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Sunny Saturday afternoon, too late to go downtown but too early for dinner so we go into the backyard because every moment of these precious few fine weather days can't be allowed to go to waste.


Smitten has been with us for a year and a half now and she has grown into one big hairy furball of a dog and typical of big hairy dogs, she looks like she weighs a hundred pounds but only weighs seventy and all my darker clothes are decorated with sporadic grey and white trim and there are about a dozen or so free roaming hair puff ball tenants rolling around the house at all times. When one hair ball is captured, another spontaneously bursts into existence in another part of the house and laughs at me with an evil cackle.

The rolling hair balls aren't as bad as the regurgitated hair balls from Simone who, whenever she wrestles with Smitten - which is often and protracted and entertaining and many bets are placed - manages to pull out mouthfuls of Smitten's hair and Simone ends up swallowing the hair only to bring it back up later on the doggie bed or the rug or the couch. Good thing all our furniture is covered in layers of dog proofing sheets. It's a lovely design aesthetic and I don't know why more interior designers don't adopt it.


Simone, who is now more often called Monie because sometimes distinguishing between Simone and Smitten is just too phonetically challenging for my brain, has established her place in the household as Smitten's equal in all areas except bravery where Monie still sometimes jumps at her own shadow's shadow. Who can ever be sure of these things but I suspect this behaviour of hers is not from previous mistreatment but is just the way she's built.

Simone is also built for dancing and she's become quite good at tap dancing especially when she's waiting for treats or meals. Her little feet get so excited they turn into a blur of hop skippity hop. Also, on walks, when she is on leash and sees another dog, she starts doing whirling dervishes. This is not a good thing but it's funny to watch her spazzing out. I know it's not nice to laugh at my dog's anxieties but sometimes the entertainment value exceeds the desire to modify behaviour.



Simone's also really good at looking directly into the camera for her beauty shots.



5 Comments to “Smitten and Simone on Saturday”

  1. Constance says:

    Where did you get Simone's fancy collar?

  2. NK says:

    Happy endings are the best!

  3. Fred says:

    Hi Constance, Simone's collar is from Timmie Doggie Outfitters (http://www.timmie.ca/). It's leather with metal/ceramic(?) flowers.

  4. selkiem says:

    I like that "free roaming puffball tenants" - my dogs aren't particlarly furry (not like Smitten)- but there are times when I look in corners and it looks like some strange animal has crawled into the corner to die .... (but then, we can always blame the cats)

  5. 001mum says:

    Smitten's nose searches are wonderful to watch. It made ME lift my head up and search the air! :)
    (am hoping no one noticed)

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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