A weekend without Dogs...and I miss them

Sally Ann Casey, Springer/Cocker Mix, gives me her "Pitiful Face"

I dropped the three puppy girls off at the Shady Rest kennel near Seipstown Thursday Night, knowing I would pick them up on Monday afternoon. It is a nice break from my "parenting" duties, because taking them to the shore would mean constant barking, and middle of the night walks, because there is no invisible fence down there, and no fence on any of the properties. We are responsible dog owners, we clean up after our dogs, and nothing irks me quite as much as when I'm walking our dogs and we stumble across, or into, a mess someone else didn't bother picking up. Dogs are now permanently banned from Cape May Point's beaches, because of a few ignorant people. That's a shame, because in the wintertime the beaches were deserted, and letting the dogs run was something they enjoyed.

I miss my dogs. It is too quiet without them. I know, Quiet is a good thing, but this is too quiet. We call Sally "Bubba" a nickname for Beelzebub, because she likes to run circles in the yard as if possessed as fast as she can. I could go for a good look of pitiful from our Bubba right now, but I'll survive.

It's been 6 years May 9th..

Ethel Turns Twelve June 26th, here she is "BEFORE" her bath.

Since I took my buddy Fred to the Vet, and had his suffering ended. Fred was 17 years old. In human comparison, That is somewhere between 119 and 113 years old. His pain was no longer hidden.

Ethel and Lucy will both turn twelve later this year. That puts them on the far side of 80 in human years. I am not looking forward to that day when they are obviously suffering, and there is no remedy left.

Ethel Mae Teresa Louisa Casey... Before the Bath

She will be 12 years old on June 26th. Her sight isn't that great, and she is deaf as a board, but there is so much love in her heart for my wife and I that we spare no expense for her care.
Her coat is incredibly soft, so much so that when our then 5 year old niece Tessa first touched her, she called her "Snuffalofagus" and the nickname "Snuffy" stuck to her.

Snuffy was supposed to get a bath and grooming a few weeks back, but we had to delay it due to an uncommonly virulent ear infection. Snuffy, like many dogs, has a favorite thing to do when she is let loose inside our invisible fence protected yard. Snuffy runs to the nearest, and freshest pile of deer/fox/possom/skunk/rabbit poop she can find, and rolls in it.
Ah, the fragrance! Many dog books I have read tell me that she is instinctively trying to disguise herself from the other residents of the neighborhood.
The thing is, sometimes she works that dung into her ears, with not so good health repercussions. That's what happened this spring. She was on antibiotics for three weeks, and twice a day ear cleanings with a medicated solution for twice as long. So the risk of having her get groomed and water in her ears was too great, so we put it off. But now she's all better, and it's off to the groomer's for her and her little black sisters, Lucy and Sally!
I'll put a picture up right afterwards, so you can see what a real lady Snuffy is.