It's a Miracle

It's official......Cali has found a new home. I really do love this dog, but two Daisy's in a house is way more than one can handle. She has found the most perfect home and family, and they have fallen in love with her. I have to go and pick her up for her final vet appointment, and tomorrow it will be official.

I honestly didn't believe this day would come, and I had it in my head that she was going to be around forever. In fact, I was already starting to research getting her therapy dog trained. She would have been perfect. However, my dreams/prayers were answered, and she has found the most perfect home.

I'm keeping my eyes posted for a possible new foster. Of course Michael doesn't know about this. I figure it's easier to bring a cute puppy in need home, and ask for his forgiveness, rather than asking for his permission. He tries to act tough, but honestly, all I need to do is show him a picture. As soon as I do, he's like 'Okay, go get him.'

As much as I would love to stay at four dogs, I feel to guilty being complacent. Can't wait to see what we can save next!

The Power of Clean Teeth

My dear Boo is turning 5 in 6 weeks. Bailey is approximately the same age, although I think she's a few months behind. Regardless, both of their teeth were getting pretty nasty. Therefore, their breath was getting unbearable. When I just had Baxter keeping up with the brushing was easy. As you topple on four more dogs, brushing every one's teeth on a regular basis becomes impossible.

So we made our appointment for the girl's to get their teeth deep cleaned. Of course any vet visit for Boo can be stressful. Michael dropped them off, and asked again if they wanted him to stick around while they sedated her. But they told him to go ahead, and they would get it. 'Take the crazy one to this kennel' were the words they used as they guided her to her holding cell.

When it came time to pick them up, we always make sure that we're there as early as 10 minutes than we're supposed to be. I know Boo is in complete agony the whole time she's there, so making her wait any longer is stressful for me, just thinking about it. We discovered that she only tried to charge two employees *sigh*, and of course she did her run around the office screaming routine. It's truly a blast. Okay, so it's truly humiliating.

But they made it, and what a difference a cleaning makes. Their teeth are now back to white, and I'm so thrilled with the results. They can breath within five feet of me without me passing out. Now if we can just get Boo to stop taking poop snacks in the back yard, the cleaning should last for a while.

How Daisy and I Both Found Peace

So I used to run a lot. I actually completed a couple of marathons, and back in 2004 I was in great shape. I moved to Texas, things happened, and I just, well, I just let myself go. What used to be four miles became barely four meters.

Now as I've mentioned, Daisy is crazy. She has more energy than one could ever imagine, and getting her to settle down has been a chore. She's not like a lab, where at two years old she became extremely calm. No, two came and went, and we just sat back watching Daisy run in circles in the back yard.

So this year I decided to find me again. I wanted to feel better about myself. Although, I wasn't ready to commit to full marathons, I signed Michael and I up for a half in July. As we started our training, I decided to take Daisy along.

To say that she is born to run, is truly an understatement. She loves it, and a dog cannot be more perfectly built for running. And as the Texas sun beats harder, Daisy still can't wait to get out there. I ran her five miles the other day, thinking it had to be her max. However, after a quick 20 minute rest after our arrival home, she started chasing Maximus all around the house.

So we're all back into running here. I've come to a point where I enjoy it again, and I love to get in the zone. Our race is just a few weeks away now. Daisy is calming down bit by bit, and she loves nothing more than to join us on our runs. I'm really thinking that if we end up doing a local half marathon, she could do it. No, I wouldn't push her that far, but I swear she would be all in. She's honestly one of the greatest running partners someone could ever have. I'm just thrilled to discover that something so simple has made Daisy and myself more at peace.

4th of July With a Bang

What a great and successful 4th of July weekend. It was insanely busy, but we all made it out alive!

The best, most exciting news of the weekend, though, is that I think Cali may have found a home. She's only been on her trial adoption for 3 days, but I have a really, really, really good feeling. They have a 10 month old lab puppy tat has lots and lots of energy. They just want to find a dog on the same level.

I'll be honest, I had given up hope. I had pretty much prepared to have Cali for life. To think that she might have a fabulous forever home is so encouraging. So time will tell.

Now I just need to work on Michael letting me get my 2nd baby boy ;)

The Illusion Collar Rocks

So as adorable as our dear 'puppy' Maximus is, he's a pain in the butt to walk. At 80lbs, his lunging and crying just aren't something you want to deal with on a daily basis. We've tried pinch collars, the Halt-e, you name it. And we've had no luck. Walks are actually embarrassing, and something that we absolutely do not look forward to.

So in a desperate attempt to find something that works, we went to Cesar's website and ordered one of these. It actually works very well. He's not lunging as much as he usually does. Although, the walk hasn't hit perfect territory yet, we're getting there.

I'm a little relieved that it's better, and I would recommend this collar to someone having a hard time getting control of their dogs. It helps keep the slip collar up on their neck, so it's not falling all over the place.

Thumbs up to Cesar. Once again, you're my hero!

How Baxter Came To Be Again

So this is a story that still gives me chills down my spine. So I briefly mentioned how in November Renee and I split a littler of 6, 5-week old puppies. They were from East Texas, were full of worms, and had come from a pretty rough life. Pictured above was Bobby. From the beginning Bobby was pretty special. He was extremely sensitive, and it made me wonder if he had been hit several times in his life. If you raised your voice to him, he ran and hid. It was heartbreaking.

So on Christmas Bobby was delivered to a home that I had made a visit to just days prior. They seemed like a great family. Well after some doubts on their end, I asked them really rethink their decision. I didn't want him to be in a situation where he was thrown outside all day or returned to me years later with no training.

They decided to give him back. I got him on a Thursday, and on Saturday at a Adopt a Pet, we literally had to tell people to stop giving us applications. People had seen his picture on Petfinder and had come from all over the DFW area to see him. I saw this couple who had brought their dog Boscoe with them, and I just had a good feeling. Boscoe reminded me of Baxter, and so of course I immediately liked them. They also reminded me a lot of Michael and myself, and they lived down in Dallas.

I picked them, and after a home visit, there was no question in my mind that Bobby had found the perfect home. When they came back two weeks later to finalize the adoption, my Baxter had fallen very ill. I just sent her an email telling her my oldest was very sick, and I wasn't going to be able to meet them at PetSmart to see him, but I still wanted updates on how Bobby was doing.

We laid Baxter to rest on January 19th, a Monday. After an entire weekend of not leaving our house, to be with him, Michael and I decided to get out to a movie, just to take a break. As we were waiting for the movie to start, I got an email with Bobby updates. In the title, 'Pics of Baxter and Boscoe'. My heart stopped, and I started shaking. Without me ever mentioning Baxter's name, they had renamed my extremely special Bobby, Baxter.

So in a way, I guess in my heart he lives on.

Frosty Paws

So I wanted to share this little secret that I learned from a client of ours. My dogs love frosty paws, but with 5 of them, they don't get them very often. So after doing a new client meeting, I learned how to make my own. Now, the normal recipe calls for lots of yogurt, little peanut butter, and honey, but I changed it up on my own. Here's what you'll need:

Glad reusable small cups w/lids
2 large containers of plain yogurt
One large container of creamy peanut butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup honey

Mix the ingredients, put them in the glad cups, cover and freeze.

Yep, that easy. If you go to Costco, you'll easily get 30 of these made for less than $10. And my dogs love, love, love them.

It's the best trick I've learned in a long time!

Hope your pups enjoy.

Heartworms - UGH!!!

So two years ago, we rescued our Crazy Daisy. Pregnant, crazy, you name it (you can read previous posts about her). She was literally insane. She delivered 10 puppies, but we lost 3 within the first two days. So 7 survived. It's funny because when I rescue, I'm always sad then I never get to see my dogs as puppies, no pictures, nothing. However, seeing Daisy's puppies in action, I realized God blessed me by giving her to me at a year, rather than 2 months!!!

So we found homes for them all. All, which I believed to be great homes. However, Cali got a tough break. Her first family didn't take care of her, and after countless calls from Animal Control, the last one finally did it for us. This time she got out of the yard and was running loose up Preston Road.

The family that found her, adored her, and asked if they could take her. I asked them to fill out an application, and they seemed like a great fit. Well fast forward six months, and I got a phone call. They were moving to St. Louis, and apparently St. Louis doesn't accept dogs, or something like that. So they didn't want to take her with them. It's our obligation as fosters to take her back.

She was in heaven here...loved our dogs, loved having two people around that cared about her. She was simply in HEAVEN. Well we didn't get her to the vet to do a normal check-up because Baxter derailed us. Finally a month after getting her, we took her in for a quick check-up because we had hit the jackpot with a new home.

We were suddenly halted, when we found out she had heart worms. Yep, the people who swore up and down they had kept her on preventative, must not have. Our poor Cali has to sit in a crate for the next four weeks, after a horrible treatment.

Poor girl can't cut a break if she tried. Hopefully after this, we can find another jackpot home, and she'll be on her way to living a fabulous rest of her life!

Moving On....

I hate to use the term moving on because I will never get over or forget Baxter. However, our house is recovering. This is my advice to anyone. You must have at least three pets. Here's why, if you have one pet, and lose them, it's horrible. I could never imagine coming home to an empty house. It would kill me.

If you have two pets, then not only are you sad, but the other pet is sad too. Then you're both moping around, missing the one you just lost. However, when there's at least three. You still have babies in the house, and the babies have each other. I'm honestly a little shocked that no one really showed any interest in Baxter leaving. He was 8, and my next oldest is 4, so there was always a gap. Then it goes 4, 3, and 1. So the last four are all very close in age.

My baby boy Maximus has stepped up to the plate. He was immediately ready to take on Baxter's spot in bed, but we had to make him sleep on the floor for a while. He still has some work in the training department, and i don't want to give him any reason to act more naughty. But he has become my baby, a total momma's boy. Without the five here, I wouldn't have been able to function for a while. However because of them, I'm forced to get up each day and move forward.

All I have to say is that it makes me sad to think about people who have animals, and don't love them to the fullest potential. Your life really is missing out. Animals can bring so much to you, so much joy and happiness.

I'm also begging Michael for another rottie puppy, and he's not having it!