Dog Bed 21

I have no idea what happened to this dog bed, number 21.  I have these two pictures of it.  One of them in one of my crates.  But I have waited too long to post about it, so I simply do not remember what happened.  No big deal.  I know I made it, so there it is.

Dog Bed 20

I have written previously about the Mutts With Manners Program, sponsored by our local Humane Society, which places homeless dogs with prisoners at our local medium security prison.  Cheri, a dog trainer - and dog whisperer - works with the prisoners teaching them how to train dogs, but the prisoners do all the hard work socializing and training the dogs, who are then able to find forever homes making lots of families in our community very happy.

My husband and I adopted one of the Mutts, Luka, after our own wonderful 16 year old rescue dog, Jesse, died in November of 2011.  Cheri adopted Luka's classmate, Levi, and shortly thereafter, one of the other MWM volunteers, my friend, John, adopted a third memeber of the "L" class, Lulu.

Since I had already given Cheri a bed for Levi, of course, I wanted to give John one for Lulu, as well.

I wasn't able to get a picture of Lulu on the bed, but here is one of John holding her.  You can tell the two of them belong together, can't you?  Though, I hear that Lulu is quite fond of John's wife, Cindy as well.

Dog Bed 17

This dog bed went to somebody who is herself a quilter, but also very much a dog lover.  A dear friend I originally met at a quilt retreat in North Carolina.  I went to the retreat with my BFF, Michelle, and Jan went there with her BFF Sally and the four of us became fast friends, connecting in subsequent years and in other places as welll.

Jan, who got this dog bed for her black pug, Cynthia Williams - yep, that was the dog's name! - is a veterinarian, and has several dogs.  But at the time when I gave her this bed. Ms. Cynthia was the queen of the pack.  Unfortunately, Cynthia has since gone off to the Rainbow Bridge, but she did get to enjoy the bed for a couple of years before she passed on.

When I give somebody a dog bed, the only thing I ask in return, is that he or she send me a picture of the dog on the bed.  Far too often, in my opinion, I never get a picture.  And I have been known to repeat the request, in some cases to the point of nagging.

Fortunately, Jan was very compliant, so here is a picture of the lovely Cynthia presiding on Dog Bed 17.  She clearly took possession of the bed.

Dog Bed 15

This is the biggest dog bed I have made to date. Unfortunately, I lost the picture I took of the full bed before giving it away. I gave it to the Danville Boyle County Humane Society which was having an auction to raise money for our low cost spay/neuter clinic, Happy Paws, a great clinic with which I volunteer every week myself.

The clinic is run almost entirely by volunteers, only the vet and the vet tech are paid, everybody else is a volunteer. We are open one full day a week and over the course of the four years the clinic has been in operation we have spayed or neutered over 5,800 dogs and cats. In addition to doing great work in helping keep the population of unwanted cats and dogs down, it is also a really fun place to volunteer. I have met some wonderful people at Happy Paws and made some good friends there. I look forward every week to spending time with the dogs and the fun and good people who chose to volunteer at Happy Paws.
One of the most competent people who work at Happy Paws is the vet tech Nikki. Nikki works as a vet tech at a local veterenarian's office most of the time, but on Thursdays, she has been working at Happy Paws, which has been a life saver for us. She is incredibly competent, a no nonsense person who knows how to handle just about any situation, and has a great sense of humor to go along with it. Unfortunately for us, Nikki has recently gone back to school and is currently studying to become a people nurse, so she is only rarely able to spend the entire day with us. We miss her terribly already, but she will be such a terrific nurse that it is impossible to be anything but happy about her decision.

Due to my admiration of Nikki, I was particularly happy when I found out after the auction that it was she who had bought Dog Bed 15 for her big rescue dog, Kingston.
And because I knew the person who got the bed, I also thought it would be no problem getting a photo of the bed with the dog on it. However, unbelievably, when I asked Nikki recently for just such a picture, she told me that Kingston suddenly had developed severe internal bowel issues - related to injuries sustained years ago before he was rescued from being an abused fighting dog - and that he had to be euthanized.

Nevertheless, Nikki sent me the above picture, Kingston's Christmas photo, where he sits on the dog bed. It is a great picture of Kingston and I am honored to have it even if it doesn't show much of the bed. As you can see in the picture, Kingston was a big handsome dog who needed an extra large dog bed. I know he was fortunate to live for a while with a person with an extra large heart who took extra good care of him, and I also know that he left an extra large hole in her heart when he had to die so suddenly. Having recently lost my own Jesse to old age, I can only begin to imagine how hard it must be to lose what she thought was a healthy dog so suddenly.

Dog Bed 19

This may have been the largest dog bed I ever made.  In fact, when I finished it, I thought it was ridiculously large.  So I decided to give it to my friend Cheri, who is a dog trainer - also known as Danville's dog whisperer.  She has several dogs of her own, and also boards dogs at her home, so there are frequently quite a few dogs at her house.  I knew the dog bed would be used at that house no matter how large it was.

Additionally, Cheri had recently adopted a beautiful young black German Shepherd, Levi,  from our Mutts With Manners program.  Levi was in the same "class" at the prison as my own recently adopted dog, Luka.  The prisoners who train the dogs have five dogs per class and name them alphabetically, five dogs per letter.

I knew Levi was a big dog, but I didn't realize that I actually had made the bed the exactly right size for him.  As soon as he got on it, I realized it was just right for him and it just affirmed my decision to give the bed to Cheri.

Dog Bed 18

This dog bed went to a very special rescue dog named Tony.  Unfortunately, I've never met Tony, but I feel as if I know him, because I have heard so very much about him.  Tony was rescued by my friend, Carolyn, who is a fellow volunteer at our Humane Society's spay/neuter clinic, the Happy Paws Clinic, where I get to help out every week.  Not only do we get to help curtail the overpopulation of cats and dogs in our community - and I get to hang out with some mostly cute and often handsome dogs for a few hours! - but it's a GREAT group of volunteers and we always have a good time together.  It's my favorite time of the week.

Carolyn lost her old dog, a St. Bernard named Claudia, for whom she had been providing what can only be described as hospice care, for several months at her home, in December of 2011.  As this happened very shortly after my own dog Jesse died, it was only too easy for me to empathize with her loss, and I was so happy for her when she announced in late January 2012, that she had adopted Tony.

Tony is a young black and white standard poodle.  I've seen lots of pictures of him, though regrettably I don't have one to share, and he's a very handsome fellow, who I KNOW is the very spoiled Alfa male of his and Carolyn's home.

Dog Bed 16

Katie Turbyfill  is the Director of our Humane Society's Spay-Neuter Clinic, AKA the Happy Paws Clinic.  I have written about it before, it is an awesome place where I get to volunteer every Thursday - the one day a week it is open.  Happy Paws is run by volunteers, Katie too is a volunteer even though she works the entire day every Thursday, plus untold hours outside of that getting us ready and organized every week.  The only paid staff are the vet and the vet tech. In addition to volunteering so much of her own time, Katie's two daughters, Eliza and Victoria are frequent volunteers as well. 

I finally got an opportunity to give Katie a Dog Bed when at Christmas she and her daughters adopted a new puppy.  They got this puppy, not because they had been looking for one, but because they were called up the day after Christmas by the shelter director and begged to take in this tiny puppy who was in very bad shape and desperately needed 24 hour a day attention, bottle feeding, and tender-loving care if she were to have any chance of survival.  Of course, Katie said yes.  When she a couple days after bringing the puppy home was able to take her to see a vet, she was told the little one had a 50/50 chance of survival.  When the puppy went back to the vet a week later, thriving and having put on some weight, the vet happily exclaimed that he had actually thought the pup was not going to make it!



But due to the love and care given to this little creature, oddly named Danny by Victoria, she now not only has a chance at life but a very nice home indeed.  She is definitely the tiniest dog to get one of my dog beds, and I was very happy because this is the smallest dog bed I have made so far - though it is impossible to tell from the pictures because Danny is so small.  To give you an idea of the scale, the coat Danny is wearing is actually one of Victoria's fuzzy fleece socks.  I had been wondering if I had made the dog bed too small, so I was happy to hear about and be able to give the bed to Danny, who quickly figured out how to walk all over it!

Dog Bed 22

In November 2011, right before Thanksgiving, our wonderful, loyal, loving rescue dog Jesse died of natural causes at our house.  He was the best dog ever and our first dog, so he was ever so special. He came to live with us when he was two years old and lived with us for 14 years, dying of heart failure at the ripe old age of 16.  By then he was deaf, quite grey around the muzzle, very arthritic, and just plain old.  But he had been one of the most enthusiastic dogs you could ever want to meet.  He LOVED to chase balls, LOVED to go for walks, LOVED to eat, and LOVED us.  And we LOVED him.

Thankfully, when he died, I had already been a volunteer with the Mutts With Manners program for a couple of years, so the trainer at that program, immediately said, that now without Jesse, I would have room to foster one of the Mutts who needed to leave the prison.  I, of course, agreed, both because I wanted to help and because my house started feeling awfully empty and quiet the minute Jesse was gone.  I have to admit that I wasn't at all sorry when I found out what dog Cheri wanted me to take home.  I'd taken a liking to the long legged black and tan puppy long ago, and was secretly hoping it was him.

Luke had been at the prison much longer than most of our dogs.  He had entered the program younger than most of our dogs, but had also been unusually timid, so the trainers had required and taken extra time to bring him along slowly, gain his trust and allow him to grow up.  But by now he was fully trained and he and his trainer had a very close and deep bond.

But as sometimes happens, even though he was ready to leave the prison, nobody had as of yet put in an application to adopt Luke.  That was the reason Cheri asked me to foster him.  If he could come stay at my house until a permanent home was found for him, a new dog could enter the prison program and be removed from the shelter making room there.  And of course I agreed to that arrangement.

When Jesse died, my husband, Steve, told me in no uncertain terms, that he was not ready for a new dog yet.  As I, he was very close to Jesse and emotionally, he felt it would be difficult or wrong to bring a new dog into our family immediately.  I did not feel that way, but was willing to wait for a while.

Steve travels quite a bit and I am often at home by myself for days or weeks at a time.  During those periods it had been particularly comforting to have Jesse around.  But as he died right before Thanksgiving, Steve was going to be around for most of the time during the holidays and would not be traveling a lot again until his teaching schedule started again at the end of January.  So though we had not yet discussed it, I had pretty much decided that I would get another dog by the time I would start having to be alone again.

I brought Luke home from the prison on December 1, 2011.  And he wasn't too excited at all to leave with me.  He was still a fairly timid fellow, nervous about anything new, loud noises, new people, places, and things.  I borrowed a crate from John, one of the other volunteers, because Jesse had not been crate trained I never previously had a crate.  It turned out that Luke was also terrified of riding in my car and shakily hugged the floor the entire way home, rather than trying to hang out the window as most other dogs I have ever known wanted to do.  But at least he didn't get car sick!  Because I was the only thing he knew, once we got to my house, he immediately attached himself to me - that at least was helpful!

Luke may have been a timid little guy, but he was not stupid.  From the very first evening he was at our house, every night when we sat down to watch TV, Luke would climb up in Steve's lap and snuggle in with him.  It was as if he knew exactly who he had to convince!

And, of course, it worked or I would not be writing this!  After Luke had been with us for about a week, somebody did fill out an application to adopt him, but when I told Steve about it, he immediately started worrying, said he thought it might be better for Luke to stay with us, that Luke had already gotten used to us, that it would be hard for him to move, etc. etc.  All his concerns about not being ready for a dog yet, had evidently disappeared?  And, since I was already fostering Luke and was a volunteer with the program, I was able to adopt him when I filled out an application that night.  Fortunately, Luke's litter-mate was also in the Mutts With Manners program, so the people who had originally been interested in Luke were able to adopt another dog who was almost identical to him.

As soon as we adopted the dog we renamed him and he is now Luka.  Our great nephew is named Lucas and often called Luke, and I didn't want my great nephew to have to share his name with my dog.

This is a terrible picture of Luka on his first dog bed in his crate.  The dog beds are all big and puffy at first, but they settle and flatten out, so it looks really weird.  It has settled down and fits the crate perfectly.  Also, the crate he is in, which was borrowed, turned out to be too low for him. When I bought a crate for him, I got a taller one.  He is not a big dog, but his legs are really long, so he is tall - he is a great runner and loves to run.  I think he might have a fair amount of sight hound in his genetic background.

And in spite of the awkward picture, Luka actually loves his crate.  For a timid fellow like he is, a crate can be a great place to "hide" and feel safe.  I know Luka feels that way.  It's not the only place he retreats to.  He has several safe places.  It kind of depends on where we are.  He likes to be close to us also, if possible.

Dog Bed 14

I made this dog bed for a dog named Petey. I've never met Petey, but I've heard lots about him, because he lives with Beth Neff, who is a fellow volunteer with the Mutts With Manners program sponsored by our local Humane Society, Danville-Boyle County Humane Society.

This is a program where shelter dogs on the verge of euthanasia are put in our program, taken to our local medium security prison and trained by prison dog trainers, making them much more attractive and adoptable dogs and then placed in good homes.

A select group of twelve prisoners live in the same dorm with the dogs and work with them 24/7. Our dog trainer and a few volunteers go into the prison once a week to work with the prisoners and the dogs, and facilitate the selection and subsequent placement of the dogs in forever homes through adoptions. But the prisoners do all the work of socializing and training the dogs. And they do a great job.

It's such a joy to volunteer with this program and see the transformation of the dogs during the 6-7 weeks they each spend at the prison. They often go from being shy, scared, and generally unsocialized dogs to happy, confident, very well behaved dogs who do very well in their subsequent homes.
Please visit www.muttswithmannersdanville.com to learn more about the program. You can also see a few pictures a my dog, Luka, who I adopted through this program. He's the handsome one named Luke on the web site.

Dog Bed 13

I gave this dog bed away to be auctioned off at a benefit for rescue dogs in general and our Mutts With Manners program in particular. As I was out of town on the weekend of the benefit auction and fundraiser, I have no idea who ended up with it, I just hope some dog somewhere is enjoying it.

Dog Bed 12

My dog, Jesse, got the very first dog bed I made. It was made of a white canvas with a light colored print and actually not very practical for the purpose. But it was what I happened to have when I started making dog beds, so the first several beds looked like that. After a couple of years, however, it was beginning to look quite dirty. And I finally just decided that Jesse deserved better and gave him a brand new bed!

I put the new bed on the floor next to Steve's desk, and, of course Jesse immediately knew it was for him.

Dog Bed 9

My goal of getting a photograph of the receipient dog on the dog bed every time I give one away seems to be impossible to fulfil. I have been holding back pictures of dog beds I gave away several months ago, hoping finally to get the pictures so I could post them with the beds, but have decided to give up. If I ever do get the pictures, I can always post them then.

After all, the important things are that the dogs got their beds and that I recycled the fabric scraps; right?
This dog bed, number 9, went to my very dear friends Denise and Kenneth Thomas, and their dogs Spanky and Katie. Denise and Kenneth are salt of the earth people who are probably the hardest working people I have ever known. Kenneth is the farm manager of Bright Farms, where I live and where Steve grew up. He has worked on this farm since he was a boy. He worked for many years with Steve's father, and when Bob got sick and eventually died, Kenneth took over the operation and has continued to run and take care of the farm. We could not do it without him. Not only does he take care of the farm but he takes care of all of us, all of our homes and everything that needs taking care of. There is nothing he does not know and nothing he cannot fix.

His wonderful wife, Denise, whom he met and married here on the farm, is equally capable. Though she is not a farmer, they do a lot of repair and yard work together, and she has worked for people in the family for many years as well. She was particularly essential in the many years of caring for Bob when he was declining and she stepped right in again when Steve's mother broke her hip a few weeks ago.

Whenever I leave town, they care for my old dog Jesse. He loves to go to their house and is probably more spoiled there than he is at home. He absolutely gets the royal treatment and it is such a treat to me as it could otherwise be hard to leave an old dog to run off to quilt retreats or for several weeks in Denmark. But I know he could not be in better hands with Kenneth and Denise.

Dog Bed 11

This dog bed, number 11, the biggest one yet, went to my friend Cheri Carbone, Danville and Boyle County's dog trainer extraordinaire! I have been so fortunate to get to know Cheri over the past year and have learned so much from her.

Cheri does all things dog here locally, and it is a treat just to watch her around dogs. She is not only extremely knowledgeable and experienced, but she is truly a natural. She makes it all look so easy. The dogs just want to do the right thing around her.
Over the past year, I have been working as a volunteer with the Danville Boyle County Humane Society's Mutts with Manners program, at Northpoint Training Center a local medium security prison, where dogs are trained by prisoners. It is a wonderful and greatly successful program due, in large degree to Cheri's efforts.

We take five dogs at any given time, selected by Cheri from among those scheduled for euthanization. These dogs stay at the prison with the handlers, two to each dog, in the dormitory where all the handlers and dogs live together. The prisoners who work with the dogs are selected by the prison administration. The dogs remain at the prison with their handlers until they are fully trained and ready for adoption, usually 5 to 7 weeks. During that time, the handlers work and live with them full time, socializing them, teaching them basic obedience and often some tricks as well. By the time the dogs leave they have passed their Canine Good Citizen tests, and the dogs who were on death's door step are as attractive and adoptable as the best shelter dogs ever.

It is wonderful for the prisoners, who have something meaningful and practical to do, and it is amazing to see how every single one of those dogs who would have been put down becomes a wonderful, well-behaved, lovable pet. There is not a single one of them I would not love to live with.

Cheri also owns, trains, and boards dogs at her house, so I gave her this dog bed to use for all the dogs who are at her home.

Dog Bed 10

I always get a lot of stuffing for dog beds when I visit Atlanta, and especially when I also attend a quilt retreat. My dear friend Michelle, has been a particularly generous contributor of scrap materials lately because she has made a lot of absolutely stunning T-shirt quilts. (When you make a T-shirt quilt, you use only a small part of the shirt, the part with the logo or image, and the rest becomes trash or dog bed stuffing!).

So, last time I went, instead of carrying all the scraps back home, I brought with me a dog bed cover and made the bed while in Atlanta. And I left the bed there with Michelle to give to somebody in need of same. As it turned out, Michelle donated the bed to a silent auction held for the benefit of VOX, an Atlanta based non-profit organization dedicated to giving teenagers the opportunity to express themselves and tell their stories through publication of a news paper by the teens themselves. www.voxrox.org
Before she gave the bed away, Michelle made and attached this beautiful label. I love the label, and wish I had thought of the idea and a way of making some kind of labels for the dog beds. I may still come up with something for the future - feeling sure that Michelle will not mind if I do copy her good idea. However, as Michelle and I discussed, such labels will have to be attached by machine and not as this is by hand, as a curious dog can too easily tear this off.
Dog Bed 10 sold at the auction for in the neighborhood of $50, and I am so happy that our scraps have helped make that donation to VOX possible. Since I have no idea who bought the dog bed, however, I obviously do not have a photo of the lucky dog on the bed :)

Imagine that! No sooner do I say that I will never get a picture of the dog on the bed, than Michelle emails me this picture! The person who purchased the dog bed at the auction, emailed it to her. So here is the dog, a rescued, retired grey hound - name and gender unknown - on Dog Bed 10. I don't know a lot about grey hounds, other than they can run incredibly fast, and that when not forced to race they can be very lazy and love to lay around the house. I hope this retired dog will get lots of time to lie on this bed.

Dog Beds 6 and 7

I try to remember always to take a picture of every project I complete before I give it away, and in the few instances I have forgotten, it has generally been possible to visit the recipient to make up for my mistake.

Unfortunately, with regard to Dog Bed 6, that appears not to be the case. It was the biggest dog bed I have made so far, and it was pretty cool too, if I do say so myself, with a Marimekko fabric covering. I gave it to Linda, a fellow Happy Paws Spay Neuter Clinic volunteer. Linda needed it for Buster, a big German Shepherd/Chow mix who'd recently wandered into her life desperately in need of a home. It seemed like just what Buster needed in his dog house in the fall of 2009, as it was turning cold outside.

I always ask people to whom I give a dog bed, for a picture of the dog on the bed, saying that is the "price" I ask for the bed, and Linda said she would take a picture of Buster on the bed. At the time, I didn't realize I had forgotten to take a picture myself of the bed so the one Linda promised me would be the only one I would ever have. However, not only has Linda not produced a picture so far, but she has also told me that it only took Buster three days to shred the bed and scatter all its insides all over her yard! Not exactly what I was looking forward to hearing :) Linda was the one who had to collect A LOT of fabric and batting scraps from her yard and I will gladly continue to make dog beds. I was just sorry that the pretty Marimekko fabric had to go to waste so quickly. Fortunately, most of the dog beds last a lot longer than that and are well worth making.
Dog Bed 7 above, went to my friend Jean Ann, who is a quilter and quilt teacher, who I met when she taught at the retreat I have been attending at the Episcopal retreat center, Kanuga, in Hillsboro, NC, in January for several years.

When I took the bed to Jean Ann, who lives in Marietta, GA, in April 2010, she promised me a picture of her dog, Chloe, on the bed, which I have yet to receive. But at least in this case, I did remember to photograph the empty bed myself, before handing it over. Chloe is a small dog and I feel quite certain she has not destroyed the bed, it is much more likely that her human just has not gotten around to taking a picture for me yet.

Dog Bed 8

I am still continuing to make and give away dog beds. And the only "fee" I charge for the dog beds is that I ask the recipient to give me a picture of his or her dog on the bed. Unfortunately, some of my customers have been a little slow at paying for their beds. At this point I am missing pictures of dogs on beds 6 and 7, so I have delayed postings on them.

I am delighted to post this picture, however, of Dusty on Dog Bed 8.
Dusty is a young male terrier Shih Tzu mix who was adopted from our local shelter by my mother-in-law, Pat, just a few weeks ago. He seems to be a very agreeable and sweet dog. He is house broken and very friendly, apparently doesn't even yap a lot, which is unusual for a dog of his size and breed. He definitely has the terrier prey drives and has already attacked a baby raccoon, but otherwise he is very gentle and friendly and gets along famously with my great niece Grace, Pat's great-granddaughter. After just a bit of prodding, he took very well to his new bed.

I wrote this post quite a while ago, but never got around to posting it.  So before I actually do so, I will update it.  Dusty was and is a very good and sweet dog, but he turned out to be too much for my mother-in-law.  He was probably only about a year old at the time, and needed daily play, exercise, or stimulation - more than she was able to give him. And when he didn't get that, he tended to become "naughty," he barked much too much, chewed on things he wasn't allowed to have, got into the trashcan etc.  Of course, he was acting out because of frustration and boredom,  

Fortunately, Pat was able to find a new home for him with a man who does a lot of handy work and walks around in the small town in our county where he lives.  Last we heard, he takes Dusty along everywhere he goes, so Dusty gets plenty of exercise and stimulation and is a much happier and better adjusted dog now, because that is just the right type of situation for him.

Dog Bed 5

Dog bed 5 went to Stephanie Fabritius. Stephanie is a fellow Danville quilter who has contributed a lot of fabric scraps to my dog bed project. Her shelter dog Thorstein seems to feel right at home on his new bed.
The dog bed cover is made of scraps of Marimekko fabrics. I continue to make dog beds so anybody in the market for a bed should let me know.

Dog Beds 2, 3 and 4

I have been able to continue to make dog beds. Each bed is made of a cover or bag of canvas, stuffed with quilt and other left-overs: fabric and batting scraps, threads, yarn, dryer sheets, and the occasional discarded piece of old clothing or towel cut in strips or scraps.

I have been able to make all these dog beds only with help from many fellow quilters, and most especially my friends at Wilderness Road Quilt Company, my favorite new quilt shop in Danville, KY, all of whom collect stuff for me, as I could never have collected enough by myself to make even one dog bed a year.

Dog beds two and three both went to Michelle Hiskey's new puppy Cleo.
Here's a picture of Cleo resting on her old dog bed with her zebra toy.
And dog bed 4 went to my sister-in-law Sallie Bright, dog lover extraordinaire, whose dog Lucy obviously took to the bed. It remains to be seen whether Lucy will share it with Annie and Lionel or whether they will have to have their own. So perhaps, Dog beds 5 and 6 will have to go there as well? Stay tuned!

Dog bed

A couple of years ago, a fellow quilter told me of a person who made dog beds by filling canvas "bags" with sewing trash: pieces of fabric, yarn ends, batting scraps, etc. At the time it seemed a bit preposterous, it would take way too long to fill a bag. But recently it occurred to me that I might actually be able to do the same so I tried. With the help of friends and, especially, fellow participants at quilt retreats, it actually didn't take long to make the first one. As soon as I placed it on the floor in my sewing room, Jesse jumped on it and lay down. He sure knew it was a dog bed and immediately claimed it for his own.