Nous menons une vie de chien
Nous menons une vie de chien. Translation: We lead a dog's life.
Back in high school I had one of those tear-off daily French calendars that I had gotten for Christmas from my parents. One day I came across a page with this saying on it. I immediately tore it off and excitedly showed my parents, all the while laughing as my step-dad, Court, tried to say it :) It's been on our refrigerator at home ever since.
<I apologize...this post might be kind of long...but it chronicles how our dogs (all 5 of them) came into our family>
And it's so true. Dogs rule our household. No questions asked. I have two babies and my parents have three. And a cat. I will explain...
In second grade I reaaaallllllly wanted a cat. So since my mother claims that "we are NOT dog people" she allows me to get a kitten. At our local pound I find a little tabby cat who was in the "Pet of the Week" cage with a few others. She was awesome and I loved her to pieces. I named her Daisy, because that's what my little second grade mind thought was a good cat's name. She was the only animal in our lives for many, many years and got to be incredibly spoiled.
When my parents moved into their current house Daisy began to become a little anti-social. And fat. We thought it was just due to her aging, but her meanness has certainly increased over the years. She is an extremely good judge of character, however. Every boy I've ever brought home, she's hissed at. Clearly Daisy hasn't approved :)
<On a side note, I don't have a picture of Daisy on this computer...but I'll try to unearth one somewhere>
Anyways, she was queen of the household until I was a junior in high school. I finally convinced Moms to let me get a dog. Again we visit our local pound and begin our search. All of a sudden I hear Moms say, "Can we look at this one?" She was referring to a beautiful black lab that was less than a year old. She was being brought in by her current owner because he couldn't care for her anymore. It was love at first sight. Raven (that was her current name, but it fit and I loved it, so we just kept it) came home with us that day and we immediately became "dog people."
Raven is incredibly smart. And she won't let you forget it. She thinks she should be "rewarded" for everything she does and frequently tries to steal food right off your plate. Which I think she has taught to Riley, but more on that later.
After my senior year of high school my parents think it would be a good idea for Raven to have a "friend." So we start our search again and end up at the pound. There we saw a wee little black lab puppy, only a few months old. I was set on this one, hands down. This dog is coming home with us. My step-dad was leaning toward another, larger male black lab mix who was very timid and hiding in the back of the cage. Apparently my parents needed a night to think about it. They came back to the pound the next day while I was elsewhere (who knows?!) and when I come home they had the larger male lab mix. And here Rusty enters the picture. Since we already had Raven we thought that another "R" name would go well with her, so Rusty it was.
Since we got Rusty the summer before my freshman year of college (and mind you, he wasn't the pup I originally wanted my parents to bring home in the first place-which I still feel bad about to this day) we didn't immediately bond. I still had my Daisy and my Raven and they were my girls. Rusty mostly hung near Court and I know Court was secretly happy to have some male company, being constantly surrounded by women all the time :) It wasn't until Christmas break of my freshman year of college that I finally accepted Rusty as "my brother" and we bonded. He loves to snuggle and "protect the house" by being our guard dog while looking out the front windows. He is incredibly lovable and has the longest tongue ever. He will melt your heart immediately.
Now onto my babies. But first, a bit of a back story...
My great-grandfather, Gramps, used to have two yorkies and he loved those little pups more than anything. I always thought yorkies were the cutest things ever so while still in college I asked my grandmother, GMa, if once I graduated she would get me one. Nobody in my family believes me...and to this day, if you ask GMa she will deny, deny, deny, but I swear that she said yes when I asked her this. So, during the end of my senior year I brought up the subject again only to be laughed at and told it wasn't going to happen. Naturally I was crushed but was determined to have my yorkie one day. Since then, my preference for yorkies has slightly changed, even though I still think they're so stinking cute!
This brings me to my little Riley Belle. I got Riley in March 2009. I had just gone through a rough break-up and was in my first semester of grad school. I guess you can say I was feeling a little down and needed something to cheer me up :) Now...some might look down on me for this, but Riley is the only one of our 6 animals that didn't come from the pound. She was bred and is known as a "Designer" breed of Shih Tzu and Pekignese, also known as Peki-Tzu...or as Court calls her Shihtzignese (use your imagination...). Even though she didn't come from the shelter, I do not regret for one second getting that dog. She is the sweetest, most well-behaved of our 5. Hands down. She can also do the most tricks: sit, shake, high five, and "dead dog." And she will glady perform them for you if you have a treat to hand out. Or popcorn. Or chips. Or basically anything you're eating. Raven and Riley love people food and will eat anything that you're willing to share with them. And sometimes they'll just take what you're not willing to share with them right off your plate.
Since we already had Raven and Rusty, we thought one more "R" name would be okay...so I named her Riley and gave her the middle name Belle. However, she responds to whatever I call her and at this point I think she just comes whenever she hears my voice no matter what I'm saying. She is s-p-o-i-l-e-d. She has a middle name, a drawer full of clothes, and we even threw her a 1st birthday party. I talk to her like she understands what I'm saying and I'll even put the phone on speaker so Moms (aka "gamama" to the babies) can say hello when she calls. What can I say...I can't wait to have kids!
Ever since I've moved out of my parent's house I've thought about getting a second dog. My apartment is pretty small so I knew it would have to be something small like Riley. One Saturday in August 2010 Moms and I went to the pound because my cousin, Audrey, was adopting a Chihuahua - who we now know as Bentley - and wanted us to take a look at him. Bad idea. Never let me or Moms go to a pound unsupervised (cough cough, Court). We WILL come home with something :) Anyways, I find a yittle, black scraggly looking terrier mix. She is shaking, curled in a ball, and was really skinny and dirty. My first thought was, "Oh, this one could be cute..." So we take her out to see if she'll warm up to us and have some personality. Basically for the next 10 mins I held this dog in my arms because she did not want to be put down. Even when I put her down on the floor she immediately jumped back in my lap. At that point it was over. She was coming home with me.
So, at this point we had three dogs with "R" names and I think my parents and I just decided that we might as well as become "those people" in addition to "dog people" and keep the "R" name tradition going. I loved the name Reagan and so she became. Reagan is the fiesty one and I often tell people it's because she's from "the streets" :) However, Reagan is the best cuddler and loves nothing more than to nestle herself into the nearest lap. There she will stay for hours. She also sleeps under the covers with me at night...which is a bit odd, but incredibly sweet.
Reagan could not be picked up until a week later after she was spayed. I had a class during the time when her papers needed to be signed so Moms went to the pound alone (oh no!) to officially adopt her and make sure everything was squared away. A few hours later I was getting these pictures on my phone of Moms' latest find:
And then that was it. She was coming home with Moms. Since she had blonde hair we named her Reese :) Soon after my parents got her settled at home we discovered that baby Reese had heartworms and had to go through some pretty intense treatments to get rid of them. She was pretty sick for awhile but now is back to her cheerful self and the love of Moms' life (after Court and myself, that is).
Whew! Have you kept up? There will be a test... :)
The vets know us by name. I basically have groomers who know how I like my dog's hair cut without me saying a word, and of course, I will only have one person do their hair every time. Whenever the associates at PetSmart see us coming in they know they are going to make their hourly sales goal.
We are dog people. End of story. I don't think we'd have it any other way :)
Back in high school I had one of those tear-off daily French calendars that I had gotten for Christmas from my parents. One day I came across a page with this saying on it. I immediately tore it off and excitedly showed my parents, all the while laughing as my step-dad, Court, tried to say it :) It's been on our refrigerator at home ever since.
<I apologize...this post might be kind of long...but it chronicles how our dogs (all 5 of them) came into our family>
And it's so true. Dogs rule our household. No questions asked. I have two babies and my parents have three. And a cat. I will explain...
In second grade I reaaaallllllly wanted a cat. So since my mother claims that "we are NOT dog people" she allows me to get a kitten. At our local pound I find a little tabby cat who was in the "Pet of the Week" cage with a few others. She was awesome and I loved her to pieces. I named her Daisy, because that's what my little second grade mind thought was a good cat's name. She was the only animal in our lives for many, many years and got to be incredibly spoiled.
When my parents moved into their current house Daisy began to become a little anti-social. And fat. We thought it was just due to her aging, but her meanness has certainly increased over the years. She is an extremely good judge of character, however. Every boy I've ever brought home, she's hissed at. Clearly Daisy hasn't approved :)
<On a side note, I don't have a picture of Daisy on this computer...but I'll try to unearth one somewhere>
Anyways, she was queen of the household until I was a junior in high school. I finally convinced Moms to let me get a dog. Again we visit our local pound and begin our search. All of a sudden I hear Moms say, "Can we look at this one?" She was referring to a beautiful black lab that was less than a year old. She was being brought in by her current owner because he couldn't care for her anymore. It was love at first sight. Raven (that was her current name, but it fit and I loved it, so we just kept it) came home with us that day and we immediately became "dog people."
Raven is incredibly smart. And she won't let you forget it. She thinks she should be "rewarded" for everything she does and frequently tries to steal food right off your plate. Which I think she has taught to Riley, but more on that later.
 |
| Me and Pay-Pay (as I affectionately call her) She's just as spoiled as me :) |
Since we got Rusty the summer before my freshman year of college (and mind you, he wasn't the pup I originally wanted my parents to bring home in the first place-which I still feel bad about to this day) we didn't immediately bond. I still had my Daisy and my Raven and they were my girls. Rusty mostly hung near Court and I know Court was secretly happy to have some male company, being constantly surrounded by women all the time :) It wasn't until Christmas break of my freshman year of college that I finally accepted Rusty as "my brother" and we bonded. He loves to snuggle and "protect the house" by being our guard dog while looking out the front windows. He is incredibly lovable and has the longest tongue ever. He will melt your heart immediately.
 |
| Best guard-dog ever. |
 |
| Such a sweet yittle boy :) |
Now onto my babies. But first, a bit of a back story...
My great-grandfather, Gramps, used to have two yorkies and he loved those little pups more than anything. I always thought yorkies were the cutest things ever so while still in college I asked my grandmother, GMa, if once I graduated she would get me one. Nobody in my family believes me...and to this day, if you ask GMa she will deny, deny, deny, but I swear that she said yes when I asked her this. So, during the end of my senior year I brought up the subject again only to be laughed at and told it wasn't going to happen. Naturally I was crushed but was determined to have my yorkie one day. Since then, my preference for yorkies has slightly changed, even though I still think they're so stinking cute!
This brings me to my little Riley Belle. I got Riley in March 2009. I had just gone through a rough break-up and was in my first semester of grad school. I guess you can say I was feeling a little down and needed something to cheer me up :) Now...some might look down on me for this, but Riley is the only one of our 6 animals that didn't come from the pound. She was bred and is known as a "Designer" breed of Shih Tzu and Pekignese, also known as Peki-Tzu...or as Court calls her Shihtzignese (use your imagination...). Even though she didn't come from the shelter, I do not regret for one second getting that dog. She is the sweetest, most well-behaved of our 5. Hands down. She can also do the most tricks: sit, shake, high five, and "dead dog." And she will glady perform them for you if you have a treat to hand out. Or popcorn. Or chips. Or basically anything you're eating. Raven and Riley love people food and will eat anything that you're willing to share with them. And sometimes they'll just take what you're not willing to share with them right off your plate.
Since we already had Raven and Rusty, we thought one more "R" name would be okay...so I named her Riley and gave her the middle name Belle. However, she responds to whatever I call her and at this point I think she just comes whenever she hears my voice no matter what I'm saying. She is s-p-o-i-l-e-d. She has a middle name, a drawer full of clothes, and we even threw her a 1st birthday party. I talk to her like she understands what I'm saying and I'll even put the phone on speaker so Moms (aka "gamama" to the babies) can say hello when she calls. What can I say...I can't wait to have kids!
 |
| Ready for the sun! |
 |
| Best car-rider :) |
 |
| Melt. My. Heart. |
So, at this point we had three dogs with "R" names and I think my parents and I just decided that we might as well as become "those people" in addition to "dog people" and keep the "R" name tradition going. I loved the name Reagan and so she became. Reagan is the fiesty one and I often tell people it's because she's from "the streets" :) However, Reagan is the best cuddler and loves nothing more than to nestle herself into the nearest lap. There she will stay for hours. She also sleeps under the covers with me at night...which is a bit odd, but incredibly sweet.
 |
| The first time we met. |
 |
| I kid you not, she would not leave my lap :) |
 |
| Pure sweetness. |
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| Kisses for the babies :) Here are Riley and I picking up Reagan August 2010 |
Reagan could not be picked up until a week later after she was spayed. I had a class during the time when her papers needed to be signed so Moms went to the pound alone (oh no!) to officially adopt her and make sure everything was squared away. A few hours later I was getting these pictures on my phone of Moms' latest find:
Whew! Have you kept up? There will be a test... :)
The vets know us by name. I basically have groomers who know how I like my dog's hair cut without me saying a word, and of course, I will only have one person do their hair every time. Whenever the associates at PetSmart see us coming in they know they are going to make their hourly sales goal.
We are dog people. End of story. I don't think we'd have it any other way :)
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