Today we drove an hour to go to a Doxie meet-up for Suburban Doxie owners and some southern Wisconsin folks. We were invited to attend by the woman who adopted Annie to us.

OMG...there were Doxies everywhere!

Not only were there Doxie owners, but there were two Doxie rescues there with Doxies available for adoption. The woman whom gave us Annie came to the meet-up with five dogs and went home with four. Not too bad.

There were at least two Doxies with wheels as their backs were hurt and maybe another 3-4 with visible back issues. Oh, if only the vet wasn't so damn expensive!!

The hubby did find one Doxie who Annie liked and kept asking if we could take her home. I stuck to my guns! I did bend a little with a cute long-haired red head and this guy who came in with puppies for only $300. But we came home with just Annie! If I don't have time to really care for Annie (I do my best), I sure as hell don't have time for a puppy.

Overall it was a great time. Ella had fun playing with the other dogs, but was especially touched by Annie's jealousy.

I'll post some photos on Flickr soon. I'm a bit behind in my posting there!

Labels: annie

At about 10:15 pm tonight Annie woke up from her slumber, shook the sleep out of her, and came over to ask the hubby to pee. He looked at me, intensely working on iTunes, and said, "Can you take her out?" After some grumbling I did.

Annie promptly went out and looked like she peed. Then she disappeared.

FUCK!

Now she does go sniffing towards the side gate, but comes after I call her. Until tonight.

I rang the doorbell to alert the hubby who came out, peeked around the corner and found no Annie. Um, it's also maybe 28 degrees out and I had just my pajama pants & sweat shirt on. Thankfully I did lace up my tennis shoes. Cause the hubby ran back inside, for what, I can't recall, while I grabbed the flash light and went after Annie.

Sometimes our back gate is left open, but today it was locked. So I jumped the gate.

Yes, I'm pretty damn proud that at almost 33-years (t-minus 25 days) I can still climb over a chain link fence gate. The down side? I think I think I pulled something in my knee, but nothing too serious.

The hubby then got over the gate (after a few seconds of being in awe of his girl). He quickly realized that Annie didn't even have her tags on! Shit...so picture me in my pajamas and the hubby in shorts & a jacket (oh, that's what he went in to get!) yelling "Annie!" in our front yard.

She was under a bush next door. She poked her lil head out as if to say, "What?"

Thank the goddess that Ella slept thru it all. If she knew we left her alone for 3 minutes she would had freaked.

We have realized that there is a HUGE gap between our fence and the neighbor's fence. Yup, just the right size for a tweenie doxie to slip thru. Great...more for the to-do list!

Labels: annie

Considering new, to me, information that Thanksgiving started with Spanish speakers in Florida and not in New England, the title seemed fitting.

Due to our rescheduling of our holiday from a super gay dinner (as my grad student put it) to a traditional family dinner at the last minute, we are doing the unthinkable...picking up an already cooked turkey in the morning from a supermarket. Goddess, I hope it turns out ok. And I hope it oozes enough droppings to make some decent gravy. Not that I eat gravy, but everyone else at my dinner table does.

There will be mashed potatoes, my famous pineapple side dish/dessert (it's an ongoing debate), fresh cranberries (to think I hate cranberry sauce growing up!), DoughBoy crescent rolls (original and garlic), cheesy broccoli (younger sister's favorite), and asparagus (a new tradition).

Of course, there will be football, lots of football as well.

The sis is bring dessert - pumpkin and French silk pie. Thank the Goddess that a Baker's Square is on the way to our place!

It's snowing in Chicago, so it'll be fun to wake up and see how Annie does with her first snow fall. Ella is also eager to break in her new snow boots.

Hope that your day goes the way you want.

Labels: annie, Ella, family

OMG...this is too funny!

BTW - We tried the hot dog costume on Annie and it was too big. I think she's afraid of it too. But we'll get the smaller size and try again. It's hard to buy for a Doxie because they are so long. Kinda like all those super tall women out there who find it hard to buy jeans.

Labels: annie

When we adopted Annie her foster mom told us about Doxie Fest. It was coming up in Sept and that she was always there. "I hope to see Annie there!" We said we'd look into it and then we decided against it. Danville is a long way away and well, we're just settling into the local Doxie scene.

Doxie Fest was Saturday and I guess it's a good thing we didn't go. It rained! And if there is one thing Annie hates is rain. But a good time was had and much awareness was raised about the need to rescue Doxies & their canine cousins from shelters:

Those events included contests for: the farthest travel to the festival — dog and owner from Washington state; most dachsies brought to the event — 13; oldest dog — 20-years-old; and everyone’s favorite, the costume parade.

Three-year-old Maxine, a black, short-haired miniature dachshund dressed as a pirate, won the event, paws down. In her case, it was only three paws down instead of four, which her owner said inspired the pirate outfit.

“Pirate — peg leg, right?” Rhonda Curry of Louisville, Ky. said. Then she shared Maxine’s tale of rescue.

“When I first met Maxine, she was five weeks old. Her mother had chewed off part of her leg, and she was going to be put down,” Curry said. “She was the sweetest little thing. I just couldn’t let that happen.”

Looks like there will be an indoor venue for next year.

Oh and at Target we got Annie her hot dog costume. Oh, yeah, she's rockin' Halloween this year.

Labels: annie

Annie's second fatality
Originally uploaded by roniweb.

Sadly, this is what we came home to tonight. The hubby kinda splurged on these shoes (not too much, but in that "I already have enough black shoes" way) so I know he's not going to replace them. Hmmm...Birthday present? He'll be 35 in less than 2 months. THIRTY FIVE!! Dear goddess, I'm gonna be married to an old man.

Labels: annie, moblog

Brownfeminpower tackles the question of "Where are all the bloggers of color?" (both links go to the same post, just different sites)

Elaine Vigneault tackles the issue of dog breeding and feminism. Is it fair to ask one of the A-list feminist bloggers where she got her puppy?

As the mama of a rescue Doxie, I say, yes. If you have asked me 6 months ago before we were settled on a getting a dog, I still would have said yes. More later.

===========LATER========================
Since Rachel has already commented and noted that the lovely Violet was a breeder puppy while curious Elvis was a rescue and stated that she's divided, I'll go from there.

First, I'm not as totally anti-breeder as Elaine is. I know Rachel well enough to trust that she's not getting her puppies from a puppy mill. Then again, I do believe that there are enough dogs and cats in this world that we ought to take a one year break from purchasing dogs & cats. One year, that's all I'd want to see.

Second, the question was more about whether or not it is appropriate to ask a feminist leader where she got her dog from. Again, I say yes. If Gloria Steinem showed up at a meeting in a fur coat, you know she'd get hell from not just PETA. Steinem, Jessica isn't, but she has been dubbed one of the newest faces/leaders of not just the feminist blogosphere, but the movement itself. And as such, is fair game for such questions.

Jessica could respond by simply saying that she's known the breeder for years, knows it has an impeccable record, or simply that she did her homework, weighed the issues, and really wanted a puppy.

And unlike one of Jessica's supporters, asking where a puppy came from isn't the same as asking a woman why she didn't adopt. People are CONSTANTLY asking us where we got Annie. People who know us assume it's a rescue. People on the street just are curious.

One of my first acts of activism was deciding to be a vegan based on worries about how animals are raised and slaughtered. I was in middle school. I was a TERRIBLE vegan. Mostly because I had zero support, especially at home where my mom always tried to force me to eat some type of meat. That's why I eat poultry and fish. But at one point, I was living off of French fries and hot dog buns at school. They say any diet made up of only one food will cause you to lose weight...that's not one of them. During college I still wasn't eating fish, but once you start to dissect them to get to know them better AND you eat a fresh fish caught in Bermuda, well it's like crack...you are hooked.

I've slowly let leather back into my shoe options, mostly because my feet are horrible and I'm pre-diabetic. I know I need to care for my feet. It's really just bits of otherwise canvas sneakers. But it still sucks.

Yes, I'm full of excuses, but I'm willing to tell you them and take the questioning. I'm not a perfect animal rights activist, which is why I tend not to be active with them. I do what I can and learn things along the way.

As for Annie...the hubby really wanted to buy a puppy from a pet store, but I put my foot down. Not just the cost, but the idea of a pet store grossed me out. AND getting an older dog meant that we didn't have to potty train. Score! Would we have gotten a puppy from a good breeder? I'd like to say no, but I can't say for certain. But I do know the cost would have deterred us majorly. Then again, I just found a doxie-pug puppy up for adoption on my doxie list. OMFG, he was the cutest lil thing ever!

Labels: annie, feminism, WOC

Annie's doing quite well adapting to Casa de Roni y Hubby. She's a very loving dog and allows Ella to do just about anything to her. Which is a bad thing. Just this weekend we had to seriously yell at Ella & put her in timeout because she had Annie upside-down. YIKES!

She still has a vendetta against all the squirrels in the world. She is also starting to get more sneaky on them and not just bark at them, but instead to stalk them and get closer. Yeah, she's a smart one.

The hubby bought her a t-shirt last week and Ella's BFF, J's mom keeps asking if she can get Annie a tutu. hehe. Then this website popped up on the Chicago Doxie listserv (of course I'm on it! People, don't you know me yet?). We can totally be all insane and have everything Doxie. I canNOT believe how much Doxie stuff you can get. I guess I shouldn't because there was a time when my mom had everything goose.

And if you were wondering, she loves the hubby the most. Which is appro because he is the one who really wanted her. I do love her to bits, she's a sweet girl. But the hubby is the one who really spoils her and grooms her better than most human beings are groomed.

Labels: annie

Annie really doesn't like the nephew. I think she's scared of him more than pissed he's here. She growled one too many times and got put in her pen.

We took her for a walk. This is why people have 20 mile long leashes - Annie's paws & the stroller kept knocking into each other. Annie didn't pee or poop. We get home and I leave her outside in the backyard for maybe 15 minutes.

I bring her inside and she pees on the kitchen floor in front of me.

*DEEP SIGH*

She then spends the next hour in her pen.

The nephew is now napping and Annie's roaming relatively free. My biggest mistake was taking Ella with me. I know she wanted to go with me to see her Tia in the hospital and help with her beloved baby nephew. But she is going crazy being inside while he naps and I can't take her outside to play. Again, how do y'all with more than one do it? But I'm trying to give her a long leash as well. A few jumping from the couches, but sometimes it's too much. I'm seriously thinking that maybe the nephew should stay with Grandpa tomorrow, but I also don't want him to spend the whole day playing in the hospital playroom. Plus Ella really wants to take him to school. And I think it'll be easier for my dad to take care of my sister if the nephew isn't all over him.

Ah, life is never boring is it?

Labels: annie, Ella, family

Remember last night when I said it was the hardest day of my life as a mama? Well add a 13mo boy to the mix. Yup, the nephew is over and staying the night. My younger sis is having her gall bladder removed as we speak. Since his daddy is out of the picture, Tia Roni, came to the rescue.

Timeline of first minute at home:
00 secs: Annie runs up yapping
01 secs: Ella starts yelling at Annie
02 secs: Mama yells at Ella for yelling at Annie
20 secs: Mama puts nephew down in bed
20.1 secs: Nephew cries
21 secs: Ella cries she's not tired
22 secs: Mama puts Ella in bed
24 secs: Mama puts Annie in backyard on chain
25 secs: Ella yells MOMMY!
25.5 secs: Mama leaps over doggie gate as if she's back in 7th grade doing hurdles
26 secs: Ella reports that nephew is crying.

OK, maybe it wasn't the first 26 secs, but damn, that's how it felt.

How do you all with more than one child do it?

Now to feed the children and make sure Annie behaves. She does not like babies.

Labels: annie, Ella, family

Annie has finally gotten into something of a schedule. This morning the hubby woke up and took her for a walk and wa-la! She peed and pooped. Success! And it's been 4 days since our last accident.

She saw her vet (a woman vet, all us chicas in Casa de Roni see women doctors) on Monday and got the thumbs up.

She did however break Ella's heart yesterday morning. She chewed one of Ella's faux-Croc pair of Sketchers up. Ella's eyes watered and she almost cried when she saw it. We kept her calm and reminded her it was just a shoe, we'd get a new pair, and it's a good thing it wasn't Monkey or Giraffey (whom she sleeps with every night and can't be replaced).

Everything was forgiven as last night Ella had Annie cuddle up with her on her Dora couch. It was too f'ing cute people. Yup, Annie's ours. And we're hers.

Labels: annie

I had a 2.5 hour break between work and Blogher so I decided to head home to give Annie a break. There was a part of me who thought that it was a bad idea. I was kinda right. I went in, got Annie, and took her outside. Without my keys.

Yup, I locked myself out 30 mins before the hubby's training started and 45 minutes away. Oh yeah...and I had the car. I called him crazed and talking about breaking into the house. Then he gently reminded me that our neighbors' cat sitter was home (it was 5:30 pm) and to just ring. Hot damn! He was right. Thank the goddess because I didn't want to break into the office.

Annie didn't pee during this break, but she did finally pee (that we witnessed) when I got back home at 9:30 pm. She did poop again in the living room, but I stopped her and took her back outside. I had the hubby walk her an hour later, but she didn't finish her pooping.

This morning she didn't go anything outside despite a nice walk. She is really having a hard time adjusting to city life. All the smells and noises are distracting her from what she needs to do.

I guess we'll see how she does today. At least the hubby will since I'm at Blogher until 9 pm.

Labels: annie

The score is now 2 poops and 2 pees inside the house and none outside the house.

She does sleep well in her crate with little howling/crying.

She does whine when we leave in the morning.

The hubby & I tried to change her name to Maddux (nickname, Maddie) but Ella was having none of it. Her name remains Annie.

She's a smart cookie. We took her for a walk and responded well to leash commands. She didn't like the park too much. I guess she's not use to so many people as she was in foster care for sometime in the middle of nowhere Illinois.

Today's a huge test as the hubby has training after work and I have a Blogher reception to attend. No one will be home before 9 pm. Let's hope that there isn't poop at the back door. The hubby did leave her a potty pad, but I know she's having 'accidents' to send us a message, so I doubt the pad will work. Ah, at least I'm not pregnant!

Labels: annie