While in Florida this past February we had many wonderful days on the beach.  The best part of our vacation was tthat the beach was wonderfully dog friendly. and it seemed almost everyone there had a dog!   Everyday was a wonderful adventure with new people and dogs to meet!   Banjo was in heaven!   Happy Dog = Happy Dog Parents!   

One afternoon towards the end of our stay Banjo and I were walking the beach and encountered a woman with her young son and - get this - a nine day old…

It started with a whiff.  I smelled something strong and unpleasant in the air and after double-checking that I hadn’t forgotten to apply my deodorant, I started focusing on the most likely suspect, Vern.  I was sure it was Vern, but he didn’t smell any worse than usual, so next up was Fudge.  At last, I located the smell and sure enough, it was Fudge. The only explanation that I can think of why my clean Fudge ended up smelling badly was that maybe Vern rolled over on her one night while…

“Finding myself to exist in the world, I believe I shall, in some shape or other, always exist.”  Benjamin Franklin

This quote could easily be considered the perfect narrative of “Harley” and a little old “imaginary” man I call “Oliver.” For years we’ve said “Harley was a little old man who got in the wrong line up in heaven!” His antics can make you scratch your head in…

I have waited until we had more information on Rusty's Fanconi Syndrome before posting.   Rusty’s last check up, on March 9^th , was all good news; no sign of the cancer returning and his lab results showed that all of his kidney readings are finally at “normal” levels.  April 25^th will be the 27^th month anniversary of his amputation.

It's been a week and I can't stop thinking about the dog who got away.  I think, I will always feel this way about my three-week fostering of a Goldendoodle puppy I named Sweetie. 

Although I am filled with mixed emotions,  I feel more lucky to have had this experience.   At the time I really did not want to foster. I wanted nothing to do with rescues. I did not want another dog who drained my energy and emotions.  Sometimes, we think we are healing these poor rescues but…

When we got Fudge, I don’t remember what research I did on the computer regarding Doodles, but I remember the no shedding was the icing on the cake.  I had spent years vacuuming up after two Labs and for a short haired dog, those dogs shed like nobody’s business.  A Labradoodle seemed like the best of both worlds for our family.  The wonderful personality of a Lab combined with no shedding just seemed perfect to me.  Luckily for us, without knowing what we were doing, we decided on…

When I find something that works, I must share...

Harley and Leo are a challenge with “collars.” It’s not because they’re abusive with them, it’s because of their long hair. So many collars out there…

Nigel (a.k.a. Sugar Donut) from Lyric's first litter came over for a haircut today--now that he and Rio are 15 months old, they can hang out together without wrecking the whole house--so they got reacquainted and spent some quality sniffing time--Nigel looked so funny when he first arrived. The owner had taken him to a student groomer and he came out poodle-y. Now he is back to his old self. Notice how they have the exact same curled tail--Rio was much smaller as a pup but they are almost…

Five weeks ago, after an over 2 year bout of unemployment, my husband found a job in MA with a travel company who specializes in deluxe river cruises for the over 50 set in Boston.  We were thrilled as I have been dying to return to the east coast and this job held great promise. Disaster struck yesterday in the form of a phone call from my DH telling me that he had been let go.  We are devastated and I cannot stop crying when I think about returning to that awful life of unemployment--the…

We are helping Michelle Long by doggie sitting her foster goldendoodle, Bailey, while Michelle is visiting family over the Spring break.  Bailey is an absolutely darling 11-month old female doodle but, we have a four pound 14-week old Maltese puppy that we were a bit concerned about.  We weren't worried that Bailey would do anything to hurt the pup on purpose but, a 30-pound dog could easily hurt a small pup by accident.

Not to worry, we introduced the pup to Bailey in our…

My family and I (including Bexter and Maggie) all went hiking today at a state park.  It was the 1st time we really have attempted to travel with BOTH dogs at once!  It went just great!  The kids, dogs, and my DH & I had a great time.  The weather was absolutely perfect hiking weather (high was about 60 degrees).  The only things I would change would be:

1.  Maggie NOT throwing up in the van on the way there.  Poor thing!  She's really not used to traveling in the car much at…

Yup, I still have two puppies here! Kodi is the new name for the chocolate pup who will fly to Canada on April 24th. I am keeping him until he is old enough to get his rabies shot and make the trip. The other male is named Capi--he will go to a guardian home once Kodi leaves--I am getting pretty tired, but the end is near and they are such good boys. They are making good progress with housebreaking and sit nicely for a cookie or their dinner bowl. 

Here is Capi doing his best "sit and…

Today is Peri's 3rd Birthday.  I can't believe it's been that long!  3 Years since I got the email that the litter wasn't large enough and I would have to wait for the next mini litter.  Lucky for me, a few on the list only wanted a male (I originally did too, by the way) and voila!  Peri was mine! 

She has made my life so much fuller.  She has made Taquito happier.  She gives SO MUCH to us that sometimes I feel I cannot repay her (that sounds silly I…

I worked almost my entire adult life.  I took a small break when I had my first daughter, but still worked part time, and after we had our second daughter, who had some very major medical problems, I could not go back to work until she was three.  We needed the money, but our youngest daughter had a Tracheostomy tube and a feeding tube and it wasn’t until she was about three and stabilized, that I could find anyone willing to watch her.  Luckily, I had a great boss that allowed me very…

I can not believe that Oliver is 3 yrs old today!!!...It seems like only yesterday that Ira brought him home to me.  We are so in love with this wonderful dog.  I cannot imagine him not being in our lives.  He has been so wonderful with both Ira & I with the loss of Renny, he istruly my best friend....I feel so bad that he is under the weather today, but hoping tomorrow will be better, and we can celebrate...We were looking at picrures when we first got him, and laughing at this little…

Last week our daughter boarded the train for an excursion to the “Big Apple.” She loves to travel and generally EVERY mini-vaca for her is like a box of Cracker Jacks - there is going to be some sort of surprise inside... she is a magnet for “serendipitous” adventures!…