Valentine’s Day Snow
Valentine’s Day dawned with a threat of a big snowstorm. I left the house early to grocery shop before we got hit and almost bit it in the parking lot leaving the store. The roads got slick and dangerous quickly so I retreated back home to settle in.
We spent most of the day inside, working on how to be a nice, calm puppy and how to actually take a nap outside of your crate. These are things I never taught Payton and things I think he would have benefited from learning then rather than having to teach him at four years old how to settle outside of your crate… so I’m making a point of teaching Kaner now.
We did get a bit of outside playtime done. The snow ended up pretty unimpressive, but it was too cold for me to be able to stand it, so we didn’t stay out very long.
Payton likes it though, it turns him into a coyote or something.
Cute baby prancing through the snow.
Napping in a bed! It’s like a miracle.
I also pulled out the new backdrop I built and set it up to take our family photo. This was interesting as Kaner is still learning what “sit” means, nevermind “stay.” I used my 50mm lense to help get a good shot in the dark house, but this mean I was stuck having to be a certain distance away. So basically, set up the dogs, wrangle the puppy into the center, ask for a sit… wait until he figures out what I want… pop him a treat, then try to scoot back into position quickly but not TOO quickly or the baby is going to get up and follow you.
It was not an easy task, but we managed something that counts.
Nomming a cookie. Literally I shoved cookies in his mouth then started shooting and hoped for the best, ha!
Snowtime with Kaner
It snowed!! This is not Kane’s first snow, but it is his first snow with me, so outside we went for some snow playing.
He wasn’t totally certain about this white stuff falling from the sky though. Also it’s cold.
Pretty snow dusted Auggie. Auggie was trying to figure out how he can eat this snow, because there’s not a lot of it, but eating snow is one of his favourites.
Kane was more interested in playing with leaves and sticks than the snow, however.
THERE’S A LEAF UNDER HERE
WATCH ME PUPPY WHEEEEE
Trying to take a cute photo of his face… not workin’ out so well.
But when it DOES work out, oh my goodness.
He wasn’t sure how to respond when I tossed him a snowball. The snow is light and fluffy and couldn’t pack, so really it was more like throwing a handful of soft fluttery snowflakes in his face. I think it hurt his feelings. Oops.
Baby Dog Outside Games
Another day, and the sun is out for the dogs to play in the yard.
Watching the baby run around. Huh.
I’M A PUPPY WHEEEEE
Look at me I can run and jump and play!
RUN RUN RUN
MORE RUNNING
Payton says ARE WE RUNNING?? THAT’S MY FAVOURITE! Look how happy he is to have a puppy brother to play with. So. Happy.
Proinking around after his big brother.
He even ran some laps around the play cube.
Rarr, big brother!! Not at all phased by the fact that Payton is three times his size.
Happy Payton.
Yeah chasing!
Auggie sat on the deck and simply watched all this nonsense take place with a bit of disdain, which is a step up from his old tactics of running around barking as Official Fun Police, so that’s good.
Kaner’s First Bath
Little baby Kaner was a bit itchy after his round of puppy shots, so I got out my soothing oatmeal shampoo to try and help calm his skin and gave him a bath. Poor guy, not even home for four days and he already gets his first bath!
Don’t be fooled, he was an unholy terror and wouldn’t stop moving and a small puppy soaped up with shampoo is basically like trying to wrangle six greased pigs.
But there is absolutely zero chance I’m going to miss out on the chance to turn him into a Kanersaurus Rex.
He’s not actually holding on for dear life, I’m just trying to keep him in the tub. HA.
No dryers necessary for this little fuzzy baby, a towel is good enough to dry off.
All clean, and now less itchy!
New Baby, Day Two
Our second day with Kaner dawned rainy and gross! We did take some time to play outside, even in the dreary weather, but it wasn’t very fun getting all cold and wet.
Little guy trying to navigate the steps off the deck.
Payton came up on the deck and then bounded down off the deck like eight times, like IT’S TOTALLY NOT HARD COME ON WHEEE. You’re like three times Kaner’s size. Little bit different, P.
Face through the railings! I have this photo of Auggie and Payton so was sure to snag one of Kaner, too.
Trying to figure out how to get off the deck is hard.
Auggie isn’t really sure what the trouble is, either. I built this deck just so Auggie could safely navigate down into the yard, as the old concrete porch was unsafe and he kept falling. But this one is super safe and there’s really no trouble. You know, so long as you don’t have tiny little baby puppy legs.
Smellin’ brother P.
Just in case you think he’s all cuteness and sweetness, Kaner actually has a very powerful set of lungs on him and enjoys putting everything and anything in his mouth to chomp. Just so you know.
I mean, but he is pretty cute.
I think all of my puppies are cute because if they weren’t nobody would like them at all ever.
Look how cuuuuute I am not naughty at allllll
AND I WILL FIGURE OUT THESE STEPS. ONE DAY.
One thing I want to do is try to take a “family photo” every week. We just don’t know with Auggie’s CHF how long we have left, so as morbid as it sounds, I don’t want to miss out on getting a photo of all of my dogs together as Kaner continues to grow. It’s also kind of a fun project to see how much the puppy grows and changes every week. This is what counts for Kaner’s first week, what with the baby not knowing how to sit or stay… this is as good as it gets, folks. Don’t worry, I promise it will get better.
Then I made him wear these puppy jammies and it was adorable.
Meet Baby Kaner
It’s only a small secret I’ve been looking for my next dog for a little while. Payton is nearly five, and although there are six years between Payton and Auggie, I wanted fewer years between my next two dogs. The search had intensified recently, especially with Auggie’s CHF. First of all, Auggie wasn’t playing with Payton much anymore, and poor Payton is pretty sad without a canine brother to play with. Secondly, I knew if I lost Auggie, I was going to be so devastated I wouldn’t be in the mood to add a puppy – possibly for a very long time. Hinging off the first problem, I knew it wouldn’t be fair for Payton to be an only child because of my own grief. With no way of knowing how long I have left with Auggie, I decided if it was going to happen, it needed to be… basically right now.
I also had a little hope that Auggie would be encouraged to play with a puppy. I’m sure we all know stories about old dogs with old dog diseases who get a new spring in their step when a puppy comes along. I had no idea if a puppy would actually help Auggie feel young and live longer, but I filed the hope away in my back pocket. After being assured by Auggie’s cardiologist that, if Auggie’s heart disease is controlled (and he believed at that moment that it was), additional stress from a new puppy would not kill my dog… enter Kane.
Kane (or Kaner, as he is mostly called) came from a breeder who is very close to the breeder of my other dogs, though his lines aren’t the same. It was a pretty big change for me to diverge from the lines I have loved in my other dogs, but I was ready for new blood (which isn’t as creepy as it sounds, I promise.) Similar to Payton, he was a beautifully built puppy who was unfortunately looking to go too big for the show ring, but he was obnoxious and active and loved to play. My kind of dog, most importantly – and the right kind of dog for the agility ring.
I drove up with my sister to check him out and make sure he was what I wanted.
Then, five weeks later, after bleaching all of my floors, picking everything I owned up and out of puppy-teeth range, and rearranging crates to make space for the small little puppy crate – I drove up to pick up my new baby dog.
Oh boy.
Auggie came out to meet him first and gave me a slightly withering look that seemed to say “Are you sure? Another one? If you’re sure…” Unlike Payton, who he took to immediately and began playing with right away, I had a feeling it would take Auggie a little while to come around and playing with Kane. After all, Georgie is his niece, and it took her some time to grow on him. I took his quiet acceptance and a general ignoring of the puppy as a good sign.
Then I let out Payton, who at that point in time was approximately three times Kane’s size.
This was no obstacle to either of them and they were immediate friends. Kane made it his business to jump and try to climb on top of Payton, and Payton made it his business to run as fast as he could with the little puppy trailing behind, short little legs churning in an attempt to keep up.
Payton was delighted.
So was I.
It was dark and late when we got home, but we did get a bit of playtime done inside and I managed a few (poorly lit) photos!
Checking out big Payton.
Being checked out by big Payton!
Now being checked out by both brothers.
He slept on the drive back home, and was happy to poke around and explore, but I could tell he was still pretty tired. He even started throwing a temper tantrum because he was overly tired. NO NO NO NOT TIRED NO NO
We did, however, get him tucked away in his crate and ready to go to bed. Sleep well, tiny guy!
Welcome to the family, little Kaner!
Christmas 2015
Happy Christmas! Modern medicine is a Christmas miracle which left Auggie feeling back to normal the next morning. I put breakfast casserole in the oven and then we opened presents and stockings.
Auggie demands this box open immediately. Yeah, he feels fine now.
Ah, it’s open! Now, what’s inside?
THE FLASH is inside!! After a decade of my dog being The Flash, finally the dog toy makers at PetSmart have gotten it together and made us a toy of The Flash. Auggie is really happy about this.
But there’s more!
This cute abdominal snowman toy came from Petco. Auggie and I made a special trip together on Black Friday to the nearest Petco and he selected this toy for himself. It’s super cute and while it’s smaller than the toys I usually buy, it’s actually a great size!
Auggie also got a squeaky piece of coal that says “A L’il Naughty” on it, and a bag of Zuke’s Christmas treats.
Next Payton is a Christmas over-achiever and stood on his box.
Oh we OPEN the box. Oh.
This is the toy Auggie selected at Petco for his brother. I call it Manly Unicorn. Because it’s a unicorn, but the red plaid makes it rather manly.
Payton also got a new West Paw Design toy, but he looks sad here because first he got out his own squeaky lump of coal and feels bad because he is naughty and he knows it.
Next, stockings! I know, usually it’s stockings first and gifts second, but in our house we usually open presents on Christmas Eve and then stockings on Christmas Day – but since Auggie wasn’t feeling so great the previous night, we did gifts first, stockings second.
Bocce’s Peppermint Bark treats! I wanted to try these last year but couldn’t find any, so when I found them out and about on Black Friday, I snagged a bag.
Payton still hasn’t quite gotten the hang of how to cram his entire face in his stocking like Auggie has.
Aaaand Payton gets a bag of coal treats in his stocking.
Poor Payton! He is so naughty while Auggie is so very good.
After enjoying our breakfast casserole, we packed everything up in the car and went back home. I did not go to Christmas dinner with my family since I wanted to keep a close eye on Auggie again, so we all stayed home and watched movies. First we watched Love Actually, then Elf, then Miracle on 34th Street – and finally, because it was on TV, we finished our night of movies with Legally Blonde. Christmas dinner was a Mexican chicken and rice casserole, which in my opinion is highly festive.
Happy, happy Christmas to all!
Christmas Eve
Time for Christmas tree photos!
Payton is sad about this, even though it involves cookies.
He is sad because he can’t smile on cue and I keep saying I need to train it but I never do.
Auggie is kind of sad because his legs are still pretty naked.
We’ll just take pictures of his adorable face instead.
Payton singles!
Very intense. YOU WANT ME TO LAY DOWN?? WATCH HOW GOOD I CAN LAY DOWN.
Always with the head down photo.
DOES THAT GET ME A COOKIE?
One more of the best Auggie.
Not a whole lot this year. Auggie had been doing really well, but of course on Christmas Eve, when none of my regular vets are open, he started coughing a bit again. We did get these photos, and after photos he got to take a trip to my grandma’s house so I could watch him while we had dinner and opened presents. We then took a quick trip to the emergency vet as his breathing started to get a bit labored and he was coughing more, and I decided to bring him in before he actually got in distress. He got a shot of injectable Lasix and instructions to increase his oral Lasix, and he was able to come home. He felt much better after his injection started to work and flush the fluid out. We went home to get Payton and everybody came back to my parent’s house to stay for the night so we could all open more presents and stockings in the morning.
Auggie definitely was feeling better once he got to take a nap in his favourite spot – under the Christmas tree. Best place.
Secret Santa 2015
We played in the Secret Santa swap this year! Imagine my surprise when the UPS man arrived at my door (delightfully going “ho ho ho!”) with a big box from Chewy. I was confused because I didn’t order anything from Chewy, so I opened the box – and discovered it was our Secret Santa gift!
I closed it up and put it back on the floor and Auggie thought this meant he should stand on it.
No? How about sit on it?
Payton just wants the box open so he can get at what’s inside.
Oh, okay, yeah it’s cool to open the box too.
Payton got these delicious cheese cookies made by Fromm!
And Auggie got a box of peanut butter Buddy Biscuits – his favourite!
Auggie also got a nice new shark toy, and it’s a tough toy so it will withstand any thievery by little brothers, too.
(And it will withstand an Auggie.)
Payton got this long unstuffed gator toy, perfect for tugging.
Auggie also received a Planet Dog basketball with a treat spot so we can stuff those Buddy Biscuits inside.
And Payton got the football!
Posing with all their goodies! The box also contained two bully sticks, but I removed those before we opened them to avoid any angry scuffles where Auggie might try to take both bully sticks and Payton might not find that very fair.
Thank you Secret Santa!
Santa Claus 2015
Christmas is Auggie’s favourite time of the year.
He was born November 15th, which means most of his puppyhood was during Christmastime. I still remember going to pick out which puppy would be mine – I had my choice of two little males who would make great pets with sport potential. Auggie and his little brother (called “Dee” at the time) were ripping around his breeder’s living room, running underneath and behind the Christmas tree. I still believe this is why, when we set up the Christmas tree, Auggie makes a beeline to lie down underneath it. Fond memories of his puppyhood and time spent playing, and maybe occasionally napping, underneath the Christmas tree.
Christmas is my favourite time of the year, too.
We did two Santa trips this year. I brought along the bowtie and tie from our professional Christmas photos. I’m not sure if Auggie and I will get another Christmas together, so I wanted this one to be special.
First, we went to Country Arbors, a nursery nearby. Their Santa setup is really cool, and this year they had a firepit where they were burning pine tree branches. First, we got our Santa photo.
And if you’re wondering why I’m in the photo this year, again, no idea if I’ll ever get another chance with Auggie, so I took advantage of the opportunity before I don’t have it.
Next we went and hung out by the firepit for a while. It was nice and warm and smelled amazing.
After Auggie’s vet appointment, I didn’t really have a lot of cash to pick anything up, although the white birch logs are beautiful and healthy, and really are a great bargain. Maybe next year!
Our next Santa was a couple weeks later. The local humane society always puts on a Santa pet photo event with the Subaru dealership. The Santa is really great and, being humane society folks, everyone working the event is awesome with pets, too. I also love their backdrop – you can’t see it in this year’s photo, but they have this really beautiful old timey looking street light with a big red bow on it, and I just love it.
I got in the photo with Santa here, too, but my favourite happened to be the one of just my two boys and Santa.
May all your Santas be jolly and all their whiskers be real.
First Snow of the Year!
It was pretty pitiful, but we weren’t going to miss the first flakes falling!
Beautiful Auggie with snowflakes.
Silly P with snowflakes!
It amounted to basically no accumulation and was gone the next day… but it was in fact the first time snowflakes fell from the sky for winter 2015. COUNTS.
Auggie Turns 10
Auggie’s birthday is here, and it’s the big 1-0! We’re in to double digits. I decided to throw him a big party and ask friends to come over (especially since hardly anybody had been over to see my house since I renovated almost the entire thing.)
Birthday boys! Georgie came over for the party, too, but she was not involved in this little family photo. I only have two arms.
Auggie got a nice big pirate cake, with a skull centerpiece and ten candles.
Blow out the candles!
But the cake going into his belly is all he really cares about.
NOM THAT CAKE
NOM ALL OF IT
Even the little crumbies left behind.
Some of them are tiny crumbies and you have to lick them up.
Payton gets cake next.
NOM
Halfway through his nom he realized that was impolite and changed to a slightly less impolite nom.
Then he licked his crumbies too.
Georgie next. I broke her cake into pieces so she wouldn’t simply swallow the entire piece whole, as she tends to do.
A nom nom nom nom.
Nom crumbies too. Who licks??
Next, Auggie got his presents.
Reach in that bag old man, see what you get!
Fishing around…
IT’S A TINY SHEEP IT IS THE BEST TINY SHEEP TOY IN THE WORLD
Mom please throw tiny sheep.
No take, only throw.
Payton says “hey wait, there’s something else in here.”
Oh! There is more.
It’s Swabby Shark! Swabby Shark has been waiting since springtime for Auggie’s birthday. A nice big red pirate shark – I don’t think there’s many toys that are more quintessential for Auggie.
Please throw Swabby too mom.
Thank you to all my friends for coming to Auggie’s big birthday party. He is my very special guy and having so many people over to pat him and love on him is a great way for him to spend his birthday. Everybody even sang him the Happy Birthday song.
Happiest of happy birthdays, my very best Auggie.
Happy Fall 2015
Ah, fall. Time for cold weather and lots of leaves littering my yard and hours and hours spent mulching and bagging leaves to be hauled away.
And for photos of my dogs looking stunning.
Auggie, the posing pro.
He might be an old man now, but hes still super handsome.
The most wonderful old man dog.
Brothers!
Now serious brothers.
Payton lays down and I asked Auggie to lay down and he said “mmmmmnope.”
He then came to get a cookie from me. Well okay.
Meanwhile, Payton poses.
I will never stop asking for a head down to get cute pictures now that he can do this.
Because its sooooo cute.
A nice sit.
So many years ago when Payton was a baby, I had this cute photo I set up and took. I tried to set it up again and… this happened.
Just kidding, just kidding, we got it.
Big handsome dogs.
Then Payton ran around bark-screaming while I threw leaves at him and then he flopped down and rolled in the leaf pile and I covered him up and he was super adorable.
SUPER adorable.
Halloween 2015 – The Force Awakens
This year was a bit of a challenge to decide on Halloween costumes. Last year was a huge success with the Justice League. I originally wanted to do The Avengers, but in most iterations, there are more Avengers than I have dogs. If last year is any indication, the comic book geek in me has serious problems with not being able to do something RIGHT… so I took a pass on Avengers. But what should we do, then? I kicked around a few ideas, like Peter Pan, featuring Captain Hook and Tic-Toc Croc, but ultimately wasn’t in love with anything.
It was then I realized, when in doubt, you should always go back to your roots.
And use the Force.
I decided almost immediately I wanted to be Han Solo, which meant Payton was my Chewbacca. Georgie was Leia, being the girl. I then had to convince my mom to be Luke Skywalker, which she tried to get out of multiple times, but I presented her with that fact that you simply cannot show up as a Star Wars posse and not have a Luke. I mean, you just can’t.
Certainly we could have cheated and gone to purchase any of the number of costumes out in the mass market, but we all know that’s not how I roll. NOPE. My sewing machine would have been so disappointed in me.
Han and my best buddy Chewie.
It took us a long time to get the footstall trick down. Many times I almost gave up on Payton ever learning it. And now we’re doing footstalls in costumes.
Big bad Chewbacca back home.
This fur was actually a trick to find. I wanted something just right and went to four places to find it. Lots of short fur and light brown but difficult to snag something that looked really Chewbacca-like.
I did purchase a blaster from the Halloween store – it was pretty close to being accurate and way better than anything I could have cobbled together on my own. But it was white and orange from the store, which is just ridiculous. No worries, though – I took care of that little problem with a can of spray paint and some acrylics to help it looked more used-by-a-space-smuggler and realistic.
Georgie might have preferred we went to buy faux hair buns instead of making some for her, but all the ones on the market were pitiful and WAY too small to be movie accurate, so No Thank You. We made the hair buns also.
The hair buns did not survive multiple costume changes, however. Also, she basically hated them… so I didn’t ask her to wear them more than when for the costume contest.
Auggie did not attend with us this year, but if he had, he would have been Yoda. Once we returned home, I looked at what I had in terms of existing costumes.
Turns out Auggie is not Yoda, he is actually Darth Vader.
Typical.
Georgie’s 4th Birthday!
Payton made it to four and so, too, did Miss Georgie. My mom got some cupcakes and brought them over so we could have a little party for her.
Georgie first. Oh Georgie. Always with the hat malfunctions.
Cuppycaaaaaake.
NOM.
Auggie next who is always so good.
Auggie nom!
Payton isn’t too bad either.
YAS CUPCAKE YAS
Apparently Georgie has “enough” toys already, so no presents for Georgie. What a rip off!
Payton has a WHALE of a birthday
Somehow Payton has made it to four years old. Over four years, he has only managed ONE emergency vet visit (for a ruptured ear drum, probably started by an allergic reaction of some kind), he has NOT broken any bones, torn any muscles, needed any surgeries, and I believe I have only had to induce vomiting on him one time… and that was just a few weeks ago. Compared to Auggie, and compared to the kamikaze dog Payton actually is, this is really a bloody miracle.
We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and I pictured Payton at four very differently, but here we are, and although I would much prefer things to be in a very different place, we still manage to have a lot of fun together. He is an excellent running and hiking buddy. He learned how to do a foot stall, which I never thought he would be able to do. He is very good at cuddling. And he’s pretty cute, too.
I guess I’ll keep him another year.
Group photo! And yes I made these hats. I’m starting to think I have very few reasons to ever get store-bought hats again.
I wasn’t going to make him wear the glasses, I was only joking, but my mom said I had to get them. This is Grandma’s fault then, Payton, not mine.
Want cake. Wait for cake.
Really really want cake.
I took a photo of them together BEFORE Auggie got cake on his face but Payton wasn’t wearing his hat, so I had to do it again after Auggie got his cake.
Thaaank you Auggie.
Auggie is somehow always the star of the show, even when it isn’t his birthday. Because Auggie.
Brother and sister!
Georgie hates having to sit and wait. HATES. What you don’t see is there is cake on the floor in every one of these photos and they are each having to wait for their photo before getting released to the cake. Georgie says this is LITERALLY THE WORST.
Birthday whale toy!! and an icing face.
Posing with his new whale toy… and really wishing I would give him some more cake.
Sheltie Egg Hunt 2015
Getting ready to hunt… Auggie is like I AM 100% FOCUSED LET’S DO THIS THING
Georgie found the easy one I set right by the deck.
Auggie ran straight past it to grab one in the yard.
And then off into the rest of the yard for another.
Georgie is very methodical, snagging the second one right near her first.
Meanwhile Payton grabbed one and started proinking around with it, then dropped it.
OH NOES EGGY
I GOT IT AGAIN
THEN DROPPED IT AGAIN
Auggie meanwhile is all bing-bang-boom findin’ all the eggs
Payton again dropped his first egg and found another.
Georgie is busy trying to snag as many as she can.
Payton lost the yellow egg to Georgie, did a lap, and came back to his pink egg… while Pepper in the front…
…is maybe finally figuring this game out.
Chomp…
Choooomp?
SHE GOT IT!
Then she found another!
LOOK GUYS SHE CAN DO IT.
I MEAN SHE TOTALLY UNDERSTANDS THE GAME. AT LAST. OMG.
She is having a hell of a time actually getting them open though.
Then she found this one, which I was really impressed with because she had to jump up in the wagon to get it.
Georgie came running over to try and steal it. Georgie was VERY good at stealing eggs from the other dogs…
My mom had to help out. “No, this is PEPPER’S egg.”
She kept workin’ on it…
and got it!
Payton accidentally broke one of his egg-balls and discovered the cookie inside so he’s making an attempt here.
LOOK he figured it out.
Okay so I tried to line everybody up for a group photo, and Payton… well… Payton. So here’s the group photo.
Miss Pepper who got THREE eggs this year!! THREE!!
So very proud of herself.
Auggie is all “I’m old and exhausted, this is tough work.”
Auggie got nine eggs this year. He would have had more if I counted every one he grabbed, but his old man teeth were having a bit of trouble chomping them open, and if he couldn’t get it open he just dropped it and buzzed on to the next.
Payton with his THREE! I think this is exactly how many he got last time too…
Georgie is the WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER this year with TEN eggs. She only really won because a) previously mentioned no-counts for Auggie and b) she kept stealing eggs from everybody else.
I cheat, I still win, who cares, haha.
Happy winning baby dog.
A Very Sheltie Christmas 2014
We started at my house, in front of my tree.
My baseboard is actually not installed yet, I just set it there… hence the gap. Yeah…
Oh look Peppy is happy.
Perfect Auggie first.
I really need to teach my dogs how to smile on cue.
Perfection. Best Auggie.
Oh yay! Now he will smile.
Payton next and he looks SO unhappy.
No smiles…
but he’s pretty cute.
Eeeeeeeee.
Then there’s Pepper, who also looks sad, but that’s normal for her.
Whomp.
Oh yay!! It’s Christmastime!
No, whomp again.
Family photo with just ooooone happy dog… perfect Auggie.
Then back to my parent’s house for a +1 family photo.
Happy Pepper again!
Payton knows a Christmas secret… WINK.
Peppy loves her brudder. Auggie is like “if I close my eyes and wish really hard, when I open them, I will be an only dog again…”
“…no… they’re still here.”
JK JK Auggie likes Pepper too. Mostly.
Everybody looks SO SERIOUS.
Miss Georgie. I tried to carefully position her so you cannot see the absolute hack job the vets did to her hair when she was spayed.
Crap you can totally see it here.
Also I wish I had done her feet before these photos… why it’s my responsibility to trim her nails and groom her feet, I do not know, but it is… sigh.
Auggie single!
CHRISTMAS OVER-ACHIEVER
Payton single.
Still no smiles…
but still pretty cute.
MORE CHRISTMAS OVER-ACHIEVER. Practicing for footstalls.
Saaaad Pepper single.
I wasn’t trying to be artsy here, I think I was just falling over. Unfortunately I was not drunk.
Then we opened presents. After clearing out under the tree, Auggie went to his favorite spot.
Best little Christmas dog…
Georgie got to open her present.
Auggie had one of these warthogs when he was younger and it was my dad’s favorite toy to use when they played, so I bought one for Georgie.
I also found this GoDog platypus so I bought her one, hopefully it will hold up to her destruction!
Warthog and platypus! She really didn’t care much for the platypus, the warthog had so many things to chew on.
Then Auggie opens his.
Kong Christmas squeaker balls!
Also this bag of treats is really great.
Pepper… um… well she was afraid of her stuffed toy so she wouldn’t open hers. Poor Drizzle.
Payton was confused. “I can smell the treats, but I can’t SEE the treats… what is this sorcery??”
“Oh there they are.”
Looking positively unexcited about his toy, but I swear he enjoys it. Yesterday he kept grabbing it and running around the room with it while wagging all over.
Then we went to bed until the next day, when we had…
STOCKINGS!
Auggie cared about little else in the stocking except the bully stick.
A lame picture of Pepper getting in her stocking… she actually had gotten sick all over the living room on Christmas Eve so I was trying to NOT let her really get much of the bully stick, but I did want her to be able to snack a teensy bit on it… poor thing.
No bully stick for sick Peppy-drizzles. But she does get a platypus of her own and some dog treats.
Payton also cares about not much but that bully stick.
He got his very own green squishy ball so he can stop stealing Auggie’s.
Festive Driz!
Oh no, a bow on a Payton. Behold the bully stick face.
And Auggie has no such time for this foolishness because he has a bully stick under the tree, thank you very much. I think this must be Auggie’s ultimate happy place actually.
Sheltie Secret Santa 2014
This year my finances were back in order to be able to participate in a Secret Santa swap. We have such fun doing this every year, but this year my Secret Santa did an AMAZING job. Everything is perfect and spot on for all the dogs, which is especially a surprise with Pepper, who is not really much for toys or playing, but absolutely loves her gift-toy so much it really had me tearing up and about to cry with the joy she was displaying over this little crinkly Cuz toy.
ANYWAY, on to the pics!
Obviously boxes are for standing on, Payton says. (I seriously had to shoo him away so I could open the darn thing.)
The pile of goodies!
You must read the card first, it’s rude otherwise.
I was super excited about these treats because I had been wanting to try them but nobody in town had any!
Auggie thinks this must also be more food.
First to open presents is Auggie since he is the oldest. He basically ripped the paper just enough to expose the tennis balls, and then began trying to rip into the netting to get them out.
OPEN IT OPEN IT OPEN IT
He will stop long enough to nom this second package which is most definitely also cookies.
Yummy yummy!
NOW THROW THE BALL
Pepper next. She’s not very good at opening presents, she thought this was it. “Oh this is mine? Okay.”
“Oh you mean there’s more to it?”
“I like it.” We stopped opening presents to play with this thing for about five minutes which Payton HATED because he hadn’t gotten to open his yet.
She likes her cookie treats too.
FINALLY it is Payton’s turn.
Auggie is totally willing to help though if you need it.
It’s a tuggy loofa dog!
Instant tugging.
Seriously Auggie wants in on this.
I couldn’t get Payton to put the toy down long enough to come back for his cookies, but it’s okay, Auggie’s got it.
Auggie models the cool sheltie t-shirt that is for me!
The big haul of doggy goodies.
And this cute puppy.
First Snow of Winter 2014
One of my favorite things about my dogs is how snowflakes fall on their fur… so… yeah. And somehow Pepper became the star of this photo session. Normally she is hiding in the background or directly under my feet so I can’t get any good photos, but this time I managed more of her than the boys.
Just one of Pay to start…
Then my pretty girl showed up.
The poor photographer this weekend kept trying to get Pepper’s ears up and I was like “yeah, that’s just Pepper… it’s… that’s just Pepper.”
Ears up! But head down.
Head up, ears back down, haha. My girly.
Another nice one of P…
Meanwhile Auggie.
I mean Auggie.
Seriously he can kinda be a real jerk.
Okay ONE nice one of Auggie.
Back to the pretty Pepper.
I love her expression in this one, but the snowflakes aren’t in focus how I’d like.
Here the snowflakes are better but her expression is not as good. LOL. Oh well… they’re both rather nice.
I’m sure there will be plenty more snow pics to come. Ugh.
Auggie is 9
Auggie turned 9 on Saturday.
I’m not sure how it happened.
I somehow forgot it was his birthday when I entered the puppies. Had I been thinking, I would have entered him too, just for fun to run on his birthday. But the trial was closed by the time I realized it was his birthday. No way was I leaving him behind though, so away he went with us to the trial. I didn’t want to have to worry about bringing a cake or cupcakes with us, so I stopped at the Wal-Mart near the trial site between runs and oh did I hit the jackpot.
This lovely cake was “best by” that day so it only cost a whopping $4.50. Um, yes please! And it had orange and blue balloons on it – Illini colors for my little Augustine. The lady behind the counter was happy to write on it for me and I was happy to NOT mention it was for my dog…
We had a party in the hotel room.
Oh it is the cake.
Everybody got their own little slices…
Must wait for cakies.
Auggie first since he is the birthday boy.
Payton was really unsure if he was actually allowed to get on the table and eat his cake or not. Which is funny because when we got to the hotel Friday night, the first thing he did was jump up on the table…
Finally I convinced him it was totally allowed.
Georgie, by the way, immediately grabbed her entire piece of cake and jumped onto the floor to try and swallow it whole.
Auggie’s hat never stays in place haha.
Georgie’s empty plate while she tried to eat the cake on the floor hahaha.
Birthday boy!
Then it was present time. I didn’t go all out or anything this year, we have tons and tons of toys anyway, but I decided to order this green squishy ball since I know a few dogs on this forum really love it. (Payton is getting one for Christmas too.)
Oh a squishy.
Squishy tastes like cake.
We then proceeded to play a game of “push the ball off the couch, make mom throw it back on the couch, push the ball of the couch again.”
Aaaand then Drizzy got some cake when we got home.
Nom!
Behold the Payton sitting there like “I want more cake…” (They did actually get some more afterward.)
Happy birthday my Auggie. <3
Sheltie Halloween 2014
So I entered an agility trial over Halloween. They were having a Halloween costume and one of the categories was best duo (or group, in my case.) I decided to go as The Justice League. This lead to many many nights working on costumes for the dogs, myself, and my mom who was attending with Georgie. Lots of looking up comic book covers and artwork and trying to decide “which version of Supergirl do I want to do?” Back and forth to make sure I was creating accurate costumes, even though my mom pointed out “No one will know.” I WILL KNOW.
Auggie, of course, was The Flash.
Auggie first of course.
Because he is the bestest.
I actually have some Flash underwear I bought years ago and I wanted to use that, but I couldn’t find any matching GL underwear so I axed that entire idea. It doesn’t really “go” with the actual Flash costume, anyway.
I went back and forth on Payton a little bit as far as who he would be (technically he is supposed to be Kid Flash because he’s Auggie’s sidekick), but I felt the most logical choice was Green Lantern, since Barry Allen-Flash and Hal Jordan-GL were great friends.
I have to admit that Payton’s is actually my favourite costume. I love the way the mask fits on his face, I love the lantern “ring” on his wrist, I just love how I worked this one out. Way better than anything I could have possibly bought.
The only thing I might have changed is to bring the nose bridge further down his nose, but I think that would have ultimately given it a weird silhouette, so I’m pretty happy with it as I made it.
The mask creeped up while we were in the costume contest and I was like “OH GOD NO, THEY’LL FIND OUT YOUR SECRET IDENTITY.”
Pepper did not go to the show with us, not being a competitor, so she didn’t get a costume of her own. But I didn’t want her let out when we took photos back at home, and I happened to have this Wonder Woman costume that I bought her many years ago, so…
Drizzy is soooo regal.
Oh wait no nevermind
I really need to make a far better lasso of truth for this costume though. That one is pathetic.
I also didn’t make her tiara, I bought that at Target a year or two ago, along with the Flash one for Auggie. It also technically needs wrist bands… (my mom’s costume totally had wrist bands. But I forgot about the lasso of truth. I literally sat in bed after we won the costume contest and went OH MY GOD, I FORGOT THE LASSO OF TRUTH. Obviously nobody else cared but DANG IT)
Miss Georgie next. I could have done a few different things with her, but Wonder Woman didn’t suit her, and I was stealing the Superman slot to be Supergirl – so Georgie got to be Batgirl. Basically we went Slightly Alternate Justice League by swapping a few male characters for female counterparts, but otherwise, pretty solid.
I would have done her bat ears a little differently I think… maybe a bit more upright… but I liked the overall shape and wasn’t sure if I could get the bat ears upright and still have the shape look correct, so I let it go.
I DID make her a cape, but I didn’t like how it turned out, so I ultimately didn’t use it. I really wish it had turned out better, or I’d had more time to work on it and make a better one…
Group photo! I have no idea what’s going on with Georgie’s mask. My mom was having malfunction issues with it trying to put it on her.
My Justice League!
All winners. Except Payton. Payton sucks.
I should note that if I HAD gotten a puppy earlier this year, he would have been Aquaman. Poor guy. So it’s a good thing I didn’t get a puppy. Because who wants Aquaman on their Justice League? I mean really.
THE END and I have no idea how I will ever top this. Avengers???
Pepper’s Sixth Birthday
My Peppy-drizzle turned SIX years old today! Holy wow! She’s a for real big girl now. In one more year I can actually start calling her “old lady.”
Middle-child got her VERY OWN trip to the pet store so we could try to pick out a toy. Pepper isn’t hugely into toys anyway so I wasn’t sure if we would find anything. She was horrified by the sliding door when we got there, had no clue what to make of the piles of dog food surrounding her, was slightly interested in the “self-serve” bar of treats, and kept jumping on me to remind me she was there in case I might accidentally leave her behind. We did actually find a nice little toy I thought would be okay, so we bought it, the cashier gave me a piece of chicken jerky to give her (I told him I doubt he would take it directly from him), and then when we left, she tried to make a mad dash out of the store and ran head-first into the sliding glass door before it opened.
*facepalm*
ANYWAY.
Pepper told me she did not want another princess party, did not want a Disney Princess party (not even Frozen which is all the rage right now), did not want a hot pink zebra-stripe party, but she DID want a unicorn party. OMG why is it so hard to find unicorn horns for kids to put on their heads? So once again I bought scrapbook paper and had to DIY.
Payton’s opinion on this whole unicorn party thing.
JK JK he’s actually okay with it so long as we make with the cupcakes. (Meanwhile now Georgie is giving me a bit of a stink-eye because she tried to lay down and I was like “no we are sitting right now.”)
Happy birthday Pepper!!
Yeah she totally did not wait long enough and nommed her cupcake before I was actually ready. She is my worst behaved little girl…
Then she got frosting on her whiskers.
Then I put more on her nose and made her pose that way because.
Auggie next since he is the oldest non-birthday child. He has cake on his eyebrow here because I had to reposition his unicorn horn. Also FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON’T LOOK AT HIS FEET I SWEAR I GROOM MY DOGS. LOOK AT THE OTHER THREE. SEE? I SWEAR.
Unicorn horns don’t stay on very well for excited cupcake eating.
P next. I unfortunately missed the long string of drool that dripped down from his chin as soon as I set his cupcake down. (You’re welcome.) He’s got a little bit of crazy eye goin’ on here. CAN WAITS.
So he REALLY wanted that cupcake guys. But he made a really good decision to wait for it. Paytons DO have self-control (sometimes.)
Cupcake nommin’!
Miss Georgie did a very nice wait too.
And I actually, for once, got a GOOD photo of her eating a cupcake!
Peppy present!! It’s… A CUPCAKE. I thought it was appropriate, hahaha, and it’s about tennis ball shaped so I thought she might actually play with it.
She likes it when it tastes like cupcake frosting, that’s for sure.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS PEPPER!! Sorry I made you go out in public to a pet store and freaked you out for your birthday.
But the cupcakes were good.
Dogs In Hats
So a few weeks ago I had free bucks to spend at Old Navy. My plan was to buy yet another sports bra, but I discovered they’ve CHANGED their sports bras. WHAT. What am I supposed to buy now??
So I found these hats back in the kid’s department.
So that’s what I bought.
I don’t know why but I’m pretty sure Payton needs to wear his bowtie with his hat.
Auggie’s fits SO GOOD. Payton’s is a little big for his head and kept falling off…
OMG I can’t. They’re like two little old men best friends or something…
Auggie’s is very fashionable.
And then there’s Payton.
Seriously, it’s like it was made for his head. HOW ELSE DO YOU EXPLAIN IT FITTING SO WELL??
Payton’s big fat head ruined this one of the perfect Auggie. Oh well. Still pretty good anyway.
