Rita and Her BFF and a Classic Work of American Art

Rita has a buddy that we try to meet up with once a week for play/a walk. She's a boxer named Dakota.

Does Your Dog Have Friends?

Rita has two good friends, Reg...

Less-Wordy Wed.: Celebrating the Dog's Birthday!

Rita turned four on Tuesday. Well, we don't really know her exact birthday, but June 16th is the day we celebrate. Based on the age Baja Animal Sanctuary guessed at for her, we figured her birthday was around mid-June, and since 6/16 is her angel-cousin Lou's birthday, it seemed like a perfect day to pick for Rita.

Rita wanted a party with pony rides and a clown (to bark at) for her birthday but we decided on something a little more low-key.

We started the celebrations on Sunday night, when the whole unit went to In-N-Out burger and Rita got a Flying Dutchman! (Which is 2 burger patties with cheese. Yes, I know - so decadent, but she only gets one on her gotcha day in January and her bday in June.)

Off The Wall Mischief

About once a week, I try to get Rita over to her BFF's house for a playdate.  They play like crazy, and then we all go for a nice long walk.

I've shared a photo of her BFF before - she's a boxer named Dakota. She will kiss you with that big ol' tongue if you let her.

FitDog Friday: Keep the Dog Hydrated with a "Cleanbottle"

A while back I saw someone having a wee rant on Twitter about seeing lots of folks out walking/jogging carrying water bottles for themselves and not for their pups. 

Now... what made that person assume the water bottles weren't for the dogs? Sure some dogs prefer to drink from a bowl, but there's no reason a dog can't drink from a bottle. 

Angel Abby demonstrates how:

Our Dirty Little Secret...

Okay, well... she's not that dirty (she had a bath on Sunday) and she's not that little (almost 40 pounds!), so I guess she's our clean, medium-sized secret...

Meet Rita, or Bunny, or BunnyRita. We're not entirely sure what her name is yet, but I think it's Rita (short for Rosarita, the beach she was found on). Although her nickname is Bunny (because she runs like a jack rabbit, plus it was Kathryn Hepburn's librarian character's name in Desk Set, plus bunnies and bunny ears, especially, are kind of a running thing on Tripawds... I wanted her real name to just be Bunny, but I don't think Mike can picture himself standing there at Fiesta Island yelling, "Bunny!" It's not muy macho.)

I think she likes it here.

She likes Fiesta Island too!

Yes, it is crazy-soon to have a new puppy. And we totally did NOT intend to bring a new dog home yet - but... here's what happened. The Saturday after we lost Abby, we were sitting outside watching the sunset. The ocean was the calmest I've ever seen it since we moved here - like a glassy lake as far as the eye could see toward the horizon. Mike asked Abby and Bailey (our previous pup for those of you that don't know) to send us a sign that they'd met up and were together. Well, I was sitting there with my iPad, and I went on PetFinder - seriously I don't know why because we really really really didn't intend to get a new dog for a while - and I typed "female beagle" in the search with our zip code, and "Peaches" (as she was known) pops up on the first page of results. We couldn't stop looking at her! She looked so much like a combination of Bailey and Abby! She has Bailey's body, with Abby's ears and eyes (even a bit of the same eyeliner look like Abby had). If Bailey and Abby had a puppy (through immaculate conception or in vitro or whatever, since they were both girls...) the result would be this little girl.

In fact, she likes F.I. a lot!

The next few days we couldn't stop looking at her picture. I thought Mike would be the voice of reason, but no. He told me to fill out the online application. We did and were able to go meet her this past Saturday, Jan. 21. We brought her home and she's been pretty much a model pup ever since - doesn't jump up, barely barks, sleeps in Abby's bed like a good girl until we are ready to get up. She's just super sweet!

BunnyRita!

So, here's the deal. She's a beagle-shepherd mix (obviously); she's estimated to be 7 or 8 months old. We got her from the Baja Animal Sanctuary (technically she's not ours yet... They have to come do a home inspection on Feb 4. I'm fairly certain we'll pass...). I can't believe she was at the shelter 2 months, because she's so darn cute. I think she was waiting for us...

She's so funny as well - we thought it would be nice to have a chowhound again (what with the beagle in her) after Abby and her fussy supermodel picky-eater ways, but no... She's not a real chowhound either. She's not as picky as Abby was, but she doesn't exactly wolf down her food, and she turns her nose up at lots of things, like popcorn! Even Abby liked popcorn! Also, Bailey had no back dewclaws, Abby had both of hers - well, Rita has one back dew claw. I think she really is a mix of our two girls.

She met Ab's best friend, Dakota...

They already love each other! BFFs!

(This does look like love, right?)

Today, right after leaving Dakota's...

(And this too? Pretty certain that's love!)

Our hearts are still in a thousand jigsaw puzzle pieces from losing Abby, but I think this little girl will help start fitting the pieces back together.