2 X 2s

So Vito and I have started our 2x2s. We are using Susan Garrett's method of 12 poles in 12 days, but we will not be done in 12 days. As of yesterday, we are still working on "Day 2" material eventhough we were technically on day 4 of training. I wasn't sure if Vito was really ready because he didn't seem to be getting it, but yesterday he got fed less at meal times so that I could increase the value of the poles for him with treats. It seemed to work!!! He was much more eager to please, but I am still having a hard time getting him to not come back through the poles? We will see how today's sessions go and hopefully we can advance. However, we won't be moving on until I am condfident that he understands what his job is. If we can't seem to get it, we will quit (I hate to use the word quit, maybe take a break sounds better?) for now and work on something else and then come back to it.

I love my dogs! They are alot of work, but they are worth every bit of it. On the worst of days, they keep my mind off of things and help to keep me busy. Vito knows when I need a little extra lovin' and hops up on my lap to give me love when he knows I need it. Luca is a constant source of entertainment, he's so chubby and lazy, he cracks me up. So thankful for the happiness they bring to my life in their own special ways.

Mostly love dogs more than people.

Meet Luca!

I am pleased to announce a new addition to our family; Baby Luca! On Sunday, Z and I bought a new little puppy. He (yes, he. I am completely out numbered by boys) is 10 week old pomeranian. He is black with a white stripe on his chest and little white soul patch. He only weighs 2.5 lbs, but has a big personality. He is literally just a ball of fur, he is soooo cute. So far him and Vito seem to get along pretty good. Vito is very gentle and careful not to hurt his little brother. But it appears that Luca may have a bit of a mean streak, he is a BITER! We had better get that under control in a hurry!

Luca had his first vet visit yesterday, ear mites and a respiratory infection, :(. Sad, but he is getting ear drops and taking antibiotics. He should be top notch in no time!

We are heading over to R & C's tonight so Luca can meet the girls before I house/pet-sit for them this weekend!

So, it's official, I have been bitten by the puppy bug! We've been talking about getting another puppy for awhile now, but up until this past weekend, it was just that, talk. We went to Trader's Village last weekend and there were soooooo many adorable little furballs that needed a home. They were all cute, but nothing was really catching my eye. UNTIL...there she was! A cuter than cute, uber tiny Shih-tzu/Schnauzer girl! She was so pretty and dainty. She was a little more than we thought we wanted to pay, so we didn't end up taking her home. So sad. :( Anyways, we are going to go back this weekend and maybe she will be there!

The rest of the weekend was spent with Z's family. They boiled crawfish on Good Friday and we all had some friends over to swim and visit. Sunday we went to Mass and then out to a fancy restaurant for brunch, it was delicious. I ate way too much, I was food drunk. Fo sho.

Tonight we are going to R & C's so that they can help me groom Vito, tomorrow I am going out for dinner with Erin & Julie to celebrate Erin's birthday, Saturday back to R & C's for a day of puppy fun with Martine and then Sunday back to Trader's Village. BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

AND THE WINNER IS.........

ALL OF US!!!!! We had our weigh-in this past Saturday for the Weight-Loss Challenge. It was very close, but I am proud to say that Z and I were the official takers of the pot. We enjoyed a delicious celebratory meal, compliments of Rhonda & Crysal and a special thanks to Jamie for providing our deprived sweet teeth with some super yummy cake! We think we might take a little trip with our few extra dollars.......

Also, some very exciting days ahead. Tomorrow is Z's Birthday and we are going to the Black Eyed Peas, Saturday we are going to Brooks & Dunn and Sunday we are going out for dinner with Z's family (a late B-Day celebration)! Busy, Busy........

Sad Day.......

So, today is a sad day. Z's parents have two Bassett Hounds, Willy & Daisy. They are brother and sister and are about 10 years old.

Daisy has had some health issues ever since I've been around, she gets these huge bumps all over her body. Originally the Vet thought it was because hounds have oily skin and and that her pores were getting clogged, causing the lumps. Some of the growths became so huge that they had to be surgically removed, she has had a couple of surgeries just in the last two months or so. Today Z's mom went out to head for work and discovered that Daisy had burst one of the lumps on her hip. Once it was broken, she kept licking and biting at it leaving a large hole where the lump had once been. Z's mom loaded her up and headed straight to the Vet. Bad news........the Vet suggests that they put her to sleep. She said the growths will just keep coming back and that to spare Daisy any further discomfort that she thinks "it's time".

Chelsie is going to meet Ed at the Vet so that she can say her goodbyes and then when it's all over, they will bring Daisy home to be buried. Z and I are heading over after work. As hard as it for the family, I know that they made the right decision, no animal deserves to suffer.

My heart aches for poor Willy, he has never known life without Daisy and I'm sure he will be devastated.

Daisy will have many to meet at the Rainbow Bridge......

FINALLY!!!

FINALLY, Z will be home tonight! I am so excited and can't wait to see him!!! He lands around 5:30 pm, but by the time he picks up his truck and makes his way across town I probably won't actually see him until 7:30 or 8:00. He has kept up his no-carb diet while he was offshore and he had to shave his beard, so I'm not even sure if I'll recognize his skinny, bald face! Vito might even think he's a stranger and try to attack him, ha!!!

We had our 5th Agility-Prep class on Tuesday night! We did really good and our hard work over the past week with "HUSH" and Crate Games is definitely starting to pay off. Vito was much more focused and way less vocal!! However, we still have a long road ahead of us, but are feeling much more motivated now that we are seeing some results!! We even got some good feedback from the instructor, which was great! So proud of my little guy! I can for sure tell that the bond between us is growing daily and we are much more in-sync with each other.

So, still not seeing the great results in the weight-loss challenge that I would like. I seem to have plateaued, but I guess that's better than gaining.... Still have just over a week until the weigh-in, so hopefully I can get out of this rut before then.

Work has seemed especially stressful the last couple of weeks, not sure if it's because Z isn't here or the arrival of the new boss or what, but am definitely feeling mentally exhausted. Definitely ready for the weekend, although Z will probably be jet-lagged and not feel like doing much, :-(. Oh well, I'm just glad that he will be home!!!!!!

Only 3 more sleeps until Z is home, we can't wait!!!!!! However, Vito is enjoying having half of the sofa all to himself, ha! We have a busy week, so hopefully the next few days fly by!

We had a pretty uneventful weekend, as I have a terrible cold and couldn't get up the energy to do much of anything. What a waste of a beatiful weekend. Vito is starting to go stir-crazy, so hopefully we can get in a long walk after work to burn off some energy. Also, I hope to get in round 2 of "Crate Games" before my confrence call tonight. We have been practicing "TOUCH" daily and are getting really good at it. However, we are still struggling with "HUSH", I'm trying not to get frustrated, but really would like to improve in this area. I've tried several different things and still have not seemed to find anything that is working for us. Oh well, we'll get there eventually.

Our final weigh-in is rapidly approaching! The big day is March 13th! I need to really buckle down for the next two weeks and drop some more weight! I'm stuck at about 13 lbs and can't seem to get past it! Hopefully I will feel 100% soon and Vito and I can kick it into high gear with the walking! We have a fun evening planned for after the weigh in, I'm excited already!!! Woot Woot!!

So, its been another busy week. Time seems to be flying by, which is great because now its only 7 more sleeps until Z is home!! Vito and I are very excited!!

This past weekend was a busy one; I went out with Erin and Z's sister on Friday night (I was home by 1am - I'm such a party animal) and then Saturday it was over to Rhonda & Crystals for dinner and drinks. Rhonda's parents, brother and brother's girlfriend were all here visiting from Canada. Again, I was lame and had to go home early, ha! Sunday I drove over to Z's parents and visited with them for the afternoon. All and all it was a good, but exahausting, weekend. Vito and Ranger were very excited to reunite, but Ranger is getting so BIG!!! He just wants to play with Vito, but occasionally has to be reminded to "play nice".

Tuesday night Vito and I had our 4th Agility class. I find his barking to be unmanageable, but am trying to stay calm. I talked to Martine about this at the end of class and she gave me a few suggestions so we have been working hard at home to try and make some progress in this area. We are also going to revisit Susan Garrett's Crate Games DVD and try to learn some impulse control. Wish us luck!

Also, I'm getting a freakin' cold just in time for the weekend. FML!

So, I'm sadly back to reality after a long, busy, fun weekend.

Z and I celebrated Valentine's Day early because he was leaving to go offshore on Saturday. We went out to dinner to Fogo de Chao and it was delicious!!! We decided not to get each other gifts because we want to just get a Wii. However, I still got 5 dozen roses and a huge balloon! I'm such a lucky girl!

I took him to the airport on Saturday afternoon and was feeling pretty sad about saying goodbye and then I headed to Cafe Adobe to meet Rhonda & Crystal to celebrate Rhonda's birthday. After dinner I went back to their place for a few drinks and a good visit. They did a good job of cheering me up!

Sunday afternoon, Vito and I were off to El Campo to have some Agility fun with Rhonda & Crystal and some of their other friends that do Agility. Because Vito is just learning Agility, we just did some tunnels at the end of the afternoon, but was still good for us to get out and be exposed to that type of setting. It was also a good opportunity for us to practice "HUSH" in his kennel. He was pretty wound up at first, but started to settle down after awhile.

Monday I was starting to panic because I had still not heard from Z and he had been in transit for over 40 hours!! I started to get the ball rolling with our boss to track him down, but then he emailed me that he finally made it on the Rig, thank god! He had quite a trip, 2 flights, a sketchy cab ride and a 6 hour boat ride! Rhonda & Crystal's friend Jamie had agreed to give me a lesson on how to properly groom Vito, so we met up over and Rhonda & Crystal's for a quick session. I learned a lot of good information and felt pretty good about how it turned out, Vito looks so handsome!

Yesterday it was back to work, uggghhh! I forgot about an early meeting and had to rush to get to it on time. I hate it when the day starts off like that, I feel like I'm behind for the whole day and can't seem to get caught up. It was a busy day at work (report day, puke) and then I took Vito for a walk when I got home to try and burn off some energy before we went to Agility. It doesn't seem to matter how much we walk or play before class, he's always revved up and ready to go! Agility was really fun last night and we even did some games without me holding his leash, wow! We really want to be good at Agility, so we have been practicing as much as we can at home.

Tonight I am looking forward to an evening in, seems like I've been on the go non-stop since Z left. I bought us a Wii yesterday and am going to attempt to set it up tonight, so we'll see how that goes!

Talkative Tuesday

So, the first Agility class went good, but as per usual Vito was acting like a maniac. He was really interested in all the other dogs and was very excited to be there! We really need to work on "Speak" and "Hush" so that we can get his barking (excited or otherwise) under control. Additionally we need to practice "Recall to Heel". All and all class was fun and we look forward to going again next week!

Also, some other exciting news on the puppy-front, we may be getting another puppy!!! Some family friends of Z's got a Yorkie puppy at Christmas, but are struggling with the responsibilites of a puppy in addition to being parents to a toddler. So, if all goes well, we may be adding another baby boy to our family!

Z and I started a weight loss challenge with our friends, Rhonda & Crystal, at the beginning of January. My progress has not been as good as I had hoped for, but has been consistent. I have lost about 9 lbs overall, but that may not be accurate as my home scale is not the scale we used for weigh-in. Z is doing no carbs and has lost around 30 lbs!! The final weigh in will be the beginning of March and even if Z and I don't win (which is highly unlikely, ha!) I feel alot better about myself and will continue to try and live a healthy lifestyle.

Saturday will be mine and Z's one year anniversary!!! Sadly, this is also the day that he is leaving to go offshore for 3 weeks. Vito and I will be pretty lonesome for him, but hopefully we will have a new puppy to keep us busy!! I'm sure the 3 weeks will fly by and Z will be home before I know it! Hopefully.....

A Day of Firsts

So, this is my very first post on my very first blog! I will blog about basically anything and everything happening in my life, good or bad. I expect that alot of my posts will be about my furr-baby, Vito. He is my 11 month old Yorkshire Terrier, who is high-energy (to say the least) and is still trying to learn to be a follower in the pack, rather than the leader! He has huge personality and makes me happy every day. We are taking our first Agility class tonight! I'm sure he'll be a natural at all things agility, but I'll know more tomorrow!