Pupcakes and Frosty Paws and Fetch, Oh My!

Pupcakes, Frosty Paws, steak, toys galore, siblings and endless fetch. Not bad for a first birthday! We had a fun-filled long weekend trip to North Carolina to visit Millie's brother and sister, Wally & Brie, and Millie's Aunt Kelley! The pups were treated to their first taste of steak (cooked to perfection just for them, of course), some special Pupcakes and S'mores from Three Dog Bakery, and all kinds of squeaky toys and balls from their favorite humans. It's the first time Millie got to see her siblings since Christmas, and it's always fun to watch the joyous reunion. There's no question these pups know they're family, even though they haven't seen each other in over half their lives. It was a great weekend with the Three Amigos, and we thank you all so much for your birthday wishes!

365 Days of Millie!

That's right folks. Today's is Millie's FIRST BIRTHDAY!

The day Millie came home with us!

It's hard for me to believe that she has been in my life for such a short amount of time, because the impact she has had on me is immeasurable. I can't believe that one year ago, such a huge part of my life just didn't even exist. A few years before Millie was born, I lost two of my girls in the same 8 month period, and was heartbroken to say the least. I thought there was no way I could share the bond I had with my Samantha and Kelso with a new little ball of fur. I thought I couldn't make room for another in my life because none could measure up.

But then Millie was born. And of course she didn't take the place of either of my girls, as they each have their own place in my heart, but Millie licked and wagged and snuggled her way right into my heart again. I have her to thank for so much, and to say I'm glad she was born is the understatement of the century.

To celebrate this special day, we are taking a long holiday weekend to visit her brother and sister, Wally and Brie, in North Carolina, so stay tuned for birthday bash photos to come! Until then, I leave you with two videos of baby Millie that I giggled over this morning as my husband and I reminisced over the past year with her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MILLIE!

Watch out for the camera, Millie! from Banjo and Millie on Vimeo.

Sleeping Puppies from Banjo and Millie on Vimeo.

Millie ♥s Squirrel

Therapy Beagle Extraordinaire

As many of you know, Banjo has a full-time job as a therapy dog. As part of a program that rehabilitates shelter dogs in correctional institutions, Banjo had an inmate trainer/handler who for several months helped to train Banjo to make him "adoptable." Of course, I've always known Banjo as the most well-behaved, chilled out dog in the universe, but I suppose there may have been a time that he wasn't. The world may never know the real, pre-therapized Banjo.

But what does it take to be a therapy dog, you're asking? Well, after Banjo's training, he had to pass a series of tests from the Delta Society to receive his credentials. The Delta Society trains and employs volunteers and their pets to visit various animal-assisted programs such as those found in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and the like, and therefore requires the proper training for both human and animal partners to ensure everyone's health and safety.



To become a registered Pet Partner team, there are 4 steps:

Train the human-end of the leash by attending a Pet Partners team training course. You have the option of completing a workshop or, if you cannot physically attend one, you may complete the home study version (To find a workshop near you, click here.) The human training course will teach the skills you need in order to safely visit the animal-assisted facilities, and include topics such as: facility health and safety codes; identifying and decreasing stress in your animal; preparing for animal visits; and the special needs of specific client groups.

Have your animal partner's health screened by a veterinarian. Your animal must pass a general physical exam, be current on rabies and other immunizations, and be free of internal and external parasites, disease, infections, and illnesses.

Have your human-animal team's skill and aptitude evaluated. You will be evaluated by a Delta-Licensed team evaluator, in order to see how well the handler interprets the animal's behavior, and how well the animal responds to the handler. To ensure everyone's safety, the animal must be under control AT ALL TIMES. The evaluation consists of two parts: the Pet Partners Skills Test (PPST) that shows the animal's understanding (and compliance) of basic commands; and the Pet Partners Aptitude Test (PPAT) that is designed to simulate the conditions you may encounter on your facility visit in order to tell what environment you and your animal are best suited for.

Submit your registration application. The application costs $75 for a handler with one animal. Check out the details of the application submission process here.

Banjo in the Bath

To conclude the fun new dog-themed art for my newly redecorated office, today I share with you one of our favorite Etsy shops, Schmetz Petz. His work features every breed imaginable doing humorous, oddly human things (there's sure to be one you'll find that will give you a good laugh). Though these pieces aren't custom like the other two I have featured, you'll likely be able to find a print that has a likeness to your pup. The first one below is not actually a beagle, but it closely resembled Banjo and I just loved it. In fact, we actually purchased two, one for my office, and on in our bathroom:

Office print

Bathroom print

And now, for the finished, redecorated office shot (well, almost finished, there's one small blank spot still looking for a piece of art...):

My new comfy office, complete with Millie.

 Do you have a wall of art dedicated to animals? Or am I just crazy? Or both?

Banjo & Millie Bark in the Park!

Tonight, Banjo and Millie had a special treat. As did I. The minor league baseball team here, the Flying Squirrels (yes, the Squirrels!), host a Bark in the Park night in which dogs are allowed to come to the baseball diamond and enjoy a ball game! Thanks to our friends over at RichmondPetLovers.com, we were treated to a night at the ball game, and what a fun night we had! The massive thunderstorms that were headed our way held off, Banjo and Millie got to eat some special puppy dog ice cream treats, and we got to meet one of our favorite bloggers, Elizabeth, and her special pups, Jon Farleigh and Dewi of Chronicles of Cardigan! It's fun getting to follow your favorite bloggers in the blogosphere, but it's even more fun getting to actually meet them in person. How lucky we are that they are local! And Jon Farleigh and Dewi are two adorable characters (see photo below)! These guys make us want to add a corgi to our funny little clan.

We missed a chance to hang out with Sarah and the Richmond Pet Lovers crew, but want to say a big thank you to them inviting us along! We love the Richmond Pet Lovers and appreciate how hard they work to spread the pet love!

Go Squirrels!

Millie desperately wants to fetch the ball.

What, you've never had a bad hair day?

Banjo smells ballpark food.

Millie tries to steal a beer when she thinks no one's looking!

Banjo and Millie really like baseball.

Ice cream!

Banjo & Millie finally meet Jon Farleigh and Dewi!

Wordless Wednesday: Where's Millie?

That's some good camouflage, Millie!

My Two Mod Dogs

To continue sharing the fun new artwork in my newly redecorated office, let me introduce you to another Etsy crush of mine, Mod Dog Shop. The shop is run be a couple of self-proclaimed "dog-obsessed graphic designers (overseen by one very demanding dachshund)" and they sell fun silhouette prints of just about every breed imaginable, in any color you could want. I bought one for Banjo and one for Millie.

 

The new Banjo & Millie silhouettes on my office wall!

I got the Beagle for Banjo, but actually had to get the Havanese for Millie (I didn't think the Shih Tzu looked quite like her - the fur was too long and prissy). Hop on over to Mod Dog Shop and find your pup's silhouette too!

Puppy Paper Goodness Revisited!

In March, you may remember, I shared with you an Etsy shop, African Grey, that I just fell in love with (Here's the original post). Well, I finally broke down and ordered my own custom Millie portrait! In fact, I have redecorated my office and decided to do a wall of dog art, and hers was the first I purchased. So I will share with you over the next few posts the different Etsy artists I couldn't resist, starting with my Keep Calm and Carry On Millie portrait.

Anything in her shop, she will do a custom version with your pup. She's great to work with, is super fast, and obviously has a great eye (it looks just like Millie!) Hop on over and share the love!

Wordless Wednesday: The Ultimate Dog Tease

This video seriously makes me happy. Enjoy!

A Mother's Prayers...

For Mother's Day, I have a real treat for you all. I have written a guest post for RichmondPetLovers.com (that's not the treat, but by all means, hop on over to take a gander), so I have a guest blogger here for you all! Below is a story my Dad wrote about Millie's mother, Delaney. I hope you enjoy! Happy Mother's Day!

She is in tune to every signal. The slightest eye contact causes her tail to wiggle with harmonious, joyous approval in short, quick little strokes. Whenever you make eye contact you can almost hear a little "tinkle-tinkle-tinkle" sound. She had been a slender fast-moving little canine. But there she was at the end of her pregnancy, the steps she had effortlessly navigated two months earlier might as well have been the Berlin Wall, and she had resorted to using her tail to summon assistance--kind of like help I've fallen and I can't get up--rather than to telegraph the essential message of Pippa Passes.

Weeks earlier, ultrasound showed that she would give birth to five puppies and now the anticipation of the miracle of birth and motherhood quickened. Her shallow, labored breathing betrayed every mother's burden. A little brown and white female puppy came first. Before she could finish cleaning the new arrival, there was a second, a brown and white male, and then a third, a brown male. But this little brown male would not breathe. My wife held his tiny little form in her hand, placed her lips against his and breathed the breath of life. Then there was a fourth, a tiny little brown female runt. 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour and finally two hours passed and no fifth puppy. The new little mother strained and strained to no avail. So off we rushed at one o'clock in the morning to the veterinary emergency room, whelping box, newborns, and hard laboring new mother in tow.

The young female veterinarian placed the stethoscope next to the new mother's heart and then next to her belly. She did not need to speak, her countenance spoke for her. "I'm sorry, I do not hear the puppy's heartbeat. We need to induce harder contractions. Let me do a quick x-ray." She returned. "The puppy is upside down in the birth canal and likely has not survived. We will have to remove it somehow." A joyous moment had faded. My wife silently prayed for a miracle. She had already breathed the breath of life into one puppy. Why not expect another one? An air of confidence retuned to the room. The door opened and the once somber veterinarian joyously proclaimed: "We have a fifth puppy." The prayers of two mothers were answered; the circle was complete; Mildred Lazarus Runyon (a.k.a. "Millie") cam forth and an exhausted mother's tail wagged, exclaiming: "I just gave birth to five puppies and I will be able to bound up and down the stairs without dragging my belly! Life is good! By the way, does anybody here know a good babysitter?"

One Sick Puppy

In my last post, I shared how life's been a bit crazy around here lately. Well, the chaos continues. Millie has been fairly sick the past couple of weeks, which has had me in a little bit of a frenzy.

A couple of weeks ago, Millie started throwing up for no apparent reason. I didn't think too much of it at first because she likes to eat anything she can get her paws on, and of course this can make her sick. But when she didn't stop after quite a few episodes in 2 days, I took her to the vet. We took away all food and water to try to let her little tummy settle (though I could hear her poor little stomach growling) and she got an anti-vomiting injection from the vet. She improved and all went back to normal.

Then a couple of days later, the same pattern emerged. I thought about what she could possibly have eaten that made her sick such as a houseplant, about whether or not she had perhaps picked up a stomach bug of some kind at daycare, or as the vet pointed out, whether or not she could have possible eaten something non-digestible and it was now stuck in her intestines. The vet did an x-ray and there was good news. Nothing stuck inside, therefore no drastic surgery fixes. She got another injection, was given the medication Cerenia to help with her nausea and vomiting, and appeared to get better.

As she took the Cerenia I noticed she stopped throwing up but started to have severe diarrhea constantly, so you could tell something still wasn't quite right. I took her off of the Cerenia and the diarrhea finally stopped.

Then today, the vomiting began AGAIN. At this stage, after 3 whole weeks of this cycle, should I be concerned that perhaps there's something more going on here? She acts like she feels great still, tail up, smile on her face (yes, Millie definitely has a recognizable smile). Her regular vet doesn't know what's going on. Would you consider going to a specialist or is it possible she just has a weak stomach?

Poor Millie.

You Can't Handle the Cute

Hello friends! OK, I'm busted. I've been totally slack on writing for the past week or so. Have you ever had a period of time that's just so stressful you find it hard to do much of anything other than get by? Well I can certainly say that's been the last week or two... But never fear. Once over the hump, we will be back with plenty of new stories and finds. Until then, please accept this snapshot of total and utter cuteness. You can't resist the cute. You can't.

And on another note, am I the only one who wishes they could just blog about dogs all day long? Alas, my other life calls.