Hannah's Journey

Hannah has a pretty wide circle of friends in Maine, thanks to all the dog people we know. Many have asked how she's doing, so here's a report...

Hannah is doing well, holding her own in this heat, and enjoying eating horse manure (more on that later.) I was worried about her taking the long road trip in a pick up that required her to jump in and out of the back seat, and her stiff joints. But she did well, although I know it was hard on her. She had two-thirds of the long bench back seat on our trip, and spent most of it laying down. I got her some glycosomean (or something like that) a few weeks before we left to help her joints. Hannah will be 11 on September 29th.

One of the benefits of being in this "waiting place" (for John and to start work) is that Hannah and I have reconnected. This is cool because of all my dog friends, I'm the one who takes her dog for granted the most (I'm not proud to say.) Like I'm the one who doesn't know the dogs actual birthday [I just had to figure out her birth date--for the first time--off her kennel card that we got when we adopted her from the Denver Dumb Friends League.] I'm the one who doesn't buy her many treats, and the one who has noticed that she could use a new collar about two years ago and has done nothing about it. As a dog mom, I suck!

However, I'm trying to change that.

Hannah, the boys and I take walks most nights around the covered arena and barn. Han loves the horses and the horses seem quite curious about her. At first, Hannah would try to go under the paddock fences to get in with the horses. But now she just trots up and says hi. It's on these nightly walks that she discovered a love for eating horse manure. (And she wonders why I don't want kisses.) And I discovered that she had bladder infection. She's on good antibiotics now. (I found a good vet for small animals, especially working dogs. There were lots of pictures of hunting dogs and poems about ranch dogs all over the walls.)

About twice a week, I've been giving her a doggie massages, using moves I saw on a show about doggie yoga. (Yes, I know I have a lot of time on my hand.) She loves them-I think it feels good on her joints. Just this week, I've let her come up on the couch and lay her head on my lap while I'm on the computer or watching TV. Also being the only adults here, we often end up chatting before bed.

Our yard isn't big, but its not small either. It's got a fence around it so she's free to roam within our front and back yard, which has some good shade from three medium sized trees. In Raymond, she had her run of the pipeline, and often disappeared for longer than she should. (God, I suck!) And, she had her daily routines...Every night she'd greet Troy and Tracy and get her treat. Most mornings she'd go over and say hi too.

Here she's just starting to be friends with the horses and Mary Jo's three dogs. It feels good to have her confinded. Today, she and the boys snuck back to the horse paddocks. I thought she and the boys were in the front yard, because I was in the back hanging out clothes. Then I heard Hannah bark from the paddocks, and I looked up and saw Alden sitting on the top of the paddock railing. I called for Hannah and she came, then called for the boys and they took off running in the opposite direction and tried to hide. When I finally got them to come to me, and asked Alden why he had gone back to the paddocks, when I had just told him not to go back there without me, he said he "absolutely forgot what I said."

Hannah is one of the reasons i feel safe here. She barks loudly whenever anyone comes to the farm right next door, like we share a driveway.

Although I sucked as a dog mom, a lot of the time, I hope that as Hannah gets older, and continues to be the cool dog that she is, that I become a better friend to her. In that way, California has been good for both of us.

-This post is dedicated to Tyson