My babies

On Wednesday, Cheryl and I went to a couple pet stores and an animal shelter to look at puppies and dogs for her. The pet store was cute because all of the puppies were as young as can be and they were adorable to look at. The first two we played with... a lahpso apo or something like that, was cute but I only lasted a few minutes with it because all it wanted to do was bite my toes and ankles. (I never knew "ankle biter" was a real thing!) The next was a chocolate lab, who also just wanted to chew and wiggle out of my arms when I tried to hold it. The third was a beagle, which is what Koko is half of we think, and she was as sweet as can be. She chewed a little, which is understandable because they're all puppies, but she also stayed in my arms and was sweet! I love beagles.

When we went to the animal shelter, though, that was what really was important. All of the dogs there were full-grown, and most were fierce breeds, but all of them had a story of some degree and needed homes. The puppies need homes, too, of course, but they didn't have homes already and were given up or abandoned or forgotten or abused.

It really made me think of Koko. We don't know how old she was, we don't know where she was before we got her. We got her from the SPCA in Virginia Beach, and they actually had no information on her at all except the word, "Stray." There was a while there when I believed she'd been mistreated because I would go to pet her and she would wince a little. She was definitely stressed... she was missing fur on her backside where she'd chew at herself from anxiety, I assume.

Just a minute ago, I thought of it and almost teared up and hugged her. She's the best dog I've ever had, I think (of course I love Bear, too!) and I hate to think of her alone in the world, or with owners that don't care about her and hurt her. She's so sweet and loving. The other day she was limping around, she must have irritated her leg or hip outside playing, and for the rest of the afternoon and evening she followed RIGHT by my side every second. If I was in one room, she was right next to me... if I went into another room and then came back, she didn't wait for me or lie down, she was RIGHT there at all times. When I went to bed, she didn't go sneak with Bear as they usually do to sleep on the futon or the couch, she was right there by the side of the bed, so instead of getting into bed, I took a pillow and lay down on the floor with her for a few minutes.

When she broke her pelvis in 2007 after running after a bird and being hit by a car, we were living in the townhouse in Virginia Beach, I moved the futon mattress downstairs and slept with her on the floor because she couldn't walk up the stairs (she could barely walk at all). I think of how much that set her back and how far she's come since then. It seemed then like there was no way she'd ever walk again, but after four weeks she was pretty much healed! It was to the point before that where I would take her out to go to the bathroom and she would be squealing the whole way and it just broke my heart.

She and Bear are like our babies. Anything that happens to them is devastating to us. I was just miserable when Koko got hurt that year. Since then, I haven't taken her off her leash for one second outside unless she was fenced in. Luckily, we found a house with a big back yard that we could easily fence in for her to have plenty of room to play on her own without us worrying. She's part beagle, like I said, and they're big on hunting (once she caught a bird in MID AIR) and no matter how much I call her and how obedient she is at other times, if she spots a squirrel or a bird or a bunny, she's gone and can't hear a word I say.

We have a serious ladybug infestation right now. They are EVERYWHERE. I don't know what to do. I've heard if you squish them, they can bite and/or let off this horrible stench. I've never experienced either of these situations, but I've only killed one. There are plenty who have died by other means, though, and I haven't smelled anything. Who knows? Cheryl says these aren't real ladybugs anyway, they're some related type of beetle. Rod thinks they're good luck or something, he got upset when I killed the one the other day. Strange. But anyway my point was that Koko is obsessed with them. She'll sit in the living room and just STARE, unmoving for long periods of time just watching them in the corners of the ceiling.

They're silly. Bear tries to follow along and copy what she does, but he has no clue what's going on.

I'm thinking about ordering one of those test kits that you can send in to a lab and they can tell you what exact breed(s) your dog is. I know they are both mixed with black lab (because it's obvious, but you never know), but there's a great chance Bear is mixed with something because he's smaller than normal labs, and a definite possibility Koko's mixed with something else because she's only 30 lbs. and has been since we got her in 2006, and she's got big, beagle-like ears. :) It'd be interesting to confirm this theory!! Maybe for Roddy's birthday.