If only we could get her to pack boots.

 ~”Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”  ~Roger Caras

 Waterdog Outside Pet watering system

available at Garden Shoes Online

They look like spots. 

And if you aren’t sure,

You should be. 

 Because… 

 they are spots.  

The picture at the top is of my Aunt a long time ago( She’s 88 now).  I think she is sporting the height of outdoor fashion.  That’s her daughter in the car with the silly spotted shorts.  That photo always gives me a laugh.  I couldn’t stop with just this picture though, not when I have a spotted dog. 

Thunder is our English Setter,  not a long haired dalmation like many seem to think.   There is no such thing as a long haired dalmation. FYI

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.  ~Author Unknown    

  ]]> http://blog.gardenshoesonline.com/index.php/seeing-spots/feed/ 17 http://blog.gardenshoesonline.com/index.php/great-dogs/ http://blog.gardenshoesonline.com/index.php/great-dogs/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 23:35:58 +0000 Teresa http://blog.gardenshoesonline.com/?p=7943 Since I have Thunder, an English Setter, I of course am attracted to anything with hunting dogs. Make it vintage and I am especially happy.

This English Setter decanter we found in an antique store while on vacation, several years ago.  I was thrilled to find it.

This first embroidered scene I found on Ebay. 

This embroidered pointers  scene has been in my cedar chest for as long as I can remember.  I finally framed it a couple of years ago.  My mother embroidered it when she was very young.  So not only is it a great vintage piece of artwork that I love, it was also made by my mom. 

I wonder if she knew back then, that her daughter and her husband would one day have hunting dogs. 

 Besides Thunder, we also had his mother~ Scooter, another English Setter, and before her, we had a German Shorthair, Spot.   They were all great hunters in their day as well as great dogs.

~”Dogs’ lives are too short.  Their only fault, really”.  ~Agnes Sligh Turnbull

No, she is not evil or rabid, 

just playing with her “baby sister” Riley,

who is a bit of a pip. 

 Hard to believe with that show of teeth that no wounds were had,

just lots of romping and dog smiles.

AND I am sure that blue is an innocent bystander antagonized by the puppy antics of Riley.

Or not.

Here’s all three “sisters”.  Riley’s arrival has certainly brought youth back to the other two, especially blue, whether she likes it or not.

~”Dogs’ lives are too short.  Their only fault, really.”  ~Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Visit Camera Critters and Pet Pride to see all the great pics of creatures and their antics

I am not sure what he was thinking but I think he liked what he saw. Can you blame him?

 I would rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.” – Samuel Johnson 

 for more fun animal photos.   

 She isn’t alive anymore(~ and it’s not because of her antics in these photos). 

 She lived to be 13.  I found these pictures the other day and it so reminded me of her wonderful brattiness.  

 She loved to tear up her bed. 

 We finally decided she liked them better that way.

We miss her terribly. 

We do have her son Thunder though, and he is a good reminder of her.  She was such a pip and pure joy….. most of the time.

 ~”Dogs lives are too short…their only fault, really.” ~Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Visit Camera Critters for photos of critters to enjoy.

 She is cuddled up with one of their other dogs, Blue who is a border collie mix.  I am not sure how Blue feels about this sleeping arrangement, but Riley looks snug as a bug in a rug. She broke one of her toes.  That’s why she has a cast on her foot.  She does not like that cast at all.  It slows her down.  She is one amazingly fast dog. I give Blue the~ alot of patience with a new puppy~ award.  She is so good with her. 

Sweet dreams!

“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.” – Unknown

He is a handsome fellow. 

There is no denying that.

But sometimes,

 I wonder….

…This could explain alot.

“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”~Roger Caras 

Visit Camera Critters for a bunch of fun critter pics!

 One day, a few years back, while my son, Cam and my nephew, Michael were painting our neighbor’s house, this little guy appeared and followed Michael everywhere.  After several days of this, Mike brought him home since this cute little guy had chosen him. 

 To his disbelief his parents were good with it even though they never thought they liked cats and he would be leaving for college the following month.

  Now he~ Scout~ is a king in the house along with their golden retriever, Georgia who is the queen. 

It’s true.  My brother and his wife no longer hold these positions in thier own household. 

~”Until one has loved an animal,  a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France

Click here to see other creatures of the Earth.

 Every June her trellis was loaded with purple flowers that enveloped the porch.  I always admired their beauty and she would beam about them. I remember her telling me they liked their “feet” cool and their “heads” in the sun.  Which translated means, keep their roots in shade but make sure they get enough sun.  Good advice ~ I always put them in sunny spots but I keep pachysandra or hostas  planted at their base so those roots keep cool.

 When we sold her house, I took her clematis that she had been so proud of and brought it to my house.  I enjoyed it there for years to spite kids and dogs.  Every year when that vine would bloom I would think of her and how pretty that purple waterfall on the side of her porch was.   But then one day which I will never forget, my luck ran out in the clematis department. 

I was standing on my deck while my son and his friends played in the yard throwing the ball for our dog. Keep in mind that she was obscessed with tennis balls.  Relentless chasing of them was her most favorite thing to do in life.  As one of the bos threw the ball, like lightening, she quickly retrieved it right underneath my full blooming clematis.  Needless to say, her reverse wasn’t quite as graceful as her dive in and she ripped the entire thing out of the ground because she got herself tangled in it. 

 I could only watch in horror as she struggled free dragging the vine and it’s flowers in her wake. She never dropped the ball and emerged triumphantly.  My husband stood there watching me, thinking he would have to stop me from strangling her.  All I could do was cry.  Like a crazy person I just started crying.

 But then I remembered one of the other pieces of gardening advice Mom had given me….” You can always grow grass and flowers but not children or dogs”.  I repeated this over and over until I decided she was right.  I gathered the pieces but it was beyond hope.  The truth is, she was right, I do miss my dog, Scooter, brat that she was, and I would gladly give a hundred clematis to see her again, but I also miss that vine. 

 A lot.

 “The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies.” — Gertrude Jekyll

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