Seven years ago today, LD and I adopted Ralphie from Dachshund Rescue of North America. At approximately this time 2555 days ago*, the three of us were making the long trek back to Rochester from Jamestown.

Originally from Indiana, Ralphie’s foster Mom Janet met our local DRNA rep Lela at some dachshund parade thingie in Ohio and handed him off to her. We met Lela and her husband - who were traveling with a vanful of wieners, one of which bit Mr. Lela on the lip - at their home in Jamestown, NY to pick the little bugger up. Shane drove home while Ralph and I cuddled in the backseat. I sat on the floor so I could get plenty of Eskimo kisses in.

When we first met him in Lela’s backyard, Ralphie ran away from us, huddling behind Lela - whom he’d only just met a few hours earlier - for protection. By the end of the car ride, we were BFFs. When we got home to our duplex in Fairport, he investigated the place dutifully, and promptly took a shit on the kitchen floor. I was so f’in happy to have my very own dog (he’s our firstborn, you see) that I couldn’t care less.

Seven years later, and he’s still my soul mate.

I love you, buhbie.

Warning: super crazy sweet nostalgia after the jump.

(more…)

You know you want more doggehs!

(more…)

Save the Lobsters, Save the World

In his debut novel, Stephen Evans has created a quirky – yet touching – story about love, loss and our moral responsibility to our fellow earthlings, human and non.

Lawyers Nick and Lena are the titular couple in THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS. On a whim, law school student Lena enrolled in Nick’s environmental law course, and by term’s end, the two had fallen head-over-heels in love. After they married, Lena joined Nick’s law firm, and the two became crusaders for human and environmental rights. In time, Nick’s seemingly tenuous grasp on reality unraveled, as did his marriage to Lena. When Nick’s increasingly erratic behavior became too much for Lena to bear, the two divorced; she bought out his half of the house and firm, and set up a bank account for his living expenses…which he promptly squandered on a “guerilla activist” prank involving 144 lobsters, the mayor’s swimming pool and the Minnesota Zoo.

In addition to costing him upwards of $250,000, Nick’s latest eco-prank is also threatening his very freedom. Enter Lena, who agrees to defend him in court – against her new beau, one Preston Winter. (Awkward!) Without revealing too much of the plot, suffice to say that the brilliant Lena succeeds in saving Nick from both jail and psychiatric commitment – that is, if he can manage to complete his court-ordered community service and mandatory counseling without incident. Given that the volunteer work is to take place at the local animal shelter, Nick’s chances don’t look good.

(more…)

…she’s having three more teeth extracted today, for a grand total of nine since we adopted her in September of ‘06.

She’s a tough broad, but I still worry with the anesthesia and all. Not to mention, the dental specialist doing the surgery is located an hour and a half from our house; he’s on the south side of the city, while we live up north. So. Shane drove her down there this morning (she had to be there by 7:30 AM - yeeks!), and is hanging out at the nearest McDonald’s, working off his laptop, while she undergoes and recovers from the surgery. Since he’ll be gone so long - probably upwards of 12 hours - we decided it would be best if I stayed home with the other four. (Lest we come home to, I dunno, feces on the walls? These dogs are seriously spoiled.) So I am really freaking out. If something goes wrong - ugh, I can’t even be there. I’m so worried about Kaylee, the backed up kitchen sink and leaky roof aren’t even bugging me.

Sigh.

This is gonna be a looooong day.

UPDATE, 9 PM: Kaylee’s back home, snuggled in bed and doing well. She ended up having four teef yanked instead of three. Turns out her super-fang had a fistula, which connected it to her nasal cavity. The vet found out when he squirted some liquid teeth cleaning solution in her mouth during surgery…and it came out her nose. So it had to go. So long, Eva Fangoria.

Photos after the jump.

(more…)

Send some doggy kisses and good wishes Rennie’s way; she’s at the vet’s today, having a cracked tooth extracted. This is the Year of the Dentist at the Garbato-Brady house; Shane & I had a bunch of work done, Peedee & Jayne just had a cleaning and scaling a few weeks ago, and next week Kaylee is slated to have three more teeth extracted - in additional to the six she had yanked last year.

Anyway, it’s mighty lonely round here without my little ladybug to follow me around. Even the four other little buggers can’t compensate - methinks they miss her too. (Either that, or they’re all afraid they might be the next to disappear.) Except for Peedee, who has a bit of a sibling rivalry thing with Ren. He seems to be enjoying the extra attention and snuggles. “Animals don’t have emotions,” my ass.

—————

Tagged: my furbabies dog canine pet companion animal rat terrier O-Ren flickr photos

Not that such a sign would have prevented NOPD from murdering Jax, but I do recommend that all animal guardians post something similar on their premises. The ASPCA offers free “in case of emergency, rescue my pet” stickers, and they’re readily available elsewhere for a small fee. (It’s probably a good idea to post one at every entrance to your home.) And if you leave your animals outdoors in a fenced area, a “beware of dog” or “do not open gate” sign is a good idea, too. We got ours from signswithanattitude.com, and have one posted on each set of gate doors.

Not that these babies will fuck anyone up…more likely they’ll make a mad dash for freedom and chase a bird right down the street. The hawks are circling for Rennie, methinks.

(Crossposted from.)

—————

Tagged: lol lolz my furbabies dachshund wiener dog rat terrier Jack Russell terrier Ralphie Peedee O-Ren Kaylee Jayne signs signage dog canine pet companion animal

So I’m back, mostly at least. The surgery went well; the laughing gas and sedatives knocked me on my arse more than anything else. The whole first day I couldn’t keep much of anything down, not even liquids and Vicodin, and so I spent all of Thursday alternating between napping and puking. (A stomach empty save for Dr. Pepper makes for surprisingly interesting vomit. No, for reals.) By Friday my back was seized up from laying around, but I was too dazed to do much of anything else. Same for Saturday. Yesterday I was restless enough that I dragged my but into the office and slogged through my email. Not fun, but at least I got to sit upright for a bit. Yoga felt soooo goood this morning, I almost did it twice.

All in all, the whole experience was not as fun as I’d hoped. I’d had grandiose visions of spending a weekend catching up on Netflix movies, reading a book or two, and just generally milking the sympathy. Not so much. And the caffeine withdrawal (there was a 36 hour stretch where I couldn’t eat *at all*) sure didn’t help matters.

Aside from the four gaping holes in my mouth, I’m good. Good enough to make some lolz, anyways. Here’s a Kaylee series, after she had six teeth removed last March. Her old “owners” sucked ass, but the only thing we can do about that now is love on her and laugh about it as best we can. And edumakate others. So, take your animals to the vet, people, otherwise this is what happens.

Such a sweet face, even with those crazy teefs!

(Crossposted from.)

————-

Tagged: my furbabies lol lolz loldog kaylee rat terrier jack russell terrier teeth dental dental surgery your featherhead dental extractions dentist neglect flickr photos

The Monday blahs, I gots ‘em. Luckily, it’s nothing a little Rennie can’t cure.

This was taken last Wednesday, on her birthday the day after her birthday (not yet 30 and the brain’s already turning to mush). I tried to get some action shots of her chasingchasingchasing the ball, but this was the best of the batch. She’s quick, I’m not. Nothing much else to say.

I did manage to snag some photos of the elusive Jayne, though. With her eyes open and everything!

You can check out the whole set here.

——————–

Tagged: dog canine pet companion animal my furbabies Ralphie Peedee O-Ren Jayne Kaylee dachshund wiener dog hot dog rat terrier terrier mutt Jack Russell terrier flickr photos

Today is Miss O-Ren’s fourth birthday!

Since she was a stray, we don’t technically know when her “real” birthday is, so we just celebrate her birthday on her adoption day. Which makes today Little Missy’s three-year adoption anniversary, too!

Here’s our teeny tiny bundle the day we brought her home, kennel cough and all. Such a scrawny little girl, she was.

I guess she gets cheated like that, as do most of our babies (Ralphie and Peedee are the only two who get to celebrate both their birthdays and their anniversaries - lucky SOBs), but we spoil her the rest of the year, so that more than makes up for it. Besides, her date of adoption may as well be her birthday - ’twas the first day of the rest of her life, right?

She’s just the picture of total dog bliss nowadays:

(more…)

I was looking back through some of my babydoggy posts, and realized that I forgot to share the poem that Shane wrote for Kaylee last September. (Here are Ralphie and Peedee’s odes; O-Ren and Jayne are still waiting on theirs.) So here it be, along with some photos of my babygirl. Sweetest dog ever, she is. And shiny, too!