Weekend Adventures: Volunteer & Sick Pup

I signed up to be a volunteer for Maddie's Fund to help animals in need of a forever home. This weekend there was an adoption event at the Stoneridge Mall (as well as a bunch of other places, like Petco). The nice thing about volunteering for Maddie's Fund is that the coordinator sends out activities for that week that needs volunteers, and you can decide which ones you would like to attend (if any). They are very flexible and understanding of your other commitments, which works perfectly for me.

I decided to help out on Saturday, and I was a one on one volunteer with a Chi-Terrior mix named Brandi. She was the classic lap dog. Literally, all I did was sit in a chair and had her on my lap as people came by to pet her and ask questions. Brandi is such a chill dog. She reminded me of an old dog who is so mellow all she wants to do is sleep. But Brandi was only 2 years old! She, along with another dog (Reggie, a Wire Hair Terrior) and 6 other kittens are in a foster home together, and they were all at the adoption event with a couple other cats from a different foster.

A lot of people were just there to pet the cute animals and look. Some people asked me for medical advice for their dog, and another asked me how to get involved with volunteering. It was a fun day even though only 1 cat got adopted. Hopefully soon these animals will find a forever home.

When I got home on Saturday, Luna and I went to the dog park and had our usual amount of fun. We came back to our apartment and chilled until Drew came home and we made dinner. That night, Luna had the runs so we decided to put her on the "No Food Diet" for 24 hours to try to give her digestive system a break.

Basically, all of Sunday Luna and I were couch potatoes. Not moving around very much, and just relaxing. She slept all day, with the exception of a couple spurts of energy when her dad came home from work. Hopefully her "cleanse" has worked, I guess we will see how she does today. If she doesn't get better I might have to take her to the vet.

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Waking Up to Strange Noises

With Luna's track record lately, she's been getting into a lot of trouble in the middle of the night when Drew and I are sleeping. So when I woke up this morning at 4:30 to weird noises, I knew it had to have been Luna.

On Saturday, at the Ice Cream Social, I bought a knuckle bone from Pet Food Express. Luna has been in love with it! Chewing off the outside layer that looks like it was marinated in something disgusting. Drew can't stand the smell of it (not going to lie, it smells pretty awful).

Now that it's been a couple days, Luna has passed the outer layer and has been chewing off pieces of this knuckle bone. I'm not sure if that's normal and that its just a softer bone so it's easier to actually destroy, but she's definitely been doing it.

Here's a picture of what the bone looks like right now:

Over the past couple days, Luna has been pretty constipated, but still passing things. (Warning this may get slightly gross and graphic—skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to read about her poop). When she did poop, it was a weird color and texture. it almost looked like poop that had been sitting there for a couple weeks: dry and really really light in color (almost white). But this wasn't every time she pooped, maybe once a day it looked like that. And I wasn't too concerned because at least she is passing things, she's not clogged somewhere.

After speculating, I came to the conclusion that her knuckle bone that she had been eating was not digesting, and that's what I was seeing in her stool. (Yes, a good dog mom pays close attention to her pup's stool).

So this morning, in the wee hours of the day, I heard strange noises. I've heard these noises before. The sound of Luna's diaphragm convulsing. Not a good sound to hear. I try to figure out where she is and get her onto the tile ASAP! But by then, it was too late. She vomitted under the bed. I woke up Drew so he could keep her back from eating the throw up, but Luna wasn't moving. I think she probably thought she would get in trouble (which she would not be). I got the supplies and picked everything up and cleaned up. I did more speculating, and to cut out some details, I knew it had to do with that knuckle bone.

I think we are going to throw that thing away. Gross.

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Weekend Adventures: Ice Cream Social

On Friday, about 5 people sent me a link advertising a FREE ice cream social of dogs at all of the East Bay Pet Food Expresses. There is one right next to my apartment so I knew I had to show up. 

Saturday, Casey and I decided to check out the ice cream at Pet Food Express. She brought her two pups, Stella and Toby (who was rocking out in his stroller). 

Photo Credit: Casey E.

When we got there, we could choose a flavored ice cream AND what ever topping we wanted! I chose bacon peanut butter ice cream with freeze dried beef for Luna. As I was waiting for the ice cream to be scooped and prepared for Luna, I heard Casey say "Oh! Well, Luna will eat it for you Stella!" I look around and there's Luna, licking her lips with an empty bowl of ice cream. Well, Luna, you don't get to have this one then, you impatient little dog! 

I gave Stella the ice cream Luna was supposed to have and walked Luna away from the scene so there was no way she could slyly chomp down on some one else's treat. Stella liked this flavor ice cream more than her last one, and she carefully licked parts of the ice cream (I think most of the toppings). When she was done and didn't want any more, Casey gave the rest to Luna. And she demolished it. Seriously...Luna doesn't lick ice cream how normal people or dogs eat ice cream. She BITES it, and swallows it whole! She was acting like I never feed her!

After the ice cream, we went inside and purchased a couple new items (I bought a travel water bowl and a knuckle bone). Then we hit the road again (by foot), to downtown Livermore to grab a refreshing adult beverage and some lunch. 

It was a nice and relaxing Saturday. Chilled outside in the nice weather, then went home to take a nap. Sunday was pretty much the same way, relaxing and easy going. Gotta love weekends like that!

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Photo Friday: Growth Photos

I knew Luna has grown a lot since last September (when Drew and I first got her), but you don't really notice HOW big she's gotten until you compare photos. And that's exactly what I did yesterday. I was reminiscing on some of Luna's puppy photos, and as much as it makes me miss her at that age, I love her just as much now. 

Here is Luna at about 3 months:

And here she is now, at a year and 2 months:

Yep, that's my big girl. Love her AND her size :)

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Fool Me Once, Shame on You. Fool Me Twice...

Shame on me. Shame on me a million times. Oi! 

Last night I went to bed before Drew (as always, since I go to bed at 9:30—I know I'm a grandma). Luna likes to tuck me in and cuddle with me before Drew goes to bed. Occasionally, she will get up and go check out what Drew is doing, and then she will come back and lay with me. 

What was different about last night? Nothing. I fell asleep with Luna sleeping at the foot of my bed. I must've been asleep for 2 hours before Drew woke me up saying, "Guess what our little girl did..." Now that's a phrase that can freak a dog mom out at any time, it did not help that I was half asleep and my mind was going to countless scenarios that could've happened. 

I was wide awake now, "What?!" 

"Come look..." Drew says as he walks to the other bedroom.

Good God! What! What did she do... My mind instantly goes to earlier that evening when we made spicy hash with eggs, hash browns, onions, and spicy pulled pork. Drew wanted to give Luna our table scraps. Normally, I am down to do so, but this was a little spicier than usual. I mean, my mouth was on fire, and I like spicy. "No! Luna can't have this...She'll have the worst diarrhea that we have ever seen," I told Drew. 

But he kept saying "Oh, she'll be fine." 

"Fine, if you wanna pick up her explosive 'poop soup' be my guest, give her that 2/3 cup of spicy food that's going to make my butt-hole hurt," I graphically painting a scene that I knew would make him rethink his plan. 

But did he decide to give her some in the end when I wasn't looking? Is this why I'm getting woken up in the middle of my slumber? Nope. That was not it. As I turn the light on in the other room, I see a familiar scene but 50 times worse. 

You may remember one of Luna's "dog shaming" photos:

Well, imagine that... but way worse. It was literally a crime scene in that room. And Luna was the serial killer finishing off and brutally murdering what got away a couple months before. Here it is (I took the photo the next morning, but it remained untouched; pristine).

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LunaFish

When my coworker, Shreya, first came up with the name "Luna" for Drew and my new puppy, we loved it but we never realized how awesome it would be. "Luna" means "moon" in a couple of languages, which we thought would be a perfect fit for her Husky side. The simple name is also so easy to turn into nicknames. Seriously...Luna has a ton of nicknames. Luna-tic, Lune, LuLu, LuLu-Bird, Luna-Bear, Luna-Fish, Luna-Vino (obviously, her real name)...basically, you can add any animal to the end of her name and it could be a nickname. 

The nicknames we probably use the most is LuLu and Luna-Fish. Luna-Fish we specifically use when she's being water crazy (guzzling her water from her bowl, trying to jump in the shower while either of us are trying to bathe, jumping in the fountain downtown, swimming after ducks in the lake, etc). She's got to be part fish because I'm pretty sure she would live in the water if she could. 

So, today, on our daily routine walk to downtown, I remembered that it is "Tunes Tuesdays" where a band plays live music on the "Grassy Knoll" (as Drew likes to call it) and people set up picnic chairs and hang out. This meant that I could not work with Luna off leash, because there would be way too many people there. But we decided to go anyways (it's usually a perfect place to people watch).

Tonight, there was a band there named....LUNAFISH! How perfect is that? They had their sign up and everything! I had to take some pictures (obviously). So I reach in my purse to grab my phone—oh no! I forgot my phone at home! The one day, I forget my phone...Stupid Britt! Then I seriously thought about running home and getting my phone, JUST to take a couple pictures for my dlog (dog-blog). And just for you couple people out there who actually are reading this right now, I went home and walked all the way back to the "Grassy Knoll" to get these pictures. That's blogger dedication right there! 

Check out the band, click here!

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Two Weekends, Double the Adventure

Even though I did not post about last weekend, it doesn't mean that we did not do anything. Luna actually had a very fun weekend—at the dog sitter's house!

Drew and I went to a wedding in Lodi, so one of Drew's coworkers watched Luna. Cindy (the dog sitter) has 3 other dogs: 2 Labs and a Beagle. Luna was bound to have a great weekend. Cindy kept me updated on how Luna was doing with photos, videos and texts messages. 

Here are some of the ones that she sent me:

Needless to say, she was very tired after her 3 day play date with Cindy and her 3 dogs. Luna slept like a baby the night we took her home.

This weekend was very eventful as well. First, Friday and Saturday night Drew and I decided to bring Luna to our apartment complex's pool for the first time. Our little fish was in HEAVEN! She could not be any happier!

Saturday day, Luna and I went to Aunt CC's (Crazy Casey's) house to have a play date with her two dogs and another dog that she was watching, named Lenny. Lenny is a Maltese, and likes to dominate everything...aka he humps anything that moves. Luna is very submissive and just lets Lenny hump her, and when she gets tired of it she'll just throw him off her. The two of them did have fun together when they did play (and not hump). Luna was good about getting on the ground and playing at Lenny's level (something I think she's learned from playing so much with Teddy the Pom).

Sunday, we decided to be a little more lazy and take naps, and also stop by the dog park for a little. I brought Luna's kiddie pool, so she could get some use out of it. She was sooooo tired though and did a lot of laying down in the water and chilling. She's been having so much activity lately, I think she will sleep for 3 days straight, until her next weekend adventures.

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Help Me! Pet Beds!

I need advice on dog beds. Drew and I saw Carpenter Orthopedic Beds at Pet Food Express for $80 (a little out of our price range—so I wanted to look online). I'm curious what your advice is. Have you had good or bad experiences with specific beds? Please tell me ALL!

Source

These are some of the things I think we would like for the bed:

• Easily Washable (That's the number 1 reason why people's homes smell like dog—the dog beds REEK!) We want something that is EASILY cleaned and washed...maybe that means some kind of bed with a cover?
• Orthopedic/large cushion: The main reason we are getting a dog bed is for when we drive to SoCal for Thanksgiving. The car set up that we have going on makes it so Luna is sitting on top of her folded up crate, which we assume would not be very comfortable. We don't want one of those thin dog beds that don't have any substance to it.
• Large enough to fit her and her crate: about 30x40inches (we think).
• Somewhat indestructible. If you've read any of my other posts you know that Luna can destroy things pretty easily. I know there probably isn't anything out there that can't be torn up, but something that'll last at least 10 hours of driving (5 hours each way).

Any help would be amazing!! Thank you!

These are NO'S:

TOO THIN:

NOT EASY TO WASH:

NOT BIG ENOUGH/NOT TRAVEL FRIENDLY:

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Photo Friday: Prescription for a Dog

Forget about Benjamin Franklin's advice about apples keeping the doctor away. Eating apples everyday can get VERY boring! But do you know what doesn't get boring having every day? A dog! Good ole Benny should've advised everyone to "Play with a dog a day, keep the doctor away"! That would be even better, by far.

But in all seriousness, I "workout" more ever since I have had Luna. I go on walks every day (better than my sitting on the couch when I got home prior to being a dog mom). On weekends, I tend to go on longer walks (sometimes hikes) to keep Luna active. I focus on tiring out Luna, and in the process I tire myself out and get some exercise! 

Having a dog around also makes you happy (unless you are allergic...then maybe you aren't to happy). They keep you company when no one else is around! You are their number 1 favorite person in the world. How does that not make you happy? 

Yes, a dog will cost you a lot of money (there's no doubt about that). But there are definitely ways to keep a dog on a budget. A dog does not need the newest and coolest water dish, just designate one of your own bowls. Or look up a bunch of DIY dog treats on pinterest (or my blog). There are many ways you can save, and in the end it's definitely worth the friendship, health, and love. 

I could not imagine my life without my little bugger, Luna. Honestly...It's really hard for me to remember what I did on the weekends when I didn't have Luna. Did I really just watch marathons of Dateline or Property Brothers? How depressing. 

The point of this post: A dog will keep your body, mind and spirit healthy! Adopt a dog in need! 

Flashback to the first photo I took with Luna! #dogselfie

 

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Runaway Dog!

Luna's Husky side came out yesterday when she took off running and not looking back. She's over a year old (which I've heard is equivalent to the age of a human teenager) which makes sense with her defiant behavior. So you probably want to hear the story.

Source

Unfortunately, I was not there, but Drew was since he had the day off. This is the story, according to Drew:

The day prior to the incident Britt and I could not let Luna out of her crate at lunch. She normally can handle the occasional 8 hour in the crate day, however, her Mother decided to go have a "spa day" with some of her lady pals. Unknown to me, who had a prior engagement. Subsequently, Luna spent 12+ hours in her crate. All alone. 

Thursdays are typically my Saturday, so after sleeping in until 11:30 AM, Luna and I woke up. We made breakfast, or at this point, brunch. Luna ate some bacon, which sure was nice of me. Because I felt so guilty she had to stay in her jail cell for 12+ hours, I decided to take her to the dog park. We spent 1.5 hours there, which is about 45 minutes of dealing with dog park people than I can handle. When we got home, Luna drank some water and fell asleep. 

At approximately 4:30PM, I took Luna for a bathroom break. She was leashed the entire time. When we reached our door, I unhooked her. She looked at me and walked towards the landing of the stairs. I told her "No", she looked at me, and basically told me to "Go F$&% yourself", and then sprinted down the stairs. 

By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, Luna was no where in sight. After repeated calls out to her and frenzied search effort, I grabbed my keys and entered my vehicle. I got lucky, Montana's parents (one of Luna's dog friends), called my phone and said they found her. 

I was not too happy about her behavior, but relieved she was safe. When we returned home she had her head drooped down in shame, and chose to stay in her crate the rest of the night. The place where she was jailed for more than 12 hours the day before.

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Photo Friday: GloZell Video

Instead of a photo, I'm posting this hilarious video I found by one of my favorite YouTube personalities, GloZell. The MUSIC VIDEO is called Pick Up After Your Dog. And it's hilarious. Gross at some parts, but still funny as hell.

Watch it now!



By the way, I love the green Crocs. My favorite pair of shoes. Judge all you want. Crocs are the best.

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