Calvin and Hobbes and Cilla were adopted!

Calvin and Hobbes, the Basset/Lab mix puppies, were adopted yesterday.  Calvin's new name is Dexter, and he went home with a very nice couple and several children who will hopefully be able to keep him busy and give him all the attention he seeks.  Hobbes is now named Red, and he is now being spoiled rotten by his new mom and dad.  I'm very excited for both puppies to have found such great homes.

Also, Cilla, my last kitten from the Sea Litter, was adopted this morning.  Cilla will have a great time with her new mom and dad and kids and a Chocolate Lab to give her a lot of love.  She is also a very lucky kitten.

Yesterday I brought home a very special new foster.  His name is Neo.  Stay tuned and I'll post all about him tomorrow.

Playtime

I took some more pictures the other night of the dogs playing together. Here's a picture of Noelle and Remi playing with a different sort of Jolly Ball (not the kind that Hobbes got his head stuck in recently). I ordered this toy from PetEdge after someone recommended it to me, and the dogs love it - its Remi and Noelle's favorite toy.




While looking through some pictures of the dogs playing, I realized that the majority of the time, Remi is running away from Noelle. So I thought I should share a picture where Remi finally looks like he is winning. And for those of you who are interested in photography, it turns out that when you use certain settings on a DSLR, you have to remove the lens hood or you get that funny shadow in all of your pictures. Oops.





One last picture - here are Noelle and the puppies playing. I love her one-ear-up, one-ear-down look.

Calvin and Hobbes should be available for adoption in about a week - I am going to miss these cuties. They're so sweet, and hilarious to watch with their short legs and long bodies.

New Camera

I have become more interested in photography recently, and just bought my first digital SLR camera. Basically this is a fancier version of a point-n-shoot camera like the one I used to use, and it will let me use more manual settings to get more interesting photos. Unfortunately until I figure out how to work it, the majority of my pictures are going to turn out blurry. This camera really makes me appreciate the awesome photography of my other blogging friends. I can safely say their awesome pictures are due to the photographer's skill, not the camera. I hope with some practice my picture-taking abilities will get better. And in the meantime, you'll see a lot more pictures on my blog as I practice using the new camera.

Remi, my 3-year-old Great Dane

This is Hobbes, one of my foster puppies. He looks sad to me in this picture. It's those Basset eyes. They just look pathetic. It's hard to foster a puppy with Basset eyes without constantly taking them into your arms and giving them attention.

Yesterday Hobbes finally caught up with his brother Calvin and learned how to go down the stairs! Now they can both run up and down stairs with the big dogs to go outside, and with their little short legs, its pretty funny to watch!

This is my husband Dave with Noelle. She looooooves him so much. And he feels the same about her. They're so much alike. He likes to sleep late, and so does she. He likes to watch movies, and so does she. She can't wait to greet him every time he comes home, and he smiles every time he sees her. When she wakes up and he's not there, she runs from room to room until she finds him. I think she might be his best friend. I'm only a little bit jealous.

The Dangers of Jolly Balls

Jolly Balls...




It all started so innocently... about a year ago, I purchased a popular dog toy known as a Jolly Ball Teaser Ball. These toys are made to be almost indestructible (always a good thing with Remi and Noelle around) and they've received rave reviews from dog owners across the world. The Teaser Ball is a ball within a ball. The inner ball causes it to wobble and makes pushing the toy around great fun. Last night it caught the attention of my foster puppy Hobbes. I never thought something named a Jolly Ball could be anything but, well, jolly. However Hobbes quickly demonstrated the inherent danger in being a small puppy with too much curiousity and not enough common sense, and this was the result:



Oh sure, you think its funny.... I did at first too! Until I tried to get it off. I pulled. I tugged. I squeezed his head into funny shapes, with no luck. He was stuck.



I took a brief break to snap a picture and call a friend for advice. What should I do? Try some soap for lubrication? He was calm and didn't appear to be in pain, but if I started rubbing soap all over his head, he'd probably freak out. The plastic outer ball really is indestructible - it also doesn't bend or flex at all. My friend didn't answer her phone, so I was on my own. Back to pulling... and tugging... and pulling some more. I tried holding the ball still and letting him pull himself out, with no luck. I tried wiggling it around in a circle, with no luck. I tried pulling his ears through first, with no luck. The whole time he just stood there quietly, like this:


I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Finally, after some more pulling and tugging and wondering how in the heck he ever got his head in there in the first place, I got him out. And he went right over to another dog toy and started playing. I am glad to report he was fine and has no physical or emotional trauma from this event. Too bad his foster mom can't say the same!

Pictures of Calvin & Hobbes (and Remi & Noelle)

I took the day off from PetSmart today, and had the chance to take a few pictures of my dogs.

Here's Noelle sleeping. And possibly practicing yoga in her sleep.


This is Remi in our backyard. He looks happy. I think he just spotted a school bus to bark at. School buses are his favorite - they're big, noisy, and don't go very fast, so he has lots of time to bark at them!


Here's Noelle again - isn't she pretty? It's okay if you don't agree - just pretend you do and I'll be happy. She's not going to bark at the bus, but if it happens to let a kid or two out, she'll be ready to greet them and let them know how much she loves them.

Here are my foster puppies, Calvin (black and white) and Hobbes (all black).

They are typical boys who enjoy wrestling and beating up on each other.

But when trouble comes, they know where to run to. Here they are by Remi, who is happy to protect them from that evil school bus. He's big and tough and he can take on any ol' school bus.

Hobbes ran so fast, his tongue couldn't keep up with the rest of him.

And finally, the school bus is gone and the puppies can relax. All is right with their world again.

Introducing Calvin and Hobbes

- I just got these two cuties last night. I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet, but here is a picture the rescuer sent me before I got them.

They're Basset Hound/Lab mixes, only seven weeks old. It's hard to tell how cute they are just from the picture, but it gives you an idea. They both have Lab faces, with long bodies and short legs, and somehow in spite of the Lab faces they still have those oh-so-sad Basset Hound eyes that just suck you in and make you want to cuddle them and make them happy.

Calvin, the black and white one, has thick Basset legs and feet, and a Basset tail. Hobbes, the all black one, has more Lab features, and is a bit smaller than his brother. They're both pretty big for being only seven weeks though. They met Remi and Noelle and were a bit intimidated by their large size, but I think within a few days they'll be playing and wrestling with Noelle. Remi is too mature for all of that wrestling stuff, but he might be willing to play a game of tug with them.

They also met the cats and kittens, and were slightly intimidated by them. I'm sure the cats are relieved that they aren't like my previous foster puppy Chip who liked to chase them and then tackle them when he caught them! Calvin and Hobbes prefer to watch the strange creatures called cats from a safe distance.

Due to a change in plans, my foster cats probably won't be at PetSmart for adoptions this weekend, so I may have to extend the contest to see who is adopted next another week. And for whomever keeps voting for Scribbles - you're killing me. Maybe you just like long odds, but I keep hoping it means someone out there wants to adopt her! :-)