Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bruce Wayne, the Super Model

Some of you readers already know about Bruce Wayne's modeling career. It all started in January of this year when I started up a shop on Etsy.com to sell snoods for dogs: the Snug-A-Bull shop.


He went through some intense training all winter long, modeling scarves, snoods, and other winter accessories.


But ever since the shop went on vacation this Spring, he has been itching for an opportunity to start modeling again. Which is why he was so excited when local rescue, One Tail at a Time, announced their Summer Photo Contest. How could we resist the opportunity to paste those ears all over the CTA while promoting rescue dogs in Chicago?? We immediately scheduled a special photo shoot in the back yard and sent in our application...I don't want to give away his final photo for the contest, but here is a little sneak peek from our shoot.


Voting begins June 1st, so be sure to "Like" the One Tail Facebook Page and keep an eye out for this handsome cowboy at the start of the month. And maybe, just maybe you'll be seeing those giant bat ears every morning on your commute to work later this summer. I know that would make my day a little brighter! Bruce and I thank you in advance for your support. :)

Monday, May 21, 2012

Dog Bite


Yesterday kicked off National Dog Bite Prevention Week, which had me reading up on a ton of tips and statistics related to dog bites in the US each year. Did you know that 4.7 million people in this country are bitten by dogs every year, 800,000 of which need to receive medical attention? Did you know that in 2008 I was one of those people? It's true. After a lifetime of dog ownership, 8 years of working at a veterinary clinic, and a part-time job working at a doggie daycare in the city, I had never been bit by a dog until the night before Christmas Eve....becoming another statistic in US dog bites just before the close of that year. And almost four years later, it's still hard for me to talk about...but here goes.

As I said, it was the night before Christmas Eve of 2008 and I was heading out to my parents' house in the burbs to get ready for the next day's festivities (we're a Polish family, so Christmas Eve has always been the big party day at our house). It was snowing pretty hard and everything was blanketed by pure white; it was really quite beautiful and I couldn't help but enjoy the scenery as I got off the highway and started heading down the roads I had been down so many times before. As I was about to make the last few turns toward home I noticed that somebody's two dogs had gotten out and were quite enjoying themselves romping through the freshly fallen snow, a little too close to the road. 

Being the animal lover that I am, I couldn't just move on knowing that these dogs might be in danger, so I pulled over in the lot on the corner and got out to find a couple other drivers who had done the same. We did our best to call the dogs over and away from the intersection,  but they were having too good of a time to notice us or the oncoming traffic. A "whack" and a "thud" later, my heart started racing and the small group of us were making our way to the scene of the accident. The first dog got clipped and limped away to the side of the road, but the second dog wasn't so lucky. What was a bounding black ball of fur a moment ago was now lying flat on the snowy pavement with a terrified look in his eyes. I don't remember what must have been going through my head (nothing rational) but the next thing I knew there was a sharp pain in my left hand and my palm started pooling blood. I didn't know what to do or say. Another woman who had stopped saw what had happened and thoughtfully gave me a t-shirt from her back seat to stop the bleeding. I wrapped it around my hand as tight as I could and tied it in a knot, made my way back to my car, and drove the last mile through snow and tears where my family was awaiting my arrival. 

I managed to get across what had happened between hysterical sobs and a box of Kleenex, then my dad and brother took me to the 24-hour emergency care clinic where I was the only patient of the night. I like to think I at least made work a little more interesting for the nurses and doctors who were stuck working that night, although they also had to try and decipher the order of events from my blubbering recollection of the night's activities. They cleaned out the wound (ouch!), gave me some antibiotics and a few extra-strength advil, wrapped my hand in an impressive amount of gauze, and called the police office to file a dog bite report. The dog didn't make it. 

This was turning out to be the worst Christmas ever. The next day I left to sing at church before the rest of the family arrived. I told my sister to please tell everyone what had happened before I got back and instruct them not to bring it up for fear that I would spend the entire night looking like some kind of crazy person. I said a prayer for the family who lost their dog the night before Christmas Eve and, though they've faded over time, I'll always have the scars to remind me not to put my hands near an animal who is frightened or injured. 



Learn from my mistakes! 
Share your knowledge with others to help prevent dog bites!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Baby Pictures

Every now and then M and I will lament the fact that we never got to know Alfred as a puppy. Based on his ridiculously adorable appearance as an adult facts, we can only conclude that he would have been a fabulously smooshable one. 


Alfred's best "puppy dog eyes"

Bruce Wayne, on the other paw, has a plethora of adorable pup pictures which we can always look back upon and squeal with delight as we recall the day we fell in love with those monster maniac ears and his sweet puppy disposition.  






I tried searching the web for pics of pups that might resemble what Alfred may have looked like years ago, but I'm pretty sure nothing that cute exists in photographic history. While still cute, the best I could come up with was these two puppies combined.



photos courtesy of www.puppypictures.org

Even though we don't have any puppy pictures of Alfred, I'm glad that we have the opportunity to take many, many more family photos in the years to come. That, and we can make up hilarious back stories of what he might have done as a baby bully...like flopping around on his back and showing his little round baby belly, or sucking a baby-sized blanket with his floppy puppy lips. I may need to hire an artist to come up with an Alfred puppy rendering...that would be fantastic.  

Friday, May 11, 2012

Friday Haiku: The Sweet Spot

Sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff
That's it - I think I've found it!
Roll in that sweet spot.

-Bruce Wayne & Alfred the Dog






Monday, May 7, 2012

Battle Royale

Over the weekend I spent some time thinking about how Bruce and Alfred's relationship has grown since the first time they met...can you believe it has almost been 2 years?!? Although they still have plenty of brotherly scuffles, the majority of their days look something like this...


...which is great for three reasons:

      1) I no longer have to play doggie police and can get some work done.
     
      2) Alfred can live in the whole apartment instead of being our "kitchen dog."
     
      3) It is ridiculously cute.

However, one can only look at so many pictures of lazy dogs snuggling on the couch [not really], so today we are going to share some of the best Alfred/Bruce fight scenes from the last 22 months.












No dogs were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Dog Who Hates Hugs


Don't you just want to hug this little muffin???

Well, forget about it because he's not about to let you hug him. As a matter of fact, don't even think about hugging someone else either because he hates that too. That's right: Bruce Wayne is the dog who hates hugs.

Don't get me wrong, he loves snuggling...



...and he gives great kisses...



...but when it comes to hugs, he'll do just about anything to get away. He doesn't even mind being handled for baths, nail trims, or having his paws wiped. He just can't stand being hugged. Maybe he just thinks it's a fun game to play keep-away with his affections.  Or maybe he associates them with his least favorite thing of all: saying goodbye. If M and I even try to hug each other he will whine and jump up and throw a fit. If he had it his way, mom would never leave the house and he could snuggle with her whenever he wished.  I guess that's what you get when you work from home and spoil your kids rotten!


Note to self: next time you get a puppy, try to resist it's 
snuggling charms for AT LEAST 1 hour a day.