Why Dogs?

Some of you may be wondering why I have put memorials to my three dogs in the "beautiful-older-woman" blog. Most of us "older" women have families and pets that are just as important to us as our beauty routines. If we don't have the love and joy of friends, or family, or pets our lives just don't seem nearly as fulfilling. So, good nutrition, exercise and skin care are still important, but they are just part of the rich fabric of our lives.

Good-Bye My Beautiful Pogo

Bunkers Pogo Coker (Pogo) died today at the age of 9 1/2, after a courageous 15-month battle with bladder cancer. He was born February 17, 2000. His parents were "Betsy" his white mother and "Legacy" his black father, both champion show dogs. Pogo was the father of two litters before he was "fixed." He enjoyed himself :) and our family got two gifts... Blue and Molly, pictured here when they were only 3 weeks old.
Pogo was an extraordinary dog. He was beautiful. He was smart. And, he had a delightful personality. There is no one who visited our home that hasn't had to pet him. He insisted because he wanted everyone to be his friend. Pogo was a standard poodle and he had a silver-black-gray coloring called "blue" in the poodle world, which is rather rare. He got his name because from the time he was a little pup until he became sick he was very bouncy and energetic... just like he was jumping on a pogo stick... and he loved to play.
All of my dogs have had to be "models" for my many photo classes and definitely learned to pose. Below Pogo is posing with Blue and then with Doodle Bug.
He was patient. He was kind.
He followed me everywhere. Our granddaughter recently lamented that my dogs wouldn't follow her and said, "When I grow up I want to have my own dog who will follow me." :)

We miss you Pogo. I'm glad we got to take one last trip to Austin last week since you've always loved to travel. Blue misses you, too. You added so much joy to our lives these past nine years. Enjoy your new life without pain.

Walking

Walking is such a good, easy way to exercise, but if we don't make it a habit we sometimes start skipping days and then we start skipping more days until we are only walking when the weather is perfect or the time is right. As you know, we must make our exercise a habit so that we don't have to think about the weather or the time of year or whether we really have time.

I will tell you about how I have made my daily walks a habit just to give you an idea, but, of course, each of you will have to make a habit that fits with your life.

I have dogs to walk. That is a very good motivator as they need exercise as much as I do. As their 'mother,' I must keep my 'children' healthy. As soon as I get up, I put my walking clothes on. Some days, I may have to set the alarm for 5:00 A.M., if I have someplace to go that day. I have just learned that if I don't do it first thing, I will tend to skip it. So, walking first thing in the morning has become a habit seven days a week. Of course, if it is raining hard I can't risk getting those poodle haircuts ruined, so we don't go. :)

However, that doesn't really happen too often. The only other variable is the length of our walk. Some days we only have time to do a 20-minute walk, whereas other days we can do thiry or forty minutes.

Whenever my granddaughter stays with me, she knows that we have to walk the dogs. When she was very small, I would push her in the stroller and hold 3 leashes. It got to be a little complicated, but we would do it. As she got older, I would hold her hand and one dog leash with my left hand and hold on to the other two dogs with my right hand. This also was complicated, but we would do it. Now that she's five, she can walk beside us and will keep up, especially, if I promise her a stop at the neighborhood park or a special cartoon while we eat breakfast.

Because I now have only two dogs to walk, it has gotten much less complicated and I have pulled out my i-pod. I have found if I download a motivational talk or a workshop, I will walk longer because I am so interested in listening to the talks.

I hope you can find ways to make your daily exercise an enjoyable habit. Leave me a comment as to how you have done that in your life.

Rest in Peace My Sweet Doodle Bug

Doodle Bug was a very special dog who was born on Halloween, 1994 and died on January 27, 2009 at the age of 14 years and 3 months.

"Run, run as fast as you can;
You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."

This is how Doodle Bug came into our lives in October of 2001. He had gotten out of his yard and he took off running as fast as he could. He had run for 3 or 4 blocks right into our garage. The only problem was it was getting dark and he didn't know where he was. Since he had no collar on we didn't know where he came from so couldn't contact his owners.

We took his picture and posted signs around our neighborhood.When no word came from his owners I took him to the vet to get checked out. He had cataracts (but he could still see) and bad periodontal disease, and, in fact he lost 2 teeth right away. His owners did eventually see a sign and came to claim him. When I exclaimed how much I already loved him, they consented to letting me keep him.

Doodle Bug joined a large family... there were his new brothers, Pogo and Blue and his new cousin, Molly. Walks were quite exciting!



Doodle Bug's favorite pasttime was looking out the window and barking at school buses, golf carts, and motorcycles. He was going to keep us safe!

He loved his evenings with the family. He also loved family trips even though it got a bit crowded in the back seat between Pogo and Blue. He did have his own special seat between the big dogs so he could look out the front window. We went to Austin many times and to the beach a couple of times. He was such a good traveler.

Melinda was always using him for a model for the numerous photo courses she took and I think he really loved posing.

This was a fun assignment as he got to ride with his head out the window!

The pictures below reminded me of the times when Doodle Bug could still see. There was a knothole in the fence that he would look through to see what was going on in the outside world. Other times he would sit and look at the flower beds. Then when I wasn't looking he would scramble in and find a turtle. He'd scoop it up in his mouth and then run into the house through the doggie door. Because he never went in without me, I was puzzled. Then I discovered that when he found a turtle he would sneak in and I could find him in a corner of the house somewhere watching his little pet.


By Christmas this year, Doodle had slowed down quite a bit. Kendall decorated him as he rested in the corner so he wouldn't feel left out of the festivities. He was such a sweetheart and we will surely miss him.