Have A Heart

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Hope everyone is having a nice day. We went to Granite City for lunch. It was okay, but our waitress was horrible so it wasn't as nice as it could have been. Got a free appetizer out of the deal...which we had to bring home because it came after the entrees. Tonight Paul's making us lasagna. Yea!

I thought today would be a good day to post some pictures of the cards that Sheila and I made for the "Have A Heart" campaign over at Dogs Deserve Better. Dogs Deserve Better is an organization devoted to getting dogs off chains and into the home to be with the family. I don't understand why anyone would buy a dog only to leave them tied out back. If you aren't going to give it the life it deserves, a life that involves being a member of the family, then why bother owning a dog. I know a lot of it is because people get their kids that cute little puppy in the pet shop for Christmas, but then that cute little puppy grows into a huge adult capable of causing massive destruction if not properly trained. Because they just don't have the time, or really do not care, these dogs just get chain around their neck and are forced to live their lives within a 6-foot radius, not getting any attention or love of any sort. These dogs are living, breathing beings with feelings. They want to be warm. They want to be loved. They want a pat on the head once in a while. And they deserve it. They bring unconditional love to our lives.

Anyway...let me get down off my soapbox for a minute and explain the "Have A Heart" campaign (if anyone is still reading at this point). The Dogs Deserve Better team sends out thousands of Valentines to homes where dogs are left outside on a chain or in a pen encouraging the owners to bring the dogs inside to be a part of the family or maybe think about relinquishing the dog to a better home. They include with the Valentine a brochure and a coupon for a free or discounted treat. Every year they put a notice on their website that it's time to start making valentines for the cause. Some of the stories on their website are both heartbreaking and heartwarming. A couple of years ago, when I first heard about them, I sent them a few Valentines. Last year I talked to Sheila about it, as she as big of a dog lover as I am, and we decided to work on together. Unfortunately, we missed the deadline. This year we made it a point to get them done on time. We sent them about 26 Valentines. It doesn't feel like much compared to the amount they need, but I know they're appreciated. We received a nice letter and a "Certificate of Thanks" from them this week along with a copy of their yearly calendar.

Here is a sample of some of the cards that we did. They wanted to stress quality over quantity this year and really make an impact with the message. We kept the cards fairly simple but chose sentiments that send a strong message. For the main image on most, we used pictures of real-life chained dogs that they have available on their website.


These aren't the best pictures of the cards themselves, as I was trying to hurry and take the pictures before I mailed them. The cards say things like, "Can you see me. Then please don't break my heart. Bring me inside to be part of the family. Love, Your Dog," or "If you love me, please bring me inside to be part of the family. Otherwise, please let me go to someone who will." I truly hope they make an impact on the people who receive them.

If you know of any dogs who spend their life on the end of a chain, please visit the Dogs Deserve Better website and submit the address and the house will receive a brochure. We have to be advocates for these sweet souls who can't speak for themselves.

Wordless Wednesday

Good Golly, Miss Molly!

Abby had another visitor on Friday evening. Sheila and Dave came for dinner and brought Molly with to play with Abby. She's really grown the last time I saw her! She and Abby had fun chasing each other around the yard. Abby just loves to run and play with puppies or little dogs. Miss Molly sure has a lot of energy...completely wore Abby out. She had to keep stopping and lying down to catch her breath. She just loves to run around and play with little dogs.

All In A Day's Work

The funny thing about transcription is that sometimes you drop into "the zone" and your mind doesn't even have to be present. Especially if you're typing something that is familiar to you...a doctor you have typed for years and you can pretty much read his/her mind or a relatively easy chart note by a good doctor with no accent and a mellow voice. It's like the sound comes in your ears and goes straight to your fingertips and leaves your brain completely out of it, free to do it's own thing. Take last Thursday for instance. The picture below was on my calendar for the day, which is sitting right under my computer screen. Now, you know my love for puppies, especially golden puppies, so you can imagine how this picture continued to delight me throughout the entire day. I could imagine myself sitting right down in the middle of this wiggling, squirming, fuzzy pile of wonderfulness.


Sometime during the day, as I'm typing, I'm looking at this picture and my mind starts to wonder. I think about where these puppies live. Is it a farm? I imagine how fun it must be for them to venture out for the first time. All the new smells. Then I start wondering what they're thinking. Maybe it goes something like this...
Pretty soon I've had a whole puppy conversation in my head and I'm done with my tape. I go back and look everything over, proofing it carefully. Everything makes sense, words are spelled right...I didn't type any puppy conversations. The words came in my ears, bypassed my brain, and went directly to my fingers. Isn't that crazy?!

Now, don't get me wrong...my job isn't easy. It usually takes a high degree of concentration. I'm responsible for our most difficult specialty, endocrinology. I have to be up on diabetes, thyroid disease, and all the other hormone-related disorders. However, once in a while, if I'm caught up or need a break from endo or OB/GYN, my other "speciality," I'll grab a family practice or pediatrics tape, drop into "the zone," and daydream about puppies.

Look at this little guy's plump puppy tummy...


I love plump puppy tummies. Apparently, according to this same calendar that is also full of interesting dog facts, it's common for a puppy to have a big round belly because their abdominal organs are larger in proportion to the rest of the body as compared to an adult dog. Bet you didn't know that. I didn't either. Now we do.

Have You Seen Heart-kun?

This was sent to me by Paul's aunt a couple of days ago in an email. It's pictures of Heart-kun, a long-coated chihuahua with unusual markings born in Japan. There is a perfect heart shape on his back. This is too sweet for words!

Here is a video showing the little guy in action...

More Miss Molly

Got an update from Sheila. Molly had another checkup at the vet. She has gained a couple of pounds and is doing great!

Chasing Charlie

I walked out to my car today after work, and as I was searching for my cell phone to turn it on, I glanced around the parking lot and spotted something gold. From a distance, I first thought it was a golden retriever. There is a guy in the neighborhood whom I'll see some mornings walking his golden on campus. I've watched that puppy grow up over the last couple of years, and my first thought was it was them. As I drove toward the exit I realized it wasn't a golden but an adorable little cocker spaniel...and he was alone.

I parked my car and got out and called to the puppy, but I spooked him and he ran away from me. At about this time, Marianne, one of my coworkers (who is also a huge animal lover like myself) walked out to her car. She spotted the dog and yelled asking me if I was going to try to help him. Both us of went wondering around the campus yelling for this cute little guy. We're off of a pretty busy road, so both of us were worried that he would get hit. He kept running from us, so we didn't know what we were going to do. We both carry leashes in our cars just in case we run into something like this. We decided to hop in our cars and drive down the main road to see if we can spot him. We didn't see him so she headed on home, but something wouldn't let me give up on this little guy. I doubled back down one of the side streets and just as I was about to give up, I spotted him snooping around someone's yard. I got out and started talking to him. He was a little bit leery of me, but he was quite interested in the peanut butter bones I just happened to have in my jacket pocket.

As I was using the peanut butter bones to try to lure him close enough to get a look at his collar, an older lady came out of her house and said she saw me trying to help him and knows where he lives. I learned that his name is Charlie, and he actually lived a couple of houses down from where we were. She went back inside to call her neighbor, but then came back out and said there was no answer. Even though she admitted she wasn't an "pet lover," she helped me maneuver him into his backyard where she unlatched the gate and got him inside his fence.

That's my good deed for the day. Charlie is now safe at home.

When I got home, I refilled my supply of peanut butter bones just in case! You just never know when they'll come in handy.

This isn't an actual picture of Charlie, but I went online to verify that he actually was a cocker spaniel, and I found this picture right away that looks exactly like him!

Picture courtesy Europuppy.com.