My dogs, my life

My mom likes to say that my dogs are like my children. She's not wrong. Although they take up less time than children, I'm sure they take up way more time that your average big dog. Here's what my day with them looks like.

I wake up to both of them in bed with me (bliss.) Max has been nudging me with his tiny head and nibbling at me letting me know it's breakfast time. Though sometimes my husband feeds them breakfast and they just pile back in to bed with me, for which I am very grateful. We always have rubs and cuddle time where I pet them, rub them, kiss them and just in general tell them how amazing they are. I wish I could start my day with someone doing that to me.

8AM Get up and feed the dogs.
Open the curtains, turn on Max's heated blanket. Turn on the lights.
Drink water and take my own medication (dogs come first.)

Make important phone calls. For me or my son. Typically doctor's appointments for referrals to a specialist (or two, or three.) These calls can take up to an hour each.

While I'm on hold I get dressed. Typically with both dogs thinking this means we're going out somewhere. Sometimes it does. Most of the time it doesn't.

 
I make some coffee, put on the Monterey Bay Aquarium live feed and try to journal. Usually at this time they are getting sick of being ignored and they both want my toast. 

9AM If it's not a gym day then I give them more loves, pets and rubs. I'll often sit on the couch with them both while I try to get more work done. This can be blogging, trying to save us money, chasing down money we are owed, texting my handyman... just life stuff.

The couch is THEIRS

10AM If it is a gym day then I'm off to the gym. Then they are typically ((GASP!)) left ALONE! If not I like to be productive in the house. Start laundry, do leftover dishes, clean up, etc...

11AM Is walk time. I try to walk them for about an hour. If I'm at the gym I typically do this when I get home. Or I make my husband do it if he's home.

My mom is even worse. She gives them massive, heaping spoons of peanut butter. 

12PM Snack and "Peanut butter pill" time. Max has to take Prilosec every day for his delicate tummy. If you see a pile of vomit in the house, 98% of the time it came from Max. 100% of the time if you find pee it was Max (but only when it's raining out and he doesn't want to get wet.) We even have a song that goes with peanut butter pill time. Margo just gets a little spoon of peanut butter. Then (because that's not enough of a treat) they get some crispy salmon skin. 

Yes, I bought them that massive dog bed to share. They adore it.

1PM They will usually rest after a belly full of snacks. Margo sometimes gets playful. Max rarely will play with her, so guess who does? Yup. Me. Her favorite game is keep away with her black and white stripped fuzzy toy that rattles. Not to be confused with her brown and white fuzzy toy that rattles. But that's her second choice. I have about 10 of these hidden so I can replace them when she wears them out. 

Margo and mommy resting

2PM Rest for all three of us. I'm usually down from 2-5 or so during each day. That's a lot of time, but I have my little pack to keep me company.

5PM DINNER TIME! You bet Max doesn't let me forget it. In fact he usually starts bugging me around 3:30. Very restful.

My boy Max. "Little Man, Maxie P, Little Chonkers, Chubby Guy, Dumptruck..."

6PM Dad comes home or is done with work. Now they get love from Dad.

7PM We make dinner and eat. Of course this requires close supervision by Margo. Sometimes Max too, but he likes to wait till the food is cooked before he makes his move.

7:30PM Another favorite time of theirs. They beg while we eat dinner. Then we all cuddle on the couch together. If we could do nothing but this for forever, they would be quite contented. We typically watch TV while they get more rubs, loves and eventually burrow themselves in one of our massive piles of throws covering our couch. Or should I say their couch.

Beautiful Margo. So cute when she's asleep. A bossy terror when awake. (Baby Girl, Little Stinker, Margo P., Sweet Baby Girl, Precious, Bossy Pants.)

 9PM Time for bed. Typically Max will come with us. Lately they've both been wanting to just sleep on the couch for most of the night. Margo even does so for the entire night once in a while. I think because it's spring? In the winter they both sleep all night with us 100% of the time.

Although if we want to be intimate you can guarantee that it's the night they both decide to come to bed with us. 

 I do want to improve managing my time and having it include art. I seem to constantly put that one by the wayside and instead fill my time with tasks or dogs. As much as I adore my babies (I mean dogs), I have to constantly remind myself that they are dogs. They'll be ok if I do art for an hour. Their world won't end and they won't feel abused. Same if I leave them home alone to go take care of myself at the gym.

The better I take care of myself, the more I can take care of them.  

PS: The whole time I wrote this they've both been yapping at me like I forgot something. I didn't. They just want my undivided attention. I have to work on that.  

 

My Puppies

We've had dogs going on 22 years now. We first had "Snack." A beautiful yellow lab, basset hound mix. She was so sweet, gentle, kind and calm. The perfect "starter" dog and so great with little kids. My dream of having a menagerie of animals was soon crushed by my husband's insistence that we only ever have dogs. I was able to sneak in the odd fish now and again. But aside from two cats when our son was very young, we've only ever had dogs. 

When Snack got a little older I decided I wanted a puppy. I'd never had a puppy before and my hormones were going crazy. My husband said "no." I got a puppy. He lived with it. "Sweetie" was four months old and the only puppy at the pound when I got her. The same pound we got her sister from years before. They didn't know what breed she was. I just knew that I loved her and she needed us.

She grew into a beautiful whipped rat-terrier mix. (Best as we could tell.) She was very sweet tempered and we loved her every day of her life.

Snack (left) and Sweetie - November, 2007
Our family Christmas card photo

Next Came Lulu. My husband heard of a basset hound being dumped in our friend's backyard. She couldn't keep the dog and was looking for a new home. Snack had been gone for a while and John wanted a basset hound. It seemed like destiny. Lulu the basset was ours before the end of the day. 

     Lulu with our son 2013

Lulu and Sweetie kept us laughing for many years with their antics. Lulu was like having a stubborn, slobbery donkey. Sweetie became my close companion when I became ill and too sick to work. She loved wheelchair rides and naps with mom. 

(Lulu - With Sweetie behind her. April 2013)

We lost Lulu too soon due to a back injury. Sweetie grew old and cranky with us. 

Sweetie was with us till around 13. We took to calling her "Kreacher" after the Harry Potter house elf. Because she would walk by any room we were in, look at us with a disgusted look on her face and keep walking. "Filthy muggles" we'd mutter in her voice. Canine dementia can be amusing if you try hard enough. We had her for her long, love-filled life. 

Sweetie towards the end of her life.

2021

We were determined to take a "break" from dog ownership after Sweetie passed on. We wanted to travel if possible and not take care of a needy animal for a bit. That only lasted a few weeks. It literally felt like the heart of our home had died. It was empty, cold, lonely without a dog.

I was looking around online at different pets and I saw Max. The second I saw his picture I just knew he was my soulmate. We hadn't had a boy dog before, so this was a new adventure. Three other couples had already applied for him. He had been rescued from a hoarding situation and was at a foster home. I beat everyone out with my determination and commitment to him. I just knew he was our boy.

Max and I in our wheelchair days.

2022

2022

Two years later his sister Margo joined us. My muscles had improved and we were talking about getting a second miniature pinscher now that Max wasn't going out with us as much as before. I saw a beautiful female listed online as needing a foster. I commented that I "hope she finds one soon." Almost immediately I received a phone call from the organization. It was the same one we found Max on. They wanted to know if we would foster her.

They were desperate as she was currently in an over-crowded kill shelter and had been there for THREE MONTHS!!! I was also told she was pregnant. Oooooh no. But my husband and I talked it over. We couldn't leave her there. So we agreed to take her. The rest is history. She was officially ours three months later. Through kennel cough, immunizations and a spay surgery. Luckily they were wrong about the pregnant part. I couldn't have been more relieved.

January 2024

Who could say "no" to that face?

I will spend the rest of my life trying to right the wrongs that have been done to them both. Owning a miniature pinscher is like owning a toddler. They are very smart, stubborn, unpredictable and hilarious. Flustering, but they make me laugh all the time. They both came to us with substantial trauma. Margo more than Max. Before being in the pound for three months she was on the street. That's all I know of her story.

It has take a long time to soften her hard edges. But with love and time she has grown into an affectionate love bug. Both of my dogs adore the sling and being worn. Both love treats and being buried under blankets pressed closely next to me.

The older I get the more I dote on my dogs. They are my "fur babies" and I can't imagine my life without them. Each time I loose one my heart breaks even harder. But the love and joy they bring to my life makes all the heartbreak worth it. And they deserve all the spoiling I can afford to give them. 

Margo on the left and Max.

Yes, these are the same dogs.

They love being in my mom's Jeep.

And all the treats she gets for them.

So loved and spoiled.

August 2025

Things in the way (AKA: LIFE!)

Life will always throw distractions in the way. Unfortunately I'm part bird, so I'm easily distracted by the shiny and new. I'd much rather play on my Instagram gardening page apparently then focus on the really important.

My hobby - rescuing plants from our local dumpster. 
It's so rewarding!

In fact I've been feeling SO incredibly distracted lately that I had to sit myself down and make a list. Here it is. It's called "What Matters to Me."

• ·     Money back from old gym
• ·     Re-Join new gym
• ·     Lose weight
• ·     Do Yoga again
• ·     Sell the eBay stuff to make trip money
• ·     Re-activate my MFT license (take needed CEU’s)
• ·     Help Papa get into VA home
• ·     Stay on budget

That last one is rough. I'm not known for keeping a close eye on my budget. Especially with the cost of everything rising 20% recently. But I want my husband to be able to retire as soon as possible, so this needs to become important to me. 

I will always make time for art.
My latest ceramic piece. A little garden Goddess.

Getting rid of things I'm not using and letting them go to people who will love and use them is why I'm selling some belongings on eBay. It makes me feel good that something I'm just holding onto will instead be important to someone else. I'm happy there's a way I can do that and also make a little money. That matters to me.

I miss my old gym terribly. Luckily so does my mother. It's going to be hard for me to get my money out of them. Sadly I can't afford both the new membership and for the old gym to keep my money (see "stay on budget.") Good thing I'm not terrible at getting what I want. I hope I don't have to escalate things with them though. That takes time and energy I'd rather spend at the gym.

Margo and Max will also always get my time and attention.

In fact, they get the most of it.

My two toddlers.

In the meantime there's nothing stopping me from doing Yoga (other than myself.) I managed to do "Chair Yoga" once this week. I'm going to do it again today. I did it along with a video I found on YouTube for people with Cancer. It was excellent. Just what I needed to get me back into Yoga without injury or too much pain.

Next Sunday my mother and I are going back to Oregon to get my grandfather and move him back to California. He's no longer able to live independently and his rent is going up again to a place where he can't afford it anymore. He does not want to go, so we have a battle on our hands. It won't be a "jolly time had by all at the beach." But family matters to me a lot, so there we have it. It will also take as many people as possible to help my Papa through this very hard time in his life. Transitioning to a home.

So there we have it. What matters to me and where I need to be focusing my time. Not that I still won't spend some time on the "shiny" and "new." But these can still be my anchors of attention.

All Is Well and As It Should Be

Well... We found out today that Margo is NOT PREGNANT! There will be no puppies taking over my life. I was shocked and relieved. Although we would have taken care of her and them, bypassing that gooey experience doesn't leave me wanting. I'm thrilled to just have Margo.

She arrived last night around 8:15PM. She slept with us in our bed all night. She's a very inquisitive girl who speaks her mind. 

We also found out she's somewhere between 3 and 5. They can't tell exactly, but young. Much younger than Max who is around 8. 

So now I have a big chunk of my future back. Remember what I just said about not having a hold on the future. Well this just echos that now doesn't it.

Max and Margo are getting along very well, which pleases me. I think it's only a matter of time before they play and cuddle. Thank goodness Margo has a tail or it would be hard to tell them apart at a quick glance.

Margo (on the left) and Max guarding the house.

Max is showing some signs of jealousy, but that's to be expected. We're doing all that we can to make him still feel special. But thank goodness there's no need to buy him an "I'm the step-Dad" t-shirt.

My Heart Is Bursting

Being more healthy and able bodied has allowed me to do something I would have never dreamt of before. I have taken in a pregnant dog. We will help her whelp, raise her puppies till they can be adopted and will give them all love and attention. 

Now that I'm healthier and gone more (mostly to the gym or doing a Target pickup order), we had decided to get a second miniature pinscher. We adore our Max and wanted to get him a sister. We talked it over during the holidays and decided March would be a good time to start looking. It seems fate had something else in mind.

I swear, if you think you have control over the future you are just fooling yourself. That's why living in the now is so vital.

It all started with my husband and I watching a TV show called "Too Cute." It had been in our cue for ages, but I wanted something sweet and relaxing. So I picked their puppy episode. Over the next thirty minutes we watched little puppies and big puppies from birth to about six months. It was a sweet show.

The very next day I got on Facebook to message my son from my computer. I saw the non-profit organization I got Max (pictured here sleeping on my legs) from post this...

I didn't think a lot about the pregnant Mama other than she was cute and looked a lot like Max. I've never been a foster and it wouldn't have occurred to me that it was even an option for us to take her. I replied to the post that we would be looking to adopt a female and maybe one of her puppies would be a good fit when they arrive. My husband and I were open to getting a (note the singular there) puppy.

What a sweet face!

The following day I got a phone call from the woman who heads their Nor Cal division. She had been the one who selected us to adopt Max. She was calling to see if we would be open to fostering little Mama through her pregnancy. All of the other foster homes were full and the new applicants weren't great. The shelter she was at (three hours from us) was also full and they needed her out ASAP. I told her we would have to think about it and get back to her.

She had some people for us to talk to who had fostered pregnant moms before. That was incredibly helpful to hear some first hand experiences and to be able to ask questions.

This was a massive decision. It would mean an incredible sacrifice of money, time and sleep. The organization would pay her vet bills, but we would be footing the rest. I'm not a girl to "make do" or do things half ass. If we were in, then we would be all in. We chose IN.

In an hour and a half we meet our "Margo." We discussed it and we will be keeping Mama and one pup. I will help her through her labor and delivery and raise her pups till they can be neutered/spayed, vaccinated and adopted. I will help screen potential families and place them. We are calling on all of our family and friends for help as well. 

This is all thrilling and terrifying at the same time. Luckily we have an amazing vet to help us. She already has an appointment for tomorrow at 9am. A sure way to make her fall in love with me. Take her to the vet. ((gulp)) I'll be sure to bring loads of peanut butter.

A lovely volunteer picked Margo up this morning from the shelter and brought her to the woman's house who contacted me. She spent the day there having her picture taken endlessly (much to my gratitude) and is being delivered right to our eager arms.

I have everything ready for her. My fingers are crossed that we catch a break and she's potty trained. They don't know much about her as she was just found as a stray with no collar or microchipping. We're jumping into the pool blindfolded.

I'm hoping Max will be ok with this huge change. He came from a hoarding situation where there were 11 other dogs and 7 puppies. Wish us luck!

PS: I have since been told that "You are the most organized, efficient fosters I have ever worked with." I told her "That's me! I am organized and efficient. If I take on a task I'm all in."