I Am Le Back!!

I got back yesterday afternoon after a longgg day of waiting around in airports and eleven hours on two different planes (the eight hour flight came complete with a screaming baby, yay!). The trip was AMAZING, one of my favourite trips ever I think. A long post with lots of pictures is coming soon but I have to get to bed now because I have an early 7:20 am flight tomorrow to head back to school.

I hope to have the post up within a few days, and there will be a fun new series I will be starting up with this vacation post so check back soon!

For now, I leave you with a few pictures of ubercute stray dogs in Athens...

I know, right? Leave it to a puppyraiser to go to Europe and take mostly pictures of dogs and kitties.

Goodbye for Two Weeks...

I'm leaving tomorrow for a family vacation to Italy/Greece so I'll be gone til the 26th. SUPERpumped for the trip but am dying a little on the inside about the lack of blogs/Internet for two weeks.

Boss left yesterday and I miss him tons already. I was really bored so I took these pictures:

My favourite!! He just looks so....Boss-like!

Out come the Mickey Mouse ears.

Every doggie bandanna I could find.

Can you find Boss, Petey and Fielder? ;)

Also, I can't believe I am leaving during what will surely be two very busy weeks in the blogosphere puppywise....Best of luck in school to BOSS, Aspen, Spike, Suede, Desoto, Tyanna, Blitz, and Truman!! (I hope I didn't leave anyone out). It's been a pleasure watching all of you grow up, and while it's so sad to see you all go, I know you're on to bigger and better things and I can't wait to see where life takes you. Sam, Aims, Kelsey, Emily, Katlynn, Maddie, Kasey and Jenny- a big congratulations on raising amazing puppies and big hugs to all of you.

See you in two weeks!!!! Goodbye....or rather, Arrivederci amigos! (Yes I know that is half spanish but that is how I roll...)

Happy Birthday FIELDER!!!

My little baby boy is TWO today!!!!! Can you believe it???

He grew up from a little fluff ball... to a bigger fluffball....

and eventually....into an even bigger fluffball!

And now he is all mature and working as someone's ears. I just got an email from his handler the other day and she says their bond is growing stronger and they are trusting each other more and more. Also, she said "I would lay down my life for him because he is my lifeline now". (!!!!) Totally made my day!!! I miss him so much but I know he is where he is meant to be and that makes me so happy. I love my little Fielderoonies!

I also want to wish his siblings Fawn, Fairy and Floyd a happy birthday as well!

Fawn and Fielder grew up together and were the best of friends early on. This is on pickup day and Fawn would not stop hugging Fielder! SO cute. She is now also an HED.

Fairy (L) and Fielder (R) also saw each other many times growing up. She is now a breeder dog living with her foster family. I hope to someday foster one of her puppies, although Sam is less than enthusiastic about that idea.

Me: Please steal me a puppy from Fairy's next litter.

Sam: No mini poodles! Get a real poodle! Or a Dallas puppy.

Me: Fielder WAS a real dog!

Sam: He was a cotton ball.

Me: A rather cute cotton ball.

Sam: Sure.

UPDATE! I just received an e-mail from Fielder's handler- I had replied to her last email saying I was so grateful that she keeps in touch and her e-mails make my day. She replied that having Fielder makes her life so much safer "so you make my day every day that I am with Fielder" and that she would give him a big birthday hug from me. Can I just say I LOVE Fielder's new mom??? I really could not be happier with where he ended up and I know I am beyond lucky that she chose to keep in touch this much. On that note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby boy, I KNOW you are having a good one! ;)

Toronto Island Puppy Trip!

Today was possibly the most epic puppy trip I have ever been on. Definitely the most memorable by far. Missy's first time planning a POOP group trip to the Toronto Islands and what happens? Why, a torrential thunderstorm of course! Thankfully it didn't come til the end of the day when we were heading off the island. It had been drizzly and wet the entire day, but I didn't really notice because I was having such a good time. And then as we were leaving, the skies opened up, and I am not even kidding, torrential bullet-sized rain came down like there was no tomorrow. I, being a genius was in tshirt, jeans and flipflops and hadn't brought along either a sweater, jacket or umbrella. Go me. It was ridiculously epic swimming through the rain and puddles making sure Boss and I didn't drown while simultaneously running as fast as we could for cover.

Anyways, it was a smaller-than-usual but still good sized group at 15 puppies. Unfortunately, Sam and the Amys were not there today so I was dragging my feet a little this morning cause I was so sad they weren't going and I'd be the only kid. But then two other teenagers ended up going so I chatted with them. Also, I had forgotten a couple of my very favourite POOP group adults were going as well and of course I love Missy so I ended up having a fantastic day.

We had three ADS puppies,eleven DGC puppies and one pet! We were quite the spectacle especially with cute little puppy Wilco! Also there was a little mini poodle that reminded me of Fielder and made me miss him terribly. This group is just the Dogguides puppies, past and present!

Walking around the island, Karen and I spotted a tennis court and asked everyone if they wanted to let the dogs have an offleash play for awhile. Everyone agreed, so off they went.

A bunch of the dogs playing in the huge puddle. Rory the pet dog who decided to lay down in the puddle and get muddy and sopping wet. And then run at me, thus causing me to run backwards screaming while everyone else laughed at me.

Later on I had to steal Wilco for puppy cuddles! Presenting Mr Cutiefacepie:

Closeup!:

Look at those huge floppy ears! The teeny paws! The little nose! *sigh* I can smell the puppy breath.

Here is my favourite picture of Boss of the day! It's on the pier and you can see the CN Tower in the background!

Finally, after walking around and playing and working hard for five hours, we headed home and Kango, Kongo and Boss collapsed in a big wet pile of tired puppy.

Done!

I think this was my least favourite of them all- it was just so long and while Stephenie Meyer's an excellent writer, her excessive descriptions have always bugged me and I think the length of this book just exacerbated it. (And Renesmee? SERIOUSLY?? No.) But having said that, I still enjoyed it of course- it was a Twilight book after all! A lot of people have said it was too predictable, but I didn't find that. I loved the ending and thought it was very fitting and the only way she could've ended it.

In other news, I am glad you all enjoyed the picture of the mail truck so much ;) Since that post, I think Canada Post has been stalking me!! I've been seeing trucks everywhere I go. Two of the more creepy coincidences was the huge mail truck that stayed in my driveway for several minutes after delivering Breaking Dawn and one that followed me down the street as Boss and I walked to the bus stop.

We have been running into some really weird people lately, I have no clue why. There have been an inordinate amount of people scared of dogs and such, especially at Eatons yesterday. I was very proud of Boss yesterday as he walked on a loose leash and perfect heel the WHOLE day!! Even on stairs he walked right beside me and on escalators there were no attempts to run ahead. Usually we walk at a very fast pace but yesterday he was content to practise walking slowly alongside me, and I heard many passerby comment on the how well-behaved he was. Go Boss! And the funniest thing ever, we walked by Lacoste where they had a huge basketball-sized tennis ball in their window and Boss just perked right up and cocked his head like "Can I have that for Christmas????" It was so cute and made me laugh. Something that didn't make me laugh though, was the man I was talking to in some store that asked "So do you do this for a living?" Umm do I LOOK old enough to be doing ANYTHING for a living mister??? I think not. But I guess I'd rather have that than my usual "How old are you sweetie, thirteen?"

And also, I had the weirdest conversation a couple of days ago about the puppies I've ever had in my life- including the time that family thought Fielder was a stuffed animal at the end of my leash (yes he was breathing). So this lady comes up to me, points at Boss and asks me why he is wearing "that". She doesn't mention what "that" means, so I assume the Halti and start explaining. She goes "No, but what is it FOR?" Confused, I explained the Halti another two times when she interrupts and says "No, I mean the green thing-is he just wearing it for fun?" and points to his JACKET. I was literally speechless before recovering and explaining that no, the jacket identifies him as a service dog in training. WOW. I mean, read the jacket, lady!

Lastly, an outtake of our Breaking Dawn pictures, just cause Boss looks like he is winking and it is hilariously cute:

*Insert Interesting Title Here*

I cannot think of an interesting title for yet another post outlining my week so you guys will have to think creatively for this one! Shout out to Joanna though who suggested I name it either
"HELLO JOOAAAANNNNAAA!!" or "Vanessa Hudgens and the Jonas Brothers: What gives?" (The Teen Choice Awards are on and we are discussing our mutual hatred for all things HSM, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron and the Jonas Brothers)

SO! This week...what did I do? I met up with Amy on her day home from camp and we got to catch up and gossip and all that good stuff. It was a pretty uneventful day except being approached by a crazy and possibly cracked out dude at lunch at the Eaton's Centre asking for money while holding his alchohol in a LCBO (Ontario's liquor store) bag. After we said we didn't have any, he started petting Kongo. Amy had to ask him to stop several times and he didn't until she got really mad and threatened to call security. He then gave us a "Look" and walked away (I was convinced he was going to knife Amy and was scared to death). Later we saw a bunch of security guards converge on the food court but he was gone by then.

Boss (L) and Kongo (R) outside the Disney Store at Eaton's. (Possible the two cutest dogs I've ever met in my entire life- they both have the big blocky heads and puppyish looks)Boss with a Hugo Boss sign!
Look who's alive! It's Amy! (Update your blog dude!!)

One day we went to lunch downtown with my friend and her cousin. Well while we were walking from the subway station to the Jack Astor's (a ten minute walk) it started absolutely pouring and we all got drenched. I was a little afraid that they wouldn't even let us in because poor Boss looked like a drowned rat with his jacket plastered to him but thankfully we were seated and served without a single problem. We actually never had the same server twice- everyone wanted to do our table cause Boss was so cute. Instead of a tablecloth they just have a big piece of paper covering the table that you can draw on, so I drew this! (Go ahead, make fun of the extent of my drawing abilities- stick people and generic animals. That dog is also how I draw cats, lions, tigers, etc)

We have out of town friends here for the next couple of weeks and their daughter is actually going to boarding school near Toronto next year so we have been to three different malls in the past five days doing a lot of school clothes shopping and such. He spent about half the time with a Halti and half without- most of the time he's as good a heeler out of the Halti as he is in, but I put it on anyways in the name of training. He spent a lot of time looking bored like this:

And this (in the car):

And this (also in the car..the bear is actually an air freshener thing and sometimes Boss nudges it with his nose when he's bored):

Boss has been a real trooper since we have spent many many hours walking this past week and while I have been very happy with all my purchases, Boss got nothing. Poor baby...but at one of the malls we ran into another foster puppy- Capri. She was supercute and we hung out with them for a while.

Boo, I don't know why the picture turned out so blurry but here is Capri (L) sniffing Boss (R).

So that has been our week. Besides that I have been listening to Wicked and Idina Menzel (still 24/7!! Three weeks later and still not sick of it...) And my mom finally said if I could find someone to go to Detroit with me I could go to Idina's concert on Aug 7 but none of my friends like her (BOO!!!) so I can't. GRRR!

But to end on a happy note...without further ado, a picture of one of our MAIL TRUCKS!!

Confuzzled

I actually have a bit of Boss stuff to write about but right now I need to vent so that will have to wait til later ;)

Tonight my parents said that they would like to get a family pet (most likely a mini poodle). We haven't had a dog before I started raising so it would be our first dog. After they announced that, I had a tad of a psycho spazzout on them and started lecturing about midnight pees, food/vet/grooming costs, raising to be an obedient dog, take it to socialization/obedience classes and all that good stuff. This little lecture lasted all through dinner and afterwards they were just like "umm then maybe we won't get one.."

And now I feel really bad because I know I did the right thing by bringing up all that stuff but the way I did it made them feel like they wouldn't be able to raise a puppy. Which completely was not the way I meant it because I know they would be completely committed and love it to death, it's just that I wanted to make sure they knew what they were getting themselves into. (Geez isn't this lecture usually given by the parent??) I really would like them to have a dog because I've seen the difference in them between having one and not having one- they are a lot happier and less stressed and get more exercise....but again, I just can't let go of my worry of their actually raising a puppy.

What makes me feel even worse is that I know a huge part of my resistance to their plan is because I feel like puppyraising is MY thing and I won't be around to raise it/be in its life so to me it won't even feel like a family pet- it'll just feel like my parent and sister's dog. Which is completely selfish but there you go. Ugh, what a pickle. I want my parents to be happy and I know a dog will make them happy and I DO want them to get a puppy yet I want to be a control freak and raise the dog myself which is not possible because I will be away at university.

Le sigh. Anyways, thanks for listening and back to regularly scheduled puppy cuteness next post.