Why I Oughta...

We give Lizzie her breakfast and water in the morning.  Every morning.  It is part of our routine.  I wake up, go downstairs, let her out of her crate, take her out.  Then we do a food/drink dance.  After she eats and drinks, if I'm going downtown to the office, I shuffle her back into her crate for the morning.  Actually, she runs into the crate herself.  Then, a couple of hours later when Nat and the kids are up and around, they let her out and she has run of the house. She's different than Maisy when it comes to food/drink.  Maisy only ate and drank when you were in the room with her.  We kept her food and water bowls in my office - where she lived.  I'd fill them up every day, but some days it seemed like she would barely eat.  And only eat when we were sitting in the office together.  Lizzie on the other hand devours everything you put down.  On the spot.  That includes water that she guzzles.  So, we do...

Last time we checked in on Lizzie was when she was wearing her third Elizabethan Collar after dealing with her rear end issue.  With the Holiday season in full swing, she's on her way to getting her 'Christmas Cut', so I thought I'd post this photo of her right before we shipped her off to the groomers.  She's wearing her winter coat.  And she's all dirty from chasing squirrels around the yard and up trees.  She hasn't caught one just yet, but she gets close.  I do wonder if the squirrels are playing her.  With the slow walk, staying just out of reach?  She'll come back from the groomer with a shorter coat (and one of those silly bandanas) and be all clean.  Probably a little bit cold for a while while it grows in, right?  But, come January, she'll have some of her fur grown back and ready to take on the winter.  Let's call this 2.25 years old . 

Poor little Lizzie.  She's not even three years old.  But she's on her third Elizabethan Collar .  Or Cone of Shame as we call it in our house.  She spent some time coop'd up in her crate as she recovered, but that didn't stop her from giving me *these* eyes just begging to let her out. The good news is that she is well on her way to being her old self and the convalescence worked just fine. The last time I posted about her was all the way back in the Fall of 2017 , so despite this being not the best situation, she deserved a mention here on the blog.

I have a soft spot for Lady and the Tramp.  With all the much newer, flashier Disney films/releases, I think this one moves to the back of most people's minds.  But, a movie with a Spaniel and a Schnauzer as the main characters?  Couldn't hit me more on the nose in terms of casting.  Well...I think that Lady is technically a Cocker Spaniel, but she's close enough to a King Charles that I consider her my own.  And growing up we had two dogs when I was a small kind.  Skipper and Max.  Both Schnauzers.  And both were barkers!  Max was a good dog.  Skipper, on the other hand, I don't remember much.  He was gone when I was a little kid, so I don't remember the end of his life.  Max was Vic's dog and he lived until she was a Freshman in college, so I have much fresher memories of him.  Max was a gentle dog. So, when we encountered a Disney Cast member with a Lady and the Tramp pin on their lanyard, I naturally steered one o...

We've been able to spend a little bit of time this summer up in Twin Lakes on Lake Elizabeth with the kids and little Lizzie.  I've posted a few times about Lizzie.  First, when we got her .  Then, earlier this spring when we marked her 7 month mark .    She was born on July 21st of last year , so we're coming up on her 11 month mark and there are still some new experiences - including her first trip into the lake.  Our dear Maisy - who Lizzie isn't a pimple on - spent some time up in Paw Paw Lake in Michigan.  We bought her a dog life jacket and that's the one that Lizzie is wearing in the photo above.  Maisy was a good swimmer, but one of the funniest things was seeing her swim in the lake only to haul her out by the handle on her back, on top of the jacket, only to see her little legs keep swimming even though she was out of the water.  Turns out, that's a Cavalier thing!  Lizzie does the same thing. The girls love this big 'yog...

Back in October, I posted about the newest member of our family: Elizabeth Bennet .  We call her Lizzie.  And now she's 7 months old.  Hard to believe.  She's gotten a lot bigger, a little bit smarter, hasn't slowed down one second and is just as much of a lapdog as her big sister Maisy. Lizzie has some problems that Maisy never did including resource guarding and hating...I mean TOTALLY HATING going outside if it is rainy or snowy or even cold.  I almost have to push her outside some mornings.  But, she's getting the hang of things.  And while she's been a total pain the rear at times, she is a lover of a dog who curls up in our laps each night as we watch tv. She's been spayed, so that might have slowed her down a step - but that's it.  Just a step.  She still darts around and if it weren't for 'burst mode' on my phone, I would have never been able to snap this photo you see above. She's no Maisy (and she couldn't be, amirite??...

It was back in May that we lost our dear girl Maisy just shy of her 11th birthday.  I still miss her dearly.  And we kinda tried to fill the void by bringing home a goldfish from RibFest .  BTW...that fish is still alive and well!  And the whole burden of cleaning the bowl has been pretty easy thus far.  Installed a filter, change out like 1/4 to 1/3rd of the water about once every ten days and the thing stays clean. Anyway...back to dogs.  Our dear Maisy was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  And she was.the.best.dog.ever.  First dogs often are, aren't they?   I've talked with a few people and they all say the same thing:  that first dog that couples often get BEFORE they have kids has a special relationship and bond with the family.  They're just different.  Sure, second dogs are great and they're also special.  But just about everybody that I've talked to has said the same thing:  it just isn't the same. And ...

Listen...before you tell me I'm evil, I have to tell you that we have a dog and are totally dog people.  We were there with you crazy people buying our dog fancy collars and bowls and what-have-yous.  Right up until we had kids.  Then Maisy...who I adore...just took a backseat. So...with that out of the way, can we all get a little laugh out of this headline from the local paper?  Dog Flu cancels the Dog Parade?!?  Kinda funny, right?  And the second year in a row?!?! Carry on with your dog-loving self.

This.  Yes...This.  Weird spaghetti trim poodle thing.  Somewhere rattling around the back of my brain is a memory of something like this sitting on the floor of my Mom's Mom's house when I was a kid.  In fact, I think there were a pair of them together.  I don't have a focused memory of them, but just when some sort of connection to them.  When I passed these by in the antique store, I just *had* to pick them up.  Drawn to them.  No...not for our house.  But just to travel back to my youth for a moment to be back in 'Da Boosch's" house.  Sitting on her plastic-covered furniture.  Eating little ice cream treats.  And staring at these weird dogs.  Yes...weird dogs.

Those of you who knew us B.E. (Before the Babe), you need no introduction to this lovely lady. For those of you who don't, well...meet Ms. Margaret Thatcher Moran Parrillo.  We call her Maisy.  She's not getting near as much attention as she used to, but (as we call her) the Original Girlfriend has managed to make it through the first six months of the Babe's life.  Now that she's starting crawl, Maisy is in play and close to eye level.   Even though she's now second banana, she still was first and that matters for something!  She just turned five a few weeks ago and still has her puppy moments - even with all the sleep she does everyday. The Rooster, as we call her, is such a good girl (even she's awfully needy) and as I keep telling her, she'll be besties with the Babe as soon as we introduce Cheerios on the high chair.

In addition to Holland  and St. Joe's , last week we spent some time in South Haven.  Like we do everytime we go to South Haven, we make a stop at both Cafe Julia and (for some reason) Decadent Dogs .  Decadent Dogs is your typical dog store: toys, collars, treats, etc.  They also have a big rack of guard dog signs.  Nat spun the rack and saw this one - which we couldn't stop laughing at. Nat's folks have a Bichon named Riley, so we could NOT pass this up.   Riley is....anything....but a guard dog!