Maeby, Maeby Not

I Voted!

2008-11-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

Today is election day! Maeby registed to vote with ACORN and got to vote by absentee ballot in Ohio. ;-)

Seriously, I hope all who can vote in the US election did so. This is much too important, and while Maeby, may be disenfranchised, she is hopeful that the electorate will make the right choice. If not, well, we'll move to Australia.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure who likes Halloween more. Us or Maeby. Actually, I think it is us. We had all sorts of grand schemes for an ensemble costume, like Dorthy, Tin-Man and Cowardly Lion or Wall-E, Eve and the Cockroach, but in the end Suzanne and I decided to go as ourselves and Maeby went as a Jack-o-Lantern.

Maeby didn't mind the costume, but wasn't a huge fan of the hat that came with it. The ear holes were too constricting.

This is Maeby practicing her trick for a treat.

And here she is asking if she really has to go outside dressed like this. Since our house never gets trick or treaters, the only way Maeby was going to get any attention in her costume was to go out for a walk. Plus it gave us an excuse to check out all the kids costumes in the neighborhood.

Maeby and a jack-o-lantern. Which one is which?

Maeby is on the left.

By the time we got back, I think Maeby was used to the costume, but she was happy to get it off. It was fun. I'll post pictures from Maeby's first Halloween tomorrow.

Happy November!

Saba, Swimming and Slate

2008-09-11T19:00:00.001-07:00

Maeby got to visit another canine cousin over labor day weekend. We went up to the Finger Lakes where my brother and sister-in-law live. Her cousin Saba is 11 years old and has just one good leg - she has two torn ACL's and an injured front leg from jumping out a second story window to get away from the noise of fireworks over the Fourth of July -- as such, she didn't seem to enjoy having a young whipper-snapper running around her territory and chasing her tennis balls, but there wasn't much she could do. They did have words though when Maeby landed on Saba as she was trying to catch a ball, there was much growling and snapping, but no blood was drawn and we got them separated. Most of the time they were cordial to each other.

A little info about Saba.

Saba is a rescue dog, we're not sure exactly what her heritage is, but she looks kind of like a tall Corgy. She is named after the Dutch Caribbean Island and is a allergic to most dairy and meats, so she eats vegetarian dog food. She is a really smart dog who used to take care of a cockatiel (that's a bird, not a bluish green cocker spaniel), until she passed away -- her duties included waking the bird, Dulce, up in the morning by removing the blanket on the cage and watching her intently when she was out of the cage.

Maeby also has a feline cousin who lives with Saba, Chico, but he stayed away from Maeby, they met once, but only long enough to sniff each other, then Chico took off into the garage.

Some Pictures of Maeby and Saba being cordial with one another:

Maeby decided to give Saba's vegetarian lifestyle a try and had her first taste of corn on the cob.

Maeby taunted Saba for a little while by running circles around her. Saba just growled and tried to snap at her, but was always a bit too slow.

Maeby also got to go down to the lake for some kayaking and swimming

Here she is checking out the water

Most of the time she just seemed a bit wary of our kayaking skills. She always thought the other kayak would be safer.

Action Shot!!!

Then on another day we took a hike up a nearby gorge. It was a beautiful hike and the slate stream bed was amazing. Then we walked back along fields of corn, alfalfa and soy.

Maeby trying to get dry - it was a losing battle

Maeby looking out contemplatively (is that word) over the fields of green

In this one I think Maeby looks like a frog. Her legs are too short to be able to run through the alfalfa, so she had to take a series of leaps to get through the field. In real life she looked more like a bounding deer, but this one is all frog - or maybe toad.

Sleepover

2008-09-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Maeby had a chance to have a sleepover. Jack's family went out of town and was staying with Romeo, but Romeo's family was leaving for vacation two days before Jack's family got back in town, so we invited Jack and Romeo to stay with us for those two nights, and boy was it crazy. We picked them up at 10:30pm on a Friday night, so by bed time, the three of them were just getting started running around the house. We were woken up every few hours by them running up and down the hall. Suzanne periodically opened her eyes to see three puppy noses peeking over the edge of the bed, and a couple times Romeo even jumped up on the bed, but sorry Romeo, our bed is a no-pup-zone.

Morning came way too early on Saturday. But having three dogs on Saturday was actually a blessing. I let them out in the yard while doing yard work. Since our back yard doesn't have a fence, I was worried about them running off, but the combination of heat and the pack mentality kept the dogs in the yard.

Saturday night I needed to get a good night's sleep because I had early meetings at church on Sunday, so I took the three of them on a long, long walk. It worked. They all slept through the whole night, or if they did wake up, they didn't make any noise - which is fine with me. Below are some pictures from that weekend. Yes, I posed most of them, but Suzanne went to Pennsylvania on Saturday and Sunday so I didn't have much to do.

First, a few pictures of the Three Amigos. Maeby and Jack did most of the wrestling and Romeo just wanted to play fetch, or climb on the back of the couch to get away.

Romeo

Maeby and Romeo - I tried to get a picture like this of Jack and Maeby but those two would either try to wrestle or make out if it was just the two of them.

Dinner Time

Bath Time - I really didn't bathe them, but they seemed to enjoy the tub anyway

Maeby then called to order the first meeting of the Yorkshire Terrier Heritage Club

After the meeting it was game time. Sorry, they are too young to gamble. So they decided to play Sequence.

That's all for now.

Week 2

2008-07-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

And now for another installment of Maeby: Year 1. The following pictures are from Maeby's second week in the family. She was just so little and cute and full of life. She kept us laughing, when she was good and kept us on our toes when wasn't so good - or should I say she kept on our toes as she liked to attack them as we walked down the hall. She was also kind of a handful with the little puddles she would leave in the middle of the floor and the stealing of slippers and socks from the bedroom. Thankfully she had a very noticeable poop-sniff, she spun around at least 5 times before squating, so we could usually catch her before she did the deed. Sadly though, when she was doing cute things we often didn't think to grab the camera, and when we did get the camera, she was usually too interested in the camera to continue doing the cute thing we grabbed the camera to take a picture of. And when we were able to get some pictures, she was usually running and bouncing and playing so much and so quickly it was difficult to get a good picture of her. So, many of the pictures that weren't blurred or out of focus were those from when she was sleeping. Sleeping on the couch, sleeping on the floor and sleeping on the air-conditioning vent to keep cool.

But we did get some pictures that weren't sleeping pictures or blurry pictures, like this one (below) where you can't see her face, but you can see how big (or small) she was compared to the fire hydrant.

And the next two are still two of my favorite Maeby pictures. They just show how full of joy and happiness she was.

And I think that this one is in fact my FAVORITE (but I have lots of favorites).

Airport

2008-07-15T19:43:00.000-07:00

Recently we went to pick Suzanne up at the airport after a business trip. Unfortunately, her flight was delayed for about 5 hours, so Maeby and I had plenty of time to kill while we waited. We walked around, I took a nap, Maeby showed off her tricks to the crowd and I took some pictures of Maeby's adventures at Dulles (too bad all I had was my camera-phone).

Here is Maeby bored with waiting for Suzanne.

Then Maeby got to ride around in a luggage cart.

But Maeby's favorite was riding on the baggaige carousel.
Just kidding, the carousel was turned off when I put her on it, so don't think I put her in any danger.

Cousins!

2008-07-14T15:53:00.001-07:00

For the 4th of July weekend Maeby got go down to South Carolina to visit her cousins for the first time. She has plenty of human cousins, most of whom she has met already, but only two dog cousins and these are the two that she got to visit.

This is Weezer. He's a tiger striped labrador mix.

And this is Blink, she's blueberry tongue labrador mix.

They are great dogs and they immediately accepted Maeby into the pack -- well after the expected initiation process:

Maeby absolutely loved their huge house and the private dog park (backyard) something she doesn't have, being an apartment dog, and she quickly learned how to use the dog door to get to the private dog park, even though the door was designed for big dogs and she had to jump to get through (sorry no pics).

They also had fun going for a walk around the neighborhood despite the extreme Southern heat.

Overall it was a great holiday weekend, and Maeby was sad to have to leave them. Maybe we'll head down when Weezer and Blink welcome a human sibling into their pack at the end of the month.

Monochromatic Maeby

2008-06-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

These are some of our favorite pictures from Maeby's first week (Aug 27-Sept 2, 2007) in our home. She loved to sleep, and we soon discovered that she matched our house quite well. As you can see from the pictures below, she matches the hardwood floor right down to the woodgrain matching the darker hairs in her face and ears. Her hair has lightened since then, but now she matches the couch much better.

She loved sleeping, still does but we thought it was funny that all of her favorite sleeping places were hard surfaces, whether it was the hardwood floor, slate tile, the metal airconditioning vents or my law books.

But it wasn't all just sleeping and napping. Maeby was adorable and bouncy and playful, just like a puppy should be. She loved licking but we tried to discourage that because while it is cute and tickly to have a little puppy tongue lick your hand or face, it's not so cute with adult dog tongues with dog breath. The same with her desire to nibble on our fingers. Here are a couple picks of Maeby giving Suz and I kisses.

And here is a cute pic of her in her bed, but you can tell she is looking down at that hardwood floor longingly -- notice the shades of beige from the couch, throw blanket and dog bed. And then playing on the rug which is also in the same color family.

Beige, tan, khaki, apricot, light brown and tan are the colors of our apartment, so Maeby fits right in.

As a puppy every part of her was cute, but her bum seemed especially cute. Like a miniature kodiak bear cub bum. This picture doesn't capture the cuteness as well as we hoped, but it gives you an idea.

But probably my absolute favorite photo of Maeby is below. The proportion of her head to her body, the little tufts of fur sticking up from her ears, the cute little paws, tiny lack nose and big black puppy eyes. She is almost a precious moments puppy.

But you know what, I still can't quite decide whether she was cuter then than she is now. She's just a cute dog all the way around. What do you think?

Puppy Pick-up Day!!!

2008-06-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Since Maeby is one year old and we are just barely starting this dog blog, we have a whole year’s worth of cute Maeby pictures and fun Maeby stories. So, interspersed with current events will be pictures and stories of Maeby’s first year. And as soon as I take the time to cut the video, I’ll add that too.

So, let’s begin at the beginning. On August 25th 2007 we drove down to Fredericksburg and met the wonderful people of DC Dogfinders and they brought out the most adorable little puppy ever. She was so timid. We spent some time in their puppy play area letting her get to know us and while I was kind of expecting her to want to run and play, it was so cute that all she wanted to do was curl up in our arms. Suz held her while we filled out the adoption paperwork and got some last minute tips on puppy care from Avery and her husband.

Let me just blatantly plug DC Dogfinders now. They were wonderful to work with. They answered emails and returned phone calls promptly even when I asked dumb questions like whether a synthetic lambs wool bed was what she meant when she said that the puppies prefer lambs wool beds (I could not find a real lambs wool bed). They sent out a puppy parent instruction booklet a few days before we picked Maeby up so that we could buy all the necessary gear (crate, bed, blanket, toys, food, dishes, treats, Kong, Dingo Bones, leash, collar, etc.) additionally, they made sure we had a veterinarian before we could adopt Maeby. And they continued to answer our questions in the weeks following. Plus, she was already partially potty trained to go potty on puppy pads.

Now back to puppy pick-up day. Maeby slept and laid on Suzanne’s lap the whole way back and when we got home we put her in her crate and put her crate in the laundry room with the door open and just let her sleep. She was so sleepy. We put some toys outside her crate to give her some incentive to come out which she did a little bit, but mostly I think she missed her mom and she missed her brother. Later that evening our friend Harold stopped by and dropped off a new toy for Maeby, rubber squeaky newspaper, it was that squeak that woke Maeby up. She heard that squeak and just had to have it. She came out of the crate and bounded to the newspaper. It was as big as she was, but she loved the squeak (or hated it and was trying to get the squeaking to stop). She was so cute that first evening, but soon she just wanted to go back to bed. It had been a long day and we didn’t want to overdo it.

Yertle the Turtle

2008-06-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

The day before Maeby's birthday I went to scope out Shirlington Dog Park. One website I found had it in a different location, so I wanted to make sure we went to the right place. Well, the first place I went was not the dog park, but Maeby had fun meeting a new friend. This turtle somehow got trapped inside the fence of a soccer field. It kept walking along the fence trying to find a soft spot to push through and get down to the stream. Maeby was scared at first, then she just wanted Yertle to come out and play. She probably barked more in 5 minutes than she has her whole life (she's not a barker, she barks a couple times about once a week). After letting Maeby bark for a while, I tied her up a few yards away so that she wouldn't bother the turtle. Then I pulled the fence up and let Yertle scoot his way under. Then I let Maeby get a closer look. She was much more wary since there was no longer a fence to keep her safe. A park employee came by and I helped him chase the turtle into a bin so that he could take it directly to the water since the day was getting hotter by the minute. We then said goodbye to Yertle and went to find the real dog park.

Yorkies Gone Wild

2008-06-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Maeby's first birthday, so to celebrate we invited some of her dog friends to a puppy party at the Shirlington, VA dog park. Her Italian Greyhound friends, Rocco and Mia, were not able to make it, so it was a Yorkie parade with Romeo, a Morkie (maltese/yorkie), Jack, a full blooded Yorkshire Terrier, and of course Maeby, a Yorkie Poo (yorkie/toy poodle). The Shirlington Dog park was great, there was a stream for them to run and swim in, lots of other friendly dogs, and most importantly, complimentary pooh bags. After the park we took the canines to the Dairy Godmother where they were treated to puppy pops (frozen yogurt, banana, peanut butter) while we humans got frozen custard. It was good day!

Jack and Maeby wrestling in the back of the car. Actually it was more Jack trying to give Maeby some birthday kisses.

Below is Romeo looking over the back seat as if to say, "I'm too old for this." He is 2 years old, while Maeby is just 1 and Jack is 6 months, plus Romeo is a mommas boy. So, we relented and let him ride on his mom's lap on the back seat. That of course meant that Jack and Maeby had to come up to the back seat too. Good thing Suz was there to help with them all, while I acted as chaufer with no one riding shotgun.

At the dog park Maeby took off straight for the water, with Jack following close behind. We knew that Maeby was an ATC (All Terrain Canine) but we weren't sure about Jack.

Maeby is such a strong swimmer, most dogs only know the doggie paddle and a few can freestyle, but a very small minority know the butterfly stroke. And here is Maeby doing the basic dog paddle.
Jack poised and ready to jump back in, even though he just got dried off to keep him from getting too cold, while Romeo just stands in the water, he seems to be indifferent to it.

And Maeby, asking if it is really time to go already. She has so much fun in the water, but she looks like a wet rat afterward.
They weren't too disappointed for having to leave the dog park because they were soon treated to some Dairy Godmother signature puppy pops. Below, Jack and Maeby can't seem to get enough of them. With each lick the cup inches away, so they are constantly licking and walking around the sidewalk.

Maeby enjoying her puppy pop. Jack enjoying his puppy pop, but what's Romeo doing there in the back?

Romeo wasn't too interested in the peanut butter and banana frozen yogurt, I guess he's watching his weight because he decided he'd rather have the salad. Now for a series of cute pictures:

Maeby

Romeo

Jack

____

Group picture time:

Romeo, Maeby, Jack

Jack, Romeo and Maeby
It was a long day, and Jack could not stay awake on the ride home.
In addition to all the fun, Maeby got a few presents.

Romeo gave her some bling, a pink collar with a bling encrusted M.

Her Aunt Makaria gave her another of the Dairy Godmother's specialties, homemade barley malt squirrel cookies, made just for dogs (on left), and all the dogs went home with a bag of treats from PetCo's treat bar and a squeeky toy(on right).

One of her new chew toys, Crocodile.

And another new toy, Mr. Hedgehog. She is loving the little snorting sound that this hedgehog makes, as are we, it's quieter and not as harsh as a regular squeek toy.

Do I feel a little silly for having thrown a birthday party for my dog? Sure I do, but I had fun, our friends had fun, and the dogs seemed to have fun, so I will probably do it again. Besides, we like to celebrate, it gives us a chance to eat frozen custard.

Happy Birthday!

2008-06-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

One year ago today(June 14, 2007) a toy poodle mother and a yorkshire terrier father became parents to two wonderful puppies who went by Sebastian and Tinkerbell. At 9 weeks old they were ready to make their own way in the world and they were put up for adoption by DC Dogfinders, where we spotted Tinkerbell and just had to have her for our own. One week later, she was ours, we changed her name and she changed our lives.

Maeby's dad. We now know where Maeby got the habit of letting her tongue peek out of her mouth -

Maeby's mom -

(Pictures forthcoming)

Maeby's brother Sebastian (picture that was posted to the DC Dogfinders website) -

Tinkerbell (soon to be Maeby)(picture that was posted to the DC Dogfinders website) -

COMING SOON!!!

2008-06-11T07:48:00.001-07:00

Check back on June 14, 2008.