The Adventures of Lulu and Charlie

About a month ago on a quick trip to Petsmart, mom and I came across a sweet little dog sitting on a girls lap with adopt me wrap around her from Happy Tails Adoption. Usually mom will just say "oh how cute" and keeps walking. But this time mom kept talking to the adoption people, saying what a good playmate she might be for Charlie and even started to fill out paperwork. The adoption agency showed up later that week to do the home visit and Lulu (formerly known as Vivian) became the newest Arvin girl.

Lulu waited for her mom to return to take her home

On the offical adoption day, we thought it would be best to introduce her and Charlie on neutral location and met at the park down the street from my house. Mom and Jasmine came down to take care of Lulu. Charlie arrived first and unfortunately there were already 2 dogs off leash that came over to hassle him and got him all upset. Just on cue little Lulu showed up. And it was bark at first sight. Anytime they made eye contact or smelled each other a fight would break out. Jasmine and I tried to disfuse the situation by taking both of them for a walk in the park, but again anytime they were close enough to acknowledge the other one they would break out in a fight. We figured this was just first meeting jitters and figured next introduction they will get along better.

The next weekend mom came down and met Charlie and I at the school down the street. Again thinking neutral territory would lesen the tension. Unfortunately we had the same outcome as before. They weren't trying to kill each other, but anytime they got close enough to notice the other one a fight would break out. We tried walking them to where they could see each other, but not get too close. We tried putting the chainlink fence inbetween them and still had the same reaction; growling, barking, jumping, and pulling. We worried they wouldn't get along in two weeks, when mom and Lulu would be staying with me while I recovered from surgery. Mom emailed the person who was fostering Lulu before as they had six dogs and Lulu got along with them. She agreed to come over the next weekend and help us get these two dogs to get along.

Our last resort happened the next weekend with Rachel (Happy Tails foster person) who suggested we arm ourselves with squirt bottles and leashes. We met at my house this time and brought them both in the backyard on leash. At first we got the usual reaction of barking, lunging and snapping at each other. After a good squirt to both of them, they seemed to realize they were on the same level and started to relax around each other. We kept a slack leash and let them explore the backyard and each other with the squirt bottle close at hand. After an hour of them slowly getting to get to know each other and getting closer to each other, we decided to move them indoors. Lulu immediately jumped up on the couch next to mom and showed her teeth anytime Charlie walked by. We knew we had to break that habit quickly, so mom has learned she has to stop "babying" Lulu around Charlie and Lulu will need to learn her place in the pack, at the back. After a few hours, they seemed to not really care about each other much, able to go in and out of the house without incidents and even watched mom make dinner in the kitchen without a fight or growl. This made us both feel much better about next week, when they would be coming to stay with me for a week.

Charlie and Lulu making friends while waiting for food to drop

The night before my surgery Lulu and mom came down and Charlie quickly ignored Lulu. On the other hand, Lulu has became a little shadow of Charlie, always right on his heels wondering where he is going and what he is doing. At first mom kept Lulu on a leash as she didn't want her getting in any trouble and escaping through some small space as she is very quick and with her willowy hair everything sticks to it. This allowed Charlie to be in the back yard without her following him everywhere. But quickly Lulu begin to learn where she can and can't go and was let off leash and able to run free and shadow Charlie everywhere.

Lulu wondering if Charlie will be her friend

Inside they both have taken up their spots on their respective couches (Charlie on the main couch with me and Lulu on the red couch with mom). They have had a few tussles over food and close quarters of the house. And we have found out that Charlie is a bit of a bully. Lulu has brought with her an array of toys that Charlie quickly takes away from her and hides in the back room. One day right before we were all going to take a nap (norco makes me sleepy) my mom decided to distract Charlie with a squeaky toy (Charlie's favorite thing in the world). As you can imagine this doesn't make for a restful nap for me while Charlie carried the toy between the couch and the office all while squeaky it to death. After about fifteen minutes he finally killed it and I hobbled into the room to find him eating the insides of the toy.

Charlie and the now deceased squeaky toy

Over the week they have tolerated each other very well. Charlie even attempted to play with her in the backyard. Lulu gets VERY excited and will run the backyard at top speed playing fetch which gets Charlie very excited and nervous. He leaped towards her a few times and they just ended up barking at each other while jumping, not really sure what to do next. Whenever Lulu gets running or playing with a toy he comes up and barks at her or charges her until stops and drops what she is playing with and he takes it away and hides it. Or just barks at her, which is his way of yelling at her to stop.

Lulu playing fetch and running the yard

For 7-8 pounds though she isn't a push over either. She loves barking at strangers or friends that come to visit. Whenever Charlie barks at people outside she now jumps up right beside him to warn off strangers. It's pretty funny as at first Charlie wasn't quite sure how to take it and sort of would look back at us like what is she doing. Now it's more like he is now looking back to say yeah we showed them.

She is quite a change from Charlie's lowkey manners. She easily goes from sleeping to full blown playmode. You will be petting her and the next thing she is biting at your hand and leaping at you as try to get away. She is putting all of Charlie's old toys to use, as she has flung all them around the house. Yet her favorite is a knotted up sock. But she can also change her moods quickly. She tried bite my face when I woke her up by kissing on her. She'll give you a swideways look and leap at you to play. Luckily she is so damn little and cute. Being so little those has it's draw back. One day mom almost killed her as she was sleeping behind the pillows on the couch and mom was leaning up against it. Poor thing probably say her life flash in front of her. Then today as I was trying to lift her up I accidentally hit her head on the bottom of the coffee table and she turned to bite me to let her down. But she quickly recoevered and jumped up and gave me kisses as to say she was ok and sorry for biting me. Be warned she is quick with her tongue and for some reason loves the nose!

While they might now be the best of friends they at least seem to be getting along just fine and almost seem to like each other. Lulu follows Charlie eveywhere, as well as mom. Charlie seems like he might want to play with her at times. But I think he'll be more than happy to send them home in a few days. I'm just glad to know whenever they come back to visit we don't have to worry about them getting along and hopefully we will look back on these first few months and think remember when they didn't like each other, as they lay together on the couch.

Looking for trouble

Woofstock

Sunday was Woofstock up in El Dorado Hills community park. I only took Maggie as taking both Charlie and Maggie would be too much for me to handle at once, so Charlie got to stay home and oversee the house. Maggie got an up close and personal ride with Hank in the back of Sarah and Rolf's Sequoia but didn't seem to mind the 100 pound difference and just laid down for the ride up.
There where a ton of booths and a ton of dogs. I even commented on how I was amazed I didn't hear one dog fight break out, but as Sarah pointed out this is El Dorado Hills and that doesn't happen up here.
Hank and Maggie made quick use of the off leash dog park area where Hank made a friend with a pitbull and made chase, where Maggie found a ball and was quite happy to stay playing fetch. We took a loop around the vendors and Maggie and Hank got heart peace sign spraypainted on their backsides to fit in with the whole love and peace atmosphere of Woofstock.
Shelly and Bella showed up and Bella made a fast acquaintance of Hank. She is so cute as she is not really used to being around so many dogs and quickly tucks her tail in and gives you those sad puppy dogs eyes of help me. She is more a people dog which is a good thing she weighs so little as she would rather be held than have dogs running up and smelling hello to her. She prefers human kisses hello.
Elsa wasn't too interested in all the dogs, so her and Rolf played in the playground and watch a kite dance in the sky. Rolf is now determined to get her a kite even though she wasn't too sure she wanted to hold it, just more watch it than anything.
It was a great day of dog fun and Sarah pondered the adoption of a sweet little Pug that took quickly to Hank. I have a feeling Hank will have a new playmate soon, even if it's not the little pug. Next time I'll maybe take Charlie instead of Maggie and see how he does with all the dogs around, I have a feeling there might be a dog fight even if it is in El Dorado Hills....

Hank makes a friend

Bella shows off her sweet face

Elsa is making her own fun at the park

A successful day at the vet

Normally I HATE taking the dogs to the vet together, but this weekend I actually had an incident-free visit. Maggie always panics and makes a run for the door as soon as we get in and Charlie tries to attack whatever sweet innocent dog might have the luck to share the waiting space with him. Saturday the dogs had to go in for their annual exam and shots (actually they weren't due until Nov but because they are being boarded next week they needed bordetella shots so might as well push it up a month. I arrived a few minutes early due to the McDonalds near me under reconstruction putting off my iced coffee run until afterwards. As we pulled up I saw the waiting room free of anyone and said a little pray that they will get into their exam room before one shows up. Of course Maggie had to sit right by the front door with a full panic look hoping someone will take pity on her and let her out. Meanwhile Charlie took his place on the bench next to me looking out the window for someone to bark at.
We got called into the exam room without another animal making an appearance. First stop the dreaded scale. Thank GOD my dogs get right on and sit and I don't have to get anywhere near stepping on that thing. To my surprise Charlie LOST 2 pounds since his July visit (rabies shots and a manicure). But as usual Maggie gained Charlie's 2 pounds, now I know where they went. So this means Charlie will continue to stay on his weight management diet and Maggie will be on a half senior dog food/ half green bean diet for filler. Hopefully this will keep her full enough to stay away from Charlie's food as he doesn't seem to always feel the need to eat everyday.
The rest of the appointment went well and quickly. They took Maggie and Charlie in the backroom for drawing blood and getting their temperature (as that isn't an easy task and they can do whatever they need to out of my presence to do so).
They found a little bump on Maggie which I'm to keep an eye on, but it's been there for a while now and hasn't seemed to grow at all. Just old dog bumps. She is also due for a teeth cleaning but that will have to wait until I have the $350 to do so. Charlie got a clean bill of health and as we went back to the waiting room there was another dog sitting by the door hoping for an escape. Both Charlie and Maggie smelled hello as they quickly got put into the car while I paid the bill.
Overall a very successful and expensive trip to the vet. Hopefully they will be all good the boarders next week as this is the first time in 3 years they won't be spending their spa time at Grandma's house.

A job I love

Yesterday at work I got to talking to someone who I haven't seen in awhile and having a deep conversation about life and goals all while at the bathroom sink. They questioned if the job I'm doing is something I really want to be doing, I guess they could hear the lack of enthusiasm in my voice when I answered how's it going? She asked me what I would like to do if say money was no option. Easy answer - photography and travel. We talked a while about why we do the jobs we do and not the jobs we love; mortgage, bills and responsibilities is always my answer. But what if we could all do the jobs we loved and earned the money to live the lives we wanted? That is the true quest I think for everyone. Very few people actually get to wake up in the morning actually looking forward to the day and get paid enough to sustain their lifestyle. The majority of us try to find a job that will pay our bills and hope it's enough motivate us to get dressed in the morning, all the while looking forward to the weekends and vacation to do what we actually love..
I know a lot of people who are out of jobs right now and wondering how they will make their next mortgage or rent payment and think I should just be lucky I have a job, which I very much grateful for at this time. But it did get me thinking why don't I try to work towards doing something I love and hope the money will follow. Not to say I would ever quit my current job without a steady income and security knowing my hobby will afford me the lifestyle I want.
Recently I found a site and blog I visit almost daily, one just because it makes me smile and two because I'm jealous and wish this was my current job. Shine Pet Photography is pet portraits that will melt your heart and then make you wish you had photos of your pets like this. Grace Chon is a photographer in So.CA who started in Biology of all things and then worked in advertising and now pet portraiture. http://www.shinepetphotos.com/blog gives me inspiration that one day maybe I too can make photographing the things I love; my pets, animals, travels and everyday life into an actual paying job. Be sure to check out her website and blog. The blog will have photos from sessions on there posted pretty regularly.
So today as the weather took an odd turn on us and clouds brought rain while it's still over 90 degrees out, I decided to grab my point and shoot and take some portraits of my favorite subjects, my dogs. Here are a few of my favorites from today and in hope of one day getting my Nikon D90 and turning this hobby of mine into an actual life I want.

Maggie finds her light

Wondering what is outside

The rare occasion she is allowed on the couch

Such sweet little paws

Couldn't get either one of them to actually look at the camera directly

Charlie takes his turn at the window

A roll in the grass and dirt

This morning was the beginning to a warm Saturday, predicted temps in the 100. It's getting close to the end of summer and hopefully this is the last of the hot weekends. I usually spend my weekend mornings watering the plants and grass (and watching Food Network). So I got out there before the afternoon sun hits the plants and they turn into themselves for safety. As I'm watering the plants I hear grunting from the grass area. I look over to see Charlie enjoying a roll in the grass. I'm not sure why this feels so good to dogs, but the look of joy and happiness on his face as he rolls on his back, kicking his legs up just brings a smile to my face.
Now Charlie has the good sense to roll in the grass, where the only real danger is maybe rolling in some doggy poop that didn't get picked up, but for the most time he comes out of it clean and invigorated. Where Maggie seems to enjoy rolling in the dirt. Yes, I know I probably shouldn't have dirt in my backyard, but it's still a work in progress. A few weeks ago you might remember I had to give Maggie a "Silkwood"bath because she was more brown than black. Well this is how it happens. If I leave her out too long on her own she always ends up taking a good long roll in the dirt. Now she seems just as happy about it as Charlie, but of course comes out a whole lot dirtier. So I have to invest in doggy wipes and brush her down before letting her in the house. And then she wonders why she isn't allowed up n the couch or bed like Charlie. Silly dogs.

Doggy Spa Day

This morning I let the dogs out for their morning potty and greeting of the neighborhood wildlife. Maggie and Charlie stood at the door waiting enthusiastically to come inside and get their morning cookies. I noticed Maggie looking more brown than black and thought this is a good time to give them both a bath as I stood with the hose in my hand from watering the the plants.
Now I don't know how other dogs do with bathtime but mine don't seem to enjoy it that much. First is the ritual of getting the leash and shampoo outside without them thinking it's time for a walk. Usually though when I attach the leash to one and walk them over to the grass they seem to catch onto my plan.
First up was Maggie as she was the dirtiest. The water was nice and cold and she did not appreciate it at all. What happened next looked like a scene from the movie Silkwood as Maggie acted like I was scrubbing her down with a wool brush and chemicals (it was actually my hands and lavender scented shampoo). As she tried to make her escape I turned the hose on her and tried to take as much soap off before she broke loose from my grip and ran free, shaking off the excess water and soap.
Charlie watched in horror, knowing his time was next, luckily he gets more humiliated than terrified. He just stands there and takes it like a man (ok, more like a mama's boy). I think he puts up with the bath just to get the rub down from the towel afterward. This seems to be his favorite part of the bath and almost chokes himself as he tangles himself in the towel trying to get dry.
The bad part for me is that I usually have to let them air dry in the house because if I leave them outside Maggie will just end up rolling back in the dirt and come out dirty than before. So then my house smells like wet dog for the day, but I get one day of pretty clean pampered looking dogs.

Charlie plays hide and seek

As I was in the office one night, probably looking on Facebook or making a new blog, I heard Charlie snoring, but I couldn't see him. I looked around the room and started to call his name as I could clearly hear him but couldn't see him. Then his little face poked out from under the chair and he revealed his new favorite sleeping spot in the office. Too cute I had to share.

A few of my favorites

My mom used to get mad everytime she got a roll back from the store because half of it was always taken up with pictures of the cats. I guess I've always enjoyed taking photos of our animals and now I have 2 dogs that can't really escape me or my camera that easy. Even though Charlie has started to turn his head away and squint whenever I came at him with camera in hand. Maggie is has years of experience in front of the camera and is an old pro and gladly stays in whatever position I ask her to.
I like to describe my dogs as 2 children that don't speak English. I'm sure there will be many more photos (or portraits as I like to think of them) to come, but for now here are a few of my favorite past pictures of my kids.

Maggie exhausted after a hard day of sleeping

Charlie waiting for me to return with more cookies


Maggie and Charlie at Christmas

Charlie's professional headshot

Maggie's professional headshot