Julius

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Full Speed Julius

If you follow the boys on Facebook, you’ll already know that Julius took a tumble last night as I picked him up at Day Care.  As he was running up the stairs to greet me, he tripped, fell and landed on his jug-head then wouldn’t put any weight at all on his right front leg.  The team at Day Care checked it out and collectively we decided that it was being held at an odd angle and given the fact that he wouldn’t try to put weight on it was concerning enough to consider a vet visit.

Even though it was not even 6:00 o’clock, I was just about to rush Julius to the emergency vet knowing we’d be able to have xrays done on the spot whereas Juli’s vet (I don’t believe) has that capability. Julius and Ray have actually always seen different veterinarians but remembering that Ray’s new vet’s office has extended hours and a lot of fancy equipment, I called and implored them to see Julius and they agreed to squeeze him in.  I had just enough time to run home and pick up my dog vet record book and make it to the office.

 

He never just lies on the floor at the vet.

 
Ultimately there were no broken or dislocated bones, so Julius was sent home with kisses from all of his new RVT friends and a bagful of drugs.

  
  This morning while he is no longer limping or favoring the leg, he tucked himself in bed in the spare bedroom after breakfast so I know he isn’t yet feeling up to snuff.

 

Brotherly TLC. last night

 
Thanks to everyone who sent well wishes and who continue to do so.  We appreciate the good thoughts.

 

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Yay! Yellow Brick Home!

There were a huge number of things influencing my decision to order or not order my very own Yellow Brick Home Pet Shop Portrait. One thing is that I can be super picky and super critical, especially if I order a custom piece. I mean, I’m still upset about a special order cake from three and a half years ago and chances are I will come unglued if I have to tell that story again. The other reason I hesitated is that I knew that Kim asks questions about the pets she is about to paint. What if I didn’t do justice to the boys? How could I begin to put into words the communication that bounces between me and Ray with just a look? How do I describe Julius’s earnestness and sweetness? What if the portrait looks like two dogs that kind of look like Ray and Julius but without the soul that reflects in their eyes? What if I fail them by the limitations of my vocabulary and expression?

Well, to address the first issue, after being such a stalker an avid reader of the YBH blog I know that if there’s anyone who is freakishly attentive to the details (in the best possible way!) it is Kim, so the only roadblock would be me. Because the Fort Wayne Pit Bull Coalition was selected to be the YBH rescue partner for the quarter I would be pretty ungrateful to not place an order. I’ve been debating on what size to order do I order singles? Do I order a joint portrait? Do I order two singles and a double? Ack! Finally I figured out what to do, so I took a deep breath, clicked, and just like the description of what happens, I soon received an email from Kim asking all kinds of questions. While I gathered up pictures and stewed over what to write about the boys, I realized that probably most YBH Pet Shop customers are just as obsessed with their pets as I am, so she could take my intensity with a grain of salt, right? I also tried not to flood her inbox with pictures-oh just one more, because this one is just so cuuuute!

Nearly Every blog I’ve ever read about the YBH experience talks about how great Kim is to work with and I don’t think I can find the right superlative to describe how great Kim is to work with. I mean, the process is so clearly defined and the communication is so good and crisp. (Have I mentioned how picky I am?) Once we decided on the “pose” she got to work on a mock up to email me so there were really no surprises and no chance for any regrets (oh, I wish we would have done this rather than that) because once I saw the mock up, I was in anticipation heaven! I wanted to shout from the rooftops how cool this was going to be and yet I wanted to keep it as a huge reveal-y surprise too.

So in the first few emails Kim was brainstorming how she might do the painting of the boys. They’re both larger in person than they seem on a screen and she had an idea of using the blog heading or perhaps just their heads, but I know these knuckleheads and I know my own quirky self so here’s what I proposed. My Ray-Ray is such a good poser. If he knows it’s picture time, he usually sits or lies on his mat and gives me his picture face while waiting for his reward.

See that blob in the lower left corner? Juli-bomb.

Julius (who isn’t that treat motivated) acts like if he doesn’t get the posing treat he will absolutely shrivel up and die! He jumps, he grabs and he budges his big head into everyone’s space.

Big, ginormous Juli-head.

He’s a notorious photo-bomber, whether he tries to or not, so that’s what we did. I asked Kim to paint a picture of Ray in his normal pose and have Julius “photo-bomb the portrait.”

Once everything was set, I was given a target date and when it was complete, I received an email with a zip file (my choice as to whether I wanted to peek at it early) and I waited a whole 14 seconds before I unzipped that sucker and SWOONED! OH. MY. GAWD!

Check. It. Out.

Check. It. Out.

As awesome as the scan is, it still just doesn’t do justice to seeing this in real life. When I received my box (stamped YAY!) in the mail, I was happy dancing all over the house. You all should seriously just take a second and look at how freaking awesome this is. When I look at this-I don’t think I’m going to describe it correctly- I feel like Kim knows what it feels like when I wrap my arm around Ray’s neck and pet his chest. She painted what it feels like to hug Ray! Let me say it again: She. Painted. What it feels like. To hug Ray. It makes me cry to think about that. Her take on Julius? Spot on. He isn’t a huge dog and he doesn’t have one of those big American Bully heads but he just has such a big buffalo head that always seems to be in the way. She got his sweet simplicity and the open earnestness that is Julius. I ran all over the house placing it and finally decided on the dining room buffet for now.

 It’s a very central room where I can see it all the time.  And let me just say, most of the guests we’ve had over have initially thought this was a photograph rather than a painting.  Yeah.

As I mentioned, The Fort Wayne Pit Bull Coalition is the rescue partner of Yellow Brick Home so for the remainder of this quarter, 10% of the proceeds from all orders will go to the Coalition. If you have been absolutely dying to have a portrait done of your fur kid(s) I would highly recommend you place your order with Kim as soon as possible but if you could do it  by September 30th the pit bulls of Fort Wayne would send you big, sloppy, wet, grateful kisses.

What are you waiting for?

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Pits in the Park (as told by Julius)

Hi Peoples, it’s Julius here!  It isn’t often that my mom lets me post on the blog.  She says it has something to do with having to type for me and some nonsense about supposable thumbs but she said I could write all about the Julius Jamboree Pits in the Park that was last Saturday. My mom had been busy getting lots of things ready for this big Pittie Party and she even had people over to give me love and attention fold programs and load things in the van.  On that morning I was busy following her around the house and sticking very close to her legs so that she would remember that I was supposed to go with her, and yet she left the house without me!  I was sure that was a huge mistake and I was sad until my human sister, Asia, came to pick me up and she took me and Chance to the big celebration.  When we got to the park, there were so many dogs and people that I got really excited and happy to see everyone.  I saw some of my foster babies there like Diva, who used to be Godiva and Mishi who used to be Kit Kat.  They were both very cute and happy to be at the park.  I saw my buddy Bentley and his new sister Bitsy and my friend Rhino and his sister Boo.  We all walk together on the Sunday day too so we are good friends.  It was like a big party just for me and my friends, except there were so many more.

Photo by Lisa Reyes

The big surprise was I got to be in the kissing booth with my best buddy, Clyde.  We are both very romantical guys and we love to kiss the ladies (and even the gentlemen and kids and other dogs…).  Heck, we would have just given out a lot of free kisses (and we did) but our moms said we were raising money so that other Pit Bulls could be helped.


After we kissed a bunch of people, my buddy Chance and the pretty gal Eden were in the booth.  Chance didn’t really like the booth much.  He just wanted to sit in the grass with Asia and beg for pizza so Eden did a lot of kissing and whenever mom said I was getting obnoxious she put me back in the booth, because I didn’t bark when I was in there.  Then we got to walk around in a parade and show off all of our handsomes!

Clyde and I got to lead the parade because we are more handsome than everyone else The Bully Collective was given the honor and his mom is what they call a founder.

After the parade, Asia took me and Chance home while mom got to have more fun pick up trash and tear down booths. She says this is the first year that Ray didn’t get to go but that she was very proud of me and all of my good ambassador skills.

Do you have a Julius Pit Bull Celebration in your community?