Celebrate!

Yesterday was Ricky Ricardo's 1st birthday.

Anticipation...is making me wait!

I wanted to make his day special.  We take walks every single day, and although I thought we'd take some extra fun walk somewhere for his birthday, well... it was a little cold, and neither he nor I really could get ourselves excited to get out in it.  So we just said, "Screw it!  Let's just go get some cookies and lay around all day instead!"

So that's pretty much what we did.

We didn't get lucky with cookies, but we did get a great toy!

First, we went to Lucky Dog Barkery.  I had just shoved a $20 in my pocket thinking that would be plenty for a few cookies and maybe a little toy.  But just the cookies there were right around $10 a piece.  Something that can be gobbled up in less than 10 seconds should not cost $10, should it?  That's a dollar a second!  (I'm super smart at math!) Since I knew they had equally fancy, although less expensive cookies at Pet Supplies Plus, I told Ricky I'd take him there for the cookies instead.

We did, however, find a cool toy that's also a pretty tricky food dispenser.

Here's a little video of Ricky getting to experience the new toy:

Since it cost right around $20, we had to swing by the house to get more cash for cookie shopping.

B-day cookies!

The fancy cookies at Pet Supplies Plus were only $1.35 which sounded like such a steal after our comparison shopping.  So Ricky got to pick out two cookies for himself and he even picked one out for little Lucy!  (I'm sure she'll return the favor on her birthday, which is in just a few days!)

It was a great day-  For a great boy!  I had know idea this time last year that he was being born!  In fact, I didn't even know I'd be in the market for new puppies only a couple of months later.  But life works out how it's suppose to work out, and sometimes the surprises are just so sweet.

Two very sweet surprises that came to me after a sad winter.

Happy Birthday, Dear Ricky!

My Little Ricky....

turns 1 today.

Leave it!

This past weekend, Ricky was supposed to meet up with his Therapy Dog Prep classmates at The Pooch Patio.

I was so excited- Love the name, and when I looked it up online, it sounded like a cool little spot~a fun, outdoor bar that was dog friendly.

Unfortunately, altho it is dog friendly, almost no one (dogs or otherwise) was there.  The two of us showed up a little early to check the place out.  I wanted Ricky to have time to settle in around all the guests and customers  before the other students showed up. 

 But apparently, it's not as hot of a spot as we had hoped for.  So not hot in fact, that they close around 5pm on Saturday-- What kind of a bar is that anyway?!

This little cutie was the only other customer that was there while Mr. Ricardo and I waited for class to start.

Only one other student showed up, and bad traffic made the instructor over half an hour late.

We didn't get to practice using good manners in a crowd, because, well, there wasn't a crowd!  So we just practiced without the crowd.  (Not near as challenging!) We had our pups walk near the grooming area with lots of loud sounds going on-- barking, blow dryers, etc. (Ricky handled it very well!) We also took our dogs off leash and had them practice staying in a sit and down position. (Again, way to go, Ricky!)  To make it a little more challenging, the teacher threw a few treats on the floor and we were told to tell our dog to "leave it" if they tried to go for it.

Ricky Ricardo paying close attention to the teacher's directions.

Ricky came to me when I called, but then the 2nd time through, he saw the treats and started veering towards them.  I was nervous because we were being observed (how stupid!), and I ended up using an uncharacteristically stern voice and picked up his leash and yanked it. :(  Usually, I sound way more like a cheerleader than a drill seargant.  Apparently, I completely freaked Ricky Ricardo out because he not only left the food, but wouldn't look at it or walk near it again.

We've played the "Leave it/Take it" game many times before with treats and toys.  But since that day at the Pooch Patio, once I say "leave it", game OVER.  I can't entice the "Take it" part the last couple of days.  I traumatized Little Ricky!!!  He's a very sensitive little man.  I won't make the same mistake again...

Exhausted on the drive home from school at the Pooch Patio

(Brief) Toy Joy

I brought the Ricardo's a couple of new toys home from the store today.

I was so excited about his one!  It was long enough that I thought they could share it, playing tug of war, or whatever.  Also, it hold water bottles in it and makes a great crunchy noise.  And it's PINK, of course!

They seemed to just LOVE it at first.  They each got to check it out on their own, and then I let them play with it together.  Here they are, trying to share it...

And altho it seemed like it was working out okay between the Ricky and Lucy, it wasn't working out okay for the flamingo!  He lost his head (literally!) in about 5 minutes.  So, I'm returning this toy to TJMaxx tomorrow, and hoping they'll let me pick out something a little more durable. Finding durable tug toys for them to play with without my constant supervision is a huge challenge.  I think I need to go into the dog-toy-making-business!

Lessons in Frisbee

The first frisbee I bought for Lucy and Ricky months ago was this one.

It's made from fabric and is somewhat easy to throw, and most importantly, I thought it was easier on their teeth than a real frisbee.

But come to find out, once this frisbee gets dirty (which means one sessions of catching and retrieving it!) the dirt gets down in the fabric and it sort of works as sand paper on a puppy's teeth.  So it's okay to use just for learning, but it needs to stay clean.  Which requires washing it daily.

One of the lady's we met at the Dallas Disc Dog gathering gave us a few of the right frisbees for us to try.

They come in different thicknesses, depending on how aggressive a dog bites.  Well, I assumed these light ones would be perfect for my little Lucy.

But I was wrong.  As you can see in the photo above, Lucy's teeth have already made dents after just a few sessions.  Which may not at first seem like a big deal.  But I noticed her gums bled after she caught one of the scuffed up ones a few times.  Oh no! So, we'll be investing in the more durable frisbees.  And lots of 'em!

It takes a team of two to do well in any kind of disc dog competition-- Although Lucy has been pulling her weight on the team, I have not.  My throwing is extremely inconsistent, especially now that we've switched to the hard frisbees. 

How am I suppose to catch these crazy throws?

Fermin said he was watching us through then window and couldn't believe how spastic I was.  So he came out and gave me a little frisbee intervention.  Already, I am so much better.  I don't think anyone ever taught me the 101 tricks for tossing a frisbee before.  Soon, all these little things Fermin taught me will become automatic and Lucy will have a worthy teammate.

Lucy showing her stuff to Ricky!

Stylin'

Here's a picture of Lucy when we were on a way to the park one day.  She had just gotten her swanky new leash (See it? Pink, red and white braid?) in the mail from Yipeeee dog leashes.  She also got a super cute Hello Kitty bandana from our friend, Ashley.  Ricky has since taken a few bites out of the HK bandana, but it's even cuter now that he's customized it for her.  Ashley found it on Etsy, so now I'd like to try to make some for the Ricardo's and her dog, Jasper.  Maybe someday I'll get to that. 

Although Ricky secretly wished he also had a HK bandana, I guess it was just a little too girly for him.  However, he did get his own leash similar to Lucy's.  At Yipeeee, you get to choose which colors you want-  The colors of Ricky's leash match him perfectly, don't you think?

A couple of other great thing about these leashes~  They're washable!  So the white stays white!  And they're very comfortable to hold onto.  And you can play play tug with them!  And they aren't expensive at all!  Lastly, the good people at Yipeeee are SO nice and customer service oriented!  I love dealing with small companies that treat you like you're special... Because the Ricardo's are very special to me!

Lucy's Little Man

The Ricardos went with Fermin and me to visit our friends who live near San Antonio.  They have several dogs and a few acres of land so it was a great trip for them!

The smallest dog, Henry, took a liking to Lucy.

He followed her around everywhere. 

Ricky had to work hard to fight him off!

But in the end, Lucy knows to leave the party with who she came with!

"I love Lucy and she loves me..."