When Your Valentine Has Four Paws and Fur

A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in your life, things won’t be too bad. ~Robert Wagner

Any of you who stop by here to see what’s going on down here on the farm or in my writing world or for my this and that, you know I am a dog lover. I got my first dog when I was maybe 8 or 9 by begging and begging. I WANTED a dog. Since then, I have only gone a little over one month that I can remember without a dog around somewhere. That month was after my good dog, Oscar, died of bone cancer way too soon. A little over a month later I brought Frankie home from a Humane Shelter after he’d been picked up as a stray. After my perfect dog, Oscar, Frankie was a challenge. He can still be a challenge with a determined mind of his own, but he is much better than he used to be. As my daughter once liked to say about her German Shepherd when they first were training him, he’s a good dog — most of the time.  Thank goodness, Marley is a sweet dog whose biggest fault is a tendency to walk in any handy mud puddle.

With my newsletter Valentine giveaway ending tomorrow, these are the last Valentine stories readers shared with me that I am sharing with you. I did enjoy every story though and loved reading about your Valentine memories and joys.

First we have Kathy’s story about a Valentine Day that started out fine but then got a little off course due to her furry buddies.

My Valentine’s day Story.  It was a beautiful day in Northern Illinois,

I had the doors & windows open, along with both fur kids in the large fully fenced in yard. Windows overlooking the backyard, so I can see them romping & snoozing in the sun on the patio on top of the table. I decorated the house with Valentines hanging down from beams on the tables, was cooking a meal, cake & treats. Hours go by when I stopped in my tracks. It was very quiet. I look & no fur kids. I step out calling them. The gate is open. The meter guy must not have latched it. I freak out. Run to the front calling them. Grab the phone. Call husband. Get in my car. Start driving around neighborhood. But 1st the exit to busy roads. Sickened I will find them dead at the intersection. I go in and back. Drive around, walk the neighborhood. Hours go by, calling them. Driving again. Just frantic. When I see on the sidewalk 2 small dogs shoulder-to-shoulder at a quick pace like they are in a hurry. I pull the car over and open the door. I  call their names ..they walk over like nothing happened.

Cake burned. Food wrecked. My boys ok!

Valentine stories that end happily are always the best, Kathy. You can always make another cake and call for carry-out. 🙂 Now we hear from Florence who found a sweet Valentine to bring her laughs and joy.

My Valentine’s Day Story was finding a stray dog in the street, who had cuts and bruises and needed a lot of love. There was no microchip and no one claimed the dog. I named her Janey. I took her in as my own. She befriends cats and is a loyal dog. I am so glad that we found each other. Janey is silly and likes to roll around in the grass. She got stuck between the car seats, and I had to push her out from her behind. The dog has a nice sense of humor.

So glad Janey found you, Florence. No wonder she’s alway so ready to make you laugh. Okay now it’s my turn to share a Valentine’s Day adventure with you.

You saw Frankie and Marley up top. They do love one another. Marley is especially attached to Frankie but then Frankie seems to like Marley pretty well too. When Marley’s previous owner decided she was going to be moving and couldn’t keep Marley and gave him to me, she assured me he loved all dogs. Turns out Marley is picky about which dogs he loves, but for sure Frankie is one of the top dogs in Marley’s eyes.

But on Valentine’s Day this month, I wasn’t quite as ready to call Frankie Top Dog. Some of you know I take the dogs out for a short walk every morning before breakfast and have been doing that ever since I got Frankie at the Humane Shelter more than four years ago. In that time walking on the farm in the early hours of the morning, we had somehow managed never to encounter a skunk – until Valentine’s Day this month. I’d been catching the skunky aroma on a couple of mornings but never saw a skunk. I didn’t see the skunk Valentine’s morning either. I just saw Frankie running back through the field toward me and stopping to frantically roll in some of the remains of hay that had been fed to the cows. He’s scrubbing his head down in the hay. He goes a few more steps and starts rolling again. And then he gets closer and my Valentine morning loses its glow. Whether I saw the black and white striped woods kitty or not, Frankie obviously had a close encounter. Frankie likes to chase anything and is ready to pounce on it for breakfast if he can. I say that he learned that while he was a stray because he was very, very skinny when I got him at the shelter. But wherever he learned his killing instincts, they did him no good on this morning. I imagine he went in for the kill and the skunk unloaded on him. Frankie decided that was one critter he shouldn’t have bothered.

I manage to keep Frankie at arms’ length until we get back to the yard. Thank goodness, Marley keeps his distance too.  Poor Frankie stops several more times to try to rub the spray off his head and probably out of his eyes. Frankie runs for the house door, a safe place in his mind. No way can he go in the house. He’s leaving waves of fumes in the air. I sneak in the house through a different door and remember the recipe I’ve read online for skunk encountered dogs. One quart of hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 cup soda, and 2 Tablespoons of dishwashing liquid. You soak said dog with the foaming mixture and leave it on him for five minutes. Frankie doesn’t like baths on hot summer days. I don’t like giving Frankie baths on hot summer days. A freezing winter day with the thermometor reading 19 degrees doesn’t make it a bit more fun.

But a dog owner has to do what a dog owner has to do. So I slop the stuff all over him and rub it in. (Hint: wear rubber gloves. I didn’t. My hands were skunky even after washing them over and over throughout the day.) I turn him loose and let him run around the yard with the mixture all over him while I bring out a couple of buckets of warm water. I didn’t want to have frostbitten fingers. Stinky fingers were bad enough. I rinse him off the best I can without a hose. Poor fellow has icicles on his tail. But the concoction mostly works. I let him come in the house to dry off. His nose was still stinky.

Two weeks later his nose is still stinky. I was too careful about getting the stuff in his eyes. But you can see that he isn’t a happy camper.  You know, neither was I. Not the best Valentine gift. My kids asked if the peroxide turned him blonde, but no, his fur is as black as ever and I hope if he see anything with stripes he will run the other direction. But just in case he doesn’t, I laid in two more quarts of peroxide.

I hope you enjoyed our doggie Valentine stories.

Have you ever had a dog that had a close encounter with a skunk?

If you didn’t see my newsletter and would like to be in the giveaway drawing, you can check it out here. But the deadline to enter is midnight tonight.