dogs

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Confessions

I feel like all of my posts lately have been baby related, so I figured I would do something a little random and make some confessions to you.

Also I make no promises that a baby won’t be mentioned.

1. I confess that I have been struggling as a dog mom lately. We have been having some chewing issues lately when Tom and I are out. (Clarification:  That is Grace and Crosby with the chewing problem, not Tom and I.) And I don’t know what else to do because our go tos are not working. We are on the struggle bus.

2. I confess that I am also tired of cleaning up Grace puke, which has been an all too common occurrence because she eats too fast and chokes herself.

3. I confess that Crosby has stolen my heart with how he follows me everywhere. He could be sound asleep on the couch but if I get up to do anything he jumps to be my sidekick and protector. I think he knows the baby is coming. (Maybe that’s why they have been nutso…)

4. I confess that I get sucked into TV shows (especially those that I binge watch) and sometimes forget that it is not real life. When I watched The West Wing, I was really confused that it wasn’t real news.  Right now, I seriously think that the characters of Bones are my real life friends. I am totally a scientist…

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5. I confess that stores bringing “back to school” items on the shelves makes me want to buy lots of pretty notebooks and planners.

6. I confess that it does not fully feel like summer to me because I have yet to be in a floating device in a lazy river (real river or swimming pool river). I have been to both a river and a swimming pool, but the floating device is clutch in my summeriness.

7. I confess that I have to set the alarm to account for a cushion because I will hit the snooze button. There have been periods of my life where I had to set it at least an hour ahead because I would hit it that many times…now it is just one. That’s what I call progress.

8. I confess that sometimes I forget what I write in the blog. Then when I am having face to face conversations and people reference something I said, I will think “How in the world did they know that about me??!?!? CREEPER!” Then I remember I am a blogger and am grateful that people actually read what I write.

9. I confess when someone says, “Smile” for pictures, even if I am not in it, I will smile for the camera that I am not in front of. I find myself cheesing up even when the staging is occurring on TV or I am behind a mask.

10. I confess that my favorite part of our prenatal class is making mental bets on which person wont make it to the break to use the bathroom.

11. I confess that this morning I put my contacts in the wrong eyes, so my eyes were attacking the contacts all the way to work this morning until I realized what I did and switched them. The prescription is drastically different in both eyes, so it is amazing that I made it to work alive on that blurry vision. You know it’s going to be a good day…

Can you relate to any of these? Any confessions you want to make?

 

 

 

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Traveling with Fur Children

We have had our fair share of road trips this past year.

We also are not ones to leave the dogs behind. For the most part they are a packaged deal when we leave our house for an extended amount of time, unless they are staying with the grandparents or as was the case in Iowa we had friends and students watch them in our absence. (Man I miss those dog sitters!)

This does complicate things a little bit because we have to be able to problem solve what to do with them. Here are some questions to ask if you are traveling with dogs.

1. Can you have them where you are staying?

2. Do they need to be in a crate when you leave them alone?

3. How often can they be left alone, and how does this fit into your plans?

4. Do they need to meet a certain activity level each day, and is this attainable?

5. Does your dog have any special needs that may be impacted by travel?

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We do not kennel our dogs because we are afraid they (mainly Grace) will revert back to when we first got her with her separation anxiety. Some people swear by kennels and have found really great places to leave their dogs while they travel. This for us is just not a feasible option. You must know your dogs and figure out what is best for their personality.

We have found that even though we do not crate them at home, this is something we have to do while we are traveling. We don’t need anymore dog-shaming for these two. They get into quite a bit of trouble when they are not in their crates when we are out-of-towners. Although our last trip home, Grace did Houdini herself out of her kennel and for the first time ever there was no damage to the room she was in. Dare I say my little girl is maturing?

We also quickly learned that hotels are not Crosby friendly. Since we normal do not leave him in a crate, he barks anytime he hears a noise while in said crate. Unfortunately in a hotel, the noise never really stops. We had to leave a wedding early because the hotel kept calling to complain that our dog was barking. Whoops…

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So you need to know your dogs and figure out the best plan for your trip.

As a side note, if you do stay in a hotel, make sure you look at the hotels policy. Not all hotels are dog friendly or they have restrictions on size and number of pets. If they do allow pets, more than likely there will be a non-refundable pet deposit. You may have to pay this fee for each night AND for each dog separately, so make sure you put that in your budget. This can rack up fast if it is per night.

Our dogs are really good in the car, but I know that many dogs get sick on car rides. If your dog is one of those queasy ones, make sure you plan for stops and medication if needed.

We try to make the ride as comfortable as possible. We have a cargo carrier now that we put most of our luggage on so that the entire backseat is left to their leisure. We put tons of blankets down, although they usually end up all in one spot once they start playing around back there. We make sure they have a few toys so they can be distracted a bit. We also keep a small water bowl out for them as well. If our trip is longer than 5-6 hours, we will plan to have food for them as well.

They have their own luggage too. I pack their walking leashes as well as extendable leads for potty breaks. There are treats and toys a plenty in the bag as well. We also pack tons of carabiners to help secure the kennels. (Our dogs are escape artists…)

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You need to make sure you account for stops and what is the most convenient stop with a dog. If I am by myself, I try to stop at more rest stops because I can get in and out a lot faster and not leave the dogs in the car as long. It is much better when Tom and I are together, and we can take turns which makes the dogs less anxious about being left alone. We also try to get them out as often as possible to stretch their legs, but you also need to be mindful of cars and area of grass. I have stopped at some questionable places with a patch of grass that is the size of my kitchen table. You make it work, and then remember to never stop there again.

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We have been pretty fortunate to have such good travelers. We have had to make adjustments over time to find a perfect rhythm with them in cars and our destinations.

We wouldn’t have it any other way. They are a part of our family.

I mean seriously, why wouldn’t you want to take these faces with you every where you go?

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And of course you get some amusement by bringing the furbabies along, like sitting on your sister’s face.

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Do you travel with your pets? Any other words of wisdom when traveling with the furkids?

 

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Talks with Tom # 26

We had a great weekend at home after weeks of traveling.

We slept in.

We shopped sales racks for Baby George.

We cleaned. (We can actually see the floor of the second bedroom/George’s nursery now.)

We enjoyed a few movies and TV shows.

We cooked instead of going out.

And I listened to Tom make up songs.

We had a real grown up meal last night to which I dedicate this post.

Imagine Tom singing to a catchy poppy tune…

Velveeta Shells and Cheese,

Kielbasa and Peas,

I might cover it in honey that was made by some bees.

It was hysterical when he sang it, which unfortunately does not translate as well in written form. One of these days, I may be able to record it. Most of the time these songs come out of nowhere though. And I am usually distracted by laughing too much to think about grabbing my phone to catch it.

I hope you all had a great weekend because we sure did! Although the dogs aren’t really showing it…

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Grace was so stressed the whole day we were cleaning. She thought Tom was leaving again and refused to get off his gear as we organized it.

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Crosby follows me around everywhere as my protector. He wouldn’t even budge from his post as I was trying to make our bed.

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My Sweet Girl Who Can Act

This weekend, our little lady Grace hurt herself playing in the back yard. We are not sure what happened. One second we were grilling burgers listening to the dogs run around, and then the next second Grace comes limping over like her world just ended.

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We think that while she was running around with Crosby, she fell in one of the holes (that she dug) and tweaked something. She didn’t wince when we tried touching her leg, and it obviously doesn’t look broken. She also would stand on it; she just hobbled when she walked.

Since it happened Saturday night, we decided to hold off until Monday to call the vet and see how she got through the rest of the weekend.

Tom carried her practically around the whole apartment Saturday night and all day Sunday. We carefully put her in bed with us and wrapped her all snuggly in blankets and warded off a concerned Crosby so she could rest easily.

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Monday I called the vet to find out you could only schedule appointments 2 weeks out, even for emergencies. What!?!?

How do you all define emergency? That’s another topic for another day.

We ended up deciding to watch her for another couple days and then decide to go to a different vet if it gets worse. Since she wasn’t wincing when we touched it, we honestly weren’t sure what more the vet could do besides charge us money.

As I was panicking on how we would help our baby girl, I started noticing something peculiar about her.

This girl has game.

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As I let her out to go wobble to a potty spot, she starts playing with Crosby with no inhibitions.

She is racing around again like the Grace we all know and love.

I watched for a few minutes, then scolded the two of them for playing so rough while Gracie was hurt and ushered them back inside.

And low and behold, the limp was back on.

She would look at Tom and I with crying eyes anytime we went up the stairs. Obviously saying, “Oh dear parents, I am dying. Please carry me.”

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Then as soon as her or Crosby got an itch to play, the limp was off. She was back to being an instigator.

Then back to poor me, my leg needs to be amputated.

Yesterday when I came home, I was greeted with “boundy turn into a U shape” Grace like nothing ever happened. Then 5 minutes later…”Mom, hold me. The pain is too much.”

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We have tried to keep her from being too active, but her little doggy instincts obviously want to be normal again. I keep giving her lectures about not taking too much on and the importance of rest. Then I pull her close for a hug and a kiss because I just wanted my baby girl to feel better.

At least that is until last night when I caught her in her lie, and she knew it.

Tom and I were both sitting on the couch, and I saw Grace put all her weight on her “bad” leg to scratch herself with the other. I looked at her squarely in the eyes and said, “Oh so your leg hurts does it?”

Y’all, you should have seen the look she gave me.

She just froze mid scratch, and she knew she had been compromised.

I caught our dog lying to us!

Tom and I were laughing so hard because our dog dooped us.

To be honest, we are still watching her leg and not walking her like normal to keep undo stress away from the leg/shoulder she seems to be favoring. We aren’t horrible parents, and we really do want her to feel better. But seriously, I think she has been faking the “severity” of her injury to get more attention.

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We have been giving her extra love and cuddles, but we are no longer carrying her up the stairs.

If you can wrestle with Crobbers, you can walk the stairs girlie.

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Have you been dooped by your pet? Any advice on how to keep a dog still? Do your dogs have you trained?

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Dear Grace and Crosby

Oh my lovely doggy babies,

It has been awhile since you have been on the blog, but you two have been ruling my Instagram. I know you both get tired of me snapping photos of you, but you are just too darn cute.

You both have been so good lately. Dad and I are so proud that we can leave you out of the kennels now while we are out and about. Let’s be honest though, you haven’t been perfect angels have you? Grace, you like to dig through Mom’s lady trash and strewn it about the upper floor. Let’s talk about how gross this is girl. And Crosby, you like to get on the counters and pull down dishes that may or may not have remnants of the last meal we ate. That’s how we have lost a shaker cup and a few Tupperware items. But we have more days that you don’t do any of this than the days we do, so there is a plus. And Mom and Dad have gotten smarter about where we put things and what doors need to be shut when we leave. It is usually our lazy fault when we forget that you usually decide to get into stuff.

You sure do seem happy when we get home though!

I am sorry we haven’t gone on many walks lately. There have been so many things prohibiting it. The freezing temps, my constant sickness, and Dad’s training, haven’t really been nice to us schedule wise have they? Hopefully here soon, I will start feeling better, and we can take advantage of the warmer temps. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be just us for awhile since Dad has a lot of training to do. We will try to get out as a family every weekend, especially to take advantage of the weather. We know you both love your time outside!

I know that you all miss Dad when he is gone. You all whimper and pounce up at any loud truck that goes through the cul-de-sac hoping it is Dad coming home. And the way you all love on him when he is here shows me how much you cherish your time with him. Crosby, you do a great job ensuring that he is clean too with your constant licking.

Things are going to continue to change around here, and I know you two will be troopers and make the best of it. Grace, you have been through a deployment before. I know it was hard on you. I watched you lay on Dad’s clothes so many times hoping he would come home soon. Crosby, you have no idea what is in store for you, but you a pretty laid back, so I am sure you will do fine. On the plus side, you have each other now, and I know that helps during the day for you two to comfort each other. Although this time around will be different for all of us for so many reasons. So with the deployment and all the other changes that are going to occur in the upcoming months, I know you two will be just fine! And I know you will be a huge comfort and rock for Mom!

Speaking of you two together. You all just crack us up. You really have embraced each other as companions. You groom each other, you play together, and you take turns eating. I am usually rolling with laughter when you two groom each other. It is a cross between the sweetest and grossest thing I have witnessed. I often feel that I should leave you two along for your privacy. As far as sharing toys, Crosby, you tend to steal them from Grace quite often. However, I think Grace likes the chase and lets you do it sometimes because she never seems to put up a fight when you come in to grab the toy. When you cuddle together on the couch or chair upstairs it just melts my heart. I just love that you two are getting along so well.

We have figured out a pretty good sleeping routine. You both sleep in the middle of us. Grace you take the spot up by our heads and are sure to snuggle in real close to one of us. Crosby, you sprawl out at the foot of the bed like you own the place or something.

Crosby, you don’t seem to like the neighborhood kids. You bark at them every day when they are coming home from school. I know you are being a good guard dog, but I think we can handle a few 3rd graders.

Grace, you still sometimes will get jealous when Dad and I are giving Crosby some love and not you. We love you just a much, and please know that we haven’t forgotten about you!

You both make our days, and there is so much love for the two of you! We couldn’t be happier that you came home to us.

Love,

Mom

PS. We are not always nice parents, and sometimes we like to tease you. Our latest tricks are to enitce the whimpers out of you two. Crosby, we have learned that you do not like Maroon 5 since you bark every time Dad sings their songs. Your whimper gets me every time because it sounds like you are going hoarse and trying to force out a grunt or cough. And Grace you just don’t like being teased and want us to pay all of our attention to you, so you cry if you don’t get your way. Plus I think that it annoys you that Dad can imitate your whimper to a tee.

See example.