Shiloh: A Series of Photos

Since early August we have had three dog visitors: Bo, Shiloh and Bella. It seemed like there would be a pause in our hosting four-legged guests, but Shiloh’s mommy just got engaged and asked if we could watch her furry angel while they visited family this weekend. And really, how could we say no to this face?

This morning Shiloh and I got up late — of course she got up early with my hubby before he went to rowing, came back to bed, got up again to go for a walk when my hubby came home, then came back to bed again — made coffee and started to work, but she was still a little bit tired.

Despite some big yawns, Shiloh managed to pose for a few pictures. During her photo shoot she was preoccupied, wondering what this so-called “work” was that I had been doing because she certainly could have gone for a lot more petting.

Then she just couldn’t take it anymore — it was nap time! It’s “ruff” being a doggie intern.

The Best Thing About Freelancing…

Is that you don’t have to pretend to be busy all day. My job, like every job, has hectic times and quiet times, but when you are in an office with a boss you don’t want it to look like you are “wasting time” checking your personal email or catching up on facebook. It’s not that you aren’t doing your job, there just may not be anything to do at that moment, but no one wants to look like a slacker. So you try to get ahead on projects, check your work email a million times, review your calendar… and want to bang your head against the desk when you realize that only 5 minutes has passed and you still have nothing work related to keep you occupied.

This is why I love working from home (and for myself) — when I have work, I do it. When I don’t have work or am waiting for edits, there are plenty of other things to do — laundry or running errands or learning a new jazzercise routine or meeting a friend for coffee. For me, these other outlets are key to the idea that I am working to live, not living to work. I love my clients and I pride myself on doing every project on or ahead of schedule, but there is a lot more to life than working and by being my own boss I don’t have to spend a part of each day proving to someone else that I am doing my job.

Usually I’ll just have a quiet day here or there, but this week with Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah every day has been fairly low key. I’m so glad that this morning I could enjoy the cooler, breezy weather over an iced mocha with a friend, her son, and my newest doggie intern, Bella. Now, with Bella’s assistance, it’s time to see what I can get accomplished during this mellow Thursday afternoon.

 

Shiloh and Sunshine

It’s been a gorgeous week in DC — weather in the 70s, no humidy, and cool breezes are spoiling us. This week we are also lucky enough to have a four-legged friend around the house to help us enjoy the cooler days.

Shiloh and I took some time yesterday afternoon to evaluate the garden (one of our bell peppers is actually turning red!!), throw the tennis ball around, and have a little photo shoot. Here are some of my favorite pictures from our outside adventure:

Clockwise from left: “Please throw the tennis ball again, I’m being SO good!”; the first (almost) red pepper in our garden; trying to take a selfie with a lab is tricky business; Shiloh took a break from fetching to lounge in the sun and give kisses; when we went inside she was thirsty (and too tired to stand up…)

Doggie Day Care

It’s been about a year since we found ourselves with a dog in the house. In late 2011 we started fostering for a local lab rescue and have hosted 9 furry friends looking for a furever home over about 10 months. Some super fab pups resided in our abode (remember Ian and his dog socks? or Princess Honey and all her pudgy rolls?) and some more, er… challenging guests stayed as well (Black Bart and Timmy were more along these lines). But when my hubby found out he was going to Afghanistan for 8 months and I knew I’d be doing a lot of travel during the time he was away, we had to put fostering on hiatus.

Now that he is back we are getting ready to start some major home renovations and fostering remains on hold, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have doggie guests before the work begins! This weekend my dear old friend Bo is staying while his mom and dad are on vacation. I’ve always joked that the dogs are my “interns,” but so far Bo isn’t working very hard. Although he did keep an eye on the neighborhood for a bit this morning, I’m happy to report he is finally napping.

In the next few weeks we have two more doggie friends coming to stay — Shiloh, a Yellow Labrador and also a repeat customer, and Bella, a Golden Retriever who will be staying with us for the first time. It’s nice to have a dog in the house again even if it means that in less then 24 hours all of the floors are covered in fur and drool.

Mini-Monday: Bonnie the Spoiled Wonder Pup

Bonnie—also known as The Bonster, Bonnie Bear, and Bonster Monster—is the most spoiled dog who has ever lived with my parents. When I was growing up we always had sweet labs in the house (there was Bunny, Daisy, Shady and Sunny prior to Bonnie), but those pups did not live the life of luxury to which Bonnie has become accustomed.

Bonnie is definitely the spoiled youngest child. She’s got a toy box that includes an Eeyore she likes to snuggle, a mooing cow, and not one but two Snoopies that squeak (among other things). Bonnie also has a dog house in the backyard and, like Motel 6, my parents “leave the light on” for her at night because if they didn’t she’d “get scared.” No, seriously, Bonnie the black lab is apparently afraid of the dark…

This weekend while my parents and I watched a basketball game together, Bonnie enjoyed joining us in the living room, although I had to sit on the stairs since the couch was a bit full (mind you, it easily seats 6). Oh, and no dog pre-Bonnie has been allowed on the couch. Ever.

Bloggity Bloggity Blog Blog

Well hello there faithful readers (ie my dad). It’s been awhile. In fact it’s been about 6 months since my last post. What’s been going for all that time you may be wondering (or not, but I’ll tell you anyway):

• Continued Home Improvements: These have focused mainly on our basement, which is starting to look like a real living/guest space (except for being sans bed). The bathroom is quite lovely now that my husband and father-in-law re-tiled the floor, put in a new sink and fixtures, and applied a fresh coat of paint. The main room has also been painted and we’ve finally put up a few things on the walls—mostly “pubby” things like pint glasses from England, a dart board (at regulation height mind you), and a rowing oar. Ironically we mostly drink wine in our basement, so we haven’t been acting terribly “pubby” ourselves.

• More Foster Pups: We’ve also had quite a hiatus from fostering. We took a break from March to May and then from May until September after our experiences with Timmy the Terror. He was a sweet, but insanely neurotic guy who hated stairs, the backyard, other dogs, and sometimes my husband. It was a rough two weeks for us and the poor guy. Our most recent doggie house guest, Sophie the Sweetie, was a much better visitor. Despite her good manners, a puppy hiatus has been imposed as my husband prepares for some extensive overseas work travel.

• Speaking of Travel: We were away almost as much as we were home this summer. First, we spent two weeks of July in California where we attended weddings in Pacific Grove and Sonoma and where I celebrated the big 3-0. During our California getaway my husband and I also had a chance to head back to where we honeymooned — St Orres in Gualala — and belatedly celebrated our fifth anniversary. In August we crossed the Atlantic the old-fashioned way (with a stop in Iceland) on our way to Norway. Being abroad meant two weeks away from the states, away from work, and away from everything that is part of our daily routine. We visited Oslo, Kristiansand, Trondheim, the Sognefjord area, and Bergen, and our getaway included spending time with old friends and making some new ones. On our return trip we spent two days exploring Iceland, including enjoying a delicious break from the frigid air by spending our last morning soaking in a thermal pool. The weather was amazing and we enjoyed the chance to catch up with friends, see the beauty of both countries and unplug from reality for a bit.

• Garden: Despite all our time away our backyard garden still did pretty well in its first summer season. My husband hooked up an automated watering system and we ended up with a decent amount of tomatoes (and a freakishly high water bill…). Our peppers and jalapenos finally took off in September. In fact we still have so many jalapenos that we’re using them in everything. We’ve also harvested a good haul of green beans, salad greens, herbs and potatoes. Turnips, green beans, beets and carrots are still growing — along with the jalapenos, of course!

• Jazzercise: To top it all off, I spent the spring preparing to be certified as a Jazzercise instructor. I was grateful to pass my audition in June and jumped into teaching classes around DC in July. I’ve been teaching between 6 to 8 classes a month and it’s going well. I’m feeling healthier and enjoying helping others have fun exercising. This has been made extra easy by the inclusion of some of my favorite summer pop hits in the recent choreography — who doesn’t want to rock out to “Call Me Maybe” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”? This week I am teaching every night. It will be interesting to see if I can move on Saturday!

With all the changes and diversions this summer, it’s been hard to blog. I’m hoping that this fall I can get back into the swing of it.

Lovely Lisa

It’s been about a week since our seventh foster — Lisa — found her forever home. She was our first chocolate lab and as a two year old (or 14 in dog years) she showed her teenage-ness by testing her boundaries, but also by still wanting to be part of the pack.

Lisa spent about a week with us and we quickly got used to her puppy ways. Most of the time she liked to be near the action. But if she wandered off and things were a little too quiet, it meant she was probably standing on the couch looking out the window. As soon as we caught her, she gave us an “I know, I know, I’m not supposed to be up here” look and got right down. If she wandered off and we heard too much noise, it meant that she was probably, um, having her way with her bed… We did our best to put a stop to this behavior, but we didn’t have too much luck.

When the weather was nice, Lisa loved looking through the front gate and watching the world go by. Or she would come lay at our feet in the kitchen while we were cooking or doing dishes. On the rare occasion we had to put her in her crate, she didn’t like to leave us, but she would willingly go in after a little prodding (and the knowledge that she would get a bacon treat once she was settled).

Just like our other foster dogs — particularly Ian and Princess Honey — Lisa quickly felt like part of the family and we were really sad to see her go. But her forever parents report that she is loving life with them and we are glad she is thriving in her new home.

Our Pretty Pretty Princess

We spent the past week and a bit with our sixth foster: Princess Honey. Now, this may sound like a kind of pretentious name for a dog, but I’d say the name Princess Honey represented the sweet yellow lab pretty darn well. She was definitely a honey — she loved snuggling with us and giving kisses — and she was also a bit of a princess in that she was not going to do anything she didn’t want to do. And the Princess was a bit of a big girl, weighing in at about 80 pounds when she really should have been closer to 70…so if she didn’t want to do something it wasn’t going to happen! She was a very pretty dog and she spent plenty of time staring at us through her long puppy lashes begging for more attention.

PH came to us on Friday, Feb 3 and was one of the happiest fosters we have had. She was instantly wagging her tail, giving kisses and trying to climb in my lap while I worked. She was well behaved and didn’t seem at all interested in our shoes, clothes or whatever else may have been on the floor. PH was also a big fan of toys and almost always had a kong or rope in her mouth as she lumbered around the house. Unfortunately she loved her duck a little too much and pretty soon I had to remove both wings and feet due to her gnawing on them. It didn’t take long before the duck had to be retired all together.

She was really the sweetest thing and we had a great time with her — going for walks, teasing her about her puppy rolls, and snuggling with her on the futon while watching TV (see sleeping dog face). We quickly learned that one of her favorite things was being brushed and if you got her in the right spot, she’d thump her leg like crazy — whether she was laying down or standing up. It was hysterical to watch her. We couldn’t rile her up too much because she was heartworm positive so she had to take it easy while taking her medicine, but she liked to go after her toys if you threw them around the basement.

PH always wanted to be near us and was pretty sure that she was supposed to eat dinner at the table with us. She’d come sit right in the middle of us, rest her chin on the corner of the table and stare at us the whole meal. Occasionally she’d get bored and lay down, but more often then not she’d just sit there patiently waiting for the snack that never came.

The Wednesday after we got her an interested adopter came to meet her and took her home (how could he not?), but PH was back to our house on Friday. The adopter realized he wasn’t yet ready to have a new dog (it hadn’t been long since he had put his old dog down) and brought her back. By the next day she had another interested couple come to visit and the three of them hit it off. Then the true test came — she had to meet their other dog, Beau. We kept our fingers crossed that the pair would be fast friends so that PH could find her forever home and have a black lab brother the keep her company. Despite a bit of barking at the first introduction, the pair went for a walk without incident and came back into the house where they proceeded to run in happy circles through our living room, kitchen and dining room. It probably goes without saying that the Princess found her home that afternoon.

The next morning I checked in to make sure that PH and Beau were still getting along and was happy to hear that they had spent the night sleeping on the same bed! I think she’s going to like her forever home!

Huber the Slobber Dog

Last Saturday we picked up our fifth foster dog, Huber. We had to drive up to Buckeystown, Maryland which is just over an hour from our home. We left mid-morning and picked up lunch at a Mediterranean place near Frederick on our way to the vet. We collected Huber, got him settled in the back with my husband and I drove. We decided to take a more scenic road back through some historic towns and green rolling farmland.

Huber seemed happy enough for the first 10 miles or so. He particularly liked watching out the back window (which made my husband queasy just thinking about it). Then all of a sudden he scratched at the door and promptly threw up on the back seat—Huber that is, not my husband. I’m a sympathetic puker, so this was not ideal. We pulled over and my husband cleaned it up the best he could with two old napkins and a paper bag. When he had done the best he could do, we let Huber wander around a bit to see if he was still feeling sick. He seemed happy as a clam. We all climbed back in the car and started on our way again.

We’d gotten about 10 more miles when Huber threw up again. This time we happened to be right in front of another vet, so I pulled into the parking lot and went in to ask for paper towels. They were very friendly and gave me a whole roll plus some bags in case it happened again. When I came back out, my husband was trying to clean it up and found a large piece of yellow plastic that he thought came from Huber. I called the vet that we had picked Huber up from. The helpful advice of the woman at the vet? “Just keep an eye on him for awhile and make sure he’s getting water.” Oh, yes, we’ll be keeping an eye on him, I promised her. We still have another hour in the car!

Thankfully at this point he seemed to have gotten everything out of his system and he managed to sleep with his head on my husband’s lap for most of the remainder of the trip home—which took us through the DC burbs with some gi-normous houses, particularly near Potomac. They were ridiculously big. The only real benefit to these monstrosities I could think of was you could do a stair exercise routine and never get bored with your surroundings. Every once in a while we get nostalgic for our one bedroom apartment where it took an hour to do a “deep” clean and we had everything we needed within a few feet. Just looking at those houses made us miss that little apartment.

About four blocks from our house my husband suggested (somewhat emphatically) that I pull over and they walk the rest of the way. I did. They got out. Huber barfed. From that point on, though, all was well with our newest pup.

Despite the rough start, we had a good time with Huber. Best of all, he was one of the happier fosters we have had. He played with toys. While he didn’t like to fetch, he did like to pounce on the tennis ball and scatter it around in a sort of solo soccer game; he also thoroughly enjoyed a squeaky duck and a little tug of war with his rope bone. Huber readily wagged his tail, gave us kisses and nose bumps, and wanted to be with us all the time. He had the muscle to be in charge if he wanted to—he was about 75 pounds—but on walks although he would freely indicate his interest in something (other dogs, a squirrel or a particular tree), he would happily give up on it if the leash gave a slight tug the other way.

If there was one draw back, it was that Huber was a bit stinky and had some doggy dandruff. So Sunday afternoon we decided to give him a bath. We used the basement bathroom because it had a walk-in shower. He was so cute sopping wet and staring up at us with his big brown eyes clearly saying, “How can you do this to me?” My husband would have none of it, though. He told Huber he shouldn’t complain about getting a full body massage. We used some fancy-pants oatmeal aloe dog shampoo that was the most expensive shampoo I’ve ever purchased. But it was worth it since afterward he smelled nice and his fur was much softer.

On Monday I got a call from the wife of the couple who would eventually adopt Huber. In asking me questions about Huber she decided that they would come meet him. I told her where we lived and she said, “Is it safe to go there?” Well I live here, I thought, I think it’s safe… I’m pretty sure she had no idea how it sounded. Despite her fears, they safely navigated our neighborhood. And it was no shock to us that they quickly fell in love with good ol’ Huber and took him home that night.

Bean the Queen

Last night our fourth foster dog — Christy (who names a dog Christy?) aka Bean aka The Queen — was adopted. We were sad to see her go because she was such a sweetie pie, but once again it was nice to see a dog go to a loving forever family. As they left, the new foster dad said “Thanks for taking care of our dog while we were gone.”

When we got Christy last Thursday evening, it was from her first adoptive family. Unfortunately, they already had a dog when they brought Christy home and despite some previous thought that she would be best in a house with another dog, Christy was not interested in sharing her humans. This made the original dog of the house not too happy and her adoptive parents weren’t able to keep Christy despite already bonding with her during their few days together. They’d even decided that Christy wasn’t an appropriate name (we’d certainly agree) and were trying to rename her “Bean.”

Bean arrived in the arms of her adoptive dad. She wasn’t too keen on leashes or going where you wanted her to go. When they brought her in, they put her on the couch (much to my chagrin) and said that was her favorite place. She was shivering in fear and I couldn’t bring myself to kick her off (at least she was on her own dog blanket). Bean spent the first 36 hours laying on her doggie bed in a tight little ball of black fur, too scared to move. We had to bring her food bowl to her, where she ate lying down from her fluffy dog bed. My husband also had to carry her outside to go to the bathroom (thankfully she is the smallest lab we’ve ever seen—around 40 pounds).

Throughout her stay with us it was clear that Bean had been terribly abused or traumatized because the poor girl was scared of everything. And when I say everything I mean everything. If I moved the wrong way or clanked some dishes or dropped my cell phone or made the floor squeak or I picked up a box or wore a heavy coat she’d skittishly run away and “hide” in a corner. Even trying to give her a treat was an ordeal and half the time she wouldn’t eat it.

However it wasn’t long before Miss Bean was coming out of her shell. She started running toward us, clambering up and down the stairs without (too much) coercing, showing a bit of interest in her toys, and best of all, wagging her tail (if only a little bit). Although she occasionally still wouldn’t eat and expected us to bring her food to her (ahem, she was The Queen after all), in the week we had her she got much better about eating her food in the kitchen where the dish belonged. She also got accustomed to not being on the couch or bed, despite attempting to do so. We acquiesced a bit and let her up on our futon in the basement if we were watching TV (it was black anyway and she loved to cuddle up so much). Interestingly, Bean seemed to like the Crunchy Treats with Apple (that look like a stale Cheerio, but do smell like apple) more than the Beggin Strips (which look and smell so much like bacon that I kind of wanted to eat them—don’t judge me).

It doesn’t seem to get easier to give up the dogs, but we know that fostering is an important step in the adoption process and hopefully will lead to the perfect pairing of dog and family. And it also helps us figure out what kind of dog we should eventually adopt, too.