Mollie and the Sound of the Loons

Each week, CBS Sunday Morning ends its broadcast with images of nature uncluttered with anything but the sounds of Mother Nature herself.  This week the show ended with the sounds of loons.  Mollie heard the sounds and reacted.  She started looking for the loons and was staring at the television set.  Then, she search around for them.  Here's the clip.

Mollie Frolicks in the Snow

It's been five months since I've last posted anything about Mollie. She continues to be a true blessing in our lives. She's smart, playful, affectionate and a real part of our family.

Today we had a major snowstorm --- over two feet of snow. Being a country dog, Mollie loves the snow. Yael filmed Mollie frolicking in the snow. Click here for part one and part two.

Enjoy.

The Ice Cream Social

One Stop Pet Stop had an ice cream social to which Mollie was invited. She selected "Apple & Cheddar" frozen yogurt. Within seconds she "woofed" it down. Needless to say, we bought her a supply to keep in the freezer.

Mollie & Baila Playing - Parts Two and Three

Here are two more videos of the girls playing.

Part Two

Part Three

Mollie and Baila-- Good Friends

Hard to believe that it's been a month that Baila has been staying with us. Mollie and Baila have become good friends. They enjoy taking walks together and playing. You can check out a short video at on You Tube.

Now that I figured out that I can take movies with my digital camera, more will follow.

It's very cute when Mollie tries to get on Baila's back. She will also climb on the table to be at the same height. Baila sometimes gets down on the floor to be on the same level as Mollie.

Health note... this week we took Mollie to the vet because Jessica noticed some green goop in her eye. Turns out that she had conjunctivitis. You can read about conjunctivitis in dogs here.

Then, we noticed that Baila was rubbing her eye and had some goop in it. Turns out that she has allergies. So, both are getting eye drops for the week. Happy to report that after two days, Mollie and Baila no longer have "pink" eyes.

Mollie's Has a House Guest

This week, Rabbi Heyn brought his ten-year old golden retriever, Bayla, to stay at our house for a few weeks. We've had many discussions about Mollie's supposed need for another dog and thought this would be a good test.

As expected, Mollie is very protective. She constantly barks at Bayla and basically drives Bayla to find a quiet space downstairs. Whenever we pet Bayla, Mollie comes over to be petted too. In fact, if we show any attention to Bayla, Mollie immediately starts begging for attention.

For me the challenge is adjusting to a larger dog. For example, it seems as if Mollie could take a bath in Bayla's water dish. As you can see from the photo, Bayla's tail completely blots out Mollie!

I took Mollie and Bayla on my daily 3-mile walk. Having Mollie pull me on my right side and Bayla pull me on my left gave me a really good idea about what it was like to be stage coach driver.

However, by the time we got to the end of the road, the two of them were walking in step. In fact, it was the best walking I've seen Mollie do. Mollie kept trying to engage Bayla but Bayla seemed only interested in walking.

Of course, Vermont living is quite an adjustment for Bayla. After all, she just arrived from Ohio and her master, Rabbi Heyn, wasn't around. She's smelling everything and stares at the horses and cows. But, she seems to be unaffected.

I am hoping that tomorrow Mollie will realize that Bayla will be around for awhile. So far, it's fun having them both around.

Feel down? It may be better to talk to the dog

Many married couples say they share their troubles with their pet, poll finds

By SUE MANNING

Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

updated 9:23 a.m. ET, Wed., April 28, 2010

LOS ANGELES - Husbands, if you end up in the doghouse, consider it a promotion.

A third of pet-owning married women said their pets are better listeners than their husbands, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll released Wednesday. Eighteen percent of pet-owning married men said their pets are better listeners than their wives.

Christina Holmdahl, 40, talks all the time to her cat, two dogs or three horses — about her husband, naturally.

"Whoever happens to be with me when I'm rambling," said Holmdahl, who's stationed with her husband at Fort Stewart in Georgia. "A lot of times, I'm just venting about work or complaining about the husband."

She thinks everyone should have a pet to talk to like her horse, Whistle, who's been with her since she was 19.

"We all say things we don't mean when we are upset about stuff," she said. "When we have time to talk it out and rationalize it, we can think about it better and we can calm down and see both sides better."

It would be a toss-up whether Bill Rothschild would take a problem to his wife of 19 years or the animal he considers a pet — a palm-sized crayfish named Cray Aiken. His daughter brought it home four years ago at the end of a second grade science project.

Rothschild, 44, of Granite Springs, N.Y., considers Cray a better listener than his wife, "absolutely. She doesn't listen worth anything." He doesn't get much feedback from the crustacean, but it's been a different story over the years with family dogs and cats.

"You definitely feel much more comfortable sharing your problems with them," he said. "A little lick from a big dog can go a long way."

Overall, about one in 10 pet owners said they would talk their troubles over with their pets.

‘The dog doesn't have an opinion’
The AP-Petside.com poll also found that most people believe their pets are stable and seldom struggle with depression. Just 5 percent of all pet owners said they had taken an animal to a veterinarian or pet psychologist because it seemed down in the dumps. Even fewer said they'd ever given antidepressants to a pet.

But they weren't opposed to the idea: 18 percent of those polled said they were at least somewhat likely to take a pet to a vet or pet psychologist if it was dejected.

When pets become the therapists, the dogs have it. Twenty-five percent of dog owners said their canines listened better than a spouse, while only 14 percent of cat owners chose the feline.

Ron Farber, 55, of Hoxie, Kan., said it's easier to talk to his dog Buddy than his wife because "the dog doesn't have an opinion."

"I think better out loud. He doesn't care what you say or do. He looks at you, pays attention, you walk through the problem in your mind and eventually, the answer comes. It's not as easy when other people are offering opinions," he said.

Farber would take Buddy to a vet if he needed help, but "I doubt there's a dog psychologist within 300 miles."

A pet psychologist is also called a veterinary behaviorist. Veterinarian Karen Sueda, whose office is at the VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital is one of 50 certified by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Most of her canine patients have problems with aggression and anxiety, while her cats' biggest problem is failure to use a litter box, she said.

Karen Manderbachs, 38, has tried drugs for her dog Kensey, a Shiba Inu who is afraid of thunder. "She sits and full body-shakes. She tries to climb the walls, will hide behind the couch. She gets frantic."

But the first time, the pill didn't take effect in time. The next, "she was so out of it, I couldn't do it again."

Without thunder, Kensey is fine and listens with the other pets — three dogs and a cat — as Manderbachs talks.

The dogs seldom react, "but if I'm upset, if I cry, they will hover around and try, in their own way, to make it better," said the 38-year-old from Rocky Mount, N.C.

Sueda, the veterinary behaviorist, said she thinks everyone talks to their animals.

"Pets are great because they provide us with unconditional support. They never talk back, never give us the wrong opinion and they are always there for us," she said. "As much as we love our spouses or significant others, sometimes they are not there, sometimes they have their own thoughts about how we should deal with situations. And sometimes, especially when it's a husband or male significant other, they want to solve the problem rather than just listening to the problem."

The AP-Petside.com Poll was conducted April 7-12, 2010, and involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,112 pet owners nationwide. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36823014/ns/health-pet_health/