I have to admit, I have dress up your dog envy. When I see how adorable Mr. B and Miss M. are I just want to go out and buy a fun wardrobe for my boys. The reality is, while Ray is becoming more open to wearing clothes, Julius is still pretty new to the craziness process so I’m taking it slow. I had planned a similaraly silly costume like Ray’s but we actually won a costume for Julius. Alas, as of this morning it hadn’t arrived yet, which is probably fine with Ju-Ju. Last year, I didn’t even dress Ray up for Halloween. The dog moms out there in Blogland will note I wrote that as if dressing your dog is the norm when it seems to be the exception for so many others I meet in person.

Earlier this year, and I mean back in January, I was driving down the street and when I noticed the name of a specific business. I realized it would make the perfect Halloween costume idea for Ray. It was simple but fun and you have to think it through a bit. I told the gals at work and one of them suggested a slight modification to the design, and so I bring you…Ray’s costume.

So let’s have a little fun. Tell me in the comments here or on the boy’s Facebook page what Ray is dressed as. Each correct answer will be entered in a random drawing for either a handmade item of jewelry or a monetary donation to the Shelter/Rescue of your choice. We’ll run this through Friday at 8:00 pm EST.

This is a “nothing fancy” and just for fun contest. I made this jewelry and didn’t know what to do with it. Some of the necklaces have a Pit Bull and read Love-a-Bull while others read “I speak for those who have no voice.” There are also a few bracelets with a peace sign and I may even still have a crazy cat lady necklace. Just make sure I can contact you if you win and we’ll work out the deets.

Thanks for playing!

This past Saturday was Pit Bull Awareness Day and although I have posted a few pictures to Instagram this month with the hash tag #nationalpitbullawareness, I didn’t do much more than give a cursory nod to a whole day dedicated to my boys and to dogs like them.

Pit Bull types like Retriever types like Spaniel types are just a type of dog and though I like to call my dogs funny names, (I called my Rottweiler “wot-weiler,” I called my chow-chow a baa-baa, and I call my pit bulls “pit-bow”) I don’t want them to be defined by a label. They are my baby boys and though I am “aware” of my dogs every hour of every day of every week, and I am very happy to celebrate their awesomeness at any turn, I wonder what a special day really means.

I wondered if any other breed or type of dog has its own special day, so I turned my fingers to Google and found that if I searched Cocker Spaniel and Yorkie Awareness Day, the top suggestions were Puppy Mill Awareness Day. Golden Retriever Awareness Day matches up with PTSD, pet obesity, and autism awareness. If you Google German Shepherd Awareness, you would find links to Service dogs, etc.

What makes the block heads special? On Saturday when Kevin and I were running errands we must have been talking about dogs or something because, although I can’t remember the context of the conversation, I remember Kevin saying to me, “Everyone I’ve ever known who owns a Pit bull seems to be more passionate about their dog than other dog owners I know.”
Though I know quite a few dog owners who are passionate about their non-pit bull dogs, (Adventures of a Dog Mom, Oh Melvin, Online Canine just to name a few) I know what he meant. I know I am personally more passionate about my two boys than any other dog I’ve lived with. Is it because I’m in a different place in my life or is it because these two are so special? I don’t know.

My baby boys, who love each other so much but still squabble like brothers, play like exuberant boys, and cuddle like champions and are both “Pit Bulls” are so similar and so different. Because they are two separate dogs; two dogs who make up that huge melting pot known as Pit Bull. They are nothing special and yet extremely special to their loving mama. The best and most flattering comment I read on Facebook this weekend was from our SPCA Director who wrote that we have “done more to advance this cause, simply by sharing her normalcy,…”

So even though we did nothing special for Pit Bull Awareness Day, we’d love to read about what you did.

In our old house, bedtime would be preceded by me, Julius and Ray snuggling on the sofa for a little bit of TV time. The boys would usually fall asleep and I would nudge Julius off the sofa and into his crate to be tucked in for the night, while Ray got covered by a blanket on the sofa. They both mostly stayed in the kitchen/family room areas behind the baby gate and only had the run of the house when supervised, which mostly prevented them from helping themselves to the kitty food and litter box buffet.

At this house, Juli-bean still has a crate set up but that is now only for the work day and we started off with both boys sleeping in our room. It worked out better than we had hoped for at first. Julius had a little area on the floor that he nestled into and Ray slept on the bed with us.

That lasted two full nights until Julius realized he was being afforded second class canine status and hopped on the bed sometime after midnight. Here’s the dilemma: Julius finds a spot and stays in it all night and Ray constantly finds new positions. First Ray sleeps between us, then he wants under the covers, then he wants to be out of the covers then he wants to be in the covers…you get the idea. Actually once he finds a good spot under the covers, he sticks there longer, but he can’t be shown the good spot, he has to find it on his own. And then there’s the snoring. Ray snores. Apparently he snores loud and long which keeps Kevin up but for whatever reason, I find it comforting and as soon as he snores I fall into a deep sleep.

The solution so far has been to have Julius sleep with the girls. Since he doesn’t fidget, he wouldn’t trample them like Ray would and he still gets to sleep with people at night. The first night went very well but on the second he stood at their door and whined a bit. He finally settled on the bed and I had to wake him up in the morning to go outside.

I know Kevin would prefer Julius who is less of a fidgety bed hog, but Ray is my spoon dog, so we’ll just keep working at the sleeping arrangements.

Do you have sleeping challneges in your home?

Hi folks!  If you’re still with us, we need to send a big Thank You for sticking.  We’ve been pretty scarce on the internets lately and it’s because we’ve moved!  Granted, we only moved about 30 miles from where we were, but it was hectic all the same.

To tell the truth, this is a process we started back in July of 2011 because back then, we wanted an inground pool and decided it would be easier and more cost effective to buy a house with a pool already there.  We were waaaaay wrong because although we got an offer on the house right away, it was never destined to close and our realtor at the time wasn’t the best.  As you know, we then installed an inground pool and decided to stay in the summer of 2012 but with the two dogs running around, the expense of a pool and the upkeep necessary which is a year-round undertaking, we decided again to move. 

This time our search was for larger rooms, and a yard meant for running.  This home fit nearly everything on our lists and the boys LOVE it.  I was concerned about the moving nerves  and such, especially because Ray always looks worried.  We packed and transported and unpacked, rinse and repeat for several days before the movers actually came and we also brought the boys up one evening to check things out.  They loved the huge deck and grassy yard to run in.  Ray loved the absence of lava rock and everyone has taken to this house as if it was meant to be.

Since we’re still transitioning and all of us have colds now, I can nearly guarantee that posts will be scarce this week, but we are still posting pics on Facebook, so check in with us there!

Peace and Love.

Recently, our good friends at Adventures of a Dog Mom hosted a give away for some free bags of Purina ONE.  Emily had been asked to test some of their food and although Boomer and Dottie weren’t able to do so, one of the dogs in her family was. 

Now, I love a give away as much as anyone else but I try to only enter a contest in which I can really make use of the prize or if it’s something new to us, a prize we may be interested in trying and in the case of Purina ONE, I was hoping to win specifically because although I don’t feed that, the ACSPCA does.  Score!  Imagine how thrilled I was to learn two bags of kibble were coming their way and I got to be the lucky person to deliver it.

As if that wasn’t generous enough, before I even made it to the store with my coupons for the bags of food, Emily contacted me again.  Purina had offered her coupons for canned ONE and since I was donating my winnigs, would I be interested in these coupons too?  Would I!  You bet.

In the midst of moving, surviving a flood, acclimating to a new city, state and job Emily took the time to send us not only the coupons, but a really cool dog journal as well.

Purina ONE headed to the shelter

If you’ve been around for any amount of time, you may remember this.  We did have a bit of an adjustment and growing up period…most of last year.  But I have to say, when Becca called me and told me about the carpet, I knew Kevin would be mad, but never in my wildest imagination did I think Kevin would raise a hand to Ray.  And I was right.  The carpet incident was a shock, but no one ever feared for Ray’s safety.

via

So, for two reasons, this story touched my heart.  I’m newish to And Foster Makes Five, mostly through Facebook, but when I read this story and saw the pictures of that heart nosed puppy, my heart melted and I knew I had to help. 

Some dogs are fortunate to know people who know people.  Networking helps and though there are so many pleas for help online that you really have to be not only judicious in who, when, and how you help, you sometimes have to decline or bypass a story out of sheer self-preservation. 

This story, this dog touched me.  I donated, I shared and hope that you’ll do the same.

That is all.

My Co-Pilot
Ray is my travelling dog. He and I have gone several places near and far without mishap and because Ray has always been such a good passenger that it’s been easy to forget that so many of my other transports have involved pukers and poopers. Yes, in my vehicle, a sturdy seat cover has been a necessity but lately with so much use, I’ve noticed it isn’t exactly waterproof anymore. The liner is pretty well cracked, and the flaps that Velcro open and shut around the seatbelts are potential leaky areas.

The big challenge in finding a reliable seat cover is that I drive a pick up so the back of the back seat is sort of stuck to the inside of the truck. Seat covers have to sit on top of the seat and can go over the head rests but can’t go over the back of the bench seat. While I mostly used the seat cover to keep Ray’s hair and possibly his muddy paws off of the seat, a good cover became critical when Julius joined the family.

He Tricked Me
The day I picked Smokey up and drove him home to his new life as Julius, he sat in the back seat fairly bewildered but enjoying a nice dried duck foot. He loaded in nicely and sat on the seat probably wondering what was happening to him. That was pretty much the only time he has been in the truck without vomiting. His next couple of rides were solo and I quickly learned the signs. First the strands of drool begin to form accompanied by a funk in the air. If I don’t pull over immediately, it would be too late.

Big Brother
When I began letting the boys ride together, things were a bit better. Julius didn’t begin to show signs of sickness with every ride, but I was able to stop and walk him more as well. This past weekend, however we had two showings of the house in the same day, and we had two vomits as well. Unfortunately, both Ray and Juli were in the back and both times I was too late to get Julius out in time. By the time I stopped the vehicle and opened the back door, Ray was ready to escape from his barfy little brother and very ready to take up the shotgun seat. The look of horror on Ray’s face was just too priceless.

Another Cover
Fortunately, I’ve been throwing extra beach towels in the truck with us, so very little has soaked through our cover, but I knew we’d need something extra. The solution I came up with is that I bought a twin sized mattress cover and cut holes out to go over the head rests. That way it doesn’t have extra fabric in the back and I can tuck it nicely all the way around the seat. It’s also water/liquid repellent. The drawback is that it’s white and ugly but I put my old cover on top of it for now until I can think of something else.

What are your travelling arrangements?

One of the big differences between Julius and Ray is their various levels of food motivation. Julius is completely food motivated and Ray is more treat motivated, in the strictest sense. Ray has never, ever been one to wolf down his kibble, no matter what kind it is. True, when I switch food, he may have finished a new one more quickly, but as a general rule, he has always been a grazer, if left to his own means so I nearly always have to put some sort of topper on his kibble.

Treats, he loves and there isn’t really anything he won’t eat if it’s hand-fed to him. This includes all fruits and vegetables that have ever been offered. The only other quirk is that he wants someone there while he eats. A kong given to him before our departure is usually left untouched until a human returns home, so I’ve learned to not stuff a huge kong and freeze it for him but rather give him a kong with a bit of peanut butter smeared on it with maybe a small treat inside.

Julius, on the other hand LOVES food of all kinds…at least he loves the idea of it. I have not yet worked too extensively with Julius on commands, though he knows “sit” and sometimes remembers “down,” but some words he always knows are “breakfast,” “dinner” and “who wants one?”

The proper responsed to breakfast and dinner is that Julius runs to his crate and the proper answer to “who wants one” is a polite sit. Julius learned that really quickly but “one” can be kind of tricky. Julius always wants “one” but has been pretty shocked on more than one occasion when “one” has turned out to be such delicacies as asparagus, broccoli, beans, or romaine lettuce. His shock and disbelief is almost comical: not only is that “one” not tasty, but his big brother LOVES it.

Does your pooch have a picky palate?

My friend/co-worker, who I spoke with last week said she lost two dogs within nine days and neither was sick so it was a total surprise. It was one of the worst weeks of her life and she said only a fellow dog lover would understand.

One of the families I met at the PetSmart adoption event, was in with their beautiful, gizzled dog. They had gone to several locations looking for some of the advertised dogs available but kept just missing the ones they sought. Their stately elderdog was ten years old and has cancer. He was well loved and a cherished part of the family who had been with them since being rescued nine years ago. This family was looking to add to their household, not replace an aging member of the family but to expand.

They say you shouldn’t outlive your kids, but we will all outlive many of our own furbabies. Each one will take a piece of our hearts with them. Asia and I were talking about Ray and Julius the other night. I never imagined that I would have two dogs, much less two who were so close in age. “Muffin,” the baby, arrived after Ray but will never remember life before Julius, she will always have the two. She will grow up with the boys, just as I did with Samantha and learn to love and properly care for animals. She will carry on the animal advocacy of her Mom and her YaYa and be a good steward for the next generation.

This past weekend was PetSmart Charities National Adoption Weekend and I was honored to be a part of that on Saturday as Asia and I volunteered to help find some great pooches forever homes.  I got the text early Saturday letting me know that Asia would be handling Hoagie and I would have Pop Tart.

Pop Tart

Hoagie

If we’re friends on Facebook, you may remember I shared Poptart (Poppie) about a week or so ago.  She had been fostered by our Director’s friend, adopted and then wound up back in the shelter through no fault of her own.  I love that phrase because it can cover so many things, but in this circumstance, it was no fault of her own.  Unfortunately, the former foster was not able to refoster, so Facebookers pulled together to network her fast and furiously but in the end she was transferred up to Allen County where we would have a shot at placing her in a perfect forever home. 

Sometimes in adoption you find really good homes, you find great homes and every once in a while you find perfect homes.  While Hoagie did not make a love match this weekend, Poptart scored the ultimate: the perfect home.  Her adopters were supporters of the SPCA, and former adopters.  In fact, they had adopted the cutie pie formerly known as Lane. 

Lane and Asia at PrideFest

I met Lane, know called Tyson, when Asia and I volunteered at Pridefest and he was simply adorable.  His new family were looking for a sibling for him to play with.  They fell in love with Poptart, but had to go get Tyson to see if it was going to be a love match.  Sweet Poptart had been, in the space of twenty four hours, transferred from one shelter to another, two hours away, slept in a strange environment, taken by a treat bearing stranger to a large store where there were many, many other dogs and cats looking for homes.  To say she handled it like a champ would be an understatement.  She got into a couple of shouting matches with some other dogs, but when she met Tyson, it was kismet.  They just were like two peas in a pod and Poptart, now known as Khaleesi, took all of his puppy lovin’ in such a good natured way that I couldn’t have cooked up a better recipe for success.

 I’m super excited about the updates already and just know that this was a great love match.  As for Hoagie?  No match this weekend, but this little guy just has so much personality that I’m sure he’ll be in a home of his own very soon.  The good folks at Allen County SPCA will see to that.

Thanks to PetSmart, the volunteers and staff at not only Allen County SPCA, but also all rescues and shelters all across the nation for giving your time and talents to this great cause.  I’m sure thousands of dogs and cats found their forever home over the weekend.  It’s what we do until there are no more.