Happy anniversary TotheMax!!

I was going to start this post, honestly, with a bit of a blurb on how deja-vu it is that we are going on a trip to the north a tad earlier than last year and I was just starting my blog about a year ago this month. I said to myself, "whoa, I really think it was right about now that I started this blog". So, in doing about 45 seconds of research I realized that today is the ONE YEAR anniversary of my first post! On September 6, 2009, I wrote "How to fall in love with a puggle". I got one comment from Shireen, I believe. So, in dedication to my beautiful puggle, I will dedicate this anniversary post to Max.

Max is now 3 years old and has seen the country: he has romped with horses in New Jersey; Max has been in the pond on Jeff's mom's property in Greenville, Maine, treading water next to our canoe; he has smelled the fragrances of thirteen states! I have posted about a number of these states and while I haven't shared stories of all Max's adventures, rest assured, he is quite content. I think he was thrilled the day we packed up the RV to leave Rock Harbor Marina. It was a great stay for us and I learned how to SCUBA there (remember TA?), but the dogs struggled daily with the broken glass and scrappy aluminum garbage street side as we took our daily walks. Finally, we brought the family up to Naples, Florida to a RV park with a plush walking path. The dogs were in heaven! We spent a few weeks there and then it was off to what would become our last RV park, the Venice/Myakka River KOA. We spent about 3 weeks there and between my posts on our real estate adventures, you know the trek ended here. We found a house in nearby Englewood on about 1.5 acres of property; the dogs are starting to be experts in their territory.

This year has been pretty crazy: new RV experience, new states, starting a RV trip in the first year of our marriage, leaving behind a lot of friends, Lidiya having a boy, the list could go on ad infinitum. The point is, I think is that I thought my life couldn't get any more unpredictable than January of 2009. Here I am, starting a dog walking business and I have Max, Sadie, and Fenway to thank for that inspiration, and of course Jeff, for his support!

Thanks for reading and keep following! On a note regarding following and my anniversary, I have decided to keep it fresh with new changes all the time and I am going to add a new list! You are always free to comment!

Max runs with the big dogs!

Max is getting as much of a work out as I am. Granted, he is not running along side of my beach cruiser (because I am not advanced enough and Max is a bit too ambitious). However, between his daily walks, he runs with the big dogs in Dog Park II at Tybee Island's dog park yards. He has no fear of the larger dogs and he runs next to them and does a fairly good job of catching up with them. The problem is he is such a GOOD sport, he doesn't always let me know when he gets tired. So he runs and runs...and runs and runs. Then he comes home, drinks a bunch of water and passes out (not in a bad way, but in a very exhausted way). I would probably be a bit more worried if he was a full bred pug (with a bradycephalic face and concerning respiratory structure). Watching Max's precious wide open smile as he bounds across the dog park is good enough reason to fall in love with him all over again!

Max in Maine

Max is in love with the outdoors and smelling every possible new MAINE scent he get wrap his little puggle nose around. He just takes off, leaping over large logs, exploring forests and bushes and comes out of it all licking everything and everyone. We just went on a canoe ride; Max was a passenger...for about five or ten minutes. We dropped him off in the water by the shore across the pond from the house. He ran with Sadie and Fenway until Sadie got in the water (she is an avid swimmer, even at her age!). He then realized that he was going to go swimming, whether he liked it or not, if he wanted to keep up with Sadie. Typically, he loves the water,but this is very very very cold pond water.He belly flopped himself in the water. In the, I repeat, very very very cold pond water. He simply is a puggle in love with himself, his canine "sisters", his human parents, and the environment around him. I fall in love with him every time I see him bound in to the bushes and come out the other side full of leaves, shaking them off furiously. On land, he is more comfortable with running to catch up with Fenway, trying to pull tricks only possible for a dog his size (gloating in front of Fenway and Sadie) and it is just too adorable. I know when day he will get old and just curl up on the deck, or patio or what ever Jeff and I will have at the time. Now, he's just a little two and half year old puggle who still acts like a puppy and I love to watch him be.

I just got to talk to Jeff's sister (Becky) about the boxer Annie that she has had since Annie's infancy and it makes me wonder about Max's parents. Who was the beagle? Who was the pug? I can only imagine he was taken care of prior to finding him on http://www.petfinder.com/ . I adopted a pug with bright white intact teeth, pink paw pads and an excellent disposition. I almost feel guilty that he probably just ran away from a loving home and I simply paid for him and took him home after his surgery. Then I think back-he had no tags, no microchip, no neutering. Who ever cared for him did not spend a lot of money on looking after him or the pet population! I promptly took care of these things. There was no way this little creature full of love was going to get away from me.

Fortunately, when Max escaped from the fenced yard soon after we moved to Lookout Mountain, I had tags and someone called when a responsible dog lover (or perhaps just a responsible human being) found him. He left me a message on my cell and brought him to the veterinary clinic at the bottom of the mountain. I went immediately to pick him up and got new tags. Since then, we have gone on the road in the RV. We outfitted all three dogs that we have with new tags with their names and my current cell phone.

Maybe I just lucked out with Max, but puggles are just full of joy and happiness. I would still be interested in owning a full breed, but after researching full breed puppies, I may have a lower maintenance dog on my hands here and I love him!

How to fall in love with a puggle

I was a cat owner. I was the owner of multiple cats. I am pretty sure now that was a mistake. I felt that when I realized that I was not the best caretaker in that darker period of my life, that I would never be fit to have pets ever again. In the next years that followed, I turned my life around and in that process, returned the cats to a shelter. A year later, I made serious and intentional amends to the animal shelter. That was then, this is now.
After a little time and a lot more faith, I considered getting a dog. I researched the most appropriate dog for my size condo and came up with pug or English bulldog.I enlisted myself on rescue breed waiting lists. I started looking on websites and found a dog that happened to be at a rescue shelter. I called them as soon as they opened on the Friday right before Memorial day 2008.
I went right down to the shelter and met a dog that was more puggle than pug. The man from the shelter deposited an adorable puggle into my cubicle and the puppy proceeded to immediately pee right in the middle of our assigned little box. The man kindly cleaned the mess up and directed us to the next cubicle-and there it happened. This dog licked me constantly and deposited tan fur on my black teeshirt for the next 45 minutes. The man came back and asked me "what do you think?". I told him I fell in love. I fell deeply in love with Max, the puggle. I spent 10-15 minutes completing paperwork and made a plan to pick up my new puppy after Memorial day. Tuesday he was to undergo his neuter surgery and I was to pick him up Tuesday afternoon. I immediately contacted my friend Shireen who generously donated a portion of her Saturday to help me prepare for my newest pet.
Saturday, Shireen instructed me to get things for Max I had not even thought of as well as the obvious puppy paraphenalia: poop bags, Kongs (ultimate toy), healthy food (yes, dogs have junk food too, apparently) and a kennel (to crate train-Max came to love this-no torture intended or endured). She helped me pick out the things that would bring Max ultimate comfort. Thanks Shireen!!
I picked up Max and a three day supply of carprofen for his pain/discomfort and headed home. That night and endless (well, okay, about a week) nights after, Max cried and cried. I doubted if I was doing the right thing. I continued to ask my dog owner friends if I was even doing this pet thing right; they assured me I was. Even when the dog humped his bed in the middle of my bookclub, I loved my Max. Even when he chewed up my Grandma's afghan blanket, I loved the puggle. Much to my surprise, the vet told me I may have gotten a puppy instead of a dog "around 1 year old" as advertised. Longer to love Max, I figured.
Now, more than a year later, Max does not fail to give me unconditional support, love, neverending licks and tons of nudges in the right direction. It's contagious....my husband has fallen in love with him too!