Saturday, October 27, 2007

Smell Him, Smeeeeeell HIM!

Last night's good night hug with the Bernerbuddy revealed that HE HAS BEEN SLEEPING ON THE LEATHER SOFA!!! I buried my nose deep into his soft curls on his head and took my regular deep whiff of Bernerness and there it hit me. Leather? My Berner Bobos smells like leather? I whipped around (as well as woman in her 8th month of pregginess could whip around) and commanded at the Dogfather, "Smell him, smeeeeeell HIM!" And he confirmed that Riley smelled like the new leather couch.

*sigh* I know, I know, you told me so...I can hear your cyber chuckle from here.....

Monday, October 22, 2007

Apple Picking

Yesterday was the warmest Sunday in October I have ever experienced in New England. After a 45 minute romp in the woods with Sabrina and her best buddy, Bandit, we drove westward to Shelburne Farm in Stow to meet some friends for apple picking. Sabrina went on her first apple picking trip and boy was it fun! There were so many yummy apples to try but her favorites were Fujis. I had to agree with her. They were humongous and thanks to Bandit's mommy, we got the most beautiful apples from the tops of the trees because she was the only one to climb the ladder to get them! Here is Sabrina waiting patiently for her apple!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Have You Seen Her?

My title reminds me of a song that came out when I was in middle school or high school....sometime in the 80s. (yes, I was a child of the 80s...and still am!)

(music cue) have you seen her.....doo doo doo, ooooh, have you seen her?

I can't remember who sang it though. I'm really bad at remembering this kind of stuff.

Anyways, back to the topic. A new member of the dog park has recently been overwhelmed by the number of people who ask him if he's seen Sabrina. When we arrived yesterday, we finally met him. As I walked the perimeter of the large grassy area of Beaverbrook, I saw a man at the other end waving at me. I could see a little black puppy at the end of his leash and I figured he must have thought I was someone else. But we was, in fact, waving to me. Sabrina was galloping her way across the field and he had spotted her, the infamous, one and only Flattie of the park. And he had been asked by countless dog owners, "Have you met Sabrina?" As I got closer, I realized that the little one at the end of his leash was a 12 week old Flattie! How delightful!

We met the lil guy, whose name is Bam and all those memories of Sabrina's puppyhood came back. I have not seen a Flattie puppy since Sabrina was little so this was such a treat. Plus, we did not adopt Sabrina until she was almost 13 weeks old so this lil guy was smaller than I remember Sabrina was when we brought her home. His coat is wavier than Sabrina's and his ears look like someone crimped them that morning. He absolutely loved Sabrina and she, in true Flattie style, lavished him in kisses. We now have a new Flattie friend at the park. I *do* feel bad that every other person who meets Bam asks the poor guy that same question. But when you're that famous, what can you do, right?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Phase 2 of 2nd TPLO

Riley is almost 5 weeks post knee surgery now. At this point in his last surgery, I was beginning to take him on short walks and doing physical therapy exercises. I think we are being much more relaxed about this recovery but he seems to be doing really well. He is weight-bearing on a slow walk and will put his foot down during an easy trot. Just one week ago, he was still trotting on 3 legs, holding his injured leg up.... So progress!
Last weekend, Riley got to "go out" for the first time in 4 weeks. I let him walk around on a flexi-leash by the big house on the Paine Estate for about 10 minutes. He, of course, had to make sure he made the most out of his 10 minutes and peed on every single bush he could reach. And then a car ride to Whole Foods and back again. The whole time, he stuck his head out the window, snout pointed into the wind, and took deep breaths (with an occasional sneeze). He was delighted to "go out" and it was perfect Berner weather.
The X-pen has come down as well and Riley now has full access to the main level of our condo. He has shown his delight by reclaiming his post on the chaise lounge of the couch. (so much for the new dog beds) To encourage Sabrina and Riley to use their own dog beds, the Dogfather even crawled into the beds with the dogs. It was a good idea but I'm not sure they bought it entirely. New leather furniture arrives this weekend. I don't think Riley has even been on leather. I am hoping it will feel strange to him and he will opt for the softer material on the dog beds. I've never heard of a dog with expensive taste for leather, have you?

Thursday, October 11, 2007

New Furnishings

Next week, new furnishings arrive to our humble abode. It is an exciting time! Our attic will be finished enough to move furniture into and we will have added another entire level to our home! Wonderful new pieces will be arriving to accent our home: a new leather couch (no more vacuuming dog and cat hair!!), new end tables, a new desk for the Dogfather, a new vanity table for the Alpha female (oh, that would be me *grin*), and of course the wall to wall carpeting. Yippee! The kids have not been forgotten, besides the baby furniture that has been ordered and will be arriving next month, Riley and Sabrina's new furniture have, in fact, already arrived.
The Dogfather purchased two new canine "couch" beds to encourage the two to stay off our human couch. We got this one in green to match the new green room (attic):


And this one is, as you can see, paisley:



Besides the fact that we do love to love our furkids, this was one suggestion from the Barks and Babies dog training class I attended. She suggested that every room we like to spend time in should have dog beds so our dogs have a place of their own, not all over our things. So far, only the cats have been sleeping in the beds....seems the dogs will need some extra encouragement to try out their new beds...

Thursday, October 04, 2007

My Creatures Comfort (Me)

I am sick at home with the darn common cold. But oh, when you are pregnant, there is nothing common about having additional aches and pains.....AND YOU CAN'T TAKE ANYTHING FOR IT!
Well, my choices were to take Benadryl (which would knock me out and probably Baby Lulu as well) or nothing. Since I would have to miss work either way, I decided to take nothing. Oye.
I spent the day rotating from the bed, to the bathroom, to the couch, to the dining table. What made it more bearable was having my Riley Smiley up on the couch cuddling with me and the Sabrina Beanie Butts up on the bed while I napped. They certainly were comforting and for once, I welcomed them on the forbidden furniture.

Thank you, my furkids!