(wo)man's best friend

max & sparky march 2009

since we lost max I have often wondered if sparky was lonely and missed him. I know I did so I was pretty sure sparky was in the same boat. oh he had his share of play dates and puppy daycare. all were met with excitement and exhaustion. you remember sparky? he is pretty much a piece of furniture. not much excitement, never has been. he pretty much waddles around the house and occasionally wags his tail. there are those odd times when he perks right up and we are convinced he went into mamma's medicine cabinet again. and so I decided to start a little experimenting.

exhibit a - sparky a la solo:

appears to be searching for a friend.

exhibit b - sparky and his new friend "bunny":

seriously? the bunny looks more excited than sparky!

exhibit c - sparky's new friend "pete":

as you can see sparky opted out of the photo and pete was "just visiting anyway.

exhibit d - "joey" aka sparky's new brother:

an 8 month old shitzu bichon whom we rescued.

who thinks sparky is a big white foot stool, but gives him the occasional kiss. sparky is intrigued by joey and follows him around which in my eyes means we are on to something. so far the two of them have been getting along fine. no tight bond, but no fights either. I love that sparky is curious about what joey is doing and he is wanting to show off for him more and more. I pulled out the treat ball last night and sparky chased it around the living room while joey tried to figure out what all the fuss was about...and then the treat fell out. fun!

puppy tales...

aka "the adventures of sparky"

this is my 365 for friday. this poor dog is REALLY trying hard to bond with me. unfortunately the walk thing just ain't working for us. he has short little legs. well, yes so do I, but his ass is bigger I am sure of that! so we head out for a walk and first issue is the puddle we encounter. "no way am I getting these white sparkling paws dirty and wet!" the one thing that got him a bit excited was as we turned the corner and he could make out our fence. "home is near, let's boogie" he seemed to say and boogie home he did. the rest of the time I pretty much walked ahead of him. at one point I took his leash off and just let him follow me. so different from max.

I took him with me in the car on friday:

and today again he hopped in for a drive. only today I took him to g & e pharmacy aka home of all things animals and yes gift wrap, too! if ya live here ya know what I am talking about. anyway why not overwhelm the dog with a whole bunch of things I say. it is a whole new world for him. he was poking around smelling things, saying hi to strangers and letting them pet him and when he was met face to face with a boxer he lunged. yes, same dog who will not walk a block will dive for the first available dog. the boxer lucky for me was dragged down another aisle and every time they saw sparky they turned another way. I had to laugh thinking that sparky was SCARY! too funny!

what is really interesting is the minute we get home his tail is just wagging and it is like he wants to tell everybody he sees about his adventure.   unfortunately nine times out of ten no one is home to greet us and so he just looks at me and sighs.

I have lost him twice in the last week.  and that is just in the house.  he is SO quiet and wanders and then just plops himself down wherever he is.

so we are still getting to know each other and working out the kinks.  it amazes me at how much max did for him.  like making sure the food bowl was full, water and getting in and out of the house by barking.  sparky just looks at you and that could either mean food, water, outside or hey ma - time for bed?

how about you any tales to tell? 

AND remember to go here and leave a comment to win a prize!

whassup?

update on "sparky" the wonder dog. blood test came back clear and we are now trying a round of antibiotics and digestive meds. after this back for another blood test. if they figure out why his hips are so wide I may ask my doctor for the same test! HA!

and then we have this little gem:



my one and only baby...turned eighteen yesterday! yikes! seems like just yesterday that I was holding him in my arms for the first time. he didn't cry while I held him. he just looked at me with this "wth mamma" look and I looked at him with the "wth kid" look. he looked as scared as I felt. I became responsible for his life. he became my reason for living. I changed from that moment on. he came first above all. I did all I could do to make sure that he had the best life I could give him. I made choices that have affected both of our lives tremendously and all in the effort to ensure that he grew up feeling safe and secure.

we have been through a lot him and I. he has had more to deal with in his life time than he should have. he has grown into an incredible young man. he is bright, confident, and the guy that you want on your team. very loyal to his family and friends. funny, creative and grounded. he still has a long way to go and hopefully with one foot in front of the other will make good choices. I am so proud of you baby!

children are with us for a short time and then they are off on their own adventure and dan is gonna have one hell of a life. whatever he decides to do I have told him that he will do it "big". that's just the way he rolls...

and here he is in his most recent shot:



happy birthday baby! enjoy each moment and keep on being you!