the winner of the pattern&paw giveaway is...

Comment #17 - RachyK and her cat Roxy!

Rachael, I will be getting in touch with you over the weekend to talk details so that we can get the pink zebra cat collar to you! Once you receive it, take a picture of Roxy looking like the roxstar that she is! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) Congratulations!

   

   

a giveaway - brought to you by *pattern and paw*

Lindsay is a pretty cool chick. Not only is she an accomplished chef (master of all things cookie dough) with her own cookbook coming out next year, but she also makes up fifty percent of the duo at Pattern and Paw, a company that makes the cutest collars for dogs and cats. Her and her husband are some of the most creative people I have ever met - and that was evident within the first five minutes of meeting them! Lucky for you, they are giving away one of their collars! Don't you feel special? You should! I mean, just LOOK at some of them - and they have hundreds to choose from!

              

So let's do this!

Enter up to six times by doing any (or all) of the following:

Do the following in separate comments on this blog,
as it will help me in the randomized picking process

(sorry that this will be such a pain for you, though). 

+  Go to Pattern and Paw, peruse the site a little bit,

and then tell me which collar you like the most for your dog and/or cat.
Check out the sizing chart first, though.

+  Become a follower of this blog via Google Friend Connect

(if you already are, then just leave a comment saying so).

+  Follow me on Twitter - and FYI, I do tweet about things other than Claire.

+  Tweet about this giveaway and give me the link.

+  Blog about it and give me the link.

+  Talk about it on Facebook and give me the link.

You have until noon on Friday (7/29/11) to enter,
and then the contest is closed.

Good luck!
   
   

we need your help!

Remember my dear friend Sarah who guest-blogged back in March and wrote this post? She got in touch with me today and asked if I would let you all know about some beautiful dogs who are in desperate need of homes by this Thursday. THIS Thursday, people. As in the Thursday that is just two days away. If these dogs aren't adopted by then, they will be put down. Rescue groups are full and there's a shortage of foster families. This just breaks my heart. Now, I completely understand that some of you may not be in a position to have a(nother) dog - and that's okay. All I'm asking is that you pass this link along to as many people as possible so that these dogs have the best chance to be saved: http://tinyurl.com/6bdzlgk

Thank you all for your help! And please, stay tuned - there's a giveaway coming up (perhaps tomorrow) that you won't want to miss!

  

   

hungry? why wait?

I’m hanging out. You know, just waiting for dinner time to roll around. I’m Italian, so I’m often hungry and dreaming of food. It’s a problem sometimes. As I was pondering what deliciousness is coming my way this evening, I got to thinking about the things that Claire has found to be tasty in the past – especially when she was a puppy. She never actually ingested anything, but she liked to tear things apart and chew on them for awhile. Not so awesome, but I suppose it was better than if she swallowed these things.

• When she was about six months old, she managed to chew a very large hole in my couch – while she was in her kennel. That was the day I decided to bring her to day care a few times a week.
• The carpet in my former apartment. I made sure to buy a house with hardwood floors, just in case she might get tempted again.
• My red patent-leather flats.
• A new pair of Rainbow sandals. She completely disregarded the old pair.
• A skirt that I had just purchased and hadn't even worn yet.
• Rolls and rolls of toilet paper – I've found her on more than one occasion with one end of the roll in her mouth while she prances around with it trailing behind her.
• Countless tennis balls – she likes to peel off the green fuzzy part and chew the rubber into a million tiny pieces that are next to impossible to completely clean up.
• Three Willowtree angels.
• Two library books, one which was (ironically) entitled “The Well-Adjusted Dog.” I think it was Claire's way of letting me know that she was not very well-adjusted at the time.

Thankfully, now that she is two years old, she now mainly sticks to her diet of Blue Buffalo and a variety of organic dog treats. But I think I have PTSD. Because every so often, when she’s hanging out by herself at home, I start to think of all the things that she could get into if she tried…

   

   

15 annoyances at the dog park.

I love the dog park. I really do. Sometimes I think that I love it more than Claire does - or just as much, anyway. But from time to time, people do stupid things there. Sometimes I feel like the dogs are smarter than the humans. My friends and I have this running list of things that just drive us crazy, so I wanted to share:


1.  When people pretend that they are deeply engrossed in a book or in their phone conversation while their Mastiff is getting ready to eat someone else's Pomeranian for a snack. I know that you know what's going on. Everyone knows that you know what's going on. So, unless you want all of The Regulars to call you out on your passiveness, get up and do something!

2.  When people pick up their dog because they think playtime is getting too rough. It's like dangling candy in front of a 3-year-old; they'll do anything they can to get it, and you will get hurt in the process.

3.  The people who get dressed to the nines for an afternoon at the park and then get mad when they get dirty. I want to go ahead and just tell Claire to jump all over you if you come wearing the equivalent of a ballgown. You lose another fifty points if your hair is perfectly coiffed and if you are wearing a solid five pounds of make-up. And don't even get me started on the hipsters...

4.  Bringing your toddler and letting them waddle around the park while dogs are running at full speed and wrestling with each other. What makes you think that's a smart idea?! You will NOT get my vote for Parent of the Year.

5.  People who think that everyone else's dog is the problem when all signs point to their own dog being an instigator.

6.  When people bring their dog's favorite toy to the park with them and then get mad when other dogs grab hold of it and rip it to shreds. I mean, Claire doesn't know that it's your dog's favorite toy! She just hears something that squeaks (aka: sounds like a squirrel or chipmunk) and knows that she wants it!

7.  Smoking cigarettes is always gross but it's even worse that people throw their cigarette butts on the ground. Some curious little puppy is going to try and eat that. What's your address, because I'll send you the vet bill.

8.  People who bring treats for their own dog and then get annoyed when they become the Pied Piper of the park.

9.  The dog trainer who brings his clients and their dogs to the park for training. That's just cruel for the poor dog, and your philosophy is idiotic. To bring them inside the park, expect them to pay attention to you while every other dog is trying to engage them, and then to yell at the dog for being confused is just ridiculous and uncalled for.

10. On behalf of my dear friend Amy and her dog Kingsley: all of the horse jokes that people make when a Great Dane comes in. Examples: "You need to put a saddle on that thing!" or "Look, it's Mr. Ed!" Not funny, and very unoriginal.

11. When a dog is trying to take a bite out of another dog and I see the naive owner running toward them shouting, "HE'S JUST TRYING TO PLAY, I SWEAR!!!!"

12. When people drop off their dogs at the park and leave them unsupervised while they go run errands. I'm sorry, but it's not a day care. And you are irresponsible.

13.  Children between the ages of 4-10 who run around screaming at the top of their lungs and trying to poke the dogs with sticks. I just want to yell, "WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS?!?!" I mean, are people unaware that there are separate parks for kids and dogs?

14.  The people who try to sneak in their full-blooded pit bull by saying that it's a lab/boxer mix. Same goes for the people who try to sneak in their wolf hybrid by saying it's a purebred husky. We weren't born yesterday, and there usually won't be a problem anyway unless your dog is aggressive and out of control.

15.  I'm so glad that your dog likes to fetch tennis balls. Really. Just throw the ball to your dog in an area where people are scarce, because if your aim sucks and I get hit in the head with a tennis ball, I'm going to be furious! You know, after I shake off the unconsciousness that you caused in the first place. [Please note that I am one of those people who have terrible aim, so do not be offended if you, too, throw like a girl.]

Feel free to comment with anything that I forgot to add!

  

  

it started as a friendship.

What started out as an innocent sleepover between friends turned into Claire having a new boyfriend. That's right. I helped out some dear friends this weekend by watching their adorable dingo/retriever, Chase (and he's not really part dingo, but he looks like one, so I continue to say it). Please see the picture below to observe him in all of his cuteness.

Claire and Chase

Claire and Chase had so much fun playing together all weekend. They would rotate between wrestling, chasing each other around the house, sharing pig ears, and sleeping. Chase is SUCH a good puppy; it's crazy to think of how young he is, because he's very mature well-behaved for his age. Claire sure knows how to pick 'em! By the end of the weekend, Chase was kissing Claire's sweet face, nibbling on her baby ears, and following her everywhere. I took them to the dog park and instead of playing with the other dogs, they just snuggled like two lovebirds, as you can see in the above picture.

Alexandra and Josh, all I can say is that he'd better not break her heart! ;)

    

choosey moms, choosey dogs.

Alright, before I tell you this story, you've got to know a little bit about Claire's background. So... keep reading. It'll all make sense. Claire has a little problem called GERD. You know, gastro-esophageal reflux disease - acid reflux. Every so often it flares up, causing her to wake up around 3am with a stomach ache. When she was a puppy and the vet figured out that this was a chronic issue for her, I was told to give her famotidine before bedtime for a month to see if that helped; if it did, then I was to stop giving her the medicine until she started showing symptoms again. I give her the medicine by hiding it in a spoonful of peanut butter; it's one of her favorite foods (she likes Jif the best) and masks the medicine, so it's a win-win situation. We've been on this regimen for over a year now and it seems to work pretty well.

A few months ago, Lissa and Claire were watching a movie with me in the living room. We were all up past our usual bedtime, and Claire had fallen asleep on the couch during the movie; she goes to bed at 9pm like clockwork. At the end of the movie, I told Claire that it's time for bed - she knows this cue and normally gets her Blue Elephant before leaping into bed. This time, however, after putting Blue Elephant in bed, she jumped on down and went into the kitchen. She wedged her nose between the refrigerator door and the frame and quickly - expertly, mind you - pried it open. She sniffed around for a minute and then grabbed the jar of peanut butter with her mouth and brought it over to me, then sat there looking at me, waiting for me to give her the nightly "treat" of PB&meds. On this occasion, I had two jars of peanut butter in the refrigerator, as the Jif was almost gone. The other jar was some generic brand. I'm assuming that Claire smelled the difference between them and picked her favorite brand upon recognizing the smell. I was in shock and awe, my friends, shock and awe. Trainers and veterinarians always say that dogs like routine, I just didn't realize that it was so specific!

But I have many questions about this. How did she figure out how to open the refrigerator in the first place? Has she been practicing when I'm at work? What has she consumed while she's been nosing around in there when I'm not home? And, for crying out loud, how do I ever begin to train her to close the refrigerator door after she's gotten what she wants?!

...I have a feeling that I would be in so much trouble if she had opposable thumbs.

  

   

keep on keeping on.

My friend just sent me this video and it made me laugh so I wanted to share!

I think we all know what it's like to have moments that feel like this!

our very first blog award!

A huge thanks to Carrie at All Things Dog for sending a shout-out in the form of a blog award - this is so exciting for me! And while I get to celebrate by writing this post, Claire will get to celebrate by having a bone. Now how's that for awesome! There are a lot of people out there in the pet-blogging community (really, there are!) so it's great to be recognized!

Now, before I pass on this award to some of my favorite versatile bloggers, I am supposed to tell you seven random things about myself. Here it goes:

1. I am pretty sure that if I weren't self-conscious and didn't have morals, I would live in a nudist colony. I mean, hey, sometimes a person just doesn't like to wear pants. (However, because I am self-conscious, do have morals, and do not live in a nudist colony, I wear sundresses quite frequently.)
2. Now that I am older, I can identify a handful of people who were friends with me in high school solely because they adore my mom. She is very lovable (and makes some mean chocolate chip cookies), so I can see why they wanted to be around her!
3. I only have one vice: dessert. (Remember this will come in handy if you would like to bribe me or if you need to tell me something that you know will upset me. So take this little tidbit and store it away for future use.)
4. I have a very very long Bucket List. I try to accomplish a few things from this list each year. Only the MOST special people in my life get to know what's on it. I guess I like to pretend that I have an air of mystery about me...
5. I have watched every single episode of *Friends* in chronological order. Four times. And I am furious that the show ended. Outraged, actually.
6. Sometimes I wonder if anyone thinks that I'm as funny as I do. Seriously, I make myself laugh all the time. I find myself very entertaining.
7. I have many career goals that are quite different from one another: to be a missionary and work with children in Uganda, to be a writer, to be a professional photographer, to work for an animal rescue, and to be a rockstar.

Interesting, yes? I thought so. Alright, now I need to pass this along to other versatile bloggers! Congratulations to...

Magnolia the Therapy Dog

Ours for a Lifetime

Live Bark Love

Smart Dog

Daily Adventures of Sage and Erin

...Now go check out their blogs!


    

dogs and design.

Some people are into design blogs where people talk about what furniture they want, or what accent pillows would look nice in their future mansions, or what clothes they would buy if they were Lady GaGa... But not me. Nope. I am lucky enough to have a mother who is extremely talented when it comes to both interior design AND fashion, and she goes to town when she comes to visit me! It works out well for both of us - she gets to do something that she loves, and I come away with a prettier house and new clothes! By the time my mom is ready to head back home, at least one room in my house has had a complete makeover - and so have I! It is awesome and I am so appreciative of her gifts, because those gifts were certainly not bestowed upon me when I was born!


I did, however, find the equivalent to those design blogs when it comes to something that I am passionate about: dogs. You may be wondering how dogs and design could possibly go together. Wonder no more, my friends. Just check out Dog Milk. My birthday is coming up, and while perusing my new favorite website, I've found some things to add to my wish list! Please review the following (and then add these things to your wish list too):

Paul Kweton Rocking Chair
Relaxing for the person, relaxing for the dog!

PetSafe Cinch-It Collar - but in fire engine red

Red Hearts Tag - round shape, "Marvin" font

Of course, with Claire's name and my phone number!

Happy Go Lucky Fleece Bone Toy

Paw Pool

...but only if someone happens to come into a lot of money

and wants to buy something for Claire ;)

So. If I don't see you during the month of August - aka Birthday Month - feel free to email me and I'll be more than happy to give you my address. You know, so you can send me any of the above items. Only kidding. Maybe. ;)

  

how do you like the new look?

We have a new template, folks! Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Concerns? I need a little feedback here. Why? Because this blog is as much for me as it is for you! So tell me what you think!