Our little cupcake

Since the bee sting, there has been no further bad news to report. However Louise has continued to have many adventures. It seems like I am reporting on all the things that happen in over a week, so forgive me if some of the details become hazy. The pictures should speak for themselves.

Louise met up with Ira. Ira is one of the pugs in the 'old guard', which is to say he is one of the first pugs to come into this neighborhood. In fact, for the first few months people assumed our dog was Ira! The two dogs do enjoy each other's company quite a bit - so much so they had no problems posing for the camera, although judging from the photos, Ira wasn't liking the kiss Louise was offering. I suppose that was fair since it's usually Louise who is playing coy.

Oh yeah - there was also a DOG SHOW in our neighborhood last weekend and we did attend. I'd say most of the pet supply vendors showed up to support the show, giving out all sorts of things. Louise was thrilled because some of those things were treats, most notably a cupcake that featured liver flavoured icing. The most entertaining part of this for us was the 'icing lips' that Louise had afterward. Not only did I get a picture of this, but Holly managed to get some really good video of Louise enjoying her cupcake. Added below, as always.

In addition to cupcakes there was also a draw for a free rain coat for your dog. Apparently we won although I have STILL not called them back to claim the prize for Louise. I really should get on that and call tomorrow as she can always use another rain coat. I just hope they have something that fits her.

Another great gadget on display was a bike trailer built for dogs. It is smaller than a child trailer which makes it easier to pull. This would also keep it closer to the bike, another safety feature. I was very tempted. To be able to bike to work with Louise and not have to take her in her stroller to get on the skytrain - well it would become more convenient. We would still keep the stroller for our day trips of course, since I am the only one who bikes.

The other night was also cause for celebration for the pets in our household. I brought home some dungeoness crab which had to be cooked that night. I was up until 2:30 am picking the meat out of the shells - a very worthwhile activity. Inevitably I will drop a little on the table or floor. This is why Louise and the two cats will wait up with me until the job is done - just in case I choose to drop some down for them to sample. All three of them love seafood of any kind and have no problems eating it. We have even tried Louise on sushi - she eats it faster than I do, causing Holly to wonder how we even taste it...

Ok, without further rambling, here is the cupcake video:

Bee Stings, Night Markets and Vet Visits

This first photo was taken mere minutes before Louise experienced a bee sting on her paw. Yes, once again she had something happen to her paw. She got the stinger out pretty quickly but was limping enough that I figured I should carry her home. Holly was pretty quick for searching the internet to find out how to treat this - from there we were on the case. The short version is that we knocked her out on children's version of medicine and she slept it off. When she woke up, all was good again in the world of Louise.

I can't remember if that happened on Saturday or Sunday, but by Sunday night we had decided to visit the Richmond Night Market. This was a big deal for Louise and she got very excited. Especially when we bought lamb skewers. Yes, she had some of the lamb (without the stick, of course, as she would probably try to eat it) and really enjoyed it. The attention from strangers was ok too.

It was pretty late when we got home that night and what I remember most is how hard it was to get moving again on Monday morning. For all of us. Especially for Louise. Heck, she was knocked out in the back seat of the car on the way home.

All of that brings us to today, where Louise is once again in the office with me. At lunch we planned a quick visit to the vet for her annual shots. There were a LOT of needles to have and Louise was not amused. After it was all done our vet tried to feed her a treat, which she wasn't interested in having. He did say the shots would leave her drowsy but it's hard to tell since she usually naps at this hour.

Oh, and now her collar jangles when she walks. Once again she has some tags on it - the city license and her rabies tag. Just like old times.

Hot Dog!

There was a neighborhood party today and while we didn't know about it beforehand, we were able to take part in some of the festivities. It is pretty kid-centric but there were also representatives for most of the local politicians and activist groups as well. The big highlight in terms of this post of course, would be the cheap festival food.

Or in Louise terms, a hot dog.

We don't do this often - this might be the only hot dog she gets all year - so I don't feel any guilt for giving some junk food to our dog. Louise didn't want to wait for us to dress it, so she had hers without ketchup mustard and relish. Heck, we could barely convince her to 'sit' and 'stay' while I got the camera ready. It didn't help that I ate mine before her and she watched me devour the whole thing. My excuse is that I knew I would need both hands ready while feeding Louise..... and I was hungry.

I have added a short video of her eating the hot dog. There is a lot of background noise but if you watch and listen carefully at around 45 seconds in you will catch Louise growling at the bush behind her. She wasn't sure if there was something in the bush or not, but she wasn't taking any chances. Nobody was getting her hot dog. Incidentally, she tried to eat the bun later, but that kind of failed as the bread was sticking to her teeth. After one bite we decided to take that away from her rather than have her struggle.

These other photos are from a walk we had a few days ago now. I'm presenting them in a series because I couldn't stop laughing when I took them. Louise decided to go down these stairs along the seawall to investigate the waves. Once she got down there though she got splashed and made a hasty retreat. Incidentally, all of the photos in this post are also formatted to be Macbook friendly, should you want to use them as background pictures.

This was all part of the plan though, as it was scheduled to be bath night. Also, this was during the heat wave so any chance to cool down was a good idea. It's really depressing for me when I think about how the temperatures have not only returned to 'normal' around here, but have actually gotten colder! The month of August is still young yet though, and I am hoping for warmer weather yet. As for Louise, well judging by her moods, I think that the current weather suits her best.

We met one or two people today who inquired about Louise. During our conversation I mentioned that she has a blog and they said they would be checking it out. If you made it to the site, I hope you like it. Feel free to leave comments and enjoy the photos.

Now about that hot dog video...

Return of the Skateboards

How perfect is this shot? Louise on a skateboard with tequila. Kevin had his skateboard in the office and well, Louise likes to play with the toys when available. Well ok, not really. The tequila was Kevin's as well and he was getting ready to head out for the day when the idea struck him to have Louise test drive his board. After a few shots for everybody things started to get a little crazy.

Honestly, it was still too hot for any drunken craziness. But Louise and I certainly did take in the fireworks. Unlike a lot of other dogs, Louise isn't bothered by the noise at all. She usually lounges in her stroller and watches the crowd unless it is a good show. This year involved a lot of crowd watching although she was pretty happy when someone offered her a meatball. Suddenly it became the 'Best Fireworks Show Ever'.

At this point though, it's a lazy day for us. We were out for a quick walk in the late morning just before the Pride parade but were too late to get a good spot to view the parade so we didn't stick around. Now we are hiding indoors until it cools off a bit before taking Louise to the beach, again to get cool. Judging by the way she is sleeping, I figure she's ok with that plan. Oh, and as mentioned before, Greg did put up another wiggly of Louise. Enjoy!