What Memorial Day is All About

Tomorrow is Memorial Day here in the United States. Memorial Day is always on the last Monday in May. It is a federal holiday, so most places are closed and a lot of people have the day off. But that isn't what the day is about.
Memorial Day is a day to remember all of those brave men and women who served in the Armed Forces that have left us. The flag is flown at half staff from noon until sunset in honor of their contribution and loss.
So while everyone is enjoying time with their friends and family tomorrow, take a minute to remember all of the wonderful people that have already passed on who served our country.

Saturday Blog Hop and an update on ther service dog process

We are participating in the Saturday blog hop! Check out sponsor Life With Dogs. LWD, along with Two Little Cavaliers and Baby Patches at Nip and Bones. Want to join? Check on the link or the button in my sidebar! We are looking forward to getting to know new friends!

We thought today we would update everyone on Mom's search for a new service dog.  When Mom adopted me and when Lola was dumped at our house, Mom had a lot more energy and her disease wasn't near as bad as it is today.  Because of that, Mom isn't up to finding a good service dog candidate puppy and raising and training him/her so she decided to go the route of a program trained service dog.
Mom has a pretty unique situation, so it was hard to find a program that would work with her.  First, she has two different disabilities that she needs a service dog's help with and only 5% of all service dog programs in the United States will train a dog for multiple disabilities.
Second, our family has a lot of four legged members and they are a part of our family as much as Uncle Andrew or Granddad or Grandmom is!  Many programs that Mom contacted told her they would only giver her a dog if the family gave up the other animals, which was totally out of the question.  Everyone here is well taken care of, spoiled and healthy and loved.
Finally we found CARES who was willing to train a dog for both of Mom's disabilities and who said they never penalize an applicant for having pets.  Mom e-mailed them a lot of questions and she got answers within hours of asking them.  They sent Mom their full application and she has been working hard to get everything it needs.
They want 2 letters of reference, they want a letter from Mom's doctor and the medical records that show she really is disabled and the application form filled out by Mom.  After they get the application, they find a dog that is good for Mom then will interview her so the know they have the perfect match for her.  Mom is asking for a Standard Poodle and they agree that a Standard is the best match for Mom's health and personality.  We will talk more about why in another entry.  It takes around $15,000 to $20,000 to train one service dog, but they only ask for a small portion of that from the handlers who receive service dogs and they won't refuse to give a dog to someone who can't pay that.  They are a non-profit and always welcome donations so they can help more people!
We hope everyone has a wonderful (and maybe long if you are here in the US) weekend!  Mom and the rest of the human family are having a cookout and hanging out by the pool on Monday

We Like Sharing!

 We do a lot of sharing in our house.  Most of the time, Mom decides to share with us.  Well, except for Karma and Francine, who tell Mom they are sharing AFTER they have taken a bite of whatever Mom has!

 A couple nights ago Mom made herself some dessert and finished off the whipped cream, so she let me and Lola lick the tub!  There wasn't much left but it still tasted yummy!  This is the only time we get people food, so it is a very special treat and Mom makes us do our tricks to get it.

 Sometimes we share and sometimes Mom tells us to take turns so we each get equal amounts.  As you can see, Lola wiggles a lot when she does it and she also manages to get the whipped cream all over her face!

 Awww, Mom, did you have to pick this picture for me?  Yea, so I guess I get pretty in to these special treats too.  But it tastes so yummy!  And it makes Mom laugh, which we all like to do.

Do any of you share with you family? I have to say, we all love to share

Wordless Wednesday-Oh Hai!

Saturday Blog Hop!

We are participating in the Saturday blog hop! Check out sponsor Life With Dogs. LWD, along with Two Little Cavaliers and Baby Patches at Nip and Bones. Want to join? Check on the link or the button in my sidebar! We are looking forward to getting to know new friends!


It has been one of those weeks for Mom. She is learning how to live in a wheelchair rather than using her legs and it is a BIG change for her. Whether you have 2 legs or 4, learning to use wheels instead of legs take time. We have to get used to it too, because first Mom had a manual wheelchair, but that hurt her arms too much, so someone loaned her an electric one, and that one moves different and makes weird noises. We also had to have a ramp built, since every entrance to our house has stairs, and Mom can't walk up stairs any more. We are all adjusting, but it has been a little hard.
We are excited to announce that Francine is going to be the final feline member of our family (for now). She loves Mom very much (and us too!) and everyone loves her.

After being scared of everything when she first showed up (and really, who can blame her? She was stuffed in a box and left at a place she didn't know by a busy road!) she has really warmed up to everyone. Francine and I like to snuggle at night with Mom before she goes to sleep
(Mom says I need to let Lola say something too) Hellloooo bloggy furends! It iz Lola, most fantastyc syster of Dixie here! My new kit-in syster Francine is a purfect syster! She loves to plays with me and she makes her kit-in happy noises and nevur evur makes mean angry kitty noises! She is nice and cuddlee too when I wants to take naps...and she is soft, so she is the purfect napping partner
Hello everyone. Karma, supreme empress of the universe(KARMA! You may be Mom's top snoopervisor but you aren't the empress of the universe). Whatever you say Dixie remember, Supreme Empress of the Universe Karma. (Karma! You are supposed to be talking about Francine!).
Ah yes! My newest protege, Franicine. She has a luxurious coat that is sure to be almost as beautiful as mine one day. She understands how life should be and makes sure to beg Mom for everything, take bites of any food of Mom she wants when she can sneak it in and she understands how to play with a dignified, wonderful cat like myself. The perfect addition to our family and an excellent snoopervisor in training.

We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and that you enjoy time with your families, no matter who is part of it!

Saturday Blog Hop! ( a liitle late)

We are participating in the Saturday blog hop! Check out sponsor Life With Dogs. LWD, along with Two Little Cavaliers and Baby Patches at Nip and Bones. Want to join? Check on the link or the button in my sidebar! We are looking forward to getting to know new friends!

Wordless Wednesday-Mom says Grandmom and Uncle Andrew spoil me. I say she is silly

Happy Mother's Day!

We are all very thankful for the Moms in our lives! This year we have definitely learned the lengths a mother will go to for her kids, whether they have 2 legs or 4! We hope all the moms had a wonderful day!

I goez to Dogge Daycares!

So my Mommy got more sickers this week and she can't walk much and can't run at all! She haz troubles getting outsidez cuz we gots lots of steps to get out of our houze. Becuz of this, Mommy can't do my agilitees with me lyke me usually do to get me my exercises.
So Mommy called this place called Camp Bow Wow and made an appointments for an interview so they knows if I play nice wif the other dogges! She sayd if I behaves, I will be going to daycares evury week.
So yesterday, Mommy put on my seatbelt harness, we got in the scary car thing and started going! I waz wurried at first that were were going to the scury V-E-T playce, but we didn't! We got to a playce where I could hears lots of dogges playing! We went inside and the nice lady took me away from Mommy to a roomz where I had the first interview. I passeded that of course and while they were doing that, Mommy was taking a tour-thing of the place (which really means she got to see evurything).
Then one of the nice ladiez took me to a yard with a bunch of other dogges playing and having fun! I got to go in and at furst i waz a lyttle scured, but I got over that. Would you believe I got to stay ALL DAY and play wif all my new furends?
Grandmom came to get me and they said I did very very goods and passed my interview! So Mommy is going to start taking me to daycares to exercize and hang out wif my new dogge furends! They even gave Mommy a surtificat (although I didn't see any cat...except for the ones I live with) that said I could come back any times! I can't waits to go backs!!!
Ok, Lola owt!

Retirement

This is a post Mom and I have gone back and forth about writing. But is part of both our lives, so we are sharing.
On Sunday night, while Mom was taking a bath, I went to my Uncle Andrew's room (after jumping the baby gate in Mom's room) and then ran to the bathroom door where Mom was. Mom opened the door and I already knew something was very wrong. Uncle Andrew followed behind me and found Mom obviously not doing well. Mom wasn't using her left leg, so he went and got Grandmom and Granddad. Mom's CRPS had spread to her left thigh and that left her unable to put much weight on that leg. Mom's thigh had been more swollen for a while, but Mom said she was in denial about it because was very scared of losing the use of her legs.
So now Mom is using a walker part of the time (which is very hard on her arms and leaves her in a lot of pain) and a wheelchair the rest of the time (which isn't as hard on her arms but doesn't give her leg any exercise). Mom knew this was a possibility but we all hoped it wouldn't happen.
This also affects me. Mom's balance is poor, it is hard for her to get her wheelchair started and she has many other problems. As everyone knows, I am a shelter dog and it is apparent that I was bred by a very irresponsible breeder, because my hips and knees aren't great...they are good enough for my regular service work and carrying a lightly loaded backpack though. But now Mom needs more than that. I could learn the new tasks she need, but Mom will never ever do anything that could possibly hurt me. So Mom is going to apply for a mobility service dog and I will retire and go back to being Mom's pet dog with Lola. We will still keep up the blog (after all, we have a lot of adventures here at the house) and we will let the new dog add some entries too.
Mom says that since I love people so much, we are going to get me certified as a therapy dog so I can go visit people at nursing homes and hospitals and make them feel better! I think that is a pretty fantastic job and am really excited to start!
Oh, and Lola says to tell y'all that she will be writing a post Thursday or Friday, so everyone get ready! (Silly little sister!)