A painful day for me....

Today has been an extremely painful day!  A year ago we added a pup to our family.  When we brought her home it was our intent that she would be part of our family for many years.  We imagined her being with us when JT left for college.  I took her everywhere with me - school, park, playdates, parties.  I wanted to socialize her and I wanted to have a pup that I could take with me and not worry about.  About 8 months ago we started to notice that she was extremely insecure and aggressive when people came over.  We worried that maybe we had missed the opportunity to train her.  We started training her in January and learned that her temperament is genetic.  She is an insecure dog with aggression and protective nature.  We worked with amazing trainers, but they felt like we were coming closer to having to remove her from our family.  When my father-in-law would come over, Lulu would bark and pretty much try to attack him.  Jeff said that we needed to start looking for a new home for her.  Last night, after most of the people left from JT's party, we brought her out on a leash (of course) and she snapped at friend.  Jeff and I realized that we needed to get rid of her.  So, today, I packed her up while the kids were at school and took to my friend's house.  My amazing friend has grown up with Boxer's and understands their temperament.  She has a friend who rehabilitates dogs and she currently has a boxer, Millie, that needed a playmate.  My friend agreed to take her and love on her!  Although my heart aches and I am extremely sad (tears coming down my face as I write this), I know that Lulu (who's new name is June) will be in a home much better suited for her.  I am grateful that God opened the door for her to have a home.  My kids have been crying all day and are aching over this. Oh, how I wish I could be the only one crying. But, it's a testament to how much we love her and how much she was part of our family.  Our house is quiet and I know there is a void, but I also know it's what was best for everyone.  If you are reading this and you think of us, please pray for our family as we are truly grieving the loss of our pup, but thankful for June's new home.

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The owner needs some training

We recently started training Lulu. She is going to be one year on the 25th of this month and the bolting out the front door and the lack of heeling and pulling during our walks was too much. She also was worrying us when she's go after dogs on walks - at the Dog Park she is great, but put a leash on her and she's a very different dog.  She is a strong boxer and hyper at times.  We are finding out so many things that we wish we had known before getting our furry friend.  Sure, she is a beautiful boxer, but there is so much more.  We learned from our trainers that a lot of research should go into the parents of your furry friend.  Lulu's mom is a hyper boxer and her dad is a scared, shy guy who cowers from everything...the result when you put those two things together - a wild, insecure dog that is afraid of everything.  When I got her at 11 weeks I took her every where with me.  I am finding out now that if I hadn't done that, Lulu would be worse off.  She is afraid of everything when we are out and she is on a leash. She is not friendly with other dogs and she is insecure and afraid.  When we are home, she is a completely different dog - she is safe and secure here.

Apparently, I need a "mean pill" because I am not firm enough with her....I am learning though.  I am learning that I need to watch my dog at all times when she is on a leash, I need to go left if she wants to go right, I need to stand tall and be firm.  I need to learn when to correct her and when to just distract her.  I need to read the signs of her body language to know when she is building up her anxiety and ready to defend herself.  I've got a long way to go and so does Lulu.  I am so thankful for the amazing trainers we are working with...they are doing so much to teach me and help train Lulu.  If there is one thing I've learned through this process the past few weeks...DO NOT BUY a dog from a family that is just selling pups to make money!  Buy a puppy from a BREEDER that puts in the time to research mates, looks into the dogs personalities and breeds dogs that will not only come out beautiful, but also with great personalities!  We love our pup and we are praying that we can train her because our fear is that as she gets older, if she becomes more and more insecure, she could be a liability and we would need to get rid of her.  So, in the meantime, Mom needs training and Lulu needs some Prozac!  Wish us luck!



P.S.  Looking for some amazing trainers - Contact Tackett Service Dogs.  They hold group classes on Saturday mornings in Orange and also do private training and boarding.  Tom or Nikki are my dog whisperers!

Dress Up Fun

It's been a tough week around here!  My two little ones have been extremely sick.  Fevers over 103, cough, runny nose, sneezing.  Yup, I think they have the swine flu.  Curly started on Monday and Cupcake quickly followed Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning.  JT's been great (could be that he already had this lovely flu in September).  We were hoping to be all better by tonight so we could attend our church's annual Light the Night, but not even close.  We were already sad that J was in Japan this week, but to be homebound, alone all week has been even more depressing.  The kids were sad that we couldn't be at church, but we stayed home and Doc JT handed out Candy.  We finally carved our pumpkins today and the kids dressed up our pooch (poor girl - she really had no choice).  Here is Snake Eyes (from GI JOE without his mask b/c his runny nose didn't go well with hit), my Doc JT and my USO Diva, Cupcake (look at how pale and sick she looks).  After the initial tears of being homebound tonight, they were great.  Hope you all had a great, safe, fun night!

She's Miserable!

and the "cone of shame" isn't helping...

Autumn is in the Air...

September 22nd is the first day of Fall. Around here, we've been getting into the "Fall" fun and enjoying this wonderful season. The days are warm and the nights are cool. School has started and we are getting into our new routine of school and homework. We've been baking and making soups and enjoying the new season we are in!

Last weekend J and JT headed to Tenn. to cheer on the UCLA Bruins in their victory of Univ. of Tenn. They had a blast and came home exhausted!


I also made my first batch of Pumpkin Cakies.....a favorite around here. Even Lulu enjoyed an entire batch she got off the counter (I was not happy with her, but Curly thought it was funny until he realized he wasn't going to get any because Lulu ate them all)


Finally - our little pup, she's been so much fun and we love her, but we've come to the conclusion that she has an eating disorder. She has canine bulimia. She has some serious binges...then she purges.  Let's see in the last 2 weeks she has eaten the following:  an entire loaf of bread, an entire pack of tortillas, a new pack of craisins, an entire batch of pumpkin cakies, udon noodle soup, bean and cheese burritos (2 of them), half a bag of mini-chocolate chips, easter candy she came across in the garage, two wooden spoons, a brand new bag of dog treats for teeth cleaning (greenies), and entire bag of training liver treats (thank goodness these were low fat).  She is lucky she is cute and well behaved in other areas.  We are currently in puppy class hoping that we can figure out how to stop the madness!

What's a pup to do...

when the stairs are gated off and the kids are upstairs...well, jump on the computer desk, of course, in the hopes that it will help get you closer to jumping over the gate!  This is not the first time Miss Lulu has done this either...I just happen to have the camera ready!  



Oh, boy, we are in trouble with this pup!  We can't wait to get all our shots so we can take some of that energy and run it off!

Life with Lulu and other fun stuff...

Life with Lulu has been fun around here. Sure, we had a few nights of crying, but she is sleeping in her crate like a champ! She is a good pup. If we leave the door open, she always goes out back to go potty. She is fun and loving, sweet and playful. The kids are in love and mom has a new baby that follows her around like a little shadow. We are having a blast with our new girl and she is definitely getting socialized! Enjoy the most recent pics of our girl:

I think she is learning to like kids - whether she likes it or not (Cupcake likes to carry her like a baby)



She got stuck under our computer armoir the other night and today she kept finding a cozy seat in our coffee table:


Cupcake graciously gave Lulu one of her favorite baby blankets and Lulu loves it. Lulu will take it out of her crate and bring it to where ever she wants to snuggle with it!


Now...Onto other fun stuff:

Saturday JT and his buddy Trey decided that they wanted to swim - the pool wasn't heated and it wasn't a super hot day...here they are having a shockingly good time:


Do you think the water was cold?


Curly decided he wanted to try it out too:


The kids had a blast and they are ready for summer...we are only 3 weeks away! Wahoo!

Meet Little Miss Lulu

As if my life were not crazy enough with 3 kids in baseball, but call me crazy. I met Lulu and fell in love.  So did my kids.  They were in tears at the thought of not being able to have her.  Lulu's mommy is Lacey (who is my brother's dog) and she is one of the last of the litter of 10 to go.  She's got a wonderful temperament and slept in her crate last night from 8:30 - 6 am with out a peep.  She cries a little when I put in her crate, but calms down quickly and you would never even know she was here.  She is 11 weeks old and, yes, she is a Boxer.  She is a wonderful addition to our family and we are so happy to introduce her to you...we hope you get to meet her before she gets too big!

We didn't tell the boys that we were bringing Lulu home, so when we picked them up from school they were extremely surprised


Letting Lulu see her new backyard - she was a bit timid, but is warming up to her new home


This morning Lulu decided she wanted to nap in Curly's lap...isn't this precious?