We are on the move

So a couple posts ago I mentioned that we were searching for a new apartment. What I didn't mention is that the new apartment is located in Los Angeles (West Hollywood to be exact). So now, one again, we get to pack up and move on. This time the girls will be riding with me. When we moved from Alaska to Nor Cal we had to fly the girls because there are very few route options and almost all had cities with BSL all throughout so we deemed it safer (and just more practical since it was 4000 miles) to fly the girls down. Now to make sure I get the girls tired enough for the 6 hour drive!

Here are two of my favorite traveling pics :) In the first Mesa and Baily both try and put their heads on the glove box. In the second they are hanging out of the window at a stop sign (in this case objects in the mirror are larger than they appear!)

Dory's Smilefest

Since I just love this picture of Mesa I thought it would be perfect to enter in Dory's Smilefest (in honor of her 100th post). Nothing makes Mesa smile more than a wonderful game of fetch! This picture never fails to put a smile on my face.

FISHES!

Baily and Mesa love to eat fish. We feed them a fish based food but love to give them raw fish when we have them. Here we are up in Alaska feeding the girls hooligan (smelt) that we had caught just for the girls (spoiled?). Mesa nicely takes hers off screen to eat while Baily prefers the seal method of just tilting her head back and swallowing it whole! That's why we call Baily our seal pup :)

A big surprise

So after exercising the dogs, I normally take them up to our apartment on the third floor without using their leashes. I had just reached the top of the stairs when I spotted my neighbor and we started chatting. Mesa was happy to take a seat on my neighbors foot (strange habit) but Baily used the time to sniff around. As Baily was investigating the elevator (which had been sitting open on our floor) someone pressed the call button. They sure got a surprise when the elevator opened on the first floor! I called Baily's name and she happily ran up the stairs right back to me. Good thing everyone in our complex knows my girls! Here is what I think Baily looked like when the elevator opened.

The water dogs...er dog

Here is a video that my husband made. We met an amazing lady named Cathy who owns a place called "The Rex Center."

We bet on a massage/swim package at a charity event. Mesa took to the swimming (notice her total disregard for the "no diving") while Baily preferred the massages.

In other news we gave Mesa her four pills for the worms but she dropped one so Baily swooped in and ate it like it was a treat! The vet said not to worry so lets hope we don't have to go back!

Mesa has worms :(

Ok here is my confession as a bad dog owner, Mesa has tapeworms. Let me explain. In Alaska there are no fleas, ticks or heartworms (for those of you in dog rescue or if you know a dog who has had them just think about that for a moment). For those reasons we have never had to prevent against them.
Upon moving to California I talked to our new vet about what needed to be done. We started monthly heartworm preventative and had flea/tick meds ready for the summer.
Alas, summer came around and it completely slipped our minds. I spent more time worrying about keeping the girls hydrated enough because we don't have AC and they had never seen temps above 75! When I took Mesa is two weeks ago to get her glands checked, the vet mentioned she saw some flea bites. It was then I remembered that I had not used the preventative! Yesterday we noticed worms and called the vet. They asked us to bring in a sample this am. So I got up bright and early and took a tip top baggie with me and acquired my sample, drove all the way to the vet and got Mesa's meds. Now we will always remember the preventative!
On a funny note, Mesa got into the trash last night so I had to tell the vet to ignore all the papertowls in her sample. Oops!

Why it pays to document

So it looks like we're going to be moving. Finding a new place to rent with two pit bulls is not an easy task. After calling many places I was finally able to find four to look at. Two were tiny, one was ghetto and one was perfect. Perfect? Oh yeah there had to be a catch.
In this case they had only previously allowed one small dog into the apartment. I told them to please call my current landlord for a reference. She told them how wonderful my dogs are and that they are not loud dogs who barked all day long (a big concern).
I also told them I had kept all my training certificates and that I would be more than happy to send them copies. I sent the copies and that night they told us we got the apartment! I am so glad I have held on to all those certificates this many years down the road but it has made all the difference today. It also may have helped that I sent them this cute picture.

why we love our chuck it

Anal Glands

Best title for a blog entry, don't you think? So Mesa's have been acting up a lot. We took her in 4 weeks ago because she leaked only to learn that she was really full. Two weeks later we woke up to that terrible smell (you know what I'm talking about) so off to the vet we went. Again she was really full so the vet suggested allergy meds. Two weeks later we are in the same boat. Now we get to try and figure out whats causing this. I am thinking that it might be the fact we switched to grain free food and her system might just need grains. Until then, we wear gas masks and keep our distance from this sweet face.

Bath Time

Isn't this every dogs least favorite activity? Mesa happily hops in the shower, but Baily is a little more weary. They both end up getting in (with no force, thank you training!) and giving us sad faces the entire time. Afterwords they get the zoomies and chase each other around the house. Mesa proceeds to lay in the sunshine and dry while Baily mopes. I took this pic of her giving me her saddest expression.

Rope Toys

Baily loves rope toys. They are her favorite thing to chew on. Some days she is content to simply gnaw away slowly for hours on end and some days she is determined to destroy it. One lazy afternoon my husband sent me this picture of Baily merrily destroying her toy. Apparently she had been running around all day, tossing the toy around and trying to rip it to shreds. Obviously she succeeded.
After, all of her hard work Baily laid among her hard work and took a nice nap. I was thinking of getting the girls a fleece ball toy (the ones made with the strips of fleece). Their new favorite thing to play with are their fleece blankets. They rip little pieces off and then play tug. I have to admit though, that I don't think these will last long in our house.

I am not a good blogger

So I went out and bought the girls a new dog bed today. I love getting dog beds at Costco. A large bed is 20 bucks so I don't care if the dogs destroy it (which they do eventually!). We bought them a fancy bed a while back and it only lasted two weeks! We buy the large beds because the girls love to cuddle. Even if there are two beds available!

Its been a while

I have tried blogging before but I have never been very good at it. The girls and I have been enjoying the summer with Ian. The hot weather has been a big adjustment for them. This past weekend was over 100 and we tried to go for a walk. Mesa boycotted by laying in the grass outside of an AllState office building. When I tried to get her moving she turned into dead weight and made me drag her. That lasted all of 2 seconds before I sat down and enjoyed 20 minutes of lounging in the grass.
The biggest downside to this weather is that the dogs get hyper when it does cool down a bit (ie the early morning or late night) so they want to play when I want to sleep.