Cassie's Story

Well, after debating back and forth about it (with myself and partially consulting with Nick who lovingly remained Switzerland in this whole thing because he did not want to sway my decision making), I decided we'd better find Cassie a new home. For one - she just did not like Nick at all (which to be honest was not THE breaking reason, but it did play a part in my mind) Every time he walked by or entered the room, she got a little spooked and usually jumped up to get away from him. Though she'd settle down after a minute or two, as soon as he moved again or spoke, she got spooked all over again. Just last week when we were getting ready for bed, she opted to jump OVER the bed to get to her dog bed rather than walking next to him. That is how much she just did not like him. And that is after nearly 3 months of living with us. I felt she needed to be in a home where she would be comfortable with everyone who is in it so she could relax instead of getting scared so much over simple things like walking to her dog bed. For two - she was just too much for me to handle with a toddler. I would play with Harvey and she'd try to take over the attention making it really hard to interact with Harvey while she was in the room and that was not ideal for mommy life. She ended up in the kitchen or outside most of the time so we could have play time together and I didn't think that was fair to her to be here, but NOT here with us.

 Overall though, I guess between those two things and the experience of having her, I just realized we were not the best suited people for dogs after all. I did not enjoy the hair on the floor that stuck to Harvey's pants any time he sat down, picking up poop outside, worrying if Harvey would wander around the yard and find some of it, dealing with a $30 library fee for damaged books beyond repair and losing 5 pairs of good shoes and a number of other items to her anxiety chewing. When we contemplated driving up to attend my grandma's funeral several weeks ago, she even played a part in why we ultimately decided we could not go. We realized we had no place to put her while we were gone as we don't know many people here yet. The pricing on the doggy daycare type places was out of control too. It just seems I am not the dog girl I once was back in the day with my AKC poster and memorization of all of the dog breeds and I am okay with that. I have grown into the mom life and I am okay with not having a dog. :)

 So, even though she had the expected doggy "issues", she was a great, nice, and easy going dog overall, but as great as she was, we put an ad on craigslist (I did not want to take her back to a shelter) and this past weekend on Saturday we said goodbye to her as she became a part of a nice family who already had a small dog and their teenage son fell in love with Cassie and she took to him instantly. I felt guilty about it at first, and didn't want to be "those people" who got a dog and then gave up after only a few months, but I knew it was for the best for us and for Cassie and so I decided I can't focus on the guilt side of it or worrying what anyone else will think about it. I CAN feel good that we rescued her from a 50/50 shot at getting euthanized at the shelter and now we found her a new home with a just as nice family. I think she will enjoy her new house much better though, especially being with another dog when the humans leave. She hated being left alone, but I think with another dog there, she won't get so much separation anxiety to the point of shaking uncontrollably or resorting to chewing up a bunch of things around the house that she can get a hold of. But this was a learning experience for sure. With this experience, we have determined we simply are not dog people after all. If Nick and many other family members weren't so allergic to cats, I'd be all for a cat since they are a lot less work as far as keeping up with exercising, being attention seeking and easier to care for when you leave out of town too. I guess it's good to find these things out now though rather than when we have kids old enough to beg for a dog, and then go through the re-homing process ending with kids being sorely disappointed about it. Even though he was awake when the other people took her, Harvey still obviously didn't understand the whole of it. But, the only time he seemed to wonder about it was the next morning as she usually would follow me as I got him up and sit outside his door as he would greet her with a point and saying "dog dog", when she wasn't there he toddled over and looked out the window for her, and when he didn't see her, he just went back to playing. That was the last he will probably think about it though and that makes it easier. It was good while it lasted and I'm sure I will miss her at times, but she and I will hopefully both be much happier in the long run.

Update and Friday Funnies

Before I get to the funny stuff. An update while I'm here.

Harvey started to spin around this week randomly. When Nick was home for a few days last week he also made a game out of rolling around on the floor with him so now he'll lay on the floor, point to random things he sees around the room and then roll all over. It's pretty funny.

He also started blowing on his food recently. He saw me blow on a piece of something before I gave it to him and now he will sometimes touch food to his lips, blow on it and then put it in his mouth. And he won't do it each time either, just once in a while to be funny.

Another (sarcastically) fun thing we have been trying to deal with is Cassie's separation anxiety. She gets terribly anxious any time she cannot be with us or cannot be right next to us (particularly me... she doesn't really care for Nick so much). Our best solution for the time being is to leave her outside unchained when we have to leave her. She will bark constantly if we put her on a chain - no matter the length, and there is less for her to get to when she's outside so it's all we can do right now. When we were retrying her staying inside, she chewed up almost all of my shoes (which was really sad for me), the bindings off of 3 library books that I had on the counter, ate through some recently purchased groceries I hadn't had a chance to put away - a bulk box of granola bars and some of Harvey's baby yogurts that are cupboard friendly... Suffice it to say that her staying inside while we are gone is definitely out now, especially having a toddler who likes to pull things out which means we'd have to spend 10 minutes putting everything in a spot she couldn't get it before we could even leave. While outside she chewed up a few things, but not nearly as much and not nearly as costly (yet... knock on wood) and some were her toys she was supposed to chew. She got our sprinkler and the hose sprayer, oh and her bowls. But none of those things got completely ruined and are at least still usable. I've been working with her on spending some time outside while we are home so I can monitor her and see what she's doing and getting into and try to prevent things from happening. Hopefully she'll eventually realize we are not abandoning her by leaving the house, but for the time being, it's been pretty crazy.

Other happy news - we got a grill this week and got a kiddie pool with a gift certificate! We are set for having a lot of summer fun in our backyard! Can't wait for the 4th when we are having some people over to break in our new gear.

Now, on to the funny stuff! One of my friends posted this on facebook this week. It reminds me of a kid history type thing. There are 5 episodes now, but here's the first one to get you started! I think the first one is my favorite too.

Friday Funnies (belated)

When my sister Pam came to visit earlier this month, we were waiting for the guys to get back and started watching one of my favorite comedy routines of all time and I forgot how much I love this routine. It made us all laugh hysterically. SO, I thought I'd share it on here for if anyone's bored this weekend or wants something funny to watch! You can find the whole thing on youtube so if you have a wii and have the youtube channel, you could actually watch it via your TV's wii if you prefer since it's about an hour long. I promise you won't be disappointed though. And bonus -  I'd say it's somewhere between a G and PG rating if your wondering how "clean" of a comedy show it is.
Ellen Degeneres Here and Now (in case you want to search for it on the youtube channel on your wii)