Puppy Yoga (part 2)

If a dog could be a yoga instructor then I'm positive Lola would have a job! After a good nights sleep, or a good nap, you can find her doing her lil puppy yoga stretches.

First she stretches out her front legs then you slowly leans forward until she is stretching out her back legs. If she times it right and is in the right place, like after she gets out of her crate, she gets lucky and gets a nice lil shoulder rub while stretching.

Puppy Yoga

There is nothing like a good morning stretch and belly rub

Foot Fetish

Graham likes feet. More so, he likes getting his chest rubbed by people feet. If you come to our house and hold your foot out you will find a lil brown down sitting by your foot giving you that bagging look that only dogs can do.

I don't really know how this started but I'm pretty sure Josh had something to do with it. Graham will leave his spot next to you on the couch to jump by your foot to get a rub. I'm doing homework and wiggling my foot around and I'll start kicking something, Graham! If your foot pops out from under a blanket....Graham will find it! The more people at our house, the more feet he will go from one to the other to the next. I haven't seen him do it to anyone but me, but if I ignore him enough he will bat at my foot, head butt it, and give it kisses to try and get my attention.

Graham would rather be pet with your foot then with your hand

Night Night Time

The other night I was greeted with a Kodak moment at the top my stairs on my way to bed. Normally when it's bed time I have to call out "night night time" and one of the dogs will go racing up the stairs. Typically it's Graham heading up the stairs and I have to pull Lola out of her crate or away from a sock. On occasion Graham will lay down at the top of the stairs waiting for me to come up. 

The other night as Josh headed to bed and I took my sweet time rounding things up downstairs before heading up. As I start to climb the stairs I look up to see my two little fluffy butts waiting for me! It was the cutest thing ever, both had there heads resting on the top stair and both of them seemed half asleep. Usually as I start going up the stairs they get up and either head towards the bed room or run circles in the small hallway at the top of the stairs. Not this time, this time they stayed laying there until I got to the top to sweep em up in my arms and carry them away to bed. It was as if they were telling me it was night night time <3

Lola's Bruise (and bald spot)

After a weekend trip to the vet, my poor Lola is sporting a nice little bald spot.

A few months ago Lola was due for some shots. We made our trip to the vet, got our shots and that was that. Well a week or so later Lola got a bit stinky, like all dogs do, and I discovered what looked like a bruise. Lola didn't seem to upset about it so I decided to keep an eye on it. I figured it was either a reaction to a shot or Graham had attempted to beat her up.

A bit later, maybe a month, our groomer noticed it. All I can think is "Great, now PetSmart things I abuse my dogs!". When we picked her up our groomer had already left for the day but the other girls pointed it out....same spot as it had been when I originally saw it. I asked the groomers, after telling them I was aware they probably had no answer for me, if it was a bruise or something I should be concerned with. Of course, they had no answer, but said it looked like how dogs with massive mats look after the mats are being cut and how they all found it odd since she had no mats. So we left the groomers and decided to just keep our eyes on it. Our wedding was in a few weeks and, like before, she wasn't acting like it bothered her.

So now that the wedding is nearly two months over with, Lola was getting another bath and.....that dang bruise was STILL THERE!!!! A few days later a postcard came saying she was due for her bordetella at the vet and I thought, thank god, we are going to get this checked out now.

Of course this pesky bruise isn't any easy to see with her massive amount of fur that is in some needing of being groomed. So while at the vet I pushed her fur around a bit and was able to find it to show our vet. From the little viewing area we had it almost looked like a little scratch. I thought in my head "great it's clearing up!". Our vet asked if we had noticed her being itchy lately and both Josh and I agreeded that nothing was out of the norm. The vet suggested that we shave a little spot of her fur and he would give us some cream to put on it since it really did look like a spot that had been itched to much. We gave the go ahead to shave a little spot and to the vet's surprise the little scratch was defiantly not a scratch.

Our vet agreed it was defiantly more bruise like and was a bit shocked on how big it was once the fur was gone. He seems a bit baffled by it but gave Lola a shot of antibiotics in hopes that it would clear up whatever was causing it. So not only does my little Lola have a bruise, and an officially weird bruise, but she is also now rocking a bald spot. If she is standing it is pretty unnoticeable due to her hair's length but when she lays down it's pretty visible. 

I'm trying not to worry about it to much. Although it hasn't gone away, it also hasn't gotten any worse. And Like I said above, she doesn't even seem to notice it.

 If anyone has any ideas of what this might be your help would be greatly appreciated. It's not very fun when something isn't quite 100% right with your fur-baby and your vet can't give you an answer. I'm hoping someone out there has dealt with something like this before and can help calm my nerves by having some type of answer.

Frozen Pup

I'll admit it and I'll admit it with pride.....I like to put clothes on my dogs.People may laugh and think I'm odd but when they see Graham in a sweater and Lola in one of her winter coats they always say how cute they are!...ok not EVERYONE, but most everyone!! If you've ever seen me put an outfit on Lola....why yes, she does growl and try to chew my fingers off. But once the outfit is on, she loves it! In fact, she even gets excited to put her Snuggie on after she gets groomed. And yes you read that right, Lola has a Snuggie along with coats, raincoats, hoodies, dresses, sweaters and costumes.

Dragon Costume

Coat

Snuggie

Sometimes it may be a little questionable about how Lola feels about her outfits. Sometimes she will freeze into place for awhile after putting an outfit on. She will ALWAYS freeze if the outfit has a hoodie and you put the hood up.



Lola decided to freeze again tonight after putting her Thunder Shirt on. This is a rare photo of Lola! She hates being on her back, won't even roll over for a belly rub, but somehow she froze in this position until I took a picture and then took some pity and rolled her over.

Opossum Lola

Puppy Fever

There is something about puppies. I love my dogs to pieces but I'm getting puppy fever. I don't even really WANT a puppy, I just want to play with a puppy......REALLY REALLY bad!!! Looking at pics of my pups and other pups just doesn't help!!! I just want to play with a little tiny thing that will tucker out and then curl up and sleep in my arms. And not just sleep like dogs sleep but how puppies sleep, that 100% out cold puppy sleep were they relay on you to protect them while they catch their Z's. If any of my friends are reading this.....please purchase a puppy so I may play with it!!! Three dogs is just to many for me to handle and I have to many years of Lola and Graham to enjoy before tiny lil pup can enter our house long term.

Air Swimming

When we lived at the loft all of our air registers were in the ceiling. I had longed to see what Lola would do with a blast of air coming at her from below. I had a tiny glance of it at my parent’s house during one visit but all that happened was a look of shock and then a loss of interest. When we bought our house and moved in I was excited! I was for sure something funny would happen or our dogs would enjoy warming up by them in the winter and cooling down on them in the summer. Six months in and our dogs acted like they haven’t even noticed the air registers and the blowing of warm of cold air coming from them! So the other day I took it upon myself to make them figure it out.

First I picked Graham up and put him over the air. He didn’t seem to mind it but was a bit unsure of what to do….odd behavior since this is the dog that pee’s when he sees new things! The end result was Graham in a superman pose as his fur fluffed in the wind and his ears seemed like little parachutes.

Second I picked up Lola. Again I was not met with shock or a terrified dog trying to wrestle out of my hands. Instead I was met with swimming. The second the air touched her belly Lola began to swim. I think I may have peed my pants from laughing! It was the last the thing I was expecting.

I gave the dogs a break for the day from teasing them with the air register. It only took a few days before my urge to take the dogs air swimming was too much to bear!

I picked up Graham, who is afraid of everything, seemed more annoyed then anything and began to slowly swim.

I then picked up Lola who dutifully began to swim. Lola seems to be an excellent swimmer and was kicking her little paws as best as she could. The lower to the ground I held her the faster she would kick!

Oddly both dogs don’t seem to mind our little air swimming times. We’ve done it a few times and I swear Lola barked at me to hold her over it one time! They don’t act scared of the air register at all, in fact they still just ignore it. And when they are swimming they don’t struggle to get away, they simply swim.

Belle's Big, Scary Weekend

Meet Belle. She is my fur-sister. I think Belle can thank Lola for warming my mom up to indoor pets. Growing up I was always told I couldn't have an indoor pet. Of course that never stopped me from sneaking my rabbits inside the house for the day or even sneaking indoor pets, such as gerbils and hamsters, into my room. But somehow things changed and my parents bought Belle. Belle is the tiniest littlest dog in my life and I often ask her if she is even real because of how small she is! Her small size is made up for by her BIG personality and her LARGE amount of energy! She is also probably the only dog that Graham will play with. They seem to be the definition of BFF.

Tiny little Belle

Belle is a Morkie, just like Graham. You can tell from her looks though that she picked up more Yorkie then Graham did. The Yorkie in Belle was able to teach us this weekend that Yorkie's can have liver troubles. It started Friday night when I got a call from my mom. They were playing with Belle when she suddenly got sick. Really, really, really sick.When I first talked to my mom they had been waiting in the vet's waiting room for 30 minutes and had had no news. She said Belle was barely clinging on during the car ride to the vet. I couldn't even imagine seeing my dog the way my mom described what had happened with Belle. She was fine one minute and the next minute was throwing up. Belle began to seizure and then just went limp. After 3 hours in the vet clinic's waiting room, my parents found out it had something to do with Belle's liver. 

Is that a bill goat?? No, It's Belle!

My parents learned over the weekend that Belle's liver wasn't functioning properly and her body was basically poisoning it's self. A MRI was scheduled for today, Monday, to let them know just what was wrong with the liver. They faced two options, either a problem with a shunt that would require surgery or something that could be taken care of with medications. I got a call tonight that Belle is home and won't need the surgery, however she is on a special diet and will need to take 3 pills a day for the rest of her life to make sure everything functions properly.

It's hard to get a good pic of Graham and Belle!

I'm glad Belle is doing better and her problem was fixable. I try to prepare myself for the time when Lola and Graham won't be able to be with me any longer, but it helps to know I still have many many years with them. It's hard to hear about fur babies that are so sick at such a young age. Loosing a dog is hard no matter what, but loosing a dog after a couple years is a different type of hard then living a full life with them. I'm glad my parents were able to avoid that situation. I am also glad they were able to get her the help she needed in the a timely matter. I would of missed my lil fur-sister and I have no idea what Graham would of done with out his friend.

A weekend visit to the parents results in some VERY tired puppies!

Back To School...

After taking 8 weeks off of classes it's time to start back up. Sadly, this means bored lil puppies as I try to organized myself for the next 8 weeks of this term and 8 weeks after and then the follow 8 weeks and so on...for another year or so :( At least I have the cutest study buddies ever!!!

Wedding Day

Things are starting to settle down now that wedding is done and I got the wedding pics back so I thought I would share some of the pics of the dog. We got a lot more pics of Graham then Lola.....Graham loves getting his picture taken and I think Lola was just to hot to care.

Giving Dad a pre-wedding pep talk

It was a long day for the dogs!

The perfect Ring Bearer and Flower girl

Front row seats for the pups!

Week Away From Home

These past few weeks have sure been busy for us and the dogs. June 9th, Josh and I tied the knot. And of course my lil fur babies were included! Lola was our flower girl and Graham was our ring bear.

Graham as the ring bearer

Lola as the flower girl

I'm still waiting for wedding photos so I'll have to post better pics when they come but for now I have pics of them modeling the flower and bow tie after they arrived int he mail. I will say, everyone was worried about the dogs but besides a few growls, a sneeze, and Graham trying to eat my dress during the ceremony they did just as wonderful as I thought they would. A Lola wasn't so innocent, she tried to bite a bead off my dress earlier in the day when no one was looking.

The plan was for the dogs to go straight home with my parents and 6:30am Sunday morning Josh and I were to leave for Jamaica. Well we left for Jamaica....we just never made it. After staying up all night and arriving at the airport we found out our flight had been pushed back to 8:30 and while waiting Josh became sick and we had to cancel our trip. So we hung out with the pups and my parents on Sunday and decided the dogs should still go my parents and we would find something else to do. We spent a few days in Dubuque, IA and Galena, IL. Our first night away from the pups my mom sent me this pics to show me all dogs were doing well.

Tuckered out puppies. The third fluffy butt is Belle, she will get a post of her own soon enough

I think I did pretty good being away from the dogs! Before now we have never spent more then a night apart from each other. I missed them while at the hotel but once we got home it got a lil harder. It also made it bit a tougher since we missed Grahams birthday, but my mom made sure to celebrate it with him.

Happy 2nd Birthday Graham!

I will say, it was kind of nice not having them though. It was quite, no waking up early and standing outside, no being yelled at for food and water, and I could leave whatever I wanted where I wanted! Paper on the floor and open chip bags on the couch!

So we spent a couple dogless nights at the house, cleaned up the after wedding mess, put gifts away, and decided we just missed them way to dang much and had to pick them up! I was so excited to see them....more excited then I think they where!!! We came in my parents door and the barked at us like we were strangers and it took them a few seconds to realize who we where and the kisses and tail wags began! They must of have had a great time with grandma and grandpa and Belle because they have done nothing but sleep since being home! I'm glad to know though that when we do spend a week in Jamaica, they will do just fine without me.

The car ride home!

Counting Down

I thought without having classes for 8 weeks I would be able to start a good habit of blogging on a regular basis. Then again, working, working out, wedding planning and preparing, and honeymoon preparing does take up some time.

May 31st - June 7th is the busiest time of the year for us at work and my wedding date lands on June 9th (that wasn't part of the plan when we set our date!). Then we lave for Jamaica on June 10th! At points I find myself stuck on my couch unsure what to do next!

The dogs got groomed yesterday to prepare them for the big day. I must say,this is one of the cutest cuts they have had!! I normally just get them cut short and let it grow out until I'm sure they can't see me anymore through all the hair in their face and start over. This time in I asked for them to be kept a bit fluffy so they won't look freshly groomed but still have a nice cute. There is always that time between grooming appointments were they look perfect and I never remember to take their picture!! But now they look amazing and I have a picture!!

All groomed and ready for Ma and Pa's big day!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Since moving into the house we have talked about training our dogs to go potty outside and not inside on a potty patch. Our poor carpet ended being the patch. So after a recent carpet cleaning it was time to step up. The dogs quickly learned that after someone came home from work they are to go straight to the door. They excitedly wait until you hook them up and open the door.

Sadly, taking them out one time a day does not magically teach them to go potty outside. So I began running them out every so often int he afternoons and waking up early in the morning. The first morning outside adventure, both peeded outside but Lola didn't pooh until coming back inside, since then it wasn't any issue anymore! The morning is easy with Lola, she can't jump out of the bed on her own she she has to wait until you wake up to be put down to go potty. On the other hand, Graham can jump up and down as he pleases. Thankfully he seems to like to go downstairs to were the potty patch is to go potty so it's little clean up. I'm sure he sneaks out of bed but I feel I've been good at waking up around the same time as him and telling him to wait, which he is very good at.

In the last couple weeks we've made progress. Very few accidents found in the house, and every so often someone may bark or get antsy by the door. Not sure if they are realizing that is what they need to do or if it's a lucky guess on both our parts. I noticed the other morning that Lola was sneaking into our second bedroom upstairs. I dunno what it is about that room, but she loves to poop in it! She could have just took a number 2 outside and the second she walks in she goes again in that room! Well, I needed to do some printing tonight so I open the door and to my surprise.....POOOPY!!!!! Someone has been sneaking in there to do their duty and I think I know who!! Guess it's to early to be able to leave that door open.

Bath Time

One would think Lola would be the most perfect little lap dog, and of course she is. Some how though, Lola has found a great love for being outdoors. Because of this love we sometimes have a stinky dog that needs a bath. We call it "swimming" at our house and even though we sure get excited to go swimming, no one likes it once we get in the tub! I will give my pups credit, they let me do what needs done without a fight. I just get little pouty faces and cold shoulders. The best part of bath time is how much the dogs can shrink!

Is that a rat? No! It's Lola!

As puppies, baths were givin the sink. Since moving we now have a larger sink that Lola fits into but I'm not sure Graham would stay in. So I fill the tub up and put em both in. Sometimes I like to fill it a lil extra full so Lola can swim around a bit.....I don't think she enjoys it as much as I do. I always giggle because Lola has turned into one of those dogs that will swim when you hold her above the water.

Graham's First Bath

The best part about bath time is drying off. If I'm lucky I can wrap one up in a towel and do nothing but cuddle until they are dry. Mainly though, I have two crazy dogs running around the house. I don't think you can describe how crazy they get to non-dog owners. Lola found something extra stinky in our yard last night and we had to have a bath time. I ended up with Lola bouncing off the front of the couch and graham dragging his belly in full circles around our living room. I think you can compare it to a sugar rush in a little kid. The craziness seems to last forever and ALWAYS brings me to belly laughs and tears! My parents visited with there dog this past weekend so last nights after-bath craziness must have taken all the energy they had left because they both found some blankets and pillows, curled up, and fell asleep while they finished drying.

Lola drying in blanket mountain.

I love giving baths to my pups and making them go "swimming". Someday I hope to get them to a lake, or even to the pool on doggie day, to see if they really like swimming.

Kiss Kiss

Models

Sometimes I just can't help but think I have the cutest lil pups in the whole wide world. So I've decided that from time to time I'll upload some random cuteness, probably edited a bit with Instagram.

Outside Adventures

If you have stumbled onto my blog and are from the cedar valley area and find yourself thinking....."GEE! Those cute lil pups sure look familiar!" well.....you're probably right! Back in 2010 Lola and, a much tinier Graham tested out the Potty Patch for KWWL's Does It Really Work Segment. Although the video is no longer online, you can still read the article: http://www.kwwl.com/story/13557915/dirw-potty-patch . While living in the loft downtown the patch worked great for us.

As Seen On TV

Since then, we have purchased a house and are attempting to teach our dogs that carpeted floors are NOT one giant potty patch! Learning to potty outside seems to bring daily outside adventures. Graham seems to enjoy belly flopping into the plants before going potty on them and Lola finds every distraction she can from worms to roll in, people to bark at, and the odd need to sniff every single blade of grass in the lawn. Even the rain doesn't seem to phase these crazy two when it comes to finding things to do outside other then going potty! Our newest distraction is the loads of helicopters the maple tree's have dumped on our lawn. Not sure how great these are for the dogs but according to my dog they are the best thing since peanut-butter!

Other fun things we deal with outside are...

Muddy Paws

Trampling Plants 

Eating Not-Good for Us Plants

And Finding Fun Things To Tangle Up In!

We are slowly learning to go potty outside and not inside. Our main issue is shy Graham who likes to hide when he goes to poop. One nice thing, is he likes to poops in our basement and since putting the potty patch down there he seems to go on that. One tiny paw step at a time I suppose! Our second issue is just getting the dogs to tell us when they need to outside. Every so often Lola will let us know but more often then not it's us needing to just remember to take them outside every now and again.

I enjoy the time outside my fluffy butts and am happy they like it to. One nice thing about being outside all the time is there seems to be something new and interesting they do each time. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!