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Best Finds For a New Puppy
Jump to Recommendations I recently broke my own rule and made the semi-impulsive decision to adopt a puppy. The rule against having a puppy stems from recognizing that being in my early 50’s means sleep is incredibly important. As an empty-nester, however, I knew that my college-aged youngest and I wanted to add a new…
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Dipping Our Toes In The Pool
Today, Lily the Lab had an adventure at a local facility that provides dogs with pool time & training to eventually learn to dock dive if the dog chooses. The trainer reminded us that anything Lily did today was good, and I agreed with her. Of course, in my mind I imagined Lily would…
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Lab Mom Confessional
I have a gorgeous 17-month old black lab puppy. If I were one of those parents who had wild human children that I had never successfully tamed, I would call my lab girl “precocious.” But, I have been a pretty tremendous mom to humans. I have set clear limits, maintained consistency at a well over…
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Our Baby Turns One
When we brought Lily the Lab home last fall, I thought it would be fun to create a photo album on Facebook and do weekly photos of her like the new moms on my friends list did monthly with their infants. When my girls were small, we didn’t have all the Pinterest-inspired ideas to try.…
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Adventures in Bunnysitting
As the owner of a good-sized, fenced backyard, I have seen my fair share of neighborhood wildlife. Without fail, we usually serve as landlords to at least one wild bunny hutch each summer. Prior to losing our 12-year-old golden retriever a couple years ago, we had the occasion to have a baby bunny [uninjured, but…
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Christmas Eve Shenanigans
Christmas Eve is usually culminates in some sort of meltdown on my part. Today, crisis averted because my husband made the trip to the zoo of a grocery store, my girls wrapped presents [oldest wrapped the youngest’s and vice versa], and I had help doing things that normally would have taken hours and hours. I’m…
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Seeing Is Believing
Puppies are the ultimate bait and switch. You know they are going to grow, but even when you see it with your own eyes, it’s hard to believe it. Lily was 12.1 pounds at her first vet appointment at 8 weeks. Just six short weeks later, she was pushing 30 pounds and looking much more…
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Under the Sea
My daughter has wanted an aquarium for quite some time. I had pretty much decided that when her 10th birthday came this summer, we would bite the bullet and put an aquarium in her room. She’s a pretty creative kid and had, many times, created her own aquariums. Case in point: the little model at…
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A Community Gem–SICSA works for animals
In the Dayton area, we are blessed by some truly amazing groups of people doing fantastic work. The Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals (SICSA) stands as one of my faves. You already know I’m a dog person. Truthfully, I’m an animal person. I love cats, their dander doesn’t care for me–so…