Fur Kids

If you know me, you've heard the news that I recently had to put my beloved chow mix, Imani, to sleep. She had advanced in age and had numerous problems including blindness, joint issues and in the last few days, incontinence. She was my first baby and I'd had her as a very young puppy. She was mixed with an American Terrier (commonly known as a Pitt Bull) but she was the sweetest and most gentle combination of two commonly feared breeds. She did have a ferocious bark but once you got in the door, it was tummy rubs until your arm got tired..
I knew in my heart of hearts that Imani was nearing the end of a good quality of life. I also knew that with the recent loss of my mother in December of 2009 AND the loss of my first puppy would be like a double whammy. In the back of my mind, I was thinking of the type of dog I would wanted to add to my family. I guess fate, or good Karma led my path to cross with Tonka, my new furkid. Never would I have considered a Siberian Husky as a dog breed for me. A tenant in my rental property asked if she could have a dog and I consented. My neighbor had a coworker that had a litter of huskies and could not keep them all. They were all sooooooo cute and my tenant just had to have one. I ended up babysitting and totally fell in love with this animated and charismatic black and white furball. Sooooooo, I kept him :-) and he's been a great companion and gives me a good laugh, as well as a run for my exercise money daily. (that's a good thing...)
Before Imani passed, I bought her a pet stroller (yes, she had a stroller for dogs. I couldn't take one dog for a walk and not the other...) I'd hook Tonka's leash around the handlebar and let him help me pull Imani around the park. That was a BIG help and it's what he was bred for...
Tonka and Imani got along fairly well. Tonka was a bit high strung but at least they could sit side by side like siblings and not fight :-) Imani would of course take the attitude that she's the head dog around here and ignore Tonka and all of his squeaky toys. Tonka, being a puppy, could've cared less, he just wanted to play. It was my dysfunctional furkid family.

The day I didn't come home with Imani was of course a sad day for me. I went to my room and just sat in the chair and stared into space. As I sat there, I heard this strange, sad sound from the living room and when I went to look, it was my 9 month old puppy howling. His first howl ever. It was a sad sound but it was cute to see my puppy looking so "cinematic". Of course, I thought he was howling for his lost canine companion but upon closer inspection, he was howling at the song playing on the radio. To be sure, I downloaded the song from iTunes and each time I play it, Tonka runs to the room and begins howling. I researched this behavior online and experts say it's a very talented canine that howls to certain songs. Some say the dogs will even attempt to match the pitch of the song. Well folks, that's all this furkid mommy needs to know! There's TALENT in my household! Not that there was any needed because Tonka had already won my heart...
Anyway, you can check my little musician out for yourself. Oh, don't worry about the spot on his nose. Tonka also likes playing in the shower, so the spot on his nose is just the drops of water that had not dried from his romp in the shower. Go figure...
For those of you that want to know, Tonka's howl song is "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz
Enjoy!



Until next time I remain,
Simply Dione

It's Just A Bill

Why? Why? Are people going crazy over this Health Care Bill??? Hello.
It's just a Bill which, if you're a thinker, means you KNOW you have
the opportunity to AMEND it. People, let's get over our egos and move
FORWARD.