Throw that ball!, originally uploaded by punquin.

Vacation Update

So, change of vacation plans. Our friends can no longer make it out here to join us at the beach house we rented together. It’s very sad, but we understand that is the way it has to be. Ironically, had Danny not planned this vacation with them out here, we probably would have ended up in their area for our vacation instead.

Anyway, it is going to be the two of us and the puppies at the beach. It is too late to ask any other friends to drop everything for a week and come with us, so we are just going to have to entertain ourselves. A week on the beach? I’m sure we can think of something to do…

Before, we were planning to take two cars, now we’ll just be in my wagon with the dogs, their two crates (collapsed, but big, regardless) and our bags. My whole drive in I was obsessing over how to arrange things (a trait I inherited from my dad). Benny is obsessively in love with China, and would gladly spend the entire 5+ hour ride licking her face, except that China can only tolerate it for a minute. And, since Benny is such a wuss, if she snaps at him (a completely normal reaction towards a puppy, called “correcting”) he starts screaming, pees himself and expresses his anal glands. I really don’t need my car smelling like anal glands. I was planning to have China in the back of the wagon and Benny in the back seat, but we’ll have to have bags in both places if we do that. We could certainly cover them in old sheets so they don’t get hairy. Hm… I still need to figure out where the crates will fit. I saved the empty boxes they came in, so this week I will try fitting the boxes in my car to see our options.

I have a billion (72) braids to redo before we leave on Saturday… But I had taken Friday off to show our friends around DC, so I have all that day.

Dog Update

Benny is great – he is huge! We went through a couple month of trying to figure out why he had constant diarrhea, but figured out he has to have a very limited diet with no poultry. We have him on a free-range lamb and rice holistic blend that is working out well. Once we found the right food he started filling out.

Benny officially graduated from puppy class last week. He is definitely in his “terrible twos” with more energy than he knows what to do with, but he is a smart boy. He even won two contests at graduation – the “focus” contest (having them sit and stare at your face/hand), thanks to the power of string cheese, and the obstacle course (doing various commands at each cone). Alas, he was not voted valedictorian… more like “class clown”!

In preparation for our trip, we took the dogs to the vet for new heartworm preventative and flea/tick stuff. I also had Benny microchipped. Today I am going to sneak a moment to make them laminated tags with our cell numbers on them.

Back to work for me!