Puppy Thanksgiving

Yes, yes, Thanksgiving was last Thursday…  You all must know by now I’m not very good at timely updating.

Whatever.  How do you like the new layout?  I wanted to make it Christmas-ee since Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year.  Not for the presents (don’t get me wrong, I love presents!) but that it seems like, for one month out of the year, people are cheerful and good to each other.  Maybe I’ve idealized it.  Maybe it’s the Christmas carols.  I just like that Christmas is a time of celebration and family.  I look forward to it every year and all the traditions my family has to go with it.

I’m a little worried my Greenery Theme is gone for good, since WordPress seems to have phased it out of their theme options, but I downloaded the CSS file from the original designer’s site, so hopefully, if I decide to go back to it once the holidays are over, I can.  The trees and the grassy meadow in the header just always said “Faith” to me, so that’s why I chose it for her blog.  I digress.

On to Thanksgiving!

Because Luka is still young and working on the potty training, we asked my Aunt if we could bring him along.  She’s been an animal lover for as long as I can remember and understands their importance to us, so I don’t think it was ever going to be a negative.  Faith had to stay home and even though I felt guilty, she got enough Busy Bones to make her life complete for the day and really, it was probably a much needed rest from needle sharp puppy teeth anyway.

So we packed him in the car, bringing things for puppy to chew on that weren’t still being paid off and headed for the Thanksgiving feast awaiting us.  Luckily he was actually very good and only had to stop for a potty break once.

I gotz wotz of toyz annnd Iz vewy good!

When we got to my Aunt’s house, we walked in, Luka in my arms and the reaction was much like I had just had baby…  I can only hope the reaction is like that when I do have a baby (and that said baby isn’t quite as fuzzy).  Of course, I understand their enthusiasm, I can’t help but scoop him up and kiss him until starts struggling to get away from all the affection!

We kept him on a leash while we were there, just to be sure he 1.) Couldn’t destroy my Aunt’s always immaculate house 2.) He didn’t somehow MESS on my Aunt’s always immaculate house 3.) Just generally prevent any chaos he could rain down upon my Aunt’s always immaculate house.

He waited patiently while we ate our delicious meal, very happy to receive his own kibble when the time came and was actually quite patient when my little cousin’s decided they wanted to play with him.  Some with a little more love than others!

I don't think Luka realized what had just happened...

He took a shine to most of them and was quite happy people wanted to take the time to squeak his toys and roughhouse with him.  Most of them wanted to help take him out on his potty breaks as well, which, if they would come do that while he’s at home so I could focus on homework or other things that require my attention, would be wonderful.

You would not believe how often I’ve been looking at him, look down to read a paragraph from my textbooks, only to look up to see him making a puddle. >.<

I wuv it when people pway wif me!!

He was the life of the party!

 

You haz mah Duckee…

But, no messes were to be had at Thanksgiving and the car ride back was lovely as a certain someone was dead tired from playing so hard– He actually fell asleep on my lap all the way home.

I can’t say I didn’t love every moment of the snuggling.

Because the next day he was right back to his old self!

Despite all of his current faults, I still love him.  He does try, sometimes, but in typical Husky fashion, not very hard!

 

But still cute...

I suppose I should call it a night for the blog, got a few things to finish up for class and then I’ve noticed I should probably start the “Epic Cage Clean out of the Week”…  Not to mention, Evie’s having a hey-day rolling around in her ball.  She keeps smacking my door, like she’s going on a trip… It just never ends around here!

Until then,

Jaina

Luka Muddypaws

I chose to hold back on announcing the latest addition to our family because it seemed too soon after the loss of Paisley to do so.  Paisley was very important to us, as all of our pets are and as I have said on previous occasions never replaceable.

When the thought of bringing another puppy into our home occurred, it was well before Paisley’s untimely death.  We had been missing Yuri a great deal and the thought of bringing another red-headed fuzzy face, for Paisley to grow up with and give poor Faith a rest was forefront on our minds.  About a week or so before Paisley passed away, I had found an ad on an online forum from a woman who has Huskies on her farm.  She had a red and white Husky puppy with blue eyes available and for everything that we had been considering, he looked perfect for us.  We spent the week deliberating if we could handle another puppy, if we could deal with the potty training and rule enforcing and obedience training.  If we could handle Paisley’s endless energy and the addition of puppy wildness and all the other issues that come with puppies.

After thinking about it, we made an appointment with the woman and began to look for names for our potential new family member.  The Friday before we were to meet the puppy, heartbreak reached us through the loss of Paisley, her humor, her personality and her presence.  All of us were in shock and felt lost as to what to do next.  We weren’t sure if we should bring the puppy home, if we should cancel if we could go through with bringing home another puppy, so close to Paisley’s passing.  I felt, after thinking on it, that my “stretchy love” theory still applied.  We had intended to bring home this puppy and give him a life full of love and happiness, regardless.  He wasn’t a replacement for Yuri or Ozzie or any of the other family that we had lost in the last few years.  And with Paisley gone, he wasn’t a replacement for her either.  He couldn’t even if he tried, he is entirely his own fuzzy person.  He has his own personality and quirks and dorkiness.

And so, Luka became our friend and family.

And then he got a bath.

And he loved it.

In reality, he didn’t.  He hated every waking second of it.  But he also got over it pretty quickly when there were toys involved.

He is quite the character.  He howls funny, plays rough and is stubbornly refusing to learn the definition of  potty training.  He’s also still learning that the hollering response he receives after sinking his needle-like puppy teeth into someone’s skin does not mean bite harder…  I won’t be sad when those start falling out.  I’m hoping sometime in the next week or so.

Some might say he’s a catastrophe, some might say he’s a joy– I say he’s still learning and give it a week– month, year…

My only heart break is that he will never know Paisley.  I think they would have liked each other very much and would have appreciated the finer, more destructive things in life.

Love you Paisley,

Jaina

Dear Paisley,

I slept with your Hippo on my pillow last night.  It was one of your favorites.  I miss you Baby Puppy.  I wish you were here to make me laugh, to toss a piggy on my plate.  I wish you were here to grow up, grow old, be you.

Keep everyone laughing in Heaven my funny puppy.

Love,

Jaina

P.S. Buddha misses you too.  Your little jailbreak buddy.

Enough is Enough…

I’m writing this now, because I know due to some comments from myself, people are going to start asking questions and I don’t have the strength, nor the will to explain anymore than I have to and to top it all off, writing has always been my coping mechanism, especially when it comes to times like these.

This morning, my Mother let the girls out to go potty while she got ready for work.  Faith and Paisley were perfectly fine and the day was starting for her, perfectly normally.  Apparently, at some point between my Mother peeking out the window and playing a quick game of peek-a-boo with Paisley and the catastrophe, something happened.

Everything occurred so quickly, that when Mom heard Paisley howling, she ran outside to find our baby on the ground struggling to get up and clearly scared.  She was rushed to the vet, but despite the best 0f efforts, Paisley passed away.

The vet’s official thought on the matter, is that somehow Paisley must have fallen off of the deck and in the process, broken her neck.  None of us here know, how a deck that’s only 2-steps high, that a 12 year-old dog with arthritis can still get up could have brought it to this.  Because I know Paisley’s personality and that she never does anything slowly,  it’s very possible she went to jump down and did it in a manner that could have caused such an injury, but she’s also done it so many times, that I feel like she would have known better.

All I know, is that it isn’t fair.  Not just to my family, but to her.  She was still a baby, barely over a year old and so full of life, that this THIS takes the cake.  It’s one thing for some cosmic plan to make us decide when it’s time for an old dog to rest, it’s another to simply take a life away and that of a unique young dog.  And for that, I have become completely hardened to this year.

I am SICK of losing the people and friends I love.  SICK OF IT.

I have remained patient throughout this year, toiling along, constantly keeping up the mantra that it can only get better.  But how much more do I or my family have to take?  This year has been nothing but pain, my grandfather, Yuri, Ianto, all of the crap that comes with trying to LIVE and now Paisley.

My poor mother is sitting downstairs thinking she could have prevented this from happening, that she could have known that something this UTTERLY RIDICULOUS was going to happen, but she couldn’t have.  This is the universe kicking us while we’re down.  This is the final sucker punch before 2011 arrives.  We loved Paisley, more than anyone will understand, like we love all of our pets.  We might complain about their antics, or about the vet bills, but they complete our family.

We adopted Paisley, to give her a life she could never have living at the shelter.  To let her live a happy life and to know what it’s like to have a family that loves her.  And now she can’t have that because of something so unpredictable and stupid.

This is no one’s fault, but none of us feel anything but guilt.  She didn’t deserve this, not like this and not this soon.

I keep waiting to wake up, to find out that it was all a bad dream and that she’s fine and throwing piggies into people’s food again.  I want her to burst into my room, pounce on me for being sad and then try to spring Buddha out of jail, like she’s been trying to do since forever.

I want my baby back.

She was a special dog and she made a lot of people happy.  She made me smile every day, no matter how often I wanted to be mad at her.  She was a nut, a comedian and lover.  She snuggled when she felt it was necessary (never) and gave kisses liberally.  She kept me going when it felt like my whole life had come crashing down around me and now it has.

There will never be another like her.

:0}

I love you Paisley and I’m sorry, that for the first time, it wasn’t a decision we got to make.

~ Jaina

Halloween Recap

Ok, as you all know, it was Halloween last night.  And as promised– Paisley Pumpkin and Faithy Dinosaur handing candy out:

Whyz all de stwangelee dwessed hoomans getting all de candee?!

No! IZZZ MINEEEEE FAITH!!!!!

Paisley’s still working on the sharing thing…  And… Personal boundaries.

Anyway, they were a big hit, most of the kids who came to our door (all three of them) noticed there was something odd–  Like a blonde pumpkin and dinosaur.  They didn’t understand why we were handing out all the good candy to complete strangers that were dressed even more strangely then them, but they did very well not rushing the door or barking at people.

(read:  They were amazing and I’m not just saying that as a proud momma!)

Until next Halloween!  Oh and Turkey Day!!

~Jaina Faith & Paisley