We lost a member of our family yesterday–Baby Boy, Cindy’s family dog back in Sacramento, passed away. He had a number of health problems for more than a year…lung and heart issues.Cindy’s family adopted Baby Boy just a short time before we adopted Pom Pom–about four years ago now.

I don’t know what the first eight years of his life were like, but I know the last four were about as good as any dog on the planet has ever had. Cindy’s family took such good care of him–the dude had his own bed in every room of the house, got walked and groomed regularly, and cozied up to the warm fireplace every winter.

Baby Boy was one hell of a dog. He was one of the smartest and sweetest dogs I’ve ever met. He loved his people–just being around them all day and getting his belly rubbed. He also loved food–a lot. Baby would go to great lengths to chomp on any little morsel of food he could scrounge up…trash cans and tables were no match for Baby’s smarts. I’m pretty sure he knew how to open the fridge and make a sandwich, but he was never one to show off.

I could go on forever about this great dog. I really wish I could have been back in Sacramento to see him one last time, for one last belly rub.

Yesterday morning, I left the grey skies of Oregon for the sunny blues of California. This marks the first trip in a long series of trips that I have made home to Sacramento sans hubby…and also sans babies.

Although I feel good knowing that Pom, Casper, and kitties Beau and Athena are with Dustin instead of strangers, I didn’t realize how weird it was going to be without them until I was saying my goodbyes.

Casper just looked at me with big, dopey eyes like he always does while I kissed him on the top of his head, and Pom Pom gave me the usual “fine, leave me” shrug-off while I picked her up and plastered her with kisses and hugs. Overall, they didn’t seem extra concerned that I was going to be gone for the next five days.

As I was sitting on the plane, it occurred to me that they probably just thought I was heading off to school or work, and expected me home in the evening. This thought, of course, got me really sad because I had a vision of Pom Pom and Casper glancing at the front door all night, waiting for me to walk through it. Hmm…maybe I am giving myself more credit than I deserve!

Well, at least I get my fill of babies here at my parents’ house, with a Baby Boy and two hyper twin cats who all love to snuggle….

So I was right in the middle of writing some random, stream-of-thought blog when I noticed Pom Pom standing on the floor by my feet, scratching/pawing at the couch. She always does this when she wants something–like up on the bed or couch, when she wants to lick my hand, or wants to go outside.

She was pretty frantic with her pawing this time…then I realized it was 11:00. Every day at 11 pm, Pom gets glucosamine/chondroitin medicine for her joints. This “medicine” looks like beef jerky and sure as heck smells like it. Due to the fact that Pom almost rips off my finger whenever I give her a piece, I’m guessing it takes pretty great, too.

I usually remember to give her the goods when it’s time, but on the days I’m even a couple of minutes late, she’s always right there to remind me.

It’s just so dang cute to see how worked up she gets over a little piece of beef jerky stuff that’s about as big as one of my fingernails.

Today was Casper’s first day in dog behavior class. I would like to say that Casper came home with lots of newly learned behaviors..but I can’t do that. The truth is, Dustin and I came home with more learned behaviors than our furry little guy.We are regular viewers of shows like The Dog Whisperer and It’s Me or the Dog, where trainers are constantly pounding the fact that humans are the ones being trained, so I was prepared to do some modifying of behaviors when I got to class today…I just didn’t realize it was going to be CLASS, for ME.

Let’s provide a brief summary of today’s class: We were given a clicker, and we learned that we click when Casper does a behavior that we WANT to reinforce (I always thought you clicked when they did something bad..so I was off to a bad start already!).

Then we learned that after each click we have to give Casper a treat, even if we clicked wrong. Let me tell you, trying to get the click-and-treat combo down swiftly is hard! Depending on which side you want your dog to walk, you hold the leash clicker in the opposite hand.

We learned about relaxation exercises, leash exercises, response to name exercises–all sorts of stuff. We even learned that we had to have treats that were practically crumb-sized, and they had to be more interesting than his environment….

Honestly, I was a little overwhelmed! Meanwhile, Casper was a little anxious (naturally–it’s what we are trying to work on!) so the trainers brought over a blocker so that he wouldn’t be able to see his classmates as easily and get distracted.

Otherwise, our little guy did well in his first class — better than his parents, I think!

Our next class isn’t for another two weeks, unfortunately, but this means that we will have two weeks to practice and exercise with Casper. This also means that Dustin and I will have homework. Patience is definitely not my virtue, so this is going to be interesting…and I thought I was on summer vacation!

I’m just glad Cesar Milan isn’t our trainer, he would probably yell at me throughout the whole session….

Hi, my name is Casper and I’m starting school!

Yes, friends, Casper is beginning doggie school at the ripe old age of three. I just have to say, Casper is very well-behaved and well-trained; however, he seems to have anxiety issues when he’s around other, larger dogs. Let’s just say Casper is a champion whiner and whimperer.

I guess the real things we want to work on are Casper’s whining, whimpering, and distractability. The course we’re enrolling Casper in is five weeks long and recommended by my work! Plus it’s cheaper than PetsMart classes, which is just fine by me. Our first class is this Sunday, and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of stories to share!

Casper’s finally figured out that being in the kitchen when I’m making dinner is a great way to add a little variety to that crappy prescription dog food he’s forced to eat.

He’s realized that throughout the cooking process, I drop things on the floor…a lot of things. It’s amazing how stealth he is about the whole process–I’ll just be adding some ingredient to a saucepan or bowl, then some of it falls out of my hand while I’m making the transfer. As soon as I look down to pick up what I’ve dropped, I see this white poofy shadow at my feet, licking the floor.

Then he leaves. Then I dropped something else on the floor. Then he’s instantly back. Somehow, I don’t even see him run back and forth into the kitchen. He’s just there, then he’s gone.

I just find it really amazing that a dog that’s normally so clumsy and burly would be so powerfully motivated by the lure of some crumbs of human food on the floor, that he musters up the ability to teleport to the immediate vicinity of any place I’m cooking, and then sneaks in and out like a little white kitchen ninja.

Either my cooking is just that awesome, or that prescription dog food he eats REALLY does suck.

I spent the weekend recovering from getting three wisdom teeth removed. If you haven’t had yours removed, I highly recommend it–they give you free gauze to pack in your mouth to help stop the bleeding…what a deal!So while I was on the couch holding ice packs against my cheeks, Cindy took care of the dog-walking duties for the day.

For some reason, when Cindy called the dogs to let them know it was time to go outside, Casper got REALLY confused. Pom Pom was all set and ready to go…but Casper just stood in the hallway with this look on his face that seemed to say “Hey…this isn’t right!”

Apparently the concept of someone other than me walking him just did not quite compute.

Even after Cindy put his harness on and leashed him up, he wouldn’t go outside. I actually had to get up from the couch and walk behind Casper like I was going outside with him. Once I did that, he ran out the door…and I headed back to the couch.

However, according to Cindy, Casper just “got his pee on” and was ready to head back to the house (Important note: Casper is normally never, ever ready to come back inside once he’s on a walk–if I let him off his leash, I’m pretty sure he’d walk all the way to Canada).

After a full day of walks by Cindy, Casper never really did quite catch on..but, I’m back on my feet now and back at the helm of my confused little poofball’s leash.

Wednesday marked the first day of my new job as an associate at Lexi Dog Boutique, the pet boutique have raved about a few times now. In just three hours’ time, I learned more about dog treats, collars, tags, toys, (plus more!) than I have learned in the past year. Obviously, I am here to impart my newfound knowledge:Did you know that:

1) Rawhide is actually really bad for dogs??? It’s excessively processed and may be damaging to doggies’ stomachs. A good alternative is to look for chew items made from real tendons.
2) Kongs are not dishwasher safe, but the Everlasting Treat Ball is the same basic concept as the Kong, but with a better shape for dogs’ enjoyment…and machine washable!
3) You can actually custom order pet beds and choose from swatches of fabric to match your furniture. Wow.
4) Planet Dog, the dog toy company that made the Orbee-Tuff RecycleBone, always uses recyclable products to make their toys, just started a foundation to promote dog adoption and shelters, and features rescued dogs on all of their packaging. Yay!
5) Kids think dog boutiques are toy stores (and parents treat them so as well). On my first day, a kid threw a GIGANTIC tantrum, and screamed and cried her way out of the store. It was fantastic…fantastically awkward.

So there you go! Just imagine how much more wisdom I’ll have to impart once I get a few more hours under my belt….

I consider myself to be a pretty happy person overall–I watch DVDs of my childhood cartoons and have been known to make forts using blankets and household furniture. So yeah, it don’t take much, man.Moving from Southern California to Oregon has been quite a change for all of us–both humans AND animals. One of the biggest adjustments has been dealing with all the cloudy, rainy days here.

Example: It’s almost the middle of June, and it was 50 degrees and cloudy today.

If this was a typical sunny, warm summer day, we’d be running around the house, playing with toys and taking long walks outside. But all Casper, Pom and I want to do is sleep.

I know people suffer from depression when the weather is gloomy, but seeing two little dogs go through the same sort of thing just fully sucks.

My goal is to come up with some special activities for the dogs that might snap them out of this little funk until the warm weather makes an appearance. More rides in the car would definitely make Pom Pom happier–either that or I’ll finally let her go after the UPS guy…seriously, I don’t know what it is about that brown uniform…

Casper sleeps like a teenager on a school day–pretty hard to wake the dude up and get him moving. I think I’ll start teaching him a few tricks to keep his brain active.

As for me, I think it’s time to build a fort.

For whatever reason, the dogs I remember seeing in purses were tiny - tinier than Pom Pom. Hard to imagine, right? Well, when you’re living in San Diego and anyone walking around with a dog in their purse is carrying a 5-pound Chihuaua or a 3-pound Yorkie, Pom Pom’s 8 pounds and her poofy hair seems heavy.

Now that I live in the land of large dogs, I have come to truly appreciate Pom Pom for all her tininess. After all, Casper is my big dog and he’s a hefty 16 pounds! With this newfound appreciation, my desire for Pom Pom to be by my side has risen to new heights.

A little online shopping and I have come across this particular beauty: chic, black, Chanel look-a-like, and worn by a celebrity…and $169.

But isn’t having my baby with me all day worth the small financial burden? Dustin probably wouldn’t think so….