I am a dog person- poem by me

I am a Dog Person

muddy paw prints on my back
my shoes are always scuffed
pooper scoopers in one pocket
treats in the other
the dog park is my favorite place to socialize
it's become the new bar
leashes, toys and dog hair in my car
nose prints on my window

Modernist dog house

This is our wonderful no-kill animal shelter humansocietyofpalouse.org.























The generous and talented members of the College of Engineering and Architecture at Washington State University,( which is 8 miles away across the state line) designed and built these modernist dog houses for our shelter. I just think they're great, and the dogs love them too. Can you believe it,modernist architecture where the form actually follows the function? Check out the one black dog who is standing on top of his lookout tower and loving it. We have some very satisfied customers here! Thanks W.S.U. College of Engineering and Architecture for a great job and service to the animals. www.cea.wsu.edu

Special thanks to www.buffalogirlsdesign.com for the tech support.

Lilly the Japanese Chin

As of this post Lilly is still available for adoption. Anyone interested in her can contact
www.humanesocietyofthepalouse.org/ I would adopt her myself but I live out in the country where there are birds of prey and other wild critters and I would have to escort her outside all the time so I'm thinking it would be best for her to be a town dog.

Capoeira with dogs

I walked Mongo and Pascual(my dog) together today. It was very windy and often times animals can get all worked up when it's windy or stormy. For some reason the animals that tend to be a handful to begin with are the ones even more affected by the wind. I took Mongo out and then brought him over to my car in order to get Pascual out. I kept him on a rather short leash so he would not jump up on my car and scratch it( I learned this from experience) as Pascual jumped out of the car Mongo got excited and lunged ahead to greet and sniff him, throwing me off balance to the extent of practically sitting on Mongo before I regained my footing, as I almost toppled over his back. That was incident number one in which I had a close call. This event alerted me to "the jogo perigoso" or dangerous game a reference to a Capoeira, Brazilian martial arts term, that was in store. I've had enough experience to know that windy, stormy days and one close call in terms of loosing my footing is a warning sign/ wake up call to cut things short and minimize risk. I kept thinking I'd take Mongo out for a longer walk along the lines of an hour but when we got to the fairgrounds and started running around in the big field, me encouraging Mongo to run in circles with and around me to expell energy, until he did some kind of lurching far ahead of me movement and I had to spin around in yet another Capoeira styled move so as I could side flip and land on two feet, with one more gancho(hook kick) to free my leg from the leash, at this point, I decided to cut it short to a twenty minute walk. Working with shelter dogs, one quickly learns that it is best not to tempt fate. I enclosed a youtube video of the Capoeira Mestre Bira Almeida a.k.a. Mestre Acordeon( he is playing the musical instrument the berimbau, while supervising the students). He has a more spiritual and creative/artistic approach/philosophy of Capoeira which has rekindled my interest, practice, and study of Capoeira after many years away( from the martial art form and Brazilian dance). I have also learned that this training helps in all walks or dog walks of life, it is a state of mind. Mestra Accordeon has a wonderful book explaining his view of Capoeira http://www.amazon.com/Capoeira-Brazilian-History-Philosophy-Practice/dp/0938190296#reader_0938190296

some new dogs

The big brown chocolate lab/Chesapeake Bay mix is Wimbleton- he loves his tennis balls. He's a nice big cuddly bear type of fella who loves people and walks fairly well on the leash, which could turn into walking beautifully on the leash with a little training. He was tied up between two trees in the back of a yard for a lot of his life and is fairly well adjusted, considering this history. The little adorable one is Lilly, a Japanese Chin, who spent quite a bit of time curled up in my arms.She's cute as can be, 6 years old, loves men and women, gets along with dogs and cats if they are nice. It was very hard not to adopt her myself but I am only half of the household decision making process. She only arrived yesterday and I'm guessing will be adopted soon, as she is small, cute, with no major issues and 100% adorable.

Dog on wire

Beyond the heroic nature of Fireman rescuing dog, the artist in me sees the strange dance of man and dog, spiraling around on the helicopter line,while the dog's legs continue to doggie paddle/swim while in the air, as if the dog was still thinking it was in the water. It reminded me of the incredible documentary film about Philippe Petit "Man on Wire." This incredible act of man's created machine and man plus dog, triumphing over their environment.This age old relationship of man and dog, continuing their journey together from out of the cave, into the sky

One adorable kitty

This little tyke was a favorite for awhile. It( I can't remember if it was a boy or girl) has been adopted but we have another one who looks just like it.