Christmas week update on Lucy from Mami & Papi

Dear Marissa;

Nice to hear from you. LUCY IS FINE; we bought her a xmas gift of a new harness and a lighted leash. Much easier to put on and walk her.

She did an amazing two things: first she came to us and barked a low voice and then put her tongue out and in: she wanted a snack.

Second: When I started to close the kitchen door, Lucy place her paw on the edge of the door and actually curved her paw around the door and started to re-open the door.She is very intelligent.

LATER we were talking in the kitchen and she decided she wanted to play: she took a toy in her mouth and insisted we play by constantly pushing the toy onto our laps.

Anyway, we are enjoying her company.

Give the children and Alexia and Octav a big hug and kiss and tell them we are anxiously looking forward to their visit.

Enjoy your visit with Stuart.

Papi und Mami

My first Christmas with Lucy - December 2008

Well, technically, I won't be spending Christmas with Lucy, rather with her in my life.

She is really spending Christmas "week" with her "grand-parents," who are more than happy to have her there. My mother even said, "Having Lucy is the best Christmas present we could have!" That was really sweet.

I do hope that she listens and behaves well while I am away visiting my sister up in Michigan.

Just after Christmas, my sister and her family are coming down to North Carolina and will meet Lucy for the first time. Of course, they have seen more than enough photos and video clips. Only my nephew Alexander has met her, back in July (see photo of him and her in 1 of those postings).

My first birthday celebration with Lucy in my life

December 14th 2008

This was the first birthday in my life that I had a dog in my life. Lucy has grown to mean so much to me.

On Saturday December 13th, I had an evening planned out with friends. Saturday was Stuart's birthday! So our outing was partly for his birthday - the beer tasting portion - and partly for mine - going out dancing. The next morning, after our breakfast, Lucy examined the birthday gifts by the door. I'll have to upload a cute pic I took of her doing this.

Sunday December 14th, the actual day of my birthday, we were lazy around the house, even napping in the afternoon. That evening we went with Stuart over to my parents' house for a "Birthday Dinner". Lucy got to join in the festivities. I think that's the evening she helped herself to her Christmas present. It was in the kitchen closet at my parents house. She can open that door and is highly motivated too because inside are her treats and food! So, Lucy got to play with her squeeky green plush toy frog all evening. We heard the sqeeking noise as she chewed happily on it. As usual, she was smiley and adorable.

Cleaning up poop on the floor, slipping on ice & dropping the leash...all before 8 am

This morning with Lucy was quite an adventure.

At about 8am, I heard some whining and I felt guilty for sleeping in, eventhough it was a weekend morning. I grabbed my robe and made my way to the kitchen. I opened her crate and snuggled hello on the couch as we always do, but she ran to the door and whined. I realized she had to go out and immediately. I pulled myself off the couch to reach for my sneakers, but it was already too late. She crouched down and pooped right there, as I was trying to reach her to say no, grab my sneakers and the leash. The smell was horrible, but I knew I had to take her outside first before cleaning it up because I sensed more would - she had a watery stool, otherwise known as diarrhea.

Abandonning the idea of getting my sneakers, I just grabbed the leash and went out on the icy porch in my slippers. Lucy, in her usual fashion on the way out the door, tugged hard. This time, however, I slipped on the icy porch and landed on my butt on the ground and hit the edge of the porch hard with my lower back. While hitting the porch, I dropped the leash in reaction to the sharp pain in my back, and off went Lucy running ahead happily into the neighbor's yard.

For a moment, as I lay, in my robe and slippers on the ground outside next to the porch, I wasn't sure I could get up. I worried that I hit my lower back in the same place where I injured it last year. After a deep breath of a pause, I knew I could and had to get up to get Lucy.

As it would be impossible to ever actually outrun Lucy, I walked slowly towards her and tried to make it a game. First I kicked the basketball to my right, so she'd have to run past me to get it. That was a no go. Then she ran further up the hill, next to the neighbor's porch. She was smelling the other dog's green plastic ball. I grabbed a stick and called her name and threw it to my left. She paused, and I smiled as much as I could and said happily, "Get it! Get it!" and she was off in bolt. She ran so fast past me to the stick that I almost missed her completely. I tried to grab her collar, but she slipped through my hands. I took the desperate measure of just lunging hands sprawled onto the wet ground where her red leash trailed behind her. Covered in mud, my hands finally clasped Lucy's leash. I let out a huge sigh of relief, which I could see as it was some 20 degrees outside.

After all the excitement, I actually walked her around a few minutes. She had diarrhea again, poor thing. Finally I walked back to the house, where I had left the back door open to avoid the horrible smell of her poop from saturating the living room forever. I asked Lucy to go into her crate and she willingly complied. Then I had to clean up the mess. I dry heaved a few times as I used 2 plastic bags and a few paper towels to clear up the mess. I couldn't figure out how such a small amount of poop from a small dog could have such a putrid and strong smell. I had to run outside in the freezing air to stop myself from getting sick. I placed the two offending plastic bags as far from the house as possible to remove later. Then I wiped down the floor with windex and sprayed the room with Fabreze. Thankfully, Stuart was still asleep. He has a strong sensitivity to smells and I worried that this would upset him.

After the clean-up, I was wide awake and opened Lucy's crate so we could cuddle on the couch a bit. She was running around, so I decided to go ahead and give her breakfast. Since I ran out of rice, I decided to give her a small amount of her regular dog food. I placed her bowl on the ground and to my shock, she didn't come bounding into the kitchen. I called to her and showed her the food. She danced away infront of the back door to the porch. "Oh, no, " I thought. Suddenly it dawned on me that Lucy was feeling sick again and had to go out. This time, I did get my sneakers on in time and rushed outside with her, trying to avoid slipping on the porch. Within a minute, she had her diarrhea again.

I walked her around another 5 minutes or so to ensure she was feeling better before going back in the house. Once inside, she seemed a bit lethargic and just laid in a patch of sun.

At about 3pm, we took her for a short hike in a near-by park, and Lucy was herself again. Her tail was wagging, and she eagerly sniffed everything. We went out and bought some more rice and gave her a bland bowl of rice for dinner. I really hope that she feels better tomorrow. If not, I'll take her to the vet, or at least call. My mom thought that Lucy may have eaten something in her garden, as Lucy loves to dig and eat just about anything. I really hope that that's all it is.

Lucy plays B-Ball at Thanksgiving!!

In case the embedded link doesn't work, you can go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBH0RIMM0aE

Taste test of dog food by Lucy

Image 1: We laid out the four brands of dog food.


Image 2: Lucy inspects what we are up to. She smells food.


Image 3: Lucy sees the four small plates of food, but the taste test hasn't yet started. She had to be a little more patient.




Image 4: We set out the 4 samples of dog food in order (like we had on the kitchen counter), while keeping Lucy eagerly awaiting in the kitchen.

Once we let Lucy into the living-room, I video-taped her response. Check it out:




Moral of the story:

Lucy will eat anything.

And if you do a taste test with a dog like Lucy, she will just eat in order from left to right, making the taste test essentially irrelevant. At least she enjoyed it.

6 month anniversary since Lucy's adoption

So, after 6 months of having Lucy in my life, we are starting to get into a routine. So, the "firsts" for the blog are not pouring onto the page. Instead, we are settling in happily together to a routine of me waking up in the morning, letting her out of the kitchen, snuggling on the couch while we are both half asleep and then slowly starting the day. Once I eat breakfast, I feed Lucy and then we go for our morning walk before work.

Her lunch time walks have become penciled in weekly into my planner. Mondays I usually bring her to "Omi & Opi's" house, Tuesdays a friend has been stopping by and the rest of the week I wing it - either dropping her off at my parents house, sometimes having Stuart take Lucy for the day and sometimes I take her to the office. Lucy loves going to the office!

I have interviewed a professional dog sitter, Lisa. I do feel comfortable with her, but I like the flexibility of not having to schedule things in advance. Sometimes I just want to bring her to work or take her over to Stuart's house. So, I haven't hired Lisa yet. I think I will.

In the evening, I really look forward to her smiling face and wagging tail as a warm welcome home. Our evening walks are more exciting than relaxing, but the fresh air is nice. Walking does relax me too, even if it is behind Lucy dragging me to get close to some squirrels.

So, after 6 months, would I do this all over again? (Adopting Lucy, I mean). The answer is a whole hearted yes. She has added so much joy and fun to my life. After a stressful day, there isn't anything quite as wonderful as her resting her head on my lap to ask to play or her dropping her latest toy at my feet inviting me to play. Sometimes I wish I had Lucy's ability to simply be present and enjoy the moment. Perhaps dogs really have something to teach us, and not just the other way around.

Cheers to 6 months & to the great dog that now graces my life - Lucy!