Playin Hooky With Lucy!

I couldn't wait to get to Dr. Mary's to see Lucy last night. Of course, traffic from work to the vets office was insane, and I had a customer walk through the door at the last possible second, so I didn't get there nearly as early as I would have liked to!

Lucy was still very groggy when I got to Dr. Mary's at 10 after 6, and she came over to give me a kiss, but her wiggle is definitely not working like it should. When I stuck Lucy in the car, she turned away from me and rested her head on the door, SHE WAS MAD AT ME! So for the first 7 miles of our ride, I was riddled with horrible guilt over what I had just done to my boxer baby!

11 miles to go to home, and Lucy turns around and looks at me with those sweet little eyes, and rests her chin on my arm! Whew, glad to know you're not going to hold a grudge Lucy!

I couldn't wait to get Lucy home, I could tell she was uncomfortable in the car. Of course, last night would have to be the night that I get stuck in a line of traffic going an insane 20 MPH under the speed limit and coming to a dead stop in the middle of the road for no appearent reason 3 times in 11 miles. We eventually did make it home, but I was very annoyed by how long it took.

"Hey Ma, I don'ts feel right."

Lucy had a rough night last night, she still had pain meds in her from Dr. Mary, but she cried and whimpered most of the night. She just couldn't get comfortable. The last several nights, she's been sleeping on the floor in our bedroom for some reason (goofy dog is allowed to sleep in the bed, and she prefers the floor!) so I made up a nice little bed for her on the floor, and she cried and cried until I got up and gently lifted her into our bed. She immediately curled up right next to me and fell asleep. She still wiggled a lot, but she definitely seemed happier in bed next to us.

Lucy still isn't hungry. I made up her usual breakfast this morning (French cut green beans, ground beef, and Wellness) and she just sniffed it and left it.

I needed to give her a pain pill, and I knew it was going to take something really special to get her to eat it. Cheese didn't work. Peanut Butter didn't work. Beef didn't work... I had no idea what I was going to do when I remembered the pepperoni roll in the fridge. That worked!

Lucy's all curled up with her puppy and the spider and she seems to be sound asleep. Every once and a while, she looks over at me to make sure I'm still here, and of course, I go over and pet her and give her lots of kisses! I feel so bad that my little boxer baby isn't feeling well!

Random Ramblings Wednesday

I have decided that Wednesday is the perfect day for me to ramble about all of the things that have gotten my fired up over the last week, and it's been a douzy of a week!

1. So, I'm happily zipping (and I do mean zipping) down the road, very clearly enjoying the drive, and the speed, when all of a sudden, someone in a mini van decides to pull out in front of me. I reach across and put my arm across Lucy, down shift and slam on my brakes to keep from plowing into this inconsiderate driver.

I know he saw me, because I saw him, and there wasn't anything in his way to block him seeing me. To add insult to injury- they pull out in front of me because they're in such a darn hurry- and then they drive 20 mph UNDER the speed limit. Have they taken it upon themselves to correct my driving habits? Do they feel overly compelled to slow me down and force me to drive UNDER the speed limit? Well, let me tell you something- I'm 35- almost 36- I've driven fast all my life- (with very little regard for speed limits- except in the days following a run in with the law!) and you pulling out in front of me, is only going to make me mad- and it's always going to inspire me to tail gate ya! Get out of my way!

2. I had 10 spare minutes this morning to run into Wal-Mart and make a mad dash around the store grabbing 7 different things. I pull into the parking lot, and there is a woman walking across the parking lot, correction, she wasn't walking, she was strolling- talking on a cell phone and paying no attention to the 4 cars anxiously awaiting the chance to cross the Wal-Mart parking lot. She wasn't elderly or visably disabled in any way, or I could have forgiven the pace. She was most certainly not walking in a straight line- she was clearly not in any hurry to get into Wal-Mart, and she clearly has never heard the saying that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. There went 4 of my 10 minutes...

3. I finally make it into Wal-Mart and start on my mad dash. I needed a battery for the key fob to one of the cars. First I couldn't get the key fob open. Then I couldn't get the battery out to see what size it was. And when I finally freed the slippery little sucker from the case- I couldn't read it- and of course, I didn't have my glasses. And there went another 4 minutes. I hate that I'm old enough to need glasses to read the information on a battery. That just sucks, wasn't I just 21 a couple of days ago? (I guess not?)

4. I'm sure you're keeping track, but I now had exactly 2 minutes to run to the peanut butter aisle, grab the peanut butter, check out and get back to the car. It could happen, right? Yeah, well it could if there weren't 2 people blocking the peanut butter aisle with their grocery carts, and misbehaving children, attempting to text message on a cell phone. Here's a thought, your children probably wouldn't be throwing a tantrum worthy of a news crew if you were paying attention to them and not attempting to tell the story of your life in a text message. Are you in here to grocery shop or play on your cell phone? Make up your mind... Just get out of my way!

5. When my fiance and I first started dating- I was so impressed that he ALWAYS put the toilet seat down. Believe me when I say that I was very appreciative of this small little detail as a woman who has fallen in one too many times. Little did I know, until we replaced all 3 of the toilets in our house, that he never puts the toilet seat down, it's just that the old ones, wouldn't stay up! Imagine my shock when after nearly 5 years I discovered this little truth!

Lucy's Take... Our Day At Home

Today is Mommy n I's day off. I'm not sure what's da matter wit my human, cuz she hasn't stopped movin all day. Shouldn't a day off be a day to play wit your boxer? But, my Mommy has been runnin da vacuum, scrubbin da floors, n throwin laundry in da washin machine. She even tore all da sheets off da bed. Crazy human! Da house can't possibly be any cleaner than what it already is.

Just thought I should let ya all know, Mommy decided last night dat she's gonna start reviewin my favorite toys. I tink she said we're gonna do one a day... Dat might take a while. We'll probably start dat tomorrow when we go back to da store. You might wanna check it out- my human buys some pretty cool toys. I'm pretty sure she must have been a dog at some point.

" Whatca got there, Mom? Is der peanut butter in dere? I tink I smell peanut butter. Ooh, boy. Dat smells really good. I'm sittin, gimma da peanut butter... I'll take care of dat for ya, Ma."

" Yep, dat's definitely peanut butter in there. She could have just given me da jar. Would've saved her some time. Boy is dis good."


" It's almost all gone, Ma. What are we gonna do now? You're not gonna run dat vacuum again are you? I'll help ya wash the kitchen floor if ya want or you can just give me more peanut butter. Maybe we should go outside n chase the ball around a lil bit."

" Just in case ya didn't notice, Ma, my peanut butter is all gone. What am I gonna do now? Whys is all my toys up der? You know Daddy don't allow me up der. Can I have dem? By da way, do ya hear dat rain out der? Guess we won't be goin outside anytime soon."

" Looks like my only option is to take a nap. Wanna join me big green spider? Maybe by da time we wake up, da rain will be gone and Ma will have put dat vacuum away."

Yippee Skippy- or In This Case Yippee Jiff-y

I awoke this morning to the sweet sound of snoring- boxer puppy snoring- and it was so close. It is the sound that only a boxer companion can understand and appreciate. My little boxer was right next to me- not even 10 inches away, head on the pillow right next to mine, and she was completely konked out. It was just the sweetest thing I could imagine!

Heaven is a soft little boxer head right next to your cheek- and I hug my little boxer darling close at least 25 times a day just to feel that soft puppy fur. I love you little Lucy! (And this picture of you, is definitely going in a frame, on a wall in our house somewhere!)

One of Lucy's most frustrating past times (for Lucy, not for me!) is playing in "her office" with things of a rolling nature. I have a space specially designated for Lucy right beside my office. It's the perfect play space except for the fact that it's closed in by bookcases that are open on the bottom. So, inevitably, anything that rolls is going to get "stuck" underneath those bookcases and out of Lucy's reach. She can get just enough of her body underneath the bookcase to see the ball- but not enough to retrieve the ball and eventually her human becomes aware of the nature of the problem and rushes to her rescue.

I've had my eye on what is sure to be a major situation behind the store. There is a large cement slab which is home to the electrical boxes for our building. Lucy loves this slab as it has a hole on one side of it where she can stick her head in and explore. The other day, I was outside taking out the trash, when a groundhog stuck his head out of Lucy's favorite hole. I'm pretty sure that Lucy should not be sticking her head in that hole any more, sorry Lucy! As a matter of fact, I think it's a good idea that we stay as far away from that Groundhog hole as we possibly can.

Lucy and I have been working on "Stay". I have found that the most effective way of teaching Lucy "Stay" is holding something of great interest to her, telling her to "Stay, Lucy", backing away from her, waiting a couple of seconds and rewarding her with the item of great interest. We're not there yet, but we're definitely making great progress! "Good Lucy!"

Lucy and I were playing with this soft, squeaky blue ball this morning when I noticed that there was blood all over her mouth and the ball. It only took me a couple of seconds to notice the tiny, white shark tooth lying on the floor just inches away from Lucy and I! I couldn't be more excited over the loss of this "shark tooth". Those teeth have been a great pain (literally) to my hands, feet and ankles. The Tooth Fairy will definitely be rewarding that tooth loss.

I cannot wait until this business of adult teeth is over with! Lucy seems to be very uncomfortable right now, and unfortunately for me, it would seem that the only (safe) thing that comforts her aching mouth, is her Human's hands... (Ceasar's tail also seems to be a great comfort- but as you can imagine- that is about as popular with Ceasar as Lucy's chewing on my hands is with me, maybe even less so!) Believe me when I say that I have tried everything else.

Lucy and I stick to pretty much the same routine every morning. Upon arrival at the store, we typically take a walk, greet anyone that's out and about, and then we come into the store. Lucy follows me into what I will call "Lucy's Office" and I fill an old, hollow soup bone with peanut butter to occupy Lucy while I run around turning on lights, air conditioning, dragging furniture outside and making coffee. It's probably un-necessary, but it gives her something to look forward to because it's routine.

Unfortunately, the peanut butter jar was very close to empty this morning, and my only hope for giving Lucy this very treasured treat was to give her the empty jar. I was confident that she would figure out exactly how to get the remaining morsels of peanut butter out of that jar, and she didn't disappoint. Where there is a will- there is a way! Actually, quite honestly this near empty peanut bar jar occupied her far longer than the usual marrow bone does.

Lucy managed to clean the jar 3/4 of the way down, and then her little tongue just couldn't reach anymore. I had to help her. I got a knife and scraped what was left of the remaining peanut butter out of the jar and put in in her marrow bone. I'm definitely going to have to buy more peanut butter!

(I think my little boxer could sell peanut butter, what do you think?

Yesterday morning, Lucy and I had time to kill before work and I was going to take her to the dog park, but when we got there, no other dogs were out. So, I decided to make the run to Petsmart. I've been wanting to get a Gentle Leader for Lucy as we seem to be having some pulling issues. We bought the Gentle Leader and managed to escape Petsmart without spending over $30.00 (that never happens). What I failed to take into consideration is that the Gentle Leader is designed to fit over the dogs nose, and Lucy doesn't really have a nose... at least not enough of a nose to outfit her with this lead... oops!

A Little Less Excitement, Lucy- PLEASE!

When Lucy came home to live with us, we had concerns about how our senior German Shepherd was going to react to having a puppy around. We both agreed that it would probably take a little bit of time for them to get used to one another, just as it had when the Basset first got involved, and then everything would be fine. I guess what we didn't take into consideration was that Ceasar is much older, and is in a considerable amount of pain, and therefore, not as tolerant of a wild and exuberant puppy- which Lucy is pretty much most of the time!

Lucy is very intent on getting Ceasar to play with her like every other dog she meets, and Ceasar remains adamant that he wants nothing to do with playing with Lucy. Neither one of them is willing to budge, and Monday morning, there was a big blow out at our house.

I fed the dogs as I normally do, Ceasar was outside, and Lucy was in the kitchen with me. I waited for Ceasar to finish eating and then let Lucy out the door after checking to make sure there wasn't so much as a single piece of kibble left in his bowl. As she usually does, Lucy went to the bowl to lick it out, and it all went down hill from there.

I was standing about 10 feet away when I noticed Ceasar approaching Lucy and the empty bowl, and just as I started to move in, everything went south. Ceasar snapped at Lucy, and he put her down. I had to pull him off of her. Lucy was visibly shaken by this attack- typically she just jumps right up and starts yipping at him again. Not this time. I called her into the house with me to inspect her face. She curled right up to me, and when I pulled her away from me, there was blood everywhere.

My little girl got a hell of a battle wound. She had a cut from the corner of her eye (but didn't get the eye!) the whole way down the side of her face! I cleaned her up (with a ton of wiggling and squirming), and watched her little face as the day went on. By 1:00 her face had swollen to the point of looking like she had a small apple under her skin, and the cut was still bleeding pretty heavily.

"Lucy, looks like we're going to see the vet..."

Mary cleaned Lucy right up (with a considerable amount of sass from Lucy) and shot her full of antibiotics. She sent us home with pain pills, antibiotics and a warning for Lucy to try to stay out of trouble for a couple of days. By 5:00 the swelling had gone away almost completely, and Lucy was resting peacefully in the living room. I did notice that she gave Ceasar a wide berth when we were in the yard with him, but that didn't last very long. She's right back to trying to get him to play with her this morning- apparently someones got a short memory or maybe she's just holding hope that he's going to change his mind about playing with her.

All I know is that Lucy certainly enjoys getting her pill twice a day atop a peanut butter cracker...

My little boxer has been doing very well with her housebreaking, and we haven't had an accident in weeks. So, I've been trying to give her a little bit of freedom for short periods during the day... Of course, trouble finds Lucy or does Lucy find trouble? If there is a place in this store to get stuck- Lucy will get stuck. If there is something in this store to knock over- Lucy will knock it over. She absolutely loves to hide under and behind anything and everything- and thinks that her human enjoys the game of hide and seek just as much as she does.

Lucy's favorite pastime when roaming the store free and clear of her leash, is the tags on the furniture. And not just any tags- she likes the rope ones with the large hang tags attached. I swear she has somehow managed to find, and remove each and every one, that she can reach in this store. I guess I will know who to look for if I suddenly start noticing that a bunch of my tags are missing. On a positive note- she doesn't enjoy chewing on the furniture- she only wants those tags...

In her two months of going to the store with her human every day, Lucy has built up quite a fan club. Yesterday, a very good customer walked in the door, and the first question was " Where's Lucy?", not "Where is my furniture?"- our customer just wanted to see Lucy! Everyone in the plaza seems to be tracking Lucy's growth, just yesterday, we were stopped for a Kodak moment while we were out for a walk! Thankfully, Lucy loves people as much as people love Lucy! She makes new friends every where she goes and while she's not completely trained in the "Appropriate Greeting" we are definitely making progress. Most everyone will make her "sit" and she will then volunteer her "paw". Such a Good Little Lucy!

Tomorrow night we're off to night 2 of puppy kindergarten! I wonder what we'll learn tomorrow night, and am hoping that our loose leash walking goes better than it did last week. Somehow when we got in that room with 5 other dogs, all of our loose leash and "heel" training went right out the window. She did well with everything else- but the lure of the other dogs was entirely too much for my little pup- even though I had taken her to the dog park for 45 minutes before class.

Yesterday morning, I was running late getting ready for work. I had Lucy gated in the kitchen (only because there is way too much trouble throughout the house to find Lucy) and I was upstairs. The contractor was in the kitchen using a phone book. When I came downstairs, there was no Lucy, and the door between the kitchen and the "bonus" room, and the door between the garage and the "bonus" room were open. I immediately ran outside and started calling Lucy, not sure what was going to happen. I was so happy to see my little pup come flying around the bush and give me that little look- you know the one- the one where she makes you think she wasn't getting into trouble!

PS: Lucy- your human needs just a short break from all of the excitement... Is there any way it can be toned down- just for a couple of days? "Good Lucy!"