Foster Mom

I've been debating about what to do about the pet situation now that Nike is gone. I'm not a fan of having no pet...but I'm also 25 weeks pregnant and have a lot to do before this little girl gets here, so a puppy doesn't really make sense (though it is tempting...). 

The plan right now is to get a baby bunny in the next month or two, and then get a puppy when life calms down after we have this baby. And I'm not dealing with potty-training, big-bed transitioning twins.  

But in the meantime, I've decided to foster dogs with Rescue Rovers. They take dogs out of the shelters and give them a home until they are able to find a new home.

Our first lucky guy was Bulldozer. A Great Dane "puppy" of around 100 lbs and 1 year old. He was a sweet dog, awesome with the kids. Caleb especially misses him. But Dozer has found an awesome new home with a dog brother and four strapping young boys to play with. 

Our current dog is Tater. Tater is a 2-year old Catahoula/border collie mix. He's potty trained and doesn't mind being left alone when we have to run to the store (some things we were working hard with Dozer to fix). But he definitely needs some leash work, so we've been going on lots of walks/runs in an attempt to fix his bad habits and help him find a forever home. 

The first thing Caleb said to Tater was, "I Love you, Tater!" The fostering thing might be hard for my sweet sensitive boy, so we'll see how it goes. But it's fun for now, though I can't wait until we get a dog that is a good fit for us permanently.

Nike

I'm dog-less. 

Nike had been showing signs of age for some time now, and hasn't been able to run with me since shortly after the twins were born. 

 In the last few weeks of December he stopped eating, had a hard time controlling his body functions, lost 10 lbs (down to a final 49 lbs from a more typical 75-80), and was quickly losing control of his legs. I made the hard choice to put him down. 

But then again, I wasn't about to let him starve himself to death, either. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but luckily, the vet (dad of my old friend Dagny) said he would have done the same thing if it were his dog, so I have some consolation.

Nike was the best dog. He was well-behaved and hardly ever did anything to get in trouble (except the occasional taking food from babies, and they practically have it to him so it's not really his fault), he would run with me for hours at my pace, and he let my kids climb all over him.

I miss that dog. Finding a new one as good as him will be difficult.

 It's been an eventful and stressful week. I got a new niece, lost a dog, wrote a talk, and had a lot of drama in all aspects of my life. Hopefully the next few weeks calm down and I can hopefully get a new dog soon, but until then, I just hope I can make it through without too much more crying.

Kiki

Saturday, we had to make the hard decision to put Kiki down,. Over the last few days, Kiki’s body finally gave out. She could no longer walk or use her back legs, her mouth tumor started bleeding, and she was being eaten by bugs because she couldn’t fight back. At nearly 13 years old, it was time for her to go.

Surprisingly, we’ve all handled it better than expected. We had to get Nike some tranquilizers for his anxiety (which we’ve hardly needed to use, luckily) as he adjusts to life alone. Steve has been really sweet and sleeping downstairs near his kennel to help him adjust since he isn’t allowed inside.

It was really hard leading up to the decision, but since we left her with the vet, I’ve survived. I’ve been able to get almost everything done that was necessary, and have even managed to leave the house a time or two. It’s been harder than I thought on William, though. He keeps asking for us to go get Kiki and asking to play with her and give her treats. When he went to say goodbye to her, it broke my heart. They used to be such good friends.

I’m sorry the twins won’t know her as well as William did (though he may not remember her later either). They had SO much fun together and I loved watching their interactions. Silly Billy would hang out in their kennel, give way too many treats, and play in the water bowl.

I have a lot of great memories of Kiki. I’ve had her since I was 14, so she’s pretty much my oldest friend that I’ve keep in regular contact with (so Angie’s probably the only real exception). I BEGGED my dad to let me get a dog for years. I even had a job and calculated how much time and money I would need to take care of one…including a very detailed shopping list. All my cute pictures of her as a puppy are in storage, due to our temporary living situation, but I did find a few gems of her legacy.

My best friend growing up, Anna, and I LOVED our dogs. We would hang out together all the time. We even once celebrated Nancy’s birthday.

Occasionally, I’d dress them up for Halloween. The devil/angel bit was always a hit, as it was particularly appropriate. Kiki got in way too much trouble over the years…but I even miss that part of her personality. She mellowed out a lot at the end and wasn’t ever quite the same dog, though she would still try to hold her own in a fight with Nike.

And the time Kiki got stuck under the bed…man, that was hilarious.

When we lived in LA, Steve saw the dogs more, since I was usually busy working and he studied at home. Kiki was a great study partner, and they loved to hang out on the couch with a big textbook or 5.

Kiki had several litters of puppies. I had lots of fun reading books about whelping and got good enough at it that I was able to make several thousand dollars that way. It was such a fun side job. Much more play than work, but I don’t think that matters. Who doesn’t love puppies, right? Nike is to the right of Barbie, the pup in the the pink collar.

Before she got too old, Kiki used to accompany us on lots of hikes---from Little Sahara to St. George, to Hollywood. When I had to start carrying her on the return trip, we knew her hiking days were over.

On his birthday one year, my dad asked if I still wanted a dog. The answer was a resounding YES! My dad picked the breed, my sister Rosie picked out her name, but I picked her and she picked me. My first dog, she lived a good life full of puppies, dog sledding, and glorious SoCal. Kiki was a little mischievous, loved food, and too smart for her own good. I will miss her once feisty personality, cool tricks, and happy smile. Her body couldn't handle life anymore and she just wasn't the same dog, so we knew it was time for her to go. Hopefully this will be the last in our long list of trials over the past year and things will finally start to turn around. We miss you already, Kiki(especially Nike!).

Silly Billyness: “High Five”

Silly Billy is OBSESSED with dogs.  He sleeps with a little stuffed dog and dog blanket, carries around 2 stuffed Dalmatians all over the house, points out pictures of dogs, and barks whenever he hears or sees a dog.   William loves to show pictures of dogs (especially pictures of our dogs) to Kiki, and share his toy dogs with them. It’s really quite amusing and I love that he’s like me in that way (What I don’t like, however, is when he decides to share his food with the dogs by throwing it from his high chair).

Liam recently learned how to give “Hi Fa”s (his words, not mine), and when he saw me telling the dogs to give High Fives, couldn’t be left out. It’s often the first thing he does when he sees the dogs after he’s been sleeping or out of the house.

Enjoy the videos.

High Five

High Five, Nike

Gone to the Dogs

I’ve gotten a new pair of Nikes.

Special thanks to the Karina, Valerie, and Missy (Steve’s cousins) for the cute Nike tracksuit.

Luckily, Liam seems to have inherited my love of dogs. All day long, every time a dog barks, its “Bah, Bah, Bah” (bark, bark, bark) from this little guy.

Fortunately, he’s got as many dogs as a little boy could ever want.His favorites are usually the little blue puppies that he sleeps with, but sometimes he requests a few extras of which he’s particularly fond. Here are the current favs.

Max: Max is the dog from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” We got him for $5 at Kohl’s, and there hasn’t been a day since that William has not hugged/cuddled/chewed the life out of him.

“Kiki”: a dog we got from my brother Daniel, and sister-in-law, Karalee. Looks just like the real thing, though I think technically, it’s a wolf or arctic fox.

Floppy Dog: Big floppy dog I got at a garage sale for a few dollars when I was pregnant. This one lives in the pet net above Liam’s bed, and he often tries to jump and get it after naps.

And the most recent favorite, Ride the Dog: A huge Old English Sheepdog that he got from my parents as a newborn. Liam has recently discovered how much fun it is to ride him (sometimes even more fun than riding his cars or mom).

We’re forever trying to convince our Silly Billy that he’s not a dog, but there’s only one way to carry a cracker.

He even likes to go jump on Dad to wake him. Dad’s not a fan.

And we’re headed to the park nearly every day to wear out his energy with new tricks.

Don’t you just love how he holds up his arms when he walks? I know I do.

Silly Billyness: The New Dog

I’ll admit it: I’ve been puppy-hungry since my dogs grew up. Who doesn’t love puppies? I was finally able to convince Steven that we needed another dog in our lives, and the new puppy fits right in.

We brought the new puppy to visit Steven’s Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary Lou in Reseda, and their granddaughter Audrey, couldn’t get enough of him. And Billy followed her around all afternoon.

I think Audrey misses her own dog.

What REALLY happened is that Billy discovered how much fun dog stuff is.

Especially the treats. He can’t decide if he’d rather eat them, or feed them to the dogs . Feeding the dogs is one of Silly Billy’s favorite things to do.Unless you count playing in the water. (Does it make me a bad mom for taking pictures while he’s doing this? I can’t help it, it was way too funny!)Poor Nike has to hide out on the couch to get away from all the attention.