As I've spent a bit of time with my Humans, I'm starting to wonder what sort of family I was adopted into. I imagined I'd go to a home that was all ready for me. You know the type...lots of toys all around, shoes to chow down on, comfy couch to curl up in that isn't occupied by your parents, a doggie door so I could go outside whenever I wanted. BUT did I get this? NOOO. Even though my Mom & Dad have a relaxed housekeeping style, they still try to put things in closets that I can't get at. How unfair is that? And because the floor gets dirty when I come in, if Mom thought about this for a ..read more

Sorry, ladies, Vincent’s off the market. After one delay (due to a sick veterinarian) our little guy has been neutered. Being the worrier I am, I couldn’t help but fuss over the surgery as it approached. I couldn’t shake the guilt I felt every time I looked into his innocent, carefree face in the weeks leading up to the big operation. He had no idea what was going to happen. That’s one of the toughest things about being a pet-parent: you can’t ever explain to your baby what is happening, or ask them what is wrong. I felt so guilty, even though I’ve had pups before who were spayed and neutered ..read more

It didn’t take long after Vincent arrived in our home before we realized that we might not have gotten the type of dog we expected. The ad we responded to was for a shih-tzu poodle cross. He was going to be a lapdog, 17 pounds tops. Vince passed his predicted adult weight in his fourth month. As of his last vet visit, he’s about 22 pounds, and he’s only 6 months old! And far from being a docile little lapdog, Vince is active. Very active. The vet thinks that while there is definitely poodle in his mix, she doesn’t see much shih-tzu. She’s thinking border collie, which would explain Vince’s col ..read more

I’m a worrier. If worrying was an Olympic sport, I would be the captain of Team Worry Canada. So it’s not unusual for me to fuss over Vince’s nuances. If he’s sleepy, I’m concerned he’s not feeling well. When he’s hyper, I worry that he’s too hyper, and something must be wrong with him. Generally my husband is the voice of reason, calming me down before I get too worked up over nothing. But about a week ago, we both agreed that something was definitely up with Vincent. It had been a typical Saturday for us. Vince had us awake nice and early, and we spent the day trying to figure out ways to us ..read more

My life has been invaded by a small, fuzzy alien being who now calls the shots. His name is Vincent. My husband and I had been wanting to get a dog for a while. Earlier in our marriage, we upended our lives to move back to the house I grew up in, to care for my parents’ two Shih-Tzus when my parents became ill. We saw Piper and Wickett through weight loss, cataracts, diabetes, and old age, and I think we gave them a good life. After losing them, our hearts were sore and we needed to rest. So, we decided to use our freedom from responsibility to travel (we didn’t), renovate (nope), and pursue o ..read more

I’ve officially only been a Dog Mom for about 4 months, but I’ve been preparing for this role my whole life. I react to puppies (and, ok, kittens) much the same as a normal human woman reacts to human babies. If a coworker brings in their new baby, I’ll admire him or her, but it’s a puppy that brings out my gushy baby voice. So embarking on puppy parenthood should be walkies in the park for me, but for one thing: I’m not a spring chicken anymore. If I have to admit it, my husband and I are…middle aged. We’re in our mid-forties, and by no means old codgers, but the demands of puppy parenthood a ..read more

It’s been a minute. Vincent is now 2, going on 3. I’m a little fuzzy on the math, but I think that being 2 in human years puts Vince in the late teens/early twenties of dog years. I hesitate to compare our experience raising a dog to that of parents raising human children, but I can’t help it. Anecdotal evidence shows: we are living with a teenager now. He Needs His Space We kept up with Vince’s crate training for as long as we could, until the thought of him downstairs, alone and vulnerable, while the rest of his “pack” was sleeping upstairs got to us. And, really, he has always been very res ..read more

Picture it: a peaceful Saturday morning. I lay on the couch, reading, with Vincent curled up at my feet. Exactly the kind of cozy, quiet morning I had hoped for when we got a dog. Then, without warning, Vincent jumps up, and launches himself onto my stomach. He holds his face about a centimetre from mine and just stares. I have no idea what was going on. He’s most likely decided that Rest Time is over and he wants to get me moving. Just another one of his many quirks. All dogs have quirks. (Heck, all people have quirks!) Of the two Shih Tzus we lived with previously, one liked to sit on my sto ..read more

Our baby is one year old today! We’ve only known him for ten of his first twelve months, but I can’t believe how much he has grown and changed, and how much we’ve learned. We went into this puppy-parenthood venture expecting that we already knew how to raise a pup. After all, both my husband and I had had family dogs, and I had been around for my parents’ two Shih Tzus’ formative months. I’d housetrained puppies before and done the rounds of groomer and vet visits. How many surprises could this puppy possibly spring on us? As it turns out, the answer to that question is: a lot. From the moment ..read more

Dog friendships are weird. You would expect dogs to be straightforward when it comes to having and making friends; dogs are loving and loveable, and they like almost everyone, right? Sure, but it’s complicated. Take, for example, Vincent’s very first canine friend, Max. Max lives in the house behind ours, and our yards share a fence. Vincent and Max have only ever communicated through the fence, but their relationship is intense nonetheless. They watch for each other while in their respective houses, and when one sees the other entering his backyard, he whines to be let out. I can tell by the ..read more