Austen Starts to Notice Adler

It's happening. Austen is starting to notice Adler. I find him following her with his eyes. Usually it's when he's drinking his bottle and Adler is walking in and out of Austen's room. He notices when she leaves and then when she reappers. Even when Austen is sitting in our laps, he's become more interested in the ground. We figured out it was because he was looking at her.

When he comes home from daycare. She greets him with lots of wet kisses on his hands, legs and cheeks. He is starting to laugh and smile when she kisses him. We're glad he likes her and can't wait til he gets bigger so they can play - but for now, we'll enjoy this time with both of them.

Saving Kim

Who is Kim you're probably asking. Well, I haven't actually met Kim but I've heard a lot about her. She's this adorable dog who lives behind my friend Lisa, whose owners don't treat her very well. Just a week or so ago, Lisa called me at work telling me she had called 311 on her neighbors because they left the poor dog outside on the back porch in the rain. Well, I shouldn't say 'left' because they were at home -just not letting the dog in the house.

Poor Kim was alternating between curling up in a ball on the cover of the grill that had blown to the ground and running headfirst into the back door trying to get inside. Lisa's giving me the play by play over the phone and I can hear poor Kim barking in the background. (Must've been when she was running into the door.) How sad. 311 can't do much so I tell Lisa that the Anti-Cruelty Society must have some number you can call too. Lucky for Kim, I find it online and give it to Lisa prompting her to call. I'm glad she does. Now Kim's abuse is on record and the Anti-Cruelty Society will keep tabs on poor Kim. Unlike my last post, I encourage these people to give away their dog. (Either that or Lisa and I are dognapping it.) They just aren't pet owner material. I think how lucky Adler is to have us taking care of her. Of course we were required to go on two hour interviews to "adopt" her so Kim's parents wouldn't have had a chance.

Giving Up Adler

Now that I have your attention, let me just say I would never, ever give up my dog even if it meant more work for me which it does now that we have Austen. But here's how it can happen... first you get your dog - an adorable little puppy that you promise to love and play with and then you have a kid and your dog gets pushed to the wayside. It happens and it has happened recently to a few of my friends.
Many of my friends have given up their dogs once they had kids because they simply do not have the time for the dog anymore. I think this is sad. You chose to get a dog so you should make the time to spend with the dog. Of course if your dog is bad and biting your kids then it's time to find him a different home. But, just giving up your dog because you simply can't find the time to take him out or give him any attention is in my opinion 'lame.' It's like all those people who say they are sooo busy! Yeah, everyone's busy but you make the time to do the things you really want to do and sometimes you make the time to do the things that you really don't want to do but committed to.

Recently one of my other friends who I'm happy to say has twins -yes, twins that are almost three years old - found out she may be moving to London. Instead of dwelling on how her children will adjust to starting school overseas she's been obsessed about making sure her dog is properly quarantined to be moved over there (I guess it takes six months.) Kudos to her for not wanting to leave her pet behind! She even told her husband that if the dog can't go it's a deal breaker. So in the midst of many of my friends giving away their pets, here's a woman who would do the same thing I would when having to make the decision - does he stay or does he go?

Can Dogs Count?

Most people would say no but recently I received an email about our furry friends from my dad and it said "Say dogs can't count and then give a dog only two out of the three treats in your pocket."

I laughed at that one. Adler for sure would know that there would be one left that I didn't give her. I guess that means she can count.

She can also count the number of pounds she's lost since her March vet appointment. One and a half pounds according to our vet's scale. Isn't that like 10 human pounds??!

I'm proud of her though - at least she didn't gain any weight!

Rent-A-Dog

Have you heard of people essentially renting pets for a few hours or a few days a week for some companionship? Apparently this is a new trend hitting cities across the world (it's currently available in San Diego and Los Angeles, but expanding to Boston, Chicago, Houston and Seattle, and even Paris and London). My friend, Perry the joggler, sent me this article about FlexPetz - designed for those who don't have the time to spend with a dog every day but miss the companionship that a dog can bring.

To participate in this program you must join FlexPetz as a member and then go through training. After that you can simply go online to reserve your dog for the hours or days that you want him/her.

In theory this sounds like a good thing for the pet because supposedly they get a lot of attention from many different people, but I think the dog would get confused as to who his owner is and where he lives. And, what about the human who rents the pet - what if he gets attached and can't bear to part with his furry friend?? Are their ways for him to adopt this dog?

And let's not forget about the cost of "rent-a-pet." It's not cheap. Almost $300 to just start and then you pay a monthly membership fee on top of the fee you would pay to actually "rent" the dog for the days/hours you want. Sure you wouldn't have to worry about paying for high veterinary bills or kennel fees, but we could have paid for Adler in a few months with these costs and she wasn't cheap!