Our Fur-Cousin's First Christmas

I have a ton of pictures to share with you of our Christmas, but Joe and I have both been feeling a bit under the weather, so I haven't had the energy to get things organized. Until then, I do have a picture to share with you of our fur-cousin, Bogey.

Bogey is my cousin's new dog and he celebrated his first Christmas with his forever family this year. Doesn't he look excited?

Okay, so he doesn't really look that excited. But he looks cute! And while I wasn't able to visit with him (or any of my family) this Christmas, I hear he had a wonderful time and got lots of great presents.

Merry Christmas to Bogey and all the new pets out there who finally have their forever home!

Clever Flow Chart for Dog Owners

Joe and I always say that those dog owners who don't pick up after their dogs are the people who give all dog owners a bad name. We hate it. So, I thought this flow chart was pretty awesome. It should be posted at every dog park, street corner, and trail.

(You should be able to click on it to see it bigger. If not, click over to http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2010/12/14/its-winter-your-dog-has-pooped-what-now#wide-screen-content)


My favorite bubble: "Are You a Jerk?" heehee

CityDog Holiday Muttmixer

Last Thursday was City Dog Magazine's Holiday Muttmixer. It was held at Westside Yoga and Doga in West Seattle. I wasn't able to bring Ava this time because I didn't have time to go get her after work, but I went with a few friends from Trupanion. We brought dog food to donate, ate some yummy appetizers, and just had fun watching all the dogs in attendence.

The whole Trupanion gang.

Alex, Akvile, and Stacy with their dogs Benny, Batman, and Ellie.

A Corgie/Bulldog mix

Ellie!

One of the professional shots taken at the event - Batman!

City Dog events are seriously the best. Can't wait till the next one!

Christmas Morning with Mom and Dad

On Sunday, we had Christmas morning with my parents. See, we are spending Christmas with Joe's family this year, so my parents decided to come up early to celebrate. And since my dad is leaving on a ten-week trip to California and Texas on Friday, this weekend was the chosen weekend. We pretended it was really Christmas - wishing each other Merry Christmas and opening presents. :)

First, the dogs got to open their presents. Since we have had the dogs, they have received presents. But until this year, they had never actually had any interest in opening them themselves. But Jackson was totally into it this year!

I think he thought he might be doing something wrong.

Ava required her servants to open hers. (Jackson ended up serving her, lol)

Then it was our time to open our presents.

Mom made me some amazing granola.

Jackson actually even helped my mom open her gift of two DVDs. :) (Yes, that is my mom's gift he has in his mouth. My mom thought it was soooo cute.)

And he helped Joe open his gift of an ipod dock.

I received a handsfree device for my phone. (I guess my mom got annoyed with me calling her all the time on the road, when it's illegal to do so.)

One of our gifts for my parents was tickets to the Gold Glass Cinemas in Redmond. And we headed there right away to watch the movie "The Next Three Days". (P.S. Super stressful movie. Seriously. But good.)

At the theater hanging out in the lobby.

Perusing the menu...

Kicked back, waiting for the movie to start.

Best. Theater. Ever.

My mom had to leave shortly after the movie ended, but it really was a great 'Christmas' morning. My dad, Joe and I all headed back home to relax. My dad left Monday morning.

Christmas in the Country and Snowflake Lane

On Saturday, Joe had to go to work, so I had the whole day to spend with my parents. First, we took the dogs for a walk.

There was frost on the ground, so Ava had to wear her pajamas. :)

Then, we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island for 'Christmas in the Country'.

On the ferry with my dad.

Basically, there are a bunch of shops that you can travel to around the island who show off their wares. We know one of the shops (owned by my uncle's brother) and we hit a few more while we were there. We bought some wine, jelly and homemade dips. It was pretty fun.

At a winery.

My mom buying wine.

An outdoor fireplace at one of the shops.

Inside one of the shops.

When we got back from Bainbridge Island, we picked up Joe and headed to downtown Bellevue for dinner and Snowflake Lane. We got there a little late, so Joe got us a table at ZTejas while my parents and me watched Snowflake Lane.

(FYI, Snowflake Lane is a nightly performance in downtown Bellevue where a band plays Christmas music, there is a light show, and fake snow falls from the sky. It's awesome.)

My mom and dad in the middle of the crowd.

A drummer on stilts.

Me in the middle of the crowd.

Then, finally at dinner at ZTejas.

It was a very busy but very fun day. When we got back home I totally crashed. I was exhausted!

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!

I Heart the Daily Show

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Big Red Dogs
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

R.O.A.R. Squad

I am so excited! I just found out that Joe and I were accepted as the newest members of Fido & Wino's R.O.A.R. Squad - a group of 'rockin' individuals' (that's a quote, people!) who are rescue owners. I'm usually not one to enjoy being in the spotlight, but I am loving this distinction and the feature they posted on us.

Read the full feature by clicking here: R.O.A.R. Feature

What do you think?

First Trip Back to Magnussen

Since Joe had Monday off, and it was actually a rare sunny morning in Seattle, he decided to take Jackson to our favorite Seattle dog park - Magnussen. We used to go to Magnussen quite a bit when we lived in Seattle before, but hadn't been there since moving back. I admit I'm a little sad that I didn't get to join the boys, but I was happy they had such a great time.

Making new friends.

Taking a break.

Crashed out back at home.

Holiday Blogger Gift Exchange

I just signed up for the Kitty & Canine Holiday Blogger Gift Exchange, put on by KJ and her adorable pugs! I'm so excited because Christmas is, like, the best holiday ever and this will let me get my fur babies involved in a big way. Basically, you sign your pets up via their form and then get matched up with other bloggers who have pets. You send your pet match a gift and your pets get gifts as well. So much fun! I know Jackson and Ava will love getting their gifts in the mail. And I'm excited to find out where they will come from. Could be anywhere!

If you want to participate, visit KJ's site here:
http://kjpugs.com/2010/11/kitty-canine-holiday-blogger-gift-exchange/

Working Hard

I love my job. Seriously. It's so much fun. Not only do I get to spend much of my work day hanging out with the office dogs, but I get to focus on writing about pets all day. And everyone in my company loves to enter contests in an effort to get our name out there (and of course to potentially win cool stuff!). Yesterday, we entered a photo contest on Progresso Soup's Facebook page. Here is our entry:

Caption: Here at Trupanion, our canine colleagues always get the treats while we are left with nothing. You see? Our soup bowls are empty. We deserve treats too! And we loooove Progresso soup. Help us out?

Cute, huh?

(I'm at the far right, in the black coat, with my boss's dog, Safari.)

Adopt a Shelter Pet Month: My Jackson

So, I mentioned before that October is Adopt a Shelter Pet Month and I told you a little about my adoption of Ava. Well, Jackson is a shelter dog, too, so here's his story!

Around the time I was fostering Ava, Joe moved out of his apartment and into a house with two other people who both had dogs. He started getting the itch right away. He was a dog owner before chiropractic school, but his beloved Rottweiler Buddha passed away.

We started talking about what kind of dog he thought he wanted, and the only stipulation he had was that he wanted the dog to be around 30 pounds. He also didn't want a puppy. So, one weekend we set out to look.

We drove all over the Portland area to a variety of different shelters we knew about. Every shelter had many adorable and deserving dogs, (I remember seeing a Bernese puppy and almost forcing Joe to adopt him, even though he wasn't an adult OR 30 pounds, haha) but none seemed to be 'the one.'

Each time we left with Joe just a little more disappointed.

When we left the last shelter, Joe was just so discouraged. He didn't want to stop looking, but we had run out of options. Seeing him like that was awful, so I traveled back in time 20 years and actually picked up a phone book. :) I found a couple more shelters we had no idea about and we headed to the first on the list - a shelter called Family Dogs New Life.

We flipped through their list of adoptable dogs and found a couple we thought we'd meet. They all looked pretty big, but we thought we'd look anyway. And we were right, the first two dogs that we met were big - in the 50-60 pound category. But then we met lucky #3. This dog came out full of energy, trying to run around the office with a huge smile on his face. Joe and I looked at each other in surprise - this dog was smaller than we imagined - just about 30 pounds! His name? Jackson!

We met with Jackson in a little room and he seemed really high-energy, but sweet. We took him out on a walk and he pulled and pulled and pulled. Seriously, that dog had energy. We brought him back into the little room and asked the coordinator if Jackson was good with little dogs (I had a inkling I might be adopting a little dog, heehee). The coordinator brought a dachshund in to test him with and Jackson was great. Score!

Joe wanted him, pure and simple. I hate to admit this, but I tried to talk him into 'sleeping on it'. "You don't want to jump into such a big commitment," I said. "If you still want him in the morning, we can come back and get him then."

Yeah, that argument didn't work. :) We took him back to Joe's house that day and Jackson settled right in!

Soon after adoption.

He helped us with fosters too! Here he is with Ava and foster Ducati.

And here's our boy today!

Jackson is seriously the BEST dog. He is so sweet and loving and always has a smile on his face. He is playful and loves his toys. His favorite place is curled up next to our feet or next to us on the couch. He's so smart and is so good at letting us know what he wants and needs. I seriously couldn't ask for a better dog.

Remember to choose adoption as your first option, or you could miss out on a fabulous dog like our sweet baby boy.

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!