Gone to the Dogs Week 6: Bella and Snow

Gone to the Dogs Week 6: Bella and Snow

Bella - Check out the Toenails!

Bella, Terry's white Shih Tzu and poodle mix, is a docile, humble, and quiet companion. Bella was a breeder dog and  broke her front right leg. When she became Terry's baby, Bella only weighed 13 pounds and had several health issues. As soon as Terry laid eyes on the sweet dog with cute black eyes, she melted Terry's heart. Today, Bella weighs 18 pounds and enjoys belly rubs. Terry says Bella is also a Carolina fan and wears her Carolina outfit with style!

Snow

Snow with John

Terry has a neighbor who raises toy poodles. Terry's friend, John, now enjoys the company of Snow, a one-year-old white toy poodle. Snow enjoys playing ball and chewing. Apparently, Snow particularly likes to chew carpet! Snow and Bella love each other and enjoy one another's company as much as their humans enjoy them.

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Jeremiah 31:3 NIV

Gone to the Dogs Week 4 Totals

Week 4 of the Woodleaf United Methodist “Gone to the Dogs” fall 2018 fitness challenge ran from September 16 through September 22, 2018. Forty-one participants turned in totals for week 4, reporting a grand total of 10,240 minutes of exercise! Woo hoo – the best week thus far!

Despite the remnants of the hurricane and some flooding in the area, these exercise participants pushed on…and perhaps did some exercise by cleaning up yards and homes after the flooding. Exercise opportunities often present themselves in unlikely places! In addition, many participants have found it helpful to aim for small amounts of exercise time, even a 10-minute walk after lunch. Those times do add up.

Here are our week 4 totals:

Gone to the Dogs Week 5: Chica

Gone to the Dogs Week 5: Chica

Arthur Holding Chica

You know a dog is special if her picture will be on a tombstone of the lady who loved the little chihuahua. Arthur remembers seeing the little six-week old puppy along with two other puppies in South Carolina when he was getting a truckload of watermelons. He asked about the little brown female and when he returned to South Carolina for another watermelon run, the puppy was all ready for the ride to North Carolina in a peach crate lined with a quilt. They considered the name Peaches, but Arthur wanted to name her Chico. After discovering that Chico was a boy name, Chica finally had her identity and new home!

Santa and Chica Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas

Chica has won the friendship of many a person, small birds, animals, and even a kitten or two. She’s gentle and loves children and adults, which is sometimes unusual for a chihuahua. Chica’s job is to keep the cats behind the house and away from the road, and she does her job well. John says they watch the little dog carefully while outside because more than one hawk has had its eye on the small dog.

Merry Christmas from Chica!

Chica has also wished folks happy holidays. For several years, the family featured Chica on their Christmas cards! She even dressed up for the occasion at times.

Nobody had a loving eye on Chica more than Margaret, however. Her family agreed that perhaps Margaret loved the little dog more than she loved anyone else, and they made sure to take Chica for a ride to Spencer to visit with Margaret on Sundays after she moved to a care facility. Chica would excitedly visit with Margaret and bring a smile to her face any time she visited. Margaret’s death left a void not only in the human world but also for the dog; John said he saw tears rolling down Chica’s face after she was gone. When they visit the cemetery each Sunday, Chica immediately heads to Margaret's grave - she knows where her loving buddy rests and will always love her human mama.

Chica All Dressed Up for Christmas

If I were a betting person, I would say that Margaret is smiling right now to know that Chica’s picture will be on her tombstone, a lasting memorial to a most special friendship.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:24 NIV

Gone to the Dogs Week 3 Totals

Gone to the Dogs Week 3 Totals

Week 3 of the Woodleaf United Methodist “Gone to the Dogs” fall 2018 fitness challenge ran from September 9 through September 15, 2018. Thirty-three participants turned in totals for week 3, reporting a grand total of 7745 minutes of exercise.

These exercise times included the beginning of weather patterns from Hurricane Florence. It is always helpful to have a back-up plan if outdoor exercise is not possible.

Here are week 3 results:

Gone to the Dogs Week 4: Shadow and Norm

Gone to the Dogs Week 4: Shadow and Norm

Shadow

Hannah, Abigail, and Deborah have two dogs they would like everyone to meet. First is Shadow, the poodle/Terrier mix they adopted from the animal shelter. Shadow makes everybody laugh with her funny ways. If you hold food above her, she will dance in circles or hop like a bunny hoping that she’ll get a bite. Sometimes Shadow will sit on command, but every once in a while she gets her ends backwards and will bow down with her chin to the floor instead! She always alerts the family of any wooly boogers that might be lurking outside, including squirrels, rabbits, cats, someone riding a bike down the road, and the occasional chicken or horse out in the street. 

Shadow is very sweet and makes sure that nobody in the house is alone, making her rounds from room to room. If she hears the word “vacuum,” Shadow makes a beeline with the hopes that someone has dropped food and might need her cleaning services. Shadow hates to get her paws wet and is not impressed one bit when it rains. One of her favorite activities is a good old-fashioned belly rub.

Norm on Chair

Norm with Binkie

Norm Covered with Quilt

Their second dog is named Norm. Norm is an Australian/Sheltie mix adopted from an animal shelter as well. Norm likes to jump up on a lap and then proceed to lick the person’s face. If that doesn’t work, he might try to sit on the person’s face. Norm loves attention, and he will let a person put a blanket around him, put a doggie pacifier in his mouth, and rock him like a baby. Some of his favorite activities include running around the yard at full speed, chewing on sticks, riding in the car, eating snow, playing in the rain, and barking at people and the neighbor's dogs. He has his own love seat as a doggie bed and loves to lie on all of the furniture. He knows how to sit, stay, stand on his back feet, catch food in his mouth, and guess which hand the treat is in. No, Norm doesn’t think he’s spoiled, do you?

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

then it was said among the nations,

"The Lord has done great things for them."

Psalm 126:2 NRSV

Gone to the Dogs Week 2 Totals

Week 2 of the Woodleaf United Methodist “Gone to the Dogs” fall 2018 fitness challenge ran from September 2 through September 8, 2018. Thirty-five participants turned in totals for week 2, reporting a grand total of 9290 minutes of exercise.

Although this is a fall fitness challenge, the temperatures have been in the 90s much of week 2, so it's great that participants are finding ways to beat the heat and continue to exercise regularly.

Here are week 2 results:

Gone to the Dogs Week 3: Charlie, Beauty, Precious, and Wolf

Gone to the Dogs Week 3: Charlie, Beauty, Precious, and Wolf

Charlie

Twyla's first dog was named Charlie. His previous owner had mistreated him and had withheld food in an effort to make Charlie mean, but the dog just didn't have it in him to be ferocious. Charlie was nervous and scared of Twyla's family at first, but after Twyla's mom offered him two packs of hot dogs, he knew he was in a good home! Charlie would help Twyla to stand again if she fell down. She would hold onto him for support and Charlie would walk forward, pulling her up.

Twyla with Beauty

Another dog that Twyla particularly remembers is Beauty. The dog would refuse to come near Twyla at first. One day, Twyla began to think that perhaps Beauty was scared of her crutches, so she threw down the crutches and crawled over to her playhouse steps. Beauty came right up to her and sat on her lap! Twyla laughed as she remembers how Beauty, who was nearly as big as she was would lie on top of her if she decided to lie out in the sun in a swimming suit on a lounge chair. She said the chair would start sliding and she was afraid they would both end up sliding off the deck.

Bang, Bang, J.R., You've Been Shot!

Twyla’s dog named Precious actually had a different name when Twyla first welcomed the little Feist into the family. She got the dog in the days when Dallas was a popular TV show, and they called the dog J.R. She would say, “Bang, bang, J.R., you’ve been shot!” and the dog would play dead until she would sing “Up from the Grave He Arose” and then he would hop up to show everyone he was alive. Twyla said that sometimes J.R. would get so excited about playing dead that he would wag his tail while lying there!

Precious, as he was later called, had a knack for picking good employees at Twyla’s father’s plant; her dad learned to regret it if he ignored the dog’s cues when he was interviewing various potential employees. Precious had his own chair and would howl to get attention if Twyla needed help. If that didn't work, Precious would drag Twyla's dad by the britches leg to Twyla's side. Twyla has multiple mobility challenges, and she’s grateful that Precious got her outside more often as that was great physical therapy for her. Even though Precious was not a trained therapy dog, Twyla says that her companion seemed to have natural instincts for helping her and even leaving to get help if she were in need.

Give Me Howdy, Wolf!

Another particularly memorable dog that Twyla had was Wolf, a smart big dog who loved to drink Coca Cola. Twyla taught Wolf how to shake hands. One day, Wolf was hit by a car and unfortunately had to have one front leg removed. That didn’t stop him from giving Twyla howdy though. Wolf would roll over on his back to extend his other front paw for his beloved Twyla. She laughs as she recalls that Wolf always wanted to give howdy twice, once for that leg and once for the missing one. 

The family was very sad when Wolf got sick because they thought he had cancer. The vet also thought the future looked grim, but he ran some tests and discovered that Wolf had a bad case of the flu and would need to stay several days for observation and treatment. The vet ended up calling the family to come get Wolf earlier than he normally would because the dog was grieving so badly to be back home. After they got him home, he did get much better with a lot of TLC from Twyla and her family.

and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, "My father's God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharoah." Exodus 18:4 NIV

Gone to the Dogs Week 1 Totals

Gone to the Dogs Week 1 Totals

Week 1 of the Woodleaf United Methodist “Gone to the Dogs” fall 2018 fitness challenge ran from August 26 through September 1, 2018. Thirty-seven participants turned in totals for week 1, reporting a grand total of 9245 minutes of exercise.

Welcome to our returning and new participants – this is by far the best first week of a fitness challenge yet!