Let There Be Light

Posted on July 30, 2012 by treshabarger

Many dog people turn off the interior lights of their vehicles. (Dog people are those of us who take their dogs hither and yon for agility trials, hunt tests, tracking tests, earth dog tests, obedience trials, fly ball tournaments (and more) and training for such.) We turn off the lights altogether because in central Texas, it’s hot about nine months out of 12 and we leave our vehicles open in various configurations (windows, doors, hatchbacks, etc.) while we are training or competing. We don’t want to find out at the end of a training session or a canine sporting event that the battery is dead because of that itty-bitty light.

So we turn off the light completely. Sure, some vehicles have the “fading” light setting, where it will turn itself off after a specified amount of time even if a door or the hatchback is open, but not all vehicles have that feature. And some of us might have it and not know that we have it. Or can’t figure out which of the three settings takes care of that situation. (Ahem.) So many possibilities.

I turned off the interior lights in my vehicle probably a few weeks after I bought it in 2001. Since then, I’ve packed up my dogs and driven them all over Texas for training and competitions. I took a break from competition when I retired my last agility dog, Clint (HRCH UH Bakbay Make My Day MH MX MXJ CGC WCX) in 2007.

That break stretched out a bit longer than I intended when I encountered some unexpected difficulties, like a sprained knee. That was three years ago and I haven’t returned to training or competition. (I’m thinking about it; don’t rush me. But it’s hot. Or cold. Windy. Too sunny. Foggy. Too cloudy. And look, a quilt fabric shop!)

On Friday, as I was getting out to open the gate in the pre-dawn hours of the morning on my way to work, it occurred to me that it was dark inside my vehicle. Maybe, I thought, I could turn the interior light back on. And I did.

Oh, it was so bright! Then I vaguely remembered that there was a light near the hatchback. I checked and sure enough, there it was! I turned it on as well.

Oooh, aaahhhh. Of course, I had to sit at the gate in my vehicle after I closed the hatchback and the door to confirm that they did turn off properly. Yep, they still work.

Will wonders never cease.

Queen Moe

Posted on July 2, 2012 by treshabarger

Our dog Moe sleeping on the couch, on her back

Moe, stretched out on her couch, sleeping

Here is Moe, queen of our house. Moe was an abandoned street dog we took in over 12 years ago. We think she was about 1 year old when we rescued her, making her 13 now. As queen, Moe sleeps wherever she wants to.

(Fortunately, she’s too short to jump up on the bed, or that last sentence wouldn’t be true. I let a dog sleep on the bed — once — and that was one time too many.)

Our dog Moe, sleeping on the dog pad in the dining room

Moe, on her dining room pad

She looks to be part Australian Cattle Dog, maybe. The other parts, who knows.

We actually took in three abandoned dogs at the same time and named them Curly, Larry and Moe. Curly and Larry were brothers (black and white mixed breed) but weren’t related to Moe. Curly and Larry have died, leaving us with Moe as our only non-Labrador.

Moe hanging out on the carpet

Moe in the kitchen, looking for crumbs

Weekly Photo Challenge: Close

Posted on June 20, 2012 by treshabarger

This is Dusty and how he looks to me when I am in the backyard with him. Describing him a “Velcro” dog is an understatement. (A “Velcro” dog is a term used by agility handlers for dogs who won’t leave the handler’s side.) It’s impossible for me to walk in a straight line, as he constantly darts in front of me to get my attention. By the time I get to the far end of the yard, I have travelled twice the distance due to my efforts to go around him.

It’s always something …

Pet me, feed me, throw something!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Close

Snake-Proof Gaiters

Posted on May 9, 2012 by treshabarger

All dressed up

I now own a pair of snake-proof gaiters. I bought them at Cabela’s after I found a snake immediately outside my back door.

The dogs found the snake, actually, not me. I could hear their barking-at-something bark and went to investigate. I expected to see them at the fence, looking out at the road at a loose dog or someone riding by on a bicycle or horse.

Wrong again.

They were in a pack formation, four dogs gathered around a snake coiled up in the corner. Somehow I managed to call the dogs off and got them in the house. I was worried that it was a rattlesnake and that the dogs had been bitten. Over the years, we’ve had at least six dogs with rattlesnake bites. (They all survived their snake bites. Most had been vaccinated for just such an occurrence, but even the ones that weren’t vaccinated survived because we got them to the vet in time.) I was also worried about what I was going to do with a rattlesnake outside my back door. I couldn’t just shoo it away or leave a trail of treats to coax it to leave the yard in the direction that was best for both of us.

Snake Catching Stick

Fortunately, it wasn’t a rattlesnake. It wasn’t any kind of poisonous snake. However, it was still a snake, a full-grown snake — probably a rat snake — and it was still in the corner of the house right outside my back door. I retrieved the snake-catching noose that hubby put together a few years ago.

I caught the snake in the noose. Then I realized I had not opened any gate and now I had my hands full. I had to put the snake back in the corner, open a gate, then recapture the snake.

It was at least four feet long and it did not like being in that noose. It coiled and coiled around the noose while I carried it out to the front pond, apologizing to it all the way, hoping I wasn’t hurting it, but explaining that I couldn’t leave it where it was. I let it go and wished it well.

Snake Catching Noose

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That evening I went to Cabela’s and bought my newest fashion accessories: snake-proof gaiters. The information on the tag said that the gaiters were successful in guarding against simulated snake bites.

That’s odd, because all the snake bites around my house are real.