The sweet taste of success!

Last night I took the boys swimming and in a fit of trust (where it came from I don't know) I let Jack run into the lake off leash. To my surprise he stayed right where he was supposed to!!! I did a happy dance right there on the shores of the lake, to the enjoyment of the joggers and bikers I'm sure. This was Jack's first successful endeavor off leash. He didn't run away! I about fainted with joy. This is the dog that climbed 8 feet up a utility pole in the backyard in an attempt to get out of the fence. Oh course it helped that he knew I was hiding pepperoni in my pocket, but hey that is a step up from before. He used to know I had hot dogs in my pocket and didn't give a rat's behind, freedom was way cooler in his humble opinion. 

We start obedience tomorrow and paws crossed that we'll rock their socks off. 

This is a small victory I am logging. Hopefully this will bring us one step closer to finding him a new forever family. Because let's be honest here, if he doesn't get adopted soon I may just end up being a foster failure. 

I have a ton of pics of the two of them that I'll load up here soon I promise. 

I'm officially legit

I am now a legitimate blogger. I have added Google Analytics and am now officially keeping track of who/how many visits my blog. Not going to lie, this scares me. 

Why? 

What if it ends up being true that I really am "talking" to no one?

Oh well, at least I'll still have the dogs. At least until someone with better treats comes by....

Happy Birthday to the most tolerant Man I know.

This is my other half. Otherwise known as the most patient man I  know. For not being a dog person (hah! I changed that pretty quickly) he puts up my with my constant dog chatter, my neuroses about our dogs, the endless parade of dogs that come in and out of the house, and the crazy things I do for our dogs. Through it all, even though secretly he thinks I'm crazy, he is super supportive and let's me do what I want. He even supported our short-lived streak of home-cooking our dog food! 

All dog references aside, this man is my lifeline. Without him I would be half the person I am now. He is my rock and my sense of humor. So to avoid being a total sap, without further adieu...... HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!! You are now officially in your late 20's. (I love giving him crap for being older!)

A weekend in review

The boys and I had a pretty good weekend. I finally got everything in order for the wedding shower on Friday. Jack came back on Friday (more on that later). My brother-in-law is getting married in August and I decided to throw her a wedding shower. Traditionally I am awful at throwing parties. I turn into a giant stress machine. No man or dog is safe from my stress-induced tornado. 

This was Cody's reaction to my banging around the kitchen during a baking streak of 6 dozen cookies. 

My husband just beat haste to the living room in retreat. 

But the party went off with a hitch and S (the bride) had an awesome time. I slept for a week. Or at least it felt like a week. Saturday morning we spent tim

e walking and cuddling, glad to have Jack back in our house. Cody kept licking his ears like he was so excited that Jack came back to play. Sunday was DH's birthday and the boys decided it was the best idea to give him a birthday wake-up call by sitting on his head. DH got fried egg sandwiches for breakfast and the boys got cheesy scrambled eggs. All in all a good weekend. 

Plus my roses bloomed! This is a big deal for someone who has a brown thumb. I have never grown anything, I may be good with dogs, plants not so much. 

Almost Wordless Friday...

I'm frantically planning a wedding shower for tonight so I will leave you with this instead of my usual witty banter.

 

Check-up

My vet calls to check up on us. Monthly. Not because Cody has some life-long illness. Oh no. Because it is so unusual for us to not see the vet at LEAST once  a month for some sort of calamity. When they haven't seen us for a month they get worried. I'm not kidding. 

The X-ray's from his electric cord incident are framed and hanging in the back room as proof that a dog can truly survive anything. My vet actually thanked me for helping pay for her vacation home. 

That makes me just a little sad....

Yesterday's phone call

Ring. Ring.

Hello?

Hi, this is D from Downtown Dogs.

(oh hell, what now) 

I wanted to let you know that Big Jack jumped our 7 foot fence twice. With his no-jump harness on.

(Oh Lord help us)

So, I'm sorry to tell you but Big Jack is no longer allowed to come here for his own safety.

(Oh please don't let me have a nervous breakdown on the phone, please, please, please)

What are our options now?

Long Pause

Well....um......nothing really. He just blew through our last resort. 

(Sh*t)

Um....ok.....well thanks, I guess.

And now we're back to square one. Brilliant.

Oh to have a boring life......how nice would that be?

What am I?

DH just came back last night from a week-long fishing trip in Canada. The boys and I were on our own and did quite well if I do say so myself. We went for 3 mile long walks everyday, they got new raw marrow bones and a couple of trips to DQ for vanilla cones. Now who can complain with a set-up like that? I mean really. 

DH got home last night and the boys acted like they hadn't seen him in a hundred million billion years. They smothered him in kisses and cuddles and loves. 

All of a sudden I ceased to exist. 

Traitors. 

Hooray for new headers!

Check out the header! Thanks to my friend Ryan over at AlphaGraphics who designed it. Props to him. I dig it. Now I feel somewhat professional. Yipee!! Let me know what you think of Codyman's modeling debut. 

Cool or Not Cool?

Cool:

Fore Paws: Border Collie battles geese

Not Cool:

Pets feeling the pain of foreclosure

Big Jack is still with us

Big Jack, or as we now call him Houdini, is still here. He has now managed to climb our 5 foot chain link fence 6 times, shimmied 8 feet up our utility pole and over our fence, jumped out the car window, and last but not least he broke through a 9 foot wooden privacy fence at his potential adopter's house. Needless to say they no longer wanted him. Oy ve. So 5 weeks and 9 potential families later he's still here. Which if we're being honest I'm ok with, I love him I really do. I am getting a bit tired of his escape tactics however. I'm getting a bit at my wits end as to what exactly I should do with him. So for now we just sit and wait and hope for the right family. DH set a deadline for Christmas. If he's still here by Christmas (Oh god help us if he is) he'll stay here forever. Which just tears me in two directions. I love fostering but if we keep Jack that can no longer happen and that just shoots an arrow in my heart. Then of course I feel guilty because I don't want to kick Jack out just for my own purposes. Arg, the emotions of fostering. Sometimes it sucks. 

I remember when I used to like fireworks

For those of you that have dogs I know you can relate. Up until 3 years ago I loved fireworks. My birthday is the day after the 4th so growing up I always was pretty sure that they were all for me. (What can I say? I thought my birthday was a big deal!) Then Codyman came into my life and now fireworks season has turned our lives into a living hell. Not only has it turned Cody into a quivering mass of nerves but it turns me into that screaming Mom that I always told myself I would never be. You know the one. The one that kills everyone's fun because her precious baby is scared. Yeah, that one. Starting July 1st my neighbors started shooting off the little tiny fireworks you can get at Target. Thus started the longest week of my life. Every time one of those suckers goes off Cody tries to bury himself into my skin. Not to mention the tinkling, cuz that is always a lot of fun. This results in me wanting to yell at every one of my neighbors that they need to have more respect. Which earns me so much respect with my neighbors I'm sure.  Then at my mom's cabin he broke through the door to escape the fireworks resulting in the most terrifying 30 minutes of my life. Needless to say, sleep was elusive for a week.

I was talking to DH later and he looked at me wistfully and said, "Do you remember when fireworks were pretty?" *Sigh* I do honey, I do. 

Hump Humpity Hump Hump

I realize I haven't said much about Jack lately. He's still here. More on his rejection streak later. That is a sad story for yet another post. This post is about something different entirely. This post is about an embarrassing need of Jack's. Embarrassing for both of us (at least he'd better be embarrassed). Jack is this overcoming need to.....well.......hump. Indiscriminately of course. Boy dog, girl dog, doesn't matter. Spayed, neutered, doesn't matter either. He is neutered of course so it's not like this is about procreating. A lot of trainers say this is a way to establish dominance within a pack. Which may be true, I'm no expert. In this case I doubt it. He is the most unassuming submissive dog I know. I must admit though that this habit of his is becoming a tad overwhelming. 

Case in point:

We went to the dog park yesterday for awhile. He did great at first. Then it went sliding rapidly downhill. I love my neighborhood, I really do. It's a young, hip, urbanish area right outside the city. Lots of people with dogs, which equals lots of judging stares at the always busy dog park. So when Jack started humping all 20 dogs there, it was awkward to say the least. After 30 minutes of running all over the stupid place pulling him off of dogs of all sizes and having my neck reamed for having an "out of control dog" I waved the white flag and headed off for home with my proverbial tail tucked between my legs. Now I'm afraid to even set foot in that park for fear of being burned at the stake. 

Hopefully Big Jack will get over this Casanova complex and can sniff butts like every other dog out there. Until then, we're gonna stick with walks...

Rejection is hard

We have had 5 applications for Jack.

Every one of them has rejected him. 

Without even meeting him none the less! They hear the words he needs supervision when outside and they immediately say thanks but no thanks. I think he's about to develop a complex. (Who am I kidding? He's so laid back, like he cares.) It's hard on his foster mom, that's for sure. Because I have time to get to know these babies so well and know their personalities, it's hard when they reject him without even getting a chance to meet him. I know if they did he would win them over immediately. I'm just trying to be honest and set real expectations when I tell them about his escapist tendencies. That's what I'm supposed to do as the FM right? What exactly is the balance between honesty and selective information sharing? Each rejection gets harder and harder. Especially when you look into those big liquid brown eyes that just want love and acceptance. That's all he asks, why can't someone overlook his one fault and give him a chance? I'll tell you one thing. Fostering is not easy on the heart. I'll get more pics of the boys tonight, hopefully.