Happy, Happy, Happy

My final installment in my dog series is all about Sammy, our American Cocker Spaniel. Sammy is also known around our house as Sam, Sam-a-lam-a-ding-dong, Sam-I-Am and Samilicious. Originially, these dogs were used to hunt birds. Today's dog (unless otherwise trained) doesn't really have those interests anymore, but they still have curiosity and a good sniffer.

This breed is called the merry cocker, and the name could not be more fitting. Sammy is such a happy dog. He's so happy, that sometimes we wonder if he doesn't have a screw loose somewhere. True to his breeding, he is playful (extremely so), nice, sweet and smart. It's been hard for us to teach him manners, though, because he is so energetic. He won't take two breaths to listen to you. Also, he's our canine baby and just like the baby in your own family we pretty much let him do whatever he wants. He's not a bad dog, just very undisciplined.

Sammy is always excited to see us outside. He absolutely loves to play catch and our backyard is big enough to give him plenty of room to run after the ball. He and Olivia often fight over who gets to play with the ball. Sammy is a jumper and jumps on everybody, even Olivia. That is why Sparky is so attentive to her when we're outside. He's trying to give her a break from Sam.

Sammy loves the water, especially in the summer when it's so hot down here. He'll go into the lake in our neighborhood, but he won't go into the baby pool we got him last year. Very curious. Cockers have thick, long coats that require a lot of care. I have a small confession to make. I don't take very good care of Sammy's coat. We just let it grow nice and thick in the winter and then we shave him bald in the summer.
Cockers are very social animals and don't usually make good outside dogs. That being said, Sammy is entirely an outside dog. But it's OK with him, because he has Sparky. Sammy and Sparky are really great together. When we first come outside, Sammy greets us and then runs off to wake up Sparky (who is deaf) to let him know we're there. He alerts Sparky to anything unusual in the yard and even wakes him up at meal time. This last one is particularly interesting because Sparky, being the Alpha dog, makes Sammy wait to eat whatever he doesn't. If I were Sammy, I'd wake Sparky up after I'd eaten. Besides being attentive, he is all over Sparky all the time. Jumping, climbing, biting, pushing. They're an interesting pair and I think of them as The Odd Couple. Sammy is everything Sparky is not. He also tries to play with Peanut (see above). When you see the two of them together like that, you can bet that Sammy is playing and Peanut is fighting.
Sammy has a really low, deep bark that sounds about four times his size, but he rarely uses it. As far as a watchdog goes, he's pretty good. But when it comes to guarding or protection of anykind, he's horrible. He's just too friendly with people and squirrels alike.

All in all, Sammy is the most playful and fun dog that we have and you never leave him without a big dopy grin on your face. He makes a wonderful pet and, out of all my dogs, he is hands-down the most reccommendable (I think I just made that word up) family dog. He's a lot of fun, doesn't bite (he isn't even ill-tempered) and--as with most cockers--he is EXTREMELY loyal. Give him a little and you'll be rewarded 100 times over and more.

Cruella's Desire

Staying true to my dog series, let me introduce you to Sparky, the only one left of a pair of Dalmatians we used to own. Sparky is hands-down the sweetest dog we have. He's laid back, protective, fun to play with and oh-so-good with kids.

In general, people say that this breed is too energetic for small children. That may have been true of his brother, Scamp, but Sparky is the perfect gentleman. When we're outside playing, the only thing that concerns me is that he is a 60-lb. dog and Olivia is a 20-lb. baby. I also have to watch his tail. He's knocked Olivia down on more than one occassion (she does her best to push him out of the way and pull herself back up.) Sparky is also deaf, which is another reason Dalmatians aren't reccommended for small children--deaf dogs tend to spook and snap. That has never happened to us, although I do make a point to tell people he's deaf and I wake him up before Olivia plays with him to avoid any misunderstanding.

Dalmatians are SMART dogs. Just because Sparky can't hear doesn't mean we can't communicate with him. He responds very well to many hand signals--which took only minutes to teach him. His deafness also doesn't slow him down as a watchdog, which Dalmatians are very good at. (They used to run with carriages to keep away robbers and animals). His sweet personality turns absolutely viscious if he sees another dog even breathing on our property line, and his eyes pick up everything. He is also constantly guarding Olivia from Sammy, our ever-playful cocker. Nothing gets between Sparky and his baby girl as long as he's around. Olivia doesn't really appreciate this protective attitude, but I do.

Sparky's easy-going personality (which is very different from most Dalmatians...even his brother Scamp) means Olivia can pretty much do whatever she wants to him. When she was younger, she'd pull on his tongue, pull on his ears, pull on his tail and climb all over him. He responded with kisses (see below); he didn't even bark, growl or snap. Now she's tall enough to scratch his back and he loves her even more.

One thing that makes Dalmatians so loyal, I think, is their need for companionship. When we lost Scamp, Sparky needed to be with us 24/7. I don't care what you see on TV, it is impossible to share a house with a 60-lb. lapdog who sheds a new coat of hair every hour. That's when we got Sammy, and the two are never apart (more about Sammy later). Sparky absolutely does not do well by himself.

While I love Sparky and can't imagine Olivia growing up without him, I don't reccommend this breed to other families with young children. In many ways, Sparky is a very special dog. Perhaps if you introduced this dog to your family as a puppy, it would be OK. But if you're looking at an adult, I'd be very careful. I'm grateful that we go such a sweet boy with Sparky (again, his brother Scamp...totally different story...we named him Scamp for a reason). He is definitely a wonderful family dog for us.

King of the Toy Dogs

Aubrey and I are really lucky to have three beautiful pure-bred dogs that we didn't have to pay for. They just kind of became part of our family spontaneously (if only children came the same way!) I love my dogs almost as much as I love Olivia so I thought I would post a little something about them, or one of them. Also, since the title of my blog is "It's a Dog's Life," it seems only appropriate that something doggish should appear every once in a while.

This is Peanut, our miniature pinscher. He is not related to the doberman in any way shape or form. In fact, his breed showed up a couple hundred years before the doberman. If you've ever housesat for us, then you know that Peanut is a lap dog, which is very natural. The min pin also burrows. When you come to our house (unless Peanut has already met you at the door) you need to look under the couch pillows before you sit down. Also, Peanut cannot go to bed at night unless he is under a blanket. If you don't make a blanket available or "tuck him in", he will wake you up at midnight to do it.

Miniature Pinschers are very intelligent and have a lot of energy. When they run or walk, the prance like a horse. That's why they're called King of the Toy Dogs. They are very regal looking. Peanut goes out every afternoon and sits on a small hill in our backyard and looks out over his kingdom. He very much looks like royalty and he is such a snob. As a result of this inner confidence, min pins think they are the same size as...perhaps even larger than... whatever dog they happen to be around. Peanut is also very quick, and in his younger days he used to chase squirrels and come within centimeters of them. Min pins also love to eat, and Peanut is no exception, as the illustration below depicts. Notice that he is trying to pick up two corn cobs at the same time. Peanut had no use for Olivia until she started eating table food, now he is her shadow. His favorite food is potoato peels, which are actually bad for him, but he'll eat anything. When he was a puppy, we used to find him inside our trash can in the kitchen eating the potato peels that we had thrown away. His girth is proof of his addiction to food.

They say that miniature pinschers are good family dogs, but you have to socialize them early and really raise them around small children. A mature dog introduced to a young family is probably not going to do well. That said, we acquired Olivia well after we got Peanut and we have never had a problem with him in regards to her. He pretty much ignores her until she starts to chase him or feed him. We've also never had him bite any of our friends' kids, nieces or nephews some of whom can be a little rough with him (as young kids usually are). He does do his fair share of growling, though, and that can sound pretty intimidating. The name miniature pinscher in German (where the breed originated) means "small or tiny biter". And Peanut is. He uses small, quick bites. But when he "bites" Olivia, it's never more than closing his mouth over her itty bitty hands. She loves it.

I love my dogs and I love Peanut! He is Mr. Personality. When we got him, he was so tiny he could fit in Aubrey's shirt pocket. When we took him for walks as a puppy, we would have to lift him over the curbs because he was so small. He is the perfect house dog and so well behaved. He is completely devoted to us. He'll be 6 in May, and his chin whiskers have gone gray, but I hope he'll be with us for many years to come!

Shake that booty!

Finally! Scientific evidence that junk in the trunk is to be envied. I read this on FoxNews.com and immediately felt better about myself. May it inspire self-worth to the rest of you round-bottomed ladies!

Women can stop worrying about pear-shaped figures — fat bottoms have been scientifically proven to be a sign of good health.

New research, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, suggests the fat responsible for producing the pear shape flaunted by celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce may be active in protecting women from diseases by releasing certain hormones. Buttock and hip fat may protect women against type 2 diabetes, researchers from Harvard Medical School found.

When buttocks and hip fat from mice was injected into other mice, their bodies easily used the blood sugar-regulating hormone insulin and lost weight.

They were also able to make better use of insulin, the main hormone linked to diabetes.
People with the apple shape, where fat is stored around the tummy, can be more prone to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Those with pear-shaped bodies, where fat is collected in the buttocks, are less likely to have these disorders.

Researcher Dr. Ronald Kahn insisted that not all fat was bad for health.

"The surprising thing was that it wasn't where the fat was located, it was the kind of fat that was the most important variable," he said.

"Even more surprising, it wasn't that abdominal fat was exerting negative effects, but that subcutaneous fat was producing a good effect.

I think it's an important result because not only does it say that not all fat is bad, but I think it points to a special aspect of fat where we need to do more research."

Scientists also monitored the health of the mice given the fat transplants. When it was inserted into the tummy area, the mice lost weight and their fat cells shrank. The researchers will now try to identify the hormones.