IN PREPARATION OF BUDDY'S ONE YEAR WITH ME!!

IN PREPARATION OF BUDDY’S ONE YEARY BIRTHDAY WITH ME

As I mentioned previously, Buddy is my newest pup and my biggest nightmare. I am so excited to celebrate 1 year with my Bud on September 2nd. Now, I have no idea how old Buddy-boy is. My best guess is about 2 years. That being said, we have entered the puppy terrible twos.

I. AM. MORTIFIED. In preparation of his anniversary with me, my dear Bud decided to jump the fence (again) this morning and harass the neighbor’s dogs (again). I’m pretty sure my neighbor has had enough of this behavior- mostly because she called me and said so. There’s nothing quite like waking up at 7am to a screaming neighbor.

Naturally, I am mortified. I certainly understand why it would be annoying that Buddy runs up to her fence and harasses her dogs. What she doesn’t understand is that he really just wants to say ‘hey.’ Buddy says hi by bearing his teeth, ruffling up his hair, and wagging his tail. The minute I call him off, he turns around, pees on a bush, and jumps the fences back to our yard.

What she also may not understand is that I am not responsible for his bad attitude. I didn’t beat the tar out of him when he was a puppy. I didn’t kick him or slap him in the face. What I can do is love him now and try to make him realize that humans are cool and not always cruel. What I have done is spent literally thousands of dollars on training, fencing, day care, fancy dog food, vet bills (from recently impaling himself on a fence he was trying to jump), and now agility classes. I have also spent countless hours running him (and mostly me) ragged. All the internet research I’ve done says that Red Heelers (Australian Cattle Dogs) need lots of exercise. Unfortunately, we do not live on a farm or own cows and pigs for him to heard. Instead, he heards me and the birds in our yard and our neighbors'. To make this kid tired, takes a solid 5-6 miles. Anyone know how long it takes me to walk/run 5-6 miles…. A long time. Anyone know how many hours I work… A lot. We get out several nights a week and get a good 3-4 miles in though. Don't get me wrong. We should both be rid of our love handles soon. :)

Bottom line, I’m doing the best I can. I love Buddy and really want his unhappiness to end with me. Do I give him the best possible life? Probably not. Do I give him something far better than he’s ever had? I like to think so. Should be people give “bad” dogs a chance? Absolutely. It’s not his fault someone beat him. It’s not his fault he’s afraid of humans.

What my neighbor doesn’t see is Buddy laid out in the floor chewing ever so gingerly on his green squeaky dog. Not tearing it up, just nuzzling it and licking it like it's a kitten. She doesn’t see him dig holes in the yard, just to put his nose in them. Seriously… I don’t know why he does it, but they are deep, much like booby traps used in the Congo. She doesn’t see him roll over on his back and beg for a belly rub. She doesn’t see him obediently “go to his crate” whenever I ask. Even if it’s for no reason at all. What she doesn’t see is him sitting on the floor outside of the office why my 12 pound Chihuahua keeps him at bay while he eats. Bud isn’t even the alpha. He succumbs to a 12 pound overweight Chihuahua named Huey.

In preparation of Buddy’s anniversary with me, I’d like everyone to give “bad” dogs a chance to be a “good” dog. I promise to give Buddy extra hugs this week as we celebrate all the progress he has made in the last year. Maybe you can make a donation to one of these awesome groups where dogs are given second chances…

End Dog Fighting with the Human Society
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/dogfighting/

Atlanta Pet Rescue
I just love them. I don’t have any of their rescues, but my mom does. You can pick a dog to sponsor until the find a loving home.
http://www.atlantapetrescue.org/www_ver2/donations.htm

Duncan
I LOVE this dog. And if it was humanly possible for me to have 4 dogs, I totally would adopt him. He’s a miniature heeler mix. He’s a blue heeler and probably looks a lot like Buddy would have as a puppy. No one has abused Duncan yet, but he needs LOVE. Someone should totally adopt him. He’d be an amazing dog!!!
http://www.atlantapetrescue.org/www_ver2/pet_pages/small/small.htm
Scroll down a little ways to see him.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out Atlanta's Dog Whisperer Angie Woods and the folks at US Caninie when I talk about Buddy. Without her, Buddy would be somewhere else right now and probably euthanized. She saved our lives with her innate understanding of dogs and how they work. Now if only she could just move-in and control Buddy all the time! :)
http://www.uscanine.com/

There are countless organizations to donate to. Pick your favorite and do it in the name of Buddy!!!!

Peace… Rainey

Lemon Crack Y'all

I love lemons… seriously. I love them. I put lemon juice on everything. Fish, veggies, chicken, pasta, hummus (seriously delicious, try it), you name it. When I heard of a recipie for Lemon Buttermilk Popsicles I died. Because as much as I love lemons, I’m also a huge fan of buttermilk… pancakes, red velvet cake, chocolate cake… all of these things are made better with buttermilk.
Let me just tell you that these popsicles do not disappoint! The combination of sour lemons and tangy buttermilk is quite possibly the most refreshing summer snack around. Please don’t limit yourself to just popsicles… you can also throw this mixture in an ice cream maker and basically die upon first bite… AMAZING.

Without further ado…

LEMON BUTTERMILK ICE CREAM (or popsicles, or milkshakes, or whatever)
Aka LEMON CRACK

Here’s what you’ll need

1 ½ cups sugar
10 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (use as much, or as little, as you like)
4 tablespoons grated lemon peel
Pinch of salt
2 1/3 cups buttermilk

STEP ONE:
Get yourself a container you can seal and shake. You can whisk this, naturally, but shaking is way more fun.

STEP TWO:
Zest your lemons directly in to the container.

STEP THREE:
Squeeze your lemon juice directly into the container. Fun tip… I take my zester and lay it over the top of the dish and squeeze my lemons over it. It catches all the seeds! Geez, I’m so smart.

STEP FOUR:
Add your sugar and buttermilk to the container. ( I forgot to take a picture of the buttermilk in there… use your imagination.)

STEP FOUR:
Shake it up! Again, no picture of that either. It’s pretty hard to shake something and take a picture with the other hand. Just imagine dancing around your kitchen shaking some Tupperware.

STEP FIVE:
EITHER… pour it into a popsicle mold
OR… run in through your ice cream maker
THEN… freeze it. Let it freeze good. You want your first taste to be perfect.

STEPS SIX AND SEVEN:
Eat! And then go slap yo’ momma… cause that’s how good this is!!

Couple of standard disclaimers…
I respectfully borrowed this recipie from http://www.epicurious.com/. I doubled it though, because the original version only makes about 3 cups of ice cream.
Also, please don’t judge me by my bad pictures. I hope to locate my real digital camera any day now…. Have you seen it?