Welcome to Puppies and Life! This blog is about my life as a teenage puppy raiser...enjoy!

Monday, July 31, 2006

Warning: Whiney Post Ahead

Tomorrow is going to majorly suck, I know it.

First of all, I have to wake up at 7:30, and NOT go back to sleep til 11. Why, you ask? Because I am going to a DENTAL SURGEON. I'm not too worried about that as of yet, as it's not the actual surgery tomorrow, but still. That means the surgery is COMING SOON. I know it's a totally routine surgery to have your wisdom teeth out but I'm scared to death. I've never ever had a surgery before, and I've heard the horror stories from my friends.
"Nat, look! If i move my tongue around I can feel the stitches on my gums"
"Yeah, I was away from school for two weeks"
"When I woke up from the anesthetic, I couldn't walk properly and had to hang onto my mom"

Okay, I've heard ONE story where my friend was okay after a day and didn't even have to take the Tylenol 3 she was given. But that's one good one versus the sixty seven bad ones I've heard.
I hope I'm one of the good cases, but since I probably won't be, I've devised a plan. I am guilting my parents into renting both seasons of either Grey's Anatomy or Lost for me, and I will watch it in bed. And also? You can all come visit! It will be a fun sleepover type thing- except with a bruise-cheeked chipmunk (me). I betcha Petey will still be cute though.

What are your wisdom teeth experiences? If you have straight ones I'm going to be very insanely jealous of you!!!

p.s. Awesome responses to DogHer, I wish there actually was one now! Amber, if you can sneak away from your trip, you're welcome to stay with me, and I'll invite everyone else over for a party! =D

Saturday, July 29, 2006

DogHer

So....seeing as everyone else on the face of the planet is at BlogHer (the blogging convention in San Jose, CA, where a LOT of women bloggers and also some men bloggers are having a three day party, what with the sessions on different aspects of blogging, and meeting people you've only ever previously "met" online)...and the rest of us are left back home (oh no, not jealous at all....)..

I think we should really have a DogHer! Think about it...a three day conference where we could all get together, meet each other and each other's dogs? Instead of sessions about mommyblogging, we could talk about doggyblogging? And instead of the cocktail party, we could chat while our dogs played together! (Okay, maybe we could still have the cocktails...well maybe not us teenagers =P)

The rooming situations will be cool...Whoever rooms with me will never sleep cause Petey will be begging their dog to play all night...the puppy doesn't stop! Also, you must know that whoever rooms with me will have to expect a mandatory slumber party and talking ALL NIGHT. Even when things start to get incoherent. But I promise! Things get funny...especially when we get all drowsy but try not to sleep. For example, when Amy stayed over:

Amy: You know, a lot of people say I don't listen to what they say...I don't know why!
Me: I've never noticed that before!
Amy:Hmmm? What did you say?
Me: MY GOD!
Amy: HAHA just kidding!
Me: You know I'm blogging this right?
Amy: Ya! You totally should!

Don't tell me that wasn't funny.

Anyways, so what do you think?? Who's in? And more importantly, does anyone wanna room with me? Or am I going to have to be that loser that everyone avoids like the plague =(

Thursday, July 27, 2006

CVC Petey?

At the Dog Days of Scugog we had one of the handlers bring in an extra CVC- Canine Vision harness for display on our table. Of course, the moment it arrived, all the puppies had to try it on. Petey was first up- hilarious because in reality he will never become a CVC. I get the question all the time- "Isn't he a bit small to be a guide dog?", or in some cases, less tactful versions- "What, are you training him for midgets?" Then I explain all about our school's three programs, which include Canine Vision (for the blind), Hearing Ear (for the hard of hearing/deaf), and Special Skills (for people with mental or physical handicaps).

Though I'm thinking, next time I will just whip out this picture and say "Yes, in fact. I AM that blind midget."

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

FOR SALE:

One eleven year old girl, goes by the name of Emily. Goes to the highest bidder...or you know what? Just take her..take her for free.

Today me and my mom picked up my sister and her friend Sharon from art class. I had decided to bring Petey along. On our way back, we stopped at Shoppers. (Luckily I had brought his jacket along, just in case). Anyways, things were going well until we got to the checkout line. I was standing with my mom facing the cashier while Emily and Sharon are standing behind us. Next thing I know, I see a hand reaching over to pet Petey. I turn around to find me idiot sister petting him. Okay, have we not BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE?? I know she knows better. And when I told her in a very calm voice "WHAT are you doing!!!! You know you're not supposed to pet him while he's working!!"

You know what she did? The little brat rolls her eyes at me!! What, Emily, are you being cool in front of your friend? The thing is, she does this all the time!! She pretends to hate Petey, complaining that he's a nuisance, telling her friends he's completely unbehaved (UNTRUE! It is YOU who are completely unbehaved), calls him a loner (he has more friends than you, okay?), and yet she gets cranky when I tell her to leave him alone and stop petting him when he is sleeping, and wants him to hang out with her instead of me.

This girl is impossible!! Somebody just TAKE her...preferably one of my American readers so she'll be far away.

okay rant over.

On a side note, when we were paying, the cashier was a new person I'd never seen there before, so obviously she had never seen Petey there before either. She gave us the whole "Dogs aren't allowed in the store" speech, to which I was about to reply "He's a dogguide in training" when my mom cut me off and said "He's a service dog", to which she replied "Oh okay". Well..umm...okay...I guess that's not really lying, as (1) He will be one in the future, (2) She would've know he's just a puppy if she'd read his jacket which has the words Future Dogguide in bold white print on both sides of the jacket, and (3) He really was doing them a service...he licked a patch on the floor, so there, we cleaned something.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Dog Days of Scugog

Today was a really fun day, though one with an early start. Since Missy came half an hour earlier than she said she would, Amy and I had barely started packing the puppies' bags and changing and eating, so we made Missy and Dee wait for a bit, which was entirely not our fault, obviously.

We made it to Port Perry in good time, with all humans and puppies intact (read: four dogs and four humans in a car make for some pissed off dogs and squished humans). It was a really fun ride there though, I loved having the chance to just talk with (and make fun of) Missy, Dee and Amy. By the way, head over to Amy's blog and congratulate her and her town of Blackstock (population 600) for getting a pizza place and a box where you can buy the Toronto Star!

From about 11-4, we were working our booth, talking to the public about our foundation, the puppies, and answering questions. We also had time to walk around the grounds. By around 2, Petey was pooped, as he had played with Echo all weekend and had pretty much been working for the past several hours. However, we had a special job to do. Lynn sent Sam, Amy and I off with the basket of Dogguides wristbands to sell. Naturally, we took the three cutest puppies with us for ammo- Petey (duh!), Tetley and Patience. Since everyone loved us (and the puppies too, I guess), we sold all the bracelets in no time and proudly showed off our empty basket to the foster families back at the booth.

Afterwards, we went to Lynn's to hang out. That was fun for both the puppies who got to run around with their best friends, and for the humans who got to socialize with their two legged friends, eat and the best part- sit down(!!!!) after standing for the entire morning/afternoon. I think Petey's favourite part of the day was when he got to see millions of Jack Russells- there were many wandering around, as well as a booth set up for the Parson Russell Terrier Fanciers, where there were at least ten puppies. Petey was a unique looking pup, and had many surprised when told that he was purebred, but you know what? I think he was the cutest Jack (if not the cutest dog!) there.

*Ugh, stupid blogger!!!! I meant to put this post up days earlier, but it won't upload my pics, so now I'm giving up...hopefully you will get a chance to see the picture later.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Awww Last Day!

Well today wasn't as fun cause along with it being Aims and Echo's last day here, I had to be away most of the day for drivers ed. The good news, though, is that I'm finally finished the in-class portion so now I'm just left with the driving part, which is actually fun. (Except for the face that left turns and lane changes scare me...I'm doing three point turns on Monday!)










Ugh, I'm so tired today because we stayed up til 4 in the morning talking about stuff and laughing about the stupidest things ever. We even had a name battle, which I won because I konw 15 Stephanie's, and Amy only knows 11 Matt's. Woohoo! We also figured out that within our little group of Dogguides friends, everyone has kinda their own label. For example, I'm the In-Between one...not crazy psycho, but not too sane. Amy's the Old Man on Crack.










Anyways, its been really fun, and I'm sure Petey and I will miss them lots. ='( However, before we get all sad, tomorrow will be a fun day....working the LF booth at the Dog Days of Scugog- we're going up with Missy, Tetley, Dee and Fortune. And then hanging out at Lynn's house! Wheeee!

Friday, July 21, 2006

Amy (and Echs) and the City-Nat's Version

So smelly Sam didn't make it down yesterday cause she had to go to work-who needs money anyways.

The cool kids came though- we hung out in the backyard where Petey got extremely dirty- I swear, next time I'm getting a black dog.

Then we just missed the bus by 20 seconds or so, so we sat on some grass until the next one came.

AmyB and Polaris

AmyG and Echo

Missy and Tetley

We went down to Eaton's Centre and shopping around....we didn't buy anything but the dog toys. After Missy and AmyB left, Amy and I stayed to shop more but all we did was walk round and round the mall.

Today we shopped again, this time at Fairview, and Echo and Petey both did very well, except for when Petey barked at the puppies as we were leaving the pet store- better than last time though.

Right now the dogs are resting and Amy is scratching her foot on my bed.

To leave you with a picture that won't give you nightmares...

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

So Excited!!!!

So, today is the best day ever. My piano teacher just called to cancel our lesson!!!!! =D

As if that's not enough, we have a billion puppy activities lined up for the next three weeks that I'm really excited about. Don't worry, I'll blog about them all.

Today, Petey and I got a surprise visit from our friend Missy and her foster puppy Tetley, who is Petey's girlfriend. They called at around 12 to tell us that they'd be dropping by to drop off a crate for Echo. Petey and Tetley had a great time together chasing each other around the yard and then coming inside for a break.


Tomorrow's going to be a REALLY fun day. Sam,Patience, Amigo, AmyB, Polaris, AmyG, Echo, Missy and Tetley are coming over to my house in the morning, and then we're going shopping downtown together!! (with the pups)

Afterwards, Sam, AmyB and Missy have to go home =(, but AmyG and Echo are staying with me until Sunday!!!! Truthfully, I'm more excited about Echo coming, but what can you do? Just kidding Aims =P On Sunday, Missy is driving Amy, Echo, Petey and I up to Port Perry where we will attend the Dog Days of Scugog. There'll be lots of booths and stuff there, including a booth from our organization, the Lions Foundation!

Can't wait for this weekend!!!!

Aims and Princess Echwees

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Because Everyone Loves Reading the Comics

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

I'm Alive! (and so are you!!)

Yesterday, I had my first driving lesson. It was my first time driving ever even though I got my G1 in December. What can I say? I'm lazy, didn't want to learn from my parents, and didn't particularly want my 5' self driving our ginormous SUV. (Well, it's not that big, but still).

I would call it a success. I mean, I got the hang of actually driving straight (for a while my instructor was hanging onto the bottom of the steering wheel cause I kept drifting to the right apparently), I didn't cause any accidents, I didn't kill anything or anyone (including the really cute black and white cat that decided to run across the road in front of me, or the stupid (but still cute) birds that kept hopping around in front of the car, or any of you guys). In short, I didn't end up on the 6 o'clock news.

Since I don't have any Torontonian readers (that I know of), you guys are pretty much safe from my erratic driving. I promise to inform you if I will be visiting any of your cities while I'm behind the wheel to give you adequate time to lock yourself and your loved ones inside your house and reinforce your house, gates and windows with steel. Lots and lots of steel.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Little Tidbits

Today we went to the mall:

The Good: Petey again heeled very well and he also is confident on escalators. When he was younger he wasn't fond of them, and until recently he would still hesitate a little, especially on the ones going down. I guess he was scared because he couldn't see where it dropped off to. But now he'll step on and wait beside me. (Another of his problems was trying to dart ahead of me). Yay Petes!

The Bad: Guess who had a little meltdown in the pet store when they couldn't play with the kittens. No, it wasn't me. He also started barking at the dogs when they started barking. This was weird as he has been in this store many times, and he's never barked at the other dogs or tried to play with the kittens before. In the end, he calmed down, but we'll be working on that.

The Annoying: When my sister came out from the theater (we were picking her and her friend up from the movies-apparently Pirates 2 is scarier than the first one in case you were wondering), she saw Petey and started going "Petey! Petey!" which distracted him. I told her that he was working and she should stop doing that. (Very nicely- I would never ever have said "Shut up stupid!!! You know you're not supposed to do that!" No, Never.) And when we got outside and she rudely said "What, is he working NOW?", I definitely did not say "What do you think dummy". ( I did say it under my breath, so my mom wouldn't catch me. Not that I did say it). Like, hello!!! He clearly still has his jacket on, and I know you're just asking to piss me off!

The Growing Upness: We bought Petey a new collar today because he has grown out of his second one. We tried to stick to his colour theme of blue, but they didn't have a blue one, so I got a teal one.

The Embarassing: When we went home, Petey and I were playing in the backyard. I was chasing him around in circles and I wasn't looking at where I was going. So I nearly crashed into the laundry pole, facefirst. Luckily, my neighbours weren't in their yards, so nobody saw how embarassingly close I came to smashing my face in. Twice.

The Cuteness: My god, the cuteness; it's killing me!

Saturday, July 08, 2006

The Promised Ikea Pictures






















Mr. Petey Wigglebums Sillyhead C*** is officially 86 cm!

*Note: C*** is a censored version of my last name, not some unknown swear word

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Petey Hits Ikea!

Yesterday, Petey and I went out for breakfast with our friends Brooke, her husband Huib and Brooke's CVC Cessna. This would mark the first time in two weeks that I haven't woken up at 7, took Petey out for a pee, gave him breakfast, and then gone back to sleep til ten! (Yes, Petey sleeps in too).

We went to Ikea, and it was very nice to get out of the house and actually go somewhere; the monotony of nothing to do during summer has already set in. We had a really good time chatting with Brooke and Huib, and Petey was really well behaved, heeling almost perfectly except for at one point.

We were heading to a table, me holding the tray and Petey's leash tightly in my left hand. I tried not to hold the tray too much with the left hand, in case Petey pulled, since there were breakables on the tray- the plate and the bottle of apple juice. (You can see what's coming can't you?) So when we almost reached a table, Petey tugged at his leash- up went the apple juice, flew down and shattered on the floor. There was an excellent soundtrack in the background with people gasping out loud, and then dead silence. Oh. My God. For a second, I tried to pretend that it actually didn't happen, at least to me, but sadly, it had happened. So I checked Petey over for cuts, and he was fine, thank god. Huib pushed a chair over the spill and we got someone to help clean it up.

Other than that, Petey was good- I was actually really proud of him, it was one of our best outings so far-heeling very well, didn't try to jump up on anyone, handled the elevator well, walked through the store without disturbing anything. And then when we came home he slept for 3 hours! I'm debating whether that was the best part of the trip or not.

As per my sister Emily's and my tradition, I took one of those paper rulers, for Petey's scrapbook, and today, I measured him with it. It took me twenty minutes to keep him lying still and not trying to eat the ruler I intended to save, but in the end it all worked out. Also, seeing as I am an idiot, I labelled it July 7, even though it's only July 6. Oh well, I'll just keep my fingers crossed that he doesn't grow longer between today and tomorrow!

*okay, i was going to show you four adorable pictures, but Blogger won't upload them!! I'll try again later...

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy Independence Day!


To all our American blogging friends, Hope you have a great day!

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day!!!

We wish England had won against Portugal today but oh well....they did the best they could with Rooney out and Becks' foot injury =( Congrats on at least making it through overtime!



(Doesn't he look sad? Poor boy just got neutered on Thursday)

From your Canadian friends,
Nat and Newly Neutered Petey!