Puppy Lovin'

Reason #63,000 why having dogs rocks...

Coming off of a mega-weekend of renos for John's office. It's exhilerating, it's exhausting... it's kinda high-inducing because paint thinner is wicked WICKED stuff. Did you see that TEN FOOT TALL BOUNCING RUBBER DUCKY BOUNDING DOWN THE STREET?

What?

And now we're home. Home, lovely home. We are about to down the pasta MOTHER LOAD and wash it down with some well-deserved wine. We are likely going to stare at the boob tube for some mindless entertainment. AND we are going to play with our sweet pups.

I mean, LOOK AT THEM. They love each other. It's fabulous.

Makes me wanna squish 'em.

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Cheeky Little Bugger

Is it just me or does it look like Mickey is sticking his tongue out? Cheeky little bugger...

Quick reminder: January is Walk Your Pet Month! Go on, get on our there are drag your pup around in the cold, wind, rain and mud! It'll be fun. You'll be wet and miserable and all that, but other than that it'll be great! Trust me!

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Duck Hunting II

Do you see the ducks in the background there? Kayloo wanted to be buds with them. She was clearly disappointed when they waddled away in uncoordinated terror. She even managed to look a little confused, like, Don't you know I'm practically Therapy Dog material?!!!

Back in the day at this very same park Mickey discovered ducks as well (here's a pic). They didn't like him either. Bitchy, elitist ducks.

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Happy Thumping Tail Test

So, I've been going back and forth and back and forth on whether I want to tell you this next bit of news or not. It's not a HUGE big deal I guess, but it involves taking a test. A TEST! Ack! It involves ACTUALLY BEING TESTED, which means I could potentially FAIL this test, which means I am telling you about this being tested thing before I have gone and ACED said test, which means I could totally be setting myself up to look like a great big loser! Omigodcanshehackit?!!!

My A-type personality side is freaking out a little bit here. Okay, here goes:

In a week and a half Kayloo and I are taking the Therapy Dog certification test so she can wear a fancy little kerchief and share her happy thumping tail with anyone who will take her (this test is for extended care facilities). A week and a half. 12 days to be exact. 12 DAYS, PEOPLE!!!

Ho. Lee. Crap.

12 days from now some people are going to be telling me to do stuff and I'm going to be telling Kayloo to do stuff, and if she doesn't do it I WILL HAVE FAILED IN MY DUTY AS A THERAPY DOG TRAINER HANDLER PERSON.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Let's take a couple steps back before I give myself a hernia. First, why do I want to get my crazy pooch certified as a therapy dog? There are three main reasons:

I think she would be suited to it: She is an incredibly loving little mutt. When you hug her she is happy to stand there while you smother her, and she'll stay put for however long you need. Even if it's a ridiculously long time. If you're near her but not quite close enough to touch, she'll slither and nudge and scooch on over until she cozying up to you someway or another, maybe with her soft little muzzle or her entire gigantic black and white cow head.

It would be good for her: I think dogs are happiest when they have a job to do and I think Kayloo would do GREAT employed as a soft and slobbery love monkey. She would get a bunch of additional training and she would get a HUGE mental work out wtih all the meeting and sniffing and patting from dozens of new people.

Getting out into the community: We all know dogs are a huge stress reliever and I would love to be able to share Kayloo's goofy wonderfulness with others. The fact that she is a pitbull cross and a rescue dog is an important consideration for me also as I think it is important to show people how wonderful and non-scary pitbulls and rescue dogs can be.

Did I mention it's in 12 days?!

They won't tell you everything she will be tested on (I have no idea why, like you're going to cheat or something? Can dogs cheat? NO THEY CAN'T), but as far as I can tell she is going to have to be able to do everything required on the AKC's Canine Good Citizen test.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll stress more in the coming days. Have to do a bit of training with Miss Thang (GET OVER HERE SOLDIER, DROP AND GIVE ME 20!!!). And then we're going to snuggle because it is very important she gets that part right.

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Chicks' Night Rules

I went ice skating with some girlfriends on Friday night. CHICK NIGHT! Super fun. Turns out I SUCK at skating and it was more like shuffling/walking/waddling. The second part of the evening involved sipping full glasses of Chilean wine and I am VERY good at that so there weren't any 8 year old screaming past me during that part of the evening, was there?

I have a tendency to be a complete and total nerd homebody so last year I started a monthly Girls' Night Extravaganza (this little get together even has a name: event: anything... cuz it can be, you know... anything!). Every month I now have a date with a whole gaggle of girls.

Translation: Every month I get to hang out with a bunch of people who reason through things in a rational, understandable way (i.e. PROPERLY) and would never dream of hanging their clothes up ON THE FLOOR. And they don't think fart jokes are funny. Guys are awesome and all of that, but sometimes a girl just needs to hang out with a bunch of other girls and ogle said girls' jacket.

To satisfy my slightly OCD need for order and protocol there are rules:

• the date is set way ahead of time so there is no back & forth & back & forth with dates and times and day planners and headaches;
• each month a different person is in charge of deciding what we do and organizing whatever needs to be done (making reservations etc), this way one person isn't always saddled with all the "work";
• $20 spend limit so this bit of fun doesn't make anyone poor.

Over the last year (it started in March 2009) we 've done all kinds of fun stuff each month, such as:

• ate icecream and played bocce- I almost hit a duck (I've been honing my aim for next time because I DON'T LIKE TO MISS)
• martini night- Sex & the City theme
• salsa dancing
• Oktoberfest beer
• got all cultured and went to a black & white Italian film (Bicycle Thieves)... we also got cultured on ANOTHER night and went to an art gallery
• more drinking (WHAT? Like you don't go out for drinks with your friends)

It's great because I get to 1) catch up with friends. And they rock 2) take advantage of their WICKED creativity and do things I would probably never get around to doing, and 3) be saved from being that wiggy, too-blonde chick who hardly ever leaves her house and talks about her dogs WAY TOO MUCH.

Already looking forward to next month. There are rumours it will involve cheese. AN EVENING DEVOTED TO CHEESE, PEOPLE. Chicks' night rules.

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Head Tilting Tizzy

Here is a little Kayloo Action to send you off into your weekend. We came THIS close to her twisting her head right off today. I dared to utter the word "dinner" and she vibrated into a head tilting tizzy.

Here is another photo of her ridiculousness, and as you can see she has improved her game. Thank GOD. Would have really sucked to end up with a slacker in the head bobbing department.

Happy Friday!

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January is Walk Your Pet Month (Unless You Have a Snake)

Turns out that even though right now John and I are living in the Big Dusty Office Build-Out Extravaganza (I bitch intelligently discuss the process here and here) the world continues to turn AND...

January is Walk Your Pet Month!

So, if you'll allow me to get up on my little soapbox, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about how important it is to walk your pet.

BUT, before I really get rolling... I'm not so entirely sure how important it is to walk ALL pets. I don't know, do people walk their pet llamas? Feel free to educate me here, guys. How about snakes? Snakes don't have... legs... Although, I was at a gay pride parade in Toronto once and I had my picture taken with a HUMONGOUS 10 foot tall bare chested Amazon man in shiny chaps with a GIGANTIC... boa constrictor (heads out of the gutter, people) languidly drapped across his shoulders and wrapped ever so frighteningly around his neck.

WHAT?! I told you to GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE GUTTER!

Okay, stay with me. We're getting back to dogs.

Dogs.

I think it is very valuable to bring this topic up every now and then, because even the best intentioned of us sometimes forget how important it is to get our dogs out for a structured walk every day.

Every. Single. Day.

Even when it's bitterly cold. Even when it's grey and miserable. Even when it's been raining buckets for a kajillion days straight and if it rains for one more bleeping second I AM MOVING TO THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING SAHARA DESERT I'MNOTFREAKINGKIDDING DON'T-PUSH-ME-I'M-SERIOUS-THIS-TIME!!!

Three little points to keep in mind:

1. 1 hour, 2x a day: Unless your dog has some kind of health issue, chances are he would appreciate a brisk one hour walk 2 times a day. 2 TIMES A DAY?! That's right. I know Cesar says at least two 30 minute walks a day, but let's be honest with ourselves. 30 minutes innocently turns into a skimpy 7 1/2 minutes down to the corner and back, doesn't it? So let's go with the oh-so daunting 60 minute walkathon. Twice. You can do it. I have faith in you.
2. The park doesn't count: It really just doesn't. The park is AWESOME, don't get me wrong, but Fido needs structure in his life, just as you need structure in yours. So head down to the park AFTER you've hiked around with your pooch close at your heels- he will benefit from the discipline and you will reinforce your role as Da Boss.
3. A big backyard doesn't count: See #2. Go on. I'll wait.

1, 2, 3! Super easy, right? If you walk your dog THE WORLD WILL BE A BETTER PLACE. I am not kidding you:

If your dog is exercized he will be LESS likely to wreck your stuff, which will make YOU less likely to have a crazy flip-out spazz-fest, which will make you MORE likely to be zen and get along with your partner, who will probably take you out to dinner where you will have a FANTASTIC spicy tortellini paired with a scrumptuous, oaky cabernet sauvignon and I am pretty sure all those things together are the recipe for WORLD PEACE. I'm pretty sure. If you google it you'll find it. Yes, there it is.

So, enjoy Walk Your Pet Month! Go celebrate by, oh I dunno... walking your pet maybe. Especially snakes. And make sure you go to the park after your walk because look at how much fun Kayloo and Mickey are having in this photo!

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Pretty Darn Good Day

Kayloo's antennae are up. Mickey is gnawing on something soggy and disgusting, after which he probably rolled in it so we could all enjoy the aroma for HOURS AND HOURS TO COME.

Yeah, I'd chalk that up to a pretty darn good day...

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Puppies and Paint and 5 Seconds of the Globes

This weekend was a blur. I don't want to be a drama queen, but there was drama and there were Queens (okay, not really, but there WAS Dairy Queen ice cream wonderfulness in there somewhere so THANK GOD for that).

There WAS however, painting. And painting. And painting... and since I'm too damn lazy to write about it right now I am going to share my weekend with you in pictures.

As mentioned, there was painting:

There were also the puppies who had their socks walked off because we felt guilty for being lame Painter Freaks :

A bunch of spicy takeout...

More paint...

A bit of sarcasm:

Me: Oops! I'm not in your way am I?

John: Yeah, actually you are.

Me: I think what you meant was, "Of course not, darling. You could never be in my way."

John: Ha, ha.

.... silence...

John: Seriously, get out of my way.

There was week old red wine in a handmade mug with my name on it. Cuz, when you're walking around with a bunch of dust on your face who cares how your alcohol is served:

A whole bunch more paint:

Five seconds of the Globes:

And now I'm ready for bed.

Good night.

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Magic Touch (or treats probably...)

Where is my damn dog, and why isn't she doing back flips to materialize at my side when I call her?

Aha.

Three guesses as to why she is sitting so perfectly at my feet.

First two don't count.

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Heart Goes Out

My heart goes out to those in Haiti right now, and to their families and friends around the world.

This is a link to the Red Cross (Canadian) with more information and some information on how to help.

Enough With the Poo in the House

The next couple of weeks are going to be MASSIVE WEEKS OF CHAOS from which we can only hope to emerge from all in once piece. John is laboriously working on moving his office, which means we are all going to be running about with a pound of gyprock dust on our eyelashes and cheeks for awhile, like I am sporting here.

Add to that I JUST picked up a DISGUSTING leaf by the door (digusting as in dis. gust. ing if ya catch my drift), which lead me to holler a sentence I didn't think I would ever utter in an I-mean-it-Buster!!! sort of way:

"Seriously you guys*, ENOUGH WITH THE POO IN THE HOUSE!!!"

Yup, I said that.

And what does painting into the wee hours and a hygienically compromised leaf have to do with each other? I'm not sure. But I do know that when I reached for that leaf with my paint coated hand I felt VERY justified barking out my annoyance to the suddenly empty room, doing so with enough force to make dust poof out from my hair and gently cascade down around me, poo leaf and all. Which made me laugh.

Something like that has got to make you laugh.

Wish us luck as we battle the pounds of microscopic white dust in our various crannies.

*Just to be clear, I was referring to my dogs, not my husband.

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Funky Dog with Water Dish

I was trying to catch Kayloo pushing her nose into the little tube above the water dish. Sounds weird, but she likes doing that for some reason.

I love how this pic turned out... kind of arty or balanced or something. Her leg is even sticking out all funky-like and she matches the graffiti!

Here was another attempt I made at being arty.

Do you have an uber-fabulous photo to share? Post a link in the comments- would love to see them!

Update: Okay, there have been some questions about the cement thing. See, it's a human/dog fountain. On the left there up high for the people and then whatever doesn't fit into you mouth goes down into a spout thingy and drains down into the dog dish on the right. See it? Is that brilliant or what?!

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Views Like This

This was what we were surrounded by at the end of one of our walks last weekend (same day as this photo).

I love my dogs for lots of reasons, but one thing I will be eternally grateful for is that because of them I now get my butt OUTSIDE. Every day.

And I get to breathe in views like this.

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Sometimes Dogs Get Confused Too

Happy Friday, gorgeous people!

I read somewhere that after the holidays people can sometimes feel a little... disoriented. Like, WHAT IN THE HELL JUST HAPPENED AND WHY IS THERE A TREES WORTH OF TINSEL STUCK BETWEEN MY TOES, BAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

So, well done You! You made it through the first week of 2010. Not only did you make it through, chances are you kicked ass in ways you didn't even know.

Mickey is looking a little like a deer caught in headlights here, isn't he? Rest assured, 10 seconds later he was raising hell in one way or another. Most likely to the detriment of Kayloo's general well being.

Have a great weekend! You might even want to raise a little hell yourself...

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