Thursday, March 27, 2008

Mixed Emotions

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Diego is finally old enough to come home. Yay! He'll be ten weeks old on Monday, and his breeder says his mom's milk has dried up and he's eating solid food now. He weighs a whopping one pound (plus a few ounces). I'm a bit nervous about bringing home something so tiny. I had guinea pigs bigger than he is! And Chelsea, at 16 pounds, will look like a hulking giant next to him.

And I'm also sad. I tore Doodlebug's huge crate apart tonight to disinfect it and wash the blankets. I left it up after he died so that Chelsea had his scent to remember him by. I did pull out his bed and put it the chair where she sometimes sleeps. Hopefully she'll use it occasionally and think of him.

I shopped today for food, doggy litter, teeny tiny toys, a very little collar and a very small crate. Deigo will sleep there, and I'll put it inside Doodlebug's crate so that he has a secure corner for snoozing when I'm not home. Doodlebug's crate will serve as Diego's home for as long as he needs it. I won't let him have the run of my bedroom until he's reliably housetrained. Chelsea has potty pads in my bathroom, and Diego will have a litter box there, as well as the small one in his crate. He isn't vaccinated at all, and probably won't start getting shots until he gets a little larger, so he won't be able to go outside at all for quite some time.

Besides shopping at PetSmart, I stopped at the holistic pet boutique across the street from where I work. I was talking to the owner about getting Diego neutered relatively soon, and she was all over me about waiting until he was an adult. What's up with that? We have an appointment with my vet on Tuesday, and his word will be the final say. I'm all for early neutering/spaying, and can't see that it has hurt any of my dogs in any way. This woman was very annoying, and if she wasn't the only place in town to buy the food I want to feed him, then I would not go back. She totally poo-poo'ed the idea of training him to a litter box, and said she hadn't heard of it ever working. Of course she wanted me to buy the potty pads she sells there.

Anyway, there you have it. Excited, sad, anxious, annoyed. And tired! Night-night!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Vote for Chelsea!


No, she isn't running for president, although she would be fair and just and a proponent of animal rights everywhere. Hurricane Katrina would have been handled much differently had she been in charge. I'm just sayin' ...

I've entered this photo in a contest at Bissell. The weekly prize is a new Pet Eraser Vacuum and a chance to win the grand prize of $10,000 donated to the pet cause of our choice (along with Chelsea's photo on new product packaging). My current vacuum cleaner is over 10 years old, and on it's last leg (wheel?) -- although I'm very proud of the fact that the two times it has broken in the last year, I've been able to fix it myself!

Please vote this week, and only vote once. Duplicate votes will be disqualified. And if you'd send all your friends there to vote, too, we'd appreciate it! Here's the link: