Updates on life

Been awhile since I dropped in here. My work has kept me crazy busy. I spoke at Evo Conference – spreading my love of all things WordPress. And… this past weekend we had to bring our puppy back to the breeder we got him from.

I hadn’t posted much about him  – we were dealing with a lot. Aside from the normal craziness that is raising and housebreaking a puppy – he was not healthy from the beginning. He had an EXTREMELY sensitive stomach, and after several hundreds of dollars of various tests – no one could determine exactly why or what was wrong with him. We fed him plenty, but he remained skinny and the food he ate practically flew through one end and out the other so quickly.We finally found a food that he would somewhat tolerate – but it didn’t make things perfect. It was a grain and gluten free, single protein food that had to be rehydrated. Then he had a massive flare up and even that stopped working as well as it once did.

If that wasn’t enough to deal with, the real killer was his aggression. Within the first week of having him here, he growled and snapped at me at a way I’ve never seen a *normal puppy* do. It was bizarre. And no one really believed me that a PUPPY would show aggression like this. They said it was “posturing” not aggression. Ok… so we paid top dollar for a great trainer who whipped us into shape about how to behave and treat the puppy so that he would know we were alpha. We did this for months. The problem began to get worse, not better. He would be sitting in a room – no “triggers” near by (no food, no toys) – he wasn’t sleeping, he’d be wide awake – just hanging out – and my daughter who has always been very gentle with him and respectful of him, would come up to pet him – and for no reason at all he would growl at her. Then my husband – who SURELY he must see as ALPHA in our pack – would come up to him – and again, he would growl at him.

I spoke to another trainer, and they said with all his problems – since we had the option of bringing him back to the breeder – we should take it. This is not the right dog for our family.

Who knows, maybe he needed to be in a bigger house – or a bigger back yard – or he needs other dogs with him to keep him in line. Whatever it is – he didn’t belong with us. It broke our hearts – it wasn’t for lack of love that we brought him back. But I have a responsibility to my family and I have a responsibility to him. However, my family comes first and I was worried about the direction this was headed. I was worried that growl would very soon turn into something more disastrous. I’m glad he’s with the breeder – she’ll take good care of him. Maybe she’ll be able to determine the source of his issues – and then place him in a home that’s more appropriate.

In the meantime – we are once again trying to heal from the loss of a dog. Bad timing too. So close to my daughter’s birthday again when last year we had to say goodbye to our other dog after 12 happy years. And I am on the hunt again for a dog. This time I think we’re going to go with the same breed we had last time and that we are so in love with: a Cairn Terrier or Westie (West Highland Terrier).

Just a Dog

I – for those of you who think I’ve lost my mind with the whole dog thing. LOL!

Oh, also… check out this article on the New York Times about how people who have dogs tend to exercise more. 😀

Doggie Insanity Test

I can’t tell you how close we were these last few days to deciding to take home TWO puppies instead of one. I had a whole long list of reasons why two dogs are better than one. The idea had even originally been my husband’s – but once I started to go along with the idea – he changed his mind. He did a bunch of research online and showed me what people were saying. It’s not that having two puppies can’t be done – it’s just that the work involved is exponentially harder. In order to have the pups mental stability right, you have to separate them often. (otherwise when one needs to go somewhere and the other can’t come too – it will freak out). You have to train them separately. You have to crate them separately. Everything in my mind that was “fun” about having two dogs – with two puppies it spells disaster. So…. one it is. (at least for now) The general recommendation is – if you want two dogs, that’s fine – but space them out by a good couple of months – even better if it’s a year. The older dog can help keep the younger one in line at that point – rather than egging each other on to do mischief as puppies!

I’ve become even more aware of how much I *need* to have a dog in my life these past few months. Sure, our old dog wasn’t playing much the last few years of his life, but he was always by my side. It’s been hard not having him around – and I miss the companionship.

Almost there

Just another week (and two days) and we can bring him home. Can’t believe how BIG he’s getting so fast. We’re naming him Moose – and I think it will suit him very well!!!

Big G Hot Wheels Giveaway

My kids have an obsession with cereal. The would eat it three times a day if I let them. They would pick out new ones to try each week if I let them. I’ve put down a restriction, though, that they can pick out ONE box of cereal to have. When it’s gone, they can pick out another one. But we only do this one a time… well normally. Then General Mills and Hot Wheels®, through MyBlogSpark, sent me a great big gift pack with 5 different boxes of cereals. If that wasn’t enough to get my kids jumping for joy, starting back on January 24th, included in each participating cereal box (Cheerios® 14 oz, Cinnamon Toast Crunch® 17 oz, Lucky Charms® 16 oz, Reese’s Puffs® 18 oz, and Cookie Crisp® 15.6 oz), is a custom-designed collectible Hot Wheels® pullback racer. And, each car contains a code to unlock an exciting online racing game.

I thought at first, maybe we’d try to still maintain some order in the house, and open and finish one before opening the next. Yeah right. The fact that each one contained a Hot Wheels car pretty much trampled that idea. They were all opened within a few days of each other. Lucky Charms was the first to actually be consumed, and I think second place will be tied between Cheerios and Resse’s Puffs. Cookie Crisp has been eaten like it’s dessert, and cinnamon toast crunch, although still a favorite around here, will probably finish last.

Both Zach and Rachel have been having a great time with the cars too. Racing them across the downstairs (how nice that we have wood floors in this new house).

Giveaway

If you would like to receive a similar gift pack, simply leave a comment on this post and tell me which of the group is your favorite cereal (Mine is definitely the Reese’s Puff. How can you go wrong turning candy into breakfast!) For additional entries (up to 1 additional entry awarded per day) just tweet the following (and leave one comment on this post for each tweet)

GIVEAWAY: Win a Big G & Hot Wheels Gift Pack http://bit.ly/fnyG3a

Contest ends March 4th, 2011 at 10pm PST. There is no purchase necessary to enter the contest. I will be using random.org to choose the winner. I’ll contact the winner via email, and he/she will have 48 hours to respond. After 48 hours, if I don’t receive a response, another winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: General Mills and Hot Wheels® provided me with the free product, information, and giveaway through MyBlogSpark.