Dog Unfriendly vs. Dog Friendly.

November 10th, 2016

Zuma is writing the blog again today ....

                          


It's not all fluff and flowers traveling with me, an XL dawg.  We plan our travels around which restaurants, hotels and events will accept me/us.  My People are opposed to leaving me in the hotel room /camper so I always go with them.  It's a package deal.  It's about traveling with a big dawg. 

Some hotels have weight/breed/size restrictions.  But they usually let me stay anyway because I don't bark or stay in the hotel room alone.  So far, my People are well-behaved in public, as am I and we haven't been kicked out of anywhere to date.  With a little research, we're able to figure out where to go, where dogs are welcome.   We're not welcome everywhere.  Yet.  So we work around it.  Believe me, there are far bigger problems in the world.

Maybe they just mean No Pointers? Or no Setters?

Along our travels, we've been blessed to find a multitude of dog-friendly places to dine, shop, even lounge in an elegant uptown bookstore, Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar in Asheville.  This a very dog-friendly city. 

Iiii know!  Pretty amazing to think we dogs 

are allowed to lounge here, Mimosa in paws.

I understand the reasons dogs are not allowed into some venues. 

                

We have been told, "Some dog owners are better dog owners than others".  Yeh, I get that.  I wondered why they were collecting my droppings.  I thought She was making a wreath or something.  I'm not hard to get along with.  Several local restaurants know me by name and bring me a fresh bowl of water and dog cookies.   There are lots of selfies.  I think that's a blast.

Three Dogs (dog) Bakery Welcomes dogs.

Best.peanut.butter.cookies.ever.

They give me samples when we go in.

Most places we want to go (shops, restaurants, the breweries) are SUPER Dog-Friendly here in WNC, SC and TN.  If a restaurant serves food, we can dine on the patio.

So, I just want to say a great big thank you to all the great places who welcome K-9s!  It sure makes traveling with me easier!

                                            

*************************

Speaking of welcoming canines, can I get on the bed now?

                         

#batteryparkbookexchangeandchampagnebar, #threedogsbakery, #ashevillenc, #greatdanedogs

The Graduate!

November 9, 2016

Recently, Zuma and I have been working on achieving our Therapy Dog Team Certification through Pet Partners, a national company that registers Therapy and Service Dogs.  On October 30, we took our final test and we graduated!  I'm so proud of Zuma, she did really well.  She is a kindly soul.

The complete testing process requires:

* Handler Certification:  I took a several-hours-long course on line,    followed by an on line test.  I learned a lot.
* Animal Health Screening (thorough physical exam).
* Vaccinations up to date.
* Team Evaluation:  we had to work together through a variety of        obedience tasks, obstacles and situations and were judged                separately, the dog and the handler.

I'm really impressed with the organizations who provide this service.  Our whole experience was very positive with Pet Partners.

Now, Zu and I are looking forward to our first visit.  Here she is with our Tester, Phil, who commented that Zu will be a good Therapy dog:

    

Sumac Grant-Johnson of WAG IT, you would be proud!  

Thanks for getting us started!

#petpartners, #wagit, #therapydogs, #ashevillenc, #greatdanedog

A Clean Mouth

November 9, 2016

I'm going to spare you my dirty mouth election talk.  
You're welcome.

WTH were you thinking, America?  Okay, I'm done.

Instead, I'm going to utterly astound you with news that I had my teeth cleaned the other day.  This will fascinate you and take your mind off the potential downfall of our country.

                            

Dr. Pisani and his technician, Tabitha (Crossroads Mobile Ceterinary Clinic) picked me up in their mobile ambulance, cleaned my teeth and brought me home.  I suspect there was some form of happy drugs involved.  Apparently, I'm a bit of a lightweight for anaesthesia.  I was feeling a tad woozy for a while so I just crashed outside when I got home.  Sometimes sleeping it off is the best solution.  Even if you have to use the driveway for a pillow and leaves for bedding.  
Yep.  Pity Party in full swing.  I can't make it to the air mattress.

                               

When it came time for dinner I was still a little wobbly. Those stairs were looking pretty challenging.  I hadn't noticed before that there were two sets of stairs.

                      

A couple of hours later, with a little help from my friend, I got my bootie inside Hula Girl (our motorhome), ate a small dinner and flopped on the bed to watch my fave show, Animal Planet.

It was well worthwhile to have my teeth cleaned and I'm glad to have had it done.  
My people trust Dr. Pisani and Tabitha.

And now I don't feel like I have sweaters on my teeth!


#crossroadsmobileveterinaryclinic, ashevillenc, #greatdanedog, #caninedentistry     

With all the craziness ....

November 9, 2016

With all the craziness in the world, it's nice to escape to this peaceful, scented place:

And forget the insanity.

#biltmorerosegarden, #ashevillenc, #greatdanedogs, 

I met a girl in a bar ....

November 7, 2016   

                          

              Her name is Aurora Borealis, Alis to her friends.  

We became immediate BFFs. Dane style. 

                                              

Alis is a nice girl, two years old, quiet, well-mannered and a bundle of fun. Kinduv the Dane-next-door type.  She invited us to a place around the corner from where we were having lunch.  We had a great time and took up the whole sidewalk.  Our people laughed at how alike we are, head mourningly oustretched on table, paw gently placed over other dog's back, etc.

Passers-by loved it:  "OMG!" they gasped, "There's another one!". Alis was the "meeter-greeter" and then I'd crawl out from under the table if there was a person who looked super interesting.  Like this young man who was super sensitive.

                         
Alis and I had a blast.  We were in Class Clown Mode.  It was such a fun time.  Her people are cool too.  When asked by a passer-by, "What does she eat?", Alis's person Zach swiftly replied, "rabbits and small children".  Someone else asked, "What breed is she?" and Zach said, "Part Chihuahua ...". Everybody found this hilarious!  It was a very fun, impromptu afternoon with Alis's great people.

Alis and Jansen invited us to their place but, alas, it was getting late into the afternoon and Doug had to leave the following day, so .... like all good first dates go, we made a plan to meet at the Dog Park the next morning! We were so happy to see each other again!

                       

Then it was time to go, numbers exchanged 

sincere promises to meet again.

Until Next time, Alis!

#alisthegreatdanedog, #zumathegreatdanedog, #thevaultasheville, #thesouthernkitchenasheville, #carrierpark

Hooray! It's Election Day!

November 8, 2016, Election Day

Once the results are tallied, there will, no doubt, arise the nastiest of nastiness in the human soul: accusations, threats of legal action, verbal put-downs, seething, gloating.  I hope not.  And we, the world will be watching.  Well, I won't be watching.  My cable tv service has gone on the fritz.  This is a good thing.  

Being Canadians, we don't have a vote, so all we can do it sit on our hands and jiggle our feet and wait for the results like the rest of the world.
Will it be Mr. or Mrs. President?

  

The Long Arm Of The Law.

November 5, 2016

                                     

When Doug and I take Zuma into town we usually have our cell 'phones on us to keep in contact if we get separated.  If I lose track of those two, they're easy to locate because there's usually a crowd of friendly teenagers petting Zuma.  We met these great gals:

                           

A couple of days ago we were strolling around town.  It was November 3rd and 84 degrees (!).  We stopped with Zuma outside the old Woolworth's store.  I have a special fondness for this place as it still has the intact original soda fountain complete with old counter, bar stools and milkshake machines.  The rest of the store is an art gallery displaying works by local artists.

Outside on the sidewalk, there's dog-friendly seating with many a busker group performing out in front of the store. It's a fun place to hang out, meet people and dogs.  And snag a cold drink from the ice-filled vintage Coca Cola cooler.  So I grabbed some cold drinks and when I went outside Doug was chatting with these two lovely ladies.
                                  

Officer Raines and Officer Baker had walked over to pet Zuma and we visited for a while as they are both Doug lovers.  Oops, typo.  I meant Dog Lovers.  Officer Raines owns a Boxer and Officer Baker owns two mantle Great Danes! We had a great talk about dogs.  Being the nosey curious person that I am, I asked a lot of questions about Police Dogs because, well, I think they are the bravest and coolest working dogs ever.  They locate bombs, drugs, missing persons and they track down bad guys.

So, I asked the Officers about how the Police Dogs are trained and this is what I learned:

*  Nowadays, Police Dogs  are trained with the use of positive reinforcement only. 
*  That whole thing about Police Dogs lungeing at the end of the leash, snarling and frothing at the mouth when they are on the case is a thing of the past.  That's the old way.  So don't believe those drama scenes on tv, ya'll.
*When a Police Dog alerts to something, it is trained to SIT.

You're Welcome.

So, if you see a Police Dog sitting and staring at you, chances are, you've probably been up to something.  Just sayin'.

Well, I can take the rest of the day off, now.  I just wanted to let ya'll know what great people we met and what I learned. Personally, I think it would be a fantastic community thing to have Police Dogs (or their well-trained pets) accompany Officers. Excellent P.R.!  Then more people would get to meet Police Officers like these two special ladies.   

Thank you, Officer Raines and Officer Baker, for your service.  
Be Safe.