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!

Lucy's Interview at Camp Bow Wow

Friday September 12th 2008

I brought Lucy to Camp Bow Wow for her "Interview" on Friday. At first, things were a little tentative. Josie, the "interviewer" took Lucy into a play area to get to know her one on one. Then she introduced her to the "interviewer dog" and Lucy got nervous and was too forward with him. Then, Josie told me afterwards, she thought to give Lucy just a few minutes in the group of small dogs off leash. She said that to her relief, Lucy sat on her feet and next to her for a few minutes nervously. That was a better reaction than lunging into the crowd of dogs too aggressively. After a few minutes, she encouraged Lucy who carefully ventured into the group.

All this took place while I nervously waited in their front entrance room. I hoped that Lucy would do well. Once I got the good report, she encouraged me to go off to work and if I were curious, to check out their web cam. I could barely stop staring at throughout the day! Here are pics I took from their web cam below:

#1 - Lucy is on the upper right hand corner. It's hard to spot her on the web cam, but she's the dog with the bushy white tail that curls & the black ears:




















#2 Lucy is on the right side of this photo and seems to be greeting the black dog that is resting.




















#3 I think Lucy is in the top right hand corner - the blurry white tail is probably her tail wagging. She seems to be interacting more.





















#4 Once again Lucy is in the right hand corner. As the day progressed, I noticed that she socialized more with the dogs. But at 2pm, she still hadn't walked over the plastic yellow bridge.





















#5 I took this image of the web cam at about 5pm. Lucy had finally adventured out of her corner and onto the yellow bridge. Below she stands on top of it surveying the view.




















At the end of the day, I excitedly drove back to Camp Bow Wow. I was happy to see an excited and happy Lucy greet me. The lady behind the counter handed me an adorable certificate that stated, "Lucy is now an official camper at Camp Bow Wow" as well as a "report card" which stated that she had a buddy named Toby. It turned out the Toby is an 8 pound ShizShu dog and was her buddy.

I was surprised that she wasn't tired. "Just wait til she gets into the car," said the lady behind the counter.

Boy, was she right! Lucy hopped into the car and was eager at first. In just a few minutes, I caught Lucy in a full snooze. That night she tucked herself into bed at a very early 8.30pm! I swear I saw a smile on her little face.

Here's Lucy all tuckered out:














Lucy's "Report Card":

Lucy's first bath

We took Lucy out to her grandparents' back deck, filled up a plastic baby pool with water and introduced her to it. She was hesitant at first, but we waited and gave her some treats. She reluctantly craned her neck over the edge to get the treats that we had tossed in. Finally, we picked her up and put her in the water. Don't worry, it was only a few inches deep.

We gently wet her fur with water using 2 small watering buckets and massaged the dog shampoo in her fur. She didn't look that happy, but was calm and stayed still. I kept praising her and gave her treats when I could. Here's Lucy all lathered up with doggie shampoo:


Once we were done, we didn't hose her off, for fear the water pressure would be too strong and scare her. Instead, we gently washed off the suds with the watering buckets. Once out of the "bath", Lucy was dried by a few shakes and few rubs with a towel. Her fur looked brighter and she smelled so much better. Her white fur looked so much whiter.


I was trying to really be in the moment and focus on how she looked and felt, but this big black labrador came prancing by the backyard and Lucy almost jumped from the deck to go chase it. So much for her savoring her first bath. I got a few snapshots of the bath time.



Lucy earning a much deserved treat for her good behavior at bathtime:

Lucy's favorite (and almost indestructible dog toy)

Lucy's pink spot on her forehead.

Lucy has this pink area on her forehead. I noticed it about 10 days ago and figured it was some sort of allergy. I then observed her more carefully to see if she were uncomfortable or itchy. However I realized that she was not scratching it, so it was probabaly not an allergy. Thankfully I decided to take her to the vet, especially after the lady with the German Shepherd commented on it and how it was so close to her eye. She was right - it was something. The Vet said that it was an infestation of mites that she might have picked up in the garden in one of her digging escapades. She instructed us to give her drops on her tongue 3 times a day. I also got a 3 day package of granules something to put on her food to ensure that she does not have any remaining ring worms. She had ring worms when I adopted her back in April, despite having received a clean bill of health from the aspca.

Anyhow, Lucy is overall very healthy and happy. I love her expressions and the twinkle in her eye. This week was very exciting for her and for me as well as my nephew Alexander was visiting. He is just in love with Lucy. It's "Hello lucy!" when I stop by my parent's house to visit, not "Hello Marissa!" But that's okay with me. Lucy loves the attention. She loves playing fetch with him and even wrestling a little. I have consistently reminded him that "Lucy is not a large dog like Katie" (their German Shepherd) and to "not grab her by the collar".... I took a few great snapshots of Alexander with Lucy. Here are 2 cute pics:

2nd dog training video clip

Okay, I can't help it, so here goes. I'm going to upload the 2nd "dog training" clip of Lucy. This time Stuart was the director and I was in the role of "trainer":

Lucy's 4th of July weekend!

Lucy spent July 4th weekend at her Omi & Opi's house. I was visiting my sister and helped her & her daughter set up their own Dogster page for their German Shepherd, Katie. Lucy has a page there too. It's a cute site for kids and my niece really enjoyed setting up Katie's profile. Join the Dogster community

Of course, we got to see some fireworks too.
In the mean-time, the "grand-parents" were delighted to have Lucy as their "guest". Papi emailed me an adorable summary of Lucy's 4th of July:

Dear Marissa,

I was reading the New York Times when Lucy came to me and jumped up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I asked her to sit and she did.

As I turned the page of the news paper she took a bone and began to bounce it near me causing a lot of noise. She did this a few times and then jumped on me causing the newspaper to drop. SHE JUST WANTED ATTENTION and she won me over. I then played with her and after awhile he sat down on my feet and permitted me to read my paper.

A few minutes later she brought a small towel to me asking me to play again. Finally I stopped reading and played with Lucy.

Lucy received her first mail package of sample food addressed to Lucy yesterday send to our house, her second home.

That's today's scoop.

Papi

What his email doesn't mention is how Lucy dug a two foot deep hole in the backyard and when it rained, which it did a lot over the 4th of July weekend in North Carolina, Lucy got herself covered completely in mud from head to toe. I wish that they had taken a photo. There is one - taken with actual film - that only shows her paws like that. Perhaps I'll scan it in so I can upload it here. She looks like she's in 7th Heaven, with a slightly mischevious look. I was surprised that my mother wasn't upset about the garden incident. I think that she too is just charmed by Lucy like the rest of us.