Did You Know Dogs Can Climb? When Life Reaches Out to Touch You Unexpectedly ...

Did You Know Dogs Can Climb?  When Life Reaches Out to Touch You Unexpectedly ...
By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@GeeGranny on Twitter

Kissy Fairchild Bates ... Our Rottie

Precious Camo/Camie Leigh Bates ... Our Mixed-Perfectly Australian Shepherd

Do you ever think if you stay at home ... mind your own business, not bother anyone ... that the world will leave you alone?




Even if you never socialize ... close yourself off to the world ... stay private not ever speaking to someone, or go around someone else ... did you know ... the world can touch your life ... reach in, jerk your ass out of your little world ... whether you like it or not?




Seriously ... think about it.  I will give you just a little example of what I mean ... we are private people and we love to be around people ... so, don't think we are so private we don't get around other people.




We like people ... we love to talk ...  just at home it's hard to have company ... our Pups aren't used to visitors ... they will bark, raise Cain if someone comes.  Not exactly a good visiting atmosphere ... it's their home, too.  We have never had many visitors so, it's understandable.  The Pups deter visitors ...




Getting back to what I mean about the ... world reaching out to touch you ... while you are in your own little world, minding your business, not bothering anyone.




We live to ourselves ... our Pups have a small fenced-in yard with a locked gate.  They go in and out through their pet door.  They are clean, and they are house-broken.  They are good Pups ... they never run loose in the neighborhood.




To us it would be like letting little children run all over the place who are innocent to the perils of the world.  They might never-ever make it back home ... wild animals, other dogs, a car could make their little journey out running around ... be the last time we see them.  Too many dangers ... something could kill them ... just like that.  I can't bear to think of it.




Getting back once again to what I mean about the world ... life ... reaching out to touch you ... while you are in your own little world.



We were sitting in the living room ... our 2 Pups laying close to us.  We were watching something on tv.  I heard an unfamiliar bark and I thought it was on tv.  It didn't take but, a moment to realize that no!  it was in our back fenced-in yard.  I hurried to the door, Skip behind me ... of course, our 2 Pups ( I hate to call them dogs :).




The Pups ran out their pet door, immediately began wildly barking, growling.  I knew something was out there!  I opened the door and didn't see anything at first ... I looked at the end of the porch where our dogs were ... going crazy!




I couldn't believe my eyes ... there was a small Beagle dog barking, growling back at our Pups!  She was inside their fenced-in yard!  We began immediately putting a barrier between the dogs ... we couldn't bear for any of them to get hurt!




I went inside, got a baby gate I use on the front storm door in case a Pup ever decided to jump up on it ... I don't take chances, nor take anything for granted ... I protect our Pups.  Anyway ...




The little Beagle ran up onto the porch, got beneath the bench making it easier to protect it.  I got our 2 Pups' leashes, put them on the Pups ... brought them inside ... closed up their pet door.




We were going to calm the Beagle down ... let it go back outside the fence.  We kept wondering 'who would have dropped the dog over our fence'?  About that time ... a man walked up ... he was looking for his two little Beagle dogs ... named Laverne and Shirley.




Shirley was the Beagle on our porch.  We unlocked the gate, let the man come in to get his dog.  The man had a belt in his hand ... before I let him get the little dog ... I asked him, "are you going to whip that dog?"  He smiled, said ... "no! I'm going to use it like a leash".




He went on to tell me he always let the little dogs run in this neighborhood when he came to visit.  I asked him not to do that anymore ... because there were other big dogs that ran free here, and something bad could happen ... because something did happen this past summer.




The man was visiting his son ... had always brought his dogs to run free.  He said he wouldn't do it again.  He was concerned to where his other little dog was.  He got Shirley and went walking off calling ... Laverne!  I pray he found her, too.




If I hadn't felt good about that man ... he'd had a problem getting the little Beagle dog.  The belt bothered me, but I saw how the little dog reacted to him.  It loved him, and it got as tight to the man's chest when he picked it up.  That made me know the little Beagle wasn't afraid of him.  The man held it tightly, he was glad to find her.




See what I mean about ... how Life can reach out to touch your life and you are in your own world?  Who would have thought a dog would have been inside our fence ... a strange dog?  Thank God, we were home ... the outcome might not have been good at all.




You would think we could let our guard down at home.  To a degree, we can ... we still have to be alert around us.  How did the dog get into our fenced-in yard?




Did you know Beagle dogs can climb?  No one around here would have put a dog inside our Pups' fence ( with a Rottweiler and an Australian Shepherd).  Skip was telling me how they can climb fences.  I went online ... watched a video of a Beagle dog ... climbing a fence!  Amazing!




I didn't know dogs could climb.  Did you?

Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@GeeGranny on Twitter

Note by this Author:


True story/photo written ... owned by me, Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Our Rottweiler, Kissy ... Had Surgery

Photos/story owned, written by Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee/@grannygee

Kissy had surgery on his right, hind leg on March 25, 2015.

  

You can see from the photos that his leg is doing very good.  

This is one of the beds I have made for Kissy.  It is in the living room.  I sleep beside him, sometimes. 

 

When Kissy begins to cry softly, I know he is hurting, and he needs comfort.  I grab my pillows, blanket and get down on his bed with him.  He calms down.

This is the bed I made for him at the end of our bed. This is his second bed.  Kissy has always slept with us since he was 6 weeks old.  He is now, 4 years old.  

For now, his injury ... surgery has kept him from getting up on the bed ... I imagine it'll be several more months before he can get back up on the bed.

This is Kissy Fairchild's sister ... Precious Camie Leigh.  She loves Kissy, and is always near Kissy.  

Camie loves to sit on Kissy.  Kissy was laying in the hallway, yesterday ... I saw Camie sitting on him! I took a photo! 

Remember the article I wrote about not letting your dogs be 'Weekend Cowboys'?  Well, if you let your dogs rest all week ... they are prime candidates to get torn ligaments, and such when they play, run, jump on the weekends when you take them to exercise.  They can do it anytime, also.  

Kissy and Camie rough-house all the time, running ... jumping, spinning around.  That's how Kissy injured his leg.  He couldn't walk at all on his right leg, and it was hurting his left hip, leg before surgery.  Now, he will always have to always be careful ... because there's the chance he'll have to have the same expensive surgery on his left side!

Take my advice, don't let your dogs play too hard. If I had just known.  Especially ... when they are overweight ... Kissy weighed 128 lbs.  He had to lose weight for his surgery.  He lost 9 lbs.

You can Google the surgery he had.  The name of it for short is:  TTA ... meaning Tibial Tuberosity Advancement.  It's the best surgery for big dogs.  

This is the approximate cost of Kissy's surgery.  The cost was a little more at the end.  

Our sweet Kissy is getting better day by day.  It's only been 1 week since his surgery.  I stay by his side, keeping him on leash whenever he goes outside.  I'll have to do this for quite some time.  I will take care of our Kissy.

Kissy up on Skip's lap with his new toy from his Auntie G.

For now, he isn't supposed to walk a lot of steps. After the first two weeks, he'll begin to increase in small increments.  It will probably take 4 months to get him back to walking good.  

Thank you from our Hearts to everyone and they know exactly who they are ... that made sure Kissy got his surgery ... the cost was $3,000.  Thank you are the only words I know to say when I mean so much more.  My Heart means more than I can possibly say.

(This photo is in memory of our Sweet Chadwick Elsworth ... he died January 16, 2015.  He loved to be up on Skip's lap.  It breaks my Heart looking at his photo.  He was my ... Yellow Pup).  Skip loves for our Pups to get up on his lap.  

Skip, my husband ... and our 2 Pups, Kissy and Camie ... are all I have left in this world.  They are my whole world.  When my son lived ... he was a huge part of our world.  Now, there's no one but, us. We love, treasure our Pups.  I will do all I possibly can for them. 

Thank you to the surgeon, Dr. Doby Whiting.  One can look, see what a beautiful surgery you did on our beloved Kissy. 

Thank you to Kissy, and Camie's 'doc-doc' (that's what Kissy and Camie know their vet as :) ... and his staff at:

Dr. David Fontenot 

(Morgan, Teresa, Tonya, Heather ... and everyone there).  You don't know how much we love, respect you.  All of you have become special to us over time.

Up On Fairchild's Mountain...

Up On Fairchild's Mountain...
By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee

Photo of my son, Tommy... and myself... taken at Lake Royale, when we lived there...
Gloria Faye Brown Bates/aka Granny Gee.... Note:  this photo survived a house fire.



Up on the hill like a mountaintop
Lies several graves that are long forgotten
Never important to anyone but, us

Each grave was dug by hand
Grief in our hearts, tears overflowing from our eyes
We placed rocks over each, to protect from wild animals

Each spring, yellow buttercups bloom
Golden sunshine glows through the branches
Of the trees... making it a magical place to visit

Sometimes, we walked there to stand in silence
In silence... to remember each pet we buried there
Not only pets, a possum was buried there, too

A little white possum we fed every night
We found it one day down on the road
A car had taken its life away, caused grief in our hearts

We bought the little possum's body back up on the mountain
Dug a small grave, laid the possum gently in it
Stood there, feeling grief for it... quietly covered it up with dirt

We placed rocks upon its grave, just as we did our two dogs
Two dogs whom had grown to a golden, old age
Every year they lived, made our lives very happy

We'd leave, come home to our Pups, tails wagging
Walk through the gate, they'd come running
To greet, love us... glad we were home

Now, we have three other Pups who have taken their places
Pups we love with our very hearts, Pups who are dear to us
Life is long enough to know love, too short when we lose it

We don't live there anymore, all has become more memories
Precious memories of days gone by up on that mountaintop
The mountaintop we named Fairchild's Mountain

Fairchild was a big, shiny black dog
He was our Rottie... he died with cancer three months after Tommy
Grief, more grief... pain you can never imagine

The evening before Tommy died, he was at Fairchild's mountain
Walking all around, power-washing the house, cars
Sitting, talking, laughing with us... eating at the picnic table

A smile as bright as the sunshine
Eyes sparkling, full of love as he ate his sandwiches
Mama, these are the best sandwiches I've ever eaten!

My last memory of my son when he was alive
Driving down the driveway by the house, a smile on his face
Tooting the horn, waving his hand.... bye, mama! I love you!

On that mountaintop was the last time I got to hug my son
See his smile, hear his voice... see him walk
The next time I saw him... he was in that box I tried not to see

Fairchild's mountain, full of memories, one big memory in my mind
Where I used to walk every place Tommy went that evening
Trying to see him, hear him in my mind... trying to find Tommy

Knowing I wouldn't... knowing he was gone forever
Tommy was gone forever to never come back
My last memories of him are up on Fairchild's mountain

I never wanted to leave there, but... we had to
The owners needed to sell... we didn't have the money to buy
Now... someone else lives with memories unaware they are there

My last memories of my son, our pets I didn't want to leave
I can't go back now... it's not our home any longer
It's not our home now... it's no longer Fairchild's mountain