23 June 2009

little miss maggie....



Went back to her foster Mama to prepare for her forever home in San Antonio this weekend. Maggie will be going through her heart worm treatment with her new Momma taking care of her! Sadly, she was too skinny when she came in to foster care but has finally put on some weight and can stand to gain about 6-8 lbs more. I think she'll succeed as her appetite rivals the Bentman's! Hungry baby. And...she is a squirrel girl. She will stay outside all day watching the fence line for a small furry head and bushy tail to appear and play hide and seek with her. It was quite fun watching her antics. Bentley and Maggie had lots of fun together and played biteyface in the house and were shooed out into the yard quite often. This was an excellent first time out with a female foster 'Dale since Maggie is not an aggressive alpha girl. I've been nervous about fostering a female with the Bentman. I have vivid images of a past experience. Of course, the first time was a year old 'Dale girl that had lived on the streets for most of her life. She gradually acclimated and became quite nice! The second time was when I moved back to Houston-town; living in a house out in the country, sharing a yard with my neighbors and their Lab-Boxer mix. It turned out she was picking on him while I was gone at work and he was hiding from her during the day. He turned up with a wound on his neck but I (dummy me) thought he'd just caught it on something. A week later, the two got into a horrendous fight and he almost killed her. I was going out the gate to work one morning and as I turned around to say,bye- be a good boy, the next thing I knew was that they were going up on two legs like grizzly bears trying to kill each other. I ran back in to get them apart and succeeded in pulling Bentley off her and we both fell back into the bushes with me holding his collar in my hand. The other dog came in fighting and I guess my boy thought she was going after me and he went back for the kill. Bad wounds on all of us. Vet and doctor visits. Thankfully, neighbors came running to help. A really bad experience but I learned a lot about dog fights and what not to do. Never, ever, put yourself in the middle of two large dogs fighting. Use water hoses, don't yell, stay calm and if there are two humans, pull the dogs back legs out and up to cause them to release and stop their fight. Anyway, I had to move. For a long time I was afraid that it was Bentley who had developed aggressive tendencies. After awhile I figured out it that he doesn't and I was able to let go of my fear. After all, he was raised by my old Rosie girl(mix) and Luke the Duke(Airedale), Sam, a female Weimaraner, all@RB now, with nary an issue. Now he lives peacefully with Walter and Jax, the little Chihuahuas, and Bridgette the Bassett Hound. Just goes to show, the third time around is the trick! Thanks Maggie for sharing your sweet self and helping me trust again! We'll miss you pretty girl. Godspeed to your forever home!

Karen(Bentley's Mama)

16 June 2009

a guest named Maggie!







Five year old Miss Maggie has come to visit with us for the next 5 days! Her foster is going out of town to Corpus and we get get to enjoy her sweet face and timid kisses. Miss Maggie and the Bentman will go for a walk later when it cools down. It's HOT, HOT, HOT, and it's only June. Right now, it's a high of 97. Whew. Needs to be Fall already; getting a tan's not that important! Oh well, we'll keep you posted on how the week progresses. Stay cool in the Aire-conditioning!

15 June 2009

Cheezeburger Kookies!



Not just another manic Monday. We won cookies from Aunt Lydia on the ADT list we lurk on. There is a Kookie contest and we decided to enter using the key word Snap with many variations! It was lot's of fun and we came in runner-up. WooHoo! These cookies smell sooooo good that Bentley inhaled and they were gone in a snap. No, not really. He shared with his siblings and woofed for more and shared again and woofed again till the Momma had to say, "No More Cookies Tonight!" I think I need to see about getting that recipe since the Kookies are such a big hit. Much better than the Alpo snaps or even the Blue Dog bakery ones with molasses and peanut butter! They think they're in Cheezeburger heaven or something! I dare say we are, huh?!!!

Something I read...

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That's the essence of inhumanity.

George Bernard Shaw

03 June 2009

Two of my unfavorite things ...




I don't like camera's and baths
and that's not what it takes
to love me
Like I wanna be loved by you!

She said I smelled wrong? Maybe a little like the backyard? Normally she tells I smell like corn tortilla's and coffee!
Help!
And she trimmed my beard-
aaggghhh.....
but I like to rub my wet face all over everything.

Your friend,
The Bentman

01 June 2009

Manic Mondays






Hello all! It's been awhile since we've posted anything. Been a little busy in Houston land! Bentley is doing much better and his bobo looks a 100% better. Bridgette and Bentley made up and have been moping around because da Momma got the bronchitis and a respiratory infection for the last week and had to recoup. Much better now and the 4-legged's were able to go on two walkabouts in the park over the weekend! WooHoo- all of the 4-legged's are eating again. Broke down and went back to their favorite food. I'm going to have to donate the bag from CostCo to a local groomer/kennel contact down the road from us. The lady that owns it takes in rescues to stay overnight for various Rescue groups till someone can transport and can use the food. As some of you know, I'm involved with Texas Airedale Rescue Team (TART) http://www.texasairedalerescue.com/. Well, I've volunteered to update our volunteer database here in Texas. If anyone has a friend, family member, Vet. or contact that is possibly available to help with transport, identification of Airedales at shelters, etc. anywhere in Texas, please contact me at webedataire@yahoo.com. As most of you know, TEXAS is LARGE. And sometimes we get a surrender, rescue or lost/found airedale in the darndest places. I used to live in West Texas in the middle of nowhere (kinda close to New Mexico/ kinda close to Oklahoma but not really) and found my Luke (@RB) wandering down a county road looking for a new family. He was 25 miles from the closest town where he'd been living in a backyard. In north and west Texas, it can easily be 30 to 90 miles to civilization and I am trying to establish a network of friends of Airedales that might be able to be called upon if the emergency arose where we don't have a volunteer on our list! Whew- that was a run-on sentence if I ever saw one! We do have a great group of volunteers but with the economy the way it is, people are finding excuses to discard their 4-legged family members on a daily basis. Hmmpff. And as always, all of the volunteer groups need more contacts. All inquiries are welcome and references checked! I hope all of you on this beautiful planet we call Earth are doing well and thanks for reading my post! Till next time!