A Visit From a Pit Bull

This past weekend we had another visitor from the stray facility. China, the pit bull, stayed with us for a couple of days. She was pretty shy, Dylan scared her the first time they saw each other. Dylan took advantage of this and teased her the rest of the weekend the way cats tease dogs. China tried to play with Ferris and Simon a few times but when they played back, China didn't really know what to do. I threw the ball and when Simon and Ferris ran for it, China hung back and barked at them. When Simon and Ferris had enough of fetch, China retrieved the ball a few times for me. Once or twice she even tried to play with Dylan by barking at her and going into play stance. China is a very nice dog, she was like a shadow to Joe and I in turns. When I drove her back to the stray facility on Monday she sat in the front seat beside me and looked out the windows the whole way there. It was a little sad saying goodbye to her, she is such a nice dog. I heard from a friend that she was adopted this week and has a new home. So I guess I can't be sad for her, just for me.

Hand & Foot Prints

Our adoption agency coordinator visited the orphanage in February and made these hand and foot prints of Marie and Macky. Another lady who works at the agency put together these pages for us. What a great keepsake to have for their lifebooks. A lifebook is kind of like a baby book but more involved. Many adoptive parents make them for their kids. We haven't started Marie's or Macky's lifebooks yet, but these prints are perfect!

Marie Dakar Video

Here is Marie Dakar talking to another adoptive mom at the orphanage in February. She is saying "bonjour mama" and "bonjour papa". Awe, Marie is super sweet.

Mackenson

Here is little Mackenson out for a walk with his buddy, Kenny. They are very sweet together. Another mom was visiting the orphanage in February and took this video for us. Macky turns 2 on March 24th.

Rottie for a Weekend

A Rottweiler with no name came for a visit this weekend. She was brought in to the stray facility last week. Of course Joe had to observe her temperament to determine her adoptability (the fact that we love rotties probably also had something to do with our weekend visit to the clinic). Joe and I took Simon and Ferris to the clinic so they could interact and Joe could observe. Ferris and "Ms. Nubbin" (for lack of a proper name) had to figure each other out; initially they had trouble deciding who would be dominant. Simon of course was left unchallenged as Top Dog. They were all playing before too long, with Simon doing some refereeing when he thought things were getting a bit too loud. Ferris didn't fully accept the rottie as a playmate; maybe it's because she is young and very playful, a.k.a. a pest. How ironic since Ferris himself is known as "the pest" in our house at times. This rottweiler has some issues with manners and with potty training, we noticed that about her right away. But she is really sweet and playful. Joe and I decided to let her come home with us for the weekend to see how she does in a home. Every time we took her outside (leashed with a gentle leader) she buried her head in a snow bank and rolled around in it. She loved being outside. Joe even let her off leash once and she stayed in the yard with our dogs. Did I mention her potty training issue? Yeah, we have a few more spots on our dirty old carpet, ugh. As for her bad manners; she barreled into us with her enormous head to remind us we needed to focus our full attention on her when we lapsed for any reason. And she begs. But bad manners and potty-in-the-pants aside, she is very affectionate. She loved for us to pet her & play with her. She followed Joe where ever he went all weekend. It was fun to have a rottweiler in the house for the weekend but she had to go back to the stray facility this morning so she can find a home. If she doesn't we may be fostering another pet, who knows?

The Table is Done

Joe has the table re-finished and yesterday we moved it into the house. He spent a lot of time in the garage sanding, disassembling, staining, sealing and reassembling. Joe used a cherry stain and several coats of clear poly finish. It was definitely time well spent because the table looks amazing. He left the leaf undone so we could see the difference in the old versus the new (the last photo). Next up is the re-finishing of the leaves.

Happy 10th Birthday SIMON!

Yesterday Simon turned 10 years old. He spent the day playing in the yard with Ferris and me, running after sticks and generally jumping around. There was a little snow on the ground and the sun was shining while he lay on the wet grass and chewed on a stick he won from Ferris. He loves soppy gross stuff so laying in the yard was absolute bliss. Most of the rest of the day he enjoyed his second favorite passtime, sleep (on the couch with lots of pillows and mink blanket). His first favorite of course is swimming. When Joe came home from work that evening we gave Simon his presents; one was an enormous rawhide chew and the other a dog cookie in the shape of a cupcake complete with frosting. He loved the little cookie and ate it immediately. Rather than chew it, he guarded his rawhide on the livingroom floor. There was no way he was going to let it out of his sight. Ferris chewed on a normal sized rawhide; he gets a little jealous so rather than start a fight he got his own rawhide. This morning Simon still wanted to guard his gigantic rawhide and even growled at me when I grabbed it. That didn't last too long, he knew he was wrong because all of his hair stood up and he cowered. Simon gave himself a little time-out; he left his big rawhide while he finished off Ferris's. So now that he is ten he can take his time in the yard, sleep as long as he feels like, get massages after walks, have his very own foam filled bed in our bedroom and chew his rawhide or just guard it if he wants to.