Happy Birthday Ramsey and Chad!

On March 27th, we celebrate Chad's and Ramsey's birthday around our house. Can you believe they were born on the same day, years apart? Clearly it was meant to be between these two.

I was wondering where we rated in the "crazy dog people" pool, and if others celebrate doggie birthdays at all, or perhaps the way we do - with some extra loving, some extra treats, and maybe a fun outing for the day.

go to bed, Pablo!

Pablo is a night owl. Nocturnal. Up at the crack of dark.

This morning my alarm went off at 5:11 am. I'm weird about alarms - I always set them on a odd number, and never on a 5. Nevermind my slight OCD - snoozing the alarm is probably one of my favorite pastimes. I spend hours a week snoozing after the first alarm sounds on my phone. It's likely not the best, healthiest form of sleep, but it makes me feel like I'm getting away with something. Breaking the rules a little before I give in to the corporate giant for the next nine hours of my day.

But Pablo, his favorite thing is to do

follow via email

Just a quick note, I finally figured out how to make this blogging thing a little easier to follow. On the right side of the page, you should now see a "Follow by email" box. If you enter your email address, it'll send you a quick note, which you have to confirm, and then you'll get updates whenever something new is posted here.

Don't worry, I won't spam you. Pinky swear. I work in IT, and email spam is one of my least favorite things in the world.

Brandy

dog language

I've come to realize that we all speak slight different "languages" to our dogs. I'm assuming most of the differences are the products of our upbringings - things our parents said, or that we've heard our friends say to their dogs (or maybe kids).

It's really apparent at our house, where our kids dogs were raised separately for so many years, listening to our individual "languages." For example:

For going to sleep at night:
Chad says: "puppies ready to go nuh-night?!"
Brandy says: "puppies wanna go to bedtime?!"

Ramsey the Guard Dog

Don't worry, don't worry, we don't really encourage our dogs to be guard dogs - at least, not in the Hollywood-movie, killer-chihuahua-doberman-behind-the-junkyard-fence type guard dogs.

They do all bark at strange noises, and sometimes not-so-strange noises (really, Pablo - EVERY time I close the bathroom door?). The difference between them all, though? Suvi barks because she wants whomever is outside to come in so she can lick them to death. Pablo barks 'cause he's sure whomever is outside wants to steal his breakfast or his babies, and Ramsey barks because

traveling without puppies

We've traveled quite a lot over the last year, and it never fails, we post Facebook photos and the comments include "who's watching Ramsey, Pablo and Suvi??"

Well, we have the most amazing friends, family, and pet sitters in the history of the world, and they all help us out! Mostly, we rely on our friends Robbie and Danielle, who have been Ramsey and Pablo's puppy sitters for years. They lived right near Chad before, but we love them so much we asked them to continue being our puppy sitters even when we moved a few miles away, and luckily they agreed.

This means we can travel worry-free, because our pups get to be at home, with people they know and love, and that we trust completely. We are trying to plan a few dog-friendly roadtrips this summer though - maybe up to the North Shore of Lake Superior, Michigan, or somewhere in Southern MN.

What do you all do with your pups when you travel? Do you have a favorite kennel? Great dog-sitters? Or maybe your four-legged buddies travel with you everywhere you go?

Snuggle puppy weather

It's been perfect snuggling weather around here lately. I couldn't believe how many puppy snuggle pics I found on my iPhone today - from just the past two weeks!

Enjoy!

Suvi Loooooves Home Improvement

Suvi loves home improvement. She especially loves to help. And sometimes, when she feels we don't have enough to do, she creates new projects for us....like re-wiring the cable jack, and drywall touch-ups...

the things that break our hearts

We're in Mexico this week. It's the first time for both of us, and we were prepared for paradise, and stray dogs. No matter how prepared you are though, it's still heartbreaking to see the homeless dogs. It's hard to know you can't save them all - especially when we can't even save all the ones we'd like to back home...

We met this guy while snorkeling on Cozumel, at a little shop on the side of the road. We weren't sure if he was owned, or just hanging out for the day, but he was beautiful!

Of course, it makes us miss our pooches. Beyond that, though, it reminded me of India - where there are also an incredible number of strays - unfortunately not all of them were as well-fed as the few we've seen so far in Mexico. I was in India a few years ago, and probably took more photos of the dogs than I did the scenery. I bought dog treats that I carried around in my pocket for weeks - not a single dog would eat them, though. They must eat so much human scrap food, that they were unsure of the actual dog food I was trying to share with them. I was so bummed, but it also told me they weren't in such bad shape, if they could be choosy.

It made me wish for the ability and opportunity to start a spay/neuter organization in India.

Ramsey the Ninja

Chad recently posted a video of Ramsey playing Ninja. I've captured some still shots of her ninja moves that I thought might be fun to share. I love that she and Chad have their own special stalking game - one that Ramsey started doing naturally as a puppy - and that Chad can now get her to play by making a particular pretend-growly face at her...

(I'm preeeettty sure Chad is not going to be happy with me for posting the face he makes to get Ramsey to stalk....whoopsie.)

Enjoy!