The Adventures of Georgia Dog

A few weeks ago, my hunnie and I finally made it out for a real weekend getaway to Durango ,Colorado.  We met up with friends from New Mexico, Colorado, and Northern Arizona.

Georgia came along. 

 

Holmes was there too. 

One morning, we packed up our lunches and off we went (dogs in tow) for a hike along the creek.

 

Long story short, don't let your hound dog off his leash, because he almost certainly will bolt, off into the wild, following his nose the whole way.  Another long story short, scared-y dogs like Georgia will almost certainly hide if they're being chased.  Give them an inch, they'll take a mile.  

 

After two days, I was starting to think I'd never see Georgia, my princess-dog, ever again.  But in the end, Georgia is a smart dog, and she really does love us.  I know this because she sniffed her way back to camp, at night, in the rain, and willingly approached our friends who'd offered to stay an extra night at the campsite.  Oh thank you, Universe (and Bethany and Andrew)!

It took a week, 900 miles, and the help of so many great friends, but Georgia made it back to the ol' Pueblo.  And when she got home, all she wanted to do was take a nap and dream about her adventures in Durango.

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Foster Update + A Cautionary Tale

I'm sure you've all been wondering...whatever happened to that sweet, yet very rambunctious hound we were fostering?  Well, after a couple training classes to establish a stronger relationship and understanding between dog and human, Holmes has transformed from that lovable Tasmanian devil to....well...a MORE lovable, slightly less devilish dog.  So, in case you haven't figured it out yet....we failed as foster parents, because in the end we ADOPTED Holmes!  The truth is, we have fallen for him...especially my hunnie, who has found his new best bud.  You can't help but fall in love with his big floppy ears and those dark melancholy hound dog eyes.  You can't help but laugh when he gets a new squeaky toy and just squeaks and squeaks it like its the coolest thing in the world.  And you can't help but smile to see the Holmes and Georgia together, whether playing or napping, like best buddies. 

 

Now to my cautionary tale--
One morning last week, I could hear the dogs tussling through the house as I lay in bed trying to sleep. This is standard doggie behavior and never malicious, but when I heard Holmes give a high pitch yelp...a sound not of excitement, but of pain...I jumped from bed to see what had happened. At first I thought Georgia was biting his mouth and wouldn't let go, but I quickly realized the reason the dogs weren't separating despite my efforts to break them apart was because Holmes had gotten his lower jaw twisted in Georgia's collar and was stuck. I calmly tried to pry his long skinny jaw from her collar, but after he panicked and struggled to free himself, I realized he was strangling Georgia (the dog of all dogs, the princess of the house) and her lips and tongue were turning blue and her body was becoming limp. I screamed at Holmes to "relax", and in my own panic that she might be dead, I began to cry. Thank goodness I had enough sanity in that moment to grab the meat scissors from the knife block and cut Georgia's collar off of her. She slowly took in a few breaths, Holmes licked her face to comfort her, and a couple minutes later she was breathing normal, walking normal and even wagging her tail for a treat. This was a close call, and after searching online, I realized that this is not as unique an event as I thought--many dogs have rough-housed and gotten themselves into this predicament, and unfortunately if the owner wasn't around, many of those dogs have died. Thanks to the invention of the Break-away collar, incidents like this can be prevented. A breakaway collar is designed with a safety clip that releases if caught or tugged on.  

 

Georgia's arrived today and I now feel confident that we've done everything we can to prevent her from another strangulation incident.  See here for more info.  Like I said, Holmes and Georgia are back to normal, playing and wagging their tales like nothing ever happened.  My hunnie and I are so thankful to have these silly dogs in our lives and only want them to be happy and safe.

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Blizzard in the Desert

When I think of blizzards here in this little desert town, usually what comes to mind is that yummy soft serve ice cream with Oreo cookie pieces swirled in...you know, the kind from the Dairy Queen?  Imagine our surprise when on Tuesday night my hunnie and I got blizzard warning notices on our cell phones, and then yesterday walking out of St. Francis's church--after a the celebration of life of my hunnie's family friend--imagine our greater surprise to see a slushy snow falling from the sky.  Snow in this desert town isn't unheard of, but usually it stays within the realms of the mountain peaks.  Not yesterday.  The blizzard came, it snowed, it melted...and then it snowed again last night!  We woke up to a magical, slightly snowy desert wonderland in our backyard.  The dogs, after having been held up indoors all day yesterday, were excited to get out this morning and chase each other around the yard. 

I'm giddy with excitement, not only about the snow but also about the Ragnar Del Sol race, which I'll be participating in with 11 former co-workers tomorrow. I'll be running nearly 19 miles, with the final leg being my longest/hardest...7.6 miles uphill.  But, after running a marathon through the hills in Sedona, this shouldn't be too tough. 

 

Hopefully after this weekend I'll have more time to post some recaps of the last month. Can't believe we're nearing March already!

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3 Day Weekend + 2 Dogs = Busy Busy

Things are super busy around here, but I wanted to make sure and post a quick update.  If you've been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to hear our decision on Holmesy, get comfortable because you'll be waiting awhile.  We haven't yet figured out what the future holds for him, but we know that he will have a warm, safe and happy place to live until a permanent decision is made.  What's holding us back, you ask?  Well, let's just say he's a big part of why things have been so busy.  As I mentioned, he is a pup of 1 and 1/2 years, and when you have a puppy there is never a time when you don't need to be in training mode.  You have to be consistent.  Not to mention, having a puppy has brought out some new behaviors with our other dog, Georgia, such as hoarding toys and chew bones.  So on top of it all, we are em"bark"ing on another round of training with Georgia.  Nonetheless, the dogs have a great time playing with each other, and my hunnie and I are having a great time watching them be silly.  Play time with the dogs has not been without casualties though...Mr. Beaver was torn to shreds over the weekend, and this morning Mr. Snowman also got the axe. 

 

Believe it or not...the demise of Mr. Snowman was the doing of Georgia, NOT Holmes.  Remember that hoarding behavior I mentioned?  Well, Georgia doesn't really like toys...she just doesn't like for Holmes to play with the toys.  So as a result, some toys have literally been torn to shreds to prevent Holmes from having too much fun.  We are working to resolve this by teaching Georgia a new command: "Leave It". 

Alas, the future of dog toys is somewhat bleak in our little blue house.  The dogs enjoy playing tug of war with the toys, and sometimes they take turns chewing apart the toys.  I think it comes from the pack mentality of working together to kill prey.  So you can't blame them right?  Nah...I don't, although my heart sort of sank to see that the happy little Mr. Beaver was no more.

 

Anyways...in other news, my hunnie and I finally got a day off together on Monday, and were able to get away for the day to visit some other parts of this great desert state (thanks in large part to our dear friend Shelby who was willing to watch the canine club for us).  We had a great time, but I have to admit that between a 3-day weekend and 2 doggies I have NOT had much time to keep on my marathon training.  I've been running quite a bit (and was able to squeeze in some great workouts while on a business trip in Denver last week), but the distances have been shorter than I would've liked.  I'm now down to the last two weeks of training, so its time to start tapering anyways.  My biggest worry right now?  The flu is just rampant down here, so I'm doing my best to just stay healthy--by eating healthy, getting lots of sleep, and keeping active.

 

Oh and before I forget, did I mention that my hunnie and I are headed to Vegas this weekend for my mom's birthday? This is my first time doing "The Vegas", and let me just say I'm super excited. All I have to do now is find a doggie hotel for Holmes, who cannot be trusted alone for 3 days.

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To Foster or to Adopt, That is the Question

We're an active bunch...my hunnie, Georgia and I.  We jog, we hike, we hunt.  So recently when a friends' facebook status popped up with the picture of a dog and the statement "Desperately in need of active foster family," my hunnie and I did some research and some talking and found that it might not be impossible to add one more active member to our household.  If you are unfamiliar with animal fostering, let me fill you in.  As communities rescue more and more animals (either from abandonment or just flat-out bad homes) animal shelters are reaching their maximum capacity.  When shelters fill up, there aren't many options left for the animals...even if an animal shelter is a "No-Kill" organization, it can be very hard on the animals and the shelters' volunteers as more and more animals are rescued.  In the midst of the efforts to find a permanent home for the pets, many shelters are using the community to "foster" an animal--the animal is placed in the care of a person/family, where it receives shelter, food, and companionship until an adopter is found.  One may not realize it, but fostering an animal is a way to give back to your community, to volunteer your time, your friendship (and your finances) to help another living thing.

So Sunday night, in 20 degree weather, my hunnie, Georgia and I drove across town to meet the "desperately in need of active foster family" dog.  Introducing Holmes.  A rambunctious, coonhound pup of about 1 1/2 years.  Let me just say, they were NOT kidding about the activity level of this dog.  Imagine the Tasmanian devil in hound dog form!  Not gunna lie, I am pretty convinced that no level of human activity (except for maybe the Air Force Pararescue training) could wear out this little guy.  Needless to say, he's fitting in great, and Georgia seems to really enjoy having a pal (who, as you can see, is equally as cute!). 

My biggest worry was whether we could handle such an active dog, but now that's been replaced by whether I'll be able to say goodbye to him if he finds a good home.  Would it be so wrong for us to adopt him?  Maybe we were the ones meant to give him the active, loving home he needed.  My hunnie and I were never opposed to adding a 2nd dog to the mix...we had always just thought we'd wait awhile until we found the right one.  Holmes isn't by any means the perfect dog--he tries to sit on the couch and we still have to work with him to ensure he doesn't jump the fence to go sniffing through the neighborhood, but the fact is, he is the missing piece for Goergia and the hunnie, who both are even happier now that he's around.  And that makes me happy.  Of course I would be happy as long as Holmes had a good home, but I think I can really see that home being ours.  I think my Hunnie and I may need to have another talk.

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Dog Days of Summer

These last few weeks have been going by so fast, and with classes starting next week, I don't see any sign of it slowing down.  I'm starting to realize how much time a dog requires, but it is all time well spent.  After a long and sometimes stressful day of work, I look forward to coming home for little Georgia Mae's "pet session": 10 minutes of belly, leg, and behind-the-ear rubs and verbal praise.  Despite the desert heat (and monsoon humidity) we've enjoyed many long evening walks and runs together.  A couple weeks ago I took her on her first real hike, and although she handled the terrain really well, I think the elevation gain was a challenge, as she tired after 2 miles (compared to our 3 to 4 mile evening run/walks).  With my hunnie working crazy hours, I'm so glad I have my little gal to motivate me to enjoy the outdoors every evening.  When my mom and sis made their trip out to the desert, the weekend was full of oogling over how sweet and adorable little Georgia was...well that was until she let out her wild side and tore apart her new tennis ball toy.  While they were here, my hunnie's family joined us for a BBQ, and lucky little Georgia got spoiled with a piece of corn on the cob, elk meat, and ice cold cantaloupe.  Today I started working with her on the "Stay" command.  I'm not sure if she's getting it yet, but maybe a weekend of reinforcing it with praise and treats will do the trick.  If Georgia could talk, I'm pretty sure she'd say "It's a good day to be a dog."     

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Pup at the Lake & Perfect Brown Rice

After 11 straight days of work, my hunnie finally had the day off on Sunday, so we headed up to the lake to visit his folks and introduce them to their first grand-pup.  We're finding out she loves being in vehicles...a true engineering pup if ya' ask me.  She loved being in the boat and watching me stand up (and fall) on my first attempts at water skiing.  I'm finding out that with rescue dogs, the key is exposing them to as much as possible, but doing it at their pace.  We're pretty certain Georgia had never been in water before, seeing as how she's a desert pup.  It took more coaxing to get her to step in the water along the shore than it did to get her in the boat.  I got her through it in puppy steps...I'd take two steps into the water, wait a bit, talking to her the whole time...and then eventually she'd take two steps into the water.  With the water halfway up her legs, I took off her leash, and within 30 seconds she dove towards the deep end of the lake and started doggie paddling.  I felt like a proud mama watching little Georgia swim.

We're back in the desert and I have to admit, I'm a bit sore from our water skiing adventure.  The thought of making a complicated dinner made my muscles ache even more, so instead I went for something easy after work today.  Brown rice can be a challenge to get right, especially if you attempt to cook it the same way you cook white rice.  I've come up with the perfect brown rice recipe, which by the way does NOT require you to hover over the stove top, stirring for an hour.  Meaning you can turn on the heat, sit down and rest those achy muscles (or be productive if you so choose) for near an hour. 

Perfect Brown Rice
1 cup brown rice
2 1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon butter

In a saucepan, pour 1 cup of rice.  Pour about 1/2 cup of water into pot and use fingers to move rice around.  Then use your hand (or a strainer) to drain out all the water and any gritty stuff from the rice.  Add 2 1/2 cups of water and the butter to the rice in the saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until water begins to boil.  Stir rice with spoon; then reduce heat to low, place lid on saucepan, and let rice simmer (undisturbed by fork or spoon) for 45-50 minutes.  Serve with sauteed veggies and/or meat. Pin It

50-day Fitness Challenge {Week 7}

The 50-day fitness challenge is officially over tomorrow.  Week 7 was a change of pace to say the least, but no less successful.  Here's the overview of Week 7:

• Ran 9 miles
• Walked 12 miles
• Outdoor workouts 6 of 7 days

You may be wondering why all of a sudden my workouts are taking place outdoors.  Well, there's a new someone in my life (and my hunnie's) and she's got quite the energy.  Please meet our Queensland Heeler rescue pup, Georgia Mae. 

She's a bit of a scaredy dog (especially with the thunder that rolls in during the monsoons), but a true athlete.  My hunnie and I take her out twice a day, and she can keep a jogging pace for a good 20 minutes or so.  I honestly have a little trouble keeping up with her sometimes...especially when she's chasing lizards down the desert paths.  Did I mention she's pretty?  She gets compliments from people at the park all the time (and lots of barks from the boy dogs).  As with any rescue dog, she's going to need some extra time and attention, but as with most dogs, time and attention is exactly what she wants.  With the 50-day Fitness Challenge near its end, I'm ready for the new challenges that Georgia will bring.  It'll be a learning experience for us both.   



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