1st day of school

This day never makes me happy.  Summer's over - back to school.

 The dogs have no idea they are going to be stuck with just me all day long now! 

The obligatory pose while waiting for the bus.

Okay, I admit it.  I'm not that sad.  I kind of surprised myself.  I thought I would be.  But right now I think I'll go get some breakfast with a friend and have some grown up conversation!!

Champions!

In dek hockey, the sessions last for about 10-12 weeks and then a new one starts.  It is almost always hockey season!  The sad thing is, just when these kids are starting to come together as a team, the session ends.  Every session, there is a draft and the coaches have to start from scratch.  They don't get to keep any players from last session, each and every player is drafted again.

Thankfully, Luke's coach has done his best to keep the team together.  He has been able to keep a core of kids each session.  A few will come and go, but the kids are able to keep that team feeling.  Luke has formed some great friendships with these kids.  And us with their parents, truth be told! 

The kids have worked hard together, but they have always come up short in the playoffs.  Not this time!  They finally did it. 

The pile up after the game, love that! 

 Luke said this was the best day of his life so far.  Too cute!

23 million google matches

A week and 3 days with the puppy.  This is hard work. 

He tries to pull down my curtains.  He knocked over a lamp.  He runs into walls just because he is going super fast.  Drags out dirty clothes.  Loves shoes.  Chews furniture.  He licks the dishes as I put them in the dishwasher.  He puts his paws up on the table when he thinks no one is looking.

I'm exhausted trying to keep up with him! 

He's a digger.  I've never had a dog who digs.  I was digging up flower bulbs and he helped.  I tried to get him to stop - and then I realized I could use this to my advantage.  I let him sniff a bulb and then I said, "Find it!" and he'd dig until he'd find more.  I sat back and had lemonade while he worked.  ha ha.

He is doing REALLY well with going outside.  He is even learning how to sit and "take it nice". 

Emma has mixed emotions.  She wanted a puppy so bad.  SO. Bad.  He doesn't listen to her.  She squeals; he thinks she's playing so he jumps on her more.  He gets tangled up in her hair.  He takes every stuffed animal off of her bed.  All the Barbies have been pulled out of the Barbie house.  He is a vacuum cleaner gone wild in her room.  He puts everything in his mouth.  And I mean everything. 

And then there is Baxter.  My poor lazy 9 year old dog.  Her world has been rocked.  Sometimes she wants to play; sometimes she doesn't want to be bothered.  The puppy always wants to play.  Always.

The first night home, the puppy was flopping around.  Baxter was getting stressed.  In  his rompings, he landed right next to her food bowls - her empty food bowls - and sat there.  Wrong move.  Baxter attacked.  She has never been food possessive but I think it just put her over the edge.  She did draw blood so we went to the vet.

Baxter has been back and forth since then....  Some moments her tail is wagging and she is playing and other times she is growling like mad and snapping.  I don't leave them unsupervised.

We had a couple days in a row where Baxter was really stressed.  So I called some dog trainers.  "It is normal for the older dog to not like the puppy at first" they told me.  "She has to establish her dominance, it is actually a good thing.  It sounds like they are going to kill each other, but they'll be okay."

But it was stressing me out!  So I did what any sane person would do - I googled.  23 million matches with "my older dog doesn't get along with my puppy".  Wow, really?!?

I tried some advice.  I pet Baxter in front of Crosby while staying calm and saying, "Good dog.  Baxter is a good girl."  and I pretty much ignored the puppy.  He tried to jump on me and on her, but I just slowly stepped in between them and ignored him some more.  After a few minutes of this, he just sat there.  Just sat there!  And then Baxter initiated play with him - and they played really nicely for 30 minutes.  I about fell over.

Everything I've read says the puppy needs to be taught manners.  Baxter will teach him with her growling and we will teach him by ignoring him. 

After the dogs were done playing, Crosby even let Emma sit next to him and pet him - without trying to get tangled up in her hair.  She exclaimed, "Mommy, I think we just taught him how to stay calm!"

Good dog.  Very good dog. 

Poor Crosby.  He's just trying to figure all this out.  When Baxter ignores him, he just copies her.  I guess he'll figure all this out eventually :)

He really is a cute puppy, though!!

Puppy Diaries

5 Days BC (Before Crosby).  Monday, August 6th
Emma had her annual check-up.  Her doctor is 5 minutes from the Humane Society.  We had been thinking about getting a puppy, but....  we weren't 100% sure.  Emma had never been to the Humane Society and I wasn't sure if I wanted another dog, so I decided to take her there and we could check it out.  I thought I was safe.  She has been to Petco and none of the kittens / lizards / snakes / ferrets / hamsters have come home with us.

The dogs there were crazy.  Poor things.  Some were attacking their cage doors, some were jumping all around their kennel, some were showing us their teeth, some were shaking in the back corner of their kennel. 

The kennel worker guy said, "Not many of these dogs are good with kids....  you wouldn't want a puppy, would you?" 
Me:  "Yes, actually we would!"
Kennel Guy:  "We have 2 puppies, they will be available for adoption on Thursday.  You can sneak a peek."
We take a walk to the back kennels.
Kennel Guy:  "Here they are.  They're brothers."  Two really cute puppies were cuddling together on their bed.  One was all tan with a little bit of black on his face, the other was mostly black with some tan markings. 
Emma and I:  "Hey, cute puppies!"  The black one jumps off his bed and comes to the cage door, wagging his tail.  "Aw, he's so cute!"  We gawk for a few minutes and leave. 
Kennel Guy:  "So if you come back on Thursday, right when we open at 11:00, you can see him and play with him and see what you think."

Emma is gushing.  I am thinking.  We get home and tell Joe and Luke. I get on Craigslist, ebay classifieds, and all the local newspapers to see if I can find a puppy.


4 Days BC (Before Crosby), Tuesday August 7th
The kids go to my parents for a few days for a sleepover. I keep scouring the internet for puppies. None are as cute as the one at the Humane Society. I start looking for Golden Retriever breeders since I always thought our next dog would be one. I'm on this puppy kick now. But part of me thinks it is nice just having Baxter. I go back and forth - and back and forth.


3 Days BC, Wednesday August 8th
I woke up this morning realizing I had a dream about the puppy at the Humane Society.  Uh-oh!


2 Days BC, Thursday August 9th
Joe and I decide we have nothing to lose so we should go to the Humane Society to see the puppy. Right when it opens. We figure if it doesn't work out, the kids will never know since they're still not home. Plus it might be easier to see this puppy without the pressure of the kids begging for it.

We pull into the parking lot and this lady gets out of her car and runs to the door. It is still locked. Must be just a minute before 11:00. We follow her and they unlock the door. She runs to the front desk and says, "I'm here to see the puppies." I say, "We are too." She says, "Which one?" I answer, "The black one." "Oh good, I want the tan one", she says.

The lady at the front desk says, "One of the puppies is already spoken for." In unison, the other lady and I say, "What?" She says, "There was a pre-application on one of them." The other lady gets a little upset and said, "I asked if I could put a deposit on him or do an application ahead of time and you told me no. How could this happen?" No answer. Just, "Have a seat and we'll find out which one is taken already. I have to make a call." They take us to a room in the back so we couldn't hear the phone call I guess. On the way back, the beans are spilled that an employee is adopting one of the puppies.

After a few minutes, the front desk lady told us that the black one is spoken for. The other lady is relieved, but then apologizes to us. "It's okay", I say, "It wasn't meant to be." And I mean it.

Until I got in the car. We weren't 100% sure we wanted a puppy anyway, but suddenly I was sad we didn't even get a chance to see him.

1 Day BC, Friday August 10th
The kids are home and Emma has to go back to the doctor for a follow up appointment.  She asks if we can go to the Humane Society.  I tell her what happened with the puppy.  She cries.  She asks if we can go anyway.  I tell her I don't think that's a good idea.  "But maybe I can just say hi to the other dogs", she begs.  I agree to take her.

We walk in the front door and the kennel worker from the other day is standing there.  His mouth drops.  "I was just looking for your phone number!" he says.
"Shut up!" is all that comes out of my mouth.
"I'm serious.  I was just going to call you.  She changed her mind; she doesn't want to adopt him.  He's yours if you want him."
"You wouldn't do this to her, would you?" I say as I point to Emma.  I can not believe this is happening.
"No, I wouldn't.  I'm serious.  Why don't you go to the playroom and I'll bring him out."

We sit in the playroom to wait for the puppy.  For about an hour.  Okay, it was probably 5 minutes.  But it seemed like an hour!  Emma's lip starts to quiver.  She starts to cry as she is sitting on the bench waiting for the puppy.

"Emma, why are you crying?  What's the matter?"
She can hardly catch her breath.  "I just really think this puppy is meant to be a part of our family!"
"Well, that's why we're going to see him, sweetheart.  Try to pull yourself together, okay?"
She takes a deep breath. 

In flies this bundle of energy.  Holy. Cow.  He whips around the room, jumps all over the place, nips our hands, bites the bench.  We are in trouble now.  He is too cute.  TOO CUTE. 

I call Joe.  He and Luke come.  He didn't tell Luke where they were going.  Luke had no idea why we were playing with this puppy until I said, "Well, what do you think?  Do you guys think this puppy should be ours?"

Luke:  "Really?  Really?  WHAT?!?  ..... YES!"

The workers give me a clipboard to fill out a puppy adoption application.  This thing is crazy long - almost as long as the paperwork I had to fill out when we were adopting our kids!  ha.

They have a 2 visit policy.  Plus our paperwork has to be approved.  After a few hours, we say goodbye to the puppy.

Later that night
We have a hysterical time trying to pick a name.  We are brainstorming names:  Sparky, Rascal, Lucky.  About 20 more.  Someone comes up with Dude.  We are hysterical.

"Dude, don't pee on my carpet!"
"Dude, are you hungry?"
"Dude, do you want to play?"
"Dude, do you want to take a walk?"

On and on - and ON! - this went with a 9 year old and a 6 year old.  I mean - AND ON.  ha.

Luke comes up with Malkin.  (His favorite hockey player because he is Russian.)  Malkin doesn't have that dog ring to it.  "How about Crosby then?"

We all like it.  After all, he is a black and gold dog.  We love the Pittsburgh Penguins.  It sounds 'dog-ish'.  Why not?

Day of Crosby, Saturday August 11th
The Humane Society calls and says we are approved!  Except we need to bring in our dog for an introduction.  If all goes well, we can take him home with us today.

When we arrive, Baxter is a bit nervous.  All the barking, alll the smells.  I'm sure she wonders what we are doing to her.  They take us outside.  The dogs sniff each other, check each other out.  Tails wag.  Yeah!  This is perfect. 

The puppy jumps up on Baxter.  Baxter pulls away.  He does it again.  She growls. 

Crap.  We're screwed.

"Oh good!" says the kennel worker.
"What?"  I say.
"Oh we like to see that the older dog is going to establish dominance and teach the puppy who is boss and how to behave.  See if she'll do it again."
We let the slack out in Baxter's leash.  The puppy jumps again; Baxter growls again.  This time the puppy retreats and hides behind someone's leg.
"Very good!" says the kennel worker, "He is learning from her!"

We head inside and repeat more of the same.  We get the stamp of approval, sign the papers - and away we go.  Back to a family of two 4-legged friends!!

And I wondered what I was going to do with myself all day with Emma in 1st grade.  I think I just figured it out!

Puppy Love

Well, the lazy life that my 9 year old dog Baxter and I know is now over....  Introducing Crosby!  He is 3 months old, from the Humane Society.  Our world has just been rocked.  ha ha.

First Tooth!

She finally lost one tonight!  And I missed it!!  The kids went to get ice cream with my parents and it fell out at the ice cream place.  I can't believe I missed it, ugh!  My mom said she started to cry when it was coming out.  Too cute.