Wild Raspberries

This video is of Hannah eating wild raspberries during our hike this past Sunday on Cross Creek Trail our of Minturn, CO.  Summer is full of wild raspberries up here in the mountains and Hannah absolutely loves them.  Fritz will hold out the branches for her and she picks them off with her little front teeth.  I find it hilarious how she gets so excited when she sees them and I swear her energy level ramps back up after she eats them!  Makes me laugh every time.

(Lack of) Fostering

Lately life has gotten CRAZY.  I have barely had time to exercise and grocery shop much less foster any new dogs.  When I started out fostering I knew it wouldn't be something I could do constantly, for several reasons.  As much of a sport as Fritz is, he does take on a lot of the dog care, especially when I am busy.  It isn't fair to throw another dog on him (although he would never say no) when he is going to be doing most of the work and is busy himself.  Hannah loves having multiple dogs around, but Titan gets a little sad and jealous when we have to spread ourselves out.


This summer has been filled with house guests, dogs that we are dog-sitting, work events, other events, and trips out-of-town. I cant complain - it has been a great summer so far.  There just are moments when I lie awake at night thinking about what I haven't been doing to help.


Hopefully I can help out Mountain Dog Rescue after our August road-trip through the Mid-West by fostering another dog.  In the meantime, if anyone out there wants to foster please visit http://www.mountaindogrescue.org/ and check out all the amazing dogs who need help and temporary homes.  It truly is one of the most gratifying things I have done in my life, and I cannot wait to be able to help out again.


Dogs that currently need fosters:

Hank - needs a foster in CO

Lake - sweet girl in CO

St. Bernard girl who was saved just before being euthanized in Idaho.
Hopefully making her way to CO very soon!

A Weekend with Ernie Banks

This weekend we dog-sat for our friends Mandi and Cory.  They went on an awesome camping trip at a mountain reservoir and we offered to watch Chester and Ernie Banks.  

Ernie Banks acting cute.

Ernie Banks is a spitfire little chihuahua/corgi/dachshund mix of some sort.  Your guess is as good as ours!  He thinks he weighs a hundred pounds, not ten, and is constantly challenging the other dogs to some sort of doggie battle.  He is named after a famous Chicago Cubs player and definitely thinks he rules the world.

Chester trying to ignore Ernie Banks.

Chester is laid-back and has a pointer personality altough he is half pointer and half setter.  He thinks that he is above all the nonsense of the other dogs, and tries his best to ignore all the commotion.

We had a fun relaxing day with all the dogs despite the rainy weather.  Needless to say they all had a great time together.   I took a few pictures, and wanted to share.  I hope you enjoy!  

Would you have 4 dogs for a weekend?

Bird's Eye view of all the chaos.

Funny faces.  

So Fresh and So Clean

With family coming into town tomorrow, and all the hiking and swimming the dogs have done lately Hannah and Titan are LONG overdue for a bath! 

Hannah shaking it off.

Sunday is my "get shit done" day and since it was already almost 80 degrees by 11:00am, it was a perfect time to give the dogs a bath. Our hose water is freeeezing up here in the mountains and I usually feel a little bad about soaking the dogs in it, but I think they actually (almost) enjoyed it today.  Both Hannah and Titan waited patiently while I scrubbed them clean and rid them of dirt and shedding hair.  

Titan, with his favorite Shea Pet Shea Butter shampoo.

My favorite pet shampoo is Shea Butter Shampoo by Shea Pet.  It smells great, leaves my dogs' hair shiny and soft, and is great for their skin.  Both Hannah and Titan get really dry skin in the summer from daily swimming trips to the dog pond and the extremely arid climate.  I have been dying to try Shea Pet's Skin Repair and Dander Care product but cant find it anywhere up here!

After their baths are done, my dogs run around like complete fools.  Hannah felt so good, she even ran out on to the golf course behind our house and stole a ball from some guy!  The cold water must make them frisky.  It's hilarious!

Do your dogs love baths, or hate them? 

Titan all frisky, and rolling in the grass after his bath.

Happy boy.  So fresh and so clean!

World's Best Dog Toy

West Paw Design: Dog Toy Product Review

Hannah and Titan playing with their Hurley toys.

  Almost three months ago, Hannah impaled herself in the mouth while playing outside with a large stick.  The stick stuck in the ground while she was running with it and it caught her mouth, creating a laceration under her tongue a few inches long.  Multiple stitches later she was recovering, but we realized that we needed to step up our game when it came to dog toys.  Clearly we live in the mountains and keeping our dogs away from sticks is impossible, but we thought that if we had a great toy it would be easier to distract her from the sticks of death.  I didnt have much hope as we have bought every kind of dog toy and NONE of them have lasted more than a week.  Literally...whether it is stuffed, or rubber, or rope or whatever, Hannah finds a way to mutilate and destroy each one within days. 

Foster puppy Sitka trying to figure out the Hurley.

Once my mom had heard what happened to Hannah she immediately knew what to do, and sent us three Hurley toys from West Paw Design.  They didnt look much different from other toys that have since passed through our house and on to doggie toy heaven, but my skepticism was soon squelched!   Hannah and Titan LOVE the Hurley from West Paw Design, and two months later there isn't so much as one tooth mark in it.  I don't understand how they work, but these toys are amazing.  They have lived through one foster dog, two foster puppies, and most importantly Hannah the toy destroyer!  I love that they are also extremely affordable and considering they have lasted this long, I would be willing to pay twice as much!  As if I hadn't given you enough reasons already, everything from West Paw Design is made in the USA, eco-friendly and they fully guarantee their products.  

Check out the full selection of toy and pet products, including the Hurley, from West Paw Design.

Venice Beach Dog Drama

I told myself when I started this blog that I would include both good experiences and bad. While it can be easy to gloss over the negative, this would not be an accurate account of my life with animals if I did not include everything...both good and bad.


We spent this past weekend with Fritz's family in a modern condo nestled between Venice and Marina Del Rey, California.  Fritz's sister (Amy) lives a little east of there and we were fortunate enough to spend a long weekend enjoying the beach and all the crazy people on Venice Boardwalk (I think I will post later in the week about the homeless population and their dogs).  Amy has an adorable 25-ish pound Cavapoo (poodle and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mix), named Gibson who is a total sweetheart.


We were walking along the Venice Canals Sunday morning.  It is an amazing place and very dog-friendly.  We must have walked by 20 dogs within our hour-long stroll.  We turned off of the canal sidewalks and onto a side street.  I was walking towards the front when I heard snarling, barking, growling - it is hard to describe the noises a dog makes when it goes after something, but my stomach dropped as I instantly recognized the sounds of a dog fight.  A boxer had run out from some shadowy bushes and latched onto Gibson.  The ensuing noises that came from the little dog made his terror and pain pretty clear.


I have been around quite a few stressful and chaotic situations involving animals before, and for whatever reason something clicks in my brain.  I realize what needs to be done and try to do it.  The boxer had a pretty firm grip on Gibson, and what was probably seconds seemed like minutes as I looked for a break to separate the two.  I barely noticed a woman in the background screaming and crying for help.  Luckily Fritz and his Dad were able to muscle the boxer off as I grabbed one of Gibson's tiny legs and hauled him away.  


This was when I realized that the lady who was screaming was really a small girl, with tears streaming down her face and a haunted look on her face.    We soon realized that Gibson was OK, at least at first glance and that this little girl did not live at the house she was playing next to.  She was so upset that she couldn't even remember where she was or how to get home.  We tried calling her house phone but no one answered, and resorted to putting her address into one of our IPhones and following the directions until she recognized where she was and how to get home.  We split up our group, a few of us going a separate direction with Gibson, and Fritz, his Dad and I walking the girl back to her house to speak with her parents.  They paced ahead, and I walked behind with the girl, and walked the boxer.  I tried to calm her down telling her it wasn't her fault, and that her dog isn't a mean dog but that it was scared.  It soon surfaced that they had only rescued it two weeks earlier and they had a pretty good idea that it wasn't friendly toward other dogs.  She was clearly the most upset over the fact that "her" dog had been mean.  I told her that sometimes we don't know what happened to dogs before we bring them home, and that you have to be careful, but not to think of her dog as a mean dog.  


The parents were shocked, and sorry to say the least.  They had already begun classes with her to work on her reactions to other dogs.  The boxer turned out to be a very sweet dog, and put its head in my lap when we were inside.  As I looked into her eyes I saw sadness and realized that she too could have been spared from this situation if her owners had used a little more common sense.


Gibson will be ok, but had to have several stitches and draining tubes from a puncture wound on the top of his neck.  We are all thankful that it did not turn out much worse.  The saddest part is that the situation could have been so easily avoided. No 10 year old girl should be walking a big dog on her own, much less one that is known to have adverse reactions to other dogs.  

Lazy Saturday

The Perfect Saturday

I had a totally lazy weekend and I feel great about it!  Fritz had to work two 14 hour days because of an event at Beaver Creek and the dogs and I had the house and backyard all to ourselves.  We were dog-sitting a wonderful Lab named Zuma, who was recently adopted through Mountain Dog Rescue and needed a place to hang while her family went on vacation.  She was a breeze to take care of, and got along with Hannah and Titan famously. 

After a decently long run, we all retreated to the sun-drenched backyard and decidedly fell asleep for a few hours.  There is nothing quite as content as a tired dog sun-bathing!  The fact that it is now Monday, has me day-dreaming of my lazy Saturday.  Only 4 more days to the weekend, everybody :)