Good night. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite

Crap.

We're in trouble.

A survey

The Basics

1-Name and Age:

Baily- 3 years

Mesa- 3 years

Big Carl- 2 years (we think)

2-Breed:
Baily- Pit Bull/Boxer/? Rescue said mom was 85lbs and dad was 90. Baily is all of 51
Mesa- Pit Bull/Am Bulldog
Big Carl- Chihuahua

3-Nicknames:
Baily- Bug, Baily Boo, Baily Roo, Pup Pup
Mesa- Moose, Moose Goose, Dip Dunk, Dozer
Big Carl- BC, Little Man, Escape (pronounced Es-cap-eh), Carlos (his evil alter ego)

4-Where do y'all come from:
Baily- Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue
Mesa- Anchorage Animal Care and Control
Big Carl- Strangest Angles- LA


Favorites

1-Toy:
Baily- Kong
Mesa- Ball
Big Carl- Mesa

2-Snack:
Baily- Raw Fish
Mesa- Bread
Big Carl- Parm Cheese

3-Human:
Baily- Mom
Mesa- Dad
Big Carl- Alex

Funny Stuff

1-Worst Habit:
Baily- Whining for attention
Mesa- Being thick headed
Big Carl- I like to go to the bathroom in the human bathroom when they make me mad

2-Most Embarrassing Moment:
Baily- As a pup, I got beat up
Mesa- Nothing embarrasses me, I pretend bad things don’t happen
Big Carl- pffffffffft

3-Family Dynamic:
Baily is alpha
Mesa could care less
Big Carl just likes to cause trouble

4-Your human's favorite thing about you:
Baily is super snuggly
Mesa is the life of the party
Big Carl is just crazy

Some days I wonder about my dogs

They are just so weird...

Not so sneaky Mesa

The hubs caught this happening on video. I can't figure out if she is contemplating going back into the food closet or if she is erasing her memory and pretending she didn't get caught.

wordless wednesday... I think BC is sneaking the Prozac

Baily and the Prozac

Ok, time for a controversial subject. Prozac and dogs.  Turn back now if you don't want to know...

So as is noticeable, I am still having quite the time adjusting to the new schedule. When I'm home, I'm trying so hard to catch up that I don't have time to get to the computer and when I'm on the road I work so hard I don't have time to get to the computer. BUT I am slowly figuring it all out.

Baily, on the other hand, is not. She has always been a bit high strung. She came to us at 7 weeks old (her entire litter was dumped out) and her foster parents told us she was so cuddly she was never not being held. Uh oh. She spent her first three months going to work with me everyday. She slept under my desk, or in a chair if I was in a meeting. After I got a job where I didn't get to take my pup, she went to doggy daycare. Spoiled, no?

Then we moved to Cali. In NorCal, I worked days while the hubs went to class and the pups were rarely home alone. Same thing once we moved to SoCal. But then I started traveling. Yes, my hubs is almost always home (he has the best class schedule ever!) but I am not. Baily does not like this. AT ALL. She always was a bit of a whiny butt, but I would call home and hear her crying in the back ground. Her shedding was out of control (a sign of stress) and she jumped whenever a door shut. The hubs has said for a couple years we need to get her on meds (we have done so much training but none of it has taken). I kept putting it off but finally gave in.

A month ago I made an appointment with the vet. I talked to him about the situation, all the training (he said he wants to make sure we worked on training first and not looking to drugs to be the answer) and he agreed it was time to try puppy prozac. So I got the bottle, went home and proptly gave it to the hubs.

When I returned the next week guess what? Baily wasn't shedding any more, she hadn't cried very much and she was going on the patio with us (something that used to terrify her). Three weeks later she keeps getting better.

I have to admit, a part of me feels like I have admitted defeat by drugging my dog but its the solution that works for us (short of me quitting me job). We have had a busy couple weeks. I was in Baltimore last week, Virginia Beach last weekend, Baltimore this week, Vegas next weekend and get to work from home for a week. I plan to enjoy my time on the sofa with Baily as my assistant

Sorry no pics this time. There are none I have that can fit the mood.

wordless wednesday... baby baily

Pardon the interruption, but any ideas?

The hubs and I went to get laundry done today and came home to this:

a once clean bath tub filled with all sizes of paw prints. Any ideas as to what they might have been up to during the 1.5 hours we were away?

My Pit Bull did better than your Retriever

Ok, I will start this by saying I have nothing against any breed with the word Retriever in the name (or any breed at all). We started Mesa in Dock Diving. We do SplashDogs (click the link to learn more) and decided to try distance. In short, you throw a toy and the dog jumps off a dock with a two foot drop into a pool. They measure where the base of the tail hits the water.

Anyways, a couple weeks back we drove to Bass Pro Shops so Mesa could try it out. She loved it. But, there was a guy there who was so rude to me and made comments about "real dock diving dogs." He cut in front of me in line "so his real dog could go" and if he ended up behind me he didn't let me get my two runs in since he got on the dock as soon as I released the toy the first time. The others there (both fellow owners, and officials) told him to stop but it was a lost cause.

Anyways, Mesa did so well in practice that we entered a wave (a round). Mr. Bad Guy was in the wave before us and was bragging how his first timer jumped over 5 feet which is really good for a first time. In our round Mesa went and guess what? She jumped 6'10" HA! Take that! And every dog that placed lower than her (and there were more than 10) had retriever in their name.

I really wanted to rub it in his face but alas we went on our merry way, picked up a treat in the store and then started the long drive home.

Here are some pics of Mesa at practice a few weeks later.

First she forgot what she was supposed to do:

Then she remembered:

She did much better when I threw the toy far enough. When I didn't she would change direction mid air:

I have a computer again!!!

While I get things back up and running (and try to play some catch up but hey there are over 650 unread posts in my reader so don't expect miracles) here are some pictures of the pups :)

Baily and Mesa keep my spot warm in bed during the week

Mesa chills out in the bath tub (again)

Mesa is deep in thought

Big Carl did not kill the Mesa, we promise

Baily tries out Mesa's spot on the sofa

Big Carl finds a good hiding spot

All three relax, as best they can

sigh

I am writing this from my phone. Why? Because my brand new laptop crashed and needs the hard drive replaced. You think I'm far behind now? I'm going to have to mark all as read and start fresh. See ya'll in a couple weeks.

We finally did it

I finally put forth the major effort and submitted the girls to Pitter Patter!

in other news, i have been a terrible blogger. not many posts. I am making my way through the backlog and once I get close to catching up i lapse and gain another hundred to read. sorry all!

An oldie but a goodie (one of my first posts) Hiking Time

Took the girls hiking for the first time since we left AK. It was very interesting as they are not at all used to hiking in this heat and the trails are not what we are used to. We were only able to go for an hour since it was so warm and after three hours at home they were ready to go out for more play. This is a huge change from when we used to be able to hike 6 hours and they didn't get out of bed for a couple of days!

On the left is a picture from one of my favorite AK hikes, Near Point

Edit- We haven't been hiking since leaving norcal for LA. The weather here is not good for hiking unless its winter and with my foot its just not been possible. Near Point is 3400ft in elevation gain and about 10 miles (we only did 8 that day).