Goodbye, Sweet Girl

Many of you reading this already know that Sadie went to the Rainbow Bridge last Saturday, 10 years and 1 day after we first met. It was not a decision I took lightly, as anyone who knows me and my love for Sadie will know. For some time now, Sadie has been struggling. A little over a year ago, a few months after moving into our new home in North Carolina, she was diagnosed with Cauda Equina, which is basically a narrowing of the spine. She progressively got worse, to the point where she could barely walk, she couldn't get up by herself, and she would often fall. In the past few weeks, I believe she was in pain. She was panting badly. And drooling. She was struggling more than she needed to just to do simple things. That's when I made the call. We have a mobile vet, so Sadie was able to go peacefully in her own home.

Last Saturday was the hardest day of my entire life. Saying goodbye to my girl was heart-wrenching. I dreaded this day for some time, not knowing how I would survive without her. Not a lot of time has passed (not even a week), but each day is a little better than the last. I cried every day leading up to goodbye, and every day since. It comes in waves. Things remind me of her (so many things), or I just come home after being out and I break down because the house is oh-so-quiet now. I sleep with a blanket of hers because it smells like her. And I'm afraid one day that smell will fade. But I have been able to look at pictures of Sadie and remember all the good times we had.

Since the moment I picked her up a little over 10 years ago, I built my life around her. I gave her all I could, including all the love I had. Some would say that Miss Sadie was a bit spoiled. I couldn't help it though! Those eyes, that smile, she won me over from day one. I wanted to give her any and everything I could. I wanted her to be happy, to live a glorious life. In looking back on our years together, I believe I succeeded at that goal. The shelter I adopted Sadie from got her from a high-kill shelter. If they hadn't taken her in, and I hadn't found her on Petfinder, she may not have lived very long at all. I don't know what type of life she had before I adopted her, but I know what kind of life I gave her for the past 10 years. Sadie lived a very full life. We had many adventures together, we had much joy.

Here are some of the amazing things my Sadie accomplished in 10 years:

*Sadie visited 8 different states (technically even more, as she traveled through a few others). She started her life in Tennessee, and traveled to New Hampshire, where I picked her up. Then we went back to Massachusetts, where she lived in Boston with me for several years. We visited Florida, New Jersey, and New York during that time, and then moved to New York. We visited North Carolina, and then moved there, too. We took a trip to Georgia, and another to Florida in the past year.

*Sadie swam in the ocean for the first time in Martha's Vineyard, then in the Long Island Sound, a lake in NY, and even the ocean in Florida. She also swam in my aunt's pool quite often and loved it.

*Sadie has been on many forms of transportation, including planes, ferries, the subway, in several cars, a golf cart, and even on a sled. She loved them all.

*Sadie has enjoyed the companionship of many animal friends and cousins (dogs and cats alike), some she most likely is spending time with now on the Rainbow Bridge. In her younger days, she made friends easily and enjoyed playing and running free at the dog park. As she got older, she was a little grumpy and enjoyed just being by her Momma's side.

*Sadie had enjoyed every season to its fullest, including Florida and North Carolina summers and Massachusetts winters. She loved the snow but also reveled in the sun.

*Sadie has lived through hurricanes and nor'easters. She even survived a nasty dog bite at the dog park when we first moved to New York. Through it all, she was always smiling.

*Sadie had her own Christmas stocking and even opened her own presents. She actually knew the word "present," which maybe shows she was a bit spoiled. She thought that the bags I brought home always carried something for her (they usually did). And she knew the UPS man brought amazing boxes filled with treats.

*Sadie was the most stylish pup in all the land! She has her own wardrobe. Most items she could have done without, but she let her Momma dress her up every Halloween (and sometimes other times throughout the year). She also had more matching collars and leashes than a dog could even imagine.

*Most of all, Sadie showed me how to love unconditionally and without boundaries. When I adopted Sadie, I truly believed I wasn't capable of loving or being loved. She showed me that wasn't true. She gave me a reason to live on my darkest days, and she kept me going when I didn't want to. I believe she did so, so I could meet my husband. He fell in love with her too, even though at first he didn't think he could love a dog. She won everyone over like that. You couldn't help but love her. I remember her foster mom telling me "we don't know how anyone could not want this dog," and she was right. She loved making people happy. She wanted to greet everyone (no matter where we were). She would lay down and roll over so everyone could pet her belly. All she wanted out of life was to love and be loved. That's really all any of us want, isn't it?

There are certainly things I wish I did differently. While I had pets before, Sadie was the first pet that was truly mine, who relied solely on me. And this was the only goodbye of a pet I had ever experienced as well. I was not there for others, and I think I was protected from the pain of their losses. I keep thinking, "I wish I held her longer, or talked to her more." But I told her every day for the past 10 years that I loved her. I held her every chance I got. I think there never would have been enough time, really. No length of time would have made it easier. The pain wouldn't have lessened. I just wish we had more time together, but now I just have to remember the time we did have together and be grateful for that, because our time together was truly special. She was an extremely special dog and there will never be another quite like her. I can just hope she enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and that she knows how much I love her. Until we meet again, my sweetest girl.

Why not adopt?

As you know, Sadie is a rescue dog! So I'm all about adoption. I was sent the following infographic from www.adoptapet.com and I just love it. Check it out! Corgis are the best, aren't they? ;)

Looking for a Corgi Dog or Puppy? Why Not Adopt!

And the winners are...

Sorry it has taken me so long!!!

Thanks to random.org, the winners of our little contest are:

Pope/Max

and

Lesley/Herman

Congratulations!!! I wish I could give everyone some treats! Thank you everyone for entering.

To the winners: Please email me your mailing address and I will get these goodies to you right away!!! My email is willwrite4food@gmail.com ... hope to hear from you soon!!

Summer Fun with Chillin' Bonz!

Can you believe it's already June?? The weather is getting nicer and nicer, and I am really looking forward to taking Sadie to the park and the beach on the weekends! And I know the perfect treat to make for her on these hot summer days!

Remember when I posted about the awesome gift we received -- Chillin' Bonz? We had such a great response to that post, that I wanted to remind everyone about them since summer is right around the corner. Here's a refresher:

 This is the product. It's pretty cool, I think. The tray snaps closed and has an inner removable layer as well (where the bone molds are), which makes for easy cleaning.

 Mixing up the yums!

 I can has treats now?

 The treats pre-freezing. 

 

Sadie got to lick the bowl, too!

Then we put them in the freezer and waited a few hours until...

 Frozen yummies!!!

 OM NOM NOMMMM!

We tried the peanut butter and banana flavor, because Sadie loves PB and bananas! It also had a little bit of honey in it as well. I couldn't get a picture of her eating the bone, because I seriously turned around to get the camera, and when I turned back, she finished it lol. So I suppose she approves!!!

(You missed the post or don't remember?! Then check it out, here.)

And while I posted the recipes that came with this awesome product, I just learned that they will be launching a website with additional recipes at the end of next week! (Be sure to check out www.m2pets.com/chillinbonz then!)

I know some of you also have this product, and may have created some of your very own recipes. If so, starting next week, you can email them to recipes@m2pets.com and your favorite recipe might be included on the site, as well!

I can't wait to see what other recipes they post -- and I bet Sadie can't wait to taste them!! ;)

Another Giveaway!!!

For all you treat lovers out there (aka anyone with a dog!!!)...

The lovely people at Cesar sent us a box full of goodies recently! We were super surprised and excited (as we weren't expecting a package). Sadie was even more excited when I opened the box to find these:

They sent us several bags of these 10-calorie treats, in both the Rotisserie Chicken and Filet Mignon flavors. You can find out more about them here.

And since Sadie is only one tiny doggie, we wanted to share the wealth and have a giveaway for these extra bags we have!!!

All you have to do is comment, and you'll be entered. In about a week, I'll pick TWO winners to receive a fun package in the mail.

Good luck!!! :)

And the winner is...

Gwennie!!!!!! Congrats! I need you to send me an email with your mailing address and I will mail out your goodies ASAP! Please email me at willwrite4food@gmail.com or contact me via Facebook! Yay for contests! :)

MrChewy.com Review and Contest!

Lucky us! We were approached by MrChewy.com recently, and offered to test out their website and products. We gratefully accepted and ordered lots of different goodies.

If you haven’t been to their site before, you have to check it out! They are an online pet food retailer and they offer over 80 brands of pet food, treats and supplies — for dogs and cats. They carry all the high-quality foods and treats I know many of you use for your dogs, and at discounted rates!

It was hard to pick what to order because there was so much to choose from — and lots of items I have wanted to try for Sadie but just never bought before for whatever reason. This is what we ended up with:   

Naturally, Sadie was very excited when this box arrived at our door! She knew it was for her!! I didn’t let her have everything yet, of course, but she has already approved of most of these treats. She isn’t too picky when it comes to food, but she knows good stuff when she smells it!

She is a BIG fan of the antlers, which I was very happy to finally get for her. (Although, I should have ordered a medium instead of a small; I wasn’t sure what size would be best for her…) She has been munching on that for the past few days!

Something else I love about MrChewy.com? They have a great referral program! Once you sign up for the site, you’ll get your own unique referral code to give out to friends, family, other bloggers, etc. When someone orders using your code, they will get 10% off their first order! But that’s not all! For every new friend that orders from them, they will donate $10 to one of their partner charities (you choose who you want to donate to). There is nolimit to how many people you can refer or to the amount of donations they’ll make!! Talk about an awesome website! :) So if you’d like to order, please use my referral code: LAUR7443. Find out more about the referral program here.

Now here’s the part you have all been waiting for!! One of you lucky readers has the chance to win some of these great products! I ordered a few extras of some of the above items, and I’d like to send them to one of you! There might be some extra goodies included, too — you never know! ;) All you have to do is leave a comment and tell us what you think of MrChewy.com! Be sure to check out their Facebook and Twitter pages, too!

We Miss You!

And we hope you miss us, too :)

Sorry I have fallen off the face of the Earth lately. I try to update Sadie's Facebook page sometimes, at least...

Apparently lack of time for a blog is what happens when you work full-time, go to graduate school part-time, and are in a long-term relationship (it's almost our one year anniversary!!). I apologize for our lack of posting/updating. I just haven't had much time.

2012 has already been quite hectic, to say the least. The year started with a trip to Florida, so my boyfriend could meet my mom, and then my boyfriend and I could go on a short cruise. However, it turned into a bit of a disaster thanks to a full-body rash and a diagnosis of mono for me on our first day there! Ugh. Definitely not what I planned. I basically wasn't able to drink, wear a bathing suit, or be in the sun on our cruise haha. But we made the most of it. And it showed me what a good guy I have.

Other than that, I've just been busy and on the mend. But last week Sadie had some tummy issues -- possibly colitis? I won't get into too much detail, but her poop was not pretty. And it had mucus in it. So I freaked out and brought her to the vet. Put her on a rice/chicken diet and she is on antibiotics. She seems to be doing better. I just re-introduced some kibble with the rice, and she is doing ok. The most interesting thing? Ever since she's been on the rice/chicken diet and the antibiotics, her breath is not rancid!!! What does everything think that means?! Is it the meds, or the diet? I don't know...But I would like her breath to stay like this haha.

I'm thinking of putting Sadie on enzymes (and maybe probiotics) once she is off of the meds. Any suggestions?

Anyway, that's the basic update for now :) We hope you're all doing well! I haven't been on here in so long, so I have no idea what's going on unless you also post on Facebook! Haha.

Not sure when I'll get back to posting but I wanted to say hi!

(Our Late) Merry Christmas Post!

We hope you all had a great holiday! We sure did. Especially Sadie, of course. She was spoiled as usual, especially from our awesome Secret Santa! Since we had so much fun with the exchange last year, we signed up for it again this year (thanks to Kat from Indignant Corgi for keeping it going!!).

Sadie was SUPER excited when we got our Secret Santa package in the mail. For a little while, it was the only thing under our tree, so Sadie took her guarding responsibilities VERY seriously:

So the funny thing is, our Secret Santa turned out to be who we bought gifts for last year!!! Remember little Milo? Well, he's a big boy now, and he and his mom Lisa sent us some awesome goodies :)

 I can has presentz now?

 Best. Picture. Ever. OMG NOMS.

 GIVE ME THEM!!!! 

(She grabbed these WITH the wrapping on them right out of my hand hahaha.)

 These are for me????

 What is it????

 An egg baby toy! YAY!

 Sadie does not understand why this ball is talking to her haha.

 What, mom, you don't think I'm smart?? :) 

 This was Sadie's pile 'o presents haha. Spoiled much?

 And to all a good night...

I also wanted to quickly share our Christmas/Holiday card from this year. I'm sorry if I didn't send you one :( I didn't order as many this year as they were a bit pricey, but we still love you!!! 

 Front

 Back

And, well, this is just for fun :) Hope you had a great holiday! Thanks again, Lisa and Milo!!!

Hitting the "Paws" Button

Hey there...you have probably noticed that we have been MIA lately. And we apologize! Things have been pretty hectic around here (with work, school, and freelance work), so I haven't had much time to update or even read anyone's blogs :( And Sadie has been displeased with me as well, since all this work means less cuddle time! I've been getting a lot of dirty looks from her lately lol.

I just wanted to make a quick post to say that I am taking a mini-break from blogging for now until things die down a little. We hope you don't mind, and that you'll still be here when we get back! I'll still try to post now and then on Sadie's Facebook page, but consider this the last official post for a while.

I hope everyone is doing well! Hopefully we will be back here sooner rather than later :)

Chillin' Bonz Recipes -- Finally!

Ok, I know I've been promising to post these, ever since I posted about Chillin' Bonz a million years ago....Sorry about the delay, but here are all the recipes that came with the molds. Sadie just LOVES these. We've made both of the peanut butter ones (since that's her absolute favorite thing EVER)!

The UPS Man Spoiled Sadie

I posted before about how our UPS man brings treats to all the dogs in the neighborhood, Sadie included. But his dedication to doing so has only increased lately, as have the amount of treats he leaves! I've been home the past few times he has come by, so I get to see Sadie's reaction. The second she hears that truck come to a halt outside, she goes ballistic! She tries to do everything in her power to get outside, because she knows treats are coming!!!!

I basically have to hold her when he comes to the door, or else she would probably maul him for those Milkbones lol. Sadie is also way too smart. The other day, I heard the UPS man stopping outside our house. We didn't have a package though; he was just coming to give Sadie cookies. And she certainly knew it! I picked her up as I opened the door, and he dropped three cookies at my feet for her. She was squirming like crazy to get to them. I put her down and quickly picked up two of the three cookies to save for later. Sadie inhaled the third cookie and looked up at me, knowing I had more. I put them on the kitchen table and went about with the rest of my morning routine.

I was sitting at the table a little while later, eating something, so Sadie was naturally staring me down, waiting for some of whatever I was eating. After I finished eating though, I see Sadie stick her nose up high in the air, and she just starts sniffing. She caught the scent of those cookies from earlier and she knew they were on the table. Much to her dismay though, she could not see them (damn those short corgi legs!). So what does she do? Jumps halfway up on the chair and rests her head on the table to confirm their location on the table. "Yup! They're there! I knew it!!!!" So clearly because that was so freaking cute, I gave her another cookie haha. Smart dog.

What's even more amusing about this new UPS routine is that when it's not the usual delivery driver (which it hasn't been this week), Sadie is beside herself when this new person comes to the door WITHOUT cookies. I mean, how dare he! We were going for a walk the other night and up the street comes the UPS truck. Sadie FLIPPED OUT. She was jumping around, wagging her nub, and barking. It was like she was like "Heyyyyy! Remember me!!! You give me cookies!!!" Then this poor man, who is not the usual driver, gets out of the truck and looks at Sadie confused. He probably thought Sadie wanted to attack him. It was super fun trying to get her to continue to walk down the block while that truck sat there, too!

While I think it's awesome that our usual driver gives out treats to the doggies and genuinely loves them all, I do feel bad for the substitute drivers! It's just too funny that Sadie knows what the sound of that truck stopping means!

Vote for Sadie!

Today is the last day to vote for the Corgi Butts Calendar!!! Sadie has two pictures among the finalists :) I should have posted about this sooner, but things have been crazy here...You know, Hurricane Irene and all. We are fine and have power restored but things are still a mess here. We hope you're all doing well, too!

So vote for Miss Sadie! I would be honored if she made it into the calendar this year!

As you can see, she is number 19 and 23. So vote away!!! Thanks :) Go here to vote!

A Lesson in "Read the Fine Print"

The other day, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, when I saw this:

I immediately stopped because clearly I knew that face! I was very confused...I follow the ASPCA on Facebook, but why was Sadie's face being used?? I clicked on the link, which brought me to this page:

Well there she is again!!! At this point, I was a bit freaked out. Then I clicked on the main page...

Holy crap!!! I linked to the original post on Facebook, saying I was confused as to why Sadie was on the page, but it was also pretty cool that she was all over their site. Some friends replied, mentioning it was probably because I entered her picture in a contest...And sure enough, when I went back to look at the "fine print" on that contest, it said:

"By submitting your text/photo in this contest, you give the ASPCA an irrevocable, perpetual royalty-free right to use your name/text/photo for any purposes to promote the ASPCA’s mission of providing effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States."

Well then...I guess I should have read that. It's possible I DID read that, but didn't think much of it. After I figured this all out, I became less freaked out by it all and more flattered that they actually selected my picture, and that Sadie was used because she looked happy! If my baby's face can help raise money for animals in need, then I'm certainly ok with this. But I need to be sure to read all the fine print before entering her in contests!!! Haha. My little girl is famous!!!! :)

 (These links are all still active, by the way, so you can still see Sadie in all her glory lol.)