Tell Me Again Why I'm A Dog Person

On a regular day, Bootsie's jowls collect drool, chewed up food, and oh yeah, drool. It gets nice and stale in there so when she shakes her head later, she can launch little strings of slobber onto the walls and across her nose. It also makes greetings, shall we say, bittersweet.

Her jowls also rub up against her ears and coat them with a nice glue...which, come bath time, presents a hardened mystery goo on the inside ridge of her ears that does NOT come off easily and makes me dry heave just thinking about it.

But here's the thing. Basset Hounds were bred for hunting and tracking. That explains the short legs, but what good would it do to have this dog keep its snout to the ground for a few miles only to have it emerge with about three tons of mud (if you're lucky) collected on its lips AND happy to see you?

Allright, here's where this is coming from: We had LOUD thunderstorms last night...which wouldn't have bothered me except that it made Boots SUPER drooly, whiny, shaky, and climby. Since I was already asleep as this storm brewed, I couldn't give her a pre-emptive Benadryl (which is about the only way it works)...so I awoke to her clawing me and licking my face, and utterly inconsolable.

Meanwhile, Dinah had yet another seizure yesterday morning. And Rocky, who ate about $250 worth of my shoes PLUS both of my parents' couches when I first got him, has a tremor that has spread from his front left paw throughout his body and has recently emerged in his mouth -- making him chatter his teeth intermittently throughout the day. Oh yeah, and he recently ate the front off of MY sofa because his ball got trapped under there. Still, he is the Good One.

So what does this have to do with training?

I have no idea. But I have a lot of frustration to work off today.