Big Bear Lake, CA

We took a little vacation to Big Bear this last week.  It was our second trip and I just love that place!  It is super dog friendly, lots of dog friendly cabins and restaurant patios.  Most of the activities you would do are in a National Forest- so that is a major plus too.

To start here is a shot of the car packed up.  We rented an SUV, so it worked out nicely (ok, maybe it was a little tight).  The people in the back seat could see the back of the crate to make sure everyone was traveling well.  Copley did better on this trip than he has on long trips in the past.  He mostly slept and didn't whine at all.  I think it is a combination of having Kerrigan in there with him, they are definitely both calmer in the car when they are together, and resolving the Tick Borne Disease that has been causing him so many problems.

The #1 activity at Big Bear was fishing.  Sadly even with 3 people fishing we only caught 2 fish and both were smaller than my hand.  Nevertheless fun was had by all.  This dock was a floating dock and you should have seen Kerri on it for the first time- HILARIOUS.  She walked like she couldn't bend her knees for the first 20 feet or so.  Luckily she got used to it quickly.

Here is Copley hanging out on the dock.

The cabin!  Isn't this thing adorable!

 Kerri hanging out in the doorway with me.  Then a shot of Copley hanging out in the living room.

Here are the dogs lounging in the sun while me, Ben and my Dad fished.

We went on a little hike to see the largest (or oldest- or tallest maybe?) Lodgepole Pine in the world.  I thought it was a little unfair because it branched out and had two main trunks- so really it was two trees.  It's ok that the tree was cheating though because it was not the best part of the hike anyway.  The best part was Kerri saw snow for the first time!!!  We were at a little higher of an elevation and there was this tiny patch of left over snow in the woods.

Copley could care less about the snow but he had a great time frolicking in the meadow near the tree!

Here you can see a very dusty dog.  Kerri just loves digging little holes to lay down in and it makes her quite dusty.  This hole was dug under the car after our hike to the lodgepole pine.  Luckily I don't mind my dogs getting a little dirty- they are dogs after all.  Plus their coats on raw food seem to be self cleaning.  They just take a nap and the dirt falls right off of them.

I will leave you with a few shots of Copley and Kerrigan hanging out on the dock.  Copley really wanted to chase birds and Kerri really wanted to just chill out and look around.

I hope to catch up on a lot of blogging this week!   Things have been crazy with non dog related work stuff but they are maybe calming down a bit now.  Stay tuned for updates.

~Annie

Sigh

Wally came to visit again!  We had a good time for 6 of the 8 hours, but the last two were a little rough.  Here are some photographs of the end of my evening.  I think they say it all.

  Click to enlarge for captions^  Rated PG-13

 Here is the 50 lb- 4 month old puppy on the other side of the divide

 We tried switching sides once

But doesn't he look so cute when he is sleeping!

Seriously though- Wally is a great puppy.  I would gladly watch him again, Copley was just getting a little annoyed with him and he has this thing about chasing Kerri.  Then Kerri wouldn't shut up if I wasn't holding her and Wally kept trying to leap into my lap to "play" with her and Copley became overwhelmed with the urge to hump things while Wally was around.  If Wally's parents are reading- your dog and mine were equally annoying- fear not.

I am going to go now and try to recover from this tornado.  Also I bought a bark corrector thing that emits a high pitched noise when the dogs bark.  I said I would never do such a thing but you say a lot of things before you get a chihuahua...

~Annie

Tubbs The Rat- 2009-2012

 Our rat Tubbs passed away a few days a go.  He will be sorely missed around these parts.  Tubbs had an exciting life- having lived to the ripe old age of 3.  We got Tubbs and his brother Moose when they were just little ratties and we had just moved to Vegas.  They survived a burglary right after they were neutered- honestly I think they were too drugged up from the surgery to remember it but hopefully they were not scarred for life.  Then they moved in with our girl rats and had a really great time in the big cage while they were still young enough to enjoy it!  Tubbs was employee pet of the year at my husband's company in the "most unusual" category (in case you didn't notice he is hairless and evidently it was the perfect amount of unusual without being so gross as to freak out the ladies looking at the pictures in HR). He got a professional photo shoot for winning- we got some great pictures including the one above.  Moose passed away from heart failure almost a whole year ago.  Medicine had kept his heart disease under control for a few months but then we finally had to put him down the day before our wedding last year.  Tubbs had a good year without his brother- the two were so bonded that I worried he would pass soon after Moose.  Fortunately he made unlikely friends with a girl rat named Sandy.  Sandy is much younger than Tubbs and always was a busy body so we worried alone she would be too much for the old man.  Sandy really stepped up to the plate and cuddled with Tubbs, groomed him and brought him food on occasion.  As Tubbs became old and frail he began to loose the use of his back legs but happy trudged along despite his difficulties.  We found him curled up on the bottom of the cage after he had passed, we are not sure what got him in the end but it looked peaceful.

Here is a good shot of Tubbs.  He is sticking his head out looking for food and soon would retreat once he knew we didn't have any.

And this is Sandy

 

She now is a single rat living in the largest rat cage money can buy.

I would say Sandy is lucky, but actually rats tend to do very poorly when they are alone.  Until we decide what our next move in rat ownership will be we are just spending lots of time with her and making sure she has lots of toys to play with.  She certainly has a home most rats only dream of!  5 floors all to herself and a regular cleaning service.

I promise the next post will be dog related!
~Annie

So... Excited....

WE REGISTERED FOR OUR FIRST AGILITY CLASS TODAY!!!  By "we" I mean me and Kerrigan and by "first" I mean not counting puppy agility.  In two weeks we join the big kids in a real agility, I could not be more excited.  Also my puppy is almost a year old?  When did that happen?

~Annie

(also when did my signature disappear? Anyone have any ideas how to fix it?  I can't seem to find the signature option in new blogger)

New Tags!

Kerri's collar was getting a little tight now that she has finally filled out to her adult weight and I was getting a little bored with Copley's collars.  I went searching on Etsy for some cool hand made things.  The tags you get out of those tag making machines are both boring and way too big for my 5.8 lb chihuahua.  I also wanted to use the excuse to get some cool stuff for Copley.  Since I am new to buying collars on Etsy I ordered from four different stores to see what I would like.  The tag I got for Copley was ok, and both collars were pretty cool but Kerri's tag was AMAZING!

This AMAZING tag came from Melissa of DoggoneTags.  She worked with me to make a tiny version of her Super Pooch tag that would fit Kerri.  She even squeezed a phone number on the back of that little thing!  I love her tag for several reasons.  First it is really cute and fits with the sci-fi/nerdy theme Kerri has going (after all she is named after a video game character).  Second it is small enough to to look good on her and not overwhelm all of our photos.  Third- I love that the phone number is actually pounded into the metal of the tag.  It can't scrape off like a cheap engraving or chip off like something that is painted on.  Finally I love that it is really light and not too thick, but it is very sturdy.  We have been running around with it on her collar for a week now and it looks like the day we got it.  Unlike most things we buy I anticipate it lasting for a very long time.  Now I am trying to decide what to order next.  Copley would love a tag too and Kerri might need one of her collar charms with the clovers on them in celebration of our Irish heritage.

This tag was so cool I thought it needed its very own post.  I am also proud of myself for picking such a quality shop using only a search bar and reading reviews.  Usually my luck in random ordering from new stores is pretty bad, but not this time!  You should all check out DoggoneTags over on Etsy too, there are tons of different tags to choose from.

~Annie

P.S- Family and friends looking to buy a gift for Copley's 2 year adoption day party should take note of this post.  You know our phone numbers- or she has gift certificates!