Friday, July 30, 2010

Pulling Out The Archives

Every now and then I have to pull out and share some of my favorite pictures of Luna with her family from the ‘archive’ bunch.  I also thought this would tie in nicely (for potential new friends) for the weekly Saturday Pet Blogger Hop.  Hope you all enjoy.

 

October 10, 2009- during our cross country adventure.

 

February 7th, 2009- Horsing around in our Virginia back yard.

 

September 9, 2008- Just being a puppy.

 

April 29, 2009- Opening (licking) a gift.

 

 

 


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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wordless Wednesday #43

Monday, July 26, 2010

Surf and merf

As some of you may recall last year, while staying with relatives on our long cross-country journey, we were able to get Luna into a pool for the very first time. She didn’t go willingly, but thanks to D’s craftiness, we got her to swim on her own. She didn’t seem too traumatized, thankfully.

After arriving on the west coast, we’ve hemmed and hawed about taking her to a dog beach - or at least to a nearby doggy day care that has a pool. Sadly, we’ve found just about every excuse in the book not to do either.  UNTIL THIS WEEKEND…

I was fortunate enough to get off work early on Saturday, and D had nothing better to do, so we loaded up the car with not nearly enough towels, and set out toward the nearest dog-park-beach-type-place.

Our first goal was to get Luna to get into the water entirely on her own, which was pretty simple. Our second goal was to get her out far enough to get her paws off the rocks and engage her swimming instinct. As you’ll see in the video, D tried ‘shaming’ her into swimming by pointing out all the other Goldens that were gladly diving into the surf. In the end, it just took a dose of patience and a small measure of finesse… 

Luna: Don’t even THINK about it, mama!

Let’s see what happens if I gently pull her… definitely not!

 

Let’s try persuading her with a treat… close, but no cigar.

 

Luna, you could follow the example of these pups – they are ready to go!

 

Finally getting brave enough to wander in the water.

Time for Dad’s help.

  

Going deeper…

Yay, we are finally swimming!

 

Good job Dad!  I would have helped out more, but I didn’t want to walk around looking like I’d had an ‘accident’ – I didn’t want to say anything, D, but it really did look like you’d wet yourself…

 



[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrKH0YvaQf8&hl=en]


Friday, July 23, 2010

I Cut The quick

When it comes to Luna getting ‘pretty feet’, we do very well together.  She knows that when the nail clippers come out she is to surrender her feet to me.  We really have gotten into a ‘grooming groove,’ where we are both comfortable – making the process of trimming her feet a smooth and quick one. Luna has learned to be very cooperative, and will let me manipulate her into various holds in order to get just the right angle for each cut.   This, however may be the last time she cooperates, because, well, I did it;  I finally cut Luna’s nail quick.  It’s not like it was a goal of mine, but I guess it was bound to happen at some point.

When I began trimming this time, I hadn’t noticed that she had one particularly odd looking claw (probably broken from a Tucker wrestling match) and the moment I pressed the clipper’s blade against it, it bled.  And boy did it bleed!  I have read from various sources that the quick can bleed profusely when cut, and now I can confirm that fact!  Luna didn’t really flinch - in fact I don’t think she really noticed the cut.  I however, was on my feet gathering up the nearest bunch of napkins I could find to wrap around her paw, then I scrambled for my Styptic Powder and dunked her foot into the mess.  The bleeding stopped instantly, and I was able to breath again.

The next time if there is a nail that looks out of whack, I think I’ll hold off of the clipping and just file it down. I could also suck it up and take her to my local pet store and have her feet groomed there…

After all the drama (and it was me that was being dramatic – she was calm throughout), Luna took it upon herself to ice down the wound…

I think she has forgiven me.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Luna, aka ‘Potty Mouth’


Luna. Luna, Luna, Luna. You have been such a great dog these last two years. You haven't destroyed any furniture, mauled any shoes, or demolished any household item when we've left you home alone. You haven't even tried to drink out of the toilet. OR HAVE YOU?!?!?!
Recently, we've had some plumbing issues in the house. The first one was only discovered one morning (just before I was supposed to leave for work - of course), when I found Luna's head and paws inexplicably covered in water. After further investigation, I noticed that our kitchen ceiling was buckling under the weight of some wayward water from our upstairs neighbors' shower. Then on Friday night, we saw water dripping down a light fixture in our dining room, this time from their other bathroom toilet.  Fortunately, it *seemed* that this incident was contained fairly quickly.
So, on Saturday, when D and I got home from dinner out, I took Luna outside, and D noted (with a certain degree of alarm) that Luna's head and paws were soaked. Naturally, we feared the worst, that another portion of our ceiling had collapsed. What we didn't know was that it was SO MUCH WORSE THAN THAT!!! I brought Luna back inside and immediately investigated the dining room ceiling. To my great relief, everything was intact, dry, undamaged. And then, just as my heart rate began to settle, there was a sudden shriek from down the hall.
"Honey, we have a problem!" D declared. "I think Luna's lost her mind. I think she tried to kill the bath mat." I approached the bathroom, cautiously, and found my husband standing over the edge of the tub, investigating the mutilated mat and dislodged drain plug. So transfixed was he, that he had failed to notice the real crime scene: the toilet. There was water dribbled everywhere - on the toilet seat, down the side of the toilet, and pooled at its base.
For the benefit of the ladies in my audience, I'm sorry - this one is my fault. My husband - like any husband - does plenty of things that annoy me, but unlike so many men in this world, he actually flushes the toilet, puts down the toilet seat, and nine times out of ten, closes the toilet lid.  In this case, it was I that had not flushed, and not closed the lid. Luna had clearly taken advantage of this, much to our dismay.
For those of you that have read Garth Stein's "The Art of Racing in the Rain," (available at your favorite bookseller) we couldn't help but think of the scene where the narrator/protagonist, Enzo the mutt - in a hunger-induced hallucination - believes that Zoe's stuffed zebra is taking advantage of his human's other toys, so he attacks and disembowels it. We imagined that Luna must have considered the bath mat a direct threat to herself and her humans - that it was lying patiently in wait for the perfect moment to 'take us out' in the shower - so she decided to launch a preemptive strike before it could injure or maim any of us.
More realistically, we can only surmise what happened in our brief, two hour absence. It has been rather warm here lately, so we think that perhaps Luna was looking for a cool place to lie down. She must've climbed into the tub, and 'dug' at the bath mat like she does on her pillow, trying to make a comfortable roost. After resting a bit, she decided to quench her thirst, and made for the nearest drinking vessel, disregarding the discolored water it contained.

She more or less knew, as soon as we'd come home, that she'd done something terribly out of the ordinary - even without any scolding from us, she slinked about guiltily. After D had tidied the tub, and I'd mopped the floor, it was time for a good, full bath for little Miss Potty Mouth, who more than willingly climbed into the tub for a good old-fashioned scrubbing!

A quick big thanks to D for the use of his ‘creative writing skills’ on this post.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Winner of CLEAN+GREEN

We are happy to announce the winner of our CLEAN+GREEN product review and give-a-way to K9friend of Critteralley.blogspot.com.  You have won a can of CLEAN+GREEN Auto. We hope you enjoy the product!!  Please contact me through the email link at the top of the page.

Thanks to everyone for visiting and we hope that you come back to visit us soon.

Contest winner was selected using Random-Line-Picker.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

CLEAN+GREEN review and give-a-way

Luna and I were recently invited to participate in a product review by the company CLEAN+GREEN, along with hosting a give-a-way on our blog. 

Here is a product description from their website: “Clean+Green® is the only eco-friendly aerosol pet cleaning product on the planet. Unlike most other cleaning products that can be harmful, require multiple applications and/or only temporarily mask odors, Clean+Green delivers instant results in a non-toxic, eco-friendly solution. Clean+Green permanently cleans pet stains and eradicates odors. It is safe for pets, people (kids too!), and the planet.”

For this review I was allowed to select one of the many CLEAN+GREEN products, so I chose the one that seemed most applicable to our canine environment - Furniture Refresher for Dogs!  This product is advertised to clean and permanently remove stains and dog odors on fabric, upholstery and dog beds.

Here we are putting it to the test.

Object to be cleaned- Luna’s filthy leather chair.

The result-

Luna’s thoughts-

   

I think Luna was happy to have her chair back.

I thought the product worked very nicely, especially on our leather furniture.  The product is odor-free, so it took a little getting used to using a cleaning product that didn’t have a strong smell to it. The cleaner did its job well; it cleaned the furniture and removed the ‘Luna’ odors from the house.

The product we will be giving a way is a can of CLEAN+GREEN – Auto.  All you need to do is comment on this post telling me how cute you think Luna is… just kidding, that’s too easy!  Just leave a comment and we will select a name on Monday the 19th.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Bummed Luna

Here is Luna, looking a little bummed because her new Golden friend didn’t come to play this last weekend.
 
Here is Luna again, perking her head up after I asked her where Tucker and Janet were.

This is Luna, giving me a slightly sour look once she figured out I was teasing her.
 

Friday, July 9, 2010

What A Week


Here are a few pictures of this past week.

The games begin!
 
Luna, sister Lindsey and Louis

Luna: Wake up sleepy head!

Having fun with Janet, Luna, and Tucker

Getting my own cuddle time with the dogs.

  A time out- yes D needed one too!
   
Two worn out pooches.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Wordless Wednesday #42

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Name Game


We are participating in The Name Game for the 4th of July, where we all share a blog post on What's Behind Your Name?  If you stop by Frankie's Blog, you can read about the game. And a quick thanks to Sugar for making the really cool badge!


D and I are often asked how we came up with Luna’s name.  We went back and forth on various names such as Lucy, Daisy, and Bella…. you know, those super cute names that are always fitting for Golden's. We eventually decided that we were going to go for a name that held a common interest between the two of us.  D and I both love tea, so we went back and fourth for days between Jasmine and Chai.  Still nothing seemed to fit.  What about a Spanish name I thought?  D spent most of his childhood growing up in such places as the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Uruguay, so it might be fitting to have a Spanish name for our puppy.  But how does that connect me? I had to do a bit of research, and the thing that eventually catches my eye is the word Luna which is Spanish for ‘moon.’  Another thing that grabbed my attention was the fact that Luna Park is a name shared by dozens of currently operating and defunct amusement parks that have opened on every continent except Antarctica since 1903 including the Seattle, Washington's Luna Park, which opened in 1907 and ran until 1913. The spaceship in the Pan-American Exposition ride "A Trip to the Moon" gave its name to this park.  It was also billed as the “Greatest Amusement Park on the West Coast."  So there you have it!  A Spanish name which means moon (which is appropriate for Luna’s Gold color) and an old park in my hometown of Seattle, named Luna, which was billed as one of the greats.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Guess Who’s Back?

Yes that’s right, it’s Tucker!  D and I have secretly named him ‘Little Terror Tucker’ to match nicely with our ‘Little Miss Lunatic.’  Catchy don’t you think?  Tucker will be staying with us over the weekend, so I’m sure there will be more pictures to share with you! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Going On A Walk

Luna:  Hmm… “I think I am supposed to be doing something but I am not quite sure.”
IMG_4264
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