Archive for the ‘pets’ Category

I went on early morning photo shoots with Dad several times lately. We left before dark to time it just right for taking Florida sunrise photographs. A neat place in N Kissimmee is a rural area with a cow pasture so there are no trees or houses between you and the rising sun. Today, as shown here, that’s me, Corky the shelter dog, looking brave as Dad took pictures while I ended up on the wrong side of the fence.

Yes. There are cows and bulls in that pasture. Look at this photo of one bull with long horns taken in the fog last week, and you can understand why I wasn’t allowed on the other side of the fence. Bulls can be dangerous, but don’t I look brave!

Today, I couldn’t resist getting a closer sniff of cow droppings plus I wanted to see just how big cows and bulls really are! If my fur looks mussed up, it is. I left some hair on the barbed wire when sticking my head through to get to that wrong side of the fence. That didn’t last long. Dad called me back after taking a short video of me in the pasture, so getting a closer sniff must wait for another day.

Can you imagine the horror if the bull charged us? I’d have to save Dad and dragging him by an ankle to safety would have been hard work!

If I, Corky the shelter dog, look puzzled in this picture, I am.

I had to ask why is Dexter our rescue kitty lying down in my bed smacking his lips after eating tuna? The answer I expected is NOT because he has tuna juice on his lips!

Let’s try that again, only with a more direct question: WHY is Dexter in MY BED?!!

He’s cute. He’s a kitten. I get it. He’s so cute I want to gag sometimes! I let him play wrestle and tackle me then let him win. Sam our cat does, too. He uses my bushy tail for a toy. I let him.

Dexter has been living here 12 short days while going from abandoned and dumped on the street in our neighborhood to King of the Castle. Let’s hope he matures quickly and learns to share the wealth with the cat and me.

We love the little rascal and want him to stay a part of our happy family, so it’s okay if I let him borrow my bed. He needs to learn it’s still mine!

Here’s a video of our newest family member, Dexter the rescue kitty. He lives here after being dumped on the street in our neighborhood when he only weighed 1.1 lbs. In the video Dexter the attack kitty is pestering Sam, our 12 year old (rescue) cat, by swatting and biting his tail.

Sam is being good and just lets the kitty have fun. Watch for my cameo appearance, Corky the shelter dog, at around 00:56 seconds just making sure everyone is playing fair. (Playtime: 01:39 min/sec)

I must admit Dexter the rescue kitty has cuteness galore. See more photos of Dexter the kitty on Flickr for close up shots showing his colors and other cute kitty poses. You can see this same video and more Corky the shelter dog videos on YouTube, too.

Sam our cat and I, Corky the rescue dog, have a new brother as of 5 July 2011. The photo collage shown here is my little younger brother Dexter the rescue kitty. He is an original cutie patootie who can give lessons on cuteness!

That makes 3 male rescue pets with a rescue dog, a rescue cat, and now a rescue kitty in our family, plus Mom and Dad!

Similar to me, who was dumped on the street and sent to doggy jail before being rescued, Dexter was dumped on the street in our neighborhood at night on July 5th. The poor little rascal was confused and scared because he is a teenie tiny little baby kitty.

Lucky for Dexter, he found us before the animal control people found him. He is a very young kitten and weighs exactly 1.1 lbs. which happens to be an important number. In Osceola County Florida shelter pets must be at least 2 lbs. to qualify for spay or neuter and adoption, so any stray pets captured under 2 lbs. are immediately put to sleep!

Once my parents heard that (and were told “Bring him back next week when he’s at least 2 lbs.”) they decided to keep him as our newest family member. They didn’t have a name picked out because they were unsure about keeping him. After watching him for 24 hours and thinking of cool names, they decided, so now Dexter joins Sam our cat, and me – Corky the shelter dog, for one big happy family.

For now we can only guess based on Dexter weighing 1.1 lbs. that he’s about 5 weeks old. Dexter the rescue kitty has brown tabby colors with tufted ear tips which look very much like a Maine Coon breed cat. We’ll find out if he is truly a Maine Coon Cat when he grows a little more and pick out a birthday from advice when he goes to the vet.

Who would have guessed the impact of the price of gas and doggy parks? The photo shown is Mill Slough Dog Park near home in Kissimmee, Florida. I go there lately because it is 5 minutes away by car.

It is enclosed with a run for larger dogs yet rather small compared to my favorite doggy park and the play area is shared by small and big dogs alike.

Any doggy park visit is better than staying home, so I am NOT COMPLAINING.

The cost of gas for a 2 hour round trip means some animal pal families may not be able to afford going often. That’s the case locally as the price of gas continued to rise in recent months. Mill Slough is not bad, but the biggest problem is being the only dog there almost every time I visit.

Happily gas prices are dropping and I may get back on track to visit my fave park more often. Crosses paws. Says doggy prayer.

Dogs kept as pets do work. Don’t think we do? I’m on security duty 24/7. That’s a sweet assignment because a dog can sleep on the job and not get in trouble.

Outside the house even pet dogs on squirrel patrol are doing their job.

Dogs can sleep with one eye open and hear intruders to sound the alarm by barking to scare them away.

I do a low “grrrrr” sound if I suspect something wrong, and then bark like a big dog to wake up my parents as a backup plan.

The photo here is me, Corky the shelter dog, as taken a few days ago with me looking up at a treed gray squirrel and sniffing his tiny little squirrel tracks.

Personally, I’m trained to “leave it” if told to ignore everything from trash, glass, or cigarette butts to cats, dogs, birds, or squirrels. Playing off leash I once allowed a squirrel to pass across a large open space of the park where I was playing fetch because Dad said “Leave it.”

Dog training is not always easy to obey.

Squirrels are less trouble in trees, so any of them found frolicking on the ground will be promptly chased up a tree by most dogs. To chase or not to chase is a tough decision for dogs on squirrel patrol.

Since Dad and I have been going 5-7 miles every day on walkies, he’s lost 10-15 lbs and I gained 1/2 lb plus one new friend, Buddy the cat. Earlier on the main site, a new Corky kitty pal video was released, and it’s being shown here, too:

Watch me, Corky the shelter dog, and my new buddy Buddy (the cat) as we meet on the street next to his house. For the hearing impaired you may want to view the video and read the narration while watching my buddy Buddy on the main site, or look for the video on my YouTube channel being uploaded soon.

The portrait photo here is me, Corky the shelter dog, on a visit last week to Mills Slough Dog Park in Kissimmee, Florida.

The dog park is an enclosed area within the larger human park. The photo is in the human park before going in to play in the dog park section.

The tree shown fell over a bajillion years ago, so there’s roots above ground and hollow places for dogs to explore and have fun. As you can see, the roots are BIG and have bark just like branches above ground.

Why am I off leash in the human part of the park? Mostly because I behave and listen to commands like “leave it”. I do “leave it” for squirrels, cats, dogs, people, trash, glass, cigarette butts, and just about anything if Dad says so.

Children could learn from that lesson. With privilege comes responsibility. Be good and you get cool privileges like playing off leash inside (and outside) places similar to Mills Slough Dog Park.

Stay tuned. I have video footage of me climbing that tree to be released soon. The photo here will be the still shot intro at the beginning as voted on by my pals on Twitter.

Sam our cat is 10 years older than me and it took 2 years in my forever home for us to become pals. Yesterday Dad took video of both of us pets play wrestling and posted it as a new episode in my life story as Corky the shelter dog.

Later he uploaded it to my YouTube account, so here’s the YouTube version of “Play Wrestle or Play Dead”:

You can follow the link to my Life Story (above) to see all 8 episodes, or visit my 17 doggy videos on YouTube that include even more entertainment with cats, dogs, ducks, and more!

If you didn’t know already, pets DO celebrate holidays! This 2011 Valentine card for me, Corky, arrived Saturday in the mail.

Today is Valentine’s Day and the photo here shows me, Corky the shelter dog, reading a card from my cutie patootie puppy pal @Niqqi on Twitter. She lives in Illinois which is far far away from Florida, so the mailman brought me the card. Inside it reads:

Dear Corky,

Wishing you the pinkest Valentine’s Day ever!

Fluffs,

Niqqi – 2011

The photo features a closeup of the Valentine’s card (center), and then me looking up (left) while holding the card, and then me looking down (right) and reading the card.

Thank you! Thank you, Niqqi!