Happy "HOWL"oween!!

I've taken a bit of a blogging hiatus (which is not unusual for me!) But I'm back..for now.

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year and while many adults dress their children up in fun and cute costumes, I choose to secure my dogs in slightly-too-small-and-most-definitely-too-hot-for-them-costumes with Velcro and bribe them with treats to pose for pictures! (Don't worry PETA, I had the air conditioner on and they only had to pose for a few minutes.)

2012 Walk for Animals

Okay peeps, this weekend was the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA's annual Walk for Animals. It was so much fun and is such a great cause.

Thank you to everyone who donated to this walk!! I am insanely appreciative! :)

As many of you know, I am team animal. As in, team Edward/whats-the-wolf-guy's-name? in Twilight or team Jennifer Aniston/Angelina Jolie. But instead, in my world its team Human and team Animal. I know, I know, most of you just fell off your stools. How could I possibly be a real live human and choose the animal team? There are many reasons actually. People, in general, tend to just suck balls to me. I think driving in traffic is a great example of the human race. People are pissed, screaming at each other from the comfort of their own metal safety-zone, with raging blood pressure, every time someone changes lanes in a manner that they don't agree with. It's comical really. I am sort of a grandma driver, so people are always pissed at me and my car. I look in my rear view mirror and oftentimes have to let out a little chuckle as I see the person behind me banging their poor steering wheel to death, red-faced and sweaty, all because I didn't turn at the red light in time. On a certain trip to LA, there was a car behind me with 3-4 men inside. As my cousin and I sit at a green light, waiting for a break in traffic to turn left, the light turns red and I do not go. Isn't that what everyone does? I mean, I am pretty sure we learned in Kindergarten when we played that game "Red-light, Green-light" that red=stop. Duh?! Well, these particular men obviously did not play that game because they were in a raging fury that I didn't run the red light so they could go. Complete with bulging forehead veins and all, they proceed to scream and cuss at me from their car. Then...wait for it...they start making sexually obscene hand gestures at us. (Use your imagination) Seriously, do I need to say more? Humans can be quite nasty, and I have NEVER in my life, seen a dog attack a human because they didn't cross the street when they deemed necessary. Case closed.

But hey, events like the dog walk this weekend help me to restore a few slivers of faith in humanity and allow me to continue meandering about the world instead of retreating to a hidden farm and trying to teach chickens how to write and dogs how to chop vegetables.

Zeus and Fritz had a wonderful day among peers. There were over 1000 dogs in attendance and if you know Fritz's history, that was a risky environment to put the demon into, but he actually did super and only snapped at 3-4 dogs the entire day.

Fritz, on his best behavior at the beginning of the walk.
 He's more angelic for Luke than he is for me. *eye-roll*

This is a pig...by the way.

Me and Zeuser, ready to start the walk.

And we're off.
Dog lovers unite ;)

Almost there!
Zeus and Fritz's first dog walk for a cause!

We're done.
And Fritz refused to show anything but his booty to the camera.
My apologies.

Vendor Village and Doggie Activity Booths

There were lots of vendors here and some activity centers for the dogs; including "Bobbing for Franks", "Paw Prints" (dip your dog's paw in paint then put it on a paper), and "Recall Races". 

Zeus and Fritz both participated in the races. They hook them up to really long leashes and the owner goes to the end of a pathway. The dog is timed on how fast he/she gets to the owner/finish line.

Zeus is getting hooked up and ready for the race!
Please disregard that Fritz is in a fight with his leash.

So, I went to the end of the path and Zeus saw me, but was being held until the timer started. When the time had been started he bolted towards me. I mean, like cheetah-after-his-dinner bolted. It was hilarious. He made it to me in 2:10 seconds. Fritz got all hooked up and ready, set, go...and as you can imagine, he trotted off the entire path and meandered for a second before slightly jogging toward me. I think his time was around 4 seconds. Bless his little non-conforming, non-competitive heart.

As for the results, Zeus beat every other dog's time. Can you even believe it? My little sweet mini schnauzer had the fastest time in the race! :)) So proud! I clearly failed him by not putting him in races before, BUT his name isn't Zeus Lightening for nothing ;)

   

"What?! I WON?! You're kidding!?"

"Yayyyyyyy! Victoryyyyy" *smiles*

Thoughts for Thursday

We've been living in California for almost 6 months now and time has seriously flown by. Six months in Korea was like 4 years in America. Although, I must say that CA seems a bit like another country to me as well. People are constantly asking me how I like it...and if you know me, you know I can't really lie very well. The truth is that it's fine. I certainly do not see what all the hype is about. It's actually pretty chilly here to me, mainly at night and the "sunny" portion of "Sunny southern California" has missed a significant amount of work these past months. As of yet, I am baffled as to why its called sunny socal. Regardless, its a really nice place to live, especially Coronado. BUT...

I miss Georgia! I miss the trees, the grass, the night sounds, the houses, the people (wait, no..some of them)...I don't know. I am sure I am glamorizing it, but I guess that happens when you have been gone from "home" for two years. I'm still fairly new to the Air Force way of life, so I am not so go-with-the-flow as some of the more seasoned wives. I love that I have the opportunity to see and experience new places (since I was always that girl who wanted to leave GA forEVER for big city life...Ha!) but I guess we as people, tend to not appreciate or understand what we love and what we have until we don't have it anymore.

Moving on...

Zeus and Fritz update...

Fritz continues to pick fights with pit bulls and other horse dogs at Dog Beach, so we haven't been there very much lately. Cesar Millan, if you're ever in the neighborhood, feel free to come by and do some whispering to a certain 14 pound schnauzer who clearly has a demon possessing him. He also gets very spooked around kids which is not ideal. Going further, Fritz jumped up on the ledge of our rooftop patio, sending me into a frenzy. I mean, picture walking a tight rope and that's what he was doing. He got out of our gate and was trotting down our street following Luke to work one day, and has decided that he will only eat dinner in the middle of the night. In his downtime, he likes to hide behind the couch cushions...

Zeus had a hard time for awhile, one because his brother limits his ability to go to the dog park, and two he has allergies. Apparently, he is allergic to California. Hmm. The vet thought it was his food, so we changed his food a billion times. We are off of poultry, grains, and gluten for him, so we had to try the more rare proteins like venison, rabbit, and kangaroo. Wow. He is not only allergic, but incredibly stubborn and picky, so for a few days he wasn't eating. He does not appreciate the raw foods diet...or either he doesn't appreciate rabbit. Not sure which it is, but after his starvation bout, we brought home several different foods and put it all down and let him choose which one he wanted.

You mean all pet owners don't do this?

This was one of my low points during his hunger strike. Yes, I fed my dog with a fork. While sitting on the ground with him. Begging him to eat the rabbit.

He settled on the venison and sweet potato combo...for those of you dying to know. Haha!

Zeus' vet also scared me to death with a certain blood test that he had to have. Please catch yourself up on the story by reading this little nifty post. The blood test came back that he had NO ANTIBODIES for PARVO. Holyyyyy balls! He was not allowed to go outside except to potty and not allowed to be anywhere where there were other dogs (aside from Fritz). It was a terrible couple of months worrying about him. He had to get the parvo vaccine and then wait two weeks to take another blood test. This blood test would get sent to "one of the leading immunologists in the country" according to my vet, who would do research on Zeus' blood and let me know the results in two weeks. Seriously, high maintenance dog! If he turned out to be a "non-responder" then he would most likely get the virus and die. Thankfully, the test came back that he DOES indeed have enough antibodies to fight the virus. Happy day for me!!..and Zeus, who went to dog beach that day! All this kind of made me want to throw something at my vet though. She is so dramatic about everything!

I think that's about it for now...except that I am on my second car wreck since moving to CA. One lady backed into me...the other lady hit me from behind. Really people? Get off my balls.

One other thing...this Saturday is the 2012 Walk for Animals which we all will be in attendance...Zeus, Fritz, my I-inherited-two-dogs-and-now-I-have-to-go-to-all-these-animal-events-and-smile-because-it-makes-my-crazy-wife-happy-not-to-mention-all-the-donations-to-pets-in-need-that-comes-from-my-bank-account-mysteriously-husband, and myself will all be there with bells on at 7 AM. If you feel like donating to my walk, which, I mean, of course you do!!...here is the link :))

http://www.sdhumane.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1576111&pg=personal&fr_id=1090

Tootles! 

Just another day...being crazy.

This past summer, Zeus and Fritz were due for their rabies vaccination. Zeus is 5 and Fritz is 2 so this wasn't the first time they'd had it, so I wasn't even the slightest bit nervous.Well, fast forward to 5 minutes after the shot...Fritz was staring at me like usual wondering when we were going home, but Zeus got super sick really fast. First he started scratching his face like crazy, then he threw up...everywhere, then he just laid down. The vet was luckily still in the room and gave him medicine to counteract the vaccine because he was having an anaphylactic reaction to the rabies shot. Poor baby! It was so scary...the vet said he could have died. He bounced back pretty fast after the benadryl and steroid shot, but the same cannot be said for me. I am now scarred for life.

This week, they were due for two more vaccines. I was literally nervous all day and yes, you know by now that I am usually nervous about something and if there is nothing to be nervous about, I create something in my head. But this time, I felt certain that my nerves were justified. Zeus got one vaccine, but not the two he was due for because the vet was worried about another reaction so he had to get a blood test to test his antibodies for the parvo/distemper vaccine that they were scared to give him. If he has enough antibodies from his last shot, then he won't need another shot. High maintenance?? Yes, that is an understatement with the grey dog.....

Now to the black demon...

He got his vaccine and like always was unfazed...until we got home. Not to be outdone by his brother, he threw up 3 times in 5 minutes. At this point, my insanity kicked in and I am freaking out because I knew that when Zeus had his reaction, it got very bad, very fast. And all I could think of was that my sweet black furry little demonic dog was going to die. So, I call my vet's office that I just literally left like 5 minutes prior and of course, they don't answer as I am sure that 4:59 PM rolls around and they all flee out the door like a bomb will go off in the building if they don't get out before 5PM. When they don't answer, my head pops off and starts bouncing through our house. I mean, I know I am crazy, but I just can't stop the massive panic that has begun. I think as my head is rolling around our living room, I probably just kept repeating omg, omg omg. It seems a little much looking back, but at the time, it felt necessary. All the while, Luke is just standing there staring at me, trying to be the voice of reason. But the problem with his voice of reason was that he was so calm. He said, "Jenny, just calm down and call the emergency number the vet gave you." It was at this point that my spastic head, popped a wheelie on the kitchen floor and then turned red with anger. "Don't tell me to calm down! You don't even care that Fritz might die!" Geez. Uncalled for! But, I will say that when someone, like me for example, is overcome with worry...I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that telling them to calm down may not be the best solution. I know it seems logical and all, but it actually has the opposite effect on me, personally.

So, I called the emergency number that the vet had given me in case Zeus had a reaction. *sigh* They said to bring him in.

We get on the stupid California freeway and of course, we sit in traffic for 30 minutes just to go three miles. Luke is holding Fritz and he just looks pitiful; Zeus is in the backseat looking at me like I'm an alien. And Luke is probably beside himself because he married such a lunatic, but thankfully doesn't say that.

After driving almost to flipping Mexico, we get to the emergency vet and not only does Fritz suddenly perk up, but starts wagging his little devil tail almost as if he is proud of himself for causing such a panic. We opt out of the $150 fee to take his doggie blood pressure and get back in the car and go home. While he was laid out in Luke's lap the entire time we drove to the vet, on the way home he sat up and looked out the window and growled at people in the cars next to us...


Not only do I feel like a totally unstable excuse for a person, but Luke witnessed the disaster that was me and well, that's a little embarrassing. Luckily, we are married and he can't just walk in the opposite direction as me and pretend he doesn't know who I am! Ha.  

He not only acts like a demon, but looks like one too!

That's a dog....in a basket.

It's been super pretty weather here this weekend, so we took the opportunity to get off the couch and get some sunshine in our lives...

If these don't make you smile, then you may just not be human.

Saturday we rode our bikes down to Dog Beach. It was the first time we put Zeus and Fritz in the baskets so we weren't sure if they'd like it....They did.

Sunday, we rode our bikes down a path beside the beach. We only had one little teeny mishap in which the demon black dog jumped out of the moving bike and scared me to death. He then got tucked in even tighter into his spot in the basket.

Here is a video from today :) Look how cute they are! Love it!!

Ready for movie night at home after their big bike adventure.

Home Sweet Coronado-Dog Beach

It has been quite the little minute since I have blogged. Oops. Oh well, that's the beauty of blogging...you do what you want, when you want to do it (which happens to be a personality flaw of mine as well, hmmm...ehh, that's for another blog).

After spending July through the end of October in North Carolina waiting for Luke to serve the remainder of his sentence in Asian hell, we have finally settled into our new home. To say its amazing here doesn't do it justice, but I'll say it anyway. If you've been reading my previous entries, you know that when I say I really, really like it here then that means something...because, I don't use the term "really, really like" lightly. But seriously, I love it.

I plan (haha) to have lots more posts soon!

We took Zeus and Fritz to "Dog Beach" last weekend. Fritz needs a little socialization and Zeus just needs some fun and this little strand of beach was perfect for both....except Zeus is a nervous wreck at times. He clearly thinks the ocean is going to eat him!

The boys playing at the beach!

Zeus wants Luke to get out of the water. Can you tell?

Fritz did well; he played nice with all the dogs (possibly because he was getting green beans as treats for being nice!)

And Zeus needs a few more times in the water so that he can stop having panic attacks when he (or Luke) gets in the water. I wonder where he gets his nervous personality from?

In case you were wondering, yes, we are in shorts in December here. Hehe.

nothing is easy...dogs and kimchi

So, like I knew it would be...its proven extremely hard (impossible) to find someone to groom Zeus and Fritz here. And this has nothing to do with the fact that I was googling "koreans eat dogs" 6 months before we came here! This is a real problem!...aside from my fear that instead of grooming them, they will roast them for dinner to eat along with their rotten vegetables that they bury under the ground for a few weeks, then dig up and call it kimchi (or maybe they used their high-tech kimchi fridge to rot their veggies). Either way, slimy, fermented cabbage, with a little dog on the side. Gross. Anyway! There are no groomers on base, and even when I asked the vet to recommend a Korean groomer off base, they said "Ummm, we can't do that." Ha! It wasn't like I needed much of a reason not to trust Korean dog groomers, but that was all it took. Thankfully, Luke is like one of those handy pocket knives that you get that has all kinds of little helpful devices that fold out from all sides of it; and it turns out, he has some serious dog grooming skills. And I mean that in like a "roaring, beat your chest, scratch your balls, burp really loud" manly kind of way. His dog grooming skills are very manly. Now, ladies...if you haven't found a guy that will groom your dog, cook you dinner, and rub your back while watching the latest Reese Witherspoon flick, you are clearly living your life the wrong way.
And for the record, I was picky about dog groomers in America too! Gahhhh. I know what you're thinking and I know you are judging me for using the words their and they. But the fact is, I am not a Korean and they are Koreans. There is a difference. And seriously, some of them eat dogs. So there.

Also, just in case you wondered what two very bored miniature schnauzers look like...

They drag all their toys out daily...and even their winter sweaters some days. Life is hard for all of us over here in kimchi country.