Fur Baby Friday: Rain or Shine

Sorry for the absence lately! I am currently planning a baby shower, and it seems that the crafts for it have taken.over.my.life. Y'all, I can't stop! Any minute that I'm not at work, you can find me craftin' up a storm. And I love every bit of it! It is going to be insanely cute. :)

Anyways, I am so happy to have Kira here today! Any girl who dresses up her pets is a friend of mine!

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Hi everyone, I'm Kira from Rain or Shine.  Lately I have been blogging a lot about my four month old daughter, Pearl.  I thought it would be fun to switch gears a bit and share about my two sweet dogs Roxy and Sydney.

 Batman and Robin aka Roxy and Sydney, Halloween 2008

My husband decided in 2006 at the end of our senior year at Oregon State that he wanted a dog.  We were just friends back then, but I ended up going with him and his dad on a long drive (a few hours) to the shelter where she and the rest of the litter of puppies were waiting.  He wanted something like a puggle, but did not want to pay for the breed.  He found photos of this litter on the internet.  The puppies were a black lab, pug, and some kind of shephard mix.  We walked in and immediately spotted her, the runt of the litter.  She was going to be his dog, but at that moment I somehow knew my connection to her would be more than just "her owner's friend."  I picked her up to make sure nobody tried to snatch her while he went to find someone to fill out paperwork.  A family was there looking at the puppies.  A little girl wanted her, but I wouldn't give her up.  Maybe that was rude?  I was attached though and she was clearly meant to be my dog. 

 This photo is from Roxy's first day with us

About a year later my husband and I started dating/got engaged.  We were only on the same side of the country as a couple for a week before he proposed, but that's another story entirely.  I am now officially Roxy's step-mom of sorts.

The majestic Roxy

About a year after we were married, my husband and I were both working a lot of hours at our respective jobs and really wanted Roxy to have a companion to spend the day with.  He wanted a larger dog, I wanted a small one.  I had grown up with an Australian Shepherd and remembered fondly the time I had with that dog.  She truly was one of my closest friends growing up.  I had some friends with a mini Aussie and I just knew that was the breed for me.  My husband wasn't sold, but once we found out that my parents knew someone selling a litter of mini Aussies, we went to take a look.

There were two left.  One was so sweet and the other was extremely playful.  We couldn't leave without both of them.  They gave us a deal.  Jeremy called his sister and told her that their search for a dog was over.  We were bringing them the sweet one and we would keep the playful one as Roxy's companion.  They named theirs Ellie and ours is Sydney.  We call her Syd for short.

From left: Ellie, Sydney, Roxy

 Rox and Syd, just a couple days after bringing Syd home.

Syd is an amazingly smart animal.  She can open just about any type of door.  The dog has opened our front door as well as our sliding glass door.  Trouble is her middle name, but she is so much fun and has definitely added excitement into our shy Roxy's life.

 Syd loves the camera

We love our dogs and we are so happy that both of them have turned out to be amazing pets with our baby.  I hope you enjoyed reading about our sweet girls and I have just one more request.  Syd recently had a malignant tumor removed from her belly.  Based off of the autopsy, the vet does not believe they got the whole thing and it may come back.  Another surgery would require reconstructive surgery and the other option would be radiation which would just be too hard on our playful girl.  There is also the matter of cost.  Please pray for our girl Syd to remain healthy.  Thank you :)

After a muddy hike

-Kira

Fur Baby Friday: Nestful of Love

Hi y'all! We have some more adorable cats on the blog today. Allison is a new blog friend that I just adore, and her furbabies are sure to make you smile. Take it away, girl!

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Hello friends! I'm Allison from over at Nestful of Love and I'm so excited to be posting for Julie on Furbaby Friday! Today I'm going to be gushing about my 2 furbabies Bear and Sawyer.

Growing up my family always had both dogs and cats and I always loved our cats, but was drawn more to our dogs. When it came time for Drew and I to get a pet we decided a cat would be a smarter choice for our lifestyle at the time and we are so happy to have 2 amazing and very quirky cats. Here they are!

Meet Bear-Bear loves to chase lasers, ride in the laundry basket after I unload the drier and his favorite past time is eating...he tells me when it is dinner time!

Meet Sawyer-Sawyer is my cuddle bug. He is always ready to cuddle and greets me at the door when I get home from work. I always feel loved when he is around.

Their first night in their new home

They are brothers from a shelter and we bought them when they were around 1 year old. Sadly we missed them being baby kittens, but the important thing is that they got a good home. So many people were snatching up the litters of kittens by the handful, but ignoring the older cats which made us sad so we gave in and decided to get one. Then we found out our cats were brothers and we had to get two...we are suckers for cute animals.

These two have turned me into a crazy cat lady as I have discovered after reading the amazing blog Cat Verses Human. I saw this picture and was like whoa...I'm that girl (well not really, but kind of).

Source: catversushuman.blogspot.com via Allison on Pinterest

I will admit that for my birthday last year my husband made me a calendar of our cats that I have hanging up at work. I also drink out of a mug at work with a cat on it. My 2nd grade students know how much I love cats and they regularly draw me pictures and write stories about Bear and Sawyer. Sometimes they even draw pictures for me to "give" to Bear and Sawyer.

We are doing a class service project and my class voted on where the money should be donated. Hands down the animal shelter won. When I asked them why they chose the shelter they said "because we know how much you love your cats!" Isn't that sweet?

Well that's all the talking I'll be doing about my cats (for today) but you can always hear more about them on my blog! Thanks for having us today Julie! Happy Friday friends!

Fur Baby Friday: Legally Lovely

Fur Baby Friday is back for the new year! And we have one of my most favorite people ever here to start it off! Emma and I totally hit it off the moment we found each other's blogs, and I know you'll love her (and Sally cat) just as much as I do! 

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Hello, all! 

I am excited to be here posting for Julie. This is my first time venturing away from my own blog! (Kind of like the blog equivalent of going to your first sleep over?) Since I'm a new face here, I'll go ahead and tell you something that most people learn quickly - I am a crazy cat lady.* I am the girl in the Kroger checkout line at 10pm with a case of Sunkist and cans of cat food. But, I will happily be a crazy cat lady for this little fur ball; meet Sally Jo.

Sally began her life as a street cat, but is now the most spoiled cat in the Midwest. I found her a while ago at our hometown library. The librarians told me that workers from the Humane Society had been trying to catch her for ages, but had never succeeded. I'd love to know what methods they tried because it took me about thirty seconds to get her into my car with a bag of deli turkey. 

(Fun Fact: Sally has a theme song that is inspired by her former street life. If you take the song from Aladdin - "riffraff, street rat, I don't buy that..." - and just change it to - "riffraff, street cat..." - you've got it.) -- oh man, do I sound goofy right now.

Despite being adopted by the family and living at home for a while, Sally is "my" cat. When I decided to move away to law school, Sally decided she'd like to try that too, so now she's my roommate. While she has a wide range of interests (napping, meowing, pawing me in the face at 3am to remind me she is alive), she spends most her time acting like the sassiest thing on four legs. She is the Mariah Carey of cats - pure diva attitude.

And while she occasionally nips at my ankles when I've been away too long, or favors my boyfriend over me now and then, she has her redeeming moments. She listens to me complain after a long day in the library and she likes to snuggle at night. Sometimes, she even lets me twirl her around when we listen to Beyonce.

Yep, crazy cat lady.

I guess I love that spoiled little ball of fluff. 

A very Happy New Year from us both!

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*Legitimately. Actually, this post is basically a love letter to my cat. Julie, what have you done to me!?

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That's what I do best, Emma! Making people sound ridiculous talking about their pets! I do it every day, so I may as well trick people into doing it with me! :)

Now y'all leave Emma some love and make sure to check out Legally Lovely! 

Fur Baby Friday: iPhone Pics

This week, you're just getting a bunch of crappy cute iPhone pictures. Enjoy!

These next two are my favorites. Whenever I hear Doug's car pull up after work, I start telling Maisy "Daddy's home!" and she gets SO EXCITED. On this day, she got so excited that she climbed up on the back of the couch to hug him.

See Pep on the right? They're best buds :)

(Pep is sprawled out on Doug)

Snuggle up with someone you love this weekend :)

Fur Baby Friday: Bliss!

I've been seeing lots of bloggers post about their charity of choice, and I figured I needed to post mine as well! 

This organization is the reason we have Maisy in our lives, so I am forever grateful to them! I started volunteering with Bliss Animal Haven over a year ago when we were living in Atlanta. Last November, I organized a fundraiser for them where I first met Maisy. You can read more of her story here.

Anyways, Bliss is an incredible rescue group that focuses on rescuing abused or neglected animals. They just rescued this pretty girl, Naiyah, whose former owner was abusive and broke her leg in 2 places. 

They had to amputate her leg, but now she is doing very well and is learning to be a 3-legged dog :)

They are still trying to raise funds for Naiyah's surgery and recovery, so if you feel so inclined to give, you can go to Bliss's main page and click on the "Donate" link on the left! If you donate, please let me know!! :) Here are a few other cuties they rescued:

Happy Friday!

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Fur Baby Friday: Adventures of Newlyweds

Today I have a very special little pup for y'all to meet! Sweet Ashley is such a loving fur mama, and well, I'll let Ashley explain it :)

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I am so excited to be guest posting for Fur Baby Friday! I am Ashley and I blog over at Adventures of Newlyweds. I love my babe just about as much as you CAN love an animal so I am so excited for you to meet her.

New friends, meet Bella.

Bella, friends...

Bella is 10 months old and the sweetest, cutest little yorkie poo you will ever meet.

I got her just before Easter of this year and she was a totally different color.

Look at my little peanut!

She was SO tiny.  Just 3 pounds...

We SWORE we wouldn't let a dog sleep in the bed with us,

but after 4 days, she found her way into bed and has been there ever since.

I honestly can't sleep without her now! She is my little cuddle bug.

A few months ago we started to notice that Bella was limping a little bit here and there.

As the weeks progressed it seemed to get worse and worse... 

Until finally one day she quit using the leg altogether.

She would touch it to the ground every once in a while but not bear any weight on it.

This was a problem, because not only does she have all of that puppy energy,

but she also LOVES to run like a crazy!

See?!

I took her to the vet and we found out that she had a problem with her knee cap.

Basically it was stuck popped out of place.

See, lots of yorkies and little dogs have the same problem.

It is a birth defect where their kneecap groove isn't deep enough.

Left  unattended the dog loses all mobility and develops painful arthritis.

The surgery to fix it?

$1,500.00 dollars.

I know.  A LOT.

I wanted to get her surgery ASAP but we didn't have the funds,

so I started an etsy shop.  I present to you

FETCH & CO.

I make handmade bracelets, necklaces, custom mugs, leashes and all kinds of treasures! 

So far, I have raised almost $800 towards her surgery.

She actually ended up having her surgery Tuesday, and is recovering at home right now.

I hope to raise the rest of the money for her surgery,

and THEN?  Well, I have had fun making things so, 

I think I am going to sponsor another pet after Bella!

Everyone needs help paying expensive bills these days, and I want to help

another pet who needs surgery to live a better life.  

I hope you all will check out the shop, and spread the word.

It is that time of year after all!

Thanks for meeting Bella and listening to her story!

Thanks again Julie!  You are awesome!

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Ashley, I think it is amazing what you are doing! I know I would do anything to save my pets, and I LOVE that you are going to continue helping other pets in need! Such an amazing idea!

Fur Baby Friday: Thankful

This Fur Baby Friday is a little different than usual...

I spent most of Wednesday crying and hugging Maisy. Don't worry, she's fine. But I found out that someone I know back home had their house burn down Tuesday night, and he also lost his dog in it, who saved Scott's life.

Duncan the boxer woke Scott up in the middle of the night, barking and pawing at him because the house was on fire. So Scott grabbed his collar and ran out of the house. But once he got outside, he realized Duncan had gotten out of his collar and was still in the house. Scott tried to go back in but it was too hot, and afterwards, they found Duncan curled up on the bed.

When I heard this story, I just lost it. I always cry when I hear sad animal stories, but this one just got to me. Of course, because I know Scott, I feel absolutely terrible for him. And then because Duncan was a boxer, I started imagining how I would feel if that happened with Maisy. So this resulted in me sobbing for hours. My mom got a hysterical phone call where she probably thought I was dying. 

I'm not really sure what the point of this post is. One is to honor Duncan, who is truly a hero. After imagining myself in Scott's situation, I hugged on my family all day and made sure that they knew how much I loved them. So I guess I'm writing this to say, hug on the people you love today. Tell them how thankful you are for them. 

Articles about the fire: here, here, and here.

Fur Baby Friday: the saga of a twenty-something

Y'all are about to see the most adorable little pup. My friend, Alex, is here to introduce you to her precious little Boston! For me, it was love at first sight. I dare you not to fall in love with this little face! 

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I'd love to thank Julie for letting us come over to her little place in the blog world today! I'm Alex, from the saga of a twenty-something, and this is Dolly:

Dolly is 11 years young. She's actually the boyfriend's dog; he got her when she was just a little puppy, and (according to him) she could just fit in the palm of his hand. Now, she's a bit bigger, a bit older and wee bit slower, but she's still the best dog in the whole wide world. I've been lucky enough to know her for the past three years. When we started dating, I had to get Dolly-approved. Thankfully, I passed the test. And now she lets me love her and take pictures of her whenever I want.

I grew up without pets, so any dog was good in my book. It just so happens that Dolly is well-trained and one of the nicest dogs out there. Unless you're another dog. She actually doesn't play very nicely with other dogs.

Oh, you want to see more goofy pictures of her? Here you go...

She, unlike most Boston Terriers, has a longer tail, which forces her to sit like a human, with her back legs sticking out. She also hates to have her tail and her front paws touched. Consider yourself warned.

Dolly has a very special talent: she snores. A LOT. You'd think that as a smaller dog, she'd make less noise. But nope. She's a champion snorer. Sometimes we have to kick her out of our bedroom at night because she's snoring so loud.

At the end of the day, she's a cuddly little baby who loves to be touched. And she's the best dog ever :)

pardon her demon eyes.

Stop by and say hello to us sometime :) And thanks for having me again Julie!

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Y'all leave Alex some love, then make sure to enter my $20 Petsmart gift card giveaway! It ends Sunday!