Nova

We volunteer for a local dog rescue.  As you might remember that is how Ben fell in love with Chihuahuas and we got Kerrigan.  Well down on their luck chis are sort of our soft spot over here.  I saw a picture of this girl and I immediately offered to foster her (can you guess why?).  Funny thing is the picture said she was a he, but that is neither here nor there.  It turns out that this girl and her two dead puppies were found in the back of a tire store where they had been living for at least a few weeks.  She was caught and brought to a vets office but they were filling up for holiday boarding and she needed somewhere to go.  The rescue warned me that she might be a runner and to watch my front door so I knew she might be a bit scared, but when I showed up I saw the most frightened chihuahua I have ever seen in my life.  This little girl is just a shaking pile of defeated dog.  From the way she acts at home it is apparent she has never lived in a house before and everything scares her.  

The far dog is Nova
 

I knew immediately she was not a foster dog, she was a forever dog.  She needs a home with stable dogs her size, no children now or ever, a person who is home a lot, and owners with lots of dog experience.  She needs a secure yard and no access to the front door, and while money is not everything she could certainly use someone who can afford a behaviorist and later group classes.  She needs a home where everyone in it is 100% on board and all of the family members love dogs, and people who realize it may be years or never before she is confident enough to be in a busy place.  How many homes are like that?  Mine is so she is staying.  Nova has been let down for the last time.  The people who she learns to love next will be the ones she grows old with.

I realize you can not rescue every dog.  I have let many fosters I love dearly, some even with special needs, go to their forever homes so I can do it.  I can recognize that dogs need our help not our pity and that being a foster failure means I can help less dogs in the future but Nova is special.  She is ours.

Guest Blogger- Mosby

Mosby is the dog, not the blogger.

I have been thinking a lot lately about why we adopt our dogs when we do and how we pick them out.  Most dog bloggers are seasoned dog people who have been rescuing or breeding or competing for some time and know their dogs very well.  What were you thinking when you got your first dog though?  How did you pick them out?  I think about Copley, picking him out of a row of kennels.  It was such an arbitrary thing that ended in us having one of our best buddies living here!  When some of our good friends Kayla and Lee decided to adopt a dog I knew I had to get them to write a blog post for me.  Here it is-

Lee and I have both wanted a dog for many years and when we moved to Las Vegas early last year, we decided to find one as soon as possible. That took a bit longer than expected. Knowing that we both wanted a larger dog, our first two apartments were just too small and unable to provide the kind of life we wanted to give our dog. We thought the end was in sight once we finally bought a house and had the space necessary to raise a dog...but alas, work got in the way as we entered a crazy installation period for our show. Finally, on November 16th, Lee and I decided we couldn't wait
another day longer (in fact we had to wait two more days) and went out that day to find the dog that would join our family. After consulting friends (Annie) and Google-ing our shelter options, we decided to check out the LIED Shelter.

I had anticipated the excitement I would feel as we started down the first corridor of dogs but was completely blindsided by how emotional I got seeing all those dogs stuck in kennels. I was in tears by the time we got out of that first corridor. I knew we would only be saving one dog that day and couldn't help but wonder about the future of the rest. Almost every dog we saw got excited as we approached and tried their hardest to touch, lick, and play with us through the glass. It just broke my heart to know that some of these trusting and loving creatures had been abandoned and may never get a home.

We finally made it through every corridor of dogs and had narrowed it down to the three dogs we felt we had connected with the most. The first one we went back to was a young female pit bull who was adorable and seemed like she would be playful and friendly. She was definitely a possibility, but we wanted to revisit the other two before we made our choice. We got no further than the second dog, named "Sarge" at the time. When we got to his kennel, we didn't see him at first and made some noise to see if he was just outside. Sure enough, he came bounding back inside to greet us. "Sarge" was stopped short, however, when we realized he somehow managed to get his paw tangled up in a leash. He went back and forth between trying to get to us and trying to release his paw, all the while smiling and wagging his tail. We knew at that moment that he was the dog for us. We found a shelter attendant and got her to take him out for us. Although it was hard to keep is attention as he was so excited to just be out of that box and in fresh air, we could tell that he was well-mannered and playful. Soon after that, Lee and I signed the adoption papers and told "Sarge" we'd see him in two days to take him home.

The next day we went around and gathered the necessary "new dog" supplies: bed, food, toys, treats, kennel, more toys, etc. We just couldn't wait to bring him home. When we picked him up Thursday morning, he had on his "cone of shame" from being neutered the day before. "Sarge" was just as adorable as we remembered, especially since his cone severely effected his spatial sense and he was running into everything. The constant sound of the cone scraping and hitting everything around him was both annoying and hysterical as he was investigating the house and yard later that day. After much deliberation and settling on "Porter" for a day, we finally gave him the name we had picked out for our first dog months ago...Mosby.

Two weeks later, as I sit here typing this and Mosby is trying to get in my lap and get all of my attention, Lee and I couldn't be happier that we found this dog. He is smart, playful, loving, and together we are working on obedience and patience...on both sides. We will be having our third session at Smarty Paws this week which has already taught us so much about training a dog. Mosby's obedience and attentiveness improves everyday and soon we hope to start him on a raw food diet. All in all, Lee and I couldn't have asked for a better dog and we are so happy that Mosby has joined our
family.

~Kayla

Thanks Kayla!  Mosby is a very luck dog!

When To Adopt?

Copley 2.5 years ago on day 1 with us

I have a lot of posts in the works (one guest post even- how fancy of us) but I just wanted to throw this out there.  Is there EVER a good time to adopt a dog.  Even if you were on a breeders waiting list forever isn't a puppy just always going to be a giant pain in your side for a while?  You either have lots of work, or you need to clean, or you wish you had an extra 20 grand to put that "dog room" addition on the house or whatever.  What about rescues?  Do dogs ever fall into your life when it is just the best time ever to get one?  I don't think so. Sometimes I think you just have to take the plunge because you can always think of an excuse not to do it.

On very special occasions I think an animal ends up in your life because you were the only person meant to have them.  I don't believe in a singular higher power- but I do think that things happen for reasons that are beyond us sometimes.  Oddly enough I only have ever felt this way about one of our animals, her name was Patches. 

Baby Patches

Patches is a story for another day.  What do you guys think?  When a dog comes along that just calls your name do you take the plunge (sorta like we did with Kerri)?  Or is that all made up gobbly gook and things should be better planned out.  Did your dogs all come at good times?  Or were you a little bit overwhelmed and second guessed you decision all the way home from the pound?

BarkBox Review

Hey everybody!  I have decided to review Barkbox again this month because it IS that time of year when everyone is looking for gifts and I am so happy with BarkBox I think it would be the perfect holiday present for the doggie friends in your life!  If you are not familiar with BarkBox you can read my other reviews for August and September.  As always you can use my link to get $5 off your first box!

I have been more than happy with the boxes these last few months.  We get fun treats, fun toys and cool other stuff to try out.  Whatever I don't like I just bring to adoption events and drop off with the other foster families- but that is actually not very much stuff.  I think in the long run the boxes are actually saving me money because I wait to buy dog toys until I see the box so I am not doing a lot of over shopping like I usually do.

Lets get down to reviewing the box!

1. First the treats.  They were Fruitables brand- we LOVE fruitables around here.  Mostly I buy them for the rats but these soft treats were a big hit with the dogs too.  My dogs are not terribly excited about the more biscuit-ey style of fruitables but they loved these.  Plus they were a festive pumpkin flavor for the holidays!  Fruitables are made in the USA with good ingredients so they pass my rather rigorous inspection process for good treats.
2. Acadia Antlers.  We have gotten antlers before from BarkBox, and just because we love antlers ourselves.  The antler this month was a antler on a rope and the dogs loved it just like they love every antler they see.  Despite it's size this antler has lasted a long while- but it may have something to do with the giant moose antlers we just got distracting the dogs.  Either way this gets a big thumbs up from us!
3. Mr. Barksmiths Cool Treat Smoothy.  This was fun I guess and the dogs like it and it has good ingredients but I don't think I would buy them.  They are just fruit puree in a cup.  I can puree my own fruit and freeze it for much cheaper than these things are.  For inclusion in the BarkBox they are cool, but other than that ehhh.
4. Bionic Bone.  This bone is a huge hit!  In fact I would recommend them to people with dogs who like licking stuff out of kongs and the like.  It is very similar to a kong in that you can freeze it and stuff stuff in it and it is somewhat indestructible, but I like it because the holes seem a little more ergonomically designed for a dog to get their tongue into.  Copley can really lick this clean all the way down.

That was all of the "stuff" in the box but this month we also got a $10 gift card for Mr. Chewy, a $10 gift card for Dog TV and $10 off dog sitting at rover.com.  That is $30 worth of free stuff!  The dog TV is really fun/cool/love it and that will be getting it's own review soon.

Overall I must say this is my favorite BarkBox yet!  I think the company is really listening to its subscribers and they are making a better and better product every month.

*BarkBox did not pay me for this review, I signed up on my own, but if you use my link I do get free stuff.  In addition though you get $5 off so it is a win-win.

Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness

 

Wee Thump is one of our favorite places to hang out.  First of all it has the biggest and coolest Joshua Trees in the world.  Second the trails are flat and fun to walk and there is rarely anyone there. 

My father in law came to visit and we all went for a little hike.  Southern Nevada is getting so beautiful right now.  The weather is PERFECT and we can't get enough of being outside.  Too bad I work in an industry that locks me in windowless rooms for the holiday season.*  I won't bore you with too much description because I am too busy to write anything right now, but lets pretend the pictures are so great they speak for themselves.  You should just be happy I managed to hobble together 10 minutes to write a blog post.

One final thought.  Wee Thump has a lot of cactus bits and spines on the ground.  I recommend paw protection if you have it.  Copley says "always be prepared"!

Food?

We love the gulpy!

*Don't worry- I don't work retail, so it is likely I will survive black Friday.  Also I work for myself so I have no one to complain to but me and my own calendar.

Happy Halloween!

Look, I found a Deer in the backyard!

If you have a dog this color and want to do this costume next year it is really easy and really cheap and long as you have a patient subject!  It cost me about $6.

For the spots I used white finger paint.  Finger paint is non-toxic and washes out really easy because it is meant for toddlers who sometimes eat it.  Copley is a very calm dog anyway, so he stood pretty still for the painting.  While it was drying I gave him a bully stick to chew and had him sit in the sun.  His collar is an old collar I sewed felt leaves onto.  The leaves came off a thanksgiving centerpiece that got wet lest year and was ruined, I saved the leaves and there you go!

The finger paint came off in about 30 seconds in the tub.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Treat Swap!

This last week I did a treat swap hosted by Nola and Cole!

My swap partner was the super cool Kourtney of The Queens Kourt and her two pups Lucy and Rossi!  They sent us a really cool package from a local dog bakery.

 The treats were a big hit! 

 I love the Holloween themed ones-they are cut into fun shapes for the holiday.

 As you can see George the foster dog (still looking for a home- visit ahome4spot.com for more information) LOVES the treats.

And for the toy.  Oh boy is this one a hit.  It has a different kind of squeaker that claims to work even if punctured.  That may be true but the best part of this toy is that it is really easy to squeak.  No matter where Kerrigan's tiny little mouth grabs the thing it makes noise.  She hasn't stopped going nuts for it in days.

Want to see what I sent over to Kourt?  Check out http://thequeenskourt.blogspot.com

Also if you like this blog you may also want to stop by my doggie friend Nola's blog at http://dachshundnola.blogspot.com/, she is a lot of fun and eats a home-made diet just like we do!