A Book To Help You Survive Losing a Heart Dog

My blogger friend Roxanne Hawn of the award-winning Champion of My Heart blog recently published a non-fiction book called Heart Dog: Surviving the Loss of Your Canine Soul Mate. It is based on her own experience losing her beautiful heart dog, Lilly.

Isn't that a beautiful cover?

A Pet Pit-Stop at the Airport

Recently I shared pics of our trip to Hawaii. There were a couple I didn't share though.

While we were at the San Diego airport waiting for our flight, the hubs and I stopped to use the restrooms. Between the men's and women's bathrooms, this sign hung on the wall next to a closed door:

Mischief at the Office

Friday, June 26 is Take Your Dog to Work Day. 

Luckily, I've been working from home since 2000. For a long time I worked as a research analyst, and now as a writer. Our girls - angel Bailey, angel Abby, and Rita - have all enjoyed getting to "go to work" with me every day, even if my commute is just to the office down the hall.

We did try taking Bailey to the dog-daddy's work a couple of times -- but only on the weekends when very few other folks were around. 

Good thing too, because the very first time we took her there (the hubs just needed to quickly stop by the office for some files), she sensed immediately that this was some sort of enchanted land. As soon as we opened the door, she took off running. We had her off-leash, assuming she'd just cruise along with us - but no. She had other plans!

Angel Bailey

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.)

Monday Mischief: Pom Wonderful - and Pom Confusing

This weekend the hubs came in and said we had 7 pomegranates growing on one of our trees.

This was news to me, for 2 reasons:
1) I didn't know we had a pomegranate tree. We've lived here almost 5 years and never seen any fruit on the trees so we didn't know what they were. Turns out we have two pom trees! Yay! Pom wonderful! 

2) I thought pomegranates were only in season in winter, since we always only get them from our CSA in January. (I Googled it and according to the Pomegranate Council they usually only grow in No. America during late summer and early winter. Maybe our tree is confused since our weather was so hot in winter and has only just lately felt like early winter!) Pom confusing!

We all went outside to check it out. (I apologize that these are blurry!)

"Hmmm. What's this?"

See Beautiful: Volcanic Edition

A couple of weeks ago when I posted about the hubs swimming with an Iron Dog, I mentioned we'd gone to the Big Island for my Big Birthday. Today I thought I'd share some of the beauty of Hawaii with you!

We spent a few days in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and it was amazing! (It would have been even more amazing if the rain had let up a little more often.)

Here's a picture of the Kīlauea crater during the day (during a rare break from the rain!).

A Tribute To A Cancer-Fighting Warrior

I have some sad news to share.

Last week we lost a cancer-fighting hero - Charley, the chocolate Lab.

Photo courtesy of Ellen Venturella-Wilson

A Late Thank-You - With Random Stuff About Hot Dogs

I owe two fabulous bloggers a thank-you! And it's overdue for both of them!

We got some awards!

Yard-Saling Dogs - On the Sell Side

Remember when I posted about yard-saling dogs last month? Well, last time the dogs were on the buying side, but this time they were on the selling side.

My sisters and I met up last weekend to hit my one sis's 'hood's annual garage sales event. It was a lot of fun, and there were a lot of cute dogs.

This little girl was selling cute, and she was selling it hard! (And I am always in the market for cute!)

The Shortest Path To Treats

With our 2 previous dogs, they never wanted their walks to end. Bailey would dawdle along, sniffing and exploring for ages if'd you let her. Abby, who we used to always take to the bay, would dance out into the water just out of reach when it was time to get in the car and go home.

Abby evades capture just out of reach in the water

So with Rita, I taught her that getting home from a walk was a good thing by giving her a treat when we get home.

And now of course she wants to race home!

Swimming With An IronDog

Two weeks ago, the hubs and I went to visit the island of Hawaii for the first time. (We decided to go to the Big Island to celebrate my recent Big Birthday! I'm hoping to share some pics of our trip on the next See Beautiful hop!)

While we were in Kona, my IronGuy wanted to swim the course used for the Hawaii Ironman.*

My Dog Loves Life! #FuelTheCure

Today I'm joining Oz the Terrier and Sugar the Golden Retriever who are hosting the "Loving Life Contest and Fundraiser" along with Zuke's treats to support the Dog and Cat Cancer Fund!

You know that (unfortunately) dog cancer is an issue that Pooch Smooches is passionate about, so I was happy I remembered to participate, because for each blog post in the hop Zuke's will donate $5 to DCCF!

You can join in too - but time is running out as the contest/hop ends May 22. All you need to do is create a post showing your pet loving life and include #FuelTheCure in the title. (Complete rules and info for the contest are here on Oz's site.)

We're also happy to participate because Rita LOVES Zuke's tasty treats and I love that they donate a portion of their sales to DCCF, which helps pet parents afford cancer treatments for their sick furry family members.

So, in the spirit of the hop, here are some pics of Rita loving life and doing some of her favorite things!

Rita loves to go on walks...

Less-Wordy Wednesday: Rita Refutes the "Lazy" Label

Rita was miffed that I called her "lazy" in my post last week. She insisted that I "roll tape" to show how crazy she gets over her Unbreakoball. (We'll get to the tape in a minute, Rita!)

Ages ago (probably before most of you found PoochSmooches), Rita won an Unbreakoball. She LOVES it. I don't know why she gets so nutty over this toy! It's like nothing else we own.

I don't bring it out often because it's hard plastic and a bit scratched up, so that plus hardwood floors is not a great combo. And she can't play with it in our yard because we live on a super steep slope, and if it rolls off the deck, it's a goner.

But I got it out the other day and she immediately went nuts.

These pics are all a blur cuz she runs by so fast with her prized possession.

Cracks me up how she hooks a tooth in to carry it around.

Monday Mischief: Paws and Pints!

Okay, you know the hubs and I love dogs.

Our Dog is Lazy: Recumbent Fetch & Another Inventive Game for Lazy Dogs

We are coming to grips with the fact that our dog is lazy.

I've mentioned before that Rita's not really that into playing fetch. Oh, she'll run after the ball/toy a time or two, but then she just takes it to her bed.

Wordless Wednesday: The Right End and the Wrong End

Recently, when Reggie came to stay with us for a couple of nights, the pups had one half of the couch, and I had the other.

I ended up next to the, er, wrong end of the Reg.

Monday Mischief: Our Dog's a Drama Queen

This past weekend, the hubs and I went away for one night, so my sis came and dog-sat Rita for us. 

After some initial barking when my sis let herself in the house, she was greeted with two kisses from Rita. (Rita is VERY stingy with kisses so getting two is a big deal.)

Once Rita got over being happy that it was her auntie who came in and not a burglar, she started waiting for Momma to come home.

Rita camped out by the garage door

Less Wordy Wednesday: Yard-Saling Dogs

This weekend my sis and I helped our other sis with her yard sale. No, we weren't selling dogs, but many cute pups stopped by to shop! They all seemed to be shopping for the same thing!

This is Lady. She didn't get out the car. Just did a drive-by to see if we had cookies.

No Mischief at Grandma's -- Well, Maybe a Little

My mom has a collection of teddy bears. But Rita never tries to snag the ones that aren't "hers."

My mom has one little lavender-colored, bean-filled bear that Rita is allowed to play with. It sits on a little stool in my mom's bedroom, and Rita runs to get it first thing when we go visit Grandma. It always makes us laugh when she runs to get it right away, like it's the whole reason we're there!

Less-Wordy Wednesday: Sporting Dogs

Usually sporting dogs are the hunting breeds... but not at our house. 

Oh, Rita does like to hunt a squirrel or dead gopher every now and then, but she's more of a Pawdres ball girl:

"SD... Does that stand for Super Dog?"

More Hiking Mischief

Last week I blogged about our hike with Rita in Marian Bear Canyon in San Diego and the mischief therein. Well, this weekend, we went back, only headed west instead of east like last time.

We saw lots of pretty flowers (or weeds?) growing like crazy. 

There were these tall yellow things growing everywhere. They looked really pretty along the hillside. You can see how tall they are in this pic because they are growing up over the hubs' head and he's 6'2".

Wordless Wednesday: Caption Rita and Reg

Rita and Reggie had a very fun play date today. Can you caption these cute pups?

Hiking San Diego's Canyons With Your Dog: Hiking Mischief

One of the many things I really like about San Diego is the canyon parklands which run through the 'burbs (and even quite close to downtown). Although the canyons can be a bit scary at times (like fire season...) they are great for going on a nice hike and feeling like you've gotten out in nature, even though you might be hiking right along a freeway.

Check out the link above for a list of all the canyon parklands and maps of each.

You'd never know we're hiking right next to a freeway!

Perfect Present Pairs a Pup and a Paperback

You guys! My dear, sweet friend (and fellow author) Kathleen Irene Paterka (by the way... check out her books!) sent me the sweetest present!

And it's so perfect for me! A dog reading a book!! I mean, could that be any more perfect??

My Dog's So Weird: Miss Sniff

Instead of Mischief Monday, today we have Miss Sniff Monday.

Rita has some funny habits, and this is one of her more amusing ones. Every morning, when I get dressed, as soon as she hears the rustling of the fabric of my clothes, she comes running to sniff my pants.

If I'm putting on yoga pants or shorts, she's pretty sure she's getting a walk and her tail starts wagging.

Me, getting my shorts ready to put on

Hiking at Wildlands Conservancy With Your Dog

For less-wordy Wednesday, I thought I'd share some photos from a little getaway trip we did last week. We went to Desert Hot Springs/Palm Springs for a few days and did three days of hiking on some of The Wildlands Conservancy trails.

One day we went to the Mission Creek Preserve:

My Dog's So Weird: Breakfast Mischief (And... A New Title)

Rita has some very odd habits.

Here's one that's been surfacing lately - she doesn't want to eat her breakfast.

Dinner, she'll snarf down in two minutes flat. But breakfast? She'll often sleep until 9, get up to go outside quickly, and then go back to bed.

Less Wordy Wednesday: An Update on Adorable Adoptable Pups

Ages ago (siriusly... ages - it was way back last June...), I posted 2 pics of buddies Gus and Ricky, who were up for adoption at Helen Woodward Animal Center where I volunteer. I asked you guys to come up with captions and (some of) you guys came through! 

From Amy at Terra Toby: Bus: "Right here?"
Ricky: "A little lower…to the left…ahhh right there!"

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.

Wordless Wednesday: A Photo Flashback

I shared this recently on my Facebook author page, but thought I'd share it here as well.

As far as I know, this is the first known photo of me with a dog: (sorry about the quality - I just took a pic of the original with my phone)

Monday Mischief: Dog Days of Summer - in Winter

It's too hot to blog! Siriusly. My office with the computer in it gets the sun beating into it in the afternoons (and trying to blog via an iPad is an exercise in frustration!), so I'm going to try to keep this brief!

The weather in San Diego this afternoon while I type this is 87 degrees.

Wordless Wednesday: Our Minx, the Sphinx

Remember I told you about Rita's artwork/custom-bedding project? I didn't have the heart to throw it away, so it's in our bedroom and she sleeps on it every night. (Sometimes I hide it under her blankie but she's not crazy about that.)

Here she's our little minx in her custom bed, doing her sphinx imitation:

Monday Mischief: When No Mischief Is Mischief

When I posted last week about Rita meeting Sugar, I mentioned that I was hopeful she'd like Sugar, since there's a sweet, calm, older golden in our 'hood that Rita likes.

Well, we ran into her this weekend, just hanging out on a sunny sidewalk all by herself. (She's so mellow, her pawrents just let her hang out in front of her house. I'd worry too much to ever let a dog do that, but then... I worry about everything!)

My Goofy-Foot Girls or What Do Dewclaws Do?

A while back, my blogger buddy Jan wrote a very interesting post about dog's feet called Barking About... Canine Paws & Toes. (You should check it out. Did you know dogs have either "cat", "hare" or "webbed" feet?) Her post made me think of some of the odd things about angel Abby's and Rita's feet.

When we got Rita, we said she seemed to be a mix of Abby and our other angel Bailey. Bailey had no dewclaws in the back, but Abby had both.

Our long little doggie with both back dewclaws

Monday Mischief: If Only Rita Was as Sweet as Sugar!

You guys! We met a celebrity this weekend! As fun and exciting as it was, there was a lot of mischief too...

I was super excited to get a chance to meet Sugar (!!) from Sugar the Golden Retriever fame on Saturday!

Love To Go To the Dog Show But Not For the Dog Show

Today for less-wordy Wednesday, I'm sharing some of the (really terribly blurry*) pics I took at the recent dog show here in San Diego. Two of my sisters and I go pretty much every year, but I don't even care about the actual dog show.

You might wonder why someone would go to a dog show and not watch the show, but there are lots of other things to do. 

First of all, we love to walk around and see all the cute pups, like this adorable beagle getting ready to go in the ring:

Every bit as cute as Miss P!

Monday Mischief: Adding Insult to Injury

Remember when Reggie and Rita had a play date in my sister's neighbor's yard?

Wordless Wed.: A Walk in the Fog with the Dog

We've had some super foggy mornings here lately. Rita's not a huge fan of walking in the fog. She seems to be on high alert, as you can tell from her perked up ears in this pic.

Valentine's Mischief: Pets Over Partners?!

Petplan, which we use for Rita's insurance, surveyed 4800 pet parents with some questions about Valentine’s Day. Some of the results were kind of amusing, and maybe sound like your house or mine??

Dementia and Show Tunes (and Dogs!), Oh My!

The other day, there was a report stating researchers found that singing show tunes helped improve brain function in patients with Alzheimer's/dementia. The researchers held sing-along sessions with hits from The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music, and found that those who sang along showed "marked improvement" compared to those who just listened.

The hubs and I really worry about our brains - especially mine, which often doesn't work right. This was fantastic news to me, because I know every word to every song from Oklahoma! (and most of them for TSoM and TWoO and, as a bonus, South Pacific). We not only had the albums when I was a kid, but I played Aunt Eller in the school musical. (I shoulda rounded up a pic, but that would be Throw-back Thur, and today's Less-Wordy Wed.)

To prove to myself I still had it, I typed out the lyrics to Ado Annie's "I Can't Say No" from Oklahoma. (Hit that link if you've never heard it. It's not exactly a beautiful tune, but it's fun.) 

So, here are my typed lyrics... accompanied by repurposed dog photos.

Monday Mischief: Custom Bedding! And a Storage Problem Solved!

The hubs and I have been on the search for a good night's sleep (defined as not waking up in pain. Is that too much to ask?) for, like, years now. A while back we realized we wanted different things, so went to two twins in our king frame. Because of our search, we have a couple of spare twin bed toppers around the house, and since we had (yet another) new bed coming, I needed to do some rearranging. 

I asked the hubs to toss one of the toppers in the spare room until I could rearrange some stuff stored under that bed and store the topper under there too. That night we went to bed and Rita trotted off to the spare room where she sometimes sleeps up on the guest bed. We heard what sounded either like distant fireworks (my guess, since we live within hearing distance of SeaWorld's fireworks and it was a 3-day weekend for MLK Jr. Day) OR Rita rearranging the blanket we keep on top of the guest bed for when she sleeps in there (the hub's guess, since Rita likes a cozy nest). We were both wrong.

The next morning I found this:

Someone had a good time.

Wordless Wed.: The Dog's a Fan of the Bone Broth Craze!

Did you know there's a bone broth craze going on? (If something makes The Today Show it's probably officially a craze!) I've been making bone broth for the hubs (so it will hopefully help with his joint and bone issues). He drinks a hot mug of it every night, and the dog's a fan!

Here she is watching, waiting, and hoping while I prep the bones for the cooking.

Lost & Found Mischief

Each novel I write has its own notebook. It holds various things: a rough outline, timeline, character notes, lists of names, maybe some first-draft scenes when I don't feel like working on my desktop PC, any newspaper articles or photos or other bits of inspiration, etc.

Well, this weekend I realized I'd lost my notebook for Book #4. Aggggh! I figured it was in the house, so looked everywhere. I've been known to absentmindedly set things down in weird places when I'm straightening up and have my hands too full, so I really looked everywhere! (Yes, I looked in the freezer.)

Lots to Celebrate! (Including Book News!)

There's a lotta stuff to celebrate today on PoochSmooches, so I hope you'll let me be a teensy bit wordy! (Don't you always??) :)

First of all, Jan. 21 is Rita's Gotcha Day! Three years ago we brought this crazy little pup home.

Momma's Girl? Daddy's Boy? Does Your Pet Have a Preference?

This is a daddy's girl:

Our beagle Bailey was a major daddy's girl. She would sit in his lap and hug and kiss him for ages. And he would just let her. They were quite the pair. (I literally gave up once after counting 1000 kisses.)

Wordless Wednesday: Left Out in the Cold

Recently when my sis was dog-sitting Rita, she took Reg and Rita over to a neighbor's house so they could race around in their park-like backyard. (Yes, the livin' is easy - and warm - in the winter time in San Diego, but our backyards are tiny.) 

They played:

Monday Mischief: There's Always One!

Every year when I put my Christmas stuff away after New Year's, there's always ONE thing that evades me, which is a pain since the Xmas decor gets crammed, er, packed with great precision into storage boxes. The heavy boxes are then hefted up onto the top shelf of our storage closet/pantry, with all manner of odd-sized/shaped things piled on top.

So, any missing item gets to spend the year sitting on the shelf in the closet surveying our comings and goings. (Since this is also the closet where Rita's treats reside, we come and go a lot!)

Because of the "there's always one!" problem, I usually do a military-precision-style sweep of the house, going through each room several times to make sure no one gets left behind. I pile everything on/around the dining room table, and when I'm sure I've got it all, I start cramming, er, packing.

Well, I really thought I'd rounded up and exiled everyone this year, until Rita pointed out that we had a stow-away hiding between two dining room chairs.

Pooch Smooches Takes the Pet Blogger Challenge

Today is the Fifth Annual Pet Blogger Challenge hosted by Go Pet Friendly (check them out if you like to travel with your pets!). It's a way for bloggers to "encourage, motivate and support each other." If you're a pet blogger and haven't joined already, hop on!

 

1. How long have you been blogging? And, for anyone stopping by for the first time, please give us a quick description of what your blog is about.

Less-Wordy Wednesday: A Photo Tribute to a New Angel

Sadly, our family lost another pup over the holidays - my sister's dog, Indy. Since it's Wordless Wed., I've got a little tribute to her in pictures:

A painting my other sis did of Indy

A Resolution Your Dog Can Help You Keep

Most of us know the routine with New Year's resolutions - we make them on January 1st, but they're usually forgotten by about mid-January! 

Well, last year SlimDoggy challenged us all to move our mutts, and Rita and I took the challenge seriously!