Movie Night with Friends

A friend of mine from work had said that she wanted to check out Snowflake Lane. I told her Joe and I were planning to go Saturday night, if her and her husband wanted to join us. She agreed. However, as Saturday evening progressed, so did the monsoon outside, so we decided it probably wasn't a good night to stand out in the rain. So, we invited them over to our place instead, and told them to bring their dog, Batman, to play with Jackson and Ava.

Usually Jackson is a little territorial with other dogs. We wanted to have the playdate, but figured we might be on edge a little bit, watching Jackson to make sure he behaved himself. But we were surprised with Jackson immediately started playing with Batman and SHARING his toys! We all had a fun and relaxing night. It was great.

Jackson, Ava, and Batman

Ava watching the action.

Hanging out.

Batman with Jackson's fish.

Saying goodbye.

Ava Loves Her Dad

Joe always complains because he says Ava loves me more than she loves him. While I know she is a momma's girl, I also know that she absolutely adores her dad. And it's moments like this that prove my point:

Trip to the Vet

Last night Joe noticed a small red bump on Ava's eyelid. I started over analyzing it (surprise, surprise, I know) and did some heavy googling on red bumbs on dogs. I saw a lot of gross things and some cancer-related things, which definitely didn't help my anxiety. But then I saw some very similar bumbs that were diagnosed as stys, and they were no big deal. Joe then managed to talk me down off the ledge and I agreed to wait and see what it looked like in the morning.

This morning her eye was completely swollen and the bump was bigger, with a red dot in the middle, which looked like exposed skin. That was that - she was going to the vet! Now, my problem was that my vet was an hour away in the area where I worked, and I technically wasn't supposed to bring Ava to work with me anymore because she wasn't vaccinated for kennel cough.

I tried finding a vet close to where we live, but they opened at 9:00 a.m., the time I needed to be at work. My two choices - take Ava to the vet we had already been to, and bring her to work with me for the day, OR wait for two hours until the new vet opened, hope there was an early appointment available, and hope that the exam didn't take too long. Well, I know the exam would take forever because Ava has serious issues and vets need to know EVERYTHING before they diagnose anything (at least, good vets should). So, I decided on option A. I emailed my team and told them the situation then headed to work.

I took her to the vet at 10:00 and wouldn't you know it - the swelling had disappeared. Seriously, it was like that one time we went to the ER for a swollen eye only to have the vet ask us which eye was supposed to be swollen. Embarrassing. But the bump was still there, so she definitely still needed to be seen.

I swear, it looks a lot worse in person than in this picture. The bump is on the top right corner of her eye.

The vet was very sweet and even though Ava was so unhappy, I felt really good about the visit. The vet gave us ointment to be put on and in her eye twice a day and said it should clear up soon. Fingers and paws crossed!

She spent the rest of the day lounging on my desk at work, happy to be back with her mom.

Thanksgiving Fun: Dog Edition

We went to Wenatchee for Thanksgiving and yes, I literally have to divide my Thanksgiving post into two because I have so many pictures of the dogs. My cousin, Christi, recently got a new puppy and this was the first time Jackson and Ava were able to meet him. And he is cuuuuuute. I think Ava was jealous because she's always the cute one, but Bogey is frickin' adorable. And even smaller than Ava, so everyone finally could see how chunky Ava really is! He is a three-month-old Chiweenie (Chihuahua/Dachshund mix) and is tiny and full of spunk. He even got Ava to play a little bit, and we all know Ava doesn't play. :)

The moms with the pups. :)

Introducing Bogey to Jackson. Jackson scared him a bit at first, but then they got along great.

See? Bogey is already giving Jackson a little sass.

Bogey is still a puppy, so he sleeps a lot. He liked cuddling with his grandma. :)

Bogey: "What did you get to eat?? I want some!"

Ava cuddled up in a blanket, and Bogey settled in on the top bunk. lol

Cutest cousins ever!

My mom with her 'granddog'.

Aunt Kathy showing off Bogey's best feature - his ears!

Sharing laps...

We had such a great time! I can't wait to watch these three dogs grow up together!

Fighting with (and Losing to) Ava

As you well know, Ava has a way of manipulating me into getting her way. For example, she will eat all her food and then stand there looking pathetic like, "I'm still soooooo hungry!" so I'll give her a little more. Or, she'll cuddle up to me when I'm working on my computer and stretch and give this cute little sigh like being with me is the MOST wonderful thing in the WHOLE wide world and if I would just move the computer a little off my lap it would make her SO much more comfortable.... so, I'll move my computer so it's in a completely inconvenient position, and really hard for me to type on. (And Ava smiles as her plan of world domination becomes more of a reality.)

But I'm holding my ground on nightly walks. (so far). Every night when we get home we bundle up and take the dogs for a walk. And it's getting colder and colder and Ava is trying to work her magic on me. She'll burrow under covers and look at me with these pathetic eyes and plead not to be taken out. She will hide under the table and almost cower, making me feel like I am actually abusing her in some way. (This one really hurts.) She will lower her head and refuse to look at me like I'm the worst mom ever.

But it's GOOD for her. She doesn't get hardly any exercise and she needs it. So, I force her to go.

Well, like I said, it's getting colder, so she is now wearing her winter coats to try to keep her a tad bit warmer outside. Last night I brought out the big guns.... her four-legged jammies. It's the warmest outfit she has and it was cold out there. And she HATED it. And she tried all the tricks in the book to make me feel bad enough to take it off her and let her stay home. But I didn't give in. And dang it, I think she looks damn cute!

A bit pathetic, sure, but damn cute!!

A Trupanion Halloween

I love Halloween. LOVE it. And about two weeks before our wedding, I told Joe we really needed to start thinking about costumes. He looked at me like I had completely lost my mind and told me that he was putting a moratorium on Halloween planning this year. We needed to get through the wedding first, and then we could talk about Halloween. I suppose I have to say, he was right. I didn't need anything else on my plate before the wedding.

But, it made it so I was a bit rushed in finding my costume this year, especially when I found out there was a costume contest at my work. But I figured it out, headed to Value Village and the fabric store, and came up with this:

Cruella de Ville and her teeny Dalmation!

I'm going to get you!

It's exhausting running from Cruella all day.

I didn't really know how much others at my work were going to dress up, so I posted a poll on Facebook on if I should do a 'bigger' costume or a 'safer' costume. Everyone said go big, so there you go.

And it turns out I had nothing to worry about. My entire department dressed up and we ROCKED it at work!

Price is Right winner, Run DMC, and a white trash convict. Plus, the bull with a bull rider there at the bottom. :)

I love my work!

Adopt a Shelter Pet Month: My Ava

October is Adopt a Shelter Pet Month! As most of you know, this issue is near and dear to my heart. Since adopting my first Italian Greyhound in 2005, and learning that all of her health issues stemmed from originally being purchased at an unseemly puppy store supplied by puppy mills, I have been dedicated to rescue efforts.

When I lost Sophie after just a year and a half, I couldn't bring myself to 'replace' her with another dog. So, I became a foster mom. I was able to care for numerous dogs that needed forever homes, love them and spoil them to the best of my ability, and then send them off to their new families. I did this for several months.

One of those foster dogs came from an 'accidental' litter. She was 9 months old, had never been outside, and hadn't even been named. I took her in like I did all the others, but she was *much* worse off than the others I had fostered (I was lucky to have fostered well-adjusted, healthy dogs up until that point.) This dog was scared of the world, unsocialized and untrained. I had my work cut out for me.

I spent that first weekend getting to know her and researching names that would fit her. I believe a lot is in a name and it can set the tone for the rest of their life. She was so elegant and ladylike, and I eventually settled on the name Ava, after Ava Gardner.

I worked with Ava for months, helping her learn to be in the world, making her understand I would always protect her, and teaching her the basics of walking on a leash and being in a crate.

The Rescue Organizer kept asking me when she would be ready to be placed up for adoption, and I kept putting her off. Everyone knew what I wasn't going to admit - she was mine.

When I officially adopted her, no one was suprised. :)

This is the picture I first took of Ava to be used when she was placed up for adoption.

She helped me with other fosters after her. Here she is with Ducati.

With more fosters, Izzy and Rerun.

Sharing her bed with Izzy and Rerun.

My snuggle bug.

Adoption has always been the best option for me, and I truly believe it's the best option for everyone. I don't want to anger the responsible breeders out there (I could care less about angering the irresponsible ones!), but the fact is that there are so many homeless dogs in the world that I just can't fully get behind creating more puppies that will go to families that very well could have given a homeless dog a home.

I could have bought an Italian Greyhound puppy from a breeder no problem. But what I got in a 'shelter' pet was equal to what I would have got from a breeder, AND I had the added bonus on knowing that I saved a life, I gave a homeless dog a home, and I helped the overpopulation problem as opposed to adding to it. That is a great feeling.

(And yes, Ava was still quite young at 9 months AND a purebred. Those two things are never an excuse to use a breeder.)

Next up: My other Rescue pup, Jackson!

New Toy

One of my coworkers won a trip to a Dog Blogging conference in Denver called BlogPaws last week. While she was there, she met the owner of a company that sells dog toys. Stacy, my coworker, mentioned we had a blog and would love to do a review if the person was interested. Well, this week a HUGE box of toys arrived at work!

I was given "Sally the Beaver" to test with Jackson. (We ended up calling it Justin Beiber the Beaver and it was so funny to hear Joe call out to Jackson - "Where's Justin Beiber? Go get Justin Beiber!" haha) Little did we know that both Jackson AND Ava would love it!

The thing has 12 squeakers in it's body and then this honking sound for it's tail. The dogs loved it. Total toy test win. :)

New Vet

Ava needed her prescription refilled, so we were finally forced to find a new vet here in Seattle. I hate looking for a new vet, I stress so much about it. I have had some bad experiences, and with a 'special' dog like Ava, I have to be certain that if something flares up due to her condition, the vet will do all he or she can to help her. I had that in Cheshire (I told you about crying, yes crying, when I left my vet there, right? Embarrassing, but true.)

Anyway, usually I visit half a dozen vets in the area, tour their facilities, the whole nine yards before making a decision. Well, I didn't give myself enough time to do that, because Ava needed her meds. So, last Thursday, Joe took both dogs into Elliott Bay Animal Hospital, which was recommended to us by some people I work with.

Joe took them because it was his day off and I had to work. But he said that he was very impressed with the amount of time the doctor spent with Ava, looking her over and asking a ton of questions about her condition.

She spent about an hour with Ava, then checked Jackson over in about ten minutes. Ah, I love my mutt!

Two nervous dogs.

I hope this vet works out. I may go ahead and check out a few others, just to make sure.

One Year Ago...

I just realized that Ava was diagnosed with her auto-immune disorder a year ago this month. A YEAR ago! I cannot believe that. It seems like last week I was taking her into the vet every other day, up with her crying and screaming all hours of the night, whisking her up to Massachusetts for appointments with specialists, and just feeling hopeless and scared and oh-so-sad.

I was convinced back then she wouldn't make it through Christmas 2009. And now, here it is, a whole year later, and Ava is back to being her cuddly self, happily jumping around and burrowing under covers, and most importantly, she is still here. Still with us. Still able to annoy us with all her coffee-mug-breaking, counter-surfing, leftover-smuggling, food-begging, bed-hogging antics.

And as much as I complain about all of that, I would miss it terribly if she wasn't here.

We went from this:

In her 'Hannibal Lector' mask at the specialist's office.

To this:

Sitting pretty at my work.

And true, she isn't 100%. Probably never will be. She still has those awful sores on her ears, she is on medication that makes her fat (or swollen, as my mom says), has new sores that aren't really healing, and is on a very restrictive diet. But we look past all of that because it's all manageable.

So, I just wanted to send a quick 'thank you' out into the universe for this year. I hope for many more to come.

Ava Turns 4

Ava turned four on August 22, 2010!

Which means I adopted her about 3 years ago, when she was 9 months old. It's been quite an eventful 3 years. She has traveled all over the country with me, scared me with her major health issues, annoyed me with her food obsession, made me laugh with her crazy antics, and overall has taught me so much.

So, we celebrated with a very small family party at home. Her birthday was MUCH calmer than Jackson's, but she got exactly what she wanted:

1. A special dinner of apples and carrots (two of the only things other than dog food that she can eat).




2. Naps. She napped with me for a couple hours and napped in her bed under covers for most of the rest of the day.

3. Her mom! Ava loves Joe to death, but she will always be a mommy's girl.

Happy birthday baby girl! Here's to many, many more years together!

Ava Back at Work

Ava went back to work with me yesterday and had another tough day of laying around. I'm really hoping that if I keep bringing her, she'll actually open up and get social. It would be really good for her.

This looks like my 'Monday Morning' face. I must have woken her up.

She never stays awake for long, though. She kept laying her head on my hand as I was trying to move the mouse.

She did venture outside in the courtyard to go pee a couple times, though.

Ava's First Day at Work

So my job at Trupanion, a pet insurance company, is one where I'm allowed to bring my dog to work. How great is that, right? I thought about which dog would be best to take (Jackson is super friendly but a little rambunctious, Ava is kind of bitchy, but sleeps a lot), and decided Ava was the lesser of two evils. (I'm sorry, best of two angels is what I meant!)


Today was the first day I felt comfortable enough to bring her to work with me. My mom is here for the week, so I figured if something went wrong, she could come rescue Ava and it wouldn't be too disruptive.


Well, I didn't need to worry, because Ava did great! She wore her pearls for her first day and got a lot of compliments (well, okay, she got made fun of a little too, but mostly compliments). She started out on her bed on my lap, so it was a little harder for me to work on the computer than normal. But by the end of the day, she was a 'desk dog', hanging out on her bed on my desk. It was so cute!

Desk Dog!

She ventured away from me to drink some water.

Saying hi to her new friend, Ellie!

I am so lucky to work at a place where I can take her. I love my job!

Wenatchee Weekend Fun

This weekend Joe and I were in Wenatchee visiting my family. We had a great time! We had a ton to do, but we managed to fit it all in, plus have time to relax by my aunt's pool for a bit.

My aunt was making fun of the fact that we were laying in the shade.

It was my dad's birthday, and since there was so much going on this weekend, he kind of got shafted. But we did spend a lot of time together, I dragged myself to family breakfasts with him at the unearthly hour of 7:30 a.m., and we fit in a movie as well - The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It was actually a pretty decent movie!

My dad is so great and didn't complain one bit that his birthday kind of got lost in the mix. But it was still important for me to spend his day with him (since I haven't been able to the last two years), because he is truly an amazing father! Love you dad!

The dogs had a fabulous time running in my other aunt's yard. They seriously love running in the grass and laying out in the sun. Every time we go there, I realize we really need to find a place with a yard.

Saturday night was my niece's bachelorette party! We had so much fun hanging out with family and friends at my sister-in-law's house.

My sister-in-law and her sister.

The bride-t0-be (on the right)

I was also able to have my own wedding dress fitting this weekend, but I'm not posting pictures of that! I'll just say that I'm extremely lucky to have a friend who is a seamstress - she made me feel so beautiful in my dress, and she is going to do such a fabulous job.

Stay tuned for pictures of my niece's wedding day!

Great Pictures of the Pups

I've been wanting to share these pictures for a while, but have been a little bit busy posting about the big move and getting settled in. But now things have slowed down a bit, and I know you all love seeing photos of the cutest members of this family!

Stuart took these pictures a few weeks ago while we were all hanging out at our friend Laura's house in Maryland.

Peek a boo!

"I wonder how I could sneak some of that wine..."

Man and dog. My two boys. *love*

"MY toy..." *cuddle*