YUCK!

As I was updating my blog... my lovely teen comes to tell me that she just picked the biggest booger ever! Said it was "nasty"!

Fun huh!

Teens... gotta love em!

Camping...

Just a quick note to say that camping with my dog was something. It was her first time camping, and my first time being by myself in the cabin with her on Friday night. Anyway... as soon as we left home, Brandy was so restless in the car. She could not stay still! It drove me nuts!!! And when we got to Luray for a "pit stop", I had to go get food and go to the bathroom... but Brandy would not go! She sniffed and sniffed and sniffffffed... nothing came out. Took a good 20 minutes then I gave up. Got back in the car and hit the road to Bentonsville.

We get there... I tie her up with a 20 foot long leash... she was not used to all the freedom a 20 inch leash would allow!! She ate EVERYTHING off the ground... bark, rock, ciggie butt, sticks, grass, leaves, rabbit poop, you name it... EAT EAT EAT! UGH. Normally when she does that at home, I try to stop her... cuz she threw up last time... but this time.. it was too much. I gave up. She finally trained me to just roll my eyes and do whatever I need to do when she is eating off the ground outside.

We go to bed... it was fine.. but she got up at 3 am pawing me and my face! So I get up drowsily and take her to pee. I look around... the campground was sooo quiet... not a soul was there that night. Then I wake up at 7 am... do the routine... 2 hours later I am too tired and I had just finished bawling my eyes out reading "Marley", so I take her back to bed. We slept till a dark figure comes in the cabin (my friend Christy).

Saturday she was sooo restless... so we threw a ball over and over (let her off the leash from time to time) so she could run free. By 10 pm she was pooped. Looked like she could barely walk! I felt sorry for her so I picked her up and cradled her... usually she would kick and squirm to get out of my arms. Not this time. She was tooo tired. Boy she was heavy! (she is 37 lbs now at 4 months old). Then finally we go to bed. Everything was peachy!

Sunday she was more tired than playful. She was so exhausted from morning to night. Poor dear, but looks like she had fun! :)

Poor Nikki

I thought it was about time to update you guys on my lil teen.

She is approaching 14 very quickly!!! Come November 16th, that will arrive! YIKES!! 14!!! The age that some of my freshmen students are at! It's official... 4 more years. Just 4 more years. Then I am going to hear all "I'm 18, you cannot do anything about it" a thousand times. I know because I did that too. I remember running out to the mall the weekend I got home (naturally that was the same time I just turned 18) and got my ears pierced for the 2nd time. Then when I got home, I told mom, look... see... can't do nothing! GOSH! The horror... I can see mom saying this now "payback!"...

Anyway, for the last 2 weeks or so, I have been snapping and nagging nonstop at Nikki. Poor girl. Keeps making small mistakes and me making a big deal out of it. Last night, it hit me. ENOUGH. Pick your battles... you do not want her to shut down. Snapping gets nothing done, helps nothing. So... I am going to try my "bestest" (grin) to reduce snapping! It is not a good feeling. Nope... no siree. After all, I only have 4 more years with her!

:(

My gift from Brandy

This morning was just like every day.

Normally, I get up, take the dog out to pee/poop, feed the dog, get dressed/ready, take her outside again for another round of pee/poop, and then finally putting her in the crate. This is my routine. Lucky me!

But... this morning something was off!

I get up, take the dog out to pee/poop, only she peed. That's it. OH NO! Schedule and routine thrown off!!! I take a breather, bring Brandy in and tell myself... hey don't worry, she will poop on the 2nd bathroom trip. Boy was I confident! So, I go get ready for work... as I brushed my teeth, I felt funny. Yeah, I always... I mean ALWAYS have this knack of knowing something is wrong. Kid, relationship, pet, whatever, I can tell something is off! Yeah, I was born with a 6th sense! :) Anyhoo, as I was saying, I felt funny. I began to panic... so I rushed to finish the teeth thingy, and the minute I walked out of the bathroom.... I caught a whiff of this familar stinky smell. OH NO, OH NO!!! So I run in the living room...

There it was!! A lovely brown pile of a small mountain! Fresh and hot! My gift from Brandy dear! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Lesson Learned. Poop must on first trip! Force if have to! :)

Nikki and Brandy

Okay... So, I got Brandy for Nikki, right? Ahh... I should have known that these words "Mommy, you promised to get me a dog as soon as we get a house of our own!!" really meant "Mommy, can we have a dog, so you can become stressed out while I sit on my computer chatting with my friends?". Yeah, the only time the girl walks the dog is when she gets home from school. I have to say I'm surprised she would clean up the kennel, but I want more out of this girl of mine! Here are a few things to show their relationship:

Brandy would nip Nikki’s pj pant which causes her to shriek and run away like a scared little chicken.
Nikki would sit in front of her computer while Brandy runs free around the house doing these things: pooping, peeing, chewing my good shoes, chasing the cats, digging blankets, and chewing the sofa/hamper/chair.
Nikki would sit on the sofa with the phone glued on her ear, allowing Brandy to nip her boots, and then she would lazily kick Brandy gently and laugh.
Nikki would yell “Mom, Brandy won’t listen to me! She’s stubborn” about 100 times a day. (Was the human supposed to tattle tale on the dog?)
If I have to clean up poop elsewhere with those mitt/bag thingies, Nikki would go “EEW MOM! You touched the bag!!” when I touch the outside of the bag to show her how that poop does not seep through or smell. And Brandy would sit there with her tongue hanging sideways.
Convo between them:
Nikki: No!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: No!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: NO! NO!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: Nooooooooo!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Nikki: MOM! SEE!!! She does not listen to me!!
Brandy: pant pant, nip nip
Mom: Brandy NO! Sit!
Brandy: pant pant, SITS
Nikki: *rolls eyes*

Ain’t this beautiful?

Trip to DC

I'm thinking, my blog should be "Teens and Dogs, who needs them?". BOY!

Anyway, we went on a trip to Washington DC to go to Nikki's sister's one year old birthday party. We were supposed to leave at 7 am, but noooo... Nikki had to take her sweet time to put make up on and Brandy would not cooperate with me. We ended up leaving at 8:30 am. GRRR. And remember it was raining cats and dogs that day!!!

As soon as we got in the car, Brandy sat on the passenger side, owning the whole thing. Nikki gets in very angrily, staring at me with knives in her eyes going "how am I supposed to be comfortable?" LOL. I say, put her on the floor. Nikki tries, Brandy stiffly refuses to cooperate, so I pull over. I struggle to put Brandy on the floor and make it. Then Nikki slowly becomes happy.

On the way, things were fine... "stay" was said many times prior to Front Royal. We stopped there to take a bathroom break. Then when we got in the car, I was worried that Brandy would refuse again, but she sat there like a good dog :) until we got to DC.

The party was nice, and Brandy was adored by many people... she slept a couple of times... but she was worn out! We even met Robert Strickler! :) On the way back she slept, so did Nikki! We stopped in Front Royal again for a really late dinner. I kept falling asleep on the way due to rain pouring hard at night. Whew... again a potty break and order dinner. While I was waiting for Nikki to go to the bathroom, Brandy threw up. I did not know that because it was so dark, and I put my hand on the chair, and screamed EEEWWWWWW. Poor Brandy was so upset and tried to escape but she just put her head on the back of the chair not facing the vomit. I cleaned up... and finished by the time Nikki got back. Wow took her time! Then we parked at Target to eat, pathetic huh. Then hit the road again. Got home around 11 pm. I was bushed, so was Brandy and Nikki!

What a trip!

New addition to the family!

We have a new addition to the family!!! A 2 month old German Shepherd/Black Lab mix puppy named Brandy! Her birthday is on July 3rd! Ahhhh too many things happened on that day for sure! She is absolutely adorable! Quite smart for a little baby. As you know, potty training is the hardest thing to do, and she is getting the hang of it... outside = potty. Slowly but surely! Anyway, the story? Well... Nikki has been begging and begging for a dog ever since our dog Lucky the large chihuahua died. But... as soon as we moved to VA, the begging became worse! At first, my excuse was that we rented a house and the landlord did not allow pets, so she backed off.... until.... we bought a house. She says things like "you promised, mom! when? oh please please please! I'll be responsible! mom!!!! oh hey I saw a cute dog at the pet store, can we can we??" etc etc... I hear that over and over... I was planning to get one last spring during spring break, but my tax money fell apart so we did not. She was so upset. Then one day, Tuesday Sepetember 3rd, I go to lunch and decided to walk in the pet store. This puppy won my heart, so I asked questions, and then went back to work... pondered... should I? Can I? Then I thought, I know I can... having someone to love and love you back is a worthy investment. My daughter has only 4 more years with me, and I have always wanted her to have a childhood dog. I did, so I want her to have that too. It is a really wonderful thing for a teen, having someone to take care of! So... time is ticking and here Brandy is! (about the name... well.... we argued about the name all night that night... finally I accepted the name and decided her sign-name is ALCOHOL. See that sign in the pictures? THAT!)


Anyway, the day I got her, she was exactly 2 months old! Right now she is in her crate sleeping away. Boy at night she cries so much. I am hoping the Kong toy with peanut butter will help her start to like her crate! Poor Nikki listening to her bark and whine at night, and I have no clue what she is doing down there! Yesterday I had a scare... I came home for lunch and found her crate in a holy mess, so I cleaned it up and ended up without lunch (I was still on the clock!). Then when I looked outside to make sure she was still hooked on the leash... I got scared because her harness was empty! She got herself loose and was nowhere to be found! Then I started calling her name... nothing. Again... nothing... and then suddenly that little black floppy eared thing starts running to me. She did not escape! WHEW!!!! I so do not need that emotion!

Anyway, then I took her to the vet for her free visit. The vet was very helpful, patiently answering all of my questions about sleeping, feeding, potty training, tidbits on helping her accept separation (yeah, right now she is like a lil baby who does not want to be away from her mommy!!) Now I feel better... I'm gonna do what I can to tackle that potty training! Then I am going to attempt to teach her to be a "hearing dog" to me and teach her signs. I cannot promise that I can teach her tricks but I will try. The only training experience I have had was teaching a dog signs and potty training. This will be a challenge, but my daughter will have to help! Anyway, I am now going to attempt to bring Brandy outside in the lovely rain from Hanna and hope she does not fear rain! Toodles!

FIRST BATH!!! :)

She might end up looking like a German Shepherd... see that face?

Ahh Brandy!