Happy Birthday Forest!

That’s right, our sweet, adorable, cuddly puppy turns 2 years old today! Unlike last year’s birthday mishap, Forest got a birthday present this year.

 

Thank you Grandma Dee for this kick-ass peanut butter treat!

 “What......the…?”

“Total awesomeness!”

The treat was so big, I broke it in half so Forest wouldn’t eat the whole thing in one sitting (there’s always a chance that new treats won’t agree with his delicate puppy stomach and I really didn’t want to have to deal with birthday diarrhea on the lawn later).

  "Nom nom nom"

"Best (chew chew chew) birthday (burp) ever!"

Happy Birthday Forest!

Shrooming Puppy

Besides two enormous bean bags (one of which endured a messy puppy accident last year), we have a bright green footstool in our basement. In addition to being extremely comfy, it also looks like a mushroom, which I find amusing. Nick’s family tried to get rid of it at a garage sale, but I was adamant that we had to save it.

A few weekends ago, Nick and I decided to watch the movie Clash of the Titans (there are so many things wrong with this movie, the worst being the title. There’s only one freaking Titan in the film, so really it’s Clash of the Titan, singular, which doesn’t make sense, much like the movie). Luckily Forest decided to hang with us so I had another source of entertainment.

Just ignore Nick’s feet in these pictures, he was too lazy to move them.

“Ah, the perfect place to chew on my bone.”

“Yum, mushroom-bone”

“Mommy’s right, this is pretty comfy”

“Oh, this spot is even better.”

“Disregard my previous statements. This is the best position EVER.”

Shrooming Puppy

Forest’s First Pighide

Our friend Lisa has mentioned how much her dog Bailey likes Bully Sticks. She even sent me an adorable photo of the puppy chewing on her “cigar”. Oh la la, very classy.

I thought about buying Forest some Bully Sticks, but then I researched what they actually are:
Bully Sticks consist entirely of pure bull penises. This is the only ingredient in the product.

Followed by the gross manufacturing details:
Bully Sticks are manufactured by first removing the bull penis, cleaning it and hanging it upside down to allow fluids to run out. The bull penis is then stretched and sometimes twisted, and then dried or smoked.
Source

Sooooo, although I’m sure dogs love the taste of dried-up bull willy, my puppy ain’t going anywhere near them. I compromised and bought Forest his first pighide (which, as a vegetarian, was a really weird shopping cart item).

“For me?”

“I’ll humor you and just chew on this here end.”

“Hmm, that’s actually pretty good.”

“Holy poop, this is fantastic!” Nom nom nom

“Maybe I’ll try this angle.”

“What? It's yummy.”

“Shhhh, we’re having a staring contest.”

Not quite as classy as Bailey, but I think Forest is pretty happy with his cigar as well.

Forest’s First Pighide

The Empty Water Dish Tantrum

Forest has two water dishes: one in the kitchen next to his food, and another in the master bedroom. The kitchen water bowl is ceramic and kinda heavy, but the water in the bedroom is contained in a flimsy, plastic dish. If the bedroom water bowl is empty, Forest will flip it over in protest.

“What, no water? Damn you empty bowl!”

“I don’t care if my kitchen bowl has water, I want to drink out of this one.”

“Yum, water out of this dish sure would taste good right now…get the hint, lady?”

“Look, I ain’t going nowhere until this bowl is filled.”

Sigh, lazy puppy.

The Empty Water Dish Tantrum

Happy Father's Day!

Unlike my Mother's Day post, I actually planned ahead this time and saved a Daddy-related post for Father's Day. Please don't mistake this as a sign that I'm becoming more responsible, still haven't bought those wedding gifts.

I never thought Forest had a favorite parent. If Nick and I are both puttering around the house, the puppy will usually stick with me. If I'm working in the upstairs office and Nick is watching TV downstairs, Forest will most likely stay with Nick. If the puppy had to choose one of our cars to ride in, he would pick mine (probably because my car is lower to the ground, making it easier for the stubby-legged puppy to get in). But this week Forest made it clear that in a specific situation, Nick is his preferred parental figure.

We had a brief thunderstorm on Thursday. Forest doesn't like the rain, but he usually doesn't make much commotion and has even slept thru storms before.  However something about this storm transformed Forest into a total wuss. The puppy huddled in the corner of the kitchen and started shaking. He wouldn't eat any food or drink water. At first we thought he was sick. Then he began following Nick around the house. Forest is a big cuddlier, but he was always suave about it, like "Oh you're sitting on the couch now? I guess I'll just meander on to your lap for a quick nap." But during the storm, Forest was adamant about being as close to Nick as possible. For example, our puppy usually hates sitting in office chairs. He gets all fidgety like he thinks there's not enough room and he's afraid he's going to fall off. On Thursday, Forest was jumping on Nick's legs trying to claw his way up onto the office chair. I tried calling Forest to join me on the couch, but nope, Forest wanted to sit in Dad's lap, screw Mom.

We finally came to the conclusion that the thunder was frightening our puppy. Although Forest loved his Mommy, only Daddy would suffice when Forest was really scared.

So in celebration of Father's Day, here are some pictures of the Dads in Forest's life.  Starting, of course, with Forest's Daddy:

Forest's grandfathers, Grandpa Chuck…

…Grandpa Neil...

...and Grandpa John:

Uncle Jason, who kindly acts as Forest's surrogate Dad when we're on vacation:

And finally, Great Uncle Scott:

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have a crappy sense of time; close friends and family might even say it's non-existent. For example, I routinely forget what day of the week it is. A "quick" grocery run usually lasts 30 minutes. Last time someone asked me how old I was, I actually had to pause for a moment and think about it. If I tell Nick I'll be ready to go in 5 minutes, he always asks "Is that in real time or Calli time?"

So when I published my last post on Friday, my brain didn't comprehend that Mother's Day was just two days away, making Sunday the perfect day to admit that I refer to myself as Forest's Mommy. And when I finally started working on a real Mother's Day post, I didn't give myself enough time to actually post it on Mother's Day. Sigh. Good thing Forest has no sense of time either.

So in delayed celebration of Mother's Day, here are some pics of Forest's grandmothers and aunt (yes, we have extended our lame reference to include immediate family members. Luckily they find it adorable…or now are a little scared of us and just acting like it's adorable as to not upset the crazy dog couple).

Nick's mom holding little baby Forest.

This photo was taken almost a year ago during the 4^th of July holiday when Nick's family met Forest for the first time I had the fantastic idea to keep Forest a secret until that weekend so he would be a surprise. I am not smart.

My family right before a yummy Thanksgiving dinner (including Dad because I thought it would be weird to cut him out of a family photo, so Happy Mother's Day Poppo!).

My beautiful mother is on the far left and my sister (mother of Leo – see here and here for more) is in the middle holding Forest. The photo is a little blurry because Forest thought this was the perfect moment to give my sister a quick kiss. That's a sly puppy right there.

A belated Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there!

Happy Mother's Day!

I may start praying to the fence gods…

Because the new fence that was just erected in our yard will probably save both my sanity and physical wellbeing.

The first month or so we owned Forest, he never strayed more than a few feet from our side. It was adorable to watch him scramble after us with his stubby little puppy legs. Then one day, I was supervising his potty break when suddenly Forest ran towards the trash bags and recycling bin placed at the curb. I had never before seen him move so quickly in the opposite direction of a human being and was momentarily paralyzed with surprise. The next few moments could have easily been stolen from some cheesy Disney movie. The lovable puppy playfully leaps around the trash bags, unwittingly meandering into the street, directly in the path of an oncoming car. The beautiful, young dog owner sees the impending disaster and sprints across the yard with outstretched arms. Shouting a heart-wrenching "NOOOOOOOOOO" she throws herself in front of the car, heroically shielding the puppy with her own frail body. The car squeals to a stop, thus narrowly preventing a tragedy.

Unfortunately this totally happened to me. And it was my next-door neighbor driving the car so she easily identified the crazy lady jumping in front of her car as me. Luckily she's a cop and has great reflexes.

So if you've been paying attention, you'll notice that most of the outdoor photos posted on this blog fall into three categories: very young puppy off leash because we didn't know any better, mid-sized puppy on leash because I was totally paranoid he'd get squished by a car, and older puppy off leash again because, well, Nick made me. If it was totally up to me Forest would still be on a leash whenever he left our house, but Nick has convinced me that the puppy has matured and will most likely behave. And to Nick's credit Forest has done a pretty good job and coming when I call him…except for yesterday.

Monday was my birthday but I've been sick for like a week and didn't feel like doing much celebrating. I took the day off work, slept in, puttered around, got a massage and then settled into lazy-bum mode which consisted of comfy clothes, ice cream and an X-Files marathon.  At one point I let Forest outside to do his business in the front yard and watched in dismay as he started barking like crazy and then dashed across the driveway. I peered out the front door and saw a young man walking a big dog (it was like a tall, white boxer?) down our sidewalk. I started screaming "COME FOREST COME!!!" but my little puppy happily ignored me and ran straight towards the other dog. I was contemplating my options when I saw a SUV driving way too fast down the road towards our house. Forest was all giddy to see another dog and was bouncing around in the grass like he might go flying into street at any moment, so I had no choice but to go running after him. I had no shoes on, my makeup was almost all smeared off from the massage and I had officially reverted to comfy clothes so I was sans bra. I held my arms over my chest as I ran (hopefully this was a totally sly move that nobody noticed), hoarsely yelling at my damn dog to get away from the stranger and back in the house. Forest decided that was a perfect time to forget all his training and refused to listen to my commands or even look at me. I had to pick Forest up and carry the squirming puppy back into the house, all while apologizing to the stranger (who coincidently commented that it was no problem, he just wanted to make sure Forest didn't run into the street, thus confirming my worst fears).  This was perhaps not my finest moment.

In other words, I love this freaking fence. 

Forest got to experience the fenced in yard for the first time this afternoon.

"Uh, what the hell is that?"

"So you're saying this is all mine now?'

"Hell yeah it's mine, I OWN this yard."

"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"

"I could poop there, or here, or over in that spot...so many choices!"

"This fence is awesome!"

I may start praying to the fence gods…

Little Leo

I visited my family in Colorado over Easter and got to spend some more time with Forest's little cousin, Leo. I had a wonderful vacation, but I think Leo may have had a rough holiday. His troubles began before I even arrived (so he can't directly blame me for this) when he got an outdoorsy bath. Apparently somebody was a stinky doggy…

Who needs a bathtub when you have a bucket and hose?

Some dogs like being in water...other dogs are like Leo, just pissed.

Photo proof that Leo is related to Forest, just look at that licky puppy!

During my vacation I discovered that Leo is still spunky to the core, but he's learned to hone his hyperness. For example, he used to be run-around-jump-on-furniture crazy, but now he's more like when-you-at-least-suspect-it-I'm-going-to-eat-your-foot type of crazy. Seriously, I have bite marks on my toes from that damn dog. So when we drove out to my folk's new place, Leo had to spend some time in his carrier crate while we took a tour of the house. He was not happy with this...

"Why did you put me in a freaking pink crate?"

"I'm ready to get out now please."

We thought Leo would like the dog-run at my parent's new place, but he only ran around for a few minutes before sulking at the gate.

He's like a prairie dog on guard duty..

"Who goes there?"

We kinda threw Leo off his regular eating schedule with all our comings and goings that weekend. Leo still ate all his meals, but not always at the standard times. 

When Leo's hungry, he drags his dinner bowl around and throws it at you. 

Subtle puppy, subtle.

But I did find one scenario where the little mutt seemed to have an advantage. While Forest only has a designated puppy blanket, Leo has a designated puppy throne:

"MINE, fuck off."

Little Leo