MaraBella Strikes a Pose with Lucky Lindy

It was too cold for the motorcycle, so we took the car and MaraBella out with us on our search for more Oxen.  This is Lucky Lindy.  Of course our silly girl is not so well behaved that she could be off leash, so I had to do a little work to grab her and her shadow.  Made Lucky the background. Then I used the magic wand in CS3 to grab MaraBella and her shadow.  Applied it as a layer on top of Lucky. Couldn't do it without getting some of Furman who was holding her on the leash, in the pick so I applied a Mask and then removed what was not necessary.  It truly is amazing what can be done in Photoshop and I feel that after 2 years of playing with it...I am just scratching the surface.

The Foils and Foibles of MaraBella and Me

In this case it was all about MaraBella and Furman.  I had made myself content knowing that was afraid of the water.  I was not going to force her in and therefore not be responsible for the inevitable clean up afterward.  Furman was intent on getting her in.  She dabbled...in and out.  WHAT IS IT?
She didn't swim, but she got in.

The Foils Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me

Got into a little fight with MaraBella.  I commanded her down and she defied me.  I could not think of any good reason for her to disobey.  After all I was only asking for a few minutes of her time.  Just a moment to comply before I let her drag me on our walk.  I thought about the importance attached to me being boss, dominant dog, alpha and all that stuff.

 

This is how it ended.

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me.

Holy good dog.  As indicated before, MaraBella the crazy, rescue, devildog, usually makes three steps forward and a few back before going forward once more.  She has been a real challenge and a delight, as well.  With her head on my lap as I type, and her eyeballs, rolling around her head as she dreams, she brings me comfort.  Outside, she is distracted by everything.  She needs some new distractions which I am sure will give me new things to write about.  Anyway....The best news is I let her loose in the field, once again.  I know, I know, probably stupid, but figuring she would just go home I wanted to give her an opportunity to run off some energy.  I hoped by now, all of the deer had to be cleaned up anyway.  WRONG.  Not only did she find something to snack on, but she found a lone deer bone.   Good news is she brought the bone to me when I called her and dropped it in front of me rather than run home.  Bad news is whatever she ate, made her puke twice.  Nevertheless, upon arrival home she reminded me much of myself.  She rolled onto her back and kicked up her feet, much like I do when I lay down on my couch with my feet up on the back cushion. 

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me.

Took a week break from the VIEWS.   As far as I know, only one person noticed!!!  Well that sure is indicative.  THANK YOU RUTHY.  I miss you.

MaraBella is back in obedience school at Golden Grange Kennels and the training is going going going.  I feel like we are always taking 3 steps forward and one back back back.  Literally, as we are working on heeling and back is actually a command to get her into the healing start position.  With treats visible, she can go quite a few paces.  Squirrels, cats, of course other dogs, people and even birds and planes distract her.  Yesterday we had to walk past a fox who was quite a distance away but still an attraction.  Today we walked down a path, with horse and geese in the pasture on one side and 4 deer in the field on the other.  She was so engrossed in the geese, that I don't think she even noticed the deer, following us with their eyes in the early morning light of this beautiful day.

Still she is characteristically sweet!  Aaron adores her and enjoys a good tug game as much as MaraBella.  I know this because he brought her a new toy so they could play. 

 

She LOVES it!

 

Photo taken with iPhone. 

The Foils Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and ME

We have a new puppy in the hood, MAX and he came to visit.  Just shy of two months old the little puppy was at once interested and scared of MaraBella and took position under the grill.  MaraBella was just so excited and wanted to play, but had to be reminded to be GENTLE.  It was a good exercise for both dogs.

 

 

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of Marabella and Me

I have been using positive reinforcement to train MaraBella.  I'm not sure it is working.  She wont eat breakfast anymore opting to wait for the treats she knows she will get on her morning walk.  Simply speaking, she works well for the treats but not always when I don't have them to dole out.  This is what I am faced with when I go to Dogs and Cats Rule to pick some out.

 

Seriously, this is some big business.  We brought MaraBella home in February and I have already accrued enough points at the pet store for a $15.00 discount.  She is expensive.

The Foils, Foibles, and Follies of MaraBella and Me

It is still a bit of a struggle to get MaraBella across the River Road, but I don't have to drag her anymore.  It is soooooooo much better when Furman is with me or a few more people.  She wants to be with the crowd.  She is also getting much better at walking on the dock with the water all around her.  Once on the pontoon, her little nose twitches almost non stop at all the scents available to sniff.  She wants to see and smell everything; the water, the birds, the tubers, and other boaters, so she rarely sits still.  Up to the front, back to see me, up on the platform, looking off to the east, west, north and south.  I look forward to the time when she can just relax and enjoy the ride.

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me

How is it possible that I brought home a dog, that was supposed to be part lab and she is afraid to go across the road, down the stairs, and across the catwalks.  SHE LIKES THE PONTOON.  But does not seem to like the process of getting there.  Even with high value treats its a struggle.  Furman just happened to come up to the top of the steps when I was coaxing her across the front lawn.  She saw him and decided it was OK to go.  I wasn't really prepared to hang out down there so had to borrow Furman's phone to grab the images.

 

Hey MaraBella....you like it?

 

 

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and ME

I know these are not the very best images but MaraBella is fast like lightning and strong willed too.  And all I had was a cell phone.

A few days ago she got away from me in a nearby field and came home quite sick.  SCARY SICK.  We were not sure what she ate that made her so sick and fearing the worst we googled dogs and MUSHROOMS..BEWARE dogs can die from eating certain types of ground mushrooms.  Well she did indeed recover.  The next day I thought I would let her loose and track her to see WHAT was it that made her ill.  I followed her with her leash dragging all the way to a skeleton of a deer.  As you can see she was faster than me and with her prize ran right past me.   

 

She kept on running until she reached the end of the field at which point she stopped and looked back at me.  I gave it my best and turned around and ran in the other direction with the last hope that she would follow.  But when I turned toward her she was GONE.  I had no choice but to walk home alone.  When I got there, she was happily gnawing this skull in the back yard.

 

I was happy to see her and glad she ran home...so what was I to do?  I let her chew on her prize for just a bit longer before I took it away and tossed it in the trash. 

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me

She looks so peaceful resting in a garden bed.  With a reasonable size grassy yard, I wonder what makes her choose this place, that is mulched and decorated with shells from the sea and a garden gnome, to lie down and sleep.  She doesn't disturb these things. 

 

Perhaps she wants easy access to the Spider Wort. 

 

 

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me

Hard to believe MaraBella has only been with us for 3 short months.  She is really part of the family now. Lying next to me she is giving off little yips, woofs and yaps in her sleep.  She cracks me up.   Her adjustment has been amazing, although not without glitches....needless to say she still needs lots of work, as do I.  This morning I took her for a long walk with little bits of hotdogs in my pocket.  I wanted to bring her to the vets office for no other reason then to get her in the door without having to drag her as I did that very first time.  Plus, I was out of dog treats and thought I might pick some up.  Dang it!  I still had to drag her and she was so anxious she wouldn't even take the hotdogs.
The kind folks at the Washington Crossing Animal Hospital did what they could to comfort her and she did warm up to them and enjoyed their stroking her.

Our experience at the Golden Grange Kennels in Chesterfield has been wonderful and I am really sad that Obedience II is on Wednesday nights at 8:30.  That means Furman, who wakes at 4am, wont go and I wouldn't get home until after 10pm.  Going to have to look for something else because I really want to keep up with her training.  IT HAS MADE A TREMONDOUS DIFFERENCE.  MaraBella is one smart dog and I need the classes to remain smarter.

Delaware Views Anew

When there is no news better view anew....

Playing around with layers and masks in CS3.

 

I almost tossed the background image and now I'm glad I didn't.  Works a lot better as a background than a stand alone.

The Foils, Foibles, and Follies of MaraBella and Me

There seem to be two distinct types of obedience training.  Alpha Dog and Positive Reinforcement, otherwise known to me as treat training.  At Golden Grange Kennel, where all three of us go for lessons in obedience the philosophy is positive.   I have little morsels of tasty training treats that MaraBella can gobble up hardly breaking stride when we walk.  With her front clip harness on, the treat reinforcement and the occasional tug reminder to "leave it" or "lets go",  her pulling has decreased dramatically as we walk.  I keep a handful of treats in my pocket so I can quickly reward her good behavior.  Our  morning walk  is at a clip and we do about 2 miles.  I have lost 8 pounds since she arrived.  So I wasn't that upset when this happened.

Chewed right through the pocket, lining and seat.

I figure I have to take most of the responsibility for leaving those little morsels in a pocket that she was able to reach after stripping for the shower and hopping in, giving her just enough time to get  naughty.  After all, the pants were size 12 and falling off anyway.

The Foils, Foibles and Follies of MaraBella and Me

I sit here almost every morning on the soft grey leather couch to catch the morning news and prepare my posts, and even play a few games of Words With Friends, if time allows.  Next to me on the old pink and grey Mexican blanket lies MaraBella.  Unless of course she is driving me crazy or sitting on the back of the couch looking out the window as she is right now...dang cat.
From the time I brought her home, I noticed that she had a distinct odor that smelled familiar but I just seemed unable to identify it.  It wasn't horrible but it wasn't completely pleasant.  It wasn't puppy smell, and for days I found it frustrating that I was unable to identify this familiar smell.  Like trying to say a word that you know and it just wont pop into your head.  It finally became clear during a web search. Corn Chips...and guess what?  It even has a name FRITO FEET.  That just cracked me up because I never noticed it with any other dog.  I think MaraBella was a bit anxious upon arrival and was nervous and sweating through her feet.  She is much more relaxed now and I have to say I don't smell it as profusely as I did when she first arrived...or perhaps, I've grown accustom to her smell.

The Foils and Foibles of MaraBella and Me

 

Rescuing MaraBella from certain death in a North Carolina Shelter has been a challenge and a major time consumer.  Walking her or perhaps I should say, pulling me along on the leash has become much easier as she learns the "lets go" command.  But she doesn't "stay" long enough for me to snap the spring blooms as I might like.  She is a devil dog, and I love her.  But let it be known: she just interrupted my posting by bringing me a sock from the laundry basket.

 

Delaware Issues Common Cents

I already confessed that it was not common cents at all to rescue MaraBella, who has already cost me a small fortune. 

 

She is dropping short needle like black hair at a rate more alarming then my own shedding of long grey strands.

 

 

This little tool cost around $35.00 and I use it everyday after our morning walk.  Must be helping some because I get a few full comb loads before I quit.  Don't think I did not question the price...the store clerk's answer:  it will last a life time.  Not to mention it is called a FURminator.  For those who know me, you cant possibly miss the joke!

Who Am I to Issue Common Cents

It could not possibly have been Common Cents at work when I adopted this adorable rescue, MaraBella.  No, I lost all sense.

New Toy

 

 

 



Sunday Funday: Her name is MaraBella

I've been watching PetFinder for a while now and LULU'S Rescue in particular.

Today we found it impossible to resist bringing this little girl home.  She made herself quite comfy on my couch.