Basically Just A Bunch Of Cute Pictures Of My Puppy

So people are always like, "Oh, are you training him? You got him in obedience classes?" And I'm like "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!" Honestly he is super smart and knows all the tricks. Like he can sit and stay, shake, high five, lay down, come, heel, and I even taught him how to say bye and get his leash. AND he learned how to get his bone yesterday. (Side note on lay down: He thinks he has to hit my hand with his hand as I do the lay down gesture lol. So like when he learns tricks he picks up on any little thing and thinks that has to happen the next time. I'm telling you. VERY SMART.)

The only problem is he is v selective about when he does things. Like, if we have treats he will do anything. But if we don't he kind of picks and choose. So like, yes, that I probably need to train him better on. But like when people say that to me I am like, wondering if they say it because they think he isn't trained? Idk. #dogmomworries.

If any of you have advice on how to get your v smart and food motivated dog to obey when you don't have food, hit me UP.

XOXO
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E

P.S. If you just came here for the puppy pictures, I did too.

The Grossest Thing You Will Ever Read

Hi. 

To be honest, I don't really know why I am writing this post. I guess I just feel like everyone else should have to experience the horror? Also this is my journal after all, and I'll write whatever the **** I think is worth remembering. And THIS is worth remembering. *shudders* *gags* *gags while shuddering*

So, let's set the scene. It's 1:00 am and the three amigos are sleeping (me, J, and Tucker, duh). I wake up to the sound of Tucker gagging. I immediately remember my friend Jovanna telling me about her dog throwing up and how she almost caught it in her hands but wasn't to that dog mom level yet. I, also, was not at that dog mom level yet (and probably will never be) so I just laid there. 

(Let's take a short break to talk about me crying. If you know me IRL you know that I HATE CRYING. Like, the most uncomfortable situation I can think of myself in, is of me crying in front of someone who isn't also crying. I would rather stand butt naked in front of a crowd than cry in front of them. Idk why I am like this.

So naturally, I RARELY cry. Like if you see me cry, you better bottle those tears up because they will heal wounds. #iamaphoenix

The last time I cried was a year ago. I got sick and threw up for the first time since like, the 6th grade and I HATE throwing up. So I came back from the bathroom and BAWLED for a solid ten minutes. J was, validly, very weirded out.

But since then, I have cried 0 tears. (Well, now I am remembering another time I cried after getting my boobs chopped off (my mother hates when I phrase my breast reduction this way, hi mom).) 

OK ANYWAY. I JUST DON'T CRY A LOT, OK? AND WHEN I DO IT'S LIKE, .5 TEARS.)

Ok so back to the story. So it's 1:00 am, Tucker is gagging, and I'm wondering if I'll ever be a good enough dog mom to catch his vomit in my hands. Second later: vomit. Everywhere. Vomit everywhere.

I wake J up (why do I do this?) and we clean it up and then go back to bed. No harm no foul. Well, LITTLE DID WE KNOW.

This was on the third night when we vomit proofed the room... and then he ended up not throwing up lol

The next night, Tucker gets up, again, at 1:00 am and throws up. I wake J up again and we go our separate ways. Me to put Tucker somewhere he can't attempt to eat his own vomit, and J to get the cleaning supplies. We meet back in the bedroom and J, with his hand full of paper towels, goes to grab the vomit.

I was like, "Wait..." I looked closer to see there was spaghetti in Tucker's throw up. Which was weird because we don't give Tucker people food. And also we hate spaghetti.

Only then the spaghetti's started moving. Like, stretching 5 inches above the vomit and trying to get away.

I yelled, "J THERE ARE WORMS IN THERE. THERE ARE WORMS IN THERE!!!" J was like, "What?!!!! No...... OH MY GOSH!!!"

Naturally, I immediately ran out of the room and into the furthest corner of the apartment, like any good wife would. J cleaned them up while I obsessively washed my hands, avoiding Tucker (who we now lovingly call Worms) at all costs because #wormgerms. As we crawled back into bed it for some reason just clicked to me that like, we have this gross dog with worms and like, he's been all over our bed and licks incessantly and I most likely have worms too. So, I started crying. Like, a lot. And sob-talking, which is equally as horrible. I ended up crying myself back to sleep, with J holding me and most likely wondering how I was supposed to be the mother of his children. (Not pregnant.)

The next morning we avoided Tucker like the plague. I came home from work and completely cleaned and sanitized everything in our room. Like, washed everything in hot water and wiped down every surface with alcohol wipes.

Gotta be covered from head to toe to protect yourself from the wormie germies. 

I announced this fiasco on my Facebook, and everyone was like, "It's fine! He'll be fine! They are common!" assuming I was worried about Tucker. But in real life I was like, "Ok that's great but can we talk about me for a second?? Tucker was like, the last of my concerns.  So if you're wondering why I don't have kids yet, there ya go.

Tucker chillin' at the vet while she told us he had three different parasites. One of which she had never heard of before. 

We took him to the vet the day after and she explained to us worms are transported fecal-oral. So like I'd have to eat his poop to get them pretty much. So, I maybe over reacted just a little bit. But honestly, I wouldn't be my true self if I didn't overreact for the entertainment of others. (This is how I justify it to myself.)

Currently, Worms (I mean Tucker) is on some puppy powder that's going to run us about $500 by the time he's done with it (yay for student loans). He is very happy and doesn't seem to know he has worms. I am also in a better place and do not believe I have worms. J, however, believed he had worms shortly after I got over my fear of worms. He thought he had them for a two day period and experienced much distress, but is also doing better now. 

The positive to all of this is that probably nothing will ever be grosser than seeing worms in your dogs vomit. No baby fluids or rotten foods could possibly beat that. So, I guess we have that out of the way with. Although, we also learned that me + gross things = running away and crying uncontrollably. So, I'm not sure what kind of future that prepares me for. Luckily I am married to the world's nicest person who will not only clean up gross worm vomit, but then rub the back of his 23 year old wife while she cries about vomit. He's a true gem, that one.

Now, who wants spaghetti??

XOXO

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E

Dog Park and Chill? Also a PSA to all dog owners.

HAVE I TOLD YOU GUYS HOW GREAT IT IS TO LIVE CLOSE TO FAIRFIELD YET? CUZ IT IS GREAT. It's has like, 100% more food places than where we were at. A lot of these food places are the no-waiter-but-not-fast-food types that we are fans of (cuz #collegestudentsforever). We tried Pronto and it was v good.

We just split a small margherita pizza and it was so. good. Are you picky about marinara sauce? I am. Like, very. I remember when I was a wee child my mom would make calzones and when she rolled them together the sauce would spill out and it looked like a little surgery cause the sauce was red and the dough was tan haha. Anyway, the marinara on this pizza was very, very good. Also it was thin crust, which is something I appreciate. 

We will return pronto.... get it? (This is a pun.)

After dinner we got the baby (moms everywhere are hating me in this moment) and took him to the dog!!!! park!!!! Our old apartment had a dog park 5 minutes away. When we moved I kept trying to find one and couldn't find one that was closer than 25 minutes. J found one using his Android because it is obviously the superior phone. It's 15 minutes from us! 

Wait. As I am writing this I realize these pictures are not from that dog park? But I have a really great dog park story I want to tell? Ok I'll just tell it at the bottom.

SO THESE PHOTOS are actually from a different dog park that isn't fenced. I'm like ????? let's not? Like why would I take my dog somewhere that is not fenced so he can run away and get killed? Hard pass. But then he gets really crazy so we don't have a choice. We tested his off leash-ness and he did pretty good!

He played for like 10 minutes and then was done. So it was pretty decent. There weren't any other dogs there for him to play with though. So it was kind of sad. 

Us in real life.

Us on Instagram. (Notice J is very much the same in both photos.)

MA BOY T!!!

Oh what's that? Are we in 2004 when it was really emo and cool to take side mirror photos of sunsets? No, I'm just a 23 year old stuck in a teen angst phase. It's fine, don't worry about me. 

Ok so here is the other dog park story. Wait, I think I have a photo of it on my phone... ok yeah, here you go.

So we go to this dog park that is 15 minutes from our house and there are 3 dogs there. They are all playing nice (Tucker loves other dogs and is really nice) and then this big wolf mean dog growls at him! And the owner was like, "Was that Cujo?!" (Dog wasn't named Cujo, it is just fitting.) I'm like ???? Does it look like my dog is mean? He is like, licking everything in sight. 

Whatever. Then 5 minutes later (I am having panic attacks this whole time, because remember when my brother's lab bit my dog in the neck and there was literally blood everywhere and I had to apply pressure while we rushed her to the pup hospital and then I had to clean up my bloody hands in a public bathroom like the freakin' mob??? YA ME TOO.) 

Where was I? Ok yeah. So then 5 minutes later Tucker is just like, romping around by himself in a corner (same tho) because he's a little rattled from earlier and this mean wolf dog comes over and starts sniffing him and then JUMPS ON TOP OF HIM AND PINS HIM TO THE GROUND!!!!! Tucker is submissive apparently, because he just laid there until it was over. It was sad.

The dog's owner is just like, over in la la land being the worst dog owner in history (Ok fine he was a nice guy and waved to us when we saw him later. Maybe oblivious is a better label). After Cujo let Tucker go he came over to us all scared. :( It was so sad. Then the mean dog had the audacity to come over AGAIN! Tucker hid underneath the bench and that's when we decided to leave.

The moral of the story is: DON'T TAKE YOUR FLIPPIN' DOG TO THE DOG PARK IF IT IS AGGRESSIVE AND MEAN TO OTHER DOGS. SOME PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A BACKYARD OR AN OFF LEASH TRAINED DOG AND RELY ON DOG PARKS TO RELEASE THEIR DOG'S ENERGY. Ugh.

Is this how mom's feel when other kids are mean to their kids? J is all like, "He has to learn how to be in the world!" And I'm like, "He was in a shelter for months!!! He has been in the world!!!" 

Gotta love it. This is a long post? It's been awhile since I posted posted, ya know? Can you tell I don't have friends in Connecticut? Lulz.

XOXO

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E

TUCKER'S FIRST BATH!!!!

If these pictures aren't the cutest, tell me what is. 😍😭💗

XOXO

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E

Tuckergram

Lil' monster learned how to cuddle!! I am obsessed.

XOXO

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E

Chillin' W/ Ma Boys

So I'm pretty much done with school until September, so blog posts comin' your way!! These pics are from forever ago when we explored the dog park with T. This was 5 minutes from our old apartment! #bae

So something gross about Connecticut is that there are ticks. Tucker already has Lyme disease so I guess it doesn't matter, but also they are so gross and I hate them. They are so small, like how are you supposed to be able to find them in a fluffer (a fluffy dog)?!?! We found one in Tucker's ear and I FREAKED out. I stripped down, made J check me everywhere, and then took a one hour shower lol.

Needless to say, T hasn't been to many dog parks since then. I need to take him to the one by our new apartment and see if it's any better tick-wise.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again! I. Can. Not. Wait. To. Get. Back. To. The. West. Coast.

I know I need to appreciate this moment and blah blah blah blah. But I'm really strugglin'! I feel we are so close to moving (10 months!) and I am so close to being done with school FOREVER it's just getting hard to keep a way positive attitude. I just want it to be over and be moved already! Gah!

XOXO

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E

That Time I Locked My Dog In The Car And Had To Call The Police

GUYS. I AM THE WORST DOG MOM.

So Tucker doesn't jump for whatever reason. Like, he has before but as a general rule he doesn't. I think it might have something to do with his Lyme disease? Like at the shelter they made it sound like something that will go away in a bit, but idk. I need to do more internet searching. We are taking him to a vet this weekend.

ANYWAY. 

So, I put my keys, phone, and wallet in the car. I spent a minute or two trying to get him into the car, and ended up picking him up and putting him in. He's heavy! So then I shut the door and heard a *click*. I was like WHAT. Literally my car doors just locked. Like... just locked.

So I immediately started to freak out. I ran back to my complex (I was parked in the front) and realized I didn't have my scanner to get in and find a phone. Weirdly and luckily there was a pizza guy walking back to his car after a delivery. I ran up to him and was frantically like, "I need your phone!!!!!" He was just like, "Ok." and immediately handed it over haha. I told him I locked my dog in the car and we debated whether or not I should call 911 before my panic gave in and I just dialed it.

First time in my life ever calling 911 lol.

They transferred me to my city's 911 and I told them I locked my dog in the car. They said they would be right over. The pizza guy left and I obsessively paced around my car, looking in at Tucker and trying to open doors. Also I found a bobby pin on the ground and tried to hack it lol. No avail.

(I should add I had been crying earlier in the day because of internship frustrations and was taking Tucker to get his first puppaccino from Starbuck's as a pick me up.)

So then this woman parked behind me and obviously realized there was SOMETHIN goin' on with me. She was like, ".... what's going on??" And I was like, "I LOCKED MY DOG IN THE CAR AND THE POLICE ARE COMING BUT THEY ARE TAKING SO LONG!!!!!" So we started googling like how long it took for dogs to die in hot cars and google was like, IT CAN HAPPEN IN MINUTES!!!

So I obviously like, completely lost it at this point and was like I AM BREAKING A WINDOW!!! So the woman called her daughter (who she was coming to visit) and was like, "I am down here with a girl whose dog is locked in her car. Can you bring down a towel?" 

A few minutes later the mom started walking to the complex to meet her daughter right when I saw a police car in the distance and I was frantically like, "IT'S OK!! THE POLICE ARE HERE! POLICE!! OVER HERE!! "*WAVES* *GOES TO CENTER OF ROAD AND WAVES FRANTICALLY*

So, not one, but TWO cop cars pulled up and out popped THREE cops (like geez). The cop was like, "Which switch is the lock switch?" And I was like, "I don't know!!!" And then he just started to put the stick through the window anyway. I went to the other side and remembered it was by the handle and went back and was like, "It's by the handle!!" He was like, "Which one of these?" (Referring to the window switches.) And I was like, "No, it's by the handle." And he was like, "This one??" And I was like, "NO!!! Let me show you!" *grabs a different cop and takes her to the other window* "It's right there by the handle, do you see it??!!"

"Oh, Bill!!! It's by the handle!!!" 

At this point there were 3 cops, a mom, a daughter, 2 onlookers, and some moving guys invested in the show. 

Bill (not real name) finally got it unlocked and I jumped in, cranked the A.C. and pet him until all the people left lol. Then I took him to get a puppaccino lol. The good thing is he seemed relatively unphased? Dogs, man. So resilient! Needless to say, I am now the most paranoid person about my car doors automatically locking.

XOXO

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E

WE GOT A DOG.

GUYS. WE GOT A DOG. We have been wanting one for quite some time, but wanted to wait until school and commute times were more chilled. I had alerts set up on Petfinder to notify me of new Australian Shepherds and this dude popped up! We went to look at him last weekend while we were in the midst of searching for a new apartment. We drove 1 1/2 hours to Jersey to see him! He was so cute and so friendly, I fell in love! 

We left to sleep on it and J was like, "Wasn't that fun to play with a dog?!" And I was like, "Um yeah but we need to get him?" So after a LONG discussion we decided that if two things happened, we would get him. Thing #1: Sign for our new apartment. Thing #2: Get approval from our current apartment to get a dog without having to pay the $600 fee. 

We signed for our apartment on Sunday, but they released the 24 hold they had put on him for us. I begged them to hold him for us until we heard back from our apartment, but they wouldn't. The woman was like, "If it's meant to be, he'll still be here when you hear back!" 

So, on Wednesday J came home and was like, "Em... I've got something here for you..." and then threw a dog toy at me and was like, "THEY AREN'T GOING TO CHARGE US ANYTHING!!!" And I was like, "WHAT!! WE CAN GET HIM?!?!" And then started crying hahahaha.

Since we are both busy and the place was a 2 hour drive, we had to wait until Saturday to get him. So I called Saturday morning with my fingers crossed that he was still available, and he was!!! It was raining SO HARD on the way there and back. On the way back we had to stop in Union City for J to drop off a computer he had built. I was stressed about being in the car alone with Tucker since he was fresh out tha kennel.

So, we pulled up to an apartment complex in Union City (which is like, a city). J hopped out and started helping the people unload the computer stuff from the back of the car. He left to help them with it into their apartment.

Long story short: Tucker started yelping and whining and I went from 0-100 stressed real fast. I kept telling myself J would be back soon and was giving Tucker treats and petting him, but he wasn't calming down. So like 4 songs went by on the radio and J still wasn't back. Oh yeah, and my phone was back at home, dead for the weekend. So I had no way to contact J.

It stopped raining, so I grabbed Tucker and went for a little walk, also searching for J cause at this point I assumed he was being held by gunpoint. We walked up and down the street like, twice, chat with two strangers, explore a grassy area, and jogged for about 5 minutes... Still no sign of J.

I was SURE he had been murdered and chopped into little pieces and I was going to be widowed and have to borrow a stranger's phone to call the police and they would be like, "Why didn't you call sooner?"And I would be like, bawling and say "I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!" 

By the time Tuck and I were done running around in the drizzle I was sweating and in full on panic mode. I got back in the car and started crying lol. Like, literally 30 seconds later J comes hopping on over, waving to me through the window.

I was like, a hot mess. We talked and let's just say he is in charge of giving Tucker his pills for the next 2 weeks haha (he has Lyme). Oh, and it turns out he was gone for close to 25 minutes! Like I felt like it was long, but also a part of me felt like J would be like, "It was only 5 minutes!" But when he realized he had been gone for so long, and remembered I didn't have a cell phone he felt so bad hahahaha.

So then we drove home and the maps app weirdly took us through New York City which reminded me of how glad I am to not live there anymore (lol). Also they told us to keep Tucker's cone on so he doesn't bug his stitches, but he literally hasn't tried to bug them? And also he can't fit in his crate with the cone and we very much need him to be on the crate train game pretty much ASAP. So last night I took it off and have been using a T-shirt instead. #pray4tucker

Last night was our first night with him and he was so stressed! I had the cone on him and just let him free in our bedroom, since he couldn't fit in the crate very well. He was up walking around, whining to be on the bed, jumping off the bed, looking out the window, licking my hand, etc. until about 3:00. Which also means I was up until 3:00. Then he somehow got his cone off (or J took it off because it was annoying as heck) so I threw a t-shirt on his legs and body. After that he went in his crate (!!!!!!) and slept in there until 6:00am. 

Today he's been a little more himself. He is leash trained and a DREAM to walk. He doesn't tug or pull you or anything. He is also pretty much potty trained. He has had 2 leaks when we didn't take him out fast enough after waking up/taking him out of his crate, but nothing major. He doesn't bark that much, only whining when he doesn't get his way and then that builds up to an occasional bark. 

He has Lyme disease (Except they said it will go away? So maybe it's just an infection or something?) which we are giving him pills for until the 30th. Also, he may have something with his back feet? Like he will go up and down the stairs outside, but won't go up and down our stairs in our apartment? Also when I got him to come up, he tripped a little bit going down. Also he won't jump onto furniture, like our bed or anything? If you guys have any ideas what could be up, lemme know. We are going to take him to the vet this Saturday and will tell him about it too.

He's been so good so far! I'm v glad we got him! I can still confirm no dog will ever be as good as Trixie, but that's alright! With a lil' training he'll be a good floofer in no time. I don't know if I talk about school on here or not? And am too lazy to search back my posts, but I am in school to be a therapist and will be done in less than a year! So I really want to train him to be a therapy dog and think he could be really beneficial to clients. People love him so far! I swear every time we walk him and pass someone they stop and pet him. We took him to the dog park just barely and he was just licking all the dogs. It was so cute haha.

Sorry in advance for all the puppy posts!

XOXO

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E