The Coast

With the heat in the area the last few days, Ogre and I decided to escape to the coast to beat the heat.

When we left our apartment at 10 am, it was already 80 degrees and very sunny. By the time we got to the beach, it was 62 and overcast/foggy right on the beach.


We got out and let Angus have his first taste of the ocean, and I got to dip my feet in the very cold water.


We went and grabbed some lunch and walked the dogs and then I saw it: horses for rent on the beach. I usually go riding when we're at the beach and it's something I love. For $25 you get to ride for an hour along the beach. So much fun.

Everything was great after I mounted the horse. They gave me a lovely mare who they called May. She has a fab dorsal stripe going down her back. We started off and one of the guides who rides with the group starts screaming at me, "May likes to bite and kick, get her away from me!" Why do the give me the problem horse? Because when you sign up they ask you what kind of experience you have. I rode quite a bit as a kid and I only ride about once a year nowadays.

So I spent the majority of my trip making sure my mare had open space in front of her and no one was sneaking up on her from behind. Even when she was in the clear, she would actively look for horses to go after and bite. Lucky me. At least she listened to me when i pulled her head in the opposite direction of a horse she was going after.

Even though I hadn't ridden in a while, I wasn't sore at all after an hour in the saddle. I didn't even get that feeling like I'd been riding a barrel. I had a pretty good time.


All in all, it was a good trip and I'm glad we got to get out. I think the dogs appreciated it more than we did.

House Hunting

Ogre and I went out house hunting today. For those that are unaware, we live in a small, 1 bedroom apt with 2 50+ pound dogs. We are so done living here.

We've been looking with our realtor for about 2 months and so far, not much but dumps. Including one we affectionately called the cat pee house. Mostly for the smell that hit us like a frying pan the moment we opened the front door. Needless to say, we didn't go for that one.

We've seen some that are just teardowns waiting to happen, and just a few that could be livable. So with that in mind we went and looked and hoped we can find 'the house'.

The only one I took pictures of was the first one. I liked it a lot. We looked at 5 all together but only this one was worthy of the camera. It's a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house and it's 1824 sq. ft.


That's the front of the house. Lovely color. The only down side to the outside of the house is that there's no fence. But that's something we can deal with.

This is the entry way. I'm standing in the living room, looking towards the dining room. Brand new flooring, paint, and curtains through out the whole house. Both bedrooms and the bathroom are to the right.

A terrible picture of one of the bedrooms. Isn't the carpet and walls lovely?

The bathroom. As if I have to explain that to you.


This is the reason I love the house so much. This kitchen is to die for. All new appliances, flooring and anything else new you could possibly want.

There's also a basement downstairs where the washer and dryer go. I didn't bother to take pictures of that, cause if you've seen one basement you've pretty much seen them all.

Ogre and I are off to the beach today. Lovely pics of the coast tomorrow.

The Boy

We were very lucky that Angus didn't have the illness issue that Dove did as a puppy. He brought his own set of issues with him.

When Ogre and I decided to get another dog we went back to the same lady that we got Dove from and picked out a beautiful little lemon colored female puppy that we named Daisy.


Unfortunately, when I called the 'breeder' to find out when we could come get her, she told me that Daisy had died but didn't know what from and to come get our deposit. I was devastated. Not only because we'd lost our beloved Daisy, but because this woman decided it wasn't important enough to her to let us know when she was ill let alone dying.

After getting our deposit back from the 'breeder', we decided that we still wanted a new puppy and despite what had happened, we still wanted to bring one home that weekend.

I found the ad for Angus' litter in our local newspaper and I promptly called to go see them that night.

He was raised in a large house about 40 minutes away from us with a large backyard. They led out 4 puppies into their backyard for us to see. We liked him pretty much right away. Mostly for the cool lightening bolt pattern on his side.


He was such a cute little bugger.

We picked him up with Dove a few days later and tried to make his adjustment as easy as possible. Thank goodness for Dove. Without her I don't think he would have made it.

He was used to sleeping with his littermates and wherever he wanted, he was never crate trained. I would say for the first month when we locked him up at 10 pm, he would cry from 10 pm to 6 am when Joe got up for work. Nonstop.

We eventually worked through it. Then came his potty issues. We live in a 1 bedroom apartment, on the 2nd floor, so he didn't have access to a yard like he used to. Even now, if he has to go, you have to take him pretty much right then or end up with a pee trail on the floor.

Despite his many quirks, obedience, and potty issues, we love this dog. He is the first dog to greet us when we get home. When you sit on the couch, he's the one that crawls in the lap for a cuddle.

He's a good dog now and I'm glad we got him. I'm just glad it wasn't any worse.



Ogre and I are going house shopping tomorrow, so come back and see the possible dumps we went to look at.

Keeping with the title

For those of you who skipped it or maybe weren't wearing your glasses, this blog is called 'Stop Staring at my Puppies'. So I figured in keeping with the title, I would continue the 'getting to know me' series by discussing my puppies a little more in depth. Today we'll begin with Dove.


This was the first time we'd ever seen her. But I think I'm jumping ahead a little bit. Ogre and I had been married for a little over a year when I decided I either needed to have a baby or get a dog. Needless to say he decided that having a dog was the best thing in the world. So after much discussion about which breed and what not, I found an ad online for a litter of basset hound puppies. I told Ogre that we had to go look but we may or may not get one. Yeah right.

We drove for an hour to get to a little farm at the end of a dirt road. The lady met us at the gate and led us into her 'garage' where the babies were. We crouched down in front of a little gated pen and there were 5 puppies. All of them were whining and carrying on and in the corner sat the runt. Quietly sitting, and looking at and wondering what all the commotion was about. Ogre picked her up and handed her to me, and that was that. Despite the fact that there were 2 lemon colored ones, we just loved the little tri colored female. We left a deposit and told her we'd be back to visit before we could bring her home. She was only 2 or 3 weeks when we saw her the first time.

Two weeks later we went back to see her and her siblings.


We visited for about an hour and made plans to come back in 2 weeks to pick her up and bring her home.

During that 2 weeks, we'd gone to the store and gotten all the supplies we needed for her and made our little apartment as puppy proof as we could with out testing it out.

Finally, the day came. My sister went out with me to bring her home and it went off with out a hitch. She was very quiet and just walked around. She slept quiet a bit but I figured that was pretty normal. I had her checked out the next day at the vet's office, where I was told she was in perfect health and how lucky I was because apparently a lot of people get very sick puppies.

My parents came and saw her a few days later and asked why she was walking stiff legged. We thought it was because she hadn't walked around much in her short life and was still figuring out how it all worked. My mom seemed unconvinced as she left and told us to keep and eye on her.

My mom called us the next morning and implored us to take her to the vet to have her checked out. I figured I would just to placate her and when Dove came back fine, I'd tell her that we knew that all along.

We brought her in first thing in the morning on Saturday. It was at that point that she couldn't walk anymore and in talking with the vet I realized she hadn't eaten anything for 3 days. Our vet took her back and looked her over and came back in the room to tell us that she'd eaten a can of wet food very quickly but that there was something very wrong with her. They'd need to run more tests to figure out what it was but we we're told to count on the fact that she would be with them for a long term.

The vet called us back within a few hours to tell us that Dove had a massive brain/spinal cord infection. They were doing all they could for her but there was no guarantee that she would survive. Our vet took Dove home with her that weekend, gave her injections every 2 hours in hope that something would save her.

I called the vet that Monday and asked when we could bring her home. I was told that while she was improving they wanted to keep her another day to make sure she was alright. I said that I didn't have the money to keep her another day but if they wanted to do it for free that would be fine. They told me to come get her. I was told how serious her condition was and that she was, in fact, still in danger of relapse, but she could eat and drink on her own but I had to keep giving her her medication. Not only that, but she couldn't go anywhere for 2 weeks because her immune system was so comprimised. They wanted another set of vaccinations in her before she could go anywhere near other dogs.

So, we followed the advice and our world shut down for 2 weeks. Making sure she was eating and getting her meds and lots of playtime. Boy did she do a 180. She was suddenly full of energy and tearing up the world. She became that ball of puppy energy that we kept hearing so much about.

Long story short, she ended up being a wonderful healthy dog. Our vet said that she sustained a small amount of brain damage from the infection but that it shouldn't affect her much. She's a great dog that doesn't get car sick, she travels wonderfully, and most importantly, she's alive and well today. So, a heartfelt thank you goes out to my mother who stuck her nose in where it didn't belong, told me to shake off my stubborness and go get her checked out. Thank you Mom.


She's a great dog and we love her very much. Angus will be getting his story tomorrow.

A very special thank you to Asthmagirl for sending people my way on her blog. You know I appreciate it.

I believe introductions are in order.....

When I set out to start this blog, I knew this would be the hardest post to do. I go through the typical questions: where to start, how much to reveal, blah blah blah. So I may just start and see how this goes. Let's start with location. I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.



About 20 miles south of Seattle. I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I have the water and the mountains in the same place.

I have been married for 3 years, to this man:



He doesn't wish to be seen, but he has given me permission to call him Ogre on the blog. Possible name change in the future however.

And now to show you the reason why my blog is titled the way it is:

This is Dove. The oldest of my puppies. She's as sweet as can be but a handful out in public. She's the dog that will leap at strangers in an attempt to show love. She's very sweet but a pain in the butt.


This is the boy. Learn this face. It's the face of deception. Do not be fooled by his good looks. Angus is a little over a year old and the most difficult dog ever. On the flip side of his obedience issues, he is a great dog. Super smart, he just chooses not to show it.

Now for a little bit about me. I'm a 26 year old, stay at home wife, with 2 dogs. I'm currently going to school for Medical Office Assisting. Or a glorified secretary and my father in law would say. But that's neither here nor there.

I spend my days doing the typical housewife thing, cooking, cleaning and taking care of these 2 beasts. Some where in between that I do my school work.

Please come back and see us, we'd love to have you. In the mean time, I'll just leave these cookies out for anyone who happens to wander by.