Fur Baby Friendly Florida

Today is National Dog Day. Banjo and all dogs would like for everyone to take a few minutes to think about and appreciate all the wonderful things that canine fur babies do for us. After time away from blogging, today is the perfect day to start up again and do a little homage to our girl Banjo.

After months of looking for a reputable Cavalier King Charles dog breeder, a friend suggested more than once that we should rescue a dog from the shelter. I'm glad that my sweet friend, Mary Ellen Baker stayed patient with us. Whenever the opportunity presented itself, she would kindly remind us that adoption of a rescue is the best choice.

Turns out it was the best choice for us indeed. While walking the trail four months ago, I said to my husband, "I wish we could find a nice brown medium sized, mixed breed dog?" We looked at each other and decided at that moment to head to the shelter. I had a feeling that day that we would find THAT dog. That little inkling lead us to the shelter which lead us on an adventure to try and find the pet store that was hosting the Pet Adoption Day. All that lead us to finding Banjo. She is a brown, medium sized, mixed breed dog. She is THAT dog.

Ironically, we adopted her at the age of four months. It's now four months later. Yep, you guessed it, she is now eight months old. The first week she hid a lot not realizing that this was her forever home. She was so scared when she first arrived and so were we. 

We didn't know her history, all we knew was that she was rescued from a not so good situation in Alabama and brought to a shelter here in Florida. Several weeks later she went to a foster home in a nearby town. Some time after that she ended up under our coffee table in the living room of her forever home. That's her back story. Before leaving the pet store on that adoption day, we were informed that she could sit on command. I gave it a try. It's true she could sit on command. However, the second her dimpled fanny hit the floor it sprang right back up quickly becoming tangled in her rope style leash. But, technically she could sit.

Mi Miguel and I spent the first few weeks trying to figure out how we were going to get her attention so we could train her to go potty outside and other life skills. Banjo wanted to learn but she was very rambunctious and had little focus and no eye contact with us. So there wouldn't be so much confusion, we decided that I would be alpha since I'm home with her the most.

While unpacking one of our many boxes from our move to Florida, I stumbled across a beetle clicker that I've had for years. It was packed away in a jewelry box; why I have a beetle clicker is beyond me.

After Mi Miguel left the next morning I gave it a try. I held the clicker behind my back and clicked it.

Banjo looked at me. It was like a Helen Keller-Ann Sullivan moment. Nodding my head, "Yes!" I proclaimed. "Yes, clicker. C L I C K E R clicker!" Her intense look into my eyes meant that she was ready to listen. 

Since she already knew the "sit" command, the first thing I taught her to do is to sit and wait at the door until invited to go outside. She caught on immediately.

What else could this smart girl do I wondered to myself. "Lay down." I said as I ran my finger along the grass. She flopped to the ground. Mi Miguel got excited, I got excited and yes, Banjo got excited too.

"Roll over." I commanded as I twirled my hand in the air, and she did! There was no end to what she and I could do, now that we had each others attention.

Boundaries are important to keep her in the yard, I would give her a chew stick to keep her attention in the backyard. Banjo learned that the seawall is off limits unless we are stepping onto or off of the boat. She doesn't really like water so staying at bay from it didn't bother her at all. Banjo became best friends with her chew sticks while learning her boundaries, as you can see in the photo above.

Amazon got a lot of business from us for chew sticks. Teething was frustrating for Banjo.
 

Unless she was sleeping, it was difficult to get a picture of her the first few months without her BFF chew stick in her mouth.

As she grew so did her teeth and Banjo became less dependent upon her chew sticks.

With the training moving right along we took her for short visits to the beach. 

Our sweet little Banjo is very submissive to other dogs, the long trail to the dog beach and the beach itself frightened her a lot at first. We could tell by the furrowing forehead that she was scared.

Puppy shots behind her now, we started taking her to the dog park so she could learn social skills. It didn't take our little shy caterpillar long at all to become such a social butterfly.

Banjo has become more and more attached to us as the weeks and months go by. When we step outside, she runs to the window to watch and wait for us to come back. 

Her fear of water is something I could completely relate to, being fearful myself. 

Up to this point, the lake water was not her friend.

 After much coaxing, Banjo eventually jumped in the lake and then immediately wanted out of the lake. She has never showed an interest in lake swimming ever again. At least we know she can swim. 

We still take her to the dog beach. For weeks she would walk into the water but only if it touched just her legs. Water on her belly would send her into a frenzy.

Because we've been so consistent with Banjo and patiently allowed her to do her training not only on our time but on her time as well, she completely trusts us. Thirty minutes after the legs only photo, she was full body in the water.

This swimming leash that I McGyver-ed for Banjo has been a great way to keep her with us at the beach. Should she get tired of swimming, she can always relax on the flotation device.

The fixer-upper has been slow going lately for obvious reasons. I've put forth great effort to try and keep up with the training and the painting. I backed off the painting after Banjo came to me with grey paint on her nose. 

The last four months have been exhausting for Banjo and for us. This girl gets so worn out that she snores in her sleep. Heck, we're so worn out, we snore in our sleep too.

To celebrate National Dog Day (and because she has finally learned to walk without pulling), I took Banjo for a three mile walk, allowing her to swim in a mud hole on the way home. My friend, Kasia Adamska is the reason Banjo no longer pulls on her leash. Her great advice and her suggestion that I read, Nothing In Life Is Free, has made a huge difference in Banjo's behavior.

Some people say that an owner and their dog look a lot alike. I don't know folks, whaddya think?

If nothing else, we certainly do pose alike.

Doppelgangers or not, at the end of the day, she is her own girl. We've been careful with her training because she has such an exuberance for life. The last four months have been about trying to break through her rambunctious will without destroying her exuberant and happy spirit. That beautiful carefree spirit is what we love so much about her.

  

Califorina Summer Things

We've been moving right along with our fixer upper. I did take last week off to visit my beautiful daughter in California.

She has an amazing dog named, Luka. We became fast friends whether I wanted to or not. She just has that kind of puppy love for everyone.

After flying over three time zones, I found myself a bit jet lagged. So I napped a lot and took several walks to photograph some of the flowers of California.

I rested and napped and took more walks and found such beautiful flowers. 

This bright yellow hibiscus would catch anyone's attention.

I'm not sure what this is, but it reminded me of a miniature iris.

This is growing everywhere along the highways. I'm not sure what it is, but signs are placed every so now and again to remind folks that it is not edible. 

California beaches are nice. The sand is coarse with flecks of gold. The beaches are narrow in order to give way to the massive amount of homes and condos that are built along the water. 

I do love our white sand beaches here in Florida. 

However, Florida cannot hold a candle to the enormous waves in California. People flock to the beach just to watch one amazing wave after another crash to shore. 

My daughter is a manager at this beautiful restaurant. This is the hostess/waiting area.

The restaurant, Old Spaghetti Factory is huge with two levels and two full bars. There is also a trolley that actually seats guests for dinner.

I'm back home now, Mi Miguel must have truly missed me, he had a big bar of Ghiradelli chocolate... 

and my favorite wine waiting for me when I got home. 

I'm well rested so now it's back to the paint brush and paint can for me.