“Lu” & “Ru”

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. I wish I had some great excuse, but I’ve just been really lazy.

About two weeks ago, one of our neighbors had a party at her house. Erik and I went for a little while, and then when we were leaving, we offered to take her dog Rupert home with us so he could have some playtime with Lulu. Rupert came to Lulu’s birthday party, but that’s the only time she’s really been around him. We started outside in the backyard, but both dogs made it clear they’d rather be hanging out inside. We let them in and Rupert made himself right at home. After he explored the house, he was ready to chill on the couch. Lulu had other plans for him. She antagonized him until hopped down, and then she tried to hump him. Typical Lulu. I got her to sit still for a few seconds, so I was able to take at least one really cute picture of them!

King of the couch

Lulu didn't like Rupert digging through her toys

This is clearly the best picture and I just noticed I'm in it, so that means Erik must have taken it. Dang it! 

Road Warrior

Lulu and I hit the road this weekend for our annual Mother’s Day trip to Tulsa. Our day started off a little on the rocky side. It was pouring down rain and Erik had already left for Warrior Dash (don’t ask), so I had to load the car by myself. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but I had to figure out a good place for Lulu to ride since we would be in the car for four hours. I had stand outside in the rain and try to rig something where she would be comfortable. I ended up putting her big bed in the front seat. I had to cram a cardboard box in the floorboard for support. It turned out to be perfect! She had plenty of room and she got to be right next to her momma. I made sure the airbags were off just in case we had an accident. As always, she did such a good job in the car. We stopped halfway for a potty break, but other than that, she slept the entire time.

She was very excited when we got to Mer’s (my grandma) house. Mer has a great big backyard with lots of fun things for Lulu to get into. As soon as we arrived, she found something dead to roll in. I didn’t get to see what it was because by the time I got to her, she had already eaten it. That didn’t stop her from continuing to roll in the nasty maggot pile where it had been. She smelled like death. We had to put my mom’s powder on her just so it was bearable. Next she decided to go on a digging rampage. We looked out the window and all we could see was a little butt up in the air and dirt flying. She had been so good lately, but I guess all the rules are out the window at grandma’s house. Lulu slept really well that night and even went back to bed after her 6 am potty break and stayed there until 8:15. It was amazing.

We left Mer’s house Sunday afternoon and headed to Fort Smith to see my dad (Lulu’s grandpa) on our way back home. Lulu loves my dad’s house. She goes a little crazy there for some reason. It may be because he has an outside cat and a family of opossums that live in his backyard. She had a great time sniffing and playing in his pool with her aunt Maggie and uncle Blake. I noticed she was drinking a lot of pool water, but I didn’t think too much about it.

When we left, my dad took her to potty. He said she did her business, so off we went. About thirty minutes into our drive, I noticed Lu kept tossing and turning. She couldn’t get comfortable. She even hopped in the backseat, which she never does. I called my dad and asked if he was sure she went, and he said yes. About five minutes later she looked at me and whined. I knew what that meant. I took the first exit I came to (which of course didn’t have any gas stations or places to stop in sight). We hopped out on the side of the road and Lulu peed longer than I’ve ever seen her pee before, on a pile of straw. I felt so bad. I don’t know why I didn’t realize she had to potty earlier. We got back in the car and she instantly fell asleep. About an hour and a half later, she woke up and started doing her dance again. I instantly pulled off on the first exit (again, no rest stop or gas station in sight) and she had another long potty break.

After our many pit stops, we finally made it back home around 6:30. Talk about a long trip! I gave Lu a bath and Erik and I went to dinner.  Lulu slept like a rock all night and we even had to wake her up this morning. 

On the way to Mer's house

She was sleeping in some awkward positions!

Worn out from rolling in dead stuff!

Behaving like a dog

Since Lulu is more like a human than a dog, it’s sometimes surprising when she does something instinctual. For instance, the other night she got a new bone. She ate most of it, but I guess she wanted to bury the tiny bit she had left. We were lying in bed watching TV and she started “nosing” a hole in our comforter. Erik and I both died laughing as we watched our little fluff ball make no progress at all. She was determined, so she kept on until she was satisfied with the burial. I started recording her about half way through. The video is a little blurry because apparently I had something on my lens. I wiped it off and started filming again, but she was finished at that point. I’ve posted both videos below. Be sure and turn your volume up when you watch them, because the commentary is excellent : )

Crazy girl fell asleep with her bed on a bed.

"Lulu, how did that bed get outside?"

"I don't know mom!"

cutie

Red beard

Birthday Girl

Where do I begin? Lulu’s birthday bash was a huge success (besides it being deathly hot outside). We had a great turn out and all the dogs got along well. We had everything set up on our deck for the humans, and planned on keeping the dogs gated off down in the yard. However, it was so hot on the deck, we ended up moving chairs down to the grass and just co-mingled. The dogs loved “the watering hole,” especially the two labs. They were both splashing around in what was supposed to be a large water bowl. I guess it became a mini swimming pool instead. Our smallest guests were a Yorkie and Pekingese, and the biggest was a Great Dane. It was a very diverse group to say the least! Lulu was so happy that all her friends came over to celebrate her big day.

The humans snacked on dogs on a stick (corndogs) and tail waggin’ tasty fruit. We had my favorite mini-pies from Pie in the Sky for dessert. I think mini-pies are going to be the next big thing. They are so good and come in many delicious flavors. Watch out cupcakes and cake pops, the pies are going to takeover (at least at my house they are)!

I made little doggie bags for Lulu’s guests to take home. They included yummy wheat-free treats from Just Dogs Gourmet and a little squeaky toy. I also had a birthday cake made for Lulu. We didn’t want to cause a fight, so we waited until most of the dogs left before we let Lu dig in. I’m pretty sure she liked it considering she kept begging for more. Lu is not a food-motivated dog, so it’s easy to tell when she really likes something. I had planned on making the cake myself, but when I was looking online I discovered that Just Dogs makes the cutest cakes, so I thought, why not? I called and they were able to get it done in no time! Less work for me=happy dog mom.

In “Lu” of gifts, we accepted old toys and other items to donate to the Humane Society of Pulaski County. Our wonderful guests brought so much stuff; the animals at the shelter are going to be very happy! I’ve always had this little twinge of guilt for buying Lulu from a breeder instead of rescuing a pet (although I have no regrets whatsoever), so it makes Lu and I feel good to help out the less fortunate. She and I will be dropping off all the goodies later this week.

When the party was over, Erik and I cleaned everything up and finally crashed on the couch with our tired little pup. She had such a great time with all her doggie friends, but she was ready for a nap! Here are some of the party pics (click a picture to make it bigger):

Her Invitation

back of invite

party favors!

the human food

yum!

best pies ever!

Birthday girl!

The hardest part was letting the dogs in without letting anyone out!

The "watering hole" was a big hit!

My mom the dog whisperer

Wolfie gave Claire lots of kisses

Our biggest and smallest guests hanging out

The birthday girl was getting tired!

Cake time!

Family photo

Tired pup!

Happy Birthday My Precious Pup!

Today is Lulu’s birthday! She’s one year old. It seems like only yesterday Erik and I were sitting on the couch talking about how cool it would be to have dog hanging out with us.

Here’s how Lulu came to be…

I had been talking about getting a dog for a long time, but I wanted to wait until all the conditions were right. The first step was living close enough to my workplace so I could go home and check on a dog at lunch. Then there was figuring out what kind of dog we wanted. Erik is kind of a clean freak, so he wanted one that didn’t shed. We both agreed that a mid-sized dog would be good, maybe around 40-45 lbs. When I was on a walk one day, I ran into a man walking the cutest, fluffiest puppy. I stopped him and asked him what it was, and he told me it was a goldendoodle. After doing some research on the breed, I was sold. Erik and I were going to get a medium-sized, apricot-colored goldendoodle.

We made a few trips to look at doodles, but I couldn’t really find a breeder I felt comfortable with. I finally found someone about 30 minutes away that I really liked. Erik and I went to her house to look at her doodles. She didn’t have any puppies at the time, but she was planning a litter for about 6 months down the road. Erik and I thought we could be patient, but we were wrong. As soon as we met her adult doodles, we wanted a puppy right away! The breeder told us her cousin had a litter of two-week old puppies that we could look at, but they were dark mini goldendoodles. I didn’t want a dark doodle, but Erik really liked the idea of having something different (plus they cost less than the golden colored ones). He convinced me to drive down the street and at least look at them. Typically, they don’t let you see or hold the puppies until they are older, but the lady brought out a basket with all 9 puppies for us to see and she said I could pick one up. I looked in and saw the sweetest little face I’d ever seen. Without hesitation, I said that’s the one I want to hold! I snuggled her close for about 30 seconds, then had to give her back.

Five minutes later I was writing a check for our puppy deposit. The breeder told us we would get first pick of the litter, and I could choose my puppy when they were about 4 weeks old. We went home and I instantly started ordering monogrammed puppy blankets, food bowls, beds, toys, etc. Erik and I were so excited! The breeder updated the puppy pictures about once a week, so I constantly stalked her web site. As soon as the first pictures were up, I recognized the little puppy I had held. I told Erik I felt like she was the one, but I still wanted to wait and see how they changed as they got older. It felt like months, but when two more weeks had gone by, we got to go back and play with all the puppies and make our final decision. I had done a lot of research about how to pick the right puppy from the litter. There were several “tests” to perform to find out more about their personalities. 

When we got there, I had it narrowed down to three puppies based on their looks, and of course the original pup I held was one of them. The other two puppies passed all the personality tests just fine. When I started testing my initial puppy choice, she was awful. I tried to put her on her back and she bit me. I called her to come to me and she ran the opposite way. I started to panic because I wanted to pick her, but she was doing everything wrong! Erik, the voice of reason, informed me that my testing was just BS and I should pick the dog I want. When I put that bad little puppy back in her cage, she stuck her mouth through the bars and licked me on the nose. I knew right then and there 100% sure that puppy was my Lulu (I just got tears in my eyes when I wrote that last sentence)!

We were so happy when we left that day! It was going to be hard to wait another 4 weeks to bring her home, but that’s what we had to do. I took off work on Friday, June 24 to go pick her up. My mom came with me since Erik had to work. When I got her in the car, she put her sweet little head on my chest and looked up at me the whole ride home. I loved her so much already!

It was tough the first few months­– getting up in the middle of the night for potty breaks, having to leave her at home by herself, trying to do everything right…but it was all worth it!  Get ready for puppy picture overload!

Tiny Lulu!

Her first time to bite me!

Failing the back test...

Daddy holding her for the first time!

Her first toy basket

travel bag

Posing for her crazy Momma

getting big

Happy to be at her new home!