Happy Spring

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Snuggling with Phoebe & JujuBee

Cookie: A Happy Found Dog Story

A few months ago, our mail carrier knocked on our door and told me about a stray dog she saw along her route, just a few blocks away. Out in the cold rain I went and back I came with Pip, a little long-haired chihuahua.

Today, the mail carrier knocked on our door again and told me about another stray she saw. I'm starting to get scared of answering the door when she knocks. This time, it was a pit who was following a woman and her dog. "Very calm and friendly." I never meet calm & friendly strays.

But I grabbed a leash and a small bag of dog treats and followed the mail carrier in my car to where she saw this dog. The dog, a black & white pit, was just hanging out with a woman and her dog. Not really interacting with them, just hanging out. She was indeed calm. The woman clearly didn't know what to do and was relieved that reinforcements arrived.

I was thrilled to see this dog had a tag. First sign that she wasn't dumped. The tag had the name "Cookie" in large bejeweled letters, and on the back, it had a crossed-out phone # and 2 teeny phone #s written with a sharpie that were barely legible. For you petowners out there, it's great that your dog has a tag and that anyone who might chance upon him will know his name, but really, that's about the least important information you can provide about the dog. Make sure the contact info is updated and readable because that's what may save his life.



Cookie wasn't uberfriendly like most pits are. She wasn't bouncy or tail bashing waggy, but she was mellow and well-socialized. She got into my car with just a little bit of enticement with treats, and I took her home and put her in the backyard, where I gave her a ton of water and a bit of food. I wasn't sure how long she had been wandering (she was covered in dry poop--obviously she rolled in something nasty just like Boomer likes to do).

I tried calling what I thought to be the number written on her tag but it was disconnected. I then brought out my microchip reader to see if she was chipped but of course she wasn't. Then I tried to call Animal Control to see if anyone had reported a lost dog but of course the local AC is closed on Fridays (and Mondays and Sundays).

All the while I was making plans in my mind about everything I'd have to do if no one claimed her. She was well-behaved, knew "sit" at least, and she quietly followed me around the yard while sniffing everything she could. She was so mellow, I thought for sure she was an older dog.

If she was going to stay, I'd have to introduce her to the dogs sometime. She seemed fine with the woman's dog she followed so I wasn't too too nervous about introducing her to Phoebe at least. Phoebe gets along with everyone. But I had the penny shaker in hand just in case something bad happened.

I need not have had the slightest qualms. Cookie, calm and self-contained up until now, absolutely lit up the moment she saw Phoebe. Their powerful tails almost seemed synchronized as they swooshed their tails as hard and as fast as they physically could.

In the meantime, I began to change the digits in the phone # I originally called. The 5 could've been an 8, the 4 could've been a 9. I called 3 more numbers, left 2 voicemails, and got another disconnected line. The first person to call me back said she didn't have a dog. But the second person immediately asked, "You have Cookie?" Bingo!

Cookie had been spotted with another dog. But the other dog was skittish with strangers and took off. Turns out these dogs jumped the fence this morning. The other dog returned home, so maybe Cookie would've gotten safely home as well without our interference. But I'm glad I got involved anyway.

I dropped Cookie, with Phoebe tagging along, off at her house about a mile away. She went back to being the calm lady. I had a nice chat with her Dad, who told me that he himself had found Cookie wandering the streets with nothing but a harness just a couple of months ago. Despite putting up flyers and reporting a found dog with AC, nobody claimed her so he just adopted her. I made sure to suggest getting a new tag.

I'm glad this story had a happy ending and that I was a part of it. It was a pleasure hanging out with Cookie and I already have a soft spot for her. And on my drive back home with Phoebe, I passed this:

It always gives me a good blissful feeling to know that people really love their dog.

Another Day at the Park

They're Multiplying!

Popeye & Phoebe's Leg

Happy new year!

Popeye celebrates by gnawing on Phoebe's leg. I think it's a Taiwan Dog thing.

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More Phoebe

BTW, that's the one couch that the humans have deemed dogs are not allowed on.

Yes, this couch:


The same couch:

Cuddling with Phoebe

Found Long-Haired Chihuahua

The mail lady knocked on my door early this afternoon. She's a great mail carrier and I am lucky to be part of her route. She's seen our dogs from time to time and knows I've fostered. Today she told me that there was a little dog in a box abandoned in front of one of the houses around the corner. It's been raining and the temperature fairly cold by California standards, and the mail lady said the dog was shivering but would not come to her.

So I put on my shoes, grabbed a leash, the car keys and Phoebe (in case the dog was dog-friendly and Phoebe could coax it to us). Boomer decided he wanted to come along too, so they both hopped in the car. It was still raining at the time. Here's what I saw when we got there.



I got out of the car and immediately the dog stepped away. I let Phoebe out, but the dog backed away and went off to huddle in the corner between the house next door and the side fence. I knocked on the door of the house and asked the person who answered if she had a dog. Lots of times when dogs hang around in front of a particular house, especially little ones, it means they've escaped the yard. But she said no.

We both went over the dog, still huddled in the corner and growling at us. I tried to loop a leash around him but he kept attacking it. The other woman is a cat person so didn't know too much about dogs. I'm a wuss otherwise I would've just picked the dog up. Instead, we decided to try to trap him. I had a mail bin in my car which I angled in front of the dog, between the house and the side gate, so that he couldn't escape. Of course, he could've jumped over the mail bin but luckily for us, he wasn't that adventuresome. If he was, he would've taken off from fright rather than back himself in a corner.

The woman went back to her house and came back with a pet crate, which took the place of the mail bin. We had the door open, and the dog was cornered. He had only to take 2 steps to get into the crate. But he wasn't moving and couldn't be bribed with treats. Shaking and growling, he just cowered. I found a piece of cardboard and put layed it on top of the crate, with part of it sticking out so that the dog was covered--not just from the rain but also to prevent him from jumping over the crate. We then left him alone and went to stand by my car. 2 minutes later, I heard a little noise and when I went back to look at him, I saw he had finally gone into the crate. It was a simple matter of just closing the door and packing him into my car.



When I got home, I pulled out one of our spare crates--an XXL one. I wasn't sure how scared and withdrawn this dog was going to be so I wanted him to have his own little space. Luckily, he was such a small dog that a large crate was plenty of room. I set up the 2 crates facing each other so he would have access to both.



As it turns out, the moment he was let out of the plastic crate, he transformed into this tag-wagging, friendly dog who wanted to be lifted up. We named him Pip, short for pipsqueak, which is what Popeye calls him. Popeye's not a fan yet.

Pip was not microchipped and had no collar, which actually isn't uncommon. We had gone on the assumption he had been abandoned in that cardboard box, but I immediately noticed how well groomed he was. Nails not overgrown, hair brushed, ears cleaned, and I could smell the fragrance of shampoo on him.

The more I get to know him, the more I find it impossible to believe that somebody abandoned him. Maybe if he had some super annoying habit like incessant barking or hyperness or some behavioral problem. But he is, so far, a fabulous dog. Judging from his teeth, he appears to be only about 5-6 months old. He is not yappy, though he does make little squeaky whines when he wants attention. He is definitely used to being cuddled because if you sit on the floor, he immediately crawls onto your lap. He doesn't mind being picked up and he's fine with the other dogs. He has a tendency to mark (and he's not neutered) but he appears at least somewhat housetrained.

This dog is just too cute, too young, and too well-behaved to have been dumped so unceremoniously in the rain and cold. We'll be making more calls. In the meantime, he'll have a warm place to stay. And maybe, in a week or so, Popeye will warm up to him and finally have a buddy that's smaller.

Pitbull Puppies

Here's a video of a bunch of cute pitbull puppies, available for adoption at Best Friends Sanctuary. (Thanks Linda.)



Here's a video of Phoebe, our own pitbull pup (who's actually 6 years old now), watching the video of pit pups.



And here's a video of Phoebe playing with a trio of pit pups.



And of course Phoebe when she was truly a pit pup herself. (We adopted her from Paw Printz Pitbull Rescue when she was 8 months old and have been counting our lucky stars since.)

Phoebe & Popeye Gentle Play

Green Smoothies

I'm anal about what the dogs eat. Ever since switching over to raw feeding back in the late 90's, I've spent hours and hours every month on the dogs' food, from grinding their raw meaty bones to blending their veggies, from researching what supplements to try to driving long distances to pick up enough locally raised meats to fit their own freezer. I'm like a dictator when it comes to what the dogs eat.

But I myself still eat like a college student. I rarely cook and rely mostly on eating out and mooching off what other people make. And I hate veggies. So often I've seen veggies on a dish and thought to myself, "It's great being an adult. There's nobody to make me eat my veggies." Seriously, that rocks.

As I get older though and as age and my conscience catch up with me, I'm feeling more compelled to eat healthier. Not healthy per se, that would just take too much effort, just healthier.

Somebody recently told me about green smoothies. These are smoothies made of fruits and green leafy vegetables. Everybody knows the huge benefits of eating greens. But I hate greens and so rarely do. The purpose of green smoothies is to get you to eat tons of raw greens and actually enjoy it. So you take a bit of greens, add some fruits to mask the flavor, and blend together. Blending not only allows you to drown out the taste of the greens, but it also breaks down the cellulose walls of the produce making it much easier for your body to digest. And since you're blending rather than juicing, you're utilizing the fiber as well.

This is an entertaining video I came across that explains the benefits of green smoothies.


Blending veggies is not new to me. I do it all the time for the dogs. Because of the cellulose lining, dogs can't digest whole veggies. So you have to break them down first, either by blending, grinding, processing, or some other method.

Here are some veggies I blended recently for the dogs.

I always look like a health nut when I go grocery shopping for the dogs, buying a cart full of veggies for them. Considering how I eat, that's very amusing to me.

Here's what the veggies look like after they've been blended.

Although I hate veggies, I absolutely love fruit, so when I learned about green smoothies, I decided to give it a try. I got The Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko, which is a basic starter book with tons of recipes.

Today I tried the first recipe:

1 mango (with skin)
1 cup kale (I just used a couple of leaves)
1 cup water

The mango I got had almost no flavor so I also added a banana.


It wasn't very sweet, which I was ok with, but the great thing was that the banana completely masked the smell and flavor of the kale. Finally, there is a way for me to eat my greens without making a face.

In the book, Victoria also explains dogs like green smoothies too, so you can share some with them. Our dogs like to lick the glass clean.



I always knew it was just a matter of time before the dogs inspired me to eat as healthy as they do.

Bill Burr: Adopting a Pitbull

If you have or love a pit, you will love this video.

This was Tyler's reaction when I brought our first pitbull foster home. I was so excited to have her (she was only 8 months old and the cutest, sweetest puppy), but when Tyler walked through the front door and saw her happily waiting to greet him for the first time, he looked hard at her and then at me and his exact words were, "Is that a pit? We're not keeping her."

5 years and 50 fosters later, she is still his favorite dog in the whole world.

Our Trip to Boonville

Here's what I packed for myself for our 3-night, 4-day trip to Boonville, CA last week. And actually, only the right pouch is my stuff.


Here's what Tyler packed for himself.



And here's what we packed for the dogs.



And that's really only half of it. I had a list of over 2 dozen things that we had to bring for the dogs, mostly Popeye. First, we have Popeye's "emergency kit" that we keep in the car at all times. A spare wheel for his cart, baby wipes, an extra belly band, spare parts for the cart and tools to change them, an inflator for the tires, and some water.

Since Popeye needs to be manually expressed and I have a bad back, we have our own portable "changing station," which consists of a plastic baby pen and a crate divider.

Then we've got the stroller, which we ended up not using, but it stays in the car wherever Popeye goes just as a precaution. There's also his cart of course, and that white bin is used to elevate his water and food bowl so he doesn't have to bend forward so much.
3 plastic bags of belly bands (40 total), and luckily there's room for the humans' stuff.

But wait, we're not done yet. Lots of extra blankets and towels in case Popeye has some accidents. Also, tons of rugs because we don't know if the flooring at the cottage is going to be too slippery for Popeye to walk on. We brought 13 rugs but next time, we're going to bring more.

Luckily, we were able to borrow a cargo box. Oh, and don't forget the 3 dog beds.

And of course the food. I individually packaged each meal ahead of time.


6 feeding times, 3 dogs--that's 18 individual meals.

Popeye takes a lot of supplements with his meals. I included as many of the supplements as I could with the meals, but some supplements I kept separate because I wasn't sure how they would do frozen with the meat. Rather than bringing every bottle, I packaged all the powder supplements in little ziplocks for each meal.

Of course, there was one supplement that I did mix in with the meat whose capsule shell ended up getting warped. Usually I can bury the capsules in the ground food so that Popeye doesn't notice them. But because the shells were warped, he was better able to pick them out. So every meal ended like this. 36 pills down the drain.

Once we got to the cottage, we immediately set up Popeye's changing station outside.

And we made the inside more dog-friendly.

A sheet over the little spare bed in the corner, dog beds on the floor, elevated water bowl, and a path of rugs. The floor turned out to be textured stone, which Popeye has no problem walking on. But we still put out the rugs to provide some cushioning for the times when he goes nuts and bounces around on the floor.

There's no such thing as packing light when it comes to the dogs. But it was all worth it because the trip went off without a hitch. Popeye tends to always have some little mishap, even at home, whether it be a seroma, a new scrape somewhere on his body, an allergy flare-up (which he actually did have but we managed to control it with meds), or heaven forbid an injured leg, which happened when we took him to the Giants ballgame a couple of months ago. But none of that happened. Nobody got injured or skunked or infested with fleas. I was nervous about the trip but it ended up being a good one.

The Buckeye

This past weekend, we visited a little peace of doggie heaven called The Other Place in Boonville, CA. 4 cottages, fully fenced, on 500 acres of hillside with a little pond. The cottage we stayed in was called the Buckeye.

This was Popeye's first trip and I was very nervous. So many mishaps could happen. He could strain a leg, like he did when we took him to the Giants ballgame, have a really bad allergy flare-up (he actually did have a flare-up, but luckily we got it under control with meds), tip over in his cart and hurt himself.

But the 4 days, 3 nights ended with no emergencies. Nobody got hurt. Or skunked. Or car sick, except me on our way back home through the winding road of Hwy 128. It was nice to get away, since we rarely ever do. And now that it's over, I can let out a big "Whew!"