Happy Halloween!!!

From me, Jake & Litte Edie!!

Dog Night at The Pumpkin Patch

We started celebrating Halloween 2008 a little early this year. Our local pumpkin patch had a really fun dog night. Edie had a blast!! She wore her pumpkin costume. There were other dogs to play with, a trainer to give advice, a pet psychic and even the pupperazzi who took this cute picture. Everyone got a doggie goody bag on the way out.

Here's Edie playing with another dog who was a workman with his toolbelt.

Here's a little video Edie's reading with the pyschic, or animal communicator, as she preferred to be called.

Is Your Pet Ready For Halloween?

It's almost that time of year again! This is Halloween #2 for me and Edie. How time flies. Remember this post and this post from last year?

Little Edie has a couple of really cute costumes lined up. Stay tuned for pics and all the details. We have some fun stuff and events planned for this year including our pumpkin carving night while we watch the classic "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" plus a fun night out with all the dogs at the local pumpkin patch.

Do you have your pets costume picked out? If not, here's some links to places where you can buy some great costumes.

http://www.trixieandpeanut.com/category-64721-Costume-Shop

http://www.petco.com/Shop/ProductList.aspx?PC=productlist&Nav=1&N=4294958004%2030&cm_re=product

http://promotions.petsmart.com/halloween-central/

http://www.target.com/Pet-Costumes-Pets/b/ref=sc_fe_l_1/601-5262001-4815353?ie=UTF8&node=343171011

The Real Truth About Cats and Dogs

My friend, Dickse, has two dogs and three cats. She sent in this great home movie that she shot of Willard, her Frenchie and Wagu, her Main Coon cat. I think I see Gellar, her other Frenchie, in there too! This is such an adorable video and it shows that cats and dogs really can get along!!!

Will the Real Beverly Hills Chihuahua Please Stand Up

Yes, I'm still bitter that my Little Edie was not chosen to star in the blockbuster movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Unlike the 'fake' dogs in the movie she actually LIVES in Beverly Hills. She walks the streets and parks of Beverly Hills. She struts down Rodeo Dr. and visits all of her designer store friends. She hangs out at her mommy's office in Beverly Hills. Tourists take her picture. They film her. She sits, lays down and claps her paws on demand. She even rides in style in her plush car seat complete with pink cell phone (1-555-WOOF).

How Will You Vote on Prop 2 ??

It's almost election day. Are you prepared to cast your vote on Prop 2? In case you need to know more, here is a video featuring Wayne Pacelle, the President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. Wayne was recently featured on the Oprah show where they dedicated an entire hour to the subject.


For even more information here is a very detailed and helpful website:

Happy Birthday

Today would have been Audrey's 15th birthday. In memory of my little girl....

Little Edie Takes on Peete

In typical fashion....the little dog thinks they can take on the big dog.....

What If????

Happy Anniversary!!!!

One year ago this week I brought Little Edie home. I can't believe she has been with me an entire year. She is the best little dog. She makes me laugh every day. Her little personality has blossomed. She loves her brother Jake, the cat. She loves her friends, Percy, Agnes, Peete & Ginger. She loves her clothes and now even has her own closet! She can sit, lay down, beg and stay on command. And she inspired this blog which has just marked a milestone of its own with over 3,000 hits from all over the world!!! What a year it has been!!

I put together this little video of some of my favorite pictures of her. I love you Little Edie!!!

RIP Baby Meechie

I found myself in a very unusual situation on Tuesday. I was in a vacant house (working) and as I was about to open the door and go out to the backyard I noticed something moving in the middle of the grass. I thought it was a rat and stopped for a moment to observe further. It was squirming. It was a grey color. 'Wait a minute' I thought. That's not a rat. That's a kitten. As I hurriedly opened the door I immediately heard the desperate cries. Here was this little tiny, clearly newborn kitten, in the middle of the backyard crying out for help.

How did it get there? Where could it have come from? It couldn't walk so it didn't bring itself there. I looked all around to see if there was a den somewhere, a mother, other kittens.......nothing. I realized that either the mother didn't want it and brought it there from a neighboring house or maybe some kids decided to play a really dumb trick.

I was so busy that day and the last thing I had time for was to help this poor kitten. For a moment I actually thought "just turn around and walk away and pretend you didn't see it". Then I caught myself. I thought of Audrey, of Jake and of Little Edie. There was NO way I could do that.

I went inside and found a little box, a couple of towels and a plastic baggie. I carefully picked up the kitten, which fit in the palm of my hand, inspected a little - it looked like a boy and still seemed to have the umbilical cord attached. I carefully laid him in the box and wrapped the towel over him. I decided to go to a local rescue and drop it off there. I was sure they would take it in. I made the trip over with the kitten in the box on my passenger seat crying and squirming. The cry was hearty so I thought his chances were good.

Upon arrival the girl there told me they didn't have anyone available who would be able to bottle feed this kitten every two hours to keep it alive. I asked if they had any cats with a little of kittens.....just add one more...... No she said. She pulled out her binder with all her resources and started calling around. "It's kitten season" she said. "It's going to be really hard to find someone".

I was already late for my next appointment and starting to realize this easy solution was not going to be so easy. They wouldn't even let me leave the kitten there. She told me I would have to take it and maybe I should just take it to a shelter but they would most certainly put it down. What??? No way. I was already invested in this and there was no way I was going to hand this kitten over, who was struggling for life, and say "here, go ahead, just kill it."

In a desperate attempt I called Aunt Wanda and explained the situation. She jumped and said her mom could take the kitten in and bottle feed it. She had been wanting a cat so maybe this was meant to be. I raced home with the kitten. The girl at the rescue instructed me to put a heating pad in the box right away because the body temperature was falling and the kitten was really cold. I don't have a heating pad so I put the towel in the dryer and heated up some water which I put in a sturdy zip-lock bag. I but the warmed water in the bottom of the box and wrapped the kitten in the warmed towel. Wanda came and quickly took him and ran to Petco to buy formula.

Phew. Off I went to continue with my day the whole time wondering "why did this happen to me today"?

Wanda called and told me she was sitting in the car at Petco feeding the kitten. 'Ok.....we're off to a good start.' I thought. We all wanted to save this kitten. I told her to keep me updated.

About three hours later Wanda called and told me the kitten didn't make it. She had gotten him home and everyone was there routing for him, fighting over him and they decided to name him Meechi (after me). He ate just a little bit but no more. He died quietly in his sleep wrapped up warmly in a box.

I really don't know he ended up in the backyard of this house or why I found him that day. I'm just happy that we all did what we did. He lived a very short little life but he died surrounded by love instead of laying abandoned on cold, wet grass in the middle of a backyard. We all did our very best to save him and I'm happy for that.

Rest in peace Baby Meechie.......

(This photo is not of baby Meechie. I found it online and it looks very similar to him in color and in size. It is just a representation for this story.)

Happy Days.....

We had such a relaxing time on our labor day getaway. It was about 100 degrees every day which prompted alot of indoor activity. We slept, we ate yummy food, we watched TV, we swam. We relaxed ALOT!! The girls had so much fun together. Edie loves her cousins Percy and Agnes. On our last day there I captured these shots of all the girls after their morning playtime......ahhhhhh.....the life........

Happy Labor Day Weekend!!!!

Hey everybody.........

Little Edie and I are off for another fun and relaxing weekend with Polly, Duane, Percy and Agnes. Pictures and video to follow. Have a fun, safe and relaxing weekend. I can't believe summer is coming to an end. It went by so fast.............

The Dog Days of Summer

Everyone knows that the “dog days of summer” occur during the hottest and muggiest part of the season. Webster defines “dog days” as:

1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere

2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity

But where does the term come from? Why do we call the hot, sultry days of summer “dog days?”In ancient times, when the night sky was unobscured by artificial lights and smog, different groups of peoples in different parts of the world drew images in the sky by “connecting the dots” of stars. The images drawn were dependent upon the culture: The Chinese saw different images than the Native Americans, who saw different pictures than the Europeans. These star pictures are now called constellations, and the constellations that are now mapped out in the sky come from our European ancestors.

They saw images of bears, (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor), twins, (Gemini), a bull, (Taurus), and others, including dogs, (Canis Major and Canis Minor).

The brightest of the stars in Canis Major (the big dog) is Sirius, which also happens to be the brightest star in the night sky. In fact, it is so bright that the ancient Romans thought that the earth received heat from it. Look for it in the southern sky (viewed from northern latitudes) during January.

In the summer, however, Sirius, the “dog star,” rises and sets with the sun. During late July Sirius is in conjunction with the sun, and the ancients believed that its heat added to the heat of the sun, creating a stretch of hot and sultry weather. They named this period of time, from 20 days before the conjunction to 20 days after, “dog days” after the dog star.

The conjunction of Sirius with the sun varies somewhat with latitude. And the “precession of the equinoxes” (a gradual drifting of the constellations over time) means that the constellations today are not in exactly the same place in the sky as they were in ancient Rome. Today, dog days occur during the period between July 3 and August 11. Although it is certainly the warmest period of the summer, the heat is not due to the added radiation from a far-away star, regardless of its brightness. No, the heat of summer is a direct result of the earth's tilt.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina

A dog sheltered a newborn baby abandoned by its 14-year-old mother in a field in rural Argentina until the boy was rescued, a doctor said Friday.

A resident of a rural area outside La Plata called police late Wednesday night to say that he had heard the baby crying in a field behind his house. The man went outside and found the infant lying beside the dog and its six newborn puppies, Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires, told CNN. The temperature was a chilly 37 degrees, Salcedo said.

The dog had apparently carried the baby some 50 meters from where his mother had abandoned him to where the puppies were huddled, police said. "She took it like a puppy and rescued it," Salcedo said. "The doctors told us if she hadn't done this, he would have died." "The dog is a hero to us."

Dr. Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero Hospital in La Plata, told CNN that police showed up at the hospital at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday with the baby who doctors say was only a few hours old.

Though the infant had superficial scratches and bruises and was bleeding from his mouth, he was in good shape, Melia said. The next morning, the child's mother was driven by a neighbor to the hospital and told authorities the 8 pound, 13 ounce infant is hers, Melia said. The teenager was immediately given psychological treatment and was hospitalized, he said. She has said little about the incident.

The child has been transferred to a children's hospital in La Plata, 37 miles from Buenos Aires.