Friday Faces

She's a lump!

Sleeping baby...

Why so serious??

No words for this face! Just no words!

Uh Oh! Broke a Nail!

Dutchess broke one of her dewclaws! This isn't the first time, she's done it once before. I don't know how she manages it. I'm guessing she snags it on the carpet or furniture. Luckily this time it wasn't a bad break so there wasn't a lot of bleeding. I just basically washed it, put some triple antibiotic ointment on and wrapped in in gauze, using medical tape to secure it. Then I use an old sock to cover the gauze - or else she'd have the whole mess off in about 30 seconds! I usually have resort to spraying "bitter yuck" on the sock to keep her from removing it. I hate, hate, HATE using the stuff because I always end up tasting it myself no matter how careful I am when I spray it! Oh it is SO nasty! It astounds me that the stuff doesn't even phase Winston!

She refused to look at me! She's not a fan of the sock!

The first time Dutch broke her nail I panicked and called my Vet right away! She directed me on how to treat it and luckily we didn't have any complications that required anything more serious as far as treatment. You have to really be careful because a bad break can cause a lot of bleeding and they are prone to infection. Which is why it's important to keep the paw covered, clean and keep a very close eye on it in case further treatment is required.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Oh the Holidays! It takes weeks if not months to prepare for them and then weeks to recover from them! I'm still finding a place for new things, which also means weeding out the some the old worn out stuff we just don't need anymore. Not to mention having to catch up on all the housework that's been left to the wayside so we could enjoy all the holiday festivities! So that was my mission today after dropping Bradley off to his first day of school after his winter break. There was plenty of sorting, storing, scrubbing, and washing to fill my time! All the while Winston and Dutchess warmed the couch for the entire day! I guess it's safe to say that even though being unemployed wasn't exactly planned - it has had it's advantages!

Growing up it was my Mom that really made the Holidays special. This was only the second Christmas since I lost my Mom to cancer and I really found myself struggling to get into the "Holiday Spirit". For some reason that caught me off guard. I guess I figured the first Christmas without her would be the worst so I just didn't see it coming. Luckily I had plenty of family and friends around that I was able to enjoy the season. I had an amazing Holiday filled with plenty of snuggling with my Husband and bullies, watching movies and sharing a HUGE Christmas tin of popcorn, an incredible dinner prepared by my Mother-in-law, way too many cookies, and I got the privilege of teaching Bradley what Potato Candy was! He couldn't believe that you could make candy out of a potato! Hopefully everyone else was able to have a great Holiday as well!

First Snow!

We got our first dusting of snow today! This is Winstons's very FIRST snow!

On a side note, this is our "Bulldog Friendly" Christmas Tree! It sits on a shelf about 5 feet from the floor! I had the sinking feeling that if I put up a full size tree Winston would drag it across the room...

Flashback Friday

I ran across some more pictures of Winston as a pup - well he's still a pup, just not as itty bitty of a pup as he was! I was going to add them to my "Now and Then" post I did last week but figured I'd take a Que from a good friend of mine who blogs and do a Flashback Friday post!

It's crazy - Winston has gotten so much bigger and Dutch has gotten so much smaller thanks to her diet! She's on the Royal Canine Bulldog Formula and we've cut her portions and treats so she can get that girlish figure back! So far, so good!

This was Memorial Day of this year.

Baby Girl when we first brought her home - almost 2 years ago!

Aww! Dutchess's 1st Birthday! She had just had her eye surgery and was still healing - poor baby girl.

Puppy In Pampers!

Well I will start by saying Happy Thanksgiving to all! I got to spend my Thanksgiving surrounded by what I am most thankful for - my friends, family and of course my bullies! We got a special surprise this Thanksgiving morning. Dutchess is in her heat cycle! This is her 3rd heat cycle. I feel so bad for her! She's all mopey and depressed looking! Which may have to do a lot with the diaper and suspenders that she absolutely HATES! But I like to think that she's just plain puppy emotional. It's crazy to think of a dog going through the same symptoms that us lucky ladies get to experience on a monthly basis. But I swear - it's true. She's needy, restless, irritable, and very, very mopey.

We are going to talk to our Vet about possibly breeding in this cycle instead of waiting until her spring cycle as we originally planned! How exciting?! With me joining the vast number of unemployed individuals - also a recently new development in my world - the timing might just be right! Time will tell!

Winston is all VERY curious about this!

Sunday Morning

This sunny Sunday morning started out just as every Sunday morning should - with hot coffee and pancakes! Well, hot coffee for my husband and I, hot chocolate for Bradley! And of course NO coffee for the bullies. They did, however, share a pancake with a smear of peanut butter. Oh, how they love their peanut butter!

After everyone was stuffed with warm syrupy goodness and the morning mess was cleaned up I decided to take Dutchess on a quick walk to the end of the block for a paper. I would have loved to take both dogs but Winston has NOT learned leash manners well enough for me to be able to handle both bullies at one time on my own! I felt a horrible amount of guilt getting Dutchess all harnessed with Winston prancing beside me the entire time. This guilt only magnified by about 100x's when Dutch and I went on our way and I could hear Winston's crying from inside the house! Ugh, he's such a needy boy and has a heart wrenching whine!

How can you resist those puppy dog eyes?!

Now, I will say, Dutchess didn't seem bothered a bit about leaving baby brother crying behind and having some one on one girl time! She was in all her glory trotting to the corner paper stand. She had did her ritual sniff of every tree in passing and paused to greet a Black Lab doing laps along his fence line.

Does this face say "Care Free" to you?

I, of course, promptly took Winston on his own walk around the block when Dutch and I returned. And this walk only reinforced his need for leash training! As opposed to Dutchess's wiggly-butt, little trot - Winston would prefer to full out run the entire time! We made it around the block...but my arm was seriously wrenched from trying to keep him from pulling me around the block! Needless to say, leash training is definitely on the agenda for this week for me and little Winston!

Maybe this approach will work better:)

All is Well that Ends Well - Puppy Naps all around!

Let the snoring begin!