Dumbing Down

The time has come. 

Grimms...uhh..."brains" have completely matured now that he's on the verge of being eight months old.  Not that he's any smarter or anything since he is still rather derpy..anyway...he's not allowed to keep the "brains". For the sake of his health and my sanity, those suckers gotta go. Sorry, Bub! 

I took him to our awesome Vet this morning ...I think he new the jig was up. I mean, I told him we were going to the market and I was gonna get him some bacon & chicken meatballs (he loves those things), so of course he had some pep in his step. The second I pressed the buzzer for us to go into the waiting room of Dr. Hildes office, he started pawing my leg. He knew. 

Sigh. I picked him up and made our way in. Instantly, Dr. Hilde opened the door straight into the exam room and exclaimed "Oh wow! Grimm has gotten big!". Indeed! He's now tipping the scales at a sturdy 17lbs and he's longer than Cole (thankfully, not as heavy). Looks like he's gonna turn out to be a standard size rather than a mini (fine by me!). She was lovin' on his coat color, the fact that he was a very very happy dog, his weight was perfect (yessss!!) and that everything looked wonderful in terms of his health. 

While she let him run around the exam room for a little bit to burn some energy off, she helped me out with all the Puppy Passport stuff I needed to get done for the remaining hooligans. Then came the part where I felt like a bad Mommy. She had me hold him while she shot something into his hind leg that'd make him very..very relaxed. Poor booger screamed like a banshee. I put him back on the ground so he could run around a little more. I swear, within two minutes of the shot, he was PASSED OUT. He was sprawled out under her desk and sawing logs. Man, if only it were that easy to knock him out when we try to sleep at 10pm! Once all the passport stuff was done, she took him to her operation table and had me keep him company while she injected the rest of the anesthesia into him. By doing it this way, he wasn't stressed out with the sight of me leaving him behind or anything like that.  Ohhhh that little booger knew how to pull at my heart strings! He thumped his tail till he couldn't thump it any more and he was in La La Land. I really didn't want to leave him, but alas, I had to...

The time came for me to pick up my little Grimmling from his procedure and he was VERY happy to see me. Dr Hilde told me that the moment I buzzed the main door to come in, he started whimpering and pacing his kennel since he knew I was there for him. Such a smart booger! He was all wiggly (and piddly) and was oh so ready to head on home. Sure thing, buddy!

He's actually fairing pretty well, ya know, considering all the facts. For the next four days, he has spiffy pain meds and antibiotics to take. Then over the next ten days, he can't take a bath and we need to be very proactive about picking him up & setting him down when he wants to get on/off the couches & beds. THAT is gonna be a challenge since he likes to bounce all over the place. Oh well, I suppose it'll be payback for doing *this* to him in the first place. 

On that note, time for me to hug my tender wiener. 

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Animal Party!

As you all know, we're dog people. Hell, we better be considering we have five oh so rambunctious ankle biters! From time to time, co workers of Eric, or friends of friends, like to come by with their fur baby either to have us puppy sit for them, or just help with socializing...even though some of our dogs are rather bratty (Macie, to be specific)..so it makes life interesting in the house. Either way, it leads to entertainment..

On that note, let me introduce you to Doc:

He's a super sweet American Stafford who is like a XL version of Grimm..and he's about as stubborn as a brick wall. We're watching after him for the next week since his Daddy is back in the States to get married to his beautiful fiancee'. 

Doc is about eleven months old while Grimm is just hitting around seven months..so those two have been playing NON STOP. I'll hear random things crashing throughout the house, skidder skattering around corners, yipping and growling..all sorts of mayhem. LOTS of mayhem. Their favorite thing to do is play around my kitchen table. Ehhhh wellllll...play isn't the word. Grimm uses it for hiding purposes from Doc in order to get some sort of relief from the constant stompings and smushings:

For the most part, they play together rather well even though Doc is still learning that he's a lot larger than Grimm.  In the midst of playing, he can get a little carried away and pins Grimm to the floor then proceeds to lay all over him. Who helps to keep him in check when he gets a little too skitzo? Macie, of course! I think she takes over with baby sitting Doc when I'm either worn out from chasing him, or when I actually need to attend to my house and work on things. Eric refers to her as "The Protector of the House"...and she's definitely a force to be reckoned with!

I'll tell you what, I'm seriously shocked as to how "sturdy" this dog is! I realize Staffords are a beefy breed, but this guy is SOLID muscle, and his head is like a ....I dunno how to describe it. I can totally see why they're used as guard dogs, intimidation and all that other manly crap. When he yawns or gets a treat, the noise his mouth makes when he snaps it shut reminds me of an alligator..that large hollow "snap" sound. Then whenever he rests his head on me, you can just feel the weight and how solid his skull is...MUCH different than what I'm used to with my little Dachshunds. But...aside from all of that, he's a complete love bug (as the breed is in general) and it's rather disheartening that the mass has such a bad reputation. When in doubt, cookies get them to behave...

So, there you have it. I'll definitely be kept busy for the next week whilst I wrangle a super wiggly Doc, attempt to make progress on prepping for the movers next month, trolling for a home in New Mexico and trying to squeeze in a nap at some point. 

Whhheeeeeeeeee!!

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Damn you, red ball.

This is a red ball. 

A simple...red...squeaky...rubber...ball. 

I wanted to buy said ball for Cole since he's the destroyer of all things that squeak...and yet...we ended up with....

Grimm.  

 

On Tuesday, Eric and I were making our way home from the Commissary since we needed to pick up some additional groceries since he was going to be home all week. Since we were in the town of Bocholt to look for some special salt for a friend of mine, I remembered that there was a pet store in the town so I could just pop in there and grab a toy for him. 

That, folks, was our downfall. 

In the midst of looking at the various toys, Eric disappeared to the back of the store where the puppies were kenneled because, hey, who can resist puppies? I wasn't really worried about it because I didn't think they'd have any particular breed we would've been interested in. Yeah...I was wrong. In fact, very very wrong. They had two bulldog puppies and two Dachshund puppies. If you know us, you know that Eric has wanted a bulldog forever, and we have an obvious weakness for Dachshunds. Of course, I play with the doxies and he's looking at the bullies...those lil boogers were a thousand euros a piece! GAG! The dachshunds, not so much..hah. So of course, we're making our way out of the puppy area and the owner comes in to see what we think of the puppies...and I think he saw how inlove Eric was with the bully babies. A thousand euros is absolutely out of the question since that could go towards our mazhout order (stupid diesel used over here to heat the homes)...THEN the guy tells him "I have a six month old bully for sale. He's three hundred euros and his name is Hummer". Oh, lovely! So, he brings Hummer out. he's insanely cute, very very sweet and gets along well with other dogs. If we didn't use our brains, we would've taken him straight home...but...the main factor that clicked in is: Macie. 

Macie is Eric's pride and joy..his defender of the house...his little body guard. She DOES NOT like other dogs very easily. In fact, she's earned the nick name of "Puff" because she puffs up double her size and basically hulks out on other dogs. Sooooo bringing a bulldog into the mix would be hazardous. Luckily, the guy said he'd hold Hummer for us since Wednesday and Thursday were Belgian holidays, so they'd be closed anyway. In addition to holding Hummer, he also held the little male Dachshund for us since I was wondering how Macie would react to him. Over the two days, we flip flopped back and forth a lot...ultimately decided we'd see how Macie would act and go from there. Wellllll...when we introduced Macie to Hummer, it went over like a lead balloon. I've NEVER seen her try to crawl up Eric's leg to get away from another dog, not to mention, she made so many ugly faces..it was kinda entertaining (to be honest). After about fifteen minutes of trying to introduce them to one another, it was VERY clear that it wasn't going to work out with Hummer. I, of course, was bummed for Eric because I know how badly he's wanted a bully, and he got attached to Hummer. Then, they allowed us to bring the baby Dachshund out...talk about a complete one eighty! She was instantly intrigued, kept sniffling him and started wagging her tail! Eric and I were both shocked because she never does that sort of thing. After letting them walk around one another for a bit, it was clear that she didn't have any sort of problem with him and basically gave him the thumbs up.

 We filled out paperwork and got a "Welcome home puppy" box, then we were on our merry way with the newest edition to the Hall house. 

 He even got an official "Puppy Passport" so we can keep tabs on his vaccinations and what not. Cool, right? None of the other dogs got little passports like this, so it'll definitely be easier to figure out which one is his when the time comes to move.

Over the last couple of days, it's been a riot with Grimm getting adjusted to the house, not to mention, gaining three bossy sisters and a dopy big brother. For the most part, Grimm just lounges around on dog beds, gets checked on to make sure he's still breathing, then he doses off for a few hours before running around and causing havoc with Piper. 

 Here's a pic for some size reference as to how small this furball is. Izzy wasn't even this small when we got her at 10 weeks old, so I'm kind of at a loss as to how tiny Grimm actually is. He's using Pipers old collapsible travel bowl set to eat from since the portion size is appropriate for him. Thing is, I have to collapse it all the way so he can actually reach the food! Otherwise, it's too tall for him and he knocks it all over the place by trying to stand on the ledge in order to get the food. His belly is about an inch and a half from the floor, he weighs about a pound and a half and he's the length of Eric's foot (size 13). His paw is the size of my thumb! 

LITTLE DACHSHUND! HUGE personality!

 Oh yeah..and I noticed something hilarious that Grimm does when Eric hold him. Eric tends to cuddle him like he's a baby, so of course Grimm goes limp because he likes having his belly rubbed...then I noticed the faces he makes. 

It took me about ten shots for me to actually get this pic cause I couldn't stop laughing... no, Eric isn't doing a choke hold on him. He just makes this derpy face when he's getting his belly rubbed. Epic cuteness, right?

The girls have been super inquisitive and try to figure out "what" he is since he's so tiny, while Cole on the other hand, follows him around and plops close by to keep an eye on him. Macie took all of us by surprise because she acts like she's his mother / protector and tries to keep the other dogs away from him. Definitely wasn't expecting that! Grimm is completely oblivious to all of this and just runs himself ragged in the mean time.

We've had a bit of a heat wave here in Belgium...and by heat wave, I mean someone turned the outdoor temperature setting to "HELL". It was in the low 90's yesterday while it was in the high 90's today...very hot and very miserable, especially since our house holds all the heat in despite all the windows being open & having fans circulating air around. All of the dogs found a way to cool themselves down throughout the house except the littlest derp. So, we gave him a bath to cool him down a little bit since he really looked like he was struggling to find some sort of relief.

 Wet weenie baby is not pleased.

After his quick cool down and a fast toweling, he was off and running around like a bat out of hell to pick up where he left off in terms of harassing Cole and gnawing on his baby Kong toy. Tomorrow's his first visit with our vet to make sure everything is on the "up & up" in terms of his vaccines and anything else he might need to be checked out for. Grimm fits in PERFECTLY with our family! I really couldn't have asked for a sweeter puppy...really, I couldn't have. His little tail goes a mile a minute, plays wonderfully with the other dogs and knows how to sleep in (that's a MAJOR plus in our family!). 

 He's definitely a total love bug!

*** To those of you who could possibly be making comments about us having "another" dog, which brings our total to five k-9's...in all seriousness, shove it & keep it to yourself. Our dogs are our kids who are extremely well taken care of, they have a "forever home" with us and all are spoiled rotten. I refrained from posting about him earlier or even posting pics of him on my Facebook because I don't want ignorant & judgmental people making brainless comments about our decision to add another fur baby to our family. But, screw it. On that note, Tah! ***

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Endless Love

This is a really hard blog post...

If you know anything about me, you know that I absolutely LOVE animals. To be more precise, I love dogs.  In fact, we have five.

When I met Eric, I knew he was someone I wanted to keep in my life because he had Cali, a goofy Boxer who had the attention span of a three year old. The way someone treats their dog is the way they treat other people, and that's SO true! If you didn't know any better and he was talking to you about her, you'd think she was his child rather than his dog. 

When we lived in California, I'd take her to the doggy salon so she could get pampered and dolled up:

The day we brought Izzy home, Cali took care of her as if she were her own puppy & loved her to pieces....

....and usually ended up stealing Izzys bed.

Then when we brought Cole home, she did the same thing with him. They are INSEPARABLE! Basically, when one gets up and goes to another part of the house, the other follows. As of late, he's been extremely attentive to her, checks on her by giving her kisses then snuggles up to keep her company.

When John was younger, he liked to wrap her up and play "Hide the Cali", then rough house with her. Yes, she's a VERY patient dog! lol

She always brings us "presents", whether it's a sock, towel, or torn up toy..she always wiggles and gives you a present right when you walk in the door followed by a nice kick to your knee cap.

Whenever we had a chance, we'd let her loose over at the beach and she'd run herself ragged!

As we all know, time ticks on and we all age. Sadly, dogs aren't excluded from that. Cali is now teetering on fourteen years old...and you can tell the age is wearing on her. Eric still swears that she's five and not a year older. Her cataracts are making it very hard for her to see stuff that's put right in front of her face, she has (MAYBE) 4 decent teeth she can use to eat with..arthritis flares up really bad on her hips...agh..it's heart breaking. All she does now is sleep, which I can't say I blame her. Getting up to go outside is a massive challenge for her..and when she is standing, she's wobbly and her footing is failing. 

Eric is madly...madly in love with her and it completely breaks my heart because I know "the time" is upon us..and he's going to be a hot mess. Well, all of us are, but he's going to take it the worst. At the most, we have a week left with her and we don't want to prolong her suffering despite not wanting to let her go...

Back in December, I noticed her health wasn't doing all that well, so I came up with an idea to do "Puppy Portraits". Sounds silly, right? Well, I ended up arranging a photographer to get some pictures / portraits and they came out better than I could have hoped for:

Now that we have the pictures, I wanted to make some sort of "shadow box" for her. Me being me, I clicked around online for a bit to see if I could find something along the lines of what I was wanting to do and ended up finding this:

It's pretty cool, but runs about $35 a pop. Since I'll be making one for each dog, that'd come to $175 in total! That's a bit steep, especially since I can do it myself. After doing a little bit of research, I found some recipes to make "Dough Ornaments" or  "Easy Crafting Clay" so I can do molds of all the fur balls paws. 

So, Eric and I started working on those today, did a trial run and ended up making a few impressions "just in case" some cracked while baking or they didn't come out right. In the process of working on Cali, we figured we might as well do the other dogs paws since I can make theirs into little ornaments. 

 Cali and Macie prints before

Cali and Macie prints after

As much as I picked on Cali & her smushy face, I really love that googly dog. She always cuddled up when she knew I wasn't feeling good, a fantastic watch dog & let me know when someone was coming, always did the happy wiggle dance when anyone walked in the door, extremely patient when John would hang all over her or try to ride her like a pony...a very,very loving dog. I'm going to miss her crazy little nub nub go nuts when I look at her, her snoring which rivals Erics, and yes, even her lethal farts. Cali is so special that not only has she had one family love her more than words can say, but had a family before us who loved her dearly. How many dogs have that sort of luck? She's beyond lovable and has made many, many friends throughout her journey with us. 

Value your pets and love them with all your heart. 
They deserve it.

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