Sleepy Sunday: 4-26-14

Yesterday was a very sleepy Sunday around our place. After a long, busy but exciting week, we finished it off with a little party Saturday night. Ares and Chaos had such a great time entertaining their guests that they were exhausted and had to spend all of yesterday recovering. 

 

Chaos would probably love to spend most of his days lounging around and snuggling but it was rare form for Ares to be indulging in laziness for a  whole day. 

 

We got up at our normal time and finished cleaning up front the festivities and then Chris and I also participated in couch and dog bed hopping.

 

But of course the cats had time to liven up the mood with some playful antics. Piper and Little O enjoyed some time bird watching out the back door, but when Little O tried to push Piper over and move into her spot he got what was coming to him.

Having so many more people around than usual was very exciting for the dogs so we had to make sure to keep reminding them of their manners. Go to your place when someone comes in the door and no jumping. They did really well with following these rules but staying out of the kitchen was a little harder to do since people had congregated there. We had one incident where Chaos tried to help himself to a bowl of trail mix on the table but other than that they did pretty well with all the food. 

 

No wonder they need a whole day of rest to get back to their regular schedule. Hosting a party, minding their manners and looking adorable can be very tiring. Good thing for sleepy Sundays!

Furbabies: On Birthdays and Gotcha Days

Do you love to celebrate your own birthday? How about someone you love’s birthday? Well, my birthday was yesterday and I love to celebrate any birthdays. It’s essentially a celebration that you or someone else has completed another year of life and I think it’s awesome!

 

So what about your pet’s birthdays? There are people who would roll their eyes hearing someone talk about celebrating a pet’s birthday. But those people are probably not reading this anyway!

Some of you might say you don’t know your pet’s birthday. Maybe you rescued him or her from a shelter or he or she just sort of wondered into your life. Sure, the vet can estimate how old Sassy is but you won’t have an exact date of birth. And that’s where the Gotcha Day celebration was born.

I had actually never heard of the Gotcha Day until very recently so I guess I’m a little behind the times. It’s just the day you rescued or took your pet into your home and Scrappy became yours forever. This can take the place of a birthday celebration if you don’t know your pet’s birthday and don’t want to just make one up based on an estimate of when he or she was born.

Piper was a rescue and I never knew her real birthdate so I never celebrated. I just always knew approximately how old she was each year. But when I got Ares, I had a birth certificate that said July 20^th, 2012. So I couldn’t help but have a little celebration on his very first birthday.

 

In the morning we took Ares and his brother to the pet store and Ares got to pick out his own toy. This consisted of him running up and down the toy aisle and sniffing everything in sight before snatching a plush alligator off a shelf and continuing on his way like he wasn’t shop lifting. Don’t worry, we did paid for the alligator, now known as Allen.

Chris was horrified by the little birthday shirt I had ordered for Ares but I still put it on him. I admit, it was too girly with the rhinestones but he rocked it proudly anyway. Even when a lady thought he was such a pretty girl he happily licked her hand and thanked her for the compliment.

I found a recipe for a doggie birthday cake and made one with icing and all. Ares was so meticulous about eating his piece of cake. He licked off all the icing first and then slowly chewed up each bite. Chaos devoured his piece before we could blink and then proceeded to start cleaning up Ares’s crumbs. There was blue icing everywhere but it was fun to see them enjoy the cake so much.

Unfortunately for Chaos’s first celebration he had an upset tummy so no cake. But he also got to pick out his own toy. Everything is better if it’s bigger to our resident pittie so it’s not surprising that he scooped up a big blue Nylabone. I was banned from getting him a birthday shirt and I’ll bet you can guess why.

 

This year we will celebrate all the birthdays and gotcha days for our pets with toys and treats and lots of extra attention. Sure, some people probably turn up their noses and think we are ridiculous. But I know all my crazy pet lovers will be doing the same things with their furbabies. So cheers to birthdays and gotcha days. May all your furbabies’ wishes come true!

Kids & Canines: Doing it Right

Of all the hundreds of pictures I have of the dogs, there actually aren't that many of them with kids. And the reason for that is when my dogs are around children, my focus is mostly taken with supervising. It’s not that I don’t trust my dogs, it’s that children can be very unpredictable.

It’s important to socialize dogs with all types of people, but children are especially important. I’ve talked before about the importance of parents teaching children how to properly interact with dogs, but it is also the responsibility of dog owners to monitor interactions between their dogs and children. Kids can get easily exited or afraid around dogs and the dogs will feed off that energy. Even the most well trained dog shouldn’t be left alone with someone else’s children.

 

Ares and Chaos have been around children since they were babies themselves. They thoroughly enjoy spending time with kids but as the kids get giggly and high energy, the dogs can start to get high energy too. Ares is a small dog but he can still easily knock over a small child if he jumps. Chaos is 55lbs of muscle and doesn’t realize his own strength. We say he sometimes loves little too hard because he tends to jump up or go into a licking frenzy when he’s in an excited state and that can be a little scary to a kid.

The funny thing is that both of the dogs seem to instinctually recognize a baby. Ares met a baby only a few weeks old when he was about 2 months old. The baby was in a pumpkin seat on the floor in the corner of the room where Ares was playing. I was watching like a hawk because he was just as bouncy and energetic as a puppy as he is today. I turned my head for a second and when I looked back, there was my black and white furball with the front half of his body in the pumpkin seat with the baby. He was gentle and didn’t make any sudden movements. He just wanted to be right by the baby.

Chaos was just about 2 months old when he met a 4 year old little girl who did everything children should be taught not to do with dogs. She pulled his ears, yanked on his tail and chased him around the room. But all that and even poking his belly and screaming, giggling and running around him in circles didn’t really faze Chaos. And he learned to accept this type of behavior from children.

Pit Bulls were known as nanny dogs long ago and also have an exceptionally high tolerance for pain. Boston Terriers have been called the American Gentleman and are widely known for being happy go lucky family pets. Ares and Chaos have been around children many times and have never gotten irritated, scared or upset by anything of their antics. But this doesn’t mean we ever leave them in a situation with children unsupervised.

Too many things can happen accidentally or unintentionally so it is our responsibility as pet parents to be vigilant. Ares still sometimes has a penchant for mouthing and although it’s with a soft mouth, catching a child’s finger the wrong way could hurt. Chaos could view a happy kid slapping her hands on her legs as an invitation to jump up and then cause her to fall over and possibly be injured.

Kids and dogs can be a great combination. They can learn from each other, play together and form strong bonds. But in order to make sure the interactions always stay position, being a watchful owner is the best way to go. I’m not always for the old saying better safe than sorry, but in this case, I think that pretty much sums it up.

Peeps, Pups & the Proposal

I hope you all had a very happy Easter weekend. We had nice sunny weather and spent some time outside. Our Saturday morning walk was spent admiring all the new plants and flowers coming into bloom and soaking up a little sun.

 

Sunday morning Chris and I headed out to his aunt’s house for Easter brunch and I met a cute little real live peep.

We also got some marshmallow peeps to enjoy later on and then headed off to my aunt’s house. Ares and Chaos were rocking their Salt Dog Café bandanas and having a blast running around the backyard with their cousins. Ares was darting around so fast he lost his bandana shortly after we arrived.

After a fun Easter egg hunt everyone was relaxing in the shade of the deck. Ares and Chaos even got to munch of some ice cubes and I shared the Blueberry Lemon Crumble recipe I had tried out. By the time we were ready to head home the boys were exhausted and happy.

 

Spending time with family on a holiday is always nice but it can wear everybody out a little. We spent the evening lounging at home with the fan going and the back door cracked. Well, all of us except Little O and Piper who had been snoozing all day long and were ready to play.

 

 

The day after a holiday it’s always a little extra hard to get going and back to the grind. It was a busy day for me but looked as though we would have a nice evening so I was ready to have a relaxing evening walk with the dogs. Little did I know I was in for more than just a walk.

All day long Chaos kept a big secret from me. He played it cool and didn’t give me the slightest hint that something was about to happen. As I left the house thinking I was off to help save a hurt dog, Chaos didn’t say a word and just went into his crate like he always does when we leave the house.

An hour later I was confused to see him coming out a garage door and down the hill to the field Chris and I were standing in. He was so excited to let Chris get something special out of his blue backpack. And he was happier than ever when I said yes to the diamond ring Chris pulled out.

I know you are all thinking, it’s not fair that the other furbabies didn’t get to participate. Well, there is a good reason for that. Chris masterminded his whole plan to surprise me and make sure I never saw it coming. In order to pull everything off without a hitch we couldn’t have the cats roaming around outside trying to kill things and Ares taking off for who knows where when released to freedom. It would have killed the romance. Chaos is the only one who is trustworthy outside and off leash and he did exactly as he was supposed to. I still can’t believe he kept that big secret from me!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and were able to spend time with loved ones. Maybe your Monday evening wasn’t as exciting as mine, but you never know what surprises life has in store for you next. Happy Tuesday from our little family!