The Best Spa Day the Girls Ever Had!

Maddie saw it first.

Then Annabelle took a peek. The girls couldn't quite figure out the new truck in front of our house. It didn't look like the normal delivery truck.

And it wasn't! It was the Aussie Pet Mobile with professional groomer Lori inside. The girls were in for a treat. They didn't have to go to the usual groomer and be put into cages with all sorts of scary sounds around them. They didn't have to wait for hours to get into the dreaded bath then onto the worse than dreaded grooming table.

Lori was awesome. It took her less than one hour per dog to bathe, groom, and clip nails. The girls were happy as clams. In fact they were so happy they asked me to never take them to the old groomer again. They want Lori to come to them.

Lori promised to be back later in the summer. The girls actually didn't want her to leave. Imagine that! What a relief. Groomed dogs and no chaos at all! Why didn't I think of this before? The girls have never looked or felt better before!

Wait until Lori meets Sammy!

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I Was Right!

Remember last week when I told you our walks were never going to be the same again? Well I was right. Mom holds Annabelle and me in one hand and Sammy (that's his name) in the other. Annabelle and I usually walk out in front and Sammy usually walks right beside Mom.

The picture above was our first walk together. We almost run out of sidewalk because Sammy's so big. Annabelle always likes to stop and sniff everything. I like to tinkle at the corner of everyone's driveway.

Not Sammy. He walks like he's on a mission. Mom even walks him close to fire hydrants and most of the time Sammy doesn't even stop. What's wrong with the boy? Any good strong boy needs to lift his leg now and then. He's going to give Belle and I a bad reputation.

I tried to talk to Sammy while we were walking. "Slow down there big guy," I said to him. I glanced up to see if Sammy was listening to me and he wasn't. Mom says it's a guy thing and that they don't listen very well. Maybe she's right.

Oh well. We feel pretty safe when Mom takes us on our midnight walks now. Who's gonna mess with us when we're with Sammy boy? Yep...our walks are not the same anymore. Maybe someday I'll think they're even better. Give me a month or so!

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Sammy Sammy Sammy

Meet Sammy! He's our foster Newfoundland. If you look very closely you'll see little tiny Annabelle on the couch behind him. The girls are adjusting just fine. I'll have them tell you about Sammy with their own words later this week.


Sammy came to us on Friday. He'd been a couple places before he got here. One place had called him Mongo. The other Sampson. I tried both names on him and he didn't respond much to either. Since I preferred Sampson we stuck closely with that.

Why did we agree to foster such an enormous dog? Because we love Newfoundlands and frankly, I signed up with a Newfoundland rescue group to do what I love...have a Newfoundland in my life. I've told you all about Bud, our last Newfie. He lived to be 11-years-old and was just about the greatest dog on earth. Sammy isn't a traditional color. In fact he isn't recognized by the AKC. But Sammy is a traditional Newfoundland. Gentle, kind, clumsy, messy, and funny. Sammy's already won our hearts...all 100 * pounds of him.

Does he have any issues? Yes a few. He's really young (a year) so he came with no manners. He's already doing better. Sammy doesn't like it much when we leave. I have a feeling he's been left once too many times. We're going to work with Sammy to make him as confident as he can be. Then we're going to work hard to make ourselves let him go when the time comes.

By the way, my sister-in-law just visited a wonderful winery where she was greeted by MIRA, a Newfoundland. Go see her post and photos!

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Our Walks Might Never Be the Same....

We're making the photos small so we don't shock you too much.

But we have one thing to say:

She wants us to be all hugs and kisses on Mother's Day but EEEEEGADS! Look who's moving in with us for an undetermined amount of time! She's gone and lost her mind!

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Divine Intervention?

I honestly believe that sometimes things happen for a reason. About a month ago, my sister Julia, lost her beloved Georgia. Georgia was a beautiful Great Pyrenees with a heart as big as Texas...where my sister lives.

Julia was devastated, as we all are when we lose one of our family members. "I probably won't get another dog," Julia said to me. "There will never be another Georgia and cats are easier to take care of anyway."

Julia's cats are terrific. Each of them as their own distinct personality. And honestly Julia was/is right. There will NEVER be another Georgia. Never.

I wanted to help Julia through her grief but I know from my own experiences that you never really get over losing a dog (or cat) that is in your life. Somehow, you resume your normal life but it seems empty for awhile, no matter how full your house is with people or other pets.

After Georgia's death, Julia went to work as usual. I'm not certain of the timeline on this, but it wasn't long after Georgia's death that Julia began to notice a dog that would come into the parking bays where she worked. Julia took Georgia's food to work with her and began to feed and water the stray on a daily basis.

She even went back on weekends and when she couldn't go, she asked someone who worked weekends to cover for her.

It gets better. Julia noticed that the dog was flea infested. She took in the proper medication and applied it to the dog that now greeted her on a daily basis. "She's an odd looking girl," Julia said to me. "Her one ear flops down kind of funny."

"Are you taking her home?" I asked Julia.

"I'm gong to try to find her a home," was Julia's response on a Monday. "Well, maybe I'll take her home on Friday when I get the fleas under control," she went on to say.

On Thursday her story was different when she called. "I brought the dog home with me tonight," Julia said matter of factly.

"Why'd you do that?" I asked. "I thought you weren't going to take her home until you got the fleas under control?"

"She ran after my car when I started to leave last night," Julia said, "What could I do? I brought her home and put her in the tub and gave her a really good flea bath. She's a nice distraction," Julia told me.

I smiled to myself. My sister's nice distraction was not a dog she would have chosen. It was a dog that chose her. Sometimes life's simple that way.

Meet Isabella! She's a happy girl. Isabella is smiling with me!

My sister is terrific, don't you think?

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