Stoutpup

That’s what we try to be. Calm and assertive. Good pack leaders. But sometimes there’s a rotten apple in the bunch, and by apple, I mean person, and by bunch I mean dog park, and it’s hard to be the role models our dogs need us to be. Here’s a good article I recently read from a man I admire very much for his patience, determination, and philosophy, Cesar Milan.

Let me just say this. If you are a responsible dog owner at the dog park and your dog tries to take another dog’s brand new flying squirrel toy out of her mouth, you stop it abruptly and move to another part of the park so everyone can go on enjoying their day. You don’t let it happen again until the dogs attack each other.

Be responsible. Know your dog. Monitor your dog’s behavior at the dog park. Dogs do work things out in their own way, but it is a dog owner’s duty to avoid situations that can be avoided. Such as unwanted repeat behavior! We are the pack leaders, we let them know what is okay and not okay.

Mr. Dogpark Douchebag, it’s too bad all hell had to break loose at the dog park yesterday. It’s too bad we lost our calm assertiveness because of your ineptness turned ass-holery. It’s too bad you tried to pick a fight with us with your puffed out chest and idiotic statements - because YOU were in the wrong.

I can see where your dog learned to be a dick. Your behavior was disgraceful and utterly retarded. It’s not your park. I’m not sorry for what I said to you, I’m only sorry my dog had to see it.

As the title says, It’s Hot! This has been a very steamy weekend in Seattle with temperatures in the high eighties. It’s been perfect weather for spending time out doors during the evening listening to music as the sun goes down. But the heat is not ideal for the dainty creature known as the English Bulldog. It’s also too hot too cook, so here is Lucy pictured outside Taco Del Mar waiting for Corey to get our Tacos so we don’t have to heat up our little kitchen making our own.

From the Humane Society’s website: Dog-A-Thon 2008 A Howling Success!
$130,000 raised for homeless animals! Updates coming soon, but preliminary results show that the Dog-A-Thon raised $130,000 for homeless animals!!! Stay tuned for more information!

And on a side note, more donations continue to pour in on our firstgiving page! Thank you! Our on and offline total is at $665.00. Rock and Roll!

Updated: Photos from the event taken by Marguerite here >>

3 days until The Humane Society of Tacoma Pierce County’s Dog-A-Thon 2008 event happening on Saturday July 26. We’ve raised $295.00 online so far. Visit www.firstgiving.com/dionneknafelz to donate or pass along this link to anyone who might be interested. This year we’ll be walking in Mazzy’s name. Rock n’ Roll!

It’s Day 3 of being unemployed and I decided to check out the The Frye Museum. This is something I have wanted to do for a while since the R. Crumb exhibit (that I foolishly did not see) and after my visit today, I was mad at myself for not going sooner. But oh well. No regrets. I went specifically to see Dario Robleto: Alloy of Love. I loved this exhibit. Much of the artist’s work involves melting and/or pulverizing an original material and reconstituting it into something new different.

Here’s an excerpt from the Frye Museum website about the exhibit:

…The resulting artworks are much more than just the sum of their constituent parts or factual interpretations of particular events and personalities; rather, they are sincere and emotional meditations on love, loss, spirituality, and ultimately, healing.

It seemed very appropriate for my week. After the show I walked over to Bimbos Cantina for some nachos and to finish the book my mother gave me called:Good Dog. Stay. by Anna Quindlen.

I only teared up once while reading this, but it brought up a couple of things I had been thinking of with regards to Mazzy. 1.) That we made the right choice by not keeping her alive for our sake, but to let her go with dignity that she may suffer no more pain and 2.) Like many dog owners, I am a projector of feelings to my pets.

I sometimes say to Corey, “Lucy looks sad today.” To which he will reply, “She always looks sad. She’s a bulldog.” Then I will say, “Yeah, but today she looks REALLY sad.”

I have been feeling like the dog and cat do not know how to deal with Mazzy being gone. Lucy has been laying in weird places. She’s seemed a little despondent and not her wiggly self. And the cat is really super needy all over us. Almost annoyingly so. When I read Good Dog. Stay. I thought, well that’s probably it, I’m just projecting my feelings about this to Lucy and Deezy. But I can’t be sure, so I spent the afternoon with Lucy in the park just looking up at the clouds, Lucy at my side. She seemed to cheer up after that.

In keeping with our western theme for the month, I thought it would be appropriate to post this picture taken yesterday of Corey and Lucy at this famous landmark in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. The giant hat and boots are featured on RoadsideAmerica.com, a site that you will find other such oversized curious objects as Tucson’s Giant Ax Wielding Man on the corner of Stone and Glenn and Tacoma’s Giant Coffee Pot, World Famous Bob’s Java Jive.

It is 87 degrees in Seattle. It is so damn hot. Lucy is practically melting, but we have lots of fans in here, gel packs from the freezer to cool dog bellies and of course ice cubes, Lucy’s favorite low calorie treat. Cube cube! Anyway, Stoutpup is getting ready for the Wild West. Here’s a picture of us trying to cool off on the way home from Barking Lounge. We stopped at Uptown Espresso, my new favorite place to drink iced coffee and blog once we get our new computer.

Lucy’s Sour Mug made it into CityDog Magazine. I happened to be wearing my Lucy’s Diner T-Shirt on this day. We picked up our copy of CityDog Magazine from South Lake Union’s own fabulous Urban Beast, but if you live in anywhere else in Western Washington, Oregon, Idaho or northern California you might be able to pick one up at a pet store, newsstand or bookstore in your area.

Lucy and I were approached by pet photographer Jamie Pflughoeft on this particularly warm day in Cascade Park. I think it was the first Sunny day of the season. Weren’t we lucky!

CityDog Magazine’s 3rd Annual Cover Dog Model Search is under way and I think Lucy is going to give it a shot.

This weekend Lucy and I went to Mom’s house in Lynnwood for another family weekend. Dawn was in town and it was really fun and we ate tacos and lots of cupcakes and played in the field with the Bulldogs, Lucy and Winston. The two dogs are pals now after their third or fourth time together and it’s fun to watch them trotting along the field side by side. They always want what the other has, and here’s a picture of Winston hiding in the bathroom corner after taking Lucy’s ring toy. Three’s company so we were definitely missing Miss Cookieblanca from the Bulldog Trifecta this weekend!

Even though we live in a two bedroom apartment, once in a while I have one of those moments where I can’t find the dog and have the two second freak-out. You know, the kind where you realize you left your purse in the booth you were sitting at in the restaurant half an hour ago. Your heart rate shoots through the roof and you start sweating. Well today I couldn’t find Lucy who usually is just right by my side. I had to do a double take and then I noticed a tiny face peeking out from beneath all the covers on the bed.