Lucy's first boarding experience

This Christmas our whole family went to spend Christmas with my sister out of town, so we had to board Lucy.

I went online and did some research on local boarding places. I found three that looked very promising. They all had small rooms, not crates for the dogs as well as land for the dogs to run and to walk. The place we selected was Town & Country Boarding in Apex.

We visited about a week before Christmas to ensure that we had a good feeling about the place. It was just me and Stuart. Lucy was staying with my parents for a few days. At the front desk, while waiting for a employee to give us a tour, I started talking to a dog owner who had a lovely small gray greyhound (or similar breed dog). She asked if it were my first time there and then said that her dog loves going there so much that he whines in the car and drags her to the door. I heard a similar story from another dog owner. That made me feel better.

On the tour, they showed us the dog pens. They weren't cages, but long rectangular spaces with floor to ceiling mesh metal fence with the last two or three feet as concrete blocks to the floor. There were raised dog beds and water bowls. To my pleasant surprise, it didn't smell bad, just like a cleaning solution.

I really liked the outside fenced areas for playtime too. Overall, I had a good feeling about the place and the people that worked there.

I left several days earlier, so Stuart had to drop off Lucy. Here's the picture he emailed me with Lucy and her special blanket, bag of food and one special toy (her yellow cat):



Lucy ready to go to her doggie boarding place, Dec 2011

When Stuart brought her there, Lucy didn't seem scared, just very excited. In fact, we decided to bring Lucy there for one day of boarding during the week to make sure she was comfortable with it. The Wednesday before Christmas, Lucy brought her there and when they arrived, she was just very excited. And when he picked her up, she was likewise very excited. Here's a pic of her actively moving around with one of their staffers:


Lucy when getting picked up at the Town & Country Boarding, Apex, NC
(of course, her eyes aren't really green like that!!)

All said and done, we would gladly board Lucy again there and are grateful that Lucy had a good time. Happy New Year!!

Lucy to meet her cousin Dakota

Lucy is set to meet her doggie cousin Dakota over Thanksgiving weekend!

Dakota and our relatives will be staying with us for several days. When they arrive, we plan to take both dogs out for a walk for at least 15 - 20 minutes (if it's not too cold) to get them used to each other. We've heard that walking together makes dogs feel like part of the same pack.

We hope that the two get along well. Lucy is a high energy slightly dominant dog and Dakota is a larger black lab who is very shy.

Cross your fingers!

Lucy's trip to Phydeaux in Chapel Hill

(Above) Lucy's favorite store -- Phydeaux!! She gets excited in the parking lot



(Above) Lucy with Stuart browsing the amazing selection of everything dog related




(Above) Lucy's new heart shaped tag to reflect her new home address

5 frogs, 1 slug and 1 dog

Last night, Lucy and I took our usual evening walk. What was different this time is that it was already dark, at only 6.45pm. I put on her little reflective vest, and put a small reflective strip around my ankle and make sure to take my cool oval flashlight with us. I think I looked a little ridiculous with my red rain jacket, a neon yellow band around my waist too and my black baseball hat with little built in lights in it. At least I knew that we'd be spotted by any headlights and be safe.

On our little walk, we saw not one, or two or even three frogs but 5! Lucy was adorable as she sniffed at each one and jumped with two frogs to just watch them. It looked like she was playing a game. Only the last time did she try to bite/nip at the frog, which I stopped.

And just when our little adventure was almost over, we came across a large slug on our doorstep. The slug however, as its name implies, didn't make any cool moves, so Lucy wasn't very interested.

The whole outing reminded me of that childhood book series, "Frog & Toad & Friends" which I used to love. I love that last night my evening walk turned into a froggie sighting and a small adventure.

The Lucy Dog show!

We created a Lucy Dog Show for our friend's daughter's 3rd birthday party. We even rehearsed the night before to inject a little humor too when we presented the dog tricks. Stuart was on camera duty. Check it out:

Our Wedding Thank You Notes

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Los Perros de Costa Rica: Part Two

Hiking with Leo:

Los Perros de Costa Rica: Part One

These were the dogs that we met during the first part of our trip to Costa Rica. They were at the Poas Volcano Lodge. The first one is Leo, whom we spent some time with and I'll do a post about him. The other two were dogs we just saw.

Me & Lucy on my wedding day!!

Lucy and Marissa on Friday June 3rd, 2011!

Happy Birthday Lucy!!!

Today is the anniversary of Lucy's adoption! We adopted her on April 10th 2008. It's been 3 wonderful years of spending time with Lucy -- walking, hiking, playing and snuggling. A few changes over the years:

~ Lucy is now allowed on the bed. BUt this is only when she is invited and it's only for short-times.
~ We no longer crate Lucy. She is fully house-trained and she has two dog beds to choose from.
~ Lucy has gotten a little more snuggly. She likes her ears rubbed and once in a while will roll over and hint that she wants a belly rub too.
~Lucy has over the years learned lots of dog tricks beyond sitting and staying. A few dog tricks in her repetoire include:
*"Get it" -- where we place a dog treat on the floor and make her wait for a minute and then give the release command to "get it"! I never thought she'd be able to do that one!
*Roll-over
*Spin (where she turns her head and spins around in either direction)
*Waive -- where she raises one paw pretty high
*High-Five -- similar to the wave
*Weave -- where she weaves between the legs
*Up! -- where she jumps over your leg, a stick, or through a hula-hoop! This one is my personal favorite and gets the most ohhss and ahhs

~Lastly, Lucy has become part of the fabric of our lives. Feeding Lucy, snuggling with her, playing with her and walking with her are simply part of our daily routine. These activities bring us great joy.

Happy Birthday Lucy!!!

What? A food Lucy does NOT like?

I never thought the day would come when Lucy would turn her nose up to food. She is a healthy eater and tends to even try to munch on dust balls or pieces of stick.

But, lo and behold, it is true -- there IS a food that Lucy doesn't like.

The Grapefruit:

Last week, I was cutting into a grapefruit and taking my time to cut around each triangle of the grapefruit. Lucy was, of course, watching my every move as I was in the kitchen. I scrapped up a tiny piece of grapefruit and offered it to her. To my shock, she sniffed, make a grimmacing face, accepted the tiny piece into her mouth and immediately spit it out. Her eyes twinkled up at me and seemed to be asking me why I would ever, in a million years, want to eat such a thing.

I simply love grapefruits and oranges and other citrus fruits and have read that although they are not dangerous to dogs, they might cause indigestion. Perhaps Lucy's snout knew that the grapefruit wasn't for her.

Over the years, the only other things she's tried but she wasn't sure about were strawberries and soda (well a smell of a soda can. Maybe she doesn't like sweets?

Overall, though, she does enjoy several of my favorite snacks:

#1 - Yogurts: Lucy goes crazy if we are eating a yogurt. I think that her powerful nose could smell a yogurt a mile away.
#2 - Cheese: Cheese in general is tied for first place in Lucy's palette.
#3 - Carrots: At first, when I adopted Lucy she was only interested in cheese and the sliced up hotdogs I had used for training (until her tummy got upset). When I first presented her with carrots she wasn't so sure about that. But after a while, she came to also regard them as a treat.

Well, that's it for now from me. Til next month!