Update of the Century...or More like 6 Months

I know... I know... I've been majorly slacking and shouldn't even call this a blog anymore. (Wasn't this the same beginning sentence I had in my last post which was 6 months ago?) I can't even remember what happened since then. Hold please, as I go back and read....

Well... A lot has happened since watching Teddy and house sitting. So I guess I will just start with what I believe to have happened from November 2014 to present day (August 1, 2015) -- this might be harder than I thought since I have a terrible memory...

November 2014:

Thanksgiving Drew, Luna, and I went to Southern California to celebrate America's biggest eating holiday with my side of the family. We decided to drive since I'm terrified of bringing Luna on a plane from all the terrible stories I've heard. My parents aren't big inside dog people, so Luna stayed outdoors for the most part, and came in when it was time to go to bed. It was hard for her to get used to because she would go directly into her crate and not be able to cuddle with us... Spoiled little brat ;)

I don't think Luna hated being outside for most of the day, because my parents have a pool, so she was in that thing like it was 110 degrees outside and a nice cold pool plunge would be the only thing to keep you sane...Except it was winter, but it was also in SoCal where winter doesn't really exist, so it was actually probably 60 degrees.

One of the days we were down in SoCal, we visited a dog beach which was Luna's first time in the ocean. We got there and I let her off the leash and she sprints to the water like Usean Bolt ran to the finish line. I've never seen her run so fast...until I saw her run back to me. She got so excited about the water she didn't realize that this water has huge waves and the water is super salty. Needless to say she was a lot more cautious around the waves and water.

December 2014:

Christmas: Something that seems so far away since I just saw someone post that Christmas is now 18 Friday's away... Weird. Anyways, Christmas 2014, was my first time spending it in Norcal without my family in SoCal. Which was hard, but I did have Luna and Drew. It was a good time. We went over to Drew's parents house and opened presents, ate some breakfast, and ate some dinner. The dogs were all playing and loving each other in their christmas jammies.

We made our own holiday cards again this year, but decided to not print 250 copies out because we still have 200 of them left over from last year. We just posted on it on Facebook, since everything is digital now anyways.

January 2015:

I'm not one for making New Years Resolutions. Seriously, I've never made one in my life (mostly because I know I would fail at something like 'Go to the gym more often'). But this year I decided that I'm going to read 5 books. That's a really big deal for me. I hardly ever read, because when I was a kid I was forced to read for school and I was a super slow reader and hated it.

So I ordered a couple books on Amazon Prime, including a book called "The Art of Racing in the Rain". It is a book that is written in the dog's perspective and it's AMAZING. I will give a review of all my books in later blog posts.

February 2015:

On Valentine's Day weekend, the three of us (Drew, Luna and I) went to Santa Cruz. We went to the dog beach and had a little picnic there. This would be Luna's second time in the ocean, I was curious how she was going to take it.

She loved it. She played with the other dogs there, played in the water, and just had a fabulous time over all. Until that is when she drank way too much salt water and was shitting salt water. I kid you not, Luna had clear water coming out of her butt hole. The worst part about it was that she would go up to people who are laying on their towels and just poop water right in front of them. Then I would go over there and apologize and say its just water and throw some sand over it (cus it's still gross).

Then we decided to go because I got a little nervous we were going to have to bring her to the ER. But as soon as we left her poops turned brown instead of clear, but they were still watery. But at least it had color! (Sorry, I guess I should've pre-warned about the graphic imagery). We filled her up with water so she wasn't so dehydrated and picked up dinner and dessert and drove home. She slept the whole way.

(For those of you concerned about my reaction to Luna's clear poo, and that I should've taken her to the hospital... I used my best judgement and watched her carefully to make sure she wasn't getting worse. From my observation, as soon as we left the beach she was instantly getting better).

March 2015:

I can't remember anything super out there that happened in March. We probably went to the lake and the park a lot.

April/May 2015:

This was a big month. I quit my job, and dog sat my boss's Golden Retriever named Travis. I didn't have a single thing lined up after I quit, so my job in April and May was to find a job. Luna enjoyed having me home every day and she would get to play with Travis every day, Monday through Friday.

June 2015:

I got a job in El Dorado Hills!! Woohoo! So we moved up to Folsom, which has been AMAZING! It was a huge adjustment for Luna (she especially doesn't like the hard wood floors because they are too slippery...but we like them a lot). We've done a lot of out doorsy things (like going to the river and the lake).

I was a little apprehensive about letter her off leash at the river because I was convinced she'd run away and try to get to Livermore. But Drew finally convinced me to take her off the leash and she was fine. Just minding her own business, doing what she loves best--swimming!

July 2015:

We are getting a puppy!

I convinced Drew that we should get another dog and rescue him/her. I did a lot of research and asked a lot of people about their experience with having 2 dogs. I made a pros and cons list and a budget for said new puppy. After I convinced both Drew and myself, I started looking on PetFinder for dogs who need homes. About 3 weeks of looking every day I found this cute pup who was a Lab mix. Mom was a Lab and dad is unknown (we like to say he humped and dumped).

We had Luna meet the pup to make sure they would get along. At first they weren't really interested in each other and Luna was more interested in the senior dog that the foster family had adopted. But after 20 min or so, they started playing and wrestling and we knew we could make it work.

So today, August 1st, we are picking up Skylar in Fairfield and adopting another dog.

Now I've got 2 crazy dogs! More pics and videos to come!

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Week Adventures: Dog Sitting

This past week Drew and I have been house sitting for his parents, which includes taking care of their Pomeranian Teddy (and their cat Lucy). Poor poor Lucy. When ever we come over she hides for the entire night because she's afraid of Luna. This entire week I've only seen Lucy once— the first night we stayed over. When I went to bed the first night, I took the dogs with me (Teddy in his crate and Luna in the bed, snuggling up with me). I fell asleep and so did the dogs. Drew came into the room a few hours later and turned the lights on in the room, which woke everyone up including Lucy who happened to sneak in while everyone was sleeping. Once the dogs and the cat really came to consciousness, Lucy bailed as fast as a cat can go. She was a blur. And you can bet Luna chased right after her full throttle... and that's the last I saw of Lucy.

Haha, okay, I left that sounding pretty bad. Lucy is alive, Luna did not kill her. I think Lucy has just retreated into the darkest spots in the house and has been very very cautious when she comes out. She's a very sneaky cat. I only know she is still in the house because her food is getting eaten and her litter box has fun presents in it. 

Luna and Teddy play hard and crash hard. It is amazing. I think Luna really enjoyed the backyard to frolic around in and chase Teddy. It has been especially nice to have the backyard for her since the time change has made it harder to get her to the dog park after work, since its dark by the time I get home (and none of the dog parks have lights...LAME). 

We did bring both Teddy and Luna to the dog park this week, which was a very interesting experience. Teddy doesn't go to dog parks very often because he doesn't need to get out as much energy as Luna does. The backyard is enough play-ground for Tedster. The first time we brought him to the park, we kept his leash on and just had him take in what was going on. There were 3 other large dogs there, which I think confused poor Ted. Luna is the only big dog that Teddy plays with, and Luna knows how to play with him. These other dogs might not/and probably won't play with him the same way Luna does. So we were pretty cautious. Teddy cowards at first when another big dog gives him attention. He yelps and freaks out like the dog was hurting him (though the dog wasn't even touching him). But once he realized that Drew and I weren't going to save him from a playful friendly dog, he grew some balls and got a little more feisty, like his normal Pom self. After Teddy got used to the other dogs at the park he got some more confidence and wanted to roam and do his own thing. For one of his first times at a dog park he did very well. 

Everyone taking naps :)

This week Luna and Teddy have had a fabulous time hanging out and tiring each other out, which has made it lovely for Drew and I. Playing house this week has been so much fun. I can't wait for next time :)

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Evel "Luna" Knievel

Usually people say things like "'Dangerous' is my middle name" when they try to brag about their daredevil tendencies. Well, if Evel Knievel (the daredevils of the daredevils) had a middle name, it would be "Luna". I can hear you laughing as I write this post—What did Luna do this time?! 

Let me just start off by saying, Luna is alive and safe as I am writing this.

Luna has had 2 near death experiences within the last couple weeks (and this is not me being an over protective mother—I am seriously thankful that Luna was as lucky as she was).

The first thing that happened occurred when Drew, Luna and I were walking to Downtown for dinner. It was just after 6pm and still light out. Drew was walking Luna on her pinch collar, as we always do. Luna does her normal dog shake (imagine a wet dog shaking after a bath), and her pinch collar somehow came unlatched and came off of her. If you put 2 and 2 together, you will realize that Luna is no longer constrained to her leash. She is a free woman. Sensing this freedom, she takes off, into the middle of the busy street intersection. She turns around as we scream her name, and she realizes "Oh this isn't a game...they aren't following me?" Drew starts to head out in the middle of the street, to try to get oncoming cars to slow down and stop. 

LUCKILY the intersection Luna bolted into was all stopped and everyone was aware what was going on. Luna jogs back to the sidewalk we were walking on and lays down on her back submissively, as if we were going to scold her for doing something wrong. However, I did not feel that she did anything wrong in this case. She listened pretty quickly after we all realized what was happening and came back. Instead of punishing her, I comfort her and tell her "Good girl, it's okay Luna, you're okay" (I think this was me coming to reality and convincing myself that she was okay.) It took me a while to realize how EXTREMELY lucky we were that at that given time it was light out and all the cars were stopped. We were all a little shaken up after that, adrenaline rushing, but we continued our walk to dinner, moving on from the scary situation we had just dealt with.

That was the first time she escaped death, just like Evel Knievel did many times in his stunts.

The second time Luna got away lucky, was when I was taking her to the dog park. I was driving down one of the roads to the park with my windows down (as I always do when Luna is in the car). Luna starts to get excited because she knows where we are at and that she is going to play soon. As I am driving (10 miles an hour or so), I see a couple and their strollered baby getting close to a cross walk. It doesn't look like they have plans on stopping and looking both ways before crossing, so I slam on my breaks, and I hear Luna stumble a bit in the back seat, but she seems alright. 

Right when I think she's okay I look to my left and she is OUTSIDE of my car in the middle of the road. Luna seemed to land partially on her feet then did a tuck and roll and then landed back on her feet. At this time (all happening in 2 seconds or less—but I felt like I saw this in slow motion), I put my car in park and call Luna over to try to get her to come. She stands there, bewildered. I call her a couple more times and she walks over to the side of the road in the dirt. I jump out of my car and grab her leash before she takes off. But I don't think she was planning on running anywhere. I think she was so confused how she ended up in the middle of the road when half a second before she was in my car. Again, Luna is alive and well, no broken bones, no serious injuries. She has a scuffed chin and 2 scrapes on her front legs. All in all, we were both shaken up, and I feel completely terrible and at fault for my little girl's traumatic experience :( My poor baby girl. 

I wonder if these 2 situations are signs that we should invest in pet insurance...

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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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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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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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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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Weekend Adventures: Deep Cleaning

This weekend was pretty laid back. It was pretty hot, so I didn't want to bring Luna out for too long on an adventure. Plus the last couple weekends have been quite crazy, therefore, I wanted to just relax and do stuff around the apartment...Lots of cleaning. 

But on the bright side, Luna decided to help. When I vacuumed she watched my every move, making sure I did not miss a single spot, or that I vacuumed up any of her toys. After finishing vacuuming the entire 896 square feet of our apartment, the vacuum was filled to the brim with fur. I swear, every time I vacuum I could make a new dog with the amount of fur that gets sucked up!

I also cleaned the bathroom, specifically the bathtub that needed a deep clean. I put some Comet down in the tub and let it sit there as I cleaned the rest of the apartment. When I came back to the tub, I noticed little footprints in the tub that lead out to the hallway. Clearly, Luna wanted to make sure she was helping me out. (Don't worry, I checked her to make sure she didn't have any more Comet on her paws and kept an eye on her after that to make sure she didn't consume anything she wasn't supposed to. Luna is healthy and fine.)

After cleaning the apartment, I decided to treat myself to a spa day (aka a fresh pedicure). And if you have ever tried to paint your nails with dogs around, you will know that nail polish is a magnet for dog hair. It is a serious struggle sometimes. I feel like that Lays commercial where the woman eats some potato chips after a fresh mani, and the chips are all over her fingers. Disgusting. Well, imagine that, except with fur. But today's pedi was a success, not too much fur around after vacuuming. 

Source

Now, I didn't just stay inside the whole weekend. Luna and I went to the lake (Lake Borris--the one we like) for a couple hours. She had a great time, as usual, but was happy to go home and sleep. What I've noticed with Luna is that no matter how tired she is, if there are other dogs or people around she can not settle down and chill out. She is just too stimulated and too excited. The only way she can actually lay down and chill out is if we are at home. So that's what we did, we went home so Luna could sleep (and I could nap). And she chose to sleep in her crate with the door wide open! 

A good relaxing weekend for both of us.

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American Weekend

This 3 day weekend was action packed and huge for Luna!

1. OFF LEASH!

Friday, Drew and I experimented with off-leash potties with Luna. Last time we did this it turned into us chasing after her for an hour, the whole time I was having a heart attack. The Husky in Luna makes her BOLT, and the Lab in her makes her have ADD which makes it hard to get her to "come" when she sees a squirrel. But we have been working on it...slowly. So we decided to take a "leap of faith" and we took off her leash, grabbed a couple motivational treats and opened the door (dun, dun, DUNNNNN)! 

At first she was a little hyper to be off leash but stayed within 15 feet of us and just ran circles and peed. Then we told her to "come" and she did (so we gave her a treat), then told her to "go home" and straight up the stairs she went! SUCCESS!!! Happy parents for sure.

This is a video of Luna when told to "Go Home" after doing her business. (She gets ahead of me but looks back a couple times to see if I'm following).

2. Playing with 5lb Teddy

We went over to Drew's parents' house for Independence Day and Luna got to play with Teddy. I swear, every time we go over there, Luna and Teddy get better and better about playing together. The two got a little crazy when Moxie came around (3 dogs at G-ma and G-pas house can get exciting at first), but then settled down. They went outside and played with bubbles. Teddy was all about them and definitely won first place at popping the most bubbles. Then after a long play day the 3 were exhausted, and fell asleep. 

3. FIREWORKS!

This was the first time Luna would be experiencing fireworks with us. We didn't know how she'd react but seeing that the garbage truck that sounds like a plane crashing into our apartment never phases her, we weren't too worried. And when we walked to Downtown Livermore where they were setting off the fireworks, Luna was intrigued by the lights in the sky. She was staring at them just like she stares at flies, questioning how they got there and how in the world is she gonna get them! All in all a very successful, non-freak-out experience, which is a HUGE relief.

4. OFF LEASH X2!

Saturday, I took Luna to Lake Borris (the off-leash dog lake/trail area in Livermore, behind Shadow Cliffs). It is by far my favorite place to bring her. She can swim, play with other dogs, and get in a nice little tiny hike at the same time. This place is COMPLETELY off leash, and quite frankly it's the best place to train your dog off leash. There's no place the dog can really go and get into any real danger (far from busy streets, and it's basically all in a large ditch). Luna is a HUGE fan of water, I mean she tries to swim in the fountains Downtown, and I don't stop her. 

I decided that this time at Lake Borris, I would try to see how she does off leash on the walk over to the beach (well more like on leash, and I just drop it on the ground and let it drag behind her). I kept treats in hand and when she would get too far I would tell her to come back, and if she listened she was rewarded. She was amazing! I told her to "stay" when I wanted her walking right next to me (which was whenever I saw a dog coming towards us). Then I would have her sit, when the dog and its owner were about 10-15 feet away, and when they passed we would keep walking. 

I'm telling you, it must be a maturity thing, that once your dog hits 1, they listen better and do what you say (for the most part). I don't think that a week ago she would have been able to do this! It's crazy!

So we get to the beach part of the lake and she's playing and swimming and having a great time. Then this 5 month old Black Lab comes around and starts playing with Luna. This was the first time this dog has gone swimming, and the best way to teach your dog something is to have another dog train it! DO NOT EVER THROW YOUR DOG INTO A POOL TO TRY TO HAVE THEM SWIM!!!! EVERRRR!!! (It's like throwing a kid who doesn't know how to swim in the pool, and then they are traumatized for the rest of their life and will refuse to go in the water.) 

When it's time to go (when mom is tired and hot and sunburnt), I decided to put her on the leash again but drop it on the ground for a little. Then a couple minutes later I thought I would try and do NO LEASH AT ALL! And usually (like I said before) she will BOLT like there's no tomorrow. This time? That was not the case. She acted the same as when the leash was on the ground! She was a little more testing her limits but it was okay, she would turn around and walk by my side when I told her to. 

I was such a proud Mama. When we were almost to our car I put her leash back on and a dog who had just arrived was pulling his (or her) owner like you see in those movies. That Lab was easily 90lbs. Big boy (or girl). Then he (or she) just starts barking and barking and BARKING! Meanwhile, I just tell Luna, sit and stay, and she's quiet, just watching this chocolate Lab go berserk. And the owner and family say "Wow! How old is your dog?" And I tell them she's one. And they are shocked since their dog is 5 and "not as well trained." (Clearly a socialization issue). Sorry, was that bitchy? 

Not going to lie, Drew and I have done a great job training Luna on how we want her to act. Of course she isn't perfect and she still makes mistakes, but she's a dog. I'm not a military sergeant training soldiers, I am just a crazy dog lady training her crazy dog. 

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Luna's ONE!

My baby girl turns 1 today! I can't believe it! We are celebrating her birthday on Saturday and having a birthday "paw-ty" for her—yep you heard me, a birthday PAW-TY! If you didn't think I was a crazy dog lady before, now you probably do. If it makes it any better, it's nothing too crazy, I basically just invited people I knew who had dogs to go to the dog park with us... and I will make them homemade dog treats as a "Paw-ty Favor." That's not too crazy dog lady is it?

Weighed her the other day and she is officially 60lbs, and she's officially off puppy chow! Man, she is growing up... I just can't wait till she outgrows that chewing stage, so I can actually buy her toys.

Here are some photos of her in the last year.

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