Life with Dogs

Cracus and Sace running around at Pacifica Esplanade Beach

2018 was a year of Goodbyes, and one more goodbye came in April this year. In June 2018, my boss at work had to take a medical leave due to cancer. She was in and out of ICU for months.  In January, I heard that she only had a few months to live regardless of any more medical treatments. In early April, just a month before her 60th birthday, she passed away. I think about her often just like I think about Kelsey.

Cracus has a new sister now. Her name is Sace, and she is about the same size as Cracus.  We want to enjoy the life we have before it's too late. A couple weekends ago, we took a day trip to Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Guerneville. It was one of my boss' favorite places to go.  It was our first time there. We took a nice walk and had a picnic in the redwoods in memory of her.

Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve

Armstrong Redwoods State natural Reserve is also the entrance to Bullfrog Pond Campground, which allows dogs.  We plan on going back and camp on the top of the mountain when the weather is cooler. In the meantime, we will continue to explore beaches and other dog friendly destinations whenever we can get away.

Life is too short to just sit around and watch tv.

Point Isabel Regional Shoreline

Barktoberfest 2016

A group of dog lovers put together a Barktoberfest at Point Isabel every year right around Halloween. The even includes a parade and costume contest for dogs. For the past several years, I always missed it for one reason or another. This year I wasn't sure if I could make it either until the last minute. It had been raining which is unusual for California, where I can't remember when was the last time we weren't having a drought. This year's Barktoberfest was scheduled on Saturday, October 29th. It was still raining that morning. Around 10 a.m. the sun came out and the rain stopped. Around 11 a.m. the sun disappeared and it started drizzling again. I made a circus clown costume for Cracus a few weeks ago. He's been running around in Point Isabel in his costume. People smile at the sight of his craziness.

At 12:30 p.m., it became obvious that the sun was going to stay around. I quickly put on my Pikachu onesie and put Cracus in costume. I forgot the hula hoop I was going to bring with us as we rushed out the door.

We got a big bag of treats just for registering our names for the contest. We were number 9. After everyone had a chance to register, we paraded down the trail. Since I forgot to bring the hoop, all I could do was making Cracus walk on his hind legs and twirl around as we paraded. People were already amused by his "tricks." The judges were making notes and giving scores while we showed off our pups.

After a short parade, we turned back to the area where we first gathered and waited for the announcement of winners. It was nice that they divided the dogs into three groups by size. Cracus is a small dog. They announced the first runner up in small dog category. It was a pup who had a giraffe costume on. When they called for number 9 as the second runner up, I couldn't believe it. There were so many nice costumes. Maybe it was the twirling. We went up to the front, and someone from the audience asked to have Cracus "dance for everyone, so he happily did a few more times.  We received an award certificate with a big bag of prizes and had our photos taken. We couldn't stop smiling!

We will be back next year!

Dog Key for Dog House

The new house key

It has been almost a year since we moved to our new house. A couple days ago I stopped by The Home Depot to make a copy of a key for work. While I was waiting, I saw all the custom keys they have for sale. One particular key got my attention - the dog with a bone key. I got it for my house key. It is the only appropriate key since there are more dogs living in this house than human. 

Cracus and Kelsey at Pt. Isabel

My dog sitting business through Rover.com is doing quite well. There are more demands than I can take on. Today I have the most number of dogs on one day - 5 including my own 2 dogs.  Two of them will be picked up this evening.

I have several repeat customers now and many requests for day care, which unfortunately, I am not yet able to provide with my day job.

Cracus and Charlie napping after their Pt. Isabel outing

On weekends, I love sitting in my little backyard with my morning coffee watching the dogs play. They can run through the dog run on the side of the house, jump through the dog door in the garage, then run through the house and come out from the backdoor into the yard again and repeat. It's fun watching them run in a pack and loop around the house.

I have learned how to feed 4 dogs at the same time without them fighting each other. I have also walked 4 dogs at the same time although it wasn't as graceful as it should. It's all been a very fun and interesting experience.

Charlie demonstrates puppy yoga while Cracus and Buddy observe

Buddy's Three Night Visit

In January I signed up to be a Rover sitter. It just seemed like the logical thing to do. I love dogs and my dogs love dogs. It took over a month until someone contacted me, and Jasper was my first guest. He only needed to stay one night, so my first experience was short and sweet. In less than 2 weeks, I got 3 more inquires. Two of them weren't very good fit, but Buddy was a good match even though he's not crazy about big dogs. He was mostly fine with Kelsey as long as there was some space between the two.

We went to Pt. Isabel a couple times during Buddy's stay. The first time I kept him on the leash. It was pretty obvious to me that he's not the kind of dog just runs off.  The second time I just let him off leash. He runs fast. Both Cracus and him run super fast but they always make sure to stop and keep me in their sight. After Buddy was picked up by his person, Cracus seemed a little confused and sad. He was just playing chase with Buddy a few minutes ago. Now Buddy has gone home.

If you are ever looking for a dog sitter, check out Rover.com and use my discount code "CATALINA20" to get $20 off as a new customer. The code is good for any Rover sitter. Isn't it a sweet deal?

"Little White Dancing Bear"

Cracus is becoming quite popular at Pt. Isabel, where I take Kelsey and him for walks several times a week. While everyone likes Kelsey and thinks she's just beautiful, Cracus makes people laugh. The shaggy hair, constant grin, pink nose, and dancing on his hind legs just bring smiles to people's faces. Some people actually just crack up at the sight of Cracus. One of Cracus' best friends at Pt. Isabel is a little male chihuahua. Even though he looks small, he is quite feisty. He has to be feisty in order to counter attack Cracus.

Some owners get a bit worried because Cracus gets overly excited when he's playing then he starts making this growling sound. I have seen Cracus rolling a few times because he was running so fast. He just turned into a white fur ball and rolled on the ground.  Someone at Pt. Isabel called him "Little White Dancing Bear." I guess he does look like a little teddy bear with that hair. I have tried to give him a haircut, but he's still fearful of the clipper.  So far I have not been able to trim the hair on his legs.

I recently saw a great Youtube video called Happy Dogs and Cat in Australia and decided to make one of my own. I call it Little White Dancing Bear featuring Cracus and his friends.

Overnight Guest, Jasper

Yesterday afternoon as I was heading over to Sacramento, an acquaintance of mine asked me if his dog could stay with me overnight as his family wanted to go out of town. I told him that normally I would love to but I wouldn't be back until after 6 p.m. He thought about it and asked me if I would be comfortable to pick up the dog on my own after I return from my day trip. I was okay with it. I was pretty sure I could get the dog even though I never met him before. By the time I got back home and got the direction to the house, it was 8 p.m. The little dog was probably confused and sad. He barked me a couple times as I entered the house. As soon as I got a hold of his leash, he was happy to go with me. Since I didn't know the dog, I put him in Cracus' crate on the way home. I could hear him whimpering in the back. Cracus and Kelsey was excited to see the new dog especially Cracus. He wanted to play rough house immediately but Jasper was too timid. He just got here and didn't know us. This morning, I put the dogs in the car. Cracus always rides in his crate. Kelsey rides next to Cracus' crate. I was going to put Jasper in the back, but he immediately moved himself to the passenger seat and was quite comfortable staying there. Okay, now I know why he was crying last night on the way to the house. He is a front seat dog!
 

Point Isabel is our weekend stop. We either start our day with Pt. Isabel or end our day with Pt. Isabel. It was a bit of a challenge trying to keep both Jasper and Cracus on the leash. Cracus is a spaz. He just can't walk a straight line. Finally I just let him run off leash even though potentially he might get ticks on him again. A few nights ago I found an engorged tick on his face, and I had to remove it. It was the first time I ever found an engorged tick on my dog and removing it. Cracus completely flipped out and bit me several times although he didn't break my skin. For days he was scared every time I tried to check on the tick bite on his face. Anyway, I decided that I can't just keep Cracus on the leash forever. Dogs are meant to roam freely sometimes.

Kelsey was a bit jealous of Jasper. Since Jasper was our house guest, I naturally paid more attention to him. I wanted him to feel loved while his humans were away. Kelsey actually growled at Jasper every time he got too close to her. I was pretty surprised that by the early evening, Jasper was sharing Kelsey's bed! It took Cracus at least a week to lay next to Kelsey on her bed.  Around 7 p.m., Jasper's humans got back in town and picked him up. We are going to miss you, Jasper!

Cracus' First Off Leash Walk

The weather cleared up briefly today for a change. It was the perfect chance to take the dogs somewhere so they could take a nice long walk. I have taken Cracus to Point Isabel a few times already but always kept him on a leash. I guess having a couple Alaskan Malamutes as my first dogs, I am always unsure whether a dog would just take off. Not that they were bad dogs, but Malamutes are very independent and tend to go on their own adventures. Niki and Okami escaped and went on a few trips of their own although they always managed to come home.

By now I know Cracus is a lap dog. How did people ever create lap dogs? He just wants to sit on my lap all the time while I am at the desk or watching movies. He follows me everywhere when I am home. I was pretty sure if I let Cracus off leash, he wouldn't just run away to be on his own. Well, it turned out that he was more well behaved while we were out. He followed me closely and ran up to me whenever I called his name. He wanted to play with other dogs regardless of their size. Having Kelsey as his big sister, he's fearless of large dogs. He didn't run into any mud puddle or jump into the bay.  He didn't bark at any person or dog and didn't act crazy at all.  People thought he was cute.

Kelsey is a Lover Not a Hunter

I have been pretty lucky that I don't seem to have gopher problems although I have seen a mound of dirt in my front yard, which is an indication there might be gophers. I don't grow anything edible in the front yard other than some herbs and self grown blackberries.

I always suspected that Kelsey is incapable of killing anything. Today I took her to Point Isabel, where you will often find evidence of gophers' presence such as holes on the ground and mounds of dirt in the meadow. Kelsey and I walked pass a hole next to a mound of dirt, and I immediately saw a gopher head popping up and down. Kelsey just kept on walking, but I was curious. She was observant enough to notice that I noticed something on the ground and turned around. She poked her nose in the hole. I told her no because I was worried that her nose would get bitten by the gopher!

The gopher seemed to think of it as a game. It popped its head in and out as to tease us. Kelsey just sat her butt down and watched. She was curious, but since I told her no, she just stayed put. My previous dog, an Alaskan Malamute, would have snatched the gopher, shake it left and right until it was dead. There would be no stopping with the Malamute. Kelsey just wants to be friends with every living thing whether it's a cat or a bunny. She sat there watching the gopher in the hole until I was done taking pictures then we moved on.