Ode To The Boys Part 2

 S is for the silliness you exude
 I is for the intelligence you possess
M is for the monster that you are
O is for your outrageous antics
N is for your never ending energy

As you can tell that spells Simon aka Baby Shark. Toreans best friend, partner in crime, and overall favorite doggie. You bring your own uniqueness to the mix and some days we can never tell who is causing more problems. Love you too baby monster shark

Ode To The Boys Part 1

T is for the trouble you managed to find.
O is for the outrageous antics you perform
R is for your rowdy ways
E is for the exuberant way you greet us
A is because you are simply awesome
N is for the nose you can't shut off.

Put together that spells Torean, the greatest dog we ever could have asked for. Love you, you frustrating, goofy, mouthy bundle of love who continually enriches our life.

Catching up

Hello all. This blog post has been a long time coming and I am attempting to type it off my phone since my laptop is down so bear with me.

   Starting off, a happy belated second birthday to the star of the blog, Torean Alaistair, who turned two on July 21st. Unfortunately Torean celebrated his birthday by presenting us with a nice juicy hotspot when he woke up. He suffered the indignity of the cone when he saw his birthday chew toys and was even content enough to share them with his baby shark little brother Simon Winston. Torean has since recovered from his hot spot but the cone remains when we found a cyst near the hot spot. Torean however has decided that the cone is not so bad. It has it uses. Reason one, it is an excellent barrier to prevent Simon from getting something Torean has that he does not want to share. Reason two, knocking someone in the knees with the cone is great, great fun. And reason three, Torean LOVES hearing how his bark echoes inside his lovely cone. An Elkhound after all is only as perfect as his voice. Torean is such a special dog and a never ending source of joy in our lives. He and Simon are as close as ever and both are eagerly anticipating fall and snow, while us humans dread the inevitable white stuff.
   Torean and Simon have been spending so much time together that we decided to buy one of those leashes that you can walk two dogs on for Toreans birthday. After the boys burn off sone energy we discovered that the leash was one of the greatest things we could have ever bought. Torean proved that he will be an excellent guide dog for Simon if and when Simons vision goes completely. They walk perfectly together and Torean is such a wonderful big brother to Simon.
   We have had our fair share of problems and hurt aside from Toreans hot spots and cysts. One of our cats Sophie ended up having to be rushed to the vet but she has recovered completely thankfully. And lately we mourned the loss of a wonderful woman, my grandmother Sarah. Grandma passed peacefully in her sleep at 89 and her loss is one the family will be feeling for a long time to come. Grandma was wonderful, caring, generous and possessed so many different talents that were part of what made her so special. My Mom put it aptly when she said that heaven received another special rose for its bouquet. With that being said I have rambled enough on this blog and it feels great to be writing again. Here is to remembering our loved ones, cherishing our pets and to everything in between.

A Little Slice of Spring Cuteness

Just a little something adorable for all of you!

Simon's First Birthday

Our little bitty Simon celebrated his first birthday on the 28th with a day full of romps, treats, and the destroying of his birthday toys. It is hard to believe how far he has come from the little bitty shy puppy we brought home, to the fully grown, mouthy, confident, pain in the butt best friend to Torean. Simon has developed a very loving personality when he isn't trying to chase kitties, or chew on big brother's tail, or find something he knows shouldn't go in his mouth. Which by the way is nearly every day. His birthday started early in the morning with a bag of treaties, then as the day progressed he got unlimited time with Torean, plenty of photos taken, and yes, he got to wear the birthday boy ribbon and the birthday hat which he still has not forgiven us for. Little did we know, that like Torean, Simon would end up changing our lives the way he has. Here is to many more birthdays for both dogs, and pictures from his photo shoot. Enjoy!

                                                                     Simon's First Photo

Itty Bitty Simon Is Turning One!

Yes, the time has flown by and Simon is going to be turning one next month. Since I doubt mother nature is going to be cooperating, we will be planning Simon's birthday for indoors, and to celebrate I thought I would share some of Simon's very first pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

Our itty bitty baby who has grown up so quickly. Here is to you, Simon Baby Shark.

So Time To Catch Up

Well, apparently I have slacked off again so it is time to catch up on blogging AGAIN. Life in the house is as fun as ever having two puppies on the loose, and with all the snow outside, you can guess where they want to do most of their sparring now. The once pristine yard was been decimated, and Torean has discovered the fun of being an Elkie, and burying himself up to his bun in snow every chance he gets. Simon, being a shorter coated monster, can not stay outside as long as Torean can, but he has as much fun as he can before he has to come in. Simon had to endure a painful week long separation from his favorite playing buddy as he got neutered and micro chipped and all I can say is Wow, what a difference between breeds. When Torean was neutered he went through one soft collar and two cones of shame in his quest to lick his wounds, and the third cone bit the dust the day we decided he had healed enough. Simon on the other hand was an angel when it came to his incision. He only had to be disciplined twice the first night he was home for licking, other than that he made it through the entire healing process without a cone or pain medicine. For the most part he seemed oblivious to the fact that he had been neutered, all he craved was time with Torean. And let me tell you when the two of them finally got to play together again, nothing was safe, and we came close to filling a memory card with pictures of their teeth baring antics. Simon sure has changed from when he was a tiny puppy to now, when he is rapidly approaching his first birthday and we are starting to see more changes in Torean as well. Torean is still full of beans and mischief whenever he gets a chance, but a new mature dog is starting to surface from time to time. He is more content to sit with us instead of wandering off to scrounge or see if Simon has spit out any tasty morsels he can have, and when he had to go to the vet for shots and to have what we thought was a cyst looked at, Torean blew us all out of the water. During the ride over Torean was content to sit across my lap looking out the window, and aside from his mega sniffing when we got to the vets office, Torean was an absolute angel. He met his new vet like a champ rapidly becoming comfortable enough with him that the vet was slathered with kisses, tail wiggles, and he even asked to play games with the vet. The cyst under his leg turned out to be a benign tumor that was already shrinking and has now completely vanished. Torean left the vet with a clean bill of health after charming the vet and the nurses and we could not have been more proud of him. Torean got a massive bone as a reward for being such a good boy and so did Simon when he healed. That is the basic rundown of what has been happening since my last blog posting, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Have a great week!