Mystic has been here a week and although there have been a few tense moments, so far it seems to be going fairly well. She really is a sweet dog– Honestly, you couldn’t ask for a better personality from a newbie. She’s desperate to please everyone and she hasn’t caused any trouble.
She makes no sense as a dog. She’s squat, short-legged, Husky-tailed, Lab-colored and a head that’s twice as big as any I’ve seen. And yet I think she’s one of the sweetest faces, ever.
She was hoping to get this:
ow.
She’s been here a week and most days I wonder if she ever wasn’t:
For anyone following the blog– you may remember this post. About a week ago, we discovered that Paisley’s mom, Mystic had found her way back to a shelter after being adopted, returned and lost many times in the last almost 2 years. This last family had discovered too late that she is an energetic, intense dog and rather than returning her to the shelter (which they will ALL happily do, no questions asked), they listed her on Craigslist and gave her away. Which explains how they “don’t remember” who they gave her to.
Because of her connection to us and the fact her life has sucked this far, I took it upon myself to convince my Dad she needed to come live with us. He was resistant, as usual, but “Operation: Save Paisley’s Mom” was in full force. I am perfectly comfortable stooping to begging when it comes to saving lives. When it appeared Dad was immovable to her sad story, I stepped up my game. This included a kidnapped phone, a quick contact edit and a personalized ringtone, concluding in a phone call that lead to Mystic finally finding her way home with us.
Today, Mom and I traveled back to PAWS & More (she had been transferred back a few days ago), where she met Faith and Luka. We waited with bated breath, hoping that she would get along with them both enough to come home. Luckily, she did! It was heartwarming to see that, despite being shipped off and returned and dumped so many times, she still appears to be in good spirits and very loving. She does look like she wasn’t treated very well and she’s trying to please everyone, even though our expectations are simply for her to listen as best she can.
It amazes me how much of Paisley I see in her. From her tail, soft fur, to the way her tongue lolls out of her mouth. I look in her eyes and I see Paisley. I know she isn’t Paisley, and that was never the point of me wanting to adopt her. I wanted to give her a home that was stable and loving, where she would never have to worry about someone kicking her out, or leaving her behind. We at least understand what kind of personality and energy level she’s bound to have. In fact, we discovered pretty quickly what kind of energy level she has, as she figured out how to get the front door open almost 20 minutes after she got here. Running after someone for the first time in a very long time, definitely brought back memories.
I’m really glad she has a microchip. I’m sure we’ll be seeing that again.
I’m happy she’s happy now :0)
I have a car!!!
I'm so glad I have a car!!!
Oddly familiar...
I took a picture of Paisley, Christmas before last that looks just like this... Clearly she's family...
She was actually a very good car rider. She was quiet and kept to herself in the back seat. She wagged the whole way home and stared into passing cars as though she were telling them she had her own and was going home. She really is a sweet girl, even if she does need to work on her manners.
She handled all of this really well, even if she doesn't understand why we're doing it... AGAIN.
He likes the scratching...
And then he fell asleep against my pop bottle...
I really hope they get along. It’ll be good if they do.
Hopefully I’ll have time to get real pictures of her soon. I’m just happy she’s here now.
Actually, it’s been here for about a week, but I haven’t had the time or the energy really to work on it. However, after the millionth time of tripping over the box and seeing their sad little faces I finally just gritted my teeth and told myself to do it.
*cough* while dragging my poor Dad downstairs to help me *cough*
I could have done it, I swear! But power tools and I don’t necessarily mix (should have seen me two weeks ago, sanding my fish tank stand!) and Dad knows that and he knows that I obsess over my animals. So he was the dutiful father and helped me get it all screwed together and commiserated with me when a few pieces didn’t look like they even belonged in the box. And of course the inevitable “shipping damage”, as in a whole hinge breaking off in the box. Sweet.
Either way, the majority of it is complete:
Yay!
Tomorrow, after work I’ll probably wander into the abyss that is Menards so I can get some new hinges and get the roof attached and hopefully get Baxter and Watson moved into their new place. Just in time for spring and needing to buy them the OUTDOOR hutch I want for them.
Yay!
I wish they’d consider getting a paper route.
I hope to have better pictures soon, also hopefully of the two checking their new digs out. I will say this, it’s good this isn’t a smell-o-blog, because this hutch is stinky. I don’t know if it’s whatever they treat the wood with to keep it from rotting or being bug-eaten or if it’s supposed to emulate pine. Whatever it is, IZ NOT PRITTEE!!
I gave the girls green peppers that we had left over from our chili dinner.
PEPPERZ ARE DELIZIOUS! YAYYYYZ!
P to the U!
That would be the result of the peppers… Happy pigs with a sudden urge to snuggle and mom’s face melting off.
WARNING: Do NOT leave piggies unattended with any large animals you may have. Even the best dogs are still dogs and if given the opportunity, they will snatch smaller animals up. Be very careful– Faith is gentle and I was within grabbing distance, so my worries were small, but that by no means, means it’s a good idea.
Whatz you doing down dere?
I givez up.
Luka was also being, though it happens very little, adorable towards Faith– But she was having none of it.
He makez me sweepy.
That was all– Nothing big, just had some cute pictures.
I got busy, life kept going, I didn’t update, so shoot me.
I’m here now.
So here we go:
Watson:
Is doing WONDERFULLY! Less than a week after the surgery, the vet said she would be healed enough for me to start letting she and Baxter hang out. I was a little surprised by that, but after looking at the surgery site, her fur was already growing back in and it was little more than a scab. That was exciting news and to be perfectly honest, I feel like she’s mellowed out quite a lot. I still wouldn’t stick my hand in her cage and poke her, but she doesn’t freak out as easily and she is actually quite snuggly now.
Baxter & Watson Meeting:
I didn’t actually get any shots of them getting together, since I was too busy chaperoning, but I did get some cute pictures of Baxter anyway.
Yes... I'm on the couch.
Still on the couch...
And now I bathe.
As for their date– It went pretty well. Baxter’s still a little forward with Watson, but at least now we can be sure there will be no baby-making. I think they like each other a lot, so I can only hope to get the money together quickly so they can live together. I think it will go well.
Valentine’s Day:
Let me make it clear– I hate Valentine’s Day. I think it’s overrated, over-advertised and I’ve had relationships that didn’t go as I had hoped start on it, so I’m always happy to see it gone. The only enjoyable part for me, is half-priced candy afterwords. However, my Mom seems to have caught the ‘crafty-plague’ and the last few holidays, we’ve done more in the way of crafty or baking to acknowledge them. Apparently this included Valentine’s Day. So she bought all these supplies and things and I showed up. The weekend before, we sat down and made about a billion (felt like a billion) little chocolate cherries and brownies and then glitterfied some plastic heart containers for those really nasty conversation hearts– What? They taste like chalk!– For her coworkers and the little ones I work with. The house is still covered in glitter from that incident. Although the glitter didn’t stick as well as we had hoped, they turned out pretty well.
I think everything turned out all right– Her coworkers enjoyed them and so did the kids– and I guess a few couples need to go into therapy because of the fights that ensued after tasting the chocolates.
Dad got to be involved, even though he hadn’t intended to, when we discovered one of our canister’s lids had inconveniently become stuck and wouldn’t come loose– especially when it was needed at the time:
We'll try anything around here...
Now it was a quest...
Ta da! THAT took ten minutes longer than it should have.
Ah, the spoils of battle.
It was a valiant victory. Against powdered sugar.
Of course, while we were working hard, there were some people that were hardly working.
Sorry about the quality, at the beginning. I was using my new camera and I still have a ways to go at being proficient, so it took me a while to get it into focus. :0/
He was howling for a variety of reasons (not just us winding him up) but the fact that not only had he been banished from the kitchen- but that his plan of rolling ALL of his new tennis balls under the gate and into the kitchen had failed in making him unbanished. So not only was he still banished, he had also lost of all his tennis balls. Which, let’s be fair, is a travesty.
When he finally DID become unbanished:
He found a really fun game to play! All by himself! He was so proud. He does this, will just start doing something completely odd and out of the blue and act like he’s done it forever.
I don’t get him sometimes, I’m just glad he’s happy.
Well, I think that’s all I have in me for an update. Not a whole lot has happened on the home front and I’m days away from finishing my undergraduate, so I don’t think I’ll be able to focus on anything that’s not school related until Wednesday afternoon. That makes me overjoyed– not.
I apparently only post, when I have good or bad news. Luckily, this is good news. At least for me, Buddha may disagree at the moment:
Meet Dharma
Dharma is my new pig. Dharma is very excited to be here. Buddha is acting like she doesn’t know how excited she really is that Dharma is here.
Let’s just say, Buddha has been the Lone Ranger for a while and having Tonto enter the picture after all the prairie has been homesteaded is not an easy transition… But Buddha is just going to have to understand we now have a “preserved prairie” area.
Iz mah prairee!
I’ve been reading up on how to introduce piggies to one another and apparently no one can agree on what’s best. Thus far, I feel like I’ve done everything wrong, despite being aware they might not like one another right away. Dharma has been nothing but friendly since she got here and seems to be aware that Buddha is indeed Queen Toad (I say toad, because she’s being one right now) and hasn’t done anything to dispute it. However QT has taken it upon herself to remind poor Dharma as often as is piggishly possible.
It’s very hard not to have high expectations of one’s pig, when she’s been perfect up till a certain point. I know Buddha has every right to look at this as a WTF?!?! moment, as her home/territory/prairie has essentially been invaded. Right now, I’m trying to let them share a space for a little while and then I think it might be best to let Dharma sleep in Buddha’s old apartment until they get used to one another and I’m not afraid to go to sleep for fear of waking up to bloodbath.
Trust me, they don’t look like they could maim– Until they bite you.
I did at least do a few things right this evening. Having them meet on neutral ground with a cucumber common denominator. For a short time, it seemed like it was all going to be fine and then Buddha decided to have a hissy fit and I got to deal with that, like I don’t deal with that sort of behavior at work every day! I also let them both sit on me for a while, of course, both prefer laying on my neck or sitting on my shoulder that was interesting to see, but they finally settled down for a while and didn’t bite me or argue that whole time. Not sure why if they can’t deal with each at the moment.
She stawted et...
Omnomomnomomnom... I did wuht now?
I read on a few of the pig websites available, that behavior you really want to stop in its tracks is if there’s a lot of teeth grinding and raised hackles. That’s great–
The only problem with that, is that I have two cowlick furred pigs. I couldn’t tell you if their hackles were raised or if they were having a bad case of static electricity.
At least I can tell if they’re grinding their teeth, which thus far, aside from the nipping hasn’t been a problem. Buddha did it to me when I removed her from the situation she decided to be annoyed about, but then realized who she was talking to. Of course, I might have mentioned a sudden shortage of cucumber if she didn’t get over herself.
I’m trying to be realistic, but I really want them to be friends. They’ve only known each other a short while and it is unfair to be expect Buddha to immediately be OK with someone moving in with her. I’ll just have to be patient and understanding.
But I want this now!
Until then (or after a trip to the emergency vet),
Well, we had another Christmas come and go today. It was also Luka’s very fist Christmas extravaganza and let me tell you– He handled it like he knew what it was all along.
We started the celebration yesterday, by making Snickerdoodles and Banana Bread, both of which turned out quite nicely. Surprisingly enough, Luka actually acted like a little gentleman and didn’t need to be kicked out but once– simply because he has a tendency to lay down right behind you. Good for knowing where he is, bad for not tripping on your face.
Can you... Just. Dwop whatever dat is pwease?
He was very interested in what we were doing and was also pleased with the scents that were being emitted by our oven.
All of these were our presents, but there were probably twice as many dog presents earlier.
Yeah, Faith is going in for the kill...
Faith waits for no one apparently and went immediately for the smelliest present she could find.
And then try to open them before anyone else can have some.
But Luka learned quickly...
And learned effectively...
And voila-- Happy Puppy...
Verrrrry Happy.
Faith-- Meet Faith...
You can’t really tell in the photo, but the toy does look like Faith, in a tug toy kind of way.
HALP! SHE HAZ DE PWESENTS!
So he got a monkey.
Sharing???
Nahhhh.
It was a good Christmas– The puppies were happy, the other assorted animals were happy and all of the presents I gave seemed to go over well. I love Christmas and I’m always sad to see it go– but, there’s always next year to look forward to and more shopping to stress over :0) I can listen to Christmas music for little while longer and then it’s off to whatever holiday comes next… Easter? President’s Day? Who knows.
Anyway, all of us here at the Doggy Bloggy wish you the best of the rest of this beautiful holiday and the happiest of New Years (I actually have plans! Wha-whut-whut?!). Also, whatever weather occurs, we hope it isn’t overwhelming, as winter weather often is!
Merry Christmas one and all. Faith, the gang and I hope everyone has a pleasant and spirited holiday and that 2011 starts out wonderfully.
I’ll post photos later about our own celebration and what and alllll the toys the fuzzy faces got. Because, frankly– They got way more than the rest of us.
So, today was my birthday! I turned 23 at 6:37 pm this evening– and no, I don’t feel any older. It was a lazy day, I got to sleep in for the first time in a long time, it was lovely. I got to snuggle with my Faithy and do my own thing before my mother got done with work and we went to lunch at Olive Garden. It was surprisingly good! My parents got me some lovely presents and then we all came home and napped, because frankly, the weather has been dreary and we’ve all been working too hard. I had a final symphony concert to play in for my college tonight, so that took a little bit of time, but it was a good day overall and we made it through the weather, since we’re also currently under a blizzard warning.
I guess we’re going to be getting around 6 inches between now and 6pm tomorrow. I’ll believe it when I see it.
The other thing that happened this past week was I got my new camera! I’ve been wanting a Nikon D90 since forever and my Mom was able to find a deal for me to buy the package I wanted, so now I have one! I haven’t had a whole lot of time to play with it, since the class I’m in right now, is particularly homework heavy. But, today was my birthday and I had my homework done, so nuhhhhh!
Thanks to that, I went outside and shot some pictures:
Very first photo I took with my new camera!! He looks thrilled.
Third picture I took... Still not happy.
Action Shot!
Butt shot
He had snow on his face. Of course, it was only after all of these photos that I realized I have a movement setting on my camera, so I could have caught a few photos of him bounding after Faith around the yard. Maybe some other time. Would have been nice to see before we got a million inches of snow, but at least I’ll be able to catch his reaction to feet of snow, rather than the powdering we got a few days ago. And maybe he’ll do more than this:
One of these days she’s just going to eat him.
Well, gotta go eat my cheesecake, I am the birthday girl after all!
Until then,
Which, I suppose I should be thankful for now, since we’re under a weather watch for Mother Nature to explode on us today. Since we’re having our extended family Christmas today, I’m hoping that holds off, same kind of weather happened last year and we had to turn back after it took almost an hour to travel what would normally take thirty minutes. Kept us from seeing our family.
Anyway, Luka will be coming with us again, as he’s still too little to wait in his kennel all day– He was so good last time, I don’t know if he has enough goodness left to make it through today. All my cousins are excited to see him again, especially the little ones.
I wanted to catch his first reaction to snow on camera, but I apparently neglected to plug in my camera battery from the last time I used it and my new phone won’t let me record video without a memory card. So, I was out of luck on that and forced to take photos with my phone’s camera, which actually, isn’t too bad for a camera.
I haven’t heard anything about the Nikon I ordered through Best Buy (I’m watching you BB, you’ve messed with the WRONG hobbiest!) so I wasn’t able to use that either, obviously. I’m hoping it comes soon so we can take some photos of Luka for the Christmas card. We make our own and we try to be funny. In the past we’ve used Ozzie, Yuri and Faith photos that made them look guilty and implied they had eaten Santa’s cookies. Which really doesn’t need to be implied. But, you know.
Anyway:
Iz wet!
Faith has seen snow many times and really isn’t a fan, but she thought she’d stick around for photos.
As Luka falls off the deck...
She may have laughed a little at that…
Don't EVEN look at me little Toad Boy!
It’s hard to tell if she likes him– Some days, she seems very sweet with him (at their vet appointment, she got very concerned when the vet tech took him away to show him to the other vet techs, like “Where are you taking my punching bag!?!”) and others, she looks like she just wants to eat him. I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like that too.
But then he does this:
And then I love him.
Well, we gotta get going, but I thought I’d share some of his first snow pictures, even if they are from a phone!
Until then,
Jaina, Faith & Luka
Original of that last photo-- Wish my leg hadn't been in there...
