On July 19th we brought home a new Cardigan Welsh Corgi puppy! I'm a little late blogging about it because we had a hard time picking a name. First she was going to be Savannah, but after watching her play that didn't fit. Riley liked Daphne (from Scooby Doo). That seemed to fit her, but after awhile both of us didn't like it anymore. Then Marci said, "What about 'Zoey'?" Perfect! After living with it for awhile we all agree she is definitely a Zoey - even Riley agrees. So welcome Zoey!Now many people are probably saying, "What? ANOTHER dog? Three wasn't enough?" Well, there was a reason for getting Zoey. Frankie and Johnnie are both 12 and we had planned on getting another dog in another year or two. However, life dealt Frankie a bad hand; we found out early in July he has cancer.
This got us to wonder what we are doing wrong? How can two of our dogs get cancer? After letting our vet know Frankie and Rio were brothers, he said it's very likely every dog in that litter has cancer. He did reassure us that he can't think of ANYTHING someone could do to give a dog cancer. That made us feel better, because we do love our animals and take the best care of them that we can.
Now we had a dilemma; do we put Frankie through treatments or let it run its course? Untreated he has 1-3 months, treated a year maybe a little more. We remember putting Rio through this and how it affected him. After lots of soul searching and talking, we have decided not to do anything. Rio was 7, Frankie is 12. He's had a good life and is actually doing really good right now, you wouldn't be able to tell he has cancer, he's still running and playing and all that. Thanks to this we decided to get a puppy now. The vet even said this is a great thing for everyone - us and the dogs for making the transition easier, and for Frankie because the puppy can make him perk up a bit and feel better. Plus some of Frankie's personality will quite possibly rub off on Zoey. It'll be tough when the vet says it's time. He's been a great dog and we're just enjoying our remaining days with him. Sad, but also lots of fun and smiles too. :)
And we're remembering all the fun stuff about having a puppy, like having everything and anything within puppy reach chewed up. haha We have also found out she's a good little herding Corgi. Ever since we got her she's been nipping at our heals a lot. We finally figured it out. We're all together, one of us leaves and she starts nipping at our heals. Once we get back together she stops. That's how Corgi's herd! It's now funny and gives us a good laugh. This last Sunday we took her to her first Puppy playtime. Our vet told us about this place that is ONLY for puppies, no dogs over 2 years allowed. She LOVED it! Was shy at first, but then got it into it a lot and had a great time. AND then slept the rest of the day. LOL!
Also, this last Saturday we partook of the annual Oregon Brewers Festival.
The day started with a light drizzle and cloudy. We weren't sure it was going to warm up, but it did and we had a blast! First we had to stop at Saturday market because Riley has outgrown his last tie-dye shirt. Of course Maddie wanted one and Marci got one two. I should have gotten one as mine is fading a lot. We had fun being the tie-dye family. Every Friday we go to Old Chicago for dinner, have gotten to know the staff there quite well. There's also this great gal, Tamara, who does balloon animals. Maddie LOVES getting balloons, so does Riley, though not quite as much. Tamara joined us at the waterfront and although she doesn't drink beer, she still came. It was fun hanging out with her and getting to know her better.
This year Riley finally outgrew the backpack - or rather got too heavy for Daddy back; ya, I'm a wimp. He rode in the stroller and Maddie was on my back. She did great! After being there a few hours she fell asleep. Slept for about an hour, then woke up as we were getting ready to leave. She REALLY wanted Mommy and we were somehow able to get her to stay in the backpack until we got to the car. The one sucky thing was riding MAX. Someone did a really bad planning job. They decided THIS weekend they were going to work on the tracks. This meant MAX could only go to 10th street where you had to get off and walk to the waterfront. Not really THAT big a deal, but they could have waited a weekend when there wouldn't be anything going on at the waterfront.
That's about all for now. Oh, Maddie calls Riley "Bleh" instead of "brother". We find ourselves saying, "Is that bleh's?" instead of "Is that brothers?" hahahaha
