It’s the thought that counts, right?

I know it’s been a very long time since I last posted and I’m fairly certain it will be a very long time for me to post again– but, it’s the thought that counts, right?

At the very least I have several good reasons why I haven’t updated:

1.)

I own this.  I have officially become a homeowner.  I’m not very good at it right now (made a few mistakes already) but I guess that’s all part of the learning experience.  My learning experience started as soon as I tried buying anything at all.  I originally put an offer in on a different house and had it fall through.  Had a pre-approval that was later rescinded due to an error on my bank’s part (did I mention I had a new purchase agreement?) and then several weeks passed, with more and more issues arising and the future looking more bleak for me to begin my journey as a homeowner.

Obviously, things finally came though, but not before I had to get a lawyer involved, got an ulcer and made a very long list of people I will never work with again if I can help it.  Now I’m here and for the most part, it’s pretty exciting that I have a house to call my own and have say over.

2.) I welcomed a new baby into my family, here in my new house.  This is my beautiful Harlequin Great Dane, Hank.  I found out about Hank by pure chance, working at the pet store– I met a family who was fostering puppies– I met one one of Hank’s brothers at the time– and over the course of a few weeks, got to meet the rest of the family.  Hank’s mom had been found stray and pregnant.  Believed to be a puppy mill escapee, the family took her in and nursed her back to health.  She was a Great Dane, but with puppies she weighed 79lbs, without she weight 59.  Even as a female Dane, she was clearly underweight and very unhappy with life, to the point she had to be sent to a Great Dane rescue when the puppies were old enough, because she didn’t like men and she didn’t like children.

Because I had met the family before anyone else who had an interest, I was given first choice of the puppies.  Hank had made an impression on my Mom and I, so home he came.  He was 8 weeks old at the time of that picture–  He’s only just 4 months now.  He’s more this size now:

As of Friday, the 27th, he weighs 41.2lbs.  He seriously doesn’t have a clue how huge he is.  It’s hard sometimes, to remember that he’s barely 4 months old given how huge he is.  He eats 3 cups of his food, three times a day– I have to try to buy his food ahead, just because he eats so much.  Honestly, it’s a joy to have him, even when he’s naughty (though I might not think it at the time).  My only fear for him is how short a life span Great Danes have.  If he makes it over 7 years old, he’ll be considered an old man.  I’ve heard so many wonderful things about the breed, that I wanted the experience for myself.  I may not be able to not have a Great Dane, after this.

Faith’s opinion of him is slightly less appreciative than mine… Even though he seems to be quite taken with her.

In fact, I’d say her opinion is rather low…

My old lady has gotten over how cute puppies can be.

3.)  Since moving in, I’ve been able to convert at least one of my basement rooms into a happy place for my piggies (I hope to get the other one ready for Baxter & Watson soon), of which I now have three:

The baby, Sammahdi (or Maddi).

I feel much better about things now, now that they have a big space to stretch their legs and get to know each other, without living on top of one another.  They already seem so much happier then they were and I don’t have that guilt that I’m making their lives suck.  I really do love them so much and this makes me truly joyful to see them popcorning around, wheeking happily.

4.) Although I am currently still working both of my jobs, I have just opened (technically, I guess) my in-home business.  Which is really a variety of things, just to get something that might strike someone’s fancy.  I am offering violin lessons and tutoring (since I became an Orton-Gillingham certified tutor back in September AND, Guinea Pig Salon services.

I know, that must sound ridiculous, but they’re all things I’m good at and to be honest, I have had customers at the store call to see if there is a groomer that will deal with their Pig.  Not all Guinea Pigs are sweet when it comes to their maintenance.  Dharma is pretty freaking cute, but try cutting her nails and she will turn into a crazed lunatic.  If I can potentially offer help for fellow Guinea Pig lovers while being able to pay for groceries or a tank of gas, then I see it as a win for everyone.

As for the lessons and tutoring– I want to maintain my skills and I enjoyed teaching when I did it in high school.  I’d like the opportunity again, hopefully, somewhere there’s a kid who wants someone to teach them and also be understanding that practicing 20 hours a day, is hardly a kid’s dream.  I like working one on one with kids, something that I’ve had the privilege of doing at my full time job.  Now that I have the space to offer any of these things from my home, I’m hoping I’ll get takers.

So that’s what’s been going on here.  And those are my excuses for not updating sooner.  Had nothing to do with being lazy, or under-motivated to type up an entire blog post…  Nooooo.  We’ll just stick with that.

Anyway, I will not promise to be faithful in updating this, as usual.  However, I will try harder.  It’s not like I can say I’m too busy living at my parents’ house!

Until then,

Jaina & the Gang

www.facebook.com/JainaofallTrades

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100335013851499.2639810.14834194&type=3#!/pages/This-Little-Piggy-Salon/217740011652140

I knew that…

I just read an article (nothing overly scientific) on Yahoo News entitled “Do Animals Smile?”– Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely believe that animals have emotions and feelings and yes, they smile.

Tell me that's not a smile...

I didn’t really need an empirical study to feel this, but it’s a little reaffirming to see it somewhere that’s not myself:

According to Professor Nicholas Dodman, head of animal behavior at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine and a regular on Animal Planet’sDogs 101 and Cats 101, until recently, scientists have generally underestimated the emotional range of animals.

No really?

I’ve been a pet owner for 23 years–  I have believed for all 23 of those years, that every animal I’ve had in my life has had a personality, a smile and emotional range.

… today it is widely understood by scientists that mammals do experience primary emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, and happiness and even some secondary emotions like jealously and embarrassment—and they communicate them. Dodman says that dogs even have a sense of humor and laugh with a kind of huffing sound.

I have several stories that can attest to this– most recently with Luka:

Angelic... Not

The first time I really saw a dog be embarrassed, was a few months ago– Luka likes to sit on Mom’s ottoman (as seen above).  He really shouldn’t be up there, he knows he really shouldn’t be up there and Mom tells him he really shouldn’t be up there, but it kind of just happens anyway.  On this particular day, Luka was messing around on the ottoman, playing with a toy and not paying attention to what he was doing.  I tried warning him that he was particularly close to falling off from where he was, but since he’s a dog and he wasn’t even a year old yet… He didn’t listen.  Annnnd as I and everyone else in the room suspected, he fell off.  And not very flatteringly.

Needless to say, he was shocked and we all started laughing.  He became intensely embarrassed, he howled at us as we giggled over his gracelessness and kidney punched my Dad as he stood by and had a good laugh over his fall from his pedestal.  I’ve never seen a dog have such a reaction to people laughing at them before, but he genuinely seemed annoyed that we even dared.

The second was also a Luka experience and just happened this Monday.  My Dad had intended to take both Luka and Mystic for a walk.  Something Luka desperately loves and is even willing to leave toys for.  We’ve been watching a lot of Cesar Millan recently and Cesar says when you’re preparing for a walk, your dog should be calm submissive.  Well.  Luka was neither calm, nor was he submissive.  Mom warned him and gave him commands to calm down and he just wouldn’t.  So she sent Dad off with Mystic in tow and Luka– I kid you not– pouted.  Like this:

For over an hour.

This just goes to prove that Luka is a perfect example of how animals, dogs in particular, really do have a wider emotional range than some people give them credit for.  I knew that the minute I met any of my pets they did and I can see it every day, when Faith smiles when I wake her from a bad dream, or Luka laughs when he gets something he steals from someone or Mystic leans into one of us with all the love someone who realizes she has a family now can have.  I was validated even before the Yahoo article, as pointless or invalid as it might seem without pages of research to back it up.

I did my research in real life, that’s all that matters.

I just thought I’d share that, since I’ve been doing such a fabulous job updating.

Here’s the link to the rest of the article if you want to read it in its entirety

Think about it!

Until then,

Jaina

There’s this thing… Called an Update….

I do that.  Occasionally.

A conversation I had on Facebook made me realize I’ve neglected updating in about a million years.  Whiiiich of course I remembered, AFTER I had already given them a link to the site.  That’s never embarrassing.  We haven’t had any recent adventures here at Chez Lotta Pets, but then again, Mom of Lotta Pets hasn’t had a day off in a while.  Well.  That’s not true, I went to Disney for a week, but despite it being a vacation, still didn’t get to adventure with the pets.  Which may have been a good thing, because as much as I adore all of them.  I have days I need to not think about medication,  chopping cucumbers or if there’s enough chewsticks in the house to keep Uno satisfied.

Summer camp started for my work two weeks ago, so I’ve been a little busy with that, getting into my schedule and trying to not to burn to a crisp every time we go to the pool, which is twice a week and several times for field trips over the next few weeks.  Although it doesn’t require me to get up at 5am every morning now, I do have 8 hour days at the park, pool and whatever adventures the kids have planned for them, and I must admit it’s definitely exhausted me and put a bit of a damper on me doing anything of the things I normally do.  I get off work in the afternoon tomorrow and I have Sunday off, so I’m hoping to be slightly more productive.  Creatively, housework-idly and of course pet care-idly.

Too Hotz for Husky Puppies! Need Freezer!

I’ve also been battling a sinus infection since Tuesday, it was ugly for a day, now I’m just trying to stop hacking near anyone I like.

Ah needz a Kleenex

It’s been warm around here, to the point of being yucky. and so has the room with all the animals.  I have two fans going and most of the lights are off, but I don’t know if it’s helping.  The Pigs have been flattened out like little piggy rugs to keep from sweltering, both Evie and Uno seem to have gone into summer hibernation and my tanks have warmed up enough I was greeted to an algae bloom in Winston’s tank.  Turned off the heaters until I feel like they aren’t going to boil and I don’t have oddly colored algae crawling all over the glass.

Is Gud!

I think the only ones that have been staying reasonably cool are the rabbits.  The weathermen have been crying rain for the entire week and although it’s rained, sort of, it hasn’t been the thunderstorm special I was expecting.  Plus with the heat, I was afraid they’d get overheated and I wouldn’t be home to prevent them from getting sick, so they’ve had to stay in their indoor hutch.  I think it’s time to just get the outdoor hutch and figure out how to stabilize it from The Tank AKA Mystic doesn’t knock it over in her haste to see them.  I want them to enjoy the outdoors without risking them getting hurt or overheated.  Any of the hutches I’ve looked at have nesting boxes that a few frozen bottles of water won’t cool down.

Regardless of all this chatter, I should get to sleep.  Still have to get up for work even if I have the afternoon off.  Maybe I’ll end up being more consistent.

…..

Who am I kidding?

Until then,

Jaina

P.S. I’m not sure when I’ll get the actual button, but I recently decided to participate in a little blog program in conjunction with a company called Ears of Experience.  It’s a Travel Agency that I assume works fairly independently sending people to Disney, which, as you know, is one of the greatest places in the world in my opinion.  If you decide to go on a trip, you can get their information from me, just let them know I referred you and it looks like we both benefit.  The TA I set this up with is an independent contractor and her little business is called Wonders Dreams and Wishes.  I have her card if you need it, just let me know!

You'll always have a blast

I Haz a Happy!

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.

Until then!

~Jaina

Pepper Breath

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.

~Jaina

Luka’s First Christmas and Other Assortedness

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.

 

Lemme jus check de wecipe, 2 cups sugew, 16 cups cookees...

He was very helpful.  Not.

 

Yes, I was.

He really wasn’t.

He was also helping me wrap presents.  Sort of.

 

I was on twash dutee!

He really was.  Not.

 

Faith was just waiting for anything at all...

And then the big day came–

 

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!

Off for leftover turkey!

 

Merry Christmas!!!

~Jaina & Faith & Luka and all the rest!

 

Snow

So it snowed.

A little.

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...

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeasssssseee

GIVE US DE MUFFINS!!!

Since I started working at the daycare and having to get up as early as I do everyday,  my stomach has decided, that although eating breakfast after 8am, usually means I feel like I’m going to die, not eating anything around 6:30am, also means I’m going to die.  My stomach puts up a racket and will not stop until I put something into it.

I’m not really a fan, since I usually prefer to sleep as late as I can before I become late for work and that typically means I have no time to eat.  Sometimes, if we have them, I’ll grab some Mini Muffins to stave off the bubbling attack of doom my tummy will thrust upon everyone else in the area, but if we don’t, I’m out of luck.  So my latest tradition has been stopping by McDonald’s on Thursday mornings to get the Egg McMuffin of deliciousness and perhaps a few extra Sausage McMuffins of deliciousness for two fuzzy faces we all know and love.

I know, I know– You’re all thinking, “But, Jaina– It’s Wednesday, are you so befuddled you can’t even remember what day it is?”

To which I would reply, yes– I am.  However, tomorrow, I have a buttload of things to do and I’m not entirely sure I’d have time to stop and get it and eat it and let them eat theirs.  So, rather than pull my hair out over figuring it out and live with two pairs of eyes burning holes into me because I didn’t do it.

We did it today.

That was an unnecessarily long explanation, wasn’t it?  I’m doing it again.

Anyway.  Just so you know, this is a sometimes food.  I know all the experts are crying and shaking their fists at me because I’m clogging my dog’s arteries.  So let me stop them now and say– Trust me, whatever arteries I’m clogging with some Sausage McMuffins are already halfway to hardened with all the crap they manage to find and eat without me knowing until it’s too late.  Let me reward them for being good for ONCE, once a week.  It makes them happy and they burn off enough energy during the day that I think it’ll be fine.  They’re in better shape than I will ever be.

*Off the soapbox*

So, this was supposed to be a short post.

That didn’t happen.

Sorry.

Until Then,

Jaina

Broken Paisley Puppy

You know how I said this year has been kinda difficult?  And that it really hasn’t gotten any easier as of late?  Yeah.

Paisley’s not helping.

This morning, I called Paisley up to stay with me until I was ready to leave for an interview.  I’ve been having to do this because dork-face has started getting into all sorts of trouble when she’s by herself and if she’s not doing that, she’s sitting outside my door crying to come in.  Well, when I called her, it seemed like my call was simply echoing down the stairs and that my command to have her come join me was being unheeded.  This isn’t particularly unusual, seeing as she has selective hearing and will often ignore anyone who tries to tell her what to do.  She’s stubborn and if she doesn’t want to do what you want her to do, then it won’t be done and that’s kind of how it’s been since she’s moved in.

I continued to call her, adding in all the pet names and hullabaloo that normally gets her to at least acknowledge my existence and… Nothing.  At this point, she’d have run up and down the stairs about fifty times just to prove she can and express her prowess in “Stair Running- X-TREEEEEEME”.  Only this time, she still hadn’t made an appearance.

Naturally, I became a little concerned that something had happened to her, but I couldn’t really imagine what, as my mother had only left a few minutes prior to me calling her and even Paisley isn’t capable of complete housing destruction in five minutes.  So I started down the stairs, only to have Paisley shoot out of nowhere and up the stairs.

On three legs.

As soon as I saw this, I had flashbacks to when Faith had greeted me at the door when we lived in an apartment, in a similar fashion, right after she had leaped off my bed at a bad angle and almost annihilated her knee cap.  When Paisley got to the top of the stairs she started crying and tried putting her leg down only to immediately pull it back up for fear of putting weight on it.  I laid her down and started checking for injuries that even a stay at home pet owner could diagnose, to find nothing particularly out of the ordinary, other than my puppy laying in front of me in pain.  Nothing appeared broken, her leg would still bend though she was hesitant to do it, there were no sores or bloody gashes or oddly bending toes.  Just her whimpering.

Not knowing what else to do, I called my Mom on her way to work and left her a message, hoping she would get it and maybe give me some advice, since she knows a bit more about animal anatomy and such than I do.  Unfortunately I had a very important interview I had been trying to prepare for before this happened and I couldn’t get a hold of Mom, so I made Paisley comfortable and hoped she would get back to me when she could.  When I was finally able to get a hold of her, it was after my interview and I was just walking in the door.  To find Paisley, once again, bouncing off the walls at her usual 90 miles per hour.

She was still limping a bit, but was no longer crying, so apparently the worst of it was this morning.  Still, Mom made an appointment with the vet.  In the meantime, I had finally received the gift I had purchased for Mom over a week previously and had been anxiously awaiting to surprise her with.  I wanted it to be nice for her, so I decided to make her bed and put the present there for her to find when she got home from work.  Wellll, Faith and Paisley decided to help me– Er… Get in the way more like.

Um... I'm stuck.

She of course, waited, until I had Mom’s bedspread ready to let fly and got caught in it as I tried to straighten it out on the bed.  She’s always so helpful…

No, really... I can't see...

That would be a dog face, if said dog hadn’t of gotten stuck in the blanket.

I'm pretty sure she's got the pathetic look down, even when it's covered in chenille

It became obvious after a few minutes of this that she was having trouble “following the light” as it were, so Faith and I mounted a rescue mission:

I think Faith might have left her under there if I hadn’t of intervened, but then again, I might of too if I went through half of what Paisley does to her.  Undeterred from her escapade, Paisley continued “helping”.

I will BITE YOU! Even if you did just help me escape!

And help…

I'll rooollll over heerrre-- Oh, I'm sorry, were you trying to straighten that? Oh, well...

And help…

And I'll wipe my face on thisssss... Oh, you were working here too? Could you just pick a spot?! Seriously!

Annnnd finally I just gave up.

:0}

Because there’s really no working around this face :0*

Finally, Mom got home and was able to take her to her appointment.  Unfortunately, the vet we normally see was not available so Paisley got to meet with the owner of the office, who is– shall we say less than pleasant to deal with on most occasions.  Often finding fault with us if were a little behind on shots or dental check-ups and so on.  What he didn’t bother to see is that Yuri’s medications, surgeries and then final diagnosis has been a bit of a hardship, so bringing our other dog’s in for what could potentially be $300 worth of vaccinations and other details has been something we’ve had to put on the back burner.  At, least one of the vet techs there was aware of our situation and let him know, that our love for Yuri has caused some lasting effects… So essentially, get off your frigging high-horse.

We can’t all be so lucky to have a successful veterinary practice and buy a new truck every few years.

However, we aren’t the only ones who dislike seeing him– Paisley took one look at him and growled.  Which lead to some time muzzled as the doctor poked and prodded, but on the inside and at home, we’re all very proud of her for being a good judge of character.  Just as proud as when Yuri was taken in for his first round of testing at the beginning of all his health issues and ended up peeing on the same vet’s freshly washed truck…

^..^ <– Yuri’s smug face.

I certainly don’t condone dog’s being naughty and rude, nor do I necessarily condone your dog defacing someone’s property, even if it’s something that probably won’t even be noticed– But when the staff seems to appreciate your dog’s efforts, that might be a clue their boss is mean.

Well, I guess this time around, even though she growled and he tried to scold my mother, he seemed to warm up to Paisley– This happens a lot, actually.  She’s totally horrible and often humiliating to be seen in public with, but when people meet her, those baby blues and cute little smile get people to do back flips for her.

(Not me though… I don’t fall for it anymore… Nope… I didn’t give her any of my fries during dinner…  Just one…  Three.)

He started loving her up I guess and gave her the good treats, after deciding she had strained a tendon in her leg, which would explain the limping.  Even though, when she got there, she apparently stopped.  Kinda like when your kid has a 110 degree fever and you rearrange your schedule to get that very last appointment availability and then you get there and they’re suddenly a balmy 98 degrees and the doctor’s like “Why are you here?”… Just like that.  Despite her not cooperating on the “She’s really hurt!” front, he agreed she probably did land on it funny and that she might have strained a tendon in her knee/leg.  Like Faith, who limps when she’s played too hard or jumping too much or has a puppy hanging off her legs.  So now we have to observe her for 10 days, keep her quiet for 10 days, keep her from climbing stairs for 10 days and make sure she’s not hopping on any furniture for 10 days.

Pretty much, we have to preform an exorcism and perhaps a miracle, for the next 10 days.

I’m hoping that she’s not permanently broken and will bounce back more easily since she’s a youth, compared to Faith who was already 8 or 9 years old when she hurt herself.  The vet doesn’t want to take x-rays (probably because they’d need a horse tranquilizer just to slow her down) and he doesn’t want to put her on medication unless it’s absolutely necessary.  She’s only one, she doesn’t need a pill box of her own just yet.

So, until she gets an okiedokie from the vet that she can play rough again, keep the baby in your thoughts.  Despite there being days I’d really love to strangle her, I really do love her and would be heartbroken if something worse were to happen or she was in pain all the time.  Hey, I have a bum knee, I know how it feels, wouldn’t wish it on anyone, especially a little one.

So think of the brat for the next few days, maybe your happy thoughts will make her feel better!

Until then,

Jaina, Faith, Paisley, Ianto, Uno, Buddha, Baxter & Watson

Fuzzy Bake Sales

Last weekend, PAWS & More had a few bake sales to raise funds for the shelter.  They held one at Theisen’s (a farm supply store) in Cedar Rapids and as we were looking to finish up taking photos of a few more treat selections for Paisley’s shop, we figured we would donate to the cause.

So a few days before the sale, Mom and I got things together and baked up the treats we have available for sale and got them ready.  I had to be at work at 6am, and Mom had to be at work by 8, so neither of us was able to drop the treats off once they were done– So.  Dad got to do it.  Which he did with a smile on his face.

In any case, when Mom and Dad went to check it out after work, half the bags were gone and there were plans to send anything that was left to the other bake sale.  As far as we know, the majority, if not all of them were sold.  We’re hoping to get more sales from any exposure we got at the sale– Along with Dad’s cute little tags, we also included a “Bounce Back” sale tag with a special code for people to use when they buy more from us.  We’ll see if we get any back.

While we were preparing the cookies, we had a little help:

Mouf is down hewe, cookee is nawt down hewe.

She got a little intense...

Well-- it does have her name on it, she should approve it.

Overall, I think the cookies turned out well, even if Paisley attempted to taste test them all.

Even if it made a mess.

Check us out, I'm sure your dogs will love them-- Paisley does.