Yo, Wassup

Thundershirt?

In my blog surfing, I came across this post about ThunderShirts:

http://daisyjd.com/index.php/2011/03/rhett-butler-his-thundershirt/

Apparently this "shirt" is akin to swaddling and is supposed to help your dog with anxiety and what not. I am thisclose to getting one for Ender.

http://www.thundershirt.com/

Report Card

Ender's report card for 3/22:

"Ender found a deer skull today! He carried it around for a while. I thought it was just a stick. He was pretty disappointed when I took it away."

Hmm...doesn't he realize that he kisses his mama with that mouth?

THE Question

Why do people ask "Is your dog friendly?" as opposed to "Can I pet your dog?"...? (Is ?"? gramatically kosher? I don't know.)

Look people, I know what you mean when you ask me if my dog is friendly? It means you want to pet him. So why don't you ask if you can pet my dog? Because then this gives me the chance to say no when I see him obviously enter into his caraaazzyy zone. Part of it is on me because I never know what to say. I could say no, but I feel like that's just selling Ender short. He's friendly, but also so so crazy. But when I try to respond, I usually get as far as "He's friendly, but....." before they go in for the the kill.

I was putting Ender in a down to wait for a small white poodle to pass when the poodle owner asked if Ender was friendly. And my suspicious self knew what was coming so I blurted out "Not righ tnow!!" Which I think scared her a little bit. But it did mean that she rolled in some of the slack on her leash and did not let her dog wander over so I suppose I accomplished my intent.

Also, I don't understand why people insist on petting Ender when he's all jumpy crazy. Are people not scared when an 80 pound dog is jumping at their face?

Doggy Dining: Philz Coffee

If you coffee lovers are ever in the Bay Area, you MUST go to Philz Coffee. They make coffee by the cup and have over 20 beans on the menu. Their pastries are from local bakeries and the quality FAR FAR exceeds that at Starbucks and PEETs. The only issue I have with them is that there is no line when ordering your coffee. Therefore you just stand in the crowd until a barrista is ready to take an order and hope that you aren't cutting in line or being cut in line. Or non-line. Whatever. Even so, I love their coffee too much to let it deter me. As you can tell, I love me some good coffee.


The store in Berkeley is dog friendly. While I was waiting outside with Barksdale for the bf to order our coffee, the barista came outside to tell us that we are more than welcome to bring dogs inside and brought a little treat for Barksdale as well.

Good Coffee + Dog Friendly? That is why they are number one.

This leads me to my random rant of the day. San Francisco can generally be characterized as a "food city." And the cost of living is really high here. Therefore, nobody really bats an eye at $2.75 cup of coffee. However, I draw the line at paying $2.75 for ridiculousness. You know who sells ridiculousness at $2.75 a pop?

Blue Bottle Coffee.

Therefore, I am officially boycotting all Blue Bottle cafes. For $2.75, here is what I expect:

1. Service
Yes, Blue Bottle, you make coffee by the cup, which might explain the long wait time. However, you should really be tending to my coffee then as opposed to exchanging "witty" quips with your co-worker while I wait.

2. Half and Half/Milk/Cream Options
You only have half and half out. Are you trying to tell me something? That coffee connoisseurs drink their coffee only with half and half? Well guess what, if I am paying you $2.75, I want some damn milk to put in my coffee.

3. Beans
I wanted to buy some beans. I asked if you can grind it for me. You said you guys don't sell beans ground. WTF.

I hate you blue bottle.

When I Wish I Had a Yard

Here are two instances which I are fine examples of when not having a yard sucks:

1. When it's pouring rain outside and your dog refuses to pee at their usual spot, but instead drags you halfway down the block so he can take cover under a bush and then pee.

2. When you are trying to potty train and don't realize that the dog has peed in the stairwell until you are one flight below and feel pee DRIP ON YOUR HEAD.

Camera Shy

One day my co workers and I were discussing the experiences of living with a significant other. For example, when you are on the toilet, do you leave the door open? Is it fine if the other person is brushing their teeth next to you when you are doing your business?

I personally have no problem doing my business or showering with the door open. There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that when we first brought each of the dogs home, we did not leave them unsupervised. Which means if we were in the bathroom, they either had to be in their crate or in my sight. In the mornings, I felt guilty about putting them in their crates when I showered, so I put them in the vanity area and showered with the door open so I can see them. The second is that Ender likes to come into the bathroom and sit in front of you and stare at you while you are sitting on the toilet.

Anywho, on a more random note, Ender poo'd out a giant climp of straw/grass in the morning. It looked like he poo'd out a seaweed salad. Yum.

My New Rug

I just has to wipe Ender's asshole as he was leaving little doodie jewels on my rug.

Dear Neighbor

Perhaps you shouldn't be walking your dog off leash if you have to hold onto him/her when you see us walking down the street.

I am amazed at how many people walk their dogs offleash in our neighborhood. Especially since we live in an urban neighborhood with lots of cars and not in the country where we share a dirt path with the random pick up truck that drives down the road every once in a while. Is it ever okay to walk your dog off leash when you live in an urban neighborhood? And I'm not talking about standing in your front yard with your dog off leash, but like walking with them on the sidewalk, next to passing cars, down the street.

I suppose it's okay if your dog is 100% under voice control. But realistically, how many dogs are 100% under voice control? I interpret 100% to be that your dog comes running to you the second you call it. No repeating the command, no dilly dallying by the dog.

I've often wondered if I had dogs that actually listened to me if I would walk them offleash around the neighborhood. That's when the bf laughs at me and reminds me that I'm genetically predisposed to be the crazy overprotective asian mom that would not hesitate to strap a leash on her future kids, so why would I even consider walking the dogs off leash.

So if a miracle happens and I end up with dogs that are 100% under voice control, you might see them walking around with a monkey backpack.

Getting TOLD at Whole Foods

Yesterday we witnessed a dog owner getting told at Whole Foods. And you know it's bad when you're getting lectured by Whole Foods employees.

We have a fabulous Whole Foods around the corner from us. People often leave their dogs tied up while they go in to shop. This particular owner left their pit tied up right next to the entrance with a loose leash. That dog was NOT a happy camper and proceeded to bark and continue barking.

These were not some sissy barks but some deep and loud barking, which of course caused some concern as this was coming from a pit and the pit was right next to the entrance on a loose lead.

And kudos for Whole Foods employees for paging the owner to customer service. Although I'm pretty sure he waited to PAY for his things before going outside to get the dog.

He did manage to get his comeuppance as we saw the security guard giving him a lengthy lecture while we were on our way out.

I'm not going to lie, before I got the dogs, I totally thought it was my god given right to be able to leave my dog tied up outside. That was quickly crushed after getting a complete spaz aka Ender. The thought of some unsuspecting person trying to pet him was too much to bear.

When we got Barksdale, I thought there was hope. But then I got too paranoid about someone stealing her when too many suspicious characters started showing interest in her.

So now the rule is one person always stays with the dog while the other is the coffee wench.

Overheard at the Vet

"oh my kitty doesn't want to wear an E collar (aka Cone of Shame) because she thinks it is uncomfortable..."

The vet tech handled the comment with grace and suggested she swaddle her kitty like a baby. I realize that I only overheard part of the conversation but I don't know how swaddling is less uncomfortable than an E collar.

Product Review: Revolution

Once in a while, my lack of knowledge about certain things amazes me. For example, during our vet visit yesterday, we were asking the vet about how we are still finding ticks on the dogs even though they are on Revolution. The vet then said that the reason is that Revolution is not a tick preventative.

Let's just say my response was along the lines of WTF?!?! So I am the terrible mother that's been sending Ender out to run around in wilderness without tick prevention. Is this what it feels like when you find out your kid is the one with lice?

Anyway, I remember reading up about Revolution when Ender started coming home with ticks and I DISTINCTLY remember reading something about how Revolution is a tick preventative. Reading their website again, it seems that Revolution controls the American Dog tick, which DOES ME NO GOOD because they are commonly found on the eastern side of the US where I am currently not residing.

Which explains why the vet said that Revolution doesn't control ticks.

We are now back on Frontline and a generic version of Heartguard.

What I understand so far is:

Revolution covers fleas and heartworms, but not ticks for us.
Frontline covers fleas and ticks, but not heartworms so we need generic Heartguard.

We asked the vet what else we could do and she told us about the tick collar but she also said it was highly toxic. Um, okay. That was not a great sell.

Holy Moly

Have you ever seen anything so mythical that you were rendered speechless on the spot? Here is a photo of Ender participating in a group down.