April 2013 Blog Posts (78)

Rosie and I send our prayers to those of you in the Boston area and hope that all your loved ones are safe.

Recall the famous idiom - "When the cat's away, the mice will play."  In my situation, that translates to, "When Jeff's at yet another bachelor party in New Orleans, Momma lets Milton get away with things."…

No, this is not like the crazy time I thought I had a mouse. This is for real. It seems creatures love to live under my deck. Last summer I had a skunk,, twice. Once in the front and once in the back. I thought I had effectively dealt with it. Well it looks like there is something new calling my back deck a home. It is not likely a skunk because it would have sprayed by now... just like the other two last summer. My friend saw it slip under the deck the other day. She said it looked brown…

As our local weather continues to improve, The Boys social calendar seems to have more events on it than mine! Sunday we joined metro run & walk and our dear “furr-ends” from Olde Towne Pet Resort for a charity walk / run at Burke Lake Park to raise $$ for the Fairfax County…

Update:   Grant the Great's battle ended 4/11/13.  Grant was a very couragous little boy.  Lexi wants everyone to know he is running around and playing ball with all the Doodle's. 

Grant is 7 years old and he was diagnosed with a brain tumor known as ATRT.  Grant has indured more in the last five and a half years than anyone should in a lifetime.

Grant’s tumor was found when he was only 16 months old. He woke in…

Just had to brag :)

http://www.theobserver.ca/2013/04/12/therapy-dog-helps-relieve-student-stress-at-lambton-college

The pups are 9 weeks old now and 5 of the 7 have left--I am getting glowing reports of happy new owners and healthy and adjusted puppies--next week, Lucky, now Cooper comes back to me for 13 days while his parents travel--so I will be sure to have pics for everyone! Peaches, now called Pesca which is Italian for peach, will go to Italy in May to work with an program of autistic kids so she is here with me for a while yet--she is sooo tall! A standard poodle size for sure.

Then there…

Let me tell you.  That Milt is one heck of a lucky boy!  At his party, we figured that one or two people might arrive with gifts to give our goldendoodle.  Well, turns out our friends have a true knack for purchasing puppy gifts galore.  Our boy certainly has an awful lot of new toys to play with for months and months to come.…

Unlike many of you, I'm not a huge photography guy.  Not because I don't like it; I do.  More because there are already so many items to keep track of when we leave the house (keys? cell phone? wallet? leash? poop bags? ball? hat? gloves? jacket? scarf?) that I resist adding another to the mix - particularly one that is expensive, fragile and requires both hands to operate.

Nevertheless, there are so many moments with Lola that I wish I could capture - even if not as perfect…

As most of you have heard by now, I have taken up Photography as a hobby.  As most of you also know, I consider myself to be an expert on most subjects regardless of my actual knowledge about the subject or any facts to back this up.  So, today, while I was out with my two Labradoodle assistants/models I came to the conclusion that no world-renowned photographer was ever able to get any of their famous photos while holding the leashes attached to two Doodles. Don’t bother telling me that…

Well it has been an eye opening week. I forgot how hard it was to take care of a puppy. When we first met the breeder she told us she is very shy and very quiet, which in our case is fine because we do not have children. She was just beautiful and sweet! She had already been adopted in the past and returned because they realized that a puppy was a heck of a lot of work. Anyway we knew right away, she was the puppy for us. The next day, we picked her up and brought her in our truck as soon as…

I can't believe that four years have gone by since our wonderful Oliver arrived in our lives...He is truly my heart dog, and I can't imagine not having him in my life.   He is funny, he is curious, and so many other wondeful things.  he may be a big moose of a dog, but to me he is just my sweet puppy.  He is everything I could have ever wanted.  He loves me unconditionaly, and he is there when I need some one to listen to me, or whatever my mood, he just knows how to be with me.  I have…

One thing I was adamant about regarding Milton's party invitation was a start and end time for the party, 1:00P.M. - 4:00P.M.  If you know me, I like to arrive to events late, as late as politely possible, and leave early, as early as politely possible.  I love having friends, but I can only flit around like a social butterfly for a brief period before I start to descend!



That being said, I really wanted Milton's party to…

There are oodles and doodles of stories I could write about this week, but since Thursday, (April 11th) is NATIONAL PET DAY, I wanted to heighten awareness of the thousands of pets who die daily in shelters throughout this country.

National Pet Day was founded by Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert & Animal Welfare Advocate …

Perhaps I should have only posted this in the Therapy Group but here goes....

Fozzie and I visit a near by hospital on Monday nights and have been doing so for 3 years now.  It is one of the major highlights of every week.  Fozzie knows what is in store for him as soon as I turn onto the final road to the enterance doors.  When I snap on his red collar and leash (his uniform) his tail pops up higher, there is a bounce in his walk, and he heads for the nearest person who he is sure…

Let's just say that Milton's birthday party was the very first party that we have ever thrown, other than our wedding!  Neither Jeff nor I was prepared for all the work that goes along with putting on a party.  When I was stressed out, people would remark, "Why are you so nervous?  It is just a party for dogs."  Well, of course, it was a party for dogs, but those dogs didn't just walk here on there own; they came with all their human friends! …

YIPPEE!!  I made it to doodle Socialite!!!!!! (insert falling confetti) 

Here are my observations since joining DK in January -

*  As I'm stacking up doodle points, I'm noticing other things stacking up as well such as -  papers I have to check, books to be read and put away (still have snowman books on the shelf in the classroom), data to record and analyze, laundry to take care of and dishes…

I have a confession. I forgot Peri's 4th Birthday.  It was Saturday. I got a Facebook update from her breeder with all of these photos of Peri and her siblings saying "Happy 4th!" to them and that's how I remembered.  What a bad doodle mom.  I always said I would never let the dogs take a backseat to the kids but look what's happened now.  Ugh.  To make up for it, she got a big Zuke dental chew and lots of toppings (beans and carrots) on her food that night.  I felt so guilty I took three…

Trav and I go to a nearby park most mornings to play ball.  I take two Chuckit balls, throw one and when Trav gallops back and drops it, I throw the other one for him.   I've had some humiliating public experiences with the Chuckit launcher, which I'd really rather not discuss, and this is our more gracious, less destructive, adaptation of that game.  Trav stays in motion all the time.  When he starts returning at a walk or slow trot, I know he's had enough running and jumping and we…

First of all, Jeff and I are not major music connoisseurs...  I listen to what is "hot" on the radio, and Jeff, quite frankly, I don't know what he likes.  We're easy.  For Milton's first birthday party, I knew we just had to have the "right" music - a doggie playlist.  I scoured the Internet to find the best tunes that would just scream doggie bash.  Here is what I came up with:



1.  B-I-N-G-O - The Sing-Along…