Puppy Love

I agreed to puppysit for CC's swim coach for a weekend. Her Golden Retriever, Oliver, is 6 months old and cute as a button. He comes to swim practice quite often, and the kids love him. CC was so proud that she got to take him home.

He certainly made him self right at home. The kids were thrilled that he would jump up on the couch with them and cuddle (two things Amber won't do!). And several times MJ and I went upstairs to find him stretched out on our bed.

Amber was pretty good with him, but after the first few days, Ollie started getting aggressive with Amber. He'd curl his lip, snarl, and lunge at her! We had to supervise them every second, or put Ollie in his crate.

The "weekend" I agreed to turned into a full week, and MJ and I were happy to say good-bye to Ollie at the end of it. He's a cutie, but he reminded me why we didn't get a puppy after Rory died!

Something's Fishy

After a good run of one year and four months, Rex bit the dust. He'd been fading for a while, and there were multiple times Little Man and I were convinced he was dead. But then a day or so later, we'd see him swimming around again. But he hadn't eaten in a long time, spent whole days hiding inside the tank's AT-AT, and would often just lie down on his side on the bottom of the tank. So we knew his days were numbered.

Once he passed, Little Man and I headed to the store, where he picked Whitey Ford:

Whitey Ford was gorgeous Platinum Betta. I loved watching him swim, with those brilliant white fins spreading around him. But it was short lived -- after just 5 days, we found him dead.

So we headed back to the store. They were very apologetic, and allowed Little Man to pick out a replacement fish. This time, he chose a turquoise fish and named him Wiggum (after the police chief on The Simpsons.)

Wiggum is a Feathertail Betta, so his fins are much different looking than our past bettas. But fortunately, it's been a few weeks and he seems very active. He eats a lot and swims all over the tank. Here's hoping he lasts a good long while!

Farewell, Tyson

Yesterday was pretty bittersweet and emotional: we said good-bye to Tyson. He's been such a sweet, gentle part of our family for the last 5 months, but it was time for him to go be with his new family. His new dad, Geoffrey, drove here yesterday to pick him up. The kids took one final picture with him (Little Man wore all black for the occasion):

Tyson, we'll miss your gentle demeanor, your romps with Amber, and your goofy puppy-ness. But I won't miss the 4:45am wakeups or the food snatching!

More than a few tears were shed as Geoffrey's truck headed down the road. But he sweetened the deal with a box of bundlet cakes, and we are mollified that Tyson will be in good hands. We've already received a ton of pictures and videos of Tyson and his new sister, Storm. We love you, Ty-Ty!

Welcome, Tyson!

We have a (temporary) new member of our family: Tyson! He's a 18-month-old rescued Ridgeback that we're fostering for a few months while we get him accustomed to living with a family and ready to be adopted.

He is so scared. He's never lived indoors before, so he's terrified of everything. He won't even come in the house without us basically catching him on the deck and dragging him back in. He's never felt grass, never heard a TV, never had much human interaction at all. He couldn't even go up and down stairs for the first few days -- he'd just kind of slide down in a jumble of paws and legs.

He's a big boy, but a real softie. He won't approach anyone for affection, but we can sometimes pet him if we're nonchalantly walking by and not looking at him. He goes happily into his crate whenever we leave the house, but when we come back it's clear he's completely panicked -- the crate bars are bending and his towel bedding is shredded.

Tyson and Amber get along fine. Amber is a little grumbly, especially when he invades her personal space too much. But he seems pretty easy-going and lets Amber set the tone. They wrestle and roughhouse at least once every day.

He needs to get neutered once he's a little better adjusted, and then he'll go up for adoption. He will get snapped up in a heartbeat -- he's young, purebred, and drop-dead gorgeous. We already love him!

Fish Stories

Little Man received a fish for his birthday back in August (along with two snails), and he is very diligent about caring for him. I never have to remind him to feed the fish, or wonder how Fisto is doing.

Until this morning, when we woke up to Fisto lying on the floor of the tank, with one of the snails crawling on top of him. Clearly dead. Whoever said dead fish float belly-up? Little Man was pretty emotional about it, but I told him we'd go pick out another one. We'd only had Fisto for 6 weeks, for goodness' sake!

After school, I took Little Man to Petsmart, where he picked out a new betta fish -- a Black Orchid Betta. Introducing Rex! (It's a double reference -- "King" as well as a Captain Rex, a Star Wars clone commander.)

Once we got Rex settled in the tank at home, I asked Little Man if he was still sad.

"Why?" he asked. "I have another fish now."

Super sympathetic, this one.

But Rex is beautiful, and I'm happy to report that he's much more active than Fisto ever was. I think that's a good sign. He eats more than twice what Fisto ate, he doesn't hide behind the filter all the time, and he spends most of the day swimming around in the open. 

Fingers crossed that Rex lasts longer than Fisto did! 

Happy Birthday, Amber!

This special girl, who is such an important part of our family, turned SIX today! We've loved all the 4.5 years we've had with her, and our only regret is not knowing her when she was a tiny, wrinkly puppy.

Happy birthday, Amber! Enjoy your gigantic bone!

Foiling Houdini

When we first got Amber a year and a half ago, she spent the first week constantly jumping over the fence. So we put pickets on the back side of the fence, so she couldn't use the cross-beams to get over. Problem solved. Or so we thought ...

All of a sudden, 1.5 years later, she has started jumping the fence again! Not only to get out, but also (according to neighbors) to get back in! So I did some research, and here's what I came up with:

Coyote rollers! When installed along the top edge of a fence, they can keep coyotes from jumping into yards. But they're equally effective at keeping dogs from jumping out.

After a few YouTube videos and a quick trip to Home Depot, I was ready to go. It took a few hours, but now we have an Amber-proof fence. (Until she lulls us into a false sense of security again, and then comes up with a new trick.)

It's our AMBER-versary!

Amber has officially been a Morrison for a year now! And she couldn't be a better addition to our family. She is much different than Rory was, but our family is much different than it was when we had Rory. Everything happened the way it was meant to be -- Amber is perfect for our family at this point.

She is gracious with the kids and puts up with their unpredictability. She's incredibly laid-back for a 2-year-old dog, and spends most of her time lazing around in sunbeams or in her bed upstairs. Every night around 8:00, she puts herself to bed upstairs. She's an old soul, according to MJ.

In the last few months, she's been getting a bit more brazen with food, occasionally jumping up onto the counters right in front of us to swipe food. But she's also particular about food, unlike Rory -- whose motto was, "When in doubt, eat it."

When we first got Amber, Sweet Pea was scared of dogs. I admit I had a pang of guilt -- why were we adding a large dog to our family when our 5-year-old was terrified of dogs? But from Day 1, Sweet Pea had a special connection with Amber and will hug and kiss her without hesitation.

Amber is hands-down the quietest dog I've ever known. Sometimes she ends up being in the backyard for more than an hour, because she's just quietly standing at the back door to come back in and no one notices! She's learned what the doorbell is, and she'll give quiet little "huffs" when it chimes.

She loves to ride in the car, and will jump in if a door is left open: like if I'm unloading groceries, I'll find her standing in the back amidst the milk and vegetables. If she gets loose, she doesn't run away or play chase, which is such a relief ... because these kids let her out at least once a day! She doesn't flinch anymore when someone moves quickly, and she's less wary of strangers. She doesn't panic from separation anxiety anymore. In general she is a much more relaxed, stress-free dog than she used to be.

We love you, dear Amber! And we pray for many more years with you.

Sun Dog

Amber doesn't care if there are workmen at the house, tearing things up. She will find the spot of sun in the middle of the construction, and claim it. Even if it's right on top of their dropcloth.

She is becoming wise to the ways of an indoor dog.

(We are having some water damage repaired and new windows put in. Nothing too fancy or exciting, I'm afraid!)

Happy Birthday, Amber!

Amber turned two today ... happy day!

She was fairly tolerant of us making a big deal about it. But she was more than happy to enjoy her ground-beef cupcake!

Creature Comforts

Being a previous "outdoor" dog, Amber has never had a dog bed. We had to fix that situation. Once we got her housetraining under control and could trust her to stay in bed at night, we got Amber her very first bed. She loves it!

We also wanted to get her a nice soft crate pad. We'd kept old towels in her crate in case she had an accident, but she's kept them clean and dry. So we got her a nice thick memory foam pad to lay on in her crate when we aren't home.

The first day, I checked in on her via our camera:

The kids thought it was hilarious that she somehow managed to get underneath it and use it as a blanket.

The next day, we came home to this:

Looks like we'll stick with towels from now on!

Amber the Agile

This week, Amber discovered that she can climb up into the swingset's clubhouse. With two exuberant leaps up the ramp, she's at the top and she loves it! The kids think it's hilarious.

Maybe I should look into agility training for her!

Welcome Amber!

Today MJ and I drove all the way to Tennessee to pick up the newest member of our family. Meet Amber!

She is a show dog who wasn't winning in the ring because her tail curls up, so her owner surrendered her. My disgust over that person's lack of responsibility towards her animals is tempered by my pleasure at finding a healthy, young, female Ridgeback for us. One of the few details we know of Amber's previous life is that she was an outdoor dog, so already we know her life will improve dramatically now that she's ours.

Our first impressions of this girl are: she's bigger than Rory was, she's beautiful, she's very quiet, and she's really nervous of us. She flinches when we move quickly, which makes my heart hurt for her. And I don't think she's been around kids much, because she grumbles when ours get too close, and a few times she's made nasty-sounding barks at them. I hope that gets better after she adjusts to our household.

For now, she will sleep in a crate in our room until we know what her house manners are. She is not houstrained, so we need to work on that. But nothing good is easy, right? With just a little time and energy, I'm hopeful she will be a wonderful dog for us. Welcome to the Morrison family, Amber!

(Many thanks to my parents, who took care of the kids so MJ and I could make the trip quickly and easily. Also, thanks to Alice for taking this shockingly perfect picture of us! Even Amber is looking straight at the camera!)