Meet Our Newest Addition!

Wednesday I posted a teaser photo of our newest addition to the family. Everyone, meet Kodiak, our toy parti poodle! My sweet little girl, Gigi, went to The Rainbow Bridge on 4/1/11, just over a month shy of her 11th birthday. She was my BFF and I miss her terribly. She was a black toy poodle. I searched for months and months and months before I finally found her. I knew what I wanted but nobody had a black female toy poodle in our area. We got River, our standard poodle, a year ago but he immediately bonded with my husband. I adore him (the dog...well, I adore my hubby, too, but I'm talking about River here) and he likes me, too, but he is a Daddy's boy. And, I miss having a little dog sleeping with us in bed, snuggling and cuddling.

For months now I have been drooling over the parti poodles on Facebook bred by Bonnie at Dream Time Poodles in New Mexico. We finally made the decision to add one of her puppies to our family. It was between a sable male and this black and white male. I knew I wanted a male because our Australian Shepherd can be really "bitchy" (as in nasty female dog attitude) towards other female dogs. I kept coming back to photos of this puppy, named Larrikin or Larry at the time. Something about him kept drawing me back to him so we decided to get him.

We have named him Kodiak or Kodi for short. His sire's "call name" is Kobi so we thought this would be very appropriate. Kobi's registered name is Cowboy's Silver Ace and he is a UKC Champion and OMG what a stunning dog he is! He is a silver and white parti poodle and Kodiak should fade out from the black to silver as he ages. Their markings and color patterns are very similar so Kodi should look a lot like his sire when he's a little older.

Here are photos of Cowboy's Silver Ace aka Kobi (his sire)

And here is Kodiak

Is he a chip off the ol' block or what?!



Not only is he a real "looker", he is an absolute sweetheart, too.


Here Kodi is checking out the rabbit on our deck.

Thank you for visiting our blog. I am trying to do a better job of posting more often. Now that summer is over and I'm indoors more, I should have a better chance of sticking to my "promise"!

Sorry, I've been AWOL again - A tribute to Gigi

I apologize for being absent from the blog, yet again, recently. I have a very good excuse and this time it isn't good news.

On March 29th our little toy poodle, Gigi, started vomiting. She seemed to feel okay otherwise so I wasn't too alarmed. I fed her some boiled rice with low sodium chicken broth on Tuesday night and she gobbled it down but vomited some of it back up. I thought it was perhaps because she had eaten too fast on an empty stomach. On Wednesday when she showed no interest in food but was drinking plenty of water and throwing up some of the water, I decided to take her to the vet, just in case.

We decided that since she had a normal temp and wasn't exhibiting any other symptoms we would start with a conservative approach first. The vet gave her an injection of Cerenia to alleviate the urge to vomit, gave her some SQ fluids and sent home a box of 5 Cerenia tablets to give her for the next five days. She had a somewhat restless night on Wednesday and seemed to feel better on Thursday. Thursday evening she was a bit more restless and uncomfortable so I put her little bed in the bathroom and turned a nightlight on for her. I put her water bowl and food dish right next to her bed and woke up several times throughout the night to check on her.

Friday morning she was really groggy but I had given her some Benedryl the night before to help her sleep (the vet gave his approval for the Benedryl) so I didn't think much of it. She came into my office with me and curled up in her bed behind my chair. All of a sudden she gasped and went rigid. I immediately picked her up and tried to get her to stand up, which she was unable to do. I picked her up and carried into hubby's office across the hall and he agreed that something was most definitely not right. I called the vet's office and they told me to head in right away. I was still in my bathrobe and slippers so I quickly dressed while hubby kept an eye on her. We put her in the car on the front seat on a towel so I could keep an eye on her while I drove her to the vet's.

It is at least a 30 minute drive into town and my little girl crossed The Rainbow Bridge when we were about halfway into town. She crossed over with my hand on her and my voice calling the angels to guide her. After she stopped breathing I was sobbing so hard I was afraid I was going to pass out so I had to calm myself down before I had a wreck. I continued on to the vet's office and carried her in, sobbing to them that I thought she was already gone. Fortunately nobody else was at the vet's office so they got me in immediately. The vet listened for a heartbeat, then put his arms around me and gently told me that she was gone. I was hysterical. I couldn't believe it. He started to tell me what my options were for her and I immediately told him she was coming back home with me because I wanted to bury her someplace where I could visit her grave. The vet gently wrapped little Gigi in the towel and carried her to the car for me and placed her in the passenger seat. He hugged me and told me how very sorry he was for my loss and while I was sobbing hysterically he urged me to please come back inside until I was a bit more calm; he was worried that I wouldn't be able to drive home. So I went back inside and his staff hugged me and told me how sorry they were, handed me a box of tissues and offered me a private room if I wanted it. I spent a little while crying and blowing my nose, then thanked them for everything. I asked them to please send me a bill for the visit and the vet told me there was no charge whatsoever for what he had done for me. He hugged me and said "we love you, please drive home carefully". I assured them all that I loved them and thanked them for all they had done for me and for Gigi.

I am so grateful to my vet and his staff for their compassion, not only for the animals that they treat, but for the people who share their lives with these animals. Several days after Gigi passed I received a beautiful Rainbow Bridge card from the vet along with a hand written note telling me that Gigi was obviously a very loved and integral part of our lives and to please remember her with love and cherish the good memories of her.

I think for the first few days I was just numb. I would do things like look around for her to ask if she wanted to go outside. Then when the numbness wore off I would think of Gigi and realize that she was never coming back. Last night was incredibly gut wrenching for me. When I thought of her, I felt like somebody had punched me in the stomach. I cried and cried last evening.

I know to some people, it is "just a dog". To those who know that our companion animals are so much more than that, thank you for understanding how very difficult it is when we lose one, especially when it is sudden and unexpected.

Gigi

May 4, 2000 - April 1, 2011

RIP my sweet little girl

Another Photo Contest!

UPDATE: Please keep voting through Sunday. Today we moved up from page 5 to page 3 of the entries! Thank you to those of you who have been voting for Gigi!!

Okay, another shameless plea, I mean plug - for your vote in the Animal Rescue Site's Cutest Dog Photo Contest on Facebook. This is our little Gigi as a puppy. She's a toy poodle and still cute as can be! Thank you for voting! You can vote once every 24 hours until the contest ends on Sunday August 23rd.

Gigi - Our Poodle Pup

This was going to be a wordless post but there were so many comments I decided to post a little more about this cute little puppy. This is our toy poodle puppy that was approximately 8 or 9 weeks old when this photo was taken on 4th of July 2000. Gigi is going to be 9 years old on May 4th this year and she is still a cute little dog. We only had poodles when I was growing up. There were so many allergies in our family that a poodle was the only dog the allergist would okay for the family. Poodles are essentially non-shedding but do require frequent grooming to prevent their long curly fur from matting up. They are extremely intelligent and personable little dogs and they come in several sizes - Tea Cup, Toy, Miniature and Standard. They all share pretty much the same traits and are a joy to have as companions. The smaller sizes make great apartment dogs - you can even train them to use a litter box (there is special dog litter) or a wee wee pad when you can't make it outside to let them do their business. They love to be around people and love to go for rides in the car. Gigi used to go to work with me every day and she would sit in the seat until we went to the drive-up window at the bank or a fast food restaurant and then she would run to the window and stare at the person inside, begging for a dog cookie (which she usually would get). Poodles are easy to train and love to learn tricks and will perform them for whomever will watch - especially when cookies are at stake! I searched for months to find a black female toy poodle and the minute I saw Gigi I knew she was "The One" for us. Hubby didn't want a poodle again because I had a toy poodle when we got married and if DH made the dog mad, the dog would pee in his shoes! DH did NOT have a good opinion of poodles and finally told me "fine, you can get her as long as I don't have to have anything to do with her". We picked Gigi up during the day and I was holding her when DH walked in after work and he said "OMG, she is soooo cute!" and I said "Yes, she is, but you don't have to hold her because I know you want nothing to do with her!" Yes, it was love at first sight for DH, too. And Gigi still continues to amuse us and entertain us with her little antics and adorable personality.