If You Are Lucky

   It’s Wordless Wednesday hosted by my friends at BlogPaws.  Thank you for visiting Barking from the Bayou.  We are happier than a duck with a June bug to have you! 

   Today, there are no long posts to read.  You can just hop around and see some great photography.

“If you’re lucky, there is one special dog that

changes your entire life forever.

I love you Bentley!”

How to Help Shelter Dogs for Free

    Thank you dropping into Barking from the Bayou today for Tuesday’s Tails.  Dogs ‘N Pawz and Talking Dogs are the hosts of this weekly blog hop bringing hope to shelter pets everywhere.  Please share the photos of these beautiful pets that are patiently waiting to share their love with a forever family.

       If you aren’t looking to adopt a pet right now, there are still many ways to help.  Here are some free things that you can do every day to donate food to shelter animals.  Many pet businesses donate a portion of their profit to benefit the homeless dogs and cats.  You can check on websites to see if your favorite pet company pays it forward.

      FreeKibble.com provides 10 pieces of kibble each time you play their pet trivia

game.  The pets win their kibble whether you are correct or not.  Halo, Purely for Pets is the official Kibble sponsor.  It is a fun way to help.  

http://freekibble.com/

       My sidebar has the widget that allows you to click and provide a bowl of food.  It is sponsored by The Animal Rescue Site.  http://theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/clickToGive/

If for Dogs

Today is National Poetry Day so we are joining up with My Brown Newfies, Alfie’sBlog, and Snoopy’s Dog Blog for Mischief Monday.  What does poetry and mischief have to do with each other?  Well, I worked a bit of mischief on the wonderful poem “If.”  My apologies to Rudyard Kipling. 

Thunderbirds Take to the Sky

   Barksdale AirForce Base “Defenders of Liberty” annual airshow and open house was held Saturday.  Unfortunately, due to severe weather approaching, the two-day event turned out to be one day only.  The base first opened its gates for the public tour of the Air Force installation in 1933.  You can see firsthand spectacular aerobatic performers, incredible military planes, meet the pilots, and support our local base.  The show was not held last year due to federal budget constraints.

Dog Tired

Happy Sepia Saturday from your friends at Barking from the Bayou!  We are hopping along with Ruckus the Eskie for this great blog hop.  Thanks for hosting Ruckus!

“Mom, I am just not ready to wake up yet!”

Purely Personalized Pets

   Happy Thoughtless Thursday my friends, we are happy to have you visit.  I am joining Ruckus the Eskie and Love is being owned by a Husky for this fun blog hop.  Our post is more thoughtful than thoughtless.  Today, we are doing a review of Purely Personalized Pet.  Bentley and Pierre are super excited to share their opinions on the great products that we received.  They are doing a happy dance in anticipation, so before they wear a hole in the floor, here they are!

Bentley: “Hey y’all, we have something super cool to show off today!  I’ll give you a hint…it’s fancy and I have it on my neck.”

Pierre: “Oohh, pick me, pick me!  You are wearing a snazzy new collar!  Do I get a

prize?”

Bentley: “Yep and nope.  It is my gorgeous new collar and no, you do not win a prize.  *rolls eyes* After all, you have a new collar, too.  Pretend that is your prize!”

Comments on Comments

Happy Monday and thanks for visiting us today!  We have been looking over the great comments that we received last week.  It’s fun to have you bark back at us about the things we share.  I sat on the couch scrolling through each day with Pierre on my right and Bentley with his head resting on my lap.

Me: “We sure have some nice visitors to our blog.  I wish we could answer every one that leaves us a note.”

Bentley: “Now Mom, we finally weaned you off commenting so much.  Why don’t we just choose some of them and answer today.  That would be cool.”

Pierre: *clapping paws and doing a happy dance* “YES!!  That means we get to relive my birthday!  This is a marvelous idea.  I can answer anything about me.”

A Visit from the Easter Basset and the Westie Wabbit

Happy Easter

Thanks for spending a few moments with us!

 Barking from the Bayou

The Easter Basset says that it is fine to put all of your eggs in one basket today!

Happy Easter from

Westie Wabbit & the Easter Basset

Easter Eggstra

Happy Easter weekend from the Bayou, we hope that you have a fun holiday full of sunshine and laughter.  As we always do on this day, we’re joining Ruckus the Eskie for the Wonderful Sepia Saturday blog hop.  You’ll enjoy blog after blog of amazing sepia photos.  If you’d like to join, just click: Ruckus the Eskie.

Today is your last chance to enter the Petsafe Indigo Fresh Dental Bones, Sticks, and yummy Dental Sauce.  Click the Indigo Giveaway widget on my right sidebar.  Your dog will love these healthy dental treats and you will love the results!

My Mom gave me these beautiful hand-painted eggs several years ago.  We went sepia with a little eggstra color!  You can see more of these gorgeous eggs on The Returns Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/1bfaBvY  I am using them for my Easter header.  Please like my page while you’re there!  I’m trying to reach the coveted 500 mark. 

You don’t want to miss tomorrow’s Easter photo, so be sure to visit.

Partying on the Bayou

Welcome to Barking from the Bayou on this Good Friday for our Pet Parade blog hop.  We co-host this fun hop along with Rascal and Rocco, Jan’s Funny Farm, Basil the Bionic Cat's Blog, and Love is being owned by aHusky.  Please join us today, or any day in the coming week to have your photo shared to Pinterest and gain followers on your Social Media.  There are no rules, because that’s how we roll.

Yesterday was Pierre 3^rd birthday and we had a great time.  The boys were itching to tell y’all about it.

Happy Birthday Pierre

"This is my birth announcement. I have arrived!"

When my daughter was getting her Masters at LSU, she called to say that she was getting a new puppy.  I knew how much she missed being around Bentley and Tucker.  A few weeks later, I received a photo of the most precious newborn West Highland Terrier ever.  Little baby Pierre was our first granddog!  He was such a cutie pie and I passed his pictures around like any annoyingly proud Gramma.  It is hard to believe that he is THREE years old today.  Bentley wanted to interview him for his big day.

Reflections of a Basset Hound

Thank you for dropping by Barking from the Bayou for Wordless Wednesday hosted by BlogPaws. 

Enjoy hopping around to see great photographs without a lot of words!

Just for you to help relax on National Stress Relief Day.

Bentley…Reflections of a Basset Hound.

Squirrel Season

   Pierre is a snow-white West highland Terrier, but more often than not, he is a dirty white.  As many of you are aware, he is living with us while his mom, our daughter, is living in Alaska.  Before he moved in with us, he lived in an apartment so he never ran loose outside.  When he first moved in, everything was new and intriguing to him.  The things that lived outside startled him.  He would jump when lizards rustled through the garden and wasn’t really sure about squirrels.  It didn’t take him long to adjust and start exploring his surroundings.

   He finds lizards fascinating and chases them as they scurry in the monkey grass and

along the railing of our porch.  We have quite a few tailless lizards and I think many of them have moved on to other yards.  Frogs still hold an allure to him, but we try to keep him away from them.  I’m still waiting for the time he discovers a turtle.  Bentley will bark relentlessly at a turtle, so I’m sure that Pierre will too.

   We were outside with them one night when a possum decided to walk along our back fence.  Pierre spotted him first and alerted Bentley.  The two of them leapt on the fence in a frenzy.  The possum hissed and ran back and forth which only

Sitting Pretty

Welcome to another great Black & White Sunday blog hop from the Bayou!  I appreciate Dachshund Nola and Sugar the Golden Retriever for hosting.

“If she lowers that treat, it is mine!”

Mad Dog Bentley Draper

Welcome to the Bayou and Sepia Saturday’s Blog Hop hosted by Ruckus the Eskie.

 Bentley wanted to channel his inner Don Draper from Madmen for today’s photo.

Tucker Trouble

    Hello!  I appreciate you stopping by Barking from the Bayou today.  We had a rainy weekend, so instead of being on the computer during the massive lightning storms, we caught up on some great movies.  If you haven’t seen Disney’s Frozen, it is awesome.  I’ll admit to watching it twice.  We also watched Heat with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.  The two are great together and hilarious!  Finally, we watched White House Down.  It was intense, but it was also Tatum Channing so...haha!  There wasn’t much mischief other than running in mud puddles after imaginary wild animals.

Leaving the Nest

Every spring when the fear of frost has passed, we set all of our plants back in their spot on the front porch.  The only hanging plant that I have is an airplane plant.  In just a matter of days, we have a bird nest and eggs living in the first class section of the airplane, along with a very protective mommy bird.  Once the baby birds leave the nest, we clean it out and try different ways to keep the next from being built.  From the photo below, you can see that we haven’t come up with a solution.  If you have stopped birds from living in your plants, how do you evict them?

“The bird dares to break the shell, then the shell breaks open and the bird can fly openly.  This is the simplest principle of success.  You dream, you dare and you fly.”
~ Israelmore Ayivor

This Dog Would

Hello!  I’m so glad that you dropped by to see us.  Thursday night we had bad thunderstorms rumbling through the night.  When a storm hits, I have to get up while Bentley frets.  He will tap my arm until I accompany him.  We usually just sit and talk.

Me: “Well, tomorrow is Sepia Saturday hosted by our friend, Ruckus the Eskie.”

Bentley: “I love all those cool sepia pictures.  Which one are you going to use?  Will it be another one of my handsome mug? 

Me:  “Daddy took some pretty shots of flowers.  Here look at this one.  Would you like me to use it?”

Bentley: “This dog would.”

Me: “Yes, this Dogwood.”

Bentley: “Ummm, yeah…”

Me: “Sorry, after the seriousness of my last post, I couldn’t resist!”

Grief and the Loss of Your Pet

   One of the most exciting times in a pet parent’s life is the day we bring home our new best friend. From the day they come into our lives, we love, feed, train, cuddle, and kiss them. They know our deepest secrets and give us unconditional love. We carry their pictures, post them Facebook, and talk about them like any proud parent. Our pets are happier than anyone else when we come home at the end of the day. Dogs and cats don’t question us, they never stay angry, and trust us 100%. They are very nearly perfect. 

   Their only fault is a shorter lifespan than we are given. I have grieved the loss of many wonderful cats and dogs. It never gets easier and I’ve never truly prepared myself to say “good-bye.”

The Pet Grieving Process

   The normal grief process usually begins with anger. Those feelings may be directed at your veterinarian, other family members, yourself, or your beloved pet. The other feeling you have to deal with is the guilt. Was there something you could have done to achieve a different outcome? Then, you dwell on the times you may have lost patience with your pet or didn’t throw that ball one more time. Once these initial feelings subside, the true feelings of sadness emerge. The important thing to remember is all of these feelings are the normal process in achieving your final goal of acceptance. It is also important to know that you don’t have to grieve alone. Share your feelings with the rest of your family. There are pet bereavement counseling services, pet-loss support hotlines, local or online Internet groups, books, videos, and magazine articles. You may want to plan a memorial service for your pet. Writing about your feelings, memories, and the things you want to tell your dog or cat can be very therapeutic.

   If there is a child in your family, it is extremely important to listen to their feelings. The loss of a pet is sometimes the first experience they have dealing with death. The way you handle this grief with a child will affect how they handle such losses in the future. You may find them becoming fearful of losing other loved ones in their lives. Give them the support and reassurance they need and don’t be afraid to let them know that you are also grieving.

   There is another family member who must not be forgotten during this time. If you have more than one pet, the ones left behind may also experience grief. The surviving pet might whimper, search for their friend, and refuse to eat, or become lethargic. This is the way animals express their sadness at the loss of their companion and is not much different from humans. Spend more time with the grieving pet and you’ll see a positive impact on both of you. Pets pick up on our emotions so a little extra love and snuggling will go a long way towards healing both of your hearts.

   A common sentiment after the death of your pet is “I will never get another dog/cat.  It’s just too painful to lose them.” Going out to get a new pet is not advisable until you’ve come to terms with your recent loss. It may be as short as a month to more than a year before you’re ready to welcome a new pet into your life. Everyone has his or her own timeline for the grieving process. 

   The only way to get through life without the pain of a pet’s death is never to know the love of one in the first place. I think that would be a sad and lonely way to protect your heart. You will always carry the love of a lost pet with you. They leave huge paw prints on our hearts. There is one thing that I am certain of though; your pet wanted nothing more than to make you happy. Don’t lose sight of the fact that your dog or cat wouldn’t want you to grieve too long.

Winner by a Nose

Welcome back to the Bayou!  It is Wordless Wednesday hosted by the great people at BlogPaws.  Be sure to hop in to see their salute to small animals.  I appreciate them hosting a day where we don’t write too much, but share great photos.

“My sense of smell is second only to a Bloodhound.  I don’t know any Bloodhounds, so in my opinion that makes me number one!”

**Please take a minute to give The Returns and The Returns 2 ~ Showstoppers a 5 star vote on AUTHORSdb.  It is the annual book cover contest.  Both books are on the same page.  Thanks in advance.  http://authorsdb.com/books/2014-book-cover-contest/humor-entertainment-2014

This is Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.  To join in the fun click the BlogPaws icon below.  Enjoy these other bloggers great photos!

Dehydrating and Adoptables

  It’s Tasty Tuesday and Tuesday’s Tails, my double day blog hop. Sugar the Golden Retriever and Kol’s Notes host Tasty Tuesdays and always have scrumptious recipes or reviews.  If you are interested in all things edible for your pets, hop aboard!  Dogs ‘N Pawz is our host for Tuesday’s Tails, where we all feature adoptable pets in shelters or foster care.  It is a great way to share and help find loving homes for deserving dogs and cats.  Is there a shelter in your area that you can help promote?  You’ll want to join this hop for sure.  Please post or tweet the animals on the Tuesday's Tails hop.  The more exposure, the better the chance of finding forever homes.