Pet of the Week: Spur

Say hello to this week's PotW, Spur the Husky! As you can see, Spur is a whole lot of dog! He was picked up as a stray, but judging by his girth, he was probably someone's over fed pet at one point. The shelter does everything in it's power to try and reunite lost pets with their owners. But the sad truth is that sometimes it just doesn't happen. But after waiting the mandatory holding period, Spur is now up for adoption, and looking for a new forever home.

Spur is a very sweet, lumbering boy looking for someone who appreciates 'chill time' as much as he does. But he also needs someone who will be committed to keeping him on a strict diet, and taking short walks several time a day, to help him slim down.

Spur is a great low energy dog, which is really saying something for a Husky! He is gentle giant, and just happy about life in general! If you think that Spur would be a good match for your family, please contact the Williamson County Animal Control & Adoption Center in Franklin TN or Check out their Pet Finder page for their other adoptable pets!

Dog Park Adventure: Let's Go Swimming!

Since it has been so incredibly hot lately, we have been trying to find fun ways for the dogs to cool off. One thing that we have always loved doing, is taking trips to one of the local dog parks that also has a pond where to the dogs can go swimming! And this past Friday we did just that!

 And as you can see, they had a blast!

 Axle and Marley (tan dog) love to fetch sticks out of the water! And even little Wally (white dog) got in on the action.

 "Come on in guys! The water's great!"

 Axle and Marley playing tug of war in the shallow water.

 Marley won. Axle tries to be a good sport.

Clover is still a bit unsure about the whole swimming idea. She will go in up to her chest, but that's about it. She leaves the actual swimming to her brother.

 Clover taking a break to catch some rays.

 

 Axle likes to try and swim out to the middle of the pond.

Stanley prefers to watch all the shenanigans from the grassy banks.

All the dogs had a lot of fun at the pond. I love that they are able to run and play in the water. Its great to be able to take them on a hot day. After we got back home, both the dogs stunk like pond water. So they were given baths. They didn't enjoy their baths as much as they did swimming. But I'm sure it was worth all the fun they had that day!

What do you do to keep your dogs cool in the summer months? Let us know in the comments below! We love learning about you and your dogs!

St. Louis Road Trip: Part 3

Sunday morning started with a bit of a surprise. Just as we were finishing up breakfast, a little visitor wandered up to the front door. A lost dog (who we later named Harriet) was sniffing around in the front yard. Emily walked outside and this sweet girl trotted right up to her, to say hello. Harriet had a collar on, but no name tag. We called the number on her rabies tag, but it went straight to voice mail. It seemed that animal control was closed on Sundays. 

Now Emily pretty much lives on top of a mountain. There is fairly good distance between houses... And neither she, nor David had ever seen this dog before. Emily and I decided to put Harriet in the car and start going around to a few of the neighbor's houses to see if anyone recognized her. But unfortunately no one did. Harriet was pretty dirty when we found her, and both of her eyes were badly infected, so we guessed there was a possibility she had been lost for a while.

After about half an hour Emily, Harriet, and I headed back to the house to go pick up David, Axle, and Dolly. We had to get everyone out of the house becuase there was going to be an open house that afternoon. (Did I mention that Emily's house is for sale? I had to hide all of my luggage when we left the house, just in case the Realtor stopped by with potential buyers!)

Once all of us (3 humans, and now 3 dogs) were all loaded up in David's Kia Soul, we had no choice but the run Harriet down to the local vet's office. We thought that she may have a microchip, or one of the vets might recognize her. When we got to the the vet's office, they seemed to be closed, but the front lobby was open. 

Emily and I took Harriet into the office to see if anyone was in. Luckily there were two vets there looking after the animals. We explained Harriet's situation and they checked her for a chip, but she didn't have one... But they did agree to keep her until Monday, and then call the phone number on her rabies tag to see if they could find her owners information. 

We left our contact information with the vets, and asked them to call us if they were able to find Harriet's owners. We still have not heard from the vet's office... but I really hope they were able to track down her family. The moral of the story is that it is so important to microchip your pets, or at the very least put ID tags on their collars. 

If Harriet had a ID tag with her phone number, she could have been returned home within a matter of minutes. Same with a microchip. It makes me so sad thinking about the possiablilty that she was not reunited with her family, and had to be taken to an animal shelter.

I suppose we had the option of just letter her go, and hoping she found her way home. But the houses there are about a half mile apart. And they are on a mountain surrounded by forest. There are coyotes, wild cats, rivers, huge steep rock faces, and who knows what else, and Harriet had to be at least 10 years old. 

There was no way we would have felt good about just letter her fend for herself... At least by taking her to the animal clinic she has a chance of safely being reunited with her family. And we knew she would have somewhere safe and warm to spend the night. She would be given fresh water, food, and there is no chance of being her eaten by a coyote there.

We really felt bad that we couldn't have kept her until we found her family either. But with an open house that day, and already having two large dogs with us, there was just no way we could. Axle and Dolly are big, young, sometimes rowdy dogs. And Harriet was a smaller, older, and more subdued dog. She would have been miserable being constantly pestered by them.

But hopefully we did the right thing and Harriet is happily sleeping on the couch in her home with her family. Its always sad to find a lost dog, but we tried to do everything we knew to help her get home. Harriet is a very sweet dog, and I really hope that she was reunited with her family. I know Harriet did not belong to us, but I can't help but feel a little responsible for her. And even though we only spent a few hours together, I really care about her well being. Hopefully Harriet's story had a happy ending. 

This unintentionally turned into an entire post by itself, so check back soon for part 4 of our STL trip!

Pet of the Week: Nixon

This week's PotW post features a sweet boy who is ten kinds of goofy! Meet Nixon or 'Nixy' as I've taken to calling him. This handsome young hound/pointer mix is the definition of sweet! Nixon has a lot of energy, so he would prefer to be in a home with a fenced in yard with lots of room to run. Or at least an active family that likes to go on adventures!

Nixon has a wonderful personality, and is very eager to please. He does very well on a leash, but can get a little excited when he first goes out for a walk. He also really likes to chase a ball, but he hasn't quite gotten the whole, bringing it back part yet, but I'm sure with a little work he could be a top athlete!

As you can see by Nixon's big smile, he is a very happy dog looking for a loving forever home. If you think that Nixon would be a good match for your family, please contact the Williamson County Animal Control & Adoption Center in Franklin TN or Check out their Pet Finder page for their other adoptable pets!

St. Louis Road Trip: Part 2

On Saturday Emily, David, Dolly, Axle, and I jumped in the car to go take a walk around what is called The Loop. The Loop is somewhat of a 'Town Square', where there are tons of shops and restaurants clumped together. It was super busy, because it was a weekend. But we had no problems getting around the entire Loop in just a few hours.

 I got a chicken Gogi Bowl. It was delicious! 

We stopped for lunch at a super tiny restaurant called Seoul Taco. And, dear readers, it is exactly what it sounds like. Delicious Korean food, in taco form. This place was amazing. Seriously, some of the best food I've had in a long time. If you are ever in the STL area, you should absolutely make a stop here! 

My understanding is that this place used to be a food truck, and it was so popular that they turned it to a brick and mortar. Its probably a good thing that I don't live in STL, becuase I would most likely be sneaking off to this place for lunch just about every other day, haha!

 Why don't we have one of these in Nashville!?! I want cookies delivered to my door!

We walked into a used clothing store that had these types of signs on every rack. This was my favorite one in the whole store! Haa!

After walking around The Loop for a few hours we decided to take a break and head over to David's mom's house for a few minutes. When we were there Axle took a dip in the baby pool that David's mom keeps just for Dolly. It was really hot out, so I don't blame him!

After our pit stop, the five of us (3 humans and 2 dogs) jumped back in the car and headed over to the Midtown Taste & Arts Fair that was going on that weekend. There were tons of different booths, selling all sorts of delicious looking and smelling food. We were all still really full from lunch, but we did partake in a few treats. Emily and David split a yummy fresh fruit smoothie, and I found a stand that made ice cream martinis!!

Now I am not a drinker in the least bit. But I just had to try one of these decedent dessert drinks. I had a chocolate and mint Grasshopper, and it probably had only about 
a half ounce of Baileys Irish cream in it. But it was so good! The perfect cold treat on a hot day! We were having an awesome time walking around the fair, but it was getting to be crazy hot outside, so we decided to take a break and sit down in the grass for a few minutes.

 Axle trying to beat the heat by sporting a pair of Bing sunglasses we won from one of the vendors.

 You can't tell me that these two are not related some how!

 Axle and Dolly trying to get a hand out from one of the food stands!

 Axle and Dolly asleep on the way home in the backseat!

After about another hour we were ready to call it a day. We had been walking around down town STL all day, and we were all completely exhausted! It was time to go back to Emily's house for a well deserved rest! We had another busy day ahead of us on Sunday!

Check back soon for PART 3 of our STL Road Trip!

St. Louis Road Trip: Part 1

Road Trip!!!!!

A few weekends ago Axle and I took a road trip up to St. Louis, Missouri to see my best friend Emily! Early on Friday morning we packed up the car, and began our (not too long) six hour car trip from Nashville to St. Louis. Axle is a surprisingly great car dog. I usually take him with me when I run errands, or on short day trips. But this was the first time I had taken him on a journey this long. 

I was pleasantly surprised that he ended up sleeping for the majority of of the car ride. (I think my books on tape put him to sleep, hehe) Except for about the first hour when he repeatedly tried to sneak sips of my coffee... We did end up stopping at a rest stop in Rand Lake, IL so we could stretch our legs and take a bathroom break. Axle was very excited to pee on every single tree at the rest stop, haha!

We found this kitschy little wooden statue at the rest stop.

After about 20 minutes we got back on the road. I was glad that we were able to make it through St. Louis before rush hour hit! We arrived at Emily's house just before 4 PM. It was great to finally be done driving for the day. And it was even better to see my BFF! 

It had been a few months since we had seen each other last, so it was great to once again be reunited. Emily and I have been best friends since middle school. She moved to St. Louis a few years ago, but we are able to keep in touch quite well. And when we do get to see each other in person, its like we just saw each other the day before!

 This little turtle was also waiting in the yard to greet us!

Another reason that I was so excited excited about this trip, was that Axle was going to be meeting his cousin (or at least who we believe to be his cousin) Dolly for the first time! Dolly was adopted by Emily and her boyfriend David from the same shelter where Paul I and adopted Axle. 

I had shared a photo of Dolly on my Facebook wall from the shelter's FB page. And when Emily saw the photo she just knew that Dolly needed to come home with them! So a few days later, her and David drove down from MO. to adopt her (and they made a pit stop in Nashville to pick me up for the ride too!) 

 Axle and Dolly's first picture together!

Anyways! We are convinced that Dolly and Axle are related. They are about the same age, they look extremely similar (both in build and markings), and their personalities are practically the same. When they first met Axle and Dolly were a little weary of each other, but by the end of the weekend they got along wonderfully! Dolly of course ended up being 'the boss' or the pair. Axle tends to be very submissive towards females. And Dolly was perfectly happy with that! Haha!


Check back soon for PART 2 of our STL Road Trip!

Nala the kitten visits the office!

I know that this is mainly a 'dog blog', but I just had to share this with you my dear readers! One of the girls in my office adopted a stray kitten this week and brought her into the office for the day. This little orange fur ball is SO CUTE!

 

I got the opportunity to "kitten sit" for a little while, and I got the most adorable pictures of this little girl! Her name is Nala, and she is only 4 weeks old, and so tiny! She was found covered in mud and all alone some time last week. And through the grape vine, was adopted by my co-worker.

While I was watching her, I could not help but snap some absurdly adorably pictures of Nala with my phone. I had her snuggled up in my hoodie to keep her warm, and she instantly fell asleep. (eee!)

I wish that Nala could come to work everyday! But I probably wouldn't get any work done...haha! It was really awesome to spend some time with her today. And I am so happy that she is now going to have a loving home!

Franklin Art Scene: June 2013

Its that time again!! Please join me for The Franklin Art Scene, this Friday from 6-9PM! I'll be at 225 2nd Avenue South in Franklin TN selling Axle Bites Dog Treats! Axle will be with me as well! Please come and support all of the amazing local artists!

For more information about Axle Bites please visit our Etsy Shop!

And for more on the Franklin Art Scene check out their website HERE!