Anticipation

What do you do when your heart hurts in anticipation of what you dread the most? This is KanLoo, he is only 7 but he is already graying, his snout is covered with white hairs. 

How time flies and you let the seconds turn into minutes and the minutes into hours...without paying attention to the reality of time flying away. But one day there is the moment when you realize that you are losing the time you have left with the ones you love.
KanLoo is my little man and is getting old, and as much as I want to spend all my time with him, there is life and responsibilities, and all that are making my heart so heavy, not enjoying the present and dreading the future. One day he will be gone leaving a huge hole in my heart...

Living in San Francisco

Phoenix with the Sutro Tower in the background

It has been a while since my last post, life happens and you find yourself with a long list of to dos, wanna dos and should dos.

In the meantime we did manage to get take Phoenix lure coursing and to conformation, and he quickly got his championship. Victor was very proud of him, as he completed his majors and points in around 4 months! Of course we always knew he is a beautiful Pharaoh!


I do have to say that he did best when he was handled by more experienced handlers!
We have not accomplished much progress with training our dogs, even with the guaranteed program from Bark Busters, which was well recommended to me. That was really a experience I will write in my blog next.


In the meantime, hello everyone, am back blogging!

Phoenix, the mythological creature

It has been quite a few months since I last wrote. Victor and Phoenix are finally in the US and we feel like a family again. Since they both arrive, KanLoo seems to be happier, he really missed Phoenix!
Unfortunately now we live in an apartment and the boys do not have all the space they had before, but we make sure to take them for walks, and to Fort Funston during the weekend!
Yesterday, as I was in the shower I saw a silouhette through the sliding door and when I opened it, it was PhoePhoe! he was just checking on me, on what I was doing. Immediately, I cupped my hands and filled them with water, but he just went away. That broke my heart because Nazca would always come to me when I was showering and drink some water from my cupped hands.
And this little thing Phoenix did, confirms to me that he in fact is the bird of legend, he is Nazca reborn! Phoenix does so many things that Nazca did, that KanLoo doesn't do, that you can not say it is just something all dogs do!
Phoenix, my little fire bird, you are just the perfect puppy!

Happy Birthday Phoenix!

Gosh! I had been so busy with other stuff, every time I was driving driving around or waiting for an appointment, I thought of writing this blog on your birthday, then the day came and went I was not able to get to it. 
So here you are in this picture with a dry porcupine blow fish in your mouth, you looked so adorable...and Victor was chasing after you so you will drop the fish!
For a Pharaoh, you do pretty good, though he did have to chase you we finally lure you with a treat and you gave up your yummy dried fish to us for the 2nd time (yes, this picture is of the 2nd fish you found in the beach!) 
You are growing to be a happy and sweet dog. You are very friendly with all animals! You are friends with the donkey from across the street (@ Victor's apartment in Puerto Vallarta), you are always sniffing the cats at the corner, and you always want to play with other dogs. You are also very quiet and relax at home, much like Nazca was, unlike KanLoo that needs attention and entertainment during the day, and he absolutely complains when I am working at the computer! So you sit there while Victor works, sleeping, chewing on a piece of coconut or a toy or once in a while, you want some attention and bring a toy to Vic. Then at night, when is time for bed, you go to bed waiting for Vic and when he takes too  long you start barking softly, more a talk than a bark, calling him to bed. That is so cute!
You guys play in bed, with the sheets. Vic just discovered the other day that the sheets you guys have now are see-thru, so when he throws the sheet in top of your head, you can see him thru the sheets! He discovered that when he was going to grab you and you grab his hand instead!
Overall you are a great puppy, and very handsome dog and a happy family member!
Happy belated birthday my sweet boy! May we enjoy you many many many years more!

Nazca

This is Nazca. Today a year ago he died bitten by a black widow. I feel sorrow, my heart hurts, the pain is squeezing all there is in my heart.
I didn't even say goodbye to him the morning he died, as I was running late to work...
Since, my life has changed a lot, I wish I can say living my life to the fullest is more important than appointments and work, but it definitely has changed. I make sure I cuddle my puppy a lot, I make sure I dedicate a little bit more time to him, we are lure coursing now, and I also spend sometime cuddling Phoenix when I was in Vallarta.
Every second you do not show your love ones that you love them, is a second wasted...

Xmas in Puerto Vallarta

So as planned, we spent Xmas together in Puerto Vallarta. KanLoo and Phoenix had been apart since end of July and their reacquaintance was something interesting to experience. When we arrive in Puerto Vallarta a day later, on Dec 20th, it was a great and happy event for Phoenix. My mom, KanLoo and I came in the house and he was so happy to greet us all, he, as usual, pee from being so happy. Poor puppy!

KanLoo and Phoenix had to get to know each other again, and they immediately started sniffing and remembering each other. The reunion was a mix of emotions for both dogs, KanLoo surprised to see Phoenix, Phoenix happy to see KanLoo! But now that Phoenix is a much bigger dog (11 months), KanLoo had to show him who was the alpha-male, so it was a game of dominance all over again, and it lasted thru the whole time we were there. So here we have KanLoo pinning Phoenix down!!

The trip was long, we arrived in Puerto Vallarta last Saturday morning, after driving 4 days from Los Gatos, CA.  

Unfortunately, KanLoo's fear of firecrackers and loud noises is getting worse and worse. The other day we were walking by a restaurant and someone open a soda can, the noise put him over the edge and he was dragging me back home. The problem with his panicking is that he goes quickly into fear, which leads to aggression. He has not done anything radical yet, but I have noticed that when he is stressed he has very little patience with Phoenix and tries to put him in his place much more aggressively. Yesterday morning we had to separate them as the playful test of dominance became a full flesh fight! Poor Phoenix got really scared of KanLoo, something we really do not want happening. It is enough to have a fearful dog!
It is all a combination of his fear of noises and his memory of being attacked by the 2 huskies in the dog park.
I have done some research and there is really very little I can do to "re-train" him, all I can do is start him in medication like vallium. We went to the vet here, a reputable one within the expat community here and he prescribed a new medication, that contains L-Theamine, a natural ingredient, and seems to be working.
So we are spending Xmas as a little family, KanLoo, Phoenix, Victor, me and my mom!

Phoenix and the mosquitoes

Last week sunday, Phoenix had a bad reaction to mosquito bites. They bit him in the nose and eye, and his face was really swollen and getting more swollen by the second. Victor called the vet and he open just for them. He gave Phoenix a couple of shots to help with the allergic reaction. He has been having bad reaction to the mosquito bites in Puerto Vallarta, every time he gets bitten, his bites get really swollen and he obviously gets really itchy.
I have to say, the mosquitos in Puerto Vallarta are vicious!

Pup!!!

Phoenix just came back from a 5 minute walk, he peed and pooped...so his new nickname is:
Perfect peeper pooper pup! or P4!

Phoenix is growing so fast!

This big dog is Phoenix! He is 7 months now, and growing like the wind!
I have not been writing too regularly, as many changes were happening in our lives!
In May I took the severance package Nike offer and I left them! That was the plan any way and all I was waiting for was my Bonus! So though now I do not have a job, it was really great!
So after coordinating the move for a month, finally they packed me up end of June and by end of July my stuff arrived in Los Gatos, CA, where we live now. Unfortunately, Victor and Phoenix had to stay in Mexico to finish some design stuff! So is KanLoo and Pat for a few months exploring the Bay Area.
My niece Nicole and nephew JOsh came to visit us to Puerto Vallarta for a week, while there I was continuing with my marathon training, as I do have an entry to run the San Francisco Woman's Marathon in October this year. Well, 2 days after we were there I screwed my knee bad! Intense pain that made me stop my running. Back in Guadalajara I went to the emergency orthopedic clinic and the doctor diagnose an impingement in my fat pad (Hoffa's disease), so I got anti-imflamatories and rest for 10 days, after which I tried running and the pain was right back! So went to the one of the drs I was recommended by my running friends, and he said I had a patella that was too high and was damaging my femur. And of course he needed to do arthroscopic surgery to leave me as new!
So now you have me back in Guadalajara, Mx, with my knee that was operated 17 days ago! I use crutches and depend on everyone, even for a glass of water!
In the meantime KanLoo is in a dog boarding resort: http://www.greenacresk9resort.com/Our%20Program.html
I have been in touch with them and KL is having a good time, playing with other dogs, running around being chased by the slower dogs...being his normal puppy playful self!
And Phoenix is in with me and Victor and he has been going almost everyday to Pet-expert, the veterinary clinic and day care service we have used for all 3 of our dogs while in Mexico. He stays there around 4 hours and then comes home very tired. It is best this way as I can not go to the park with them!
So this is where we are now, I will give you more details in the next few days!

Honey colored eyes

My aim for this blog was to document the changes that happen thru a pharaoh puppy, how they become the wonderful companions and performance driven dogs they are. And here I am, Phoenix eyes are already honey colored and I did not notice when this happened!!! He is already 4 months and 1 week, and he keeps growing and changing, but still behaves like the cute puppy he is.

We started going to the park again, it is summer and the days are longer, so since last friday we go to the Metropolitan park to play with 2nd season of our play group. Why 2nd season? We started that play-group last year with Nazca and KanLoo, by meeting the 2 weimaraners from Patricia and Javier, then Caco, Oscar's golden retriever joined also, he was then 5 months. And as the summer kept rolling, more puppies started joining in and the group grew to be 18 dogs! So now, as we come back to daylight savings, a new group is there, new puppies and a handful of last summer buddies: Chona and Huitla, the xolos, and Rommel, which last summer wasn't here but his parents were.

http://parquemetropolitano.jalisco.gob.mx/index.html

This is the link to the park where we go, if you go to "EL PARQUE" and then "FOTOS" you will fins a picture of me and KanLoo taken probably in 2007 when Nazca and Victor where not in Mexico yet.

More adventures to come soon...

Playing at the airport

Here we just arrived in Schiphol from Denmark and are looking for a hotel, Victor is playing with Phoenix.

Trouble sleeping

I have mentioned several times that Phoenix wrestles with himself before falling asleep, here is a snippet of what he does. This was taken april 26th

Funny puppy moment

This picture was taken march 26th in the Dutch train going to the hotel. As you can see his tongue is out! He slept like that for like 30 mins, but if you think that is funny, it was even funnier that he was moving it up and down as he was sticking it out. He has done this only once more since. I guess the silly things puppies do!