Hi Everybody!  Mama said I could talk about our really exhausting day we  had since I haven’t written in about four months a really long time.  There are a few things I could start out talking about so I’m just going to jump right in.  You know how Moms are usually really eager to tell all about the really embarrassing things that their kids do?  Well, my Mama didn’t tell you something and since I’m almost a grown-up now, I’ll tell you.  The day that we went to the Parade-a-bulls and met Gremlin and The Stig?  Mama wondered if we were going to drive for two hours just to sit in the car and watch the goings-on.  You see, I had a better-in-arian appointment that morning for my shots and even though I like going there every month and standing on the big boy scale, I don’t like to go in the room where I had my stitches out. The man better-in-arian seems to be nervous of me.  I think I make him nervous and he makes me nervous and so when I got on the table, I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue, opened my mouth wide, and  I screamed.  I screamed and screamed and no one was even touching me yet.  Mama said I sounded like someone was peeling the skin off of my bones.  Mama said that even though I am de-sensitized to her touch, I’m not so down for anyone else.  Sooo, she made an appointment for me to visit with my friends at green DogGoods.  I was going to get some  nails trimmed, but since I started screaming as soon as I saw the clippers,  Miss Leslie and Miss Jodi just worked on making me brave de-sensitizing me. 

I did pretty well and when I was done, Mama was waiting for me with a big surprise! 

Me and my mama, and my brother Dahey and his mama went on a bro-pack walk!  It was just the four of us because we both are awesome have issues and our mamas want to let us get used to each other without any pressure.  First my brother and his mama were in front, but Dahey didn’t like that so my mama and I led for awhile.  After a few blocks we were able to walk abreast on opposite sides of the street.  We are going to go really slow and eventually be great buds.  His Mama is very, very talented and she made us matching bow ties.  Check us out.

Aren’t we some handsome dudes?

We didn’t sit next to each other today, because I was goofy and rambunctious but someday we will.  And look!  I have a new harness on.  I got a Freedom Harness just like lots of other famous pups. 

You would think that was enough excitement for one Ray-Ray but Mama had more planned.  We went to see Daddy at work and I met one of Daddy’s co-workers.  This guy was nervous to meet me, but after I said Hi to him so nicely and he petted me, he decided that he was ridiculous not scared.  Mama and I even took another short walk so I could show off get used to my new harness.  She only got a picture of us in a window but you can see just how incredibly handsome good I was.

Ever since we got home I’ve been suffering from a fun hangover relaxing.  Because I allowed my Mama to volunteer all weekend at the Pet Expo, I insisted that she take this whole week off of work to lavish attention  on me, but I’m thinking that she might just wear me out!  She calls it a good mix of mental and physical activity.  I call it …Ray and Mama time, but that can be very, very tiring. 

What special things did you do with your mama?

Well folks, another Monday, another fun hangover for the Ray-Ray. 

“You go on to work, Mama, I’ll just be right here.”

Ray and I spent most of Saturday cleaning, sorting and organizing things.  We’re planning to declutter a lot and will be having a garage sale to get rid of all of the crap treasures that this family has accumulated.  I feel singularly smug because I am a pretty good purger.  I stick pretty close to the one year rule for the most part and give away a lot of things as I go along so I rarely have to deal with the bin upon bin of clothes coming out of storage.  Except for shoes, I do love and hang on to my shoes but hey, everyone has a vice, right?

Sunday our plan was that we would get a lot of other things done around the house.  The Hubby and I are replacing the kitchen sink, faucet and garbage disposal, so we purchased those and brought them home but rather than get it all hooked up we ended up with an impromptu neighbor gathering on the patio.  Ray hadn’t really seen these neighbors since last summer/fall so it was great to see him being so well behaved and mature.  He did ask everyone to play tug with him and some people did.  I kept an eye out for energy and excitement levels and broke up anything that looked to become out of hand.  We are always careful when engaging in tug games with Ray that we keep hands off him.  We tug the rope with him but do not rub his head or face while tugging.  Unfortunately one person did not abide by this and the fun police had to step in. 

All in all, we had a good time and Ray is recouperating nicely from all the funs.

It was quiet.  Not silent, but quiet.  There was a palpable contentment that filled the air along with the happy sound of chewing, teeth scraping against tasty strips of dried body parts.  Unless you’re Hannibal Lecter, that probably sounds disgusting, but if you’re a dog, and perhaps especially a homeless dog, it might just sound like a slice of heaven.

Photo: BestBullySticks.com

Anyone who has a bully stick loving dog knows how pricey a good bully stick can be so save money in a few ways.  I try to hit BestBullySticks whenever I get a discount code in my email plus I enter through my own affiliate link on the blog.  That way, I get an upfront discount plus a little extra padding is building up so that when I redeem it,  I can put it back in to feeding Ray’s bully stick addiction  to good use.  I’ve gotten some awesome 1 and 2 pound grab bags which have always insured every currently housed pooch at the SPCA gets a treat.

Photo: BestBullySticks.com

I love the variety that comes in each of these bags.  You get large, small, thick and thin pieces which pretty much can cover all of the needs of the temporary residents no matter what their size.  Unlike antlers which are sometimes an acquired taste, these chews go over like buttah, baby.

We stood in the walkway by the kennels and smiled at each other in contentment.  Two other volunteers entered and walked up and down the pathway.  “Who wants to go outside?”  No one.  There was no mad dash to the kennel door.  No one stood on their hind legs and barked for attention or walks.  They were all busy chewing.

With all the two legged puppies that seemingly everyone on the bloggerwebs is getting ready for, and in combination with Throwback Thursday, I thought I’d post this picture of Ray and the Baby from last summer.

Since Ray was still very young, and still not given the run of the house at will, we knew keeping him separate from the baby areas would be pretty easy.  For the most part, Ray and I hang in the kitchen and family room (pictured) and most everyone else watches TV etc from either the living room or the bonus room.  Our gate system worked pretty well once we replaced the wooden one that Ray was whittling and he and the baby interacted often that way.

Ray is pretty desensitized to most noises.  He doesn’t mind thunder or fireworks and we worked a lot in preparation to desensitize him to the baby crying.  We did get the scary baby and carried it around and talked to it a lot.  We got the kind that cried, so whenever it cried, we threw treats on the floor for jackpot.  That worked really well, but like I said, noises like that don’t usually bother him.  Once the baby was born, I made a recording of her crying and practiced the crying and jackpot again just to be sure. 

From the beginning, Ray understood that he could sniff the baby if he was sitting and alll humans understood that there would be no waving of the baby above Ray’s head like a treat he’d be interested in jumping up to investigate.  Interactions were always low key and very controlled not because of the inherant dangerousness (eye roll!) of Ray, but because of his puppy-ness and zeal. 

Going this slow has worked out really well for us and in the meantime, Ray learned about acting calm to get nice rewards and then while we weren’t looking something else happened. 

Ray grew up and started acting mature.  Each day I’m amazed that the corner he turned and happy with his progress.  Is he perfect? HECK NO, but he sure is trying hard to be a good great boy.

And here’s a pro tip from the YaYa who hasn’t dealt with a baby in over 22 years:  when you visit the pediatrician, you have to take any soiled diapers with you and since there will be accidents while you’re out and about you should keep one of these handy things clipped to your diaper bag:

They’re handy, they’re scented (bonus) and very rarely will you ever be out in public when for some reason you don’t need one.

We certainly hope you enjoyed our little contribution to the ready for baby trend.  We certainly aren’t experts, but with the help of our trainer were able to figure a few things out when we needed to.

Ray loves tug games which is why those awesome fleece toys from Little Bow Pup have come in so handy.  They’re strong, washable and last a long time.  In fact, anytime Ray can carry something around in his mouth and (bonus) swing it around like a mace, he’s pretty happy.  But with actual rope toys, there is the increased chance of threads loosening and getting all wound in the intestines, unknotting and coming apart.  That’s why we’ve had a run of bad luck with our Jolly Balls.  Tugging enough causes the knots to become undone then you are left with ball and a hole with no rope inside.

Fortunately, this weekend at Big Box Store, I saw a display of fleece winter scarves on clearance and was lucky enough to find a couple in Raven black and purple!  I brought my loot home, cut the two scarves into a total of nine strips and ended up with two tug ropes and a nice new tug rope for the Jolly ball too.

When he starts a-swinging his Jolly Ball in circles he looks quite a bit like a bull trying to shake off a rodeo rider.  He swings it around his head, bangs it onto the ground and swings it around again. 

My braiding and cutting skills are nowhere near the level of professional, but for the cost of $6, I got two new and one refurbished toy, so I was feeling pretty proud of myself and I think Ray was kind of happy, too.

What crafty things do you make for your pooches?

My beloved truck is in the shop today so I knew that I would be pretty much desk-bound for the day but after eating my leftovers and realizing the day was balmy, I went for a walk  In these:

A wedge isn’t really a high heel, especially with a platform, right?  Well, maybe it is, but these are super comfy.  When I’m walking pooches on my lunch, I don’t get lost in thought because I concentrate on my dog and my surroundings, so it was nice to let go a bit.  I tend to “write” while I’m walking alone and if only I could remember half of what goes through that brain I’d have much, much more content.  As it is all you are offered today is a picture of my shoes.

Do you have a mental list of topics that you fine tune before writing?  Where do you find your inspiration?  Based on the title of this post, do you know my truck’s name?

So, did you figure out what was in the package?  We had a couple of good guesses and one person who thinks she knows (I bet she’s right, too.)  Well, we won’t keep you in suspense any longer…

Ray is the proud new owner of a Paco collar! I’ve been wanting to get a really special collar for Ray for the longest time but at first he still had some growing to do and also I just never found exactly what I was looking for.  I wanted something truly reflective of Ray and  I wanted it to relate to the blog somehow.  For the hubby, I know he thought that most all of the collars I’d purchased so far were too girly so I wanted something more masculine as well.   I’ve been visiting the Paco site for ages looking and planning but somehow I couldn’t get past wanting pretty jewels on the collar until the day I saw this:

This is the Duo collar and the moment I set eyes on it I knew it was the one for us.  I completely fell in love with it.

I always assumed we’d someday find a peace sign collar, but this one is just so perfect.  Even my husband likes it.    You know how you see those leather collars that are too stiff like plastic?  This is not like that at all, the leather is supple but not flimsy at all, just perfect.  I haven’t seen anything this beautiful in a collar, in a long time ever.

The folks at Paco Collars were so great to work with, keeping in touch by email and helping to make sure that the measurements were perfect which helped make the experience even better.  I knew it would be 2-3 weeks so I wasn’t running to the mail unnecessarily and when it did arrive I was beyond thrilled.  My only regret is that I didn’t look around the site further because I see now that I could have had his name stamped in it.  Oh well, maybe next time!

Do you have a particular item that you’ve had your eye on for awhile?