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So instead of posting about Caris' visit we have some news. No we are not having children right away, but we are fostering another dog. I know we said we weren't going to do it again for a while but this was a special situation that we could not say no to. Our new foster has the Lok, but we have decided to name him Reiner.
So his story is so sad and it makes me very angry. Lok, aka Reiner, is an eight month old Weim that has been removed from his owners house TWICE by the courts for animal abuse. The first time he was removed and placed in the Boulder Humane Society where he was adopted by a supposed loving family. It turns out the loving family was a front and they were friends of the abusive family who just gave the dog back to them.
The dog has been thrown out of second story window, dragged down the street until his paws bled, starved, kicked and punched in the head and who knows what else. So now in our home, he is wonderful a ball of puppy energy and definitely tests Kaiser's last nerve. I am hoping to get some pictures of him so I will keep everyone posted. We have started feeding him the good dog food we feed Kaiser to help his stomach and coat, we make sure to give him limits and tell him good job.
So keep your fingers crossed and think good thoughts for a quick adoption.
Pam
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Whats new? (CAUTION: Word Wall)
Well Louie got adopted over the weekend! He went to a nice family of 4, (two adults, two kids). The Mom runs and is looking forward to taking Louie along. They also have another dog but she is a bit bigger, not as athletic and I think around 8 years old. Anyways, the Dad is a nice guy, very soft spoken but also had a good presence about him and so I think Louie is going to be a great fit with their family!
Kaiser went through a down day, which also was caused by the crappy dog food the vet gave us. We took Kaiser to the vet because he's got digestive problems. Its been two weeks and he still has been struggleing to put out solid #2 on a consistent basis. She did a test and said he's got a lot of bacteria in his system, probably from being kenneled so long. She gave us this special food to feed him, some stuff to clean his ears out, and some pills to give him to help clear everything up.
Well the food is expensive low grade crap. The main ingredient is corn and the protein comes from chicken by products, 4th on the list. Basically Weims are prone to bloat and especially with food high in corn! So Kaiser had been on the food 3 days and no change in his stool, plus he was bloated!
Yesterday I noticed that she had actually given us pills to give him, that are supposed to help attack the bacteria in his system. I had forgotten all about them so we started him on that yesterday. I also switched him back to his previous dog food (which is approved for people consumption so its pretty high grade stuff). Immediately we noticed a difference in his behavior. I took him out back on lunch and he was sprinting around in circles like usual!
School
Most of you probably know that I got accepted into the Engineering Management graduate program at Colorado University Boulder. I had met the department chair during the application process and she seemed very smart but also very down to earth and genuinely nice. I really appreciated her.
This weekend I met one of the professors which congratulated me on my admission and mentioned that it is a very tough program to get into. That made me feel good! She also was very excited to learn about me, what I was interested in, and what career paths I would be interested in taking so that I could sign up for the classes. It just so happens that this woman works with Pam and knows a lot of people in the industry. She thought I would benefit from some informational interviews and so I have to think about this and down the road hopefully set some up with people like, VP's of Engineering, R&D, Operation Managers, Product Managers, etc. Basically a bunch of career paths, ask them questions and figure out which would be the most interesting to me.
So now I'm really pumped for school to start again and to be getting my learn on! I just have to get registered, and figure out how I'm going to be paying for this all lol!
Summit 08
Friday night was Pam's summit. The event was held at the Ritz Carlton downtown. The night before the event John Elway was present at the bar at the Ritz and so we were all on Elway watch while we were there. At least I was! When I left I saw a rolls royce head off...wonder who's that was!
The event was a great success for Pam and her boss Shannon. While I was there it seemed to go off smoothly. Reviews from everyone there were great and I was excited to see Pam's long hours turn out so well.
The meal we had was incredible. The servings were small enough to enjoy each course and the service was impecable. After each course the servers would come around and move your remaining silverware into position. I got a kick about that. I mean does it really matter than during the course of eating my steak I moved one spoon to my right side and before I get my dessert that spoon must be moved back above my place setting and placed parallel to my body lol?
Oh, and for some reason I got lucky and was served dessert twice. :)
Pam spent the night at the Ritz but I sped home to take care of the dogs. The weekend was like this post, packed full of stuff! I only mentioned some of it, and in no particular order.
Oh yeah, Pam also ran in the Denver Marathon. She was part of 4 person team and did 7 miles. She got to run the final leg which was cool to be the one to finish the race. She also managed to get the individual type medal for the marathon instead of the tiny ones given to the team members. Funny how that worked out. :)
Kaiser went through a down day, which also was caused by the crappy dog food the vet gave us. We took Kaiser to the vet because he's got digestive problems. Its been two weeks and he still has been struggleing to put out solid #2 on a consistent basis. She did a test and said he's got a lot of bacteria in his system, probably from being kenneled so long. She gave us this special food to feed him, some stuff to clean his ears out, and some pills to give him to help clear everything up.
Well the food is expensive low grade crap. The main ingredient is corn and the protein comes from chicken by products, 4th on the list. Basically Weims are prone to bloat and especially with food high in corn! So Kaiser had been on the food 3 days and no change in his stool, plus he was bloated!
Yesterday I noticed that she had actually given us pills to give him, that are supposed to help attack the bacteria in his system. I had forgotten all about them so we started him on that yesterday. I also switched him back to his previous dog food (which is approved for people consumption so its pretty high grade stuff). Immediately we noticed a difference in his behavior. I took him out back on lunch and he was sprinting around in circles like usual!
School
Most of you probably know that I got accepted into the Engineering Management graduate program at Colorado University Boulder. I had met the department chair during the application process and she seemed very smart but also very down to earth and genuinely nice. I really appreciated her.
This weekend I met one of the professors which congratulated me on my admission and mentioned that it is a very tough program to get into. That made me feel good! She also was very excited to learn about me, what I was interested in, and what career paths I would be interested in taking so that I could sign up for the classes. It just so happens that this woman works with Pam and knows a lot of people in the industry. She thought I would benefit from some informational interviews and so I have to think about this and down the road hopefully set some up with people like, VP's of Engineering, R&D, Operation Managers, Product Managers, etc. Basically a bunch of career paths, ask them questions and figure out which would be the most interesting to me.
So now I'm really pumped for school to start again and to be getting my learn on! I just have to get registered, and figure out how I'm going to be paying for this all lol!
Summit 08
Friday night was Pam's summit. The event was held at the Ritz Carlton downtown. The night before the event John Elway was present at the bar at the Ritz and so we were all on Elway watch while we were there. At least I was! When I left I saw a rolls royce head off...wonder who's that was!
The event was a great success for Pam and her boss Shannon. While I was there it seemed to go off smoothly. Reviews from everyone there were great and I was excited to see Pam's long hours turn out so well.
The meal we had was incredible. The servings were small enough to enjoy each course and the service was impecable. After each course the servers would come around and move your remaining silverware into position. I got a kick about that. I mean does it really matter than during the course of eating my steak I moved one spoon to my right side and before I get my dessert that spoon must be moved back above my place setting and placed parallel to my body lol?
Oh, and for some reason I got lucky and was served dessert twice. :)
Pam spent the night at the Ritz but I sped home to take care of the dogs. The weekend was like this post, packed full of stuff! I only mentioned some of it, and in no particular order.
Oh yeah, Pam also ran in the Denver Marathon. She was part of 4 person team and did 7 miles. She got to run the final leg which was cool to be the one to finish the race. She also managed to get the individual type medal for the marathon instead of the tiny ones given to the team members. Funny how that worked out. :)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
More Doggie Pictures
So these are some adorable pictures from over the weekend. We definitely did not take them with a great camera but it just shows how well our two buddies have bonded though it has been a week. We love our boys. Oh and this past weekend we suddenly realized it is almost winter here. Saturday we had a meet and greet for potential adoptees with the available dogs and it was about 40 degrees and raining, it was awful!
However we think we may have found Louie a fantastic home with an amazing fmaily. Keep your fingers crossed!
However we think we may have found Louie a fantastic home with an amazing fmaily. Keep your fingers crossed!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Pam and Her Dogs
So a quick update on how I am getting along with the two dogs and the one Ginormous dog. They are great! it is definitely crazy when I have the two on the leash when we go to the dog park of go from house to car, but I manage. I just can't do it in heels LOL
Trav took this picture and I think it pretty much sums up these bundles of love.
So we are now going to enjoy a relaxing evening and put up some sheers and just relax.
Trav took this picture and I think it pretty much sums up these bundles of love.
So we are now going to enjoy a relaxing evening and put up some sheers and just relax.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Dogs, dogs, dogs.
Last week the weimaraner rescue took in like 6 new dogs. They had almost 11 needing foster homes by the end of the week. We took Kaiser over to the meet and greet, and made ourselves available for fostering a dog if there was a need not met. I think the main lady has like, 6 or 7 dogs at her place right now! At the meet and greet, everyone kept telling us how lucky we were to have such a great dog in Kaiser. Of course we agree. :)
Kaiser is doing very well. By the end of the week he was able to hang out in the basement without any accidents during the day. So now, we're comfortable knowing that we can leave him for 4 hours at a time without him tearing the walls up, or going potty all over the place. He responds the best to "sit". With treats he also knows "lay down", and "wait". When we feed him he will sit and wait for you to put the food down and won't start eating until you tell him ok. Oops did I say eating? I mean, won't start hoovering the food down until you tell him ok. We also use wait at doorways so he doesn't sprint out or in. I've been teaching him "stand" in conjunction with the other position commands and he will do it but he doesn't really understand it yet. He's starting to come better too.
All in all, considering he's been around for only a week, he's doing tremendously well. We're very pleased with his progress!
Back to the rescue situation...we picked up another dog as a "foster". The lady that was fostering him was literally strapped for cash, barely making ends meet, and also needed to get him into a new foster home because one of her other dogs was nearing the end of its life. The lady was working two jobs to try and make ends meet and this led to not being available on weekends to get the dog to the meet and greets, which is typically where people can see the dog and choose to take him home for a trial period.
So the new member of our pack is named Louie! He's a beastly weim and makes Kaiser look like a normal sized dog. Louie is very tall, thick and weighs about 90 lbs. He was wound up when we got him and so I decided it would be best to take him for a walk to try and burn off some of his energy and allow us some time to get him under control. When we got him home Denver was in the middle of a rain storm. We got both dogs ready to go and put our coats on and off we went. The rain was rivaling some Portland storms, puddles everywhere and water flowing into drains like small versions of niagara falls. To make matters a bit more aggrivating Louie's previous owners had not taken the time to teach him how to walk on a leash without pulling.
Kaiser on left, doing sit-stay really well and still, lol. Louie is on the left. Both of them are around 1.5 years old.
Needless to say, going around the block turned into a very arduous task. We were tired, worn out from the weekend and also starving for some food of our own, wet and patience very thin for this dog.
After the walk the dogs met for the first time off leash in our garage. They played quite a bit, a little too hard in some cases and required me stepping and keeping them in check. After the garage we moved into the basement. More playing ensued as well as one case of Louie marking his territory. I scolded him pretty hard for that and gave him a stiff poke. Kaiser had managed to not go #1 for 5 hours, including for some reason the walk, and so he decided to relieve himself during a break in playing...on the basement floor. Good thing the floor is tile and we (I) can just mop it up!
At about 8:30 the dogs hit the backyard, where louie marked the same tree about 5 times. Pretty soon he was just lifting his leg, going through the motions and nothing coming out. Meanwhile, Kaiser was pumped up to have another dog around and was spending his outdoor potty time running around the yard in circles at full speed! He managed about 25 laps before Louie decided it would be fun to chase him. Louie isn't quite as agile though as Kaiser and he couldn't keep up on the high speed corners. Plus how can you really keep up when you've got to stop at random trees to mark them. :)
9:00 rolled around and we had popcorn ready to go and hopefully we would get some relaxing time in before bed. We sat in front of the TV and discovered that Louie also was allowed up on the couch and would resist forcefully to being pulled off! It provided a great way to show our dominance and set guidelines for where he can and can't be in the home. Pam and I were concerned he was going to walk off and mark stuff so we kept calling him back to the living room. I got quite annoyed of Pam constantly calling his name as he did laps around through the living room, dining, kitchen and back through.
I moved to the floor where I was able get Kaiser to lie down on my right side and Louie on my left. They calmed down and we were able to watch an episode of the dog whisperer. Pam hand fed me popcorn and we had a great time winding down for bed.
We moved both crates into the bedroom. We had been teaching kaiser another usefull command, "crate", where he will go to into his crate and lay down. We're still in the beginning stages of that command. At first Kaiser didn't really enjoy his crate but now he sleeps in it without any problems. We've even closed the door once and he didn't mind too much. We had been told Louie sleeps in his crate too so we were hoping it would just all work out once we got the lights turned out. Of course Louie felt that the bed would be a better place for him to sleep...After shoving him off a couple time we settled into place.
Well for being the less dominated dog, Kaiser had no problem going into Louies crate and making himself feel like home. The only problem with this is that Kaiser's crate is smaller and Louie can't fit comfortably into it! To solve this I pulled the bed in, which would provide Louie with a place to sleep if Kaiser decided to move into his crate. In the end though the dogs figured it all out by themselves without any altercations. Louie settled into his crate after about half an hour and Kaiser was long on his way to sawing logs by this time.
...and that concluded our first night as a pack of four, and as foster parents.
Needless to say, after having Louie for 12 hours, Pam has decided that one dog is enough for us! I've assured her, that after working with Louie and having him feel more settled as the time passes, we will be able to turn him into a much better behaved dog. This will help us find an adoption family for him in no time! Unfortunately right now it feels like we've got 2 hyperactive 5 year olds running around the house and with me leaving for the week, it ain't going to be pretty! Go Pam, you can do it!
PS Here are some YouTube Videos of our dog.
Kaiser is doing very well. By the end of the week he was able to hang out in the basement without any accidents during the day. So now, we're comfortable knowing that we can leave him for 4 hours at a time without him tearing the walls up, or going potty all over the place. He responds the best to "sit". With treats he also knows "lay down", and "wait". When we feed him he will sit and wait for you to put the food down and won't start eating until you tell him ok. Oops did I say eating? I mean, won't start hoovering the food down until you tell him ok. We also use wait at doorways so he doesn't sprint out or in. I've been teaching him "stand" in conjunction with the other position commands and he will do it but he doesn't really understand it yet. He's starting to come better too.
All in all, considering he's been around for only a week, he's doing tremendously well. We're very pleased with his progress!
Back to the rescue situation...we picked up another dog as a "foster". The lady that was fostering him was literally strapped for cash, barely making ends meet, and also needed to get him into a new foster home because one of her other dogs was nearing the end of its life. The lady was working two jobs to try and make ends meet and this led to not being available on weekends to get the dog to the meet and greets, which is typically where people can see the dog and choose to take him home for a trial period.
So the new member of our pack is named Louie! He's a beastly weim and makes Kaiser look like a normal sized dog. Louie is very tall, thick and weighs about 90 lbs. He was wound up when we got him and so I decided it would be best to take him for a walk to try and burn off some of his energy and allow us some time to get him under control. When we got him home Denver was in the middle of a rain storm. We got both dogs ready to go and put our coats on and off we went. The rain was rivaling some Portland storms, puddles everywhere and water flowing into drains like small versions of niagara falls. To make matters a bit more aggrivating Louie's previous owners had not taken the time to teach him how to walk on a leash without pulling.
 |
| From Dogs |
Kaiser on left, doing sit-stay really well and still, lol. Louie is on the left. Both of them are around 1.5 years old.
Needless to say, going around the block turned into a very arduous task. We were tired, worn out from the weekend and also starving for some food of our own, wet and patience very thin for this dog.
After the walk the dogs met for the first time off leash in our garage. They played quite a bit, a little too hard in some cases and required me stepping and keeping them in check. After the garage we moved into the basement. More playing ensued as well as one case of Louie marking his territory. I scolded him pretty hard for that and gave him a stiff poke. Kaiser had managed to not go #1 for 5 hours, including for some reason the walk, and so he decided to relieve himself during a break in playing...on the basement floor. Good thing the floor is tile and we (I) can just mop it up!
At about 8:30 the dogs hit the backyard, where louie marked the same tree about 5 times. Pretty soon he was just lifting his leg, going through the motions and nothing coming out. Meanwhile, Kaiser was pumped up to have another dog around and was spending his outdoor potty time running around the yard in circles at full speed! He managed about 25 laps before Louie decided it would be fun to chase him. Louie isn't quite as agile though as Kaiser and he couldn't keep up on the high speed corners. Plus how can you really keep up when you've got to stop at random trees to mark them. :)
9:00 rolled around and we had popcorn ready to go and hopefully we would get some relaxing time in before bed. We sat in front of the TV and discovered that Louie also was allowed up on the couch and would resist forcefully to being pulled off! It provided a great way to show our dominance and set guidelines for where he can and can't be in the home. Pam and I were concerned he was going to walk off and mark stuff so we kept calling him back to the living room. I got quite annoyed of Pam constantly calling his name as he did laps around through the living room, dining, kitchen and back through.
I moved to the floor where I was able get Kaiser to lie down on my right side and Louie on my left. They calmed down and we were able to watch an episode of the dog whisperer. Pam hand fed me popcorn and we had a great time winding down for bed.
We moved both crates into the bedroom. We had been teaching kaiser another usefull command, "crate", where he will go to into his crate and lay down. We're still in the beginning stages of that command. At first Kaiser didn't really enjoy his crate but now he sleeps in it without any problems. We've even closed the door once and he didn't mind too much. We had been told Louie sleeps in his crate too so we were hoping it would just all work out once we got the lights turned out. Of course Louie felt that the bed would be a better place for him to sleep...After shoving him off a couple time we settled into place.
Well for being the less dominated dog, Kaiser had no problem going into Louies crate and making himself feel like home. The only problem with this is that Kaiser's crate is smaller and Louie can't fit comfortably into it! To solve this I pulled the bed in, which would provide Louie with a place to sleep if Kaiser decided to move into his crate. In the end though the dogs figured it all out by themselves without any altercations. Louie settled into his crate after about half an hour and Kaiser was long on his way to sawing logs by this time.
...and that concluded our first night as a pack of four, and as foster parents.
Needless to say, after having Louie for 12 hours, Pam has decided that one dog is enough for us! I've assured her, that after working with Louie and having him feel more settled as the time passes, we will be able to turn him into a much better behaved dog. This will help us find an adoption family for him in no time! Unfortunately right now it feels like we've got 2 hyperactive 5 year olds running around the house and with me leaving for the week, it ain't going to be pretty! Go Pam, you can do it!
PS Here are some YouTube Videos of our dog.
First week in home!
So its been about a week and a half now since moving in. We dropped by the apartment one last time this weekend and I felt very relieved to have that chapter in my life over with, at least for now. Apartment living is cheap, manageable, and easy. If something breaks, you just call the front desk and people come fix it. Trash day? Just throw it out front and someone will come by and pick it up.
Apartment living does have many downfalls though. First, knowing that each month your rent money is just flying out the window. The first 10 years of a mortgage is much the same, pissing away the money in interest payments, but at least you know that slowly and surely you're catching up and one day (10,950 days later) you'll own the home outright.
You also have more space, more privacy, more pride, more responsibility, less noise, more of a burden, more joy as opposed to apartment living. Nick the apartment wall and you say, "Oh well might not get my full deposit back". Nick the wall in your house and you're thinking, "Dangit! Minus to the home value"!
So anyways, we've got the main areas up to snuff, and habitable right now. Slowly we're completing the other areas, waiting for more funds, etc and taking our time. Right now we're in the middle of the outdoor dog kennel build, which got halted by a massive rain storm last night! Unfortunately, I have to leave town and we won't likely finish that project until two weeks from now.
The house is great though now, and we're thoroughly enjoying it.
So some input from Pam (finally) LOL So as Trav said we have been in our house for over a week, as of tomorrow, two weeks, and honestly we could not be happier. This is finally our space, our home and some place where we can grow our little clan, to now be four. Trav is currently out of town, he left 10/7/08 Wednesday, and so it is a little unnerving for me to be alone. Thank goodness for the two dogs I have as my protectors, otherwise i am pretty sure I would not be sleeping very well at all right now.
I have a few goals while Trav is gone for work. One is to finish putting the drapes up in the dining room and guest bedroom. Two is to mop the floor and three is to get a filing cabinet to organize our mail and items we have received. I love having a dedicated office, a true guest bedroom, a basement for the dogs to play in and a HUGE kitchen. I can't wait to get more furniture, organize everything and just slowly make it feel like home.
Apartment living does have many downfalls though. First, knowing that each month your rent money is just flying out the window. The first 10 years of a mortgage is much the same, pissing away the money in interest payments, but at least you know that slowly and surely you're catching up and one day (10,950 days later) you'll own the home outright.
You also have more space, more privacy, more pride, more responsibility, less noise, more of a burden, more joy as opposed to apartment living. Nick the apartment wall and you say, "Oh well might not get my full deposit back". Nick the wall in your house and you're thinking, "Dangit! Minus to the home value"!
So anyways, we've got the main areas up to snuff, and habitable right now. Slowly we're completing the other areas, waiting for more funds, etc and taking our time. Right now we're in the middle of the outdoor dog kennel build, which got halted by a massive rain storm last night! Unfortunately, I have to leave town and we won't likely finish that project until two weeks from now.
The house is great though now, and we're thoroughly enjoying it.
So some input from Pam (finally) LOL So as Trav said we have been in our house for over a week, as of tomorrow, two weeks, and honestly we could not be happier. This is finally our space, our home and some place where we can grow our little clan, to now be four. Trav is currently out of town, he left 10/7/08 Wednesday, and so it is a little unnerving for me to be alone. Thank goodness for the two dogs I have as my protectors, otherwise i am pretty sure I would not be sleeping very well at all right now.
I have a few goals while Trav is gone for work. One is to finish putting the drapes up in the dining room and guest bedroom. Two is to mop the floor and three is to get a filing cabinet to organize our mail and items we have received. I love having a dedicated office, a true guest bedroom, a basement for the dogs to play in and a HUGE kitchen. I can't wait to get more furniture, organize everything and just slowly make it feel like home.
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