Trixie And Lily And Sammy-Joe

Operation: Send Lily On Vacation!

2012-02-23T17:13:00.002-08:00

Hi everyone! This is Trixie! Long time, no blog! Mama has been so busy with her student teaching and her big project, she hasn't had time to help us. Usually when she comes home from student teaching, she just collapses and falls asleep... and on the weekend she just works on her project! :(
I do have some weird news! Gramma and Grampa are getting the floors in the house fixed. While the people are in the house fixing it, nobody is allowed to be in it. So, Gramma, Grampa and Mama have to go stay in a hotel for a few days! And Lily, Sammy-Joe and I also have to find places to stay. (We can't go to the hotel because we'd have to be alone in the hotel room all day while the humans are at work, and Gramma is afraid we'd either destroy the place, or the housekeeper would let us out by accident, or some other nonsense!)
I am lucky because a nice lady who works at my vet's office wants me to come stay with her for a few days! I will get to sleep at her house, and hang out with her on her days off. On the days that she works, I will get to go to the vet's office with her. Sweet deal, right?
Sammy-Joe, on the other hand, has to stay at the kennel at the vet. Luckily, he doesn't mind being in a cage too much. It reminds him of the cardboard boxes he loves to sleep in all the time at home. Mama will send him with his special blanket. She's going to sleep with the blanket a few nights ahead of time, so it will smell like her and he will be able to think about her while he's at the kennel!
Lily, on the other hand... well, Lily has special issues. She's never stayed anywhere except with Mama, or with Gramma and Grampa, in her life! Mama is afraid that if Lily stays at the kennel, she'll get really upset, and when they go to take her for a walk outside she might squiggle out of her collar and run away. Well, she really might! So Mama is sending her to a doggie hotel!
The difference between the kennel and the doggie hotel is that, at the doggie hotel, Lily will be able to play with other dogs all day long. She'll only have to be in a cage at night, and she'll be so tired she'll sleep the whole time! Also, instead of walking her outside by a busy street where she could get away, Lily will be going to the bathroom (and playing) in a fenced-in play area that is impossible to escape from!
So... Lily doesn't know she's going to the doggie hotel yet. We're trying to break the news to her slowly. The operation has multiple steps.
Step 1: Lily had to go to the vet and get all her vaccinations updated! She had her rabies shot already, but the doggie hotel requires dogs to get bordatella and distemper vaccinations as well. Lily also got a complete physical exam. The vet says she's a little chubby, but otherwise in great health!

Step 2: Mama went to take a tour of the doggie hotel. She told them how nervous she was about leaving tiny little Lily and that she needs to know Lily will be in really good hands. The people there suggested Lily come in for a few days of day care, so she could get used to the place before she has to actually stay overnight there!

Step 3: Lily went to doggie day care for three hours. Yes, three big whopping hours! After that Mama went into withdrawals and had to go pick Lily up! The people said Lily did really well and played with all the other dogs! They even snapped a few pictures of her! As you can see, Lily likes hanging out with the BIG dogs!

I think that dog smiling in the background might be Lily's body guard!

Step 4: Next week, Lily will spend a full day at doggie day care while Mama is at student teaching. Mama will pick her up at the end of the day and she won't have to sleep there.

Step 5: Mama will drop Lily off at the doggie hotel, and not pick her up at the end of the day! Thats when I'll be with my friend from the vet's office, Sammy-Joe will be at the kennel, and the humans will be at the human hotel.

Friends, Mama is freaking out about this! She can't stand having to be away from all of us! She says she's going to cry all night long, every day. However, she also said she is kind of looking forward to going swimming at the hotel. At least if she's in the swimming pool, all her tears will wash away!

I'll keep you updated on how it goes!

Wordless Wednesday: No More Blog, Mama! Take Break, Now!

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Not Quite Smarty Sunday!

2012-01-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Smarty Sunday is being postponed this week because Mama is busy working on a giant project for student teaching! She has to write a book! The book has to be all about activities that people can do with their little human kids to help them do better in preschool. She was typing typing typing all night long and didn't give Sammy-Joe any time to write his Smarty Sunday post!

Luckily, we do have something cool to show you. Mama took these pictures this morning. Want to see?

Can you tell what it is? Here, look closer!

They are little foot prints!

They look kind of like Lily footprints. But they were made in the fresh snow, before us dogs got a chance to go outside in the morning. We had a secret visitor!

It looks like the visitor walked in a big circle...

And then he (or she) tiptoed along this ledge...

And maybe the visitor slipped on the ice!

What kind of visitor do you think we had? A dog? A cat? A raccoon? Maybe we should set up a hidden video camera so we can see them!

We just wanted to show you that because we thought it was kind of mysterious. And now, we have to give the computer back to Mama so she can work some more on her book. We hope all of our friends are doing good!

Wordless Wednesday: Super Size Milkbone!

2012-01-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Rescue Pepe!

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Do you remember way back during Mayzie's Rescue Me Week when we wrote about the hoarder lady who used to work at a pet store and who had 50 dogs in her house? Almost Home Foundation found homes for most of those dogs, but there are still a few left. One of them is Pepe, an eleven pound chihuahua/terrier mix who is very sweet but can be very nervous around new people.

Pepe is another one of those chihuahuas who just doesn't trust people. This has been aggravated by the fact that he was raised by a hoarder, and did not get a lot of human contact. When he sees a hand coming towards him, he doesn't know what that hand is going to do to him, so he sometimes growls or tries to bite! But never after he's gotten to know and love a person. For instance, he knows and loves his foster parents, He will cuddle on their laps, play with them, and be a wild little guy around them! He loves to play fetch, and peek-a-boo. He is great at learning new tricks, and is very interested in getting some agility training if his new family would be willing to work with him! He is also usually fine with dogs who are his size and smaller, although he is afraid of larger dogs.

One thing our Mama said she noticed, when volunteering at Almost Home Foundation's adoption days, is that many people who want to meet a small dog will walk up, and lean over the dog. This makes many smaller dogs, including Pepe, frightened! It can be frightening or intimidating to larger dogs as well. We thought we'd share a few tips for people who might be interested in meeting Pepe, or any other new dogs.

Remember to always ask whoever is handling or walking the dog if it is okay to pet him. If it is okay, curl your fingers into a fist, and offer your fist to the dog to sniff. Don't shove your fist in the dog's face, but hold it far enough away so the dog can be the one to move his face over to you for a sniff. If he keeps on sniffing and seems happy, or if he pushes his head under your hand to ask you to pet him, you can!

When you meet smaller dogs, if possible, it is a great idea to sit on the floor instead of standing over them. If you cannot sit down on the floor, ask the handler if they could pick the dog up so that the dog is at your level. Sitting or crouching on the floor can be the best way, though! If the dog seems nervous, it can help to avoid eye contact. With Pepe, our Mama has noticed that whenever she is sitting on the floor and talking to a human or playing with another dog, Pepe will walk up and put his paws on her or even climb into her lap! This may be because a person who is sitting down low, and who is not looking at him, can be the least intimidating person to a nervous dog. Once the dog has gotten a good sniff of you, he'll probably be more willing to be petted! Pepe is not as nervous as, say, Bermuda, and he will almost always become friendly within a minute or two of being petted.

Here are some things not to do when meeting a dog, especially a nervous dog. Do NOT lean or bend over the dog. Do NOT put your face right up to the dog's face unless you don't mind getting bitten in the nose. (Of course once the dog is yours, it may feel natural to put your face close to his and give him kisses, and once he knows you well he probably won't mind! But don't do it to a strange dog!) Do NOT run up to a dog or approach him in a quick, startling way. Do NOT walk up to a dog you don't know and start petting him, without giving him a minute to get to know you! (This may have worked out fine for you with a few dogs in the past, but you don't ever know which dog is going to be the nervous one who will think you're trying to hurt him!) And NEVER pick up a smaller dog that you don't know. Ask first. Some dogs will let anyone pick them up. Other dogs will be frightened by this gesture.

Finally, the quickest short cut to a nervous dog's heart? Treats! Many nervous dogs will get over their stranger anxiety if you have something delicious to share with them!

If you live in the Chicago area and feel like you'd enjoy having Pepe in your family, please email plutollf@aol.com for more info. We know you're going to love him!

Smarty Sunday: Winter Safety For Pets

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone! Its me, Sammy-Joe, here with another super smart episode of Smarty Sunday! I can't believe its been a week already!
The other day it snowed here in Chicago, where we live. It may have snowed where you live to! Do you pets know how to keep yourselves safe during the winter? I thought I'd talk about this today, now that it is officially winter! Let me share them with you.

1. Dogs and cats... You may love to play outside in the snow! But watch the weather, and trust your humans to use their best judgement about how long you should stay out. If it is so cold that your human doesn't want to stay out for very long, then you probably shouldn't stay out very long either. I know sometimes we don't notice the cold until it is too late! If it is below freezing, especially, just go outside long enough to do your potty business and then hurry back in. Some pets might like to wear coats to help keep them warm. But if you do wear a coat, ask your human to supervise you just in case you get caught on something!

2. Your humans have probably heard that they should not leave you alone in a hot car in the summer. But do they know that the same goes for a cold car in winter? The car can act as a refrigerator, making it even colder inside there than it is outside. If you are left alone, you could get hypothermia. Please make sure your parents know this!

3. If you do go outside on a snowy day, make sure you are wearing your collar with your ID tag at all times. If you go for a walk, ask your parents to keep you on your leash. Why? The snow can mess up the scents that we are used to. If we wander off and get lost, we might not be able to find our way back home using our trusty noses. If we are wearing our collars with ID tags, we have a better chance of getting a helpful human to take us home.

4. Cats... if you are allowed to roam free outdoors, do not climb into the hood of a car to stay warm. It is a bad idea! The human may not know you are there, and if he starts the car, you could be seriously injured or even killed. If you, or other cats in your neighborhood, do roam free, ask your humans to bang on the hood of their car before they start it up in the morning. This will scare away any cats that might be curled up underneath.

5. When you come in from playing outside, do not lick your fur until your parents have dried you off! I know you probably have snow and ice on your fur and you want to clean yourself off. But the snow and ice could have salt, antifreeze, and other chemicals in it, and that could make you sick! So tell your humans to dry you off with a towel as soon as you come in. Don't try to do the job yourself with your tongue. Have them dry your feet off well, too.

6. What if you do get lost, or sneak out, and end up being outside in the cold longer than your parents wanted you to be? You should know the signs of hypothermia and frostbite, and share them with your parents. If you can't stop shivering even after you get in, if your fur looks all puffed up or is standing on end, and if you seem disoriented or lethargic, you could have hypothermia. If your skin turns bright red, pale, or black, you could have frostbite. If either of these things happen, your parents need to get you to the vet!

7. Remember, antifreeze is poison! If you see something blue on your driveway, do not lick it! In fact, tell your humans to clean up any antifreeze spills right away, just in case you forget that its poison.

8. Do your humans use a space heater in areas of the house that are cold? Remind them that you need to be supervised whenever the space heater is on. They shouldn't leave it running when they are not in the room. You might chew the cord, or knock it over while you are running around playing, or jump on top of it if you are a cat. I know none of you would do any of these things because you are perfect angels. But still. Also, even just rubbing against the space heater could be dangerous, if the heater is too hot. Be careful with those things!

9. If you live near a body of water, be careful. You might notice that the water turns to ice, and you might feel like you can walk across it. But the ice could break, and you could fall into the cold, cold, cold water! This has happened to other dogs and cats before. So please stay away from bodies of water unless your parents are absolutely sure that the ice is thick enough for ice skating. To be sure, please remind your parents again to supervise you when you are outside, and keep you on a leash during walks.

Maybe I made it seem like winter is terribly dangerous for pets! But winter can still be a lot of fun. Just be careful, and make sure you stay warm enough and are supervised, and you'll have an awesome winter!

Thanks for reading Smarty Sunday, everyone! I hope you feel smarter!

Mama Keeps Leaving!

2012-01-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We've actually been doing pretty good at our promise to write at least two posts a week... but those posts are usually Smarty Sunday, Rescue Me day, and Wordless Wednesday! The reason for this is kinda good news and kinda bad news.
The good news is... Mama started student teaching! She will be student teaching for five weeks at a preschool program for at-risk kids, and then for ten weeks at another school. She really loves it! She thinks the kids are so little and cute, and the days go by really fast for her. That is also why it is hard for us to keep up with posts... by the time she gets home, Mama is too exhausted to type!
The bad news is... Mama started student teaching! Yeah, we know we said that was good news. It is good news for Mama, but bad news for us! We miss when she used to stay home with us for most of the day! She used to snuggle in bed with us until almost lunch time, take us out several times a day to play, share breakfast and lunch with us, and talk to us all day. Sometimes she would go to school or work for a few hours, and then come home.
Now she has to be gone seven hours a day! She gets up early, takes a shower, takes us out to play, shares her breakfast with us, and then leaves. We are always so sad when she leaves.
Here is a picture of the doggies among us, missing Mama.

Mama says she misses us too when she's gone. She says she thinks about us all day. She says! But who does she share her lunch with now, we'd like to know?

Wordless Wednesday: Catnip Bubbles!

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Rescue Gypsy Rose!

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We're still keeping good on our promise to write about an Almost Home Foundation dog who needs a home each week! We don't know if you remember Bermuda, who we wrote about during Mayzie's Rescue Me Week. Bermuda, by the way, is still waiting for a home, and is the only dog we've written about for Rescue Me posts who hasn't been adopted yet. So if you live in the Chicago area and consider yourself a chihuahua whisperer, please contact her foster dad by emailing him at c22036@email.mot.com, or calling him at 224-715-2526.
But today we wanted to tell you about another dog, who happens to be Bermuda's foster sister! Her name is Gypsy Rose, and she is a very unique looking little rat terrier mix. Her black head, on her scruffy white body, causes some people to comment that she looks like someone put her together with spare parts! Gypsy Rose was rescued from a kill shelter in Chicago, where she was in line to be euthanized. Thank goodness Almost Home Foundation got her before that could happen. It would have been a real waste of a very sweet three year old dog!
Some people think Gypsy doesn't get along with other dogs. However, she really does get along with most other dogs! When big dogs walk up to her she sometimes gets intimidated and barks at them. She also barks a lot while playing. But she does enjoy other dogs much of the time. She lives with three other dogs (including Bermuda) and she has regular playdates with as many as seven dogs at a time!
The other day while Mama was volunteering, she wandered over to where Gypsy Rose was. While Mama was sitting on the floor talking to another volunteer, Gypsy ran up to her and jumped into her lap! Gypsy licked her face, then ran and got her little stuffed toy and brought it to Mama to throw for her! Other volunteers mentioned that Gypsy was one of their favorite dogs ever because of her playful and affectionate nature. Gypsy loves kids, too! She's also crate trained and house trained.

Gypsy wants you to know that if you meet her at the adoption show, and she's barking a lot at other dogs, she is probably just excited! Dogs never have their best behavior at the adoption show. It really brings out the worst in them! But even if you meet her at the show, she'll lick your face and want to play with you, and you'll see what an awesome doggie she is. Ask a volunteer to walk her to a quieter area of the store, so you can spend some special time just with her when she's not so overwhelmed by the crowds!
Gypsy Rose lives with Bermuda, so you can contact her foster dad with the same contact info above. He'd love to hear from you about either one of the dogs! Remember... Gypsy Rose is looking for just about any person or family who could open up their hearts to a great, playful dog. Bermuda is looking for a patient person who understands chihuahua issues, and is willing to take the time to earn her trust. (That could take anywhere from twenty minutes to a day, if you have time to spend just with her, with no other dogs and few humans around... and some doggie treats would really speed up the process!)
Both Gypsy and Bermuda are anxiously waiting for their forever homes! We hope you find them soon!

Smarty Sunday: Trust Funds For Pets

2012-01-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, its me, Sammy-Joe, writing to you for this week's Smarty Sunday! This week I want to ask you a serious question.
If something horrible happened to your humans... for instance if they got into a car crash and died, or went into a long term coma... who would take care of you pets?
At Almost Home Foundation, whenever someone over the age of 70 wants to adopt a pet, they have to designate someone who is willing to sign a form saying they'll take over care for the pet if anything happens to the senior citizen. I think that's a good idea because the over 70 crowd is more at risk of things like heart attacks, strokes, etc... and while we all know that just having a pet can reduce that risk, it is important to make sure that an adopted pet doesn't end up in another shelter, or put to sleep, if something does happen to the elderly owner.
Older humans aren't the only ones who die, though. We all hate talking about it. I hate the idea of losing Mama, as much as she hates the idea of losing me! But it could happen. And if it did, who would take care of me, Trixie and Lily? Of course we have Gramma and Grampa who would automatically take care of us, but if they weren't around, who would be next on the list?
Some humans handle this by setting up a pet trust fund. There are a few humans who get a little carried away with this. For instance, the actress Betty White plans to leave her $5 million estate to her pets! (We hope some human is going to live in that estate with them, since pets have trouble going to the store to buy pet food, filling their own water dishes, and stuff like that!)
We don't expect Mama, Gramma or Grampa to leave us the house. Most humans handle things more simply, by adding a few lines in their will naming guardians for their pets, and by possibly leaving a trust fund that would be given to the new guardians in order to pay for the pets' care.
Sixteen states allow people to set up a legally enforceable pet trust. The states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. (Not Illinois! Boo!) In these states, you can put together a very specific trust that outlines how your pets should be taken care of. If your dog goes to doggie day care, and you want him to be able to keep on going there every day, you can state that. If your four cats are very attached to each other and you want them kept together, you can state it. You can specify everything from what your pet should be fed, to where he will sleep, to how many walks a day he should be taken on. You should also name a few people who would be willing to carry on these wishes. (Is there a friend or family member who will promise to either adopt all four cats, or foster them until she finds a wonderful adoptive home for all of them together? Does the person willing to adopt your dog actually live somewhere near the doggie daycare your dog loves?) Adding a fund will make sure that the people in charge of caring for your pets get paid a certain amount of money, on a regular basis, for the rest of your pets' lives. It is also a good idea to decide a "remainder beneficiary." That just means, if your pet dies, and the money you left for his care has not run out, someone else can get it. You might name the caregiver you chose for the pet, or the animal shelter you adopted the pet from, for instance.
If you don't live in one of the states that enforces pet trusts, you could still make arrangements for your pets! This works best if you have people you trust and you know will carry out your wishes. Simply add a clause to your will naming someone (and maybe a back-up person as well) who you want your pets to live with if you die. Then you can leave the instructions for the pets care to that person, along with the amount of money you think will be necessary for the pets' lifetimes of care.
Both a pet trust, and a will, are legal documents, so you should prepare them with the help of an attorney. You should always make sure to talk with everyone who you plan to involve in your pets' care. Learning that your great aunt has died and, as a surprise, left you in charge of her seven dogs, twelve cats, four parakeets and two horses might make a funny movie, but in real life it will put your pets at risk! Talk to the people you love about how they care for pets, and what they'd be willing to do for your pets. (If your brother hates cats, or your daughter's dog training methods are way different from yours, find someone else to care for your pets!)

A third way to do this, without necessarily needing a lawyer, is to enter into a Pet Protection Agreement. Basically, this is just a legally binding contract between you and a person you choose. It specifies everything you want for your pets, and the amount of money you would like to leave the person. You can also specify whether you want the plan to be put into action if you are incapacitated, have to go to a nursing home where no pets are allowed, etc. You and the other person both sign it. That makes it legally binding. A good place to do this online without an attorney is at Legal Zoom. There is a small fee, but not as much as an attorney. Legal Zoom asks you to name two or three people (one person to be the guardian if anything happens to you, and one or two extra people to take over if anything happens to that person) and also an organization or shelter that you'd like to leave the pets to if all of the other people are unable to take care of them. (That's pretty unlikely, but you should cover all your bases!)

Hopefully, nothing will ever happen to your humans, and you will never have to worry about going to live with someone else. But you should still talk to your humans about this, just in case something happens to them. It will give you all peace of mind, knowing that you'll be safe and cared for no matter what!

I hope you liked this Smarty Sunday! Now tell your humans to take good care of themselves and stay safe so that they never have to use this information!

Hey, We Remember This Stuff!

2012-01-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Look what finally happened here in Chicago!

"Do you remember this stuff, Lily?"

"I think so! Its so c-c-c-cold!"

"Its coming down harder. Mama says I'd better put on my tiny little Pawz Dog Boots!"

"It smells pretty good!"

"I think it tastes like ice cream... without the sugar! And without the cream!"

"Hey you two, quit eating all the snow!"

"Oh no, I think we stayed outside too long! I'm turning into a snow dog!" (Does anyone know how to get these little snowballs off of scruffy dogs?)

We hope everyone else is having lots of fun in the snow, too!

Rescue Daisy Dukes!

2012-01-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! As promised, we are writing about another Almost Home Foundation doggie who is waiting for a forever home. This past weekend, our Mama had the pleasure of hanging out with Daisy Duke! This cute little dog is a mix of a random assortment of terriers, with some Shih Tzu tossed in for good measure. She doesn't remember much about her background, because she was transported here from a kill shelter in Pittville. That place sounds unpleasant, doesn't it? She's a shy, mellow little girl who spent most of the time at the adoption show cuddling on Mama's lap. Occasionally she would hop down from Mama's lap, walk around a little, and investigate things. Then, usually if she heard a bigger dog barking or if she suddenly felt insecure, she would put her paws up on the edge of Mama's chair and ask to be picked up! (Of course Mama obliged! She adores lap dogs!) She was happy to let everyone pet her, including small children, although towards the end of the show she was tired and got a little growly. (She wouldn't bite or anything. She was just being cranky and missing her foster mom!) She gets along with most dogs as well, including the three that she lives with now. But she's not particularly playful. Even though she's only four years old, she really prefers being quiet and calm and getting attention from humans. Her other hobbies include shaking the stuffing out of her stuffies (just like Lily!) and chewing on rawhides. (Who doesn't love a good rawhide?) As an added bonus, this little smarty pants is already house trained!
Little Daisy would enjoy having a home with anyone who loves cuddling with a small dog. She will be ever so grateful if you'd just hold her in your arms, scratch her behind her ears, tell her what a good girl she is, and promise to love her forever!
If you live in the Chicago area and are interested in meeting Daisy Dukes, you can call 847-312-9908 or email sheldn8@aol.com for more information.

We do have some good news, also! Remember during Mayzie's Rescue Me Week, we mentioned a dog named Coco who had been with a hoarder and had been deprived of human contact and love? Well, he finally found his forever home! Mama was there when the people picked him out, and she says it couldn't be a better home. The two ladies who adopted him already have three dogs, and they adopted two more. The first dog they adopted was Biscotti, a bearded collie who Mama worked with and fell in love with two weeks ago. But they also wanted a smaller, quiet dog, who would spend quality time with a lonely, homebound older woman who lives with them (I think its one of their mothers). The two ladies adore dogs, and one of them works at home so she can be with them all the time. So both Biscotti and Coco will now live out their lives surrounded by love! LuvDuv, who we also wrote about in this post, was adopted too, but we don't have all the details on her. Isn't it wonderful when doggies find great homes?

Smarty Saturday: The REAL Dolphin Tale!

2012-01-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! This is Sammy-Joe. We haven't had a Smarty Sunday for a while, have we? I thought I'd do one today. Do you mind if we have it on Saturday this week instead of Sunday? Great! You're going to love this one.
A few days ago our Mama went to have a slumber party with her human cousins, who are only 9 and 7 years old. While she was there, they rented the movie Dolphin Tale. Mama is crazy about all animals, including dolphins, but she usually avoids watching animal movies because she hates when animals die. Luckily, this sweet movie had a happy ending!
Mama, her cousins, and her cousins' parents were all charmed by this movie... especially at the end, when there was a little paragraph telling them that it was based on a true story! However, Mama wondered exactly how true this movie was, since she knows that Hollywood sometimes takes real life stories and changes them around. For instance, when she was a kid she watched a movie about a little girl who taught a flock of baby geese how to fly, and was excited to hear it was a true story... but was sort of disappointed to learn that the person who taught the geese how to fly was not a little girl at all, but a grown adult man.
Mama rushed to the computer and did some research. It turned out she was right... Hollywood did change the story around a little! She thought the real story was worth sharing with you.
Winter is a real dolphin who really did get entangled in a crab trap and had a near death experience.The baby dolphin was rescued by workers from Clearwater Marine Aquarium, who did not include any ten-year-old children or mischievous pelicans. The little dolphin's tale really did have to be amputated, and she did learn to swim without it by wriggling around like a snake. Thats a cool story. But the even cooler part of the story begins in 2007.
The hero in the true story... besides Winter, of course... is Katrina, a little girl who was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency. This is birth defect in which the hip end of the thighbone does not develop. Katrina's right leg is not as long as her left leg. In fact, her right foot hangs where her left knee is. By the time Katrina was in third grade, she had had suffered through multiple surgeries and body casts. At school, she was a quiet kid who had trouble fitting in, and was teased by the other children. (Our Mama knows how this is... she too was tormented by the other kids when she was growing up!) It didn't help that Katrina had a prosthetic right leg that was painful for her to wear.
To try to brighten Katrina's life, her parents allowed her to pick a place for the family to go on vacation. She chose... like most kids would... Disney World! Her mom found out that a small aquarium was near Disney World and thought it would be a nice add-on to the trip. Katrina's mother had no clue that this visit would change Katrina's life!
The aquarium was Clearwater Marine Aquarium. There, when visitors viewed Winter, they learned that her injury was the result of human carelessness. The idea was for people to realize how their actions could effect animals. But what Katrina noticed was the "stub" where Winter's tale used to be. A stub, Katrina thought, that was similar to her own leg. She and the little dolphin locked eyes, and Katrina fell in love!
After the vacation was over, Katrina couldn't stop talking about Winter. She begged her parents to take her back to Florida. Forget Disney World! Katrina wanted to see her dolphin friend! Katrina's mother called the CEO of Clearwater Marine Aquarium, who the family had gotten the chance to meet during their visit. She let the CEO, David Yates, talk to Katrina and update her on Winter. The two began talking daily, on the phone and through text messages. Katrina could also watch Winter every day on the aquarium's web cam.
Katrina also traveled back to the aquarium many times in order to see Winter. She was adopted as an unofficial member of the staff, and got to roam the aquarium, sort of the way Sawyer and Hazel did in the movie! She got to tell Winter's story to visitors. Now Katrina felt like she fit in... with Winter, and the others who loved the dolphin. She had a purpose. Being part of Winter's life brought Katrina out of her shell.
In the meantime, Winter had become more and more famous. Other people with physical disabilities, including children, felt like they connected with Winter. Winter also had a new prosthetic tail, designed by Dan Strzempka. He, too, had a prosthetic leg, which had inspired him to become a prosthetic designer.
When Dan Strzempka met Katrina and saw her ill-fitting, painful prosthetic leg, he offered to make her a new one. The new prosthetic leg, like Winter's tail, was more comfortable and didn't cause her pain or give her blisters. The prosthetic even had a Winter T-shirt embedded in it, so Katrina could always carry Winter with her!
When Warner Bros heard about the story, they decided it was Hollywood-worthy. They spoke with Katrina's family and bought the rights to the story. The family imagined that the story would be changed a little, but not so drastically! The star of the story was not a little girl with proximal femoral focal deficiency, but two children with healthy legs. When Katrina found out that she had been written out of her best friend's story, she was angry. However, her mother tried to rationalize that, since the story was raising money for Winter and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, it was okay. But even her parents agreed that it was kind of rude of the movie makers to leasve Katrina completely out of the movie-making process. They never included her in any interviews, or to the premiere, or offered for her to be an "extra" in the movie. They never mentioned her name at all.

Katrina is twelve years old now, happy and healthy. She is now able to be physically active, riding horses and jumping on the trampoline. She would like to write her own book about her experiences with Winter... if Warner Bros will allow her. (They own the rights to her story, remember?)
Mama is glad she can tell her cousins that the real life Winter story has a "kid hero" in it. Sawyer and Hazel are fictional, but Katrina is real! And so is Winter. (By the way, Winter starred herself in the movie.)
We love watching Winter on her website, See Winter. Our favorite web cam is the one with commercials. Its brighter and clearer, and you can even make it fill up your whole computer screen. You can see Winter chillin' in her swimming pool with her best dolphin friend!
Thanks for reading Smarty Sunday (on a Saturday,) everyone! I hope you liked it!
Edited to add: If you look in the comments of this post, you'll see that Katrina Simpkins actually commented! We are so excited that she read our blog! She wanted everyone to know that, even though her feelings were hurt that she was left out of the movie, she completely supports the movie itself because it is about her best friend Winter, and because it will help Winter and the aquarium. So, nobody go boycotting Dolphin Tale or anything drastic like that! Our Mama loved it and hopes to watch it again, so maybe we'll see it too! Also, Katrina let us know that there is a documentary, called The Little Dolphin That Could, that tells the completely true tale of Winter. Katrina is included in that documentary and is very proud of it Its available in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium online gift shop (and probably the real gift shop, too, if you go there) for $14.99. We think we might buy it! Katrina, if you read this again, thanks for visiting our blog!

We Know A Doggy Hero!

2012-01-02T12:00:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! We wanted to share a few happy stories (and one sad one) for the new year!
First, we know we have mentioned our neighbor dogs, Andi, Betty and Finn, before. They live next door to us. Betty and Finn were adopted together from a local rescue organization that specializes in saving senior citizen dogs, and Andi is a giant yellow lab was adopted as a puppy and is now a year old! We always play with them through the fence... especially Andi, who cries with excitement and tries to jump over the fence every time she sees us!
The sad news is that Betty got so old and so sick that she had to go to the Rainbow Bridge. She had a softball sized tumor in her stomach. Even when she was the sickest of sick she still mustered up the energy to bark ferociously at us whenever she saw us! (She had anxiety issues.) We are really going to miss her. But we know Finn is going to miss her the most of all! The two of them were best friends, ever since their days of being in a cage together at the shelter. They would wake up each morning and give each other kisses.
The news about Betty was sad for us to hear, but we also heard some very cool news about Andi! Andi's human aunt had been very ill and had had to have surgery recently. She was staying at Andi's family's house while she recovered, along with her own two dogs, so that Andi's human mother and grandmother could take care of them all. One day Andi's aunt was fast asleep on the couch. All of the humans were used to the aunt sleeping a lot lately and were trying to be quiet so she could get her rest. But Andi had a bad feeling all of the sudden.
Andi jumped up on the couch and started crying and licking her aunt like crazy! The other humans yelled a Andi to get off of her aunt and let her sleep. But Andi wouldn't give up! She just kept on whining and licking her aunt! When the aunt didn't wake up to complain about the gigantic yellow lab on top of her, the humans got worried and checked on her. Andi's aunt was not breathing!
Quickly the humans dialed 9-1-1. But before the ambulance had arrived, Andi's aunt woke up. Andi's vigorous licking had revived her!
It turned out Andi's aunt suffered an allergic reaction related to her surgery, which caused her to stop breathing in her sleep. To the humans, it just looked like the aunt was sleeping peacefully. But dogs have great hearing and can actually hear humans breathing all the time, so Andi was able to actually notice when that sound wasn't coming out of her aunt any more! If Andi hadn't been there, her aunt would have died. Needless to say, the humans treated Andi to a nice, big rawhide bone that night!
Of course, Andi has no idea that what she did was heroic.

In other news, we read on Facebook about this cool project called SharePet. It allows you to "virtually adopt" a pet, and post it on your blog and Facebook page. Then, when we or any of you want to spend money online for things like pet supplies, flight, hotel reservations, and even things you buy at sites like Amazon.com and Buy.com (There are a ton of sites on there) a percentage of what you spend will be donated to the shelter where that pet is, in order to help support that pet. The percentages are different depending on the sites. Some will donate 2%, some up to 20%! You can also share the pet on Facebook or Twitter to get others to notice him or her
We thought this was a great idea. Mama has a special place in her heart for bully breeds, but she knows we probably won't have one any time soon, for a variety of reasons. So she thought virtually adopting one would be a great thing to do! We found Precious, an American Staffordshire Terrier who is currently lost in Yonkers. Well, shes not lost, exactly, but she's in the municipal shelter! (The Yonkers, NY shelter is a "kill shelter" but not a high kill shelter. They say they only euthanize dogs who are considered unadoptable because of age, illness, temperament, etc... although a news article about them mentions that they do sometimes have to euthanize healthy pets to make room for new arrivals. They have recently raised enough money to build a brand new shelter that will allow them to take more animals, and give them better living conditions, including a larger outdoor area for play time and agility activities. The Yonkers Humane Society also helps out by taking their overflow pets.)
Precious has a similar story to Trixie! Like Trixie, she had a litter of puppies when she was brought to the shelter. And like Trixie, she was left behind at the shelter to take her chances. The weird thing is that Precious's previous owners kept all of the puppies (they probably planned on selling them) but dropped off Precious at the shelter. Unlike Trixie, who was on that shelter's list to be put to sleep within ten days, before she was rescued by Almost Home Foundation, Precious is not in immediate danger. However, she still wants to have a real home, instead of living in the shelter! Her profile says that she is a sweet, housetrained dog who gets along well with humans and some dogs. If you have other dogs you'd have to introduce them to see if they get along. Obviously this is a dog for someone who has experience with Precious's breed. Not many details are available about her, but if you are thinking of rescuing an American Staffordshire Terrier, we think you should visit her Petfinder profile and give the shelter a call to find out more about her. Also, if you are going to do any shopping online, please come to our site, find Precious's picture on our side bar, click it, and then click on "Buy and give." You'll be able to choose a category for what you're looking for. Amazon.com and Buy.com are also listed in all of the categories. We really hope maybe this dog will catch someone's eye! Thanks, everyone!

Our Wild New Years Party

2012-01-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We had a really wild New Years Eve party last night, as you can tell by this photo!

Although we are clearly having tons of fun in that picture, the dogs among us did not like it when the huge BOOMING noises started outside! We got really nervous and didn't know what to do. Both of us were pacing around, trying to squeeze our bodies underneath Mama's legs, trying to hide behind her back, and even trying to climb on top of the table for some reason! Finally we found a comfortable position that made us feel a little better and safer...

We have no idea why Mama found that so amusing! She took about 90 pictures!

Here's to a great 2012!

Love, Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe

Happy New Years!

2011-12-31T18:23:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Since we already wrote our Blogoversary post yesterday outlining all our favorite parts of the past year, we aren't going to go through all that again! But we did want to stop at our blog and set a few New Year's Resolutions and everything. We are putting our heads together and thinking!

For our blog, we'd like to set a goal to write at least once a week. Hopefully more. But we know we went months without writing in 2011, mostly because of Mama being busy or overwhelmed. So we've gotten her to agree that, no matter what, she will take time at least once a week to help us write a post.

For real life, Sammy-Joe says he'd like to work on spending more time out in the rest of the house and less time hiding out in his fort! He has already gotten a lot better at this and has been cuddling with the rest of us (Well, cuddling with Mama, and at least being near us dogs) more often.

On that note, Lily promises to stop barking at Sammy-Joe all the time! She will keep her angry words to herself! Mama has requested this resolution. Mama is very proud, by the way, that Lily has conquered her peeing-on-the-floor issues and is now wonderfully potty trained at least 99% of the time! (Of course now that we've written this, she may just pee on the floor tonight because she's stubborn like that!)

And Trixie promises to... hmm... well, Trixie is just about the perfect dog! We can't think of any resolutions for her! Mama suggests Trixie's resolution could be to be more assertive with Lily and not let Lily take away her bones and stuff. (Can you believe tiny little Lily is the bully in our family?)

Mama resolves to find us a new play group so we can go on outings more often, since our usual play group has kinda fizzled out. :(

And one more time, we just want to say how thankful we are to have all of our wonderful bloggy friends! This has been the most wonderful year. Happy New Year, everyone!

MySpace Glitter Graphics

Happy Blogaversary To Us!

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We know last week was Christmas, and tomorrow is New Years Eve... but today is a very special day for us. Its our first Blogaversary!
One year ago today, we weren't sure what to do. Mama and Lily had just moved back in with Gramma and Grampa and the rest of us, after their living situation got too lousy to continue. Mama was sad, bored and lonely. After she read us a blog she stumbled upon, written by a dog, we had a great idea. Why not start our own blog? Mama could help us with it, and it would give her something to focus on and be excited about. And so, on December 30, 2010, Sammy-Joe wrote our first post introducing us to Blogville. Before long, our first twelve bloggy friends... Twinkie, Derby and Ducky, Zazou and Calypso, Harry Spotter, Honeybuzz, Madi, Maggie Mae, Jazzi, Wyatt, Mayzie, Oskar, and the Monkeys... had send us welcoming comments!

The next night was New Years Eve, and Trixie took her turn writing in the blog. She wrote about how Mama struggles with Aspergers, ADHD and depression, which made her not want to go to any big New Years parties, but instead was home alone with us pets. We told you how we had the job of being Emotional Support Animals, to keep Mama's spirits up and keep her from being sad and lonely too much. Again, ten bloggy friends commented, this time including Mr. Pip, Priscilla and Eva, Shibasenji, Aksharaa, Daisy, Brian, and Tom, Tama-Chan, Sei-Chan and Bibi-Chan! We knew we'd found a home in Blogville.

As 2011 came, we did so much! We got involved in doing pet product reviews, took our first Pet Blogger Challenge, joined Pet Blogs United, pawticipated in Blog The Change, raised money for a sick doggie friend, played an April Fools joke on you, celebrated our birthdays, and pawticipated in a real-life Walk-athon.

One of our favorite memories of you all is when Gramma and Grampa went out of town and Mama became very sad and lonely. We had to be at the top of our game to help Mama! When we told you all about it, so many of you responded right away, sending Mama your love and support! It really helped us all get through a rough spot. Thanks!

You were also there for us when Lily got spayed and when Trixie had her seizure. Whenever we had something to share, good or bad, you were there for us!

And so, as 2011 comes to an end, we wanted to give you all our love. We want to let you know that we'll be continuing to blog... hopefully even more often, and better, than we did in 2011, We look forward to making more friends, and definitely to keeping in touch with the friends we've known for a year!

Thanks everyone! We love you all so much!

Look What Mr. Chewy Sent Us!

2011-12-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone! Not long ago, Mr. Chewy made us an offer we couldn't refuse! They gave us a promotional code to order $50.00 worth of merchandise from their site, so that we could review their site on our blog. Of course, we were all about that! We headed right over.

First, the pictures are worth a thousand words, right?
This is what we saw last week when we opened the door. A box! Addressed to... us! We know that whenever a box arrives on our doorstep, there is a good chance that its for us. So we got really excited!

This is what we saw when we opened the box! Bones and treats and food for all of us!

Mama whisked most of the stuff away for later. She poured the dog food into the container with the rest of our food, and put all of the treats in the pantry. She hid the meaty bones, which we would later get for Christmas! But she did let us chew on the pig ears. Hmm.., Lily never tried a pig ear before!

And what is it rhey say? Cats always end up just playing with the box?

And now, on to our review!

Mr. Chewy sells dog food and dog treats (including bones), cat food and cat treats, cat litter, potty pads, and flea and tick products. We found the website to be very organized, and it was easy to find things. For instance, the dogs among us eat Nutro Natural Choice dog food. When Mama wanted to see if they had it, all she had to do was click on "Find your brand," alphabetically find Nutro Natural Choice, and see a list of products. (They did have our dog food, by the way!) If you don't have something so specific in mind, you can click on one of the tabs We found searching this site a lot easier than searching the Petco and Petsmart websites.

Mr. Chewy is proud of having over 70 brands to choose from. They definitely do... we counted 77 brands, to be specific! They don't carry every type of product that each brand carries. For instance, Mama was interested in adding some cat litter to our order. Although they carry our brand (Tidy Cats) they didn't have the specific kind we use.

Mr. Chewy also boasts that they have lower prices than regular stores. We checked this out and found out that, at least for the products we looked up, this was correct some of the time. For instance a five pound bag of Nutro Natural Choice dog food is $14.99 at Petsmart, and $14.39 at Petco, but only $12.99 on Mr. Chewy's site. We also checked Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredients Diets Sweet Potato & Venison Natural Dry Dog Food. At Petco it was $16.82 for a five pound bag, $41.57 for a fifteen pound bag, amd $58.39 for a twenty-eight pound bag, Petsmart didn't carry this brand so we couldn't compare it. But at Mr. Chewy, the prices for these sizes of bags were $12.99, $36.99, and $54.99. We checked Frontline Flea and Tick products, Frontline Plus For Dogs Up To 22 Pounds was $42.99 at Petco, but only $36.99 at Mr. Chewy.
On the other hand, Halo Liv-a-Littles Healthsome Cat Treats were $3.39 at Petsmart but $5.99 at Mr. Chewy's. (Petco didn't have them.) The other sites also had lower prices for the cat litter brands we checked.

One great thing about Mr. Chewy's is that they offer free shipping for orders over $49. They also have super speedy shipping! We placed our order on the evening of December 19th. The next day we got an email saying our order had shipped, and giving us a Fedex tracking code. By December 22 our box had arrived! Mama was really glad that it arrived with plenty of time to spare before Christmas, because our Dingo meaty bones were in there and she wanted to wrap them up and surprise us. We all know that our parents spend at least $50 on pet supplies every month or two. So if you were able to find the products you like here, we think it would definitely be worth putting in an order and saving yourself a trip! In fact, you can even schedule an order to come on a regular basis. For instance, if your dogs eat a 30 pound bag of dog food each month, you can schedule an automatic order to be delivered to your house each month!

Another wonderful thing about Mr. Chewy's is their referral program. If you refer a friend to order food from Mr. Chewy's site, they'll not only give your friend 10% off their first order, but they'll also make a $10 donation to your choice of one of three charities: Best Friends Animal Society, Bidawee, and the North Shore Animal League. (You can also choose to have the donation split between all three uf you can;t decide!.)

We thought shopping at Mr. Chewy's was similar to shopping at a small, neighborhood store instead of a superstore. They might not have as wide a variety of products, but they're a more small,personal company with a real heart. If you want to try them out for yourself, save 10%, and generate a $10 donation to the three animal charities listed, please use our referral code of DUPA5498.

You can also find Mr. Chewy on Facebook! Upload your pet's picture to their wall to enter a weekly contest for a month's worth of free pet food!

Bye everyone... we hope you liked our review!

We (Mostly) Love Our Christmas Presents!

2011-12-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We hope you all had a great Christmas! We did! Mama, Gramma and Grampa went to visit their relatives on Chrismas Eve, which meant that on Christmas Day they got to spend the whole day with us!
We were so excited on Christmas morning when Mama showed us all of our presents. Grampa even took a video of us opening them, but then he deleted it by accident. Boooo, Grampa! We'll just have to tell you what we got.
Both of us dogs got big Dingo meaty bones! They taste like meat! They are so big that Lily's bone actually looks bigger than her! When Lily unwrapped hers, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to lift it up, and she was just standing there licking it for a while. But she figured out she could carry it, and she's been carrying it everywhere! The two of us have a game. We each hide our own bones for safekeeping, and then we try to steal the other dog's bone so that we can have two!

Lily also got eight Kong Airdog squeaky tennis balls. EIGHT! She was so excited she started jumping around and playing with them all right away! Mama tried to take a picture but Lily was moving around so much, it was just a blur. All day long Lily was desqueaking balls. She can now take a squeaker out of a ball in less than a minute!

Trixie's second present was a Wiggly Giggly ball. Mama thought she'd like it because she thought it would move around by itself, and she thought Trixie would play with it the way she played with the Zuzu pet that she eventually broke. But the Wiggly Giggly ball only made funny noises and didn't move by itself, so Trixie didn't really care about it. Mama might get her a different ball, with a motor this time, for her birthday in March. For now, Trixie is happy enough with her giant bone!

Sammy-Joe also got two presents. One present he got was catnip bubbles! They are just like regular bubbles, but they smell like catnip. Mama has to blow bubbles for Sammy, and he tries to catch them. Unfortunately he always pops them! He gets aggravated that he can't eat the catnip, so Mama gives him some real catnip when they're done playing. Sammy-Joe also got a cool little ball that lights up and twinkles, so he can play with it at night. Unfortunately he already lost it. He may have hidden it somewhere but he's not telling us! Anyway this is what the ball looked like the last time we saw it.

Mama got Grampa a Beatles Monopoly game, which the humans played on Christmas. It is kinda like regular Monopoly, but instead of houses and railroads and stuff, there are albums and tickets. You have to get all of one color of an album in order to build listening parties on your spaces. Mama had a lot of different colored albums, so Grampa and Gramma kept asking her if she wanted to trade for things so they could build listening parties. So Mama ended up owning four concert tickets, which meant any time anyone landed on a concert ticket they had to pay her $200! She only owned one color of album, but she had enough money to build three listening parties on each space, so then people had to pay her $1000 when they landed on those spaces! Thats how Mama won at Beatles Monopoly. We know, it sounds very confusing to us, but Mama says its the coolest game ever! This is a picture of the game, in the very beginning when Mama wasn't winning yet. (Mama's place is where the round Coke bottle is,)

For Gramma, Mama got a back massager thingy that buzzes a whole lot and massages Gramma's sore back! And for the whole family Mama got a waffle iron so they could make waffles for breakfast.
As for Mama her favorite present from Gramma and Grampa was a camera, which she used to take all of these pictures! (There are a lot more, mostly of the doggies, so we're going to put them on our Facebook page.)

Oh yeah, wanna see our Christmas tree?

And here is all of us (except for Sammy-Joe) in front of our Christmas tree!

And so, friendsies, that was our great Christmas! It may have been our best ever! We hope you all had a wonderful day too. By the way, you can now find our blog on Networked Blogs! We don't know why we never put it on there before but now, if you'd like to follow our blog on Facebook, you can do so here!

Toodaloo, friends!

Merry Christmas, EVERYONE!

2011-12-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi, friends! We just wanted to tell everyone Merry Christmas, and share this Christmas card we made! We hope you like it! We hope everyone is having a great time with their families. Its our very favorite holiday! We love you, all of you, and this year of being bloggy pets has been the best year of our lives! Merry Christmas!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Where Are The Presents?

2011-12-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! This is Lily, and I am a detective. I have detected where Mama hid my Christmas present!
Mama was trying to be really sneaky. When she came home from the store the other day, she had lots of bags from the store... but I could smell that my present was hidden in her purse! I stood by Mama's purse and started barking and stomping my feet. Finally Mama gave in and gave me part of my present... just one tennis ball! I ran off with the ball and was happy for a while.
While I was distracted, Mama must have moved the rest of my present. Because later, when I went upstairs, I just knew that the tennis balls were in her closet! I started running around by the closet and whining, hoping she'd give me just one more tennis ball. Mama wouldn't do it. Instead, she took a video of me in my desperate situation!

Mama keeps saying I have to wait until tomorrow to get my present. But why, Mama, why? Can't you see I'm being tortured here? How can Trixie and Lily be so patient about this! Grrrrrrrrrr.
Raise your paw if you feel my pain!

Peanut Butter Banana Cookies!

2011-12-23T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Mama and Gramma have been making a lot of Christmas cookies lately. So Mama decided we should have some special Christmas cookies! (At least the dogs among us.* Mama still hasn't found a good recipe for kitty treats. Does anyone know of any?)

Mama found a recipe on Bullwrinkle.com. Here is the recipe she used:

Ingredients

½ cups water(add more water later if required)
½ cup oil
2 eggs
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
½ cup cornmeal
½ cup oats

Directions

Blend wet ingredients together. Whisk dry ingredients together and mix into wet mixture to form a ball of dough. Roll out and shape. Put onto a non-stick cookie tray or lightly greased one. Cook 20 minutes at 400 F. Turn off oven and allow the biscuits to cool in oven until crisp and hard. Store in airtight container.

Mama only made a few changes here. First, she didn't have any cornmeal, so she used extra flour instead. (She Googled it first and found out this was fine.) Second, we had some overripe bananas in the house, so Mama mashed one up and added it in.

Finally, Mama used a cookie cutter to make gingerbread man shapes for us! The only problem was, she couldn't find a rolling pin, so she tried to use the jar of peanut butter to roll out the dough. The result was that instead of lots of thin cookies, we had about ten really thick cookies! Thats fine with us, since Mama only lets us eat a little piece at a time anyway.

Here is a picture of our super-thick "gingerbread men" with no gingerbread in them!

Since its Christmas, Mama thought she'd turn some of these cookies into Christmas gifts. (What? We don't get to keep all of our cookies? Boo, Mama!!!) So she put a few in bags. We are sending three to our cousin Judah in California, and bringing two to our second cousins Rocky and Nugget on Christmas Eve. Also Mama packaged up three for our very favorite neighbor dogs, Andi, Betty and Finn! Here is what the cookies looked like, packaged nicely by Mama.

We got to taste the cookies and we were so happy! Mama tasted one also and she said they were kind of bland. She said it was because there was no sugar, and she's considering adding a little brown sugar in the next batch. We think they're fine, though! No blander than our usual Milk Bones!

We love it when Mama bakes for us! So we asked her a question. We all got together and suggested to her that she make her baking a monthly thing! We thought that, every month, whether she likes it or not, Mama should bake some delicious treats for us. And she agreed! She said we can try out a new dog recipe every month, and blog about it here! Mama says she actually loves to bake, but her treats for humans don't always work out so well (for instance, every time she tries to make chocolate chip cookies, they come out puffy, dry and bland) and she thinks pets are much easier to please than people.

Next we told Mama, maybe she could start a whole new business! It could be called the Pet Treat Of The Month Club! People could subscribe, and each month she'd send them a bag of homemade dog treats. We'd become rich! And she could quit her job and stay home with us full time, baking and baking and baking!

Mama told us our imaginations were getting a little out of control.

Anyways, we sure do like our peanut butter banana "gingerbread" men! We can hardly wait for Mama to bake something else next month! (Lets just hope she doesn't forget.)

*We have to edit this part because later Mama did give Sammy-Joe a small, kitty-sized piece of one of these, and he happily ate it!

Wordless Wednesday... Some Love For Sammy-Joe

2011-12-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

2011-12-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! The other day lots of you were surprised that our mystery box had a Sammy-Joe in it instead of a Christmas tree! But it turns out you were partly right. That box used to have a tree in it. The humans took it out of the box and stood it up in the living room. They do this every winter, inexplicably. They put lots of little things up on the tree. It looks very pretty now! We wonder why they don't leave this tree up all of the time!

Lily is kind of mad at Grandpa because he turned one of her tennis balls into an ornament. Now she keeps running to the tree and crying, saying, "Give me back that ball!" Mama explained to her that she has fifteen more tennis balls just like it (yep, literally, fifteen) and that she never played with that one anyways. Her favorite tennis balls have all of the fuzz chewed off, and you can see that this one has barely any fuzz chewed off. Also her favorite color is blue, not yellow. Still, Lily does not like to share. Not even with a tree!

The humans did another strange thing. They took a bunch of socks out of a box, and hung them over the fireplace with care. Everyone in the family has a sock with their name on it. Even Mama's brother who doesn't live with us. Even our sisters Chopper and Zip, and our parakeet brother Woody, who are at the Rainbow Bridge now! Look at all of our little socks.

We seem to remember that this means something. Something about... that dude whose lap we sat on a few weeks ago... and... PRESENTS!
So... how long until the presents get here?????

Whats In That Box?

2011-12-11T13:15:00.001-08:00

A mysterious, large box has appeared in our basement over the weekend. What does it mean? What do you think could be in it? Any ideas?

Lets just keep our eyes on it.

Hmm...

See anything suspicious yet?

OMG Hi!!!

Rescue LuvDuv (and some Rescue Me Week updates!)

2011-12-10T16:17:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! During Mayzie's Rescue Me Week a few weeks ago, we promised to start writing every week to feature dogs from Almost Home Foundation who need homes. Well, Mama didn't go there for a few weeks because she was so busy with tests for school, and other things, but she did go do some volunteering there today. And she thought we should tell you about LuvDuv!

LuvDuv is a terror. Wait, a terrier! Nope, terror might be right. Not in a bad way, though! LuvDuv is just a very mischievious and adventurous 16 month old Cairn Terrier mix. Her foster mother loves her lots and enjoys telling stories of the things LuvDuv does! A lot of these adventures involve food. For instance, when her human foster brother left a jar of peanut butter on the floor, LuvDuv carried the entire jar down a flight of stairs so she could enjoy it in peace! She did not want to share! Keep in mind, LuvDuv is only a nine pounder, so it was pretty tough to carry that jar down the stairs. But she did it! She also managed to climb up onto a table to drink a glass of red Kool-Aid. Her foster mama couldn't figure out who drank the Kool-Aid, until she saw LuvDuv's red muzzle! We heard she did another trick once with a cup of coffee! We also hear that LuvDuv is very playful and enjoys squeaky toys, playing with her human and animal friends, and going for nice walks with her foster mom. She is also housetrained and is currently not crated while her foster mom is out. She stays out on her own and manages not to cause any trouble most of the time! She is happy for attention and love from anyone, including human adults, children, other dogs, cats, etc. She will cuddle and play with anyone who is nice to her! LuvDuv has also been known to dress up in clothes, including a straw hat. (We wish we had a picture of that!)
We think LuvDuv would make the perfect doggie for just about anyone, as long as they have some extra attention and love to share with her! Since she enjoys being with people and other animals a lot, we hope she'll find a home with people who really love and enjoy dogs and want to spend time with her. If you think that sounds just like you, and you live in the Chicago area, dial (630) 572-3738 or email dogs@almosthomefoundation.org!

We also wanted to share some updates about the dogs who we talked about during Mayzie's Rescue Me Week! We don't really get to know the specifics of all of the dogs... we really just know whether they were adopted or not. A lot of times we only find out from looking on Almost Home Foundation's website. But still, we thought you'd like to know!
Heathcliff, the sweet two-year-old standard poodle we wrote about, WAS ADOPTED!
One of the days, we wrote about a hoarder who gave up 25 of her 50 dogs to Almost Home Foundation. Specifically, we wrote about Brandy and Coco. Brandy WAS ADOPTED! But Coco is still waiting for a home. Remember we mentioned how Coco was deprived of human contact for the most part, and although he is a very laid back dog, he can be very timid around new people and will just sit there and stare at them. However, he's so cuddly... in fact, Mama got to hold him for a while this morning, and he just melted into her like a teddy bear! If you live in the Chicago area and are interested in a sweet 5-year-old Griffon/Brussel/Schnauzer mix to be your own personal teddy bear, call (630)290-3384.
Prince Pom, the very happy and loving Pomeranian mix with the great smile, WAS ADOPTED!
Mar Lee, the adorable brindle doggie who reminded us of Mayzie herself, is still looking for a home. The website doesn't give much information about her, but strangely, they have changed her breed from an American Staffordshire Terrier mix (pittbull) to a Plott Hound! Plott Hounds are generally brindle, so this could make sense for little Mar Lee. She is now four months old and sweet as ever. If you're interested in adding a Plott Hound to your household, you could call (630) 775- 1819 for more info about Mar Lee!
Finally, Bermuda, the shy chihuahua who is wary of strangers but loyal to her loved ones, is still looking for a home. Our Mama saw her today and said she is doing great, and even getting a little better about allowing strangers to pet her. If you like chihuahuas and have the patience to get to know this sweet girl, contact her foster dad by emailing him atc22036@email.mot.com, or calling him at 224-715-2526.
So, for Rescue Me Week, we wrote about six dogs, and three of them have been adopted. Thats not bad, is it? We'll write again next week and tell you about more great puppies!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

2011-11-25T11:15:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! It seems like we always have these long periods of time when we don't blog! Mama has been so busy with school... the end of the semester is coming up and she had to write TWO entire unit plans, plus all the usual concept maps, reflections, observations, chapter outlines, etc, that teachers love to pile on at the end of the semester. But now we all have the day off so Mama said she'd help us post some pics!

You may know that we three animals don't always get along. Especially Lily and Sammy-Joe! Usually Sammy-Joe won't even come into the room while Lily is there! And when Sammy-Joe hisses, Lily freaks out! But they've really been working on their friendship. Just look at the evidence here.

Well this is kind of an odd angle, isn't it! We really weren't defying physics. Mama tried rotating the picture on Picnik.com to make it look right, but on Blogger it just keeps ending up like this! But as you can see (if you slant your head to the left as far as you can) is that Sammy-Joe and Lily are sharing a couch together! Nobody is hissing or freaking out. Awwww!

Then, later that day...

Soon, Trixie decided to join them.

Hey, that is kinda like our profile picture, isn't it? Look at this picture Mama took, at around this same time in 2010!

In both pics you can kinda see our order of friendship. Sammy-Joe and Trixie like each other, Trixie and Lily like each other, but Sammy-Joe and Lily keep their distance. Oh well, at least they're progressing!

Sammy will always like his alone time, though...

And Lily will always be very protective of her possessions!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We ate LOTS of turkey... how about you?

Trixie Is Not Allowed To Read This!

2011-11-17T16:21:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! Its me, Sammy-Joe, with a quick question for all my friends who are dogs!

But first, a story.

Today Mama was cleaning her room, and she found an unopened Zhu-Zhu pet from a few Christmases ago. Mama used to have another blog about taking care of kids, and someone sent her a whole box of Zhu Zhu pets to review. She gave most of them to her little cousins for Christmas that year but there was one left over, and when Mama found it she thought I would like it! Because it is kind of like a mouse. And I am kind of like a cat.

Well, it was interesting enough. I stayed in my box and watched it carefully. It kind of freaked me out, to tell you the truth. I am smart enough to know it didn't smell like a living animal of any kind, so I didn't bother to chase it.
So then Mama took it upstairs to show Gramma, because she was amused that it kept making farting noises. She put it on the kitchen floor. And guess who went crazy for it? Trixie! She kept running up to it, picking it up, and throwing it! She was really happy and excited! Unfortunately it only took Trixie about two minutes to break the ZhuZhu pet. Now it just makes noise but doesn't move. I think Trixie feels guilty because every time she sees it now she gets up and walks away with her head down!

Mama had an idea. She wanted to find a more durable toy... maybe even a toy actually meant for dogs... that makes noise and moves around by itself! Trixie usually just gets bones or stuffies for Christmas, but if Mama could get her something she'd really play with, it would be awesome!

My question is, do you know of any toys like this? The only ones we could find on the Internet were the Zany Ball, the Bumble Ball, and the Weazel Ball.

If anyone has any of these toys, or knows of any others that are similar to Zhu Zhu pets but not so breakable, let us know so Mama can order them for Trixie!

Thanks friends!!! And whatever you do, don't tell Trixie what we're doing. In fact, don't tell Lily either. That dog cannot keep a secret!

Love, Sammy-Joe

2011-11-11T11:12:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! We're back for ONE MORE DAY of Mayzie's Rescue Me Week! This has been a great week, hasn't it?
Now we want to introduce you to one more dog, who is really hoping for a home. Strangely, he is named after a cartoon cat. Can you guess what his name is? Heathcliff! LOL!
Heathcliff is a two year old standard poodle. He was found as a stray dog, and nobody claimed him. Whoever his previous owners are must have had some real problems, because they gave up a great dog! He's such a smart dog, who adjusted to living in a house right away and understood all the rules like "Don't pee on the floor" and "Don't chew anything that isn't your own." He even knows how to do tricks, like "sit" and "shake." And he loves humans! He is so eager for love and attention, as you can see from the picture here. Heathcliff is even good with children, and other dogs!
One thing Heathcliff is working on is taking walks and "heeling." He doesn't think he ever got to take walks on a leash before he got to his new foster home. He gets really excited to go outside with his humans, but he's not sure what the leash is for, so he runs and pulls and yells, "Come on, lets go, lets go, lets go!" With regular walks and maybe some training, he'll get the hang of it.
Heathcliff's foster mom says he's just the perfect dog, an "easy foster." In fact, he doesn't even shed! So who wouldn't want this cutie pie to join their family?
If you feel like Heathcliff was meant to be your dog, he can't wait to meet you. You should call 847-212-6701 or email robertamecklenburg@att.net for more information about him.

Well, that wraps up Rescue Me Week for us! But here's the good news! Way back in the day, we used to write about a different Almost Home dog each week, and we sort of gave it up. We don't even remember why. But thanks to Mayzie, we've been inspired to start it up again! So, next weekend, look forward to reading about yet another doggie who needs a home! Thanks again, Mayzie!

Rescue Coco and Brandy!

2011-11-10T16:36:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! We are angry at Blogger all over again... once again we wrote a whole post and Blogger swallowed it! We are thinking of moving to Wordpress or Typepad. DO YOU HEAR THAT, BLOGGER?

Anyways, here we go again... This is our fourth day pawticipating in Mayzie's Rescue Me Week. We wanted to tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a lady who worked in a pet store. Lots of us know that pet stores buy puppy mill dogs, but do you know what happens to those puppies if they don't get bought within a few weeks? They go to the pound, and often get put to sleep! One more reason to stay out of pet stores and visit pet shelters instead, right? Anyway, this lady felt sad for the puppies who weren't bought by anyone, so she started taking some of them home to her house. That was a nice idea, we guess, except then the lady started breeding them so she could sell them! If some puppies didn't get sold, she would keep them and breed them with other dogs when they got older. BAD IDEA, LADY! She kept getting more and more dogs!

The lady had some dogs she really liked. She would let them walk around the house like normal pets, and she'd play with them and everything. Other dogs, she didn't like as much. She thought they were funny looking or got into to much trouble, or whatever. These dogs, she kept in a cage and rarely took out. She didn't pet them or play with them. They grew to love each other, but they were all very fearful of people because they just didn't know what it felt like to be petted or played with!

As you probably guessed, the lady had turned into a hoarder. She had fifty dogs! A neighbor called the police, who told her she had one month to find homes for the dogs. The lady called Almost Home Foundation fo rhelp. She didn't really want to give up any dogs, but Almost Home Foundation convinced her to give them twenty-five. After she gave up those dogs, she got anxious and angry and wouldn't return any of their phone calls about the other twenty-five dogs. But at least the first twenty-five were safe, and many have already been adopted!
There are still a few who haven't. Coco and Brandy are two of them. They may even be siblings or cousins, because of all the breeding the lady was doing, but they are not very much alike!

This is Brandy. She's a three year old Griffon/Brussels/Schnauzer mix. She was one of the lady's favored dogs, so she was allowed to run around the house and have plenty of contact with humans. As a result, Brandy is a friendly dog who loves human attention! She follows her foster mom all around the house, and loves to play with her nine-year-old human foster sister. When she meets new people, she is eager to get petted by them, will sit in their lap, and will lick their faces! She loves to play, and she also enjoys napping. If you think Brandy would fit in great with your family, you should email her foster mom at sheldn8@aol.com right away, or call 847-312-9908.

And here is Coco. Coco is also a Griffon/Brussel/Schnauzer mix, but he is five years old. Coco was one of the dogs the lady didn't particularly like. We think maybe its because of his funny, smushy face, although we think that face is super cute! Coco was one of the dogs who had to stay in the cage all the time. He didn't even get to go outside often enough to learn to be housetrained! So that is one of the things he's working on in his new foster home. Coco is very timid and afraid of people. He doesn't bite or anything... but if you call him to you, he will be too scared to come. It takes him a while to warm up to people. He doesn't understand what people are or what they want from him. It would be like if some giant monkeys on TV suddenly walked out of the TV and wanted to pick you up and talk to you! You'd be like, "AAAAAHHHH! I don't know if these things are friendly or what! What exactly is going on! Help!" But once Coco realizes you're a nice person, he'll be your best friend. He likes to snuggle on his foster mom's lap. He likes other dogs, cats, and children. He is really hoping for a family who will be willing to prove to him that humans are trustworthy and loveable! If you want to add Coco to your home, you should call 630-290-3384 for more info.

We usually only tell the story of one dog per day, but since these two have a very similar story, we thought we'd share them both! We hope both of these sweet doggies find wonderful forever homes soon.

Happy Rescue Me Week! We will be back tomorrow for the final day! We are so happy that all of these pets are having their stories told. Thanks again, Mayzie!

Rescue Prince Pom!

2011-11-09T13:28:00.000-08:00

OMD, we are so salty with Blogger right now! We wrote a whole entire post about Prince Pom, only to have Blogger totally blank out and delete it. None of it was even saved as a draft, or anything! We are so mad! We almost didn't have the energy to start all over, but we decided Prince Pom deserves his chance to be written about as part of Mayzie's Rescue Me Week. So... here we go again! (By the way, he's called Prince Pom because he's part Pomeranian, but you can call him Prince!)
Prince Pom is the perfect dog in many ways! He keeps getting so close to being adopted, but then it falls through. People change their minds because they think they want a younger dog, their husband or wife won't agree to let them get the dog (Mama says she'd totally get divorced if she had a husband who wouldn't let her get someone!) or their kids can't agree on a dog, they want a girl dog, they're not sure their dog wants them to have another dog, etc, etc, etc. Geesh! Give this cute guy a chance!
Prince Pom was given up by his owner. He is not sure why, but he thinks it was probably due to financial reasons. That is happening a lot lately! He is six years old, and in great shape. When people meet him, they often mistake him for a puppy!
Here is list of Prince's virtues.
*He loves humans, including kids.
*He is friendly with other dogs... big, little, and in between! He used to have a foster sister, a tiny black chihuahua, who he loved so much! She got adopted, and Prince still misses her.
*He may or may not be friendly with cats. We don't know because Prince doesn't live with a cat. But Mama says once at the adoption show someone was walking a cat on a leash. Prince stood up on his hind legs to get a better look! He didn't growl, bark, or try to chase the cat, so we think thats a good sign.
*He's potty trained.
*He DOESN'T SHED!
*He's a nice, manageable size, about 20 pounds or so, for those who don't feel comfortable with large dogs.
*He has a great smile.
*Yes, you heard us right! Prince has a great smile! See for yourself!

If you live in the Chicago area and think Prince is an awesome dog, you should get in touch with Almost Home Foundation right away. Phone them at 630-582-3738 or email them at dogs@almosthomefoundation.org.
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We hope our friend Prince gets a great home soon!

Rescue Mar Lee!

2011-11-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! This is our second day of participating in our sweet friend Mayzie's Rescue Me Week! We love Mayzie so much, and Mama said when she met Mar Lee, she thought of Mayzie right away!
Can you guess why?
Here's a hint!
Look at Mayzie...

and now look at Mar Lee!

Now Mayzie...

Now Mar Lee!

Talk about two beautiful brindle girls, right?

Mar Lee is a puppy, three months old, and we're hoping that will mean she'll get adopted quickly. But puppies are sometimes actually harder to find homes for than adult dogs, because they need a lot of training, and because their sizes and personalities haven't fully developed yet. Added to that is the fact that Mar Lee is part American Staffordshire Terrier, a breed sometimes better known as pit bull. Many people are afraid of pit bulls, or feel that they can "turn" on someone at any time! The truth is, a puppy like Mar Lee who has never been abused, or exposed to dog fights, and who is already in the process of being trained to be an obedient doggie, would make a wonderful family member for someone out there! (She's also part labrador, so we think she might turn out to be a big dog... so she'll need someone who won't mind that!)

Mar Lee is definitely a friendly doggie who is happy to meet anyone, human or dog alike. She loves to be petted and cuddled, loves to play, and loves to wrestle around with other dogs. At the last adoption show, she was spotted napping with her head on the foot of a brand new human friend!

If you live in the Chicago area and you think Mar Lee might be your new best buddy, you should contact Almost Home Foundation right away! You could email them at Puppyfoster101@aol.com, or call them at 630-775-1819. We're sure Mar Lee will be excited to meet you!

Happy Rescue Me Week, everyone! We'll see you tomorrow!

Rescue Bermuda!

2011-11-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! We learned last week that our very good brindle friend Mayzie is hosting a Rescue Me Week! This week, everyone who writes in their blog about one pet who needs a furever home, will be entered to win $100 for the rescue organization of their choice! This is in honor of Mayzie's Grandpa, who went to the Rainbow Bridge back in May. Isn't Mayzie a good doggie?

Anyways, the rescue organization we want to talk about, of course, is Almost Home Foundation. Thats the one that rescued Trixie from her impending doom at a high kill shelter when she was nine months old, and also the one that our Mama volunteers with.

And the dog Mama thought we should introduce you to is Bermuda! Bermuda is a very special dog who Mama takes care of almost every week at the adoption shows. She's a 3 1/2 year old chihuahua, who was found as a stray dog and rescued by AHF.

Most of the dogs at Almost Home Foundation get adopted after a few months. Bermuda has been at AHF for a year and a half. She is lucky enough to be living in a wonderful foster home with a foster dad who cherishes her for who she is... but she still would love to move to a home that will be hers forever!

Why has it taken Bermuda so long to get adopted, you ask? Well, part of it may be that, when Bermuda first meets people, she growls at them. Sometimes she even tries to bite them! When her foster dad first picked her up from the kennel as his new foster, Bermuda growled and snarled and had a huge temper tantrum because she didn't want him to take her. But by the end of the day, she was cuddling in his lap! Can you guess why Bermuda snarls and growls at new people? Its because she's very scared of them. She doesn't remember the details, but she's pretty sure some people hurt her in her past. So when she she's strangers bending over and reaching for her, her first thought is, "HELP!" As you can imagine, this discourages most people from trying to get to know her. (When she growls at people, and Mama yells at her, she'll climb into Mama's lap and look up at her sorrowfully, as if to say, "I just couldn't help it!")

But when someone does take the time to get to know Bermuda, as her foster dad, Mama, and some of the other volunteers, have, she will be their best friend forever! She will let them hold her, she will gaze at them with her giant brown eyes, she will lick their face, she will play with them, she will cuddle in their beds with them at night, the whole deal! This is why the people who really know her love her so much. All it takes is a little bit of patience, and maybe some treats. (Treats, by the way, will really help Bermuda get to know you better... she absolutely loves treats! Bring her something that smells and tastes delicious, and she will be eating out of your hand... literally!)

Here's the deal about Bermuda. Because she startles so easily and doesn't like to be handled roughly, she cannot live in a home where small children are present. We all know that little kids love dogs, and when they see a small dog like Bermuda (or Lily, for that matter... Lily totally agrees with Bermuda on this...) they are likely to reach down and grab her, or pet her too roughly. We don't want to take the chance that Bermuda might nip a small child. So her furever family has to consist of parents, and maybe older kids who really understand how to be patient with a scared little dog. She also can be a little overwhelmed by other dogs. She lives with three other dogs right now in her foster home. She gets along with two of them. Ideally, Bermuda could have a home where she is the only dog, or with a really mellow dog who won't be too rough with her. She would not make a good match for someone who is specifically looking for a playmate for their other dog.

If you live in the Chicago area and are interested in this sweetie girl, you should contact her foster dad by emailing him at c22036@email.mot.com, or calling him at 224-715-2526. He'll be glad to tell you anything you need to know!

Just look at this face! We really hope someone out there will be willing to sit down and talk with our friend Bermuda.

Meet us back here tomorrow to learn about another Almost Home Foundation pet who needs a home!

And again, thank you so much Mayzie, for hosting this great week!

Trick Or Treat?

2011-10-31T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Things have been so strange here lately! For one thing, Mama has been dressing the dogs among us up in wings, and taking us places! We've been to a whole bunch of parties. Mama tried to take pictures, but we were so busy running around with other dogs, she couldn't get any good shots. She did get pictures of our costumes. Lily is an angel (hahahhahahahahahaha!)

and Trixie is a butterfly! (Her wings are a little crooked because she rolled on them!)

Sammy-Joe put his paw down and refused to wear a costume. He doesn't really like parties, either!

The parties were fun. But now, today, little kids just keep coming and knocking on our door! Flocks and flocks of them! They won't stop! Trixie likes kids, but they make Lily nervous, so she keeps barking at the top of her lungs! To get her to stop, Mama put some lunch meat in a bag. Whenever the kids come to the door, if Lily sits quietly, we both get some meat! Lily has lots of trouble with this concept. All she's figured out is that, when the kids come to the door, she should get meat! We think that is why the kids keep saying, "Trick or treat!" We do a trick (being quiet) and Mama gives us a treat!

We hope everyone is having a fun Halloween!

Love, Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe

What Mama Knitted

2011-10-27T18:55:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Its me, Lily!

So... Mama learned to knit.

Want to guess what the first thing she knitted... well, after her practice scarf... was?

She knitted a sweater.

A sweater for... me.

I guess I should try to sound a little more enthusiastic about it. I'll try it again. A sweater! For me!

I kinda do like the colors... but does it seem a little baggy in the front?

Isn't there some sort of penguin I could donate this thing to?

Love, Lily

This Couch Is Weird!

2011-10-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know why Grandma puts the couch cushions like this. Maybe she thinks it looks fancy, but I think it looks silly! Besides, how is anyone supposed to sit, or lay down, on it?

Oh well, I guess I can live with it.

Would Your Humans Do This?

2011-10-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Here in Chicago it has been really nice out lately! The weather has been in the 70s and sunny! It is breezy and cool outside, and we love it. Whenever Mama is home, she makes sure to take us outside. She brings her books, her computer, or her knittung outside so we can get plenty of fresh air!
One day last week Mama saw something sad. She went to school, and walking through the parking lot, she heard someone barking! Mama followed the sound and found a car, with the windows rolled all the way up, and a little dog inside. As Mama walked closer to the car, the dog's barking turned to happy barks, like, "Hi! I'm in here! Come see me!"
It was only seventy degrees out, but Mama had noticed that when she had driven to school, her car had been uncomfortably hot and she'd had to roll down the windows. So she was worried about the little dog! First she wrote a note, saying something like, "Even though it feels cool out, it can get as hot as an oven in your car. It is very dangerous for your dog. Please don't leave him in the car alone. Signed, A Pet Lover." She left it under the windshield.
Mama went into school, still worried about the dog. She thought she could find a security guard and ask him if they could help the dog. She went into school and looked around, but she couldn't find anyone to help. She went to her class and told her teacher about it. The teacher said she'd call security, and that Mama should just get started with her work until they came. Well, the teacher must have forgotten about it, because the security guards never came!
So, durng the class break, Mama ran outside to check on the dog. Thankfully, the dog and the car were gone!
Mama thought about it all day. She wondered if it seventy degrees was considered cool enough for a dog to be left in a car, and if she was just being a worry-wart. She wrote an email to the eople at Pets Teach Us So Much, and asked them what they thought. So, they wrote about it in their blog, and they're going to discuss it in their podcast tomorrow evening.
What do you think? Do your humans leave you in the car when it is seventy degrees? Our Mama never leaves us alone in the car because she worries that someone would steal us (because we are such highly valuable dogs and cats!) but she knows many people do leave dogs in the car when they stop at the grocery store or go out to eat. We wondered, if your humans saw a dog in a car on a fairly cool day, what they would do or think.
Thats it for now! We love you, friends!

Our Awesome Playdate (and good news from Trixie)

2011-10-09T17:27:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Trixie here! I wanted to share the good (and kinda bad) news with you. The GOOD news is that I went to the vet, and he thought my seizure was nothing to worry about. He said it might have been caused by a food allergy if I ate something I shouldn't have. The kinda bad news is that now I'm not allowed to have any table scraps at all, because the vet is not sure what it is I ate that caused me to have a seizure. Mama will probably still sneak me some though! Right, Mama? Please? Anyway, thanks for all your kind words and concern. I'm so glad I have friends like you!
I also have some friends in "real life." They don't have blogs, but they are still fun to play with. Today, Lily and I got to go to a playdate at a dog park! The dog park belongs to a doggie day care near here, but they let our playgroup use their park sometimes for free! Mama took lots of pictures, of course. Wanna see? Sure you do!

Here I am standing with Gibson. He's little but fierce. I loved Gibson because I could run around and play with him the same way I play with Lily! He didn't even mind if I accidentally ran him over!

Here I am walking with Gibson, and Jack. Gibson likes to play Bitey Face with Jack! I loved running around with Jack also. I didn't love when he tried to hump me. I growled at him and said, "Watch it, buddy!"
There's Jack and his little brother Kato. Kato is a chihuahua and he's even smaller than Lily! When Jack and Kato first got to the playgroup, Jack, Lily, Gibson, Dixie and I had a great time chasing Kato all around! It was all of us against him!

After all of that running around, I was so thirsty! So Mama gave me a glass of water! LOL!

Here is Dixie. Her name rhymes with mine! She mostly liked playing with her dad. In this picture she is begging for some carrots!
One of the humans brought out a bag of tennis balls! They were the same kind of Kong tennis balls that Lily plays with all the time at home! You should have seen her face when she saw them. She looked like she was in Heaven! She played with hers for almost the rest of the time, and kept dropping it right in Mama's lap to make sure none of the other dogs would take it. (I don't care much about tennis balls, but Jack and Kato love them! In fact, Jack was running around with two of them in his mouth!)

When we got home, we were exhausted! We both just lay down in the back yard and rested our eyes.

Oh, I almost forgot... there's one more thing I have to show you! You know Mama had to take a video of us playing! You can watch it if you'd like. If you can't see it here on the blog, you can follow the link here.

This was definitely one of the best days of my life! I hope I get to see all of my friends again soon!

Me And My Favorite Toy

2011-10-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Its me, Lily, and I wanna be the star of the show today! I think I've mentioned before that my very favorite toy is Kong Air Dog Squeakair Balls.shake it! Mama took this video of me playing with my ball. You can tell in the video that I catch it in my mouth a few times. I also shake it vigorously. When the video gets blurry, thats because I'm shake-shake-shaking it! I also throw it to Mama a few times. She says I have a great throwing mouth! I could be on a baseball team, just like Snoopy! (They look different on the website. Mama gets mine from Target, and they are all different colors!) I get so excited when I am going to get a new ball! The first thing I do is chase it and bounce it a little, but then I must de-squeak it. Its a difficult operation that takes great fine motor skills. After de-squeaking it, I love to nibble it, throw it, catch it, chase it, and

Please realize, Mama's video taking skills aren't great! I think next time I might be better off handing the camera to Sammy-Joe! (Uh, don't tell Mama I said that!) Its a little dark and shaky... but its still great because its me!

If you can't see the video on this page, you can also check it out here.

By the way, Trixie is going to the vet tomorrow to find out why she had a seizure. We will let you know, as soon as we can, whats going on with her.

I gotta go now! Trixie and Sammy-Joe say Hi! I love you, friends!

Love,

Lily

Hi From Trixie

2011-10-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! Its me, Trixie! I just wanted to say thanks for the well-wishes and advice everyone sent last night when my Mama hijacked the blog. Apparently, last night I had a seizure! I don't really remember it. One minute I was sleeping peacefully on the couch next to Mama. The next minute, I was on the floor, and Mama, Gramma and Grampa were all sitting on the floor around me, petting me and talking sweetly to me!

I felt really sleepy and confused and I just looked up at them. I actually felt kind of happy because everyone was giving me so much attention! Even my little sister Lily seemed worried and kept sniffing me and licking me! (Although Mama told me later, Lily got scared and tried to bite me when I was having the seizure!)

My peeps decided I don't have to go to the vet until next weekend, and they don't want to give me any medicine until its really necessary. They say they're afraid seizure medicine might make me sleepy all the time and change my personality for the worse. They said if I have a seizure only once a year (which seems to be the rate since its been about a year since I had my first one) then it wouldn't interfere with my life enough to make me have to take medicine every day. Mama is mostly worried that I could have another health problem, like a tumor, causing seizures. But I doubt it, since I have only had two in my whole life! (The first one, my Mama saw, but she was home alone and nobody believed her!)

In the mean time, I have really been enjoying the extra attention my Mama and everyone else has been giving me! Mama has been giving me so many extra pets and hugs! The bad news is, Gramma gave me a bath today. Booooooooo!

Here's a picture Mama took of me a little while ago! I'm resting comfortably.

I'm still a little bummed because of the bath, but I did manage to talk Gramma out of using the blow dryer on me.

Thanks again for your friendship! It made us all feel much bette!

Love,
Trixie

Pawsitive Thoughts For Trixie, Please!!!

2011-10-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone... this is Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe's Mama. They don't usually let me use their blog, but I can type faster than them and we're all a little upset right now. We needed to reach out to our bloggy friends in a time like this. Trixie had a seizure.
I (Nicki) was sitting on the couch using the computer, with Trixie asleep on the couch next to me, and Lily chewing her bone on the floor. Suddenly Trixie flew off the couch, literally flew, as if she leapt but without using her legs! She was laying on the floor and twitching around. Lily got upset and tried to bite Trixie (I think she thought Trixie was going after her bone or something.) I yanked Lily away from her and shouted for my mom, who came and saw what was happening, but all we could do was sit on the floor and pet her and talk to her while she twitched.
It only lasted for a moment. Then she just lay there and looked at us with a dazed but loving expression on her face, like "I don't know what just happened, but how nice of you all to surround me and pet me!"
She did have one other seizure once, maybe a year ago. She had been standing at the top of the stairs and then suddenly stumbled down the stairs as if she couldn't use her legs, and was shaking. At the time my parents were doubtful that she had a seizure, but took her to the vet anyway a few days later. The vet also doubted it and thought Trixie's legs just cramped up or something. But this time, both of my parents witnessed it and it was for sure a seizure!
They don't want to take her to the emergency vet because it just lasted a minute, so she will probably go within a few days.
Please send us your positive thoughts and prayers that my sweet Trixie-Pixie will be healthy and that this isn't going to become a huge and terrible ordeal for her. She's just the best doggie anyone could ask for, so sweet and loving, and she's only 4 years old.
Thanks... I knew talking to you would make me feel better! Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe say thank-you too...
If anyone has experienced anything like this with their dog, maybe you could give us some advice too...
Thanks...
With love,
from Nicki
and Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe

Trixie And Lily Appear On Video!

2011-09-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Our Mama got a new phone with a video camera on it, and we were so excited because now she could take a video of us and show it to all of our friends! Mama thought it would be a good idea to take a video of the dogs among us out in the backyard, first. Our plan was to show you how we wrestle around and play together. But once we were out there, we got kind of distracted by a squirrel! We wanted to show you anyway! Everyone, here we are, on video!

Thanks for watching! We hope you liked seeing us! Mama says she will post more videos when we do more exciting things.
Love,
Trixie and Lily (and Sammy-Joe, who was not in the video, but still loves you!)

Wordless Wednesday: Cute Doggies!

2011-08-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

Look who is back, better than ever?

2011-08-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Its me, sweet and adorable little Lily! Trixie wrote yesterday to update you when I was done getting spayed, but I just wanted to write and say thanks, myself, for all your good wishes.

Today was a nice day! My Mama made sure she had the day off from school and working so she could be with me! Even though she had lots of homework to do, she did it on the couch with me laying right next to her. Every time she needed to go upstairs for something, she carried me with her! And... you know how after you get spayed, you have to take medicine? I have two kinds I have to take, an antibiotic and pain killer. Well, Mama knows I won't just swallow a pill on my own, so she sneaks it into delicious foods. For instance,

this morning I had my pills in some soft Cesar Canine Cousine food... a real treat for me! Trixie also was happy, since Mama gave her some Canine Cousine too. Hers didn't have pills in it, but Mama didn't want to make her watch me eat something so great!

Then, tonight, Mama gave us cottage cheese. This time I was too smart for her. I found one of the pills in the cottage cheese, so I just sucked the cottage cheese off and left it on the plate! Mama was like, "NOOOOO!" Then she gave us another treat... Monterey Jack cheese. Of course mine was wrapped around the pill, but I barely tasted it. Me and Trixie were so happy!

I am feeling way, way better now. Although I spent most of the day sleeping and being carried around, I am now on top of my game! I've been tusseling with Trixie, playing with my little tennis ball, eating lots of food, and even took a whole walk around the block! Mama says she's so happy that I'm acting like I'm not in any more pain, at

least most of the time!

Tomorrow, Mama has to go to school and then work, but Gramma will be home with me, making sure I don't chew on my stitches. (I've been trying really hard not too... a few times I started to but Mama reminded me, really quick, and I stopped. I sure don't want to have to get a Cone Of Shame!)
Here is a picture Mama took of me a few hours ago. Don't I look like I'm feeling so much better?

Anyway, thanks for all your nice comments! I love you all so much!

Update On Lily!

2011-08-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Its Trixie! I just wanted to thank everyone for their kind thoughts on Lily's last post, where she announced that she was going to be getting spayed!

Well, the surgery is over, and Lily is safely home!

It went well. The nice people at the vet called our Mama exactly at 11:30 to let her know that Lily was okay and that everything was over. When Mama went to pick her up, they told her that Lily was a really good doggie and hadn't been chewing on her stitches or anything.

Then, the vet brought Lily out to Mama. First, Lily was happy to see Mama, and licked her and everything... and then, to Mama's surprise, she kept looking at the vet (it wasn't Dr. Amy from last time... in fact maybe it was a technician or something...) and kind of leaning towards her, with a happy look in her eyes! Mama laughed and said, "Oh, you like the vet?" The vet said, "Well, we were cuddling back there for a while." Isn't that sweet? The vet was cuddling with Lily and Lily liked her? Mama says she's going to be bringing Lily back to that doctor's office for all her medical needs. (I, on the other hand, have to keep going to the usual vet where Grampa takes me, but thats okay, because I like it there.)

Anyway, little Lily seems a little tired and dazed. She has been resting on our dog bed, but she keeps on getting up and wandering around slowly, looking bewildered. Mama says thats from the medicine the vet gave her!

The vet said Lily shouldn't jump around, and that she shouldn't eat a ton of food and drink a ton of water. So thats why Mama has been staying upstairs with Lily (to keep her from going up and down the stairs.) Mama also put some food and water in separate dishes upstairs, so Lily could get to them easily. I was a little worried that Mama was giving Lily t

oo much food and water right away... so I ate and drank most of it, just to be safe. I am such a good big sister!

Anyway, Mama is so relieved that Lily made it through!

Here's a pic she took of Lily a few minutes after she got home! Does she look a little "out of it?"

We will keep you updated! Thanks again for your pawsitive thoughts... it really made us all feel better when we read them the night before Lily's surgery!

See ya soon!

Tomorrow Is My Big Day!

2011-08-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! Its me, little Lily!

So, tomorrow is the big day for me! Mama got a low cost spay certificate from Friends Of Animals, and last week I went to the vet to get my preliminary physical exam. The vet who saw me was really nice! Her name was Amy. She was really gentle and she said I was so cute and so brave! Dr. Amy said I am a very, very healthy dog... except that I need to lose about 2 pounds. (Maybe its from all those treats!) She said the spay surgery is so safe, and its very, very, very, very rare for things to go wrong, especially for a dog as healthy as me!

Tomorrow, at 7:30 am, Mama will be dropping me off. I know Mama is so worried about it. Its also her first day back at school, and she thinks she's going to be worrying about me while she's in her class... but Dr. Amy promised to give Mama a call as soon as the surgery is over, so she can quit worrying! Then, at 4:30 pm, Mama will be able to pick me up (the spay certificate doesn't cover an overnight stay, but Dr. Amy said it will be better for me to go home anyway because she can see I'm so attached to Mama) and she has the whole next day off to spend with me!

Today Mama spent time playing outside with me and inside, and she even got me and Trixie each a new toy! She found these toys at Petsmart... the big giraffe was holding the baby giraffe, but Mama pulled them apart so we could each have one. She said, when she saw that toy, she thought, "How cute! A big giraffe and a little giraffe... and I have a big dog and a little dog! Perfect!"

Of course Trixie is nibbling her big giraffe, which is what she does with all her toys. Nibble nibble nibble!

And of course I took my little giraffe and started shaking it like crazy! I stopped shaking it for one minute for the picture because Mama said when I shook it the picture would come out all blurry.

The bad news is, I also had to take a bath... because Mama said she didn't want me stinking for Dr. Amy. (I get dirty easily because Trixie likes to chew on me when we play! The other bad news is, I cannot eat any food after midnight... which Mama thinks is funny, for some reason. She keeps calling me her little gremlin! What is that all about?

But one more good news is... remember the puppies from our Puppypalooza post? The last two were adopted yesterday! Yay!

Okay, wish me luck everyone! By this time tomorrow, I will be home, snoozing! I'll tell Trixie to update you all so you know that I got through it okay.

Bye friends! I love you!

Puppy Palooza!

2011-08-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, everyone! We've been away from our blog for a while, and we can barely understand what happened to Blogger! Whats up with this weird new editor?
Oh well. We're done with our extended Bloggy Break and Mama is feeling much better lately! In fact, we've got lots of interesting things coming up in the weeks ahead! But first, you might remember that Mama was puppysitting for some newborn puppies a while back and we promised to show you pictures. Everyone loves puppy pictures! Well, here they are... But sorry for the blurriness of some of the pictures! All Mama has is her cellphone to take pics with, and since the dogs are all black sometimes they come out as blobs!

This is the puppies' Mama (Not to be confused with our Mama!)

Their Mama was a stray dog who was rescued from a kill shelter by Almost Home Foundation. When they rescued her, they were told by the kill shelter people that she had had many, many litters of puppies... they could tell by her large nipples and saggy belly. But when the Almost Home Foundation people brought her to the vet, the vet said, "THIS DOG IS PREGNANT AGAIN!" The dog, nicknamed "Mama" for obvious reasons, was so bored by her puppies. She could barely stand to nurse them... she was just tired of being a mama! OUR Mama would have to pet her and pet her to keep her still when the little munchkins nursed.
First, Mama puppysitted the puppies when they were about three weeks old. They were so tiny... although not as tiny as Lily was when she was three weeks old! These are black lab puppies, so they were already growing fast!

Pay special attention to the one with the brindle paws. Mama loved this puppy especially because she reminded her of our big sister Chopper who is at the Rainbow Bridge! Look at Chopper and then look at the brindle legged puppy. See the resemblance?

All of the puppies in their "Whelping Box." When they weren't nursing, they were sleeping, playing, or....

... crying! "Someone take me out of this box!"

...

The next time Mama watched the puppies, they were about six weeks old. Now they were starting to get a little bigger, and transitioning to solid food! Five times a day, Mama had to mush up puppy food mixed with special puppy formula (like milk) and yogurt, heat it in the microwave, and serve it to the little monsters.

They "graduated" from a whelping box to a giant cage! You can't see it, but the age was separated into two sections, so they could go through the door to the second section to use the bathroom. There was also a small cage in there with blankets, which was suppsed to be their bedroom. These were definitely some spoiled puppies with their own apartment!

They liked to swim in their water dish!

Even though they were only "transitioning" to solid food, some of them would steal their Mama's food when our Mama took them out to play! (Of course it is our Mama's favorite brindle-legged puppy who is the culprit in lots of these pictures!)

Whenever our Mama would walk into the room, the puppies would cry and yelp at her! You can see their Mama in this picture too, saying, "Calgon, take me away!"

A puppy stealing their Mama's bone.

Playtime in the kitchen.

Mama loved this little puppy so much because it looked like Chopper!

"I want to nurse!"

Then, Mama didn't see the puppies for a few more weeks. By the time she saw some of them, it was at the adoption show, and the puppies were ready to get adopted! Here they are in their cage at Petsmart! They just about trippled in size since Mama last saw them, weighing between 7 and 12 pounds! Mama thinks they remembered her, because when she picked them up they wiggled all over the place and licked her like crazy!

And now for the good news... Just about everyone has been adopted! The puppies' Mama was actually the first to be adopted. She went to a wonderful home where she has a golden retriever sister to play with and a nice, big yard!

At last notice, five of the seven puppies had been adopted, all by awesome families! And the best news of all, to our Mama, was that her very favorite brindle legged puppy was adopted by the daughter of the couple who had been fostering them! The foster parents still babysit their grandpuppy during the day. This means that our Mama will get to see that puppy once in a while. Her new name is Mollyanna!There were still two puppies left as of this past Saturday.... Steevie and Janny. (Janny is the tiniest one, weighing in at a whopping 7 pounds.) So if you live in the Chicago area and are thinking of adding a black lab puppy to your family, be sure to contact Almost Home Foundation!

Well, that ends our PuppyPalooza post. We hope you liked it! We promise, we'll be back posting more ASAP... we've really missed all of our bloggy friends!

Our Mama's Blog

2011-07-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Sorry we haven't been blogging much lately... its been a combination of Mama feeling sad a lot lately, plus her having to do a lot of babysitting and petsitting, and then when she comes home she just wants to look at the TV and pet us. Mama's taking some time off now though, so we will be catching up on our blogging!

Also... although we think its weird that Mama would start another blog even though she barely helps us with ours, Mama has started her own blog. Its going to be about her experiences going through depression and anxiety and other mental mumbo-jumbo. We might be mentioned in it, of course, but its going to be more or less anonymous, so that people Mama knows, such as prospective employers, relatives, etc, don't see it and think Mama is crazy... its going to be a blog where she can explain herself, and also what its like to have depression, etc.

So... Mama is not telling the general public at all about this blog... but since you guys are all our bestest friends, she said we could tell you! She doesn't want to type the address on this blog. But she said, if any of you wants to read it, all you have to do is email us, and we can whisper it in your ear. You could leave comments on it too, you don't have to just sneak in and out. She mostly doesn't want, for instance, to someday be applying for a job as a teacher, and have a boss say, "Well, I read in your blog about how you did this and this and this, so that doesn't sound like you'd be a responsible teacher."

In other news... Mama has been petsitting for brand new puppies! They belong to a mama dog who was rescued by the organization Mama volunteers with. When they rescued her, they didn't know she was pregnant. Then she said, "SURPRISE! Here's seven more just like me, but smaller!" The first time Mama puppysitted them, they were three weeks old. Now they are six weeks old. Probably on Sunday, Mama will be posting lots of pics... except she says they are super hard to take pics of with her phone, because they are always moving!!! She also took a movie of them, but her movie camera is old and you can't put it on the computer. Then Mama thought maybe she could put the movie on the TV, and use Gramma's camera to take a video of the TV! It might be very complicated. There is one special one who looks a lot like our angel sister, Chopper!

OK... so... if you want to visit Mama's most toppest secretest blog, remember to email us. But if you don't, Mama won't be mad or anything. As for us, we hope we'll make it bag to our blog ASAP to write some more!

Getting The Operation

2011-07-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This post is... awkward! But we are writing it to see if anyone could offer words of wisdom and comfort for our over-anxious Mama.
You see, Lily has never been spayed.
The reason? Well, remember, for the first eighteen months of her life, she legally belonged to the people Mama lived with, and those people had no plans to spay her. (Remember, their negligence to spay their first dog or neuter their second dog was how they ended up with Lily in the first place!)
When Mama ended up with Lily, she had about zero dollars saved up. What she did have, she spent getting Lily her first vaccinations (also never given to her or any other dogs by her previous owners) and to register her (one more thing never done) so that Lily could never be taken away from her.
Mama knew about some low-cost spay and neuter clinics in the area, but she was nervous about them. Rightly so in some cases... one of them ended up being mixed up in an incident involving a "rescue organization" where twenty dogs, three birds and an opossum starved to death and another emaciated six were found alive. Mama didn't want to trust her baby to just anyone!
And then, Lily had her first heat, back in March, which meant Mama had to wait a while anyways in order to get her spayed.
But now everything is coming together. Mama has gotten a "spay certificate" for $90, and Grampa has offered to pay for another $100 for medications and bloodwork associated with the spaying. Mama went online and found a veterinarian that would take the spay certificate, that has tons of positive reviews and no negative stories connected to it. (Unfortunately, our family veterinarian will not take the spay certificate.) Everything should be okay, right?
But Mama, of course, is totally nervous. She's really worried about Lily getting the surgery, especially since she has to get "put under." She's really a worry wart about Lily. You should have seen her the day she took Lily to get her vaccinations... when the lady explained the risks associated with the shots, Mama just about started crying! So of course, thinking about her little dog actually getting put under and then having a major operation is making Mama a little sick. She's having horrible visions of being told that little Lily didn't make it through the operation! Even though both of our big sisters, plus Trixie and Sammy-Joe, were all spayed without incident... Mama is afraid, since Lily is so tiny, she has less of a chance of survival.
We know Mama is being silly. But maybe if she hears it from some of you, she will feel better!

(Also... about BlogPaws... we're probably not gonna go after all. If none of you guys are going, whats the point?)

Love,
Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe

Does Anyone Want a BlogPaws Roomie?

2011-06-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Mama was just doing some thinking, and as she's been getting a few large childcare conference jobs over the summer, she says the possibility exists that we could go to BlogPaws! (By we, really, we mean Lily and Mama, since Trixie really belongs with Gramma and Grampa and they don't like her to board airplanes and travel the country. Besides, Lily's small, compact size makes her easier to bring on the airplane... and Mama has a doctor's paper saying she can bring Lily on the airplane in her lap instead of in the baggage!)

Then we had an idea that could make BlogPaws even more likely for us. We thought, maybe Mama and Lily could find a roommate for the hotel! That would cut the cost of the hotel stay in half, which would be a big help!

So, our question is... does anyone, who is already planning to go to BlogPaws, want a roommate? (Even if you have two people going and your two beds are filled, Mama and Lily would not mind sleeping in one of those rollaway cots, or even on a sleeping bag on the floor!)

Mama and Lily are both a little shy, but they get along well with just about everyone. (There are a few mean people they don't like, but those people would never be found in BlogPaws. They don't even like dogs!) They are clean and mild-mannered, and they are very unobtrusive. For instance, if you want to go to bed early, they can read quietly or leave and go for a walk without bothering you. And if you want to stay up totally late, you don't have to worry about keeping them up... they can sleep through it! They will let you use the bathroom first, they will clean up their own messes, and if one of you is a doggie, Mama will give you (the doggie) lots of belly rubs and ear rubs! Lily might bark at you at first, but thats just because she's shy and because she wants to protect Mama.

We also entered the BlogPaws caption contest for a free trip to BlogPaws... so in the unlikely event that we win, after we already found a roommate, you could share our room for free if you'd like!

So... would anyone want to let Mama and Lily crash with them at BlogPaws? If so, please raise your paw!

I Haz Box

2011-06-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Oh hi, its me, Sammy-Joe!

I found this great new box to sit in.

What? What are you looking at? You think this box is too small?

Well, I don't remember asking you!

I went through all of the trouble of knocking this box off of a shelf, just so I'd have somewhere new and exciting to sit.

I think it fits me perfectly!

Wordless Wednesday: Big Boned

2011-06-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

My Great Day At the Red Door Shelter Walkathon!

2011-06-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Its me, little Lily! I had the very best day ever yesterday! Mama took me to the Red Door Shelter's Walkathon. Trixie didn't get to come because she is a little more mischievious than me, and Mama thought she'd have trouble wrangling us both in a crowded place. I, on the other hand, am such a Mama's girl, Mama knew I would be on my best behavior because I'd always want to be right there with her. We did win a stuffie toy for Trixie and brought it home for her... but then I stole it and shook all the stuffies out. But that is beside the point.

The Red Door Shelter, incidentally, is where your friend and mine, Mr. Pip, was adopted from! And guess what?

I GOT TO MEET MR. PIP!!!!

Pip smelled just like I always imagined he would.

Mama thought Pip was so cute and she couldn't stop petting him and playing with his big, ewok-like ears!

We took a nice walk. We took the short version of the walk because Pip's tiny little legs were getting tired and his human sister was hogging the stroller! Also, I was a little nervous, so I kept walking three steps at a time and then going back to make sure my Mama was there. Then I was trying to walk between my Mama's feet for extra protection. Between me and Pip, walking was kinda getting difficult! So our Mamas decided that the walk was more of a symbollic thing and we didn't have to walk the whole way. We headed back to the park!

Pip and I may look like we're ignoring each other, but we were actually just tired of getting our pictures taken. Our Mamas are worse than the paparazzi!

They had an indoor gym set up with music and food for everyone!

They had given us a nice, big treat bag for participating in the Walkathon. Here is Mr. Pip, checking ours out to make sure nobody snuck a bomb in there!

We didn't stay inside long because Mama gets claustrophobic. When we went back outside to get some fresh air, we ran into Neeko S. Spaulding and his brothers! We all had a big sniffing fest. That black and white dog also got involved.

I pause as Mama gives me a nice skritch under the chin. I'm smiling because of all the fun I'm having!

Here is cute little Neeko!

These are Neeko's brothers... Leo is the one in front, and Ray is the one grinning in back. I think. I sometimes have trouble remembering which is which!

The parents wanted to take some pictures of all us little doggies on our playdate. All the other dogs were sitting so nicely for the camera, but I just wanted to sit on Mama! I like to stick to her like white on rice! Here she is trying to shove me into the picture.

Mama and I stayed until the end. Pip's Mama also stayed until the end because she had to help clean up. You can tell Pip and I are both very tired from our long, wonderful day! We're just sort of spacing out.

Once I got home I was so exhausted, I just lay down on my bed for a nice nappy time!

It was the best day ever! Pip, Neeko, Leo and Ray, I was so happy to meet you! I hope we can play together again someday!

La-Z-Bones

2011-06-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

ALERT! ALERT! If you have previously told us you couldn't comment on our blog, we just got advised by Anakin that it might have been because we were using an embedded comment form. We are now trying a full page comment form... so if you haven't been able to comment, please try it out, and let us know if it works!

And now for our irregularly scheduled post.

Mama says she just realized she has a ton of pictures of us laying around. She says it makes us seem like all we ever do is lay around! Worried that she'd make us get out and run a few laps, we tried to explain to her... first of all, it is hard for her to take pictures of us in motion with her junky cellphone camera. Any pics she takes of us outside or playing tend to be blurry. And second of all... well, just look at us! Any time you saw us laying like this, wouldn't you just have to take a picture?

Kinda Wordless Wednesday: My Dogs Are Cool!

2011-06-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

The sign says:

"My Dog Is Cool! Because I pledge never to keave Trixie and Lily in a hot car! We will help spread the word to others and save lives."

(MyDogIsCool.com)

Bed Hogs

2011-06-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

We Luv This Beautiful Weather!

2011-06-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Here in Chicagoland, it has finally quit raining and/or snowing, and the doggies among us love the sunshine! We soak up so much of it, Mama thinks we'll get suntans!
Mama lets us go out a bunch of times each day. Usually she brings her book outside, so she doesn't get bored while we lounge around. Sometimes we run around and play, or talk to our neighbor lab, and sometimes Mama brings Lily's little tennis ball outside. (Lily is amazed that her tennis ball also exists outside in the yard! Being outside makes it even more fun than usual!)
Sometimes we like to hang out by this tree. There are often squirrels and birds up there, and we bark at them to let them know who the bosses of this yard are!

But mostly, we do a lot of this.

And when Mama finally gets bored, or hungry, or has to leave, and she tells us to come in, we like to do this.

But when we do go inside, we almost always end up doing this.

Isn't it a dog's life?

Hide And Seek?

2011-05-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?

Oh where, oh where could she be?

OMG Hi!

(Mama's note: I did not put Lily under the blanket! She often burrows under the covers to play... in fact, this morning, I woke up to her frantically burying herself in my covers!)

Mama's Birthday Present

2011-05-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! We wanted to show you the birthday present that our Uncle Jay sent to our Mama! Its a book about dog training, called How To Be Your Dog's Best Friend. It was written by these monks in New York who raise and train dogs at their monastery! Can you believe that? Mama already started reading it last night. We told her that she is already our best friend... and she said "ditto," but she said she thinks Uncle Jay sent her this book because he thinks Lily needs to be trained more.

(Lily: "What? Why do I have to be the one to get trained more?"
Trixie: "Because you're the one that would never stop barking at him while he was here!"
Lily: "Thats because he's like twelve feet tall and really loud! Besides... I am the one with perfect recall skills. All Mama has to do is call my name and open her arms, and I run straight to her. You are the one that Gramma has to chase into the street every time a dog walks by."
Trixie: "Well, who is the one who still pees on the carpet?"
Lily: "Who is the one who still jumps up on people when they're making food in the kitchen?"
Trixie: "You do that too. Its just that you're so small, nobody cares."
Sammy-Joe: "Quit arguing! You both could use some training as far as I'm concerned!")

So... yeah. It looks like a really good book! Mama said when she's done reading it, we'll tell you all about it. And if anyone else has read it, let us know what you think!

Who Is This Beautiful Doggie?

2011-05-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Its me, Trixie! Guess who got her very first professional grooming today? I'll give you a hint.

BEFORE

AFTER

I know, its a little hard to tell the difference in these pictures. Mama didn't want them to change me too much because she thought I looked super cute already. But I did get my face fur trimmed very nicely, and some of the wild hair on my back and sides, and also my... eh-em... buttock hair! My nails were also clipped, and I got a nice bath! Mama thinks I look very neat and clean. What do you think?

Lily just got her nails cut this time. But next time, its going to be her turn to get groomed! I don't think they'll be able to make her look as cute as I do, though, do you?

Dude, where are our comments?

2011-05-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

We have an odd mystery here!
On Wednesday, when Lily posted about her birthday, we got 18 comments! We know, because we got each of the wonderful comments through our email, and we read them all there.
But when we checked on our actual blog, it said we only got 4 comments on that day!
So... where'd the other 14 comments go? We know you all commented! We read them all! But they are not on our blog!
Hmm. Blogger.com is SUCH A PAIN sometimes!

Happy Birthday To Lily!

2011-05-11T12:29:00.001-07:00

Hi, everyone! Its me, Lily Billy, and guess what? Today is my BIRTHDAY! Two year ago today, very early in the morning, I was born straight into my (human) Mama's hands!

Mama wanted to get me lots and lots of toys, but she is still broke! So she tried to give us a special day. (Trixie and Sammy-Joe also got a special day, because Mama was even broker when it was their birthday back in March!)

For my birthday treat, Mama made me special cupcakes! She put some of my favorite foods... peanut butter and carrots... in the cupcakes. Do they look delicious?

Since Sammy-Joe doesn't really like cupcakes, he got a can of cat food that he loves, and some CatSip!

Then, we went outside, where Mama said we could play outside for as long as we wanted to. But since it was so hot, we mostly sat under the picnic table.

We did get to share my birthday cupcakes with Andi, our neighborlab, and her sister and

brother!

(This is Andi looking over the fence to see if we have more cupcakes for her.)

We got hot and tired fast, even though Mama gave us a bowl of water outside. So we came inside, and Mama gave me my present... a great new Busy Bone! (Trixie got one too, but she ran off to hide hers right away.)

Mama promised she would get us all some better presents when she has more money... but we don't care. We are happy just being loved! (The cupcakes and new bones were a nice touch though.)

Uh-oh, my Mama wants to write something. She is picking me up and moving me! BYE EVERY

ONE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

***

From Lily's Mama...

Happy Birthday, little Lily! I love you with all my heart! I loved you as much then...

as I do now!

Thank you for being my puppy!

Love, Mama

Who Wants To Buy This House?

2011-05-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Our friend Pip is trying to sell his house. It looks like this.

Well, okay, it doesn't look exactly like that! For one thing, it is not a cartoon. But we are sure it is a very nice house! So if you are looking for a new house in the Chicago area, we can totally hook you up with a good one!

OK, thats all... back to your regularly scheduled activities!

Lazy Dogs

2011-05-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

Something great happened this morning!
When Gramma and Grampa left for work, we were barking angrily at them through the window, saying, "Fine! Go ahead, then! Just leave us here! Don't feel guilty or anything!"
Then we heard someone calling us from upstairs.
It was Mama!
She never went to work today!
So we all got to cuddle in bed together for several more hours!
(Except for Sammy-Joe, who was sleeping on the desk!)
Happy Cinco De Mayo, by the way!

We Tried A Brand New Dog Food!

2011-05-04T18:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nutrish for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Something interesting happened to us recently! The people from Nutrish asked us to try Rachael Ray Nutrish just 6 dry dog food! They sent us a sample, and they even sent us a little bowl... which was a good idea, since Mama thought we should have separate bowls to try the new food out so we wouldn't be fighting over it.

Before she would let us try it, Mama told us a little about what we were about to eat. (We aren't particularly picky... taste is everything to us... but we know nutrition is important to humans, so we listened!) She said that the first ingredient is always meat. (Hey, we like that idea!) Some other foods use lots of meat by-products, fillers and artificial flavors and preservatives. But not Nutrish! In the just 6 food we were about to try, the main ingredient is lamb. Thats good for us in particular, especially, since Trixie seems to throw up a lot and lamb is good for the tummy!

The other main ingredients are Brown Rice, Ground Rice, Dried Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat and Natural Chicken Flavor. Do you notice there are 5 ingredients besides the lamb? Thats why they call it just 6! They do also add vitamins and minerals to make it super healthy.

By the time Mama finished explaining all this to us, we were barking, "JUST GIVE US THE FOOD!" So... Mama divided it between our regular bowl, and the little bowl they sent us.

Delicious and nutritious! We gobbled it down!

Poor Sammy-Joe was so jealous that we were getting a special treat, he was crying in the other room. So Mama gave him a scoop of wet cat food (which he only gets on special occasions) to make him happy. She tried to take a picture, but his fort was too dark and it didn't come out!

Anyway... as we ate, Mama had one more thing to tell us. She said some of the proceeds from sales of Rachel Ray's line of dog foods will be donated to pet rescue organizations like the ASPCA and Bad Rap.

That does it! You've won our hearts, Rachel Ray!

Friends, if you want to try out Rachael Ray Nutrish just 6 dry dog food for yourself, you can request a free sample!

Well, we're full now, so we're going to go outside and burn some energy off by running around in circles. See ya later!

Wordless Wednesday: Basket Of Lily

2011-05-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to check out other Wordless Wednesday entries at BlogPaw!

Almost Home Dogs - McFadden, The Shelf Pup!

2011-05-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Its been a long time since we've interviewed an Almost Home dog. But now that Mama is starting to be a little less busy, we're going to try to get back into our blogging habits! This weekend while she was volunteering, Mama met a little dog who she really loved and wanted to share with you. So today, we want to introduce you to McFadden, the shelf pup!

M: Hi everyone!

TLS: McFadden, why does Mama call you the Shelf Pup?

M: Well, as you can see from the picture, I'm standing on one of the shelves at Petsmart. Your Mama was hanging out with me at the adoption show there, and I kept getting onto the shelves! It was like my secret cave!

TLS: We can see how you would like that! So, McFadden, some people say you look like a tiny German Shepherd. Are you?

M: No! I'm a full-grown dog... even though I'm still pretty young at about thirteen months old. I am a pug/chihuahua mix!

TLS: Thats a great mix... two of our favorite kinds of dogs!

M: Thanks!

TLS: Mama says you are a little afraid of men.

M: Just a little. I don't remember what might have happened to me when I was a pup, but sometimes men freak me out when I first meet them. Of course, I can warm up to them if they spend some time with me and show me that they're not going to hurt me! It is a good idea for men (and anyone else for that matter) to sit or crouch near me and put their hand out for me to sniff, instead of towering over me or bending over me, when they first meet me. Otherwise, I might cower away and not want to go up to them! I am super close to my new foster father, so that shows that I am not too scared of men.

TLS: What about kids?

M: I think I like kids, as long as they don't hurt me! At the adoption show, a little girl came and sat by me, and I adored her! I laid in her lap with my belly up, wagged my legs in the air, and enjoyed her pets and cuddles. Kids can be great, if they know how to treat a doggie!

TLS: How about other dogs?

M: Sure! I love to play. I have a foster brother and we wrestle all the time. He's a terrier so he wants to play, literally, all the time! When he starts to annoy me, I have to growl at him and walk away. But we are good friends. And other dogs are great too! I've never met a cat, so I'd have to meet one in person and see how I feel about him. (Sammy-Joe doesn't count!)

TLS: Sensitive question time. Are you house trained?

M: Well... I'm working on it. My foster parents are trying to teach me about house training, since my previous owners forgot to cover that topic. I think I'm starting to get it, though!

TLS: What would be the perfect home for you?

M: I'm not picky. Anyone who will love me and be kind to me and never hit me. I would love to be someone's lap dog in the evenings while they are watching TV! I also love to run and play. I am soft, and cute, and very cuddly.

TLS: You sound like the perfect little dog!

M: Thanks! I hope someone will come and get me soon so I can have a forever home.

TLS: Thanks for talking with us, McFadden! Good luck!

If you live in or around Schaumburg, IL and you'd like to meet McFadden... or any of his buddies... please give Almost Home Foundation a call at 630-582-3738. You can also email them at dogs@almosthomefoundation.org. Some wonderful doggie is waiting for you!

Smarty Sunday: All Different Pets!

2011-05-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, its me, Sammy-Joe, here to share some more smartness with you on this great Sunday!
Today Mama read this article about a friendly pet wallaby who got loose in Arizona. Of course, the first thing Mama said was, "I want a pet wallaby!" We Googled it and found out that, yes, wallabies are available as pets! We also found a bunch of other... um... unusual pets people can have.

I wanted to share this with you in fun, but first, I just wanted to remind everyone. Any time you get any pet, you should do you research first to learn about all the things the pet will need, and you should decide if this is really the best pet for you. Once you get a pet, there's no turning back! We don't want to hear about someone having to open a shelter for all of the unwanted wallabies that have been tossed out of their homes in a few years when people decide they're not exciting anymore! So please... if you do decide to get one of these pets... do a lot of thinking and preparing beforehand. (I'm not talking to my regular readers, who I know are very responsible pet owners! But you never know who will do a Google search, and find this blog entry, so I just wanted to do my part and tell people. DON'T DUMP YOUR PETS... whether they are dogs, cats, bunnies, or wallabies!

A lot of kids have guinea pigs as pets. What if your guinea pig weighed 150 pounds? If you have a 150 pound guinea pig, it is probably actually a capybara. They are the largest members of the rodent family. We found this information on Paw-talk: "Capybara can make captivating pets, but you should definitely have them neutered. Males can become aggressive, territorial and frustrated. If you do have one, neutering should take place between 6-9 months of age. They are intelligent and can be trained to do various tricks, such as sit, beg, and more. They are affectionate and very clean animals. If gotten young, you can train your capybara to walk on a leash. I would suggest a harness type lead, such as used for pot belly pigs. They are slow and deliberate movers though, so don't expect to work miracles. You won't be taking your pet capybara out jogging with you!

An enclosure for a capybara should be strong enough to prevent escape, they are known to be diggers. They should have a shelter ( large dog house, etc. ), mounds of grass and hay, and a tub of water to play in. A large child's pool would do nicely.

Capybara will eat most anything ! Seeds, fruits, vegetables, grass, hay, etc. You can also feed rabbit chow etc. as a supplement to their diet of hay and vegetables. They are rodents, and do NEED non toxic items to chew, such as willow or birch branches."

We also found a pet blog by a capybara's "owner." So be sure to check out the blog called Capybara Madness!

You've probably heard of people owning potbellied pigs and pygmy goats (both of which, by the way, are frequently abandoned after would-be owners decide the work isn't worth the fun) so you probably won't be surprised to know that some people like to have pet sheep! Sheep are said to be gentle and smar... as long as they are females or neutered males and do not have horns. (I don't know... do some come without horns, or does someone remove the horns, or what???) Smaller breeds of sheep, like babydoll sheep and mini-shetland sheep, could even live in your house with you. (Sure, a big sheep could live in your house too. But it might knock stuff over!) Look, we even found a pet blogger with sheep!

When Mama was younger, before I was even born, she lived in a town that had the odd problem of foxes walking around in public. Mama learned that the foxes were not really dangerous. They wouldn't chase you, that is... but if you cornered one, it would probably bite you, just like any scared animal would! Mama enjoyed seeing the foxes around town. She was sad to later find out that one of the baby foxes ha rabies. :( So she was excited to see that it is now possible to have a domesticated, pet fox... if you have $6,000 to order one from Russia. The reason it costs so much is mostly because they have to transport the fox to the USA all the way from Russia, which also involves a lot of paperwork. If you do have that kind of money, you could order a fox from this farm in Russia. The website says that these specially-bred, tame foxes are friendly to humans and other pets, can be litter box trained, and will curl up in your bed just like a cat or dog if you let them! (OMG now Mama wants a fox!) Oh yeah... for anyone out there who is getting a wise idea about owning a fox for less than $6,000... it is not legal or moral, and it is a bad idea, to take any animal out of nature and try to keep it as a pet. Don't do it! (Should I tell you this... we just found a directory of Fennec fox breeders in the USA.) As always, DO YOUR RESEARCH before buying any pet!

Look out! Its a stinky, yucky, disgusting skunk! Oh, wait, no, thats somebody's beloved pet! Skunks can be pets but, just like a lot of these unusual pets, they take a lot of work! You have to spend a lot of time bonding with a baby skunk so it learns that humans are friendly, skunk-proof your house, "corner train" your skunk (which means letting it choose a corner to go potty in, and then training it to go in a litter box you've placed in that corner), teaching it to play and not bite, skunk proofing your house, etc. We also read on the SkunkHaven website that, if your skunk bites someone and they go to the doctor, the doctor must report it to the health department, and your skunk might be taken and put to sleep. That would be heartbreaking! I think, if you plan on getting a skunk, you should do a lot of research and planning ahead of time!

I found a lot of scary information about sugar gliders that would make me tell Mama to never get one! But then I found the North American Sugar Glider Association, and it seemed to dispel a lot of the things I read at the other sites. So, I have no idea what sugar gliders are like! They are either super messy or not messy at all, really noisy or very quiet, bite all the time or rarely bite at all, and need giant aviaries or normal-sized cages. I have no idea! And I couldn't even find a pet blog about sugar gliders. All the info seems to come from breeders, and they all seem to contradict each other on purpose in order to get you to buy from them. One thing I know for sure is, they are very cute! If anyone out there has one they want to tell us about, we'd love to hear!

And now, for my final Smarty Sunday words. There is a reason why cats like me, and dogs like my sisters, are the most common household pets. We've been domesticated over generations and generations, we love being around humans (as long as we are treated with kindness) and we are pretty simple to care for. When you start getting into rarer pets, you have to be very careful not to bite off more than you can chew! I think, if you have your heart set on getting a rarer pet, you should first find a rescue organization that works with those pets, and spend some time volunteering there. (In fact, that wouldn't be a bad idea for those who want to get a dog or cat, or any other type of animal, either!) That way, you can get some first hand experience on what is involved in caring for the animals,

I also found this article, on a website called Batworld, that talks about why it is a horrible idea to remove animals from nature and try to keep them as pets. Please read it, if you've had any thoughts of trying to domesticate a wild animal!
"Try to imagine what this feels like…

Someone takes you captive, you don’t know why. You don’t speak their language and you are powerless to escape. You have no idea what they want of you, and you are terrified. Your captor locks you into a bathroom. This bathroom has a window covered with a shade, but you are not allowed to open it to get fresh air, or even look outside. There is a sink, but only your captor knows how to turn the water on. There is a toilet where you can eliminate, but only your captor decides when it should be flushed. You get the same thing to eat day after day after day after day. When you don’t feel good no one knows how to help, so you suffer in pain. There are no pictures on the walls, no TV, no computer, no phones, and no companions. You have absolutely nothing whatsoever to help you pass the endless days and nights. You are completely alone, and this is where you will spend every single day for the rest of your natural life.

This is what a wild animal feels when we take it into captivity. It has lost all control of its world. As captors, we control everything about that animals’ daily life. What it eats, when it gets fresh water, when its cage is cleaned, whether or not it gets fresh air, has companions, and whether or not it has enrichment to brighten its caged life.

You can see why it is not a good idea to own wild animals as pets. It might make you feel cool, but people who know better (and most of them do) feel that it is a horrible cruelty and they cringe when they see people keeping a wild animal as a pet."

Happy Smarty Sunday, everyone! I hope you feel a little smarter now!

Lily's Newest Game

2011-04-26T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I wanted to tell you about the newest game I came up with to keep my Mama busy!
Usually she sits on the couch and I tell her to throw my little tennis ball for me.
But this time, I turned it around! I stood up on Mama's bed and threw my tennis ball to her, and let her scamper around and retrieve it for me!
Mama laughed and laughed, so I guess she likes that game.

PS... This is Mama's last week of school for the semester... so we should be back in the blogosphere very soon!

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Richie's Life

2011-04-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! The other day we wrote that our friend Richie crossed the Rainbow Bridge. A lot of the bloggy pets all over the Internet were broken-hearted about it! Some of them have planned a big surprise party in celebration of Richie's life. The party will be Saturday, over on Richie's blog. And you're invited! We'll be there, and we hope to see you too!

Goodbye Richie

2011-04-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. You probably heard the news before us but we just found out that Richie has gone to the Rainbow Bridge. His Momster was holding him as he made the trip, and he went from her arms, straight to the outstretched paws of his sister Molly who was there waiting for him. Even though we know Richie is in a wonderful place now, we are still sad to know how much he will be missed here on Earth. We hope if you knew Richie (or even if you didn't) you could go read his final blog post.

We have to go now... Mama is kinda upset... we have to finish licking her tears away.

Bye Richie! Thanks for being our friend!

Love,
Trixie, Lily and Sammy-Joe

Look Who's Famous!

2011-04-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Lily told you that she and Mama got their pictures taken for the newspaper the other day when they went to the doggie Easter egg hunt! Well, guess what... it was printed! There was no story or article with it, and we couldn't find it on the newspaper website, so we can't show you a link. But we did take a picture of the picture, so we could show it to you! Mama says she looks like a scarecrow in this picture. What do you think?

Lily and Mama also appeared on a news website, Patch.com. This is the picture that was on the site.

You can see more pictures of the Easter egg hunt here! That cute pug who appears first was called Lucy, and she and Lily became friends!

We wanted to say sorry we haven't visited blogs for a while... Mama is finishing the semester of school and she got a temporary job subbing in special education schools, so she hasn't had much time to help us. But we think about all of you every day, and Mama does read us your comments! We will try to make the rounds tomorrow if she'll let us!

See ya soon!

Smarty Sunday: There Goes Our Hero!

2011-04-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It's me, Sammy-Joe, here with another Smarty Sunday! Last week I shared kind of a sad news story about a police officer who pepper-sprayed a baby squirrel. So today, I thought I'd share a happier story involving humans and animals! This happened in our hometown city, Chicago!

Two dogs... a pitbull and a Boston terrier mix puppy, were at home yesterday, when their apartment building caught on fire! The dogs were on the enclos

ed back porch, but they couldn't escape the building. It seemed like they were doomed!

Then, a firefighter named Tammy Rodriguez found them! Both were in b

ad condition. The Boston Terrier was injured, and the pitbull was in cardiac arrest.

Rodriguez, who has three dogs of her own, got right to work at saving the dogs' lives. First, she pulled them both out of the building, getting them to safety. Then, as other firefighters worked on putting out the fire, Rodriguez put specially-fitted pet oxygen masks on the dogs.

The pitbull was unconscious and seemed to be lifeless. But the firefighter thought to herself, "Oh my God, I can't just let this dog die!" So she did CPR on the dog. Finally the pitbull started breathing again, opened his eyes, and actually stood up! He wagged his tail and licked Rodriguez's face!

The pitbull is now fine, and is back with his owner. The injured puppy is still being monitored at an animal hospital.

I'm so happy these two doggies were rescued! Our Mama says she always worries that this could happen to us someday when no humans are home, and she s

ure hopes someone would rescue us! One thing humans can do is order this free decal from the ASPCA. Its a window cling, not a sticker, so you can take it with you if you move. It says, "In case of emergency... ANIMALS INSIDE!" Humans, you can check off how many dogs, cats, and other animals you have, and put down your emergency phone number, so rescuers know how many pets to look for and how to reach you. It might help to get two of these, so you can have one on your front door and one on your back door! You could also use this free, customizable decal. This one allows you to put your pet's picture, name and nickname, and favorite hiding place. If you have more than one animal, though, you might have to order one for each pet! If you want to pay a little bit of money, you can also find lots of different decals on Amazon and other sites.

One more thing... Tammy Rodriguez used specially fitted oxygen masks to save these dogs! Human oxygen masks don't fit animals as well and therefore don't work a

s well. It would be like putting an adult oxygen mask on a newborn baby. Find out if your town's fire department has pet oxygen masks. Ideally. they should own small, medium and large pet masks, for large dogs, medium and small dogs and cats, and small animals like rabbits. If they don't, you can put them in touch with Wag'n Pet Safety Gear. The department can buy a kit, or even get financial aid to get a kit donated. Or, people

can donate kits to their local fire departments and police departments for $65.00 each.

Tammy Rodriguez, you're our hero! Thanks for knowing how

important pets are, and taking the time to save these two!

(Tammy Rodriguez with the pitbull she saved.)

Look Who Caught Me!

2011-04-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Do you like bunnies? I do! Me and Trixie like to try and chase them when we see them outside. But today, guess what happened? Mama took me to a doggie Easter egg hunt, and while we were there we saw a GIANT bunny! And Mama just handed me right over to him! Can you believe that? Then she let someone take a picture of me in captivity!
Luckily the giant bunny did not eat me. He just handed me back to Mama. She kept the picture as a souvenir! Want to see?

The Easter egg hunt was actually kind of cool. There were tons of little plastic eggs everywhere, with treats inside them! Mama said all I had to do was touch the eggs with my nose, and I could keep them! I didn't take a whole lot though. I was too busy trying to sniff all of the other dogs!
Silly Mama didn't take any pictures because she was too busy trying to hold my leash in one hand and my easter egg bag in the other. But, can you believe this? My picture got taken for two different newspapers! Mama says she's not sure if I'll actually be in the newspaper, because they take a whole lot of pictures and then pick the best one for the paper. But if I do get into the paper, I'll show you the links!
Something else very cool happened there. We won a raffle! Mama picked a free professional grooming as our prize. Not what I would have picked... but the other prize choice was three days of doggie day care, and I'm not sure I would enjoy that either. So I guess I can deal with the grooming!
Trixie didn't get to go. Mama said it would be too hard to try to take both of us by herself, and Gramma and Grampa didn't want to go. So Mama said next Easter it will be Trixie's turn! Trixie said she didn't mind, as long as I shared some of the treats I found with her.
Have any of you ever been on a doggie Easter egg hunt? You should try it!
Okay, thats all for now! See ya later!