dirty mouth

I just love it when I spend time brushing the dogs teeth and then one of them goes outside and comes back in with poop in her mouth. I thought we were done with eating poop. Yuck!

In the Snow

It snowed early Saturday morning. The pups were unsure at first, but then they were loving it. They were eating it off the deck, trying to catch it, and running around like crazy in it.

It is rare that we get much snow. It usually comes during the early spring instead of this time of year. I think the pups got to play in some early this year but not as much as this time.

We bought them a nice dog house, and Lee put some mulch in it a while back so that they could burrow down and stay warm. But do they use it? Nope. I think they used it one time when it was pouring down rain. I can't be sure though. I only saw them coming out from it. I don't know how long they had been in there. They do use it when they are playing chase and hide-and-seek.

This summer there was a sudden, unexpected hail storm. The hail was pretty small, so I ran outside with the dogs and ran into the dog house. They came in with me, but then ran right back out. Anni was having a good time chasing the hail as it bounced off the deck.

New Look

2 pups has a new look! I've updated the look and I will be back later this week with new posts.

It's Coming

Whether I like it or not, my birthday is coming. It arrives on Sunday, September 14. I've decided to celebrate it by throwing a party. I really don't know if I'll actually be celebrating the birthday or just using the party as a distraction.

It took me a while to decide what kind of party to have. I've always wanted an 80's party, but I felt like a 70's party would be more appropriate since I was born in '78. I'll do the 80's party another time. I am going to have me an 80's party someday gosh darn it!

I wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of a 70's party until I started doing some internet research to find out about the fashion, decor, and food that were popular. I'm all into it now. There were so many different clothing styles back then. I found several outfits, mainly dresses, on ebay and on etsy that would suit me. The problem was picking the perfect one. I finally came across a dress on ebay that is disco-era in style but the print has more of a hippie vibe. I found great 70's glasses on etsy from flowerbedhead.com. I'm wearing them in this picture. I have worn them out a couple of times since I received them. I know they probably look ridiculous, but they are so much fun. I forgot how much I enjoy playing dress-up.

When I went home to visit my parents a couple of weekends ago, I found some great 70's clothes that belonged to my grandmother. I'm considering making wardrobe changes during the party so I can show off all of the great looks.

So essentially I'm having some fun planning this party. Cleaning the house has not been fun, but I have gotten my craft supplies more organized than they have ever been. I still have some cleaning to do before tomorrow, and I still have to make some food decisions. I will probably go with pizza since everyone loves pizza and all I have to do is order it online. I was going to prepare some dishes that were popular during the 70's, but that is just too much trouble. And, it didn't sound all that appetizing. Jello was big, so I'm going to make homemade Jello shots. I found a box of 70's candy at Cracker Barrel that I'm going to stuff in a pinata.

I found several 70's items at an antique mall to use for decoration. I have rented a karaoke machine and a mirror ball. We will eat, drink, sing, dance, and by all means watch the Bama game. Roll Tide! I just hope to goodness they win so Lee won't be in a bad mood. I know it's just a game, but try convincing him.

Well, if my 30th birthday is not really the end of the world, I'll be posting some pictures from the party.

Until then.

Deuce

Poor Deuce. Anni hogs everything. When I take Anni on walks, people stop (even those driving by in their cars) to tell me how cute she is. This just doesn't happen with Deuce. You know what? He is just as adorable. I mean look at that face.

Deuce is a pretty laid back dude. His energy level is much, much lower than Anni's. They both get excited to see me and any other human that approaches, but Deuce usually shows his excitement while sitting down. His tail wags and his eyes light up. Anni just cannot sit still. She wiggles. It's mostly her back end that wiggles, but she is moving sideways, forwards and backwards the whole time. It is hilarious every time I see it. And she always has to include Deuce by backing up into him. He sits there as her tail whacks him in the face. When anyone comes close to them, though, they both jump up in a frenzy.

Deuce learns things faster than Anni. Maybe it's because he is calm enough to digest it. After I had them for a couple of days, I began teaching "sit". I worked with them both individually. Deuce had it that day. Anni just would not focus. She picked it up within the next couple of days by following Deuce's lead. It wasn't clear to me at that point who was top dog. Deuce was also the first one to learn "drop it." The funny thing is that I didn't teach it to him. I would say "drop it" when he would pick up something on our walks, but I didn't do any real training. I had been using "give" as a command for them to release things, but it wasn't effective. I was amazed when he actually dropped something for the first time. Anni has gotten this down too, except that sometimes she immediately picks back up what she has dropped. Both pups can be sneaky sometimes by dropping some of what they pick up and keeping the rest. Those little devils.

You may be curious as to what they grab. Here are the most common things: sticks, pine cones, leaves, and newspapers. It is not the freshly delivered papers that are still rolled up nicely in their plastic sleeves that interrupt our walks, but papers that people fail to pick up. Although for some reason the plastic is gone. These papers have been driven over, rained on and who knows what else. The dogs love them. I wish people would pick up their darn papers!

Deuce can be a real stubborn ass. He wants to move when he wants to move. You say "let's go" and give a little tug on the leash and Anni is with you. I'm scared I'm going to choke Deuce, because he plants his feet into the ground and no matter how hard I pull he doesn't budge. He just looks up at me defiantly from under the wrinkles caused by the collar moving up the back of his head. Most of the time he is rooting around like a pig when his resists. When I take them out to "go potty", the three of us hurriedly move from the garage to the front lawn. Anni goes right into the grass and pees, but Deuce comes to a halt right before leaving the pavement. Then he slowly steps onto the grass and does his business. When we take walks he is bad about walking ahead of me and pulling the leash. I've been working with both pups from the beginning to curb this behavior, but Deuce has regressed. If I tighten the slack of the leash and hold him close to my side, he just pulls sideways. I watched his sideways pull while my husband was walking him, and the scene looked like a V-8 commercial.

Deuce has another quirk (bad habit) that I fortunately do not have to deal with. When my neighbors come over to visit the pups, Deuce drops a little pee. When my husband touches him, he pees. Sometimes all Lee has to do is talk to him and he waterworks begin. And it's not just a little sprinkle here and there. With Lee it is often a steady stream. I can't figure out where he is keeping all of that pee. And, well, I do have to deal with it because I usually have to clean up the mess. At least I'm not the one getting peed on. I love Deuce. He is my stubborn little pee-pee head.

I must report that my walks with Deuce the last few days have been fabulous. For starters, he is actually walking some distance. He usually puts the brakes on pretty soon into our walk. He hasn't been pulling as much, picking up as much, and he continues to follow the "drop it" command. Good boy!

Anni Comes First

I saw Anni first that fateful morning at the gas station in Winston County, AL. Deuce followed behind her like, well, a little puppy. Anni still comes first. It didn't take long for me to realize that she was top dog.

If someone approaches them while they are in their exercise pen, they will excitedly jump up to receive attention (yeah, we are working on this). But don't even think you will be able to reach out to Deuce, because Anni will push him down so that she can get the attention. The other day my neighbor came over to give them some love. Once Deuce had his front paws up against the side of the pen, Anni came from behind, wrapped her front legs around his neck and pulled him back.

Anni is always the first one out of the pen and the first one to fetch any toy that I provide. If Deuce has something that she wants, he might as well go ahead and give it up. I am so glad that I have two puppies that can entertain each other and learn socialization skills from one another. They do a lot of play fighting. Anni is usually the instigator. Walking them at the same time, even around our yard, can be a nightmare. First we are walking along just fine, and then Anni will lunge at Deuce and wrap her teeth around one of his back legs. Here we go. She has let him know that she wants to play. After he breaks away, she bows down on her front legs (a universal and more polite way of saying, "Hey, let's play" in doggy language) and the fun begins...for them, not for me. She starts running and he follows. She can't go far due to the leash, so she begins running circles around me. I become a human carousel until I can reign them both in. A few days ago I was attempting to walk them both down the street before dinner time. Somehow Anni got away from me. We were near the corner of our street and another, where there is usually plenty of traffic around this time of day. She did her "let's play" routine, but this time she was able to run big circles around us (I still had control of Deuce). She would come almost close enough to be caught and then would take off again. She ran up into a neighbor's yard, then she continued her circular bolt out into the street. I just knew she was going to get run over. I was panicking, Deuce was encouraging her, and I'm sure any neighbor witnessing this was having a good laugh.

Sometimes the puppy playing escalates into aggression. I think Deuce gets fed up with Anni's attacks and starts to put the smack down on her. He is several pounds heavier, so he could easily dominate her physically. She, being top dog, does not like this one bit. She growls, shows her teeth, and looks rather vicious. Sometimes she does this when they haven't even been playing. I have eliminated most of this lately by putting Anni first. I read in one of my many puppy books that when you give attention to dog number two first, it upsets the balance. You are reordering their hierarchy. This applies to petting, walking, giving treats or toys, etc... If I pet Anni first, she supposedly gets frustrated and Deuce becomes confused.

Now, I make sure to pet Anni first. When I give them treats, ice, or toys, I present her with them first. When I take them separately for walks or just sit down with them to give them affection, the order doesn't really matter. But if Anni is in her pen and I place Deuce in there with her, I must give her attention (even if she has already been on a walk, etc...) or she will attack him. Yep, that's the adorable Anni that has been chosen to be featured on The Daily Puppy. Poor Deuce.

The Daily Puppy

The team at The Daily Puppy e-mailed me to ask if it would be o.k. to feature Anni on their site. They think she is "adorable". To me, both my puppies are equally adorable. I'll keep everyone posted on what day Anni will be making her debut. I am a proud momma right now.