one-eighth chow). She looked like a sled dog, ran like a sled dog, and, most importantly, pulled like a sled dog.

If Dixie pulled like the young Lady, I wouldn't have been able to handle her. Still, walking her was a struggle. Until today.

My wife Holly sent me the link to an online story about training your dog to walk without pulling. I read it and immediately put the info into practice. I got a sandwich bag and put a hot dog in it. Every once in a while, I'd pull out a bit of hot dog and call Dixie to me. She'd eat it, and we'd go on.

After a few bits of hot dog, I began to notice that Dixie wasn't pulling as much, and she was spending more time at my side. She did pull a few times, but it was easily the easiest walk we've ever had.

By the time we got home, she was right beside me. She wanted to stay at my side even when I left home to go to the library.

I'd call the hot dog caper a success, and we'll go that route next time, too.

UPDATE: I've since learned that dogs can't eat a lot of fat like you'd find in a hot dog; so I'll have to give Dixie bits of hot dog, not the whole thing.

NOTE: Lady passed on Sept. 17, 2016.

• Woof! (translation: Go away, kid; you bother me)

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

, • The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

Saturday, December 24, 2016

We'll have a quiet Christmas this year. And, in a way, it'll be lonely, too.

Lady passed on Sept. 17, and I'm slowly getting over it. For weeks after she died, I didn't want to look at the photo at left. I've missed her wet nose rubbing against my arm or me running my fingers through that super-thick fur.

Dixie's been a dependable companion. She tries SO hard to do what I want and to please me. Lady didn't do that until she was an old dog; she was mostly independent and did what she wanted. She stayed out in the yard, dug holes and chased squirrels and birds.

She only came to me at meal time or when I was going to take her for a walk or a ride.

But she mellowed in her old age, and she often lay at my feet as I worked on the computer. She became the dog I wanted her to be.

This will be our first Christmas without Lady since 2001 (we got her Oct. 1, 2002). I always enjoyed doing something special for her, even if it meant little or nothing to her. It meant something to me. (Dixie just came up beside me for a minute, then ran off).

We'll do something nice for Dixie tomorrow ... and we'll think of Lady.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY ... from all of us, Lady and Dixie included

• Woof! (translation: Go away, kid; you bother me)