Rebecca's Blog

This is Anna.  She’s our lab/German short hair mix – or I should say WAS our lab/German short hair mix.  Anna found a new home last night.  After two years in our home, we grew mighty attached, but with time constraints and a new baby on the way, Anna wasn’t getting near enough attention, so we did what we thought was best for her and for us – we found her a new family.  Of course, this meant many tears (on my part and the kids).  We had grown mighty attached to her, but we want her to be happy.  However, I worry about whether we found the right family and if she IS happier there.  I guess I’ll never know, but I can always hope.

Who said dogs and cats weren’t compatible???

Yesterday, our house officially turned into a zoo with the arrival of three new pets. That makes a grand total of SIX!!! Now, I don’t know why or how we have ended up with so many. I NEVER had a pet growing up, with the exception of a cup full of rollie polies I tried to keep in captivity in our garage. Unfortunately, they were dead the next day. Perhaps, I am trying to make up for all the years I went without. Perhaps I’m just insane – who knows. This post is an introduction to the Briggs’ zoo.

2 Zebra Finches

With the exception of a couple of fish that have since passed away, ZEE is our first pet. She has been a mom once and had several illnesses, but still seemed to outlast her perfectly healthy mate.

This is HAWK II. He is the replacement for Zee’s hubby. He has NOT been allowed to father any children yet. Isn’t it totally unfair that the male is so much prettier than the female? Sorry the photo is so bad. I was having a hard time maneuvering the camera around the bars.

1 Dog

ANNA came next. She is 1 1/3 years old and 57 pounds. She is very hyperactive, but super lovin. Anna is a mix between a Chocolate Lab and a German Shorthair Pointer. The hunters we know have coveted her.

1 Cat

MIDNIGHT is our newest addition. She is 8 weeks old and adorable. I’ve never seen a more playful and friendly kitten. She didn’t even go through the scared kitten stage when she came to her new home. Of course, my kids wouldn’t let her, either. We had to make them leave her alone as they just want to hold her all day. Don’t worry, we’ve made a safe haven for her. We’ve put up a gate in the doorway of the laundry room with a 3 inch gap only she can get through. If Midnight is in there, the kids aren’t allowed to touch her.

Petsmart

So, with my sister-in-law doing a rush trip with her five kids to bring us Midnight (long story), we had to make a trip to Petsmart for supplies. Ryan suggested we go ahead and get the pets we promised Elizabeth and Sariah months ago while we were there. These pets are rewards for cleaning their room and keeping it clean. We already had the tanks, so why not???

1 Hermit Crab

This resulted in CRABBY for Elizabeth. Crabby spends most of his (or her – we’re not sure which) time in her cave. I took the opportunity while she was out today to take some pictures. Watch out. He/she pinches!

1 Beta Fish

Sariah decided on SILVER MIST here. Yes, he’s a male, but have you ever heard of a fish with gender confusion? Me neither. Therefore, she can name it whatever she wants. Beta fishes are great because they are about as low maintenance as you can get. They can just sit in a bowl without filtration (though our tank is filtered) and all you have to do is feed it once a day. They rarely need cleaning too!! WHAT A GREAT PET!!

4 Monkeys

Oh, I almost forgot our four monkeys: ELIZABETH, SARIAH, BENJAMIN AND JOSHUA!!! They love their playmates excessively and get into as much trouble as they can. However, they are pretty good cuddlers, so I think we’ll keep them!

You thought I meant Joshua, didn’t you???  Nope, Anna went in for a very important doggy surgery.  She can no longer have babies.Š

I was going to entitle this blog “Poor Anna,” but Anna totally ruined the whole pity party I was going to throw.  The veterinarian got me all prepared for how tired and sore she was going to be – how she was just going to want to rest.  Does this look tired and sore to you?  We took this right after we got home.  Granted, she is a LITTLE more mellow, but she can’t be doing all that bad if the vet brings her out and she is bouncing all over the place and jumping up on gates and couches and stuff, wagging her tail.  She won’t eat or go potty though.  I’m a little worried about that, but hopefully she will soon.  (She hasn’t eaten since Tuesday night.)  We did get her to eat some pupperoni, though, so it’s a start!

So, I thought that since I haven’t written anything about Anna in  a while, I’d give you an update.  Believe it or not, Anna is now nearing 45-50 lbs and her head is about to my hip.   A couple months ago we placed Anna in a puppy obedience class to help teach her to mind and stop jumping on our kids.  Though we love her dearly, she is a bit of a spaz.  You should see her sometimes when she comes inside.  She sprints from the door to the couch, jumps up, practically runs up the wall to turn around, jumps down, sprints around the kitchen table and heads right back to the couch again.  The cycle continues until she is tired.  As she is quite fast it is nearly impossible to stop her.  She loves to have us chase her up and down the stairs too – she isn’t allowed up there – occasionally stopping to pee a huge puddle on one of the landings.  Yes, we love her, but it HAS too stop.  Believe it or not, she graduated from her class.  She learned to sit, lie down, stay and come.   The trainer even had pictures taken of her in a graduation cap – which she promised to email me and didn’t.  Unfortunately, not long after the class ended Anna promptly forgot everything – or at least she chooses not to obey.  So, where does that leave us?  Well, we will be making an appointment to get her fixed shortly.  After that… we start all over again.

I thought you might like to see what our “puppy”  looks like now.   We took the opportunity on a rainy day to take pictures while she was inside.  She really is quite loveable.  She loves to cuddle and get scratched.  I’ve been told that she will calm down once she has the surgery and is about a year older.  I guess we’ll keep her long enough to find out.

Once I was married with children I swore I would never get a dog. You had to potty and behavior train them as well as clean up their poop. The birds and fish were bad enough. Well, I learned to never say never. When Ryan was away on a trip I came across a dog on the internet called a puggle – 1/2 pug, 1/2 beagle. They were sooo oo cute. They are small with wrinkled faces – perfect for a small house in the city. I looked everywhere for a puggle, but couldn’t find one that cost less than $400 plus shipping and handling. (I didn’t know you could ship a dog.) The pet store here was asking $1000. NO WAY!!! So, we started looking at shelters, with no luck.

The first weekend in March Ryan and I decided to go away on our first ever weekend without kids. Ryan had planned the entire weekend up in Salt Lake – every last minute. When we got up there, though, we decided to fly by the seat of our pants. We saw humane society off the freeway and decided to take a look just out of curiosity. Maybe they’d have puggle. No luck. In fact they didn’t have any small dogs. They had some cute little lab puppies, but they were too big.

Next we decided to drive up to Logan. I had never been up there before and was curious. While there we ran across an add for puppies – $40, six weeks old, 1/2 chocolate lab, 1/2 Germain shorthair pointer. We decided to go look, just for kicks. They were located in a small street of a town called Lewiston, Utah, right on the border of Idaho. We came this far, why not 30 more miles.

There were eight in all. They were living on a farm in the snow. Well, of coarse, we picked up this little girl that was just darling. She was shaking and so cuddly. You could tell that she didn’t like the cold and needed to rescued. We paid for her on the spot and whisked her away to Pets Mart for supplies. We definitely went over our budget for the trip, but what did that matter. We fell in love with a dog.

She stayed in her crate in the car for the night in the parking garage under the hotel. Of course, being a puppy, we had to clean up poop the following morning, but we would soon break that habit. Now the question was how to get her home without soiling the car. Well, she spent half the trip in her crate and half the trip on a newpaper covered floor. Whenever she pooped of peed, we wadded up the soiled newspaper and threw it away. It was a long trip, but worth it.

The kids knew nothing of the dog when we got home. I told my mom, who was watching them, not to tell them. They were speechless, but soon warmed up to her. They named her Anna. She is now completely wild, being a lab puppy and getting huge. Her paws are monstrous. Below are some before, during and after photos. I hope you enjoy her as much as we do. I just wish she’d stop jumping on my boys and pushing them to the ground. She thinks they are litter mates.

This is why we bought her. Wasn’t she cute?

This was month after we bought her. She fell off onto her head right after this was taken. Silly dog!!

These were taken tonight. She is only 4 1/2 months old. She is going to be huge.