New Addition

So for the past few months I have had the urge to add to my family. When I got Oscar, Amira (my best friend, roommate and basically my sister) had gotten Lucy and so Oscar and Lucy were the best of buds. Now that I no longer live with Amira because she had to go and get married ( )…Oscar is now an only child. I don’t think he really minds all that much because I am his obsession and he wants his alone time to focus on only me. Well, I kind of mind. I mind because I feel guilty that when I get home all I want to do is lounge on the couch and watch ‘The Office’. Unfortunately, Oscar has been lounging all day in his crate and he probably wants to go on a walk or run around and play. Don’t get me wrong, I take him on at least one walk a day and I play with him too. I just feel guilty like I am boring him. So, in the back of my mind for a while I have kind of been on the search for a new little guy.
The thing I told myself is if you already have one dog then what is another one? You wouldn’t even notice the difference. I don’t recommend this thought process when thinking about children (dogs, or human beings). So I kind of put it on the back burner and knew that if at any given minute there was an opportunity to get another dog I would be all over it like white on rice.
Two weeks ago, Leslie (friend from High School) wrote to me on Facebook to tell me that her mom had two puppies left and they were Schnorkies. Well, stick a fork in me because I knew I had to have one. I knew I was getting one before she even sent me the picture; this is how eager I was to have another dog. We communicated for a week while she gave me information about the dog and sent pictures and we worked out a time for me to go see him. I felt like I was adopting a child. I went and bought a dog bed and set up his sleeping area. I bought a new leash and stocked up on dog food. I was excited to say the least.
I picked him up a week ago. I have named him Diego after Frida Kahlo’s husband, Diego Rivera. His Birthday was on August 18th, 2010 so he is just over 5 months old. He is really cute. Him and Oscar love each other and are the best of buds. However, Oscar is struggling with jealousy.
Anything I do with Diego, Oscar has to do it too. If I give Diego a bath Oscar hears the water from the other room and comes running and dives into the bathtub. He pushes Diego out of the way and sits right in front of me waiting for me to pour water on him so that HE can take a bath too.
Oscar started sleeping on the couch instead of sleeping with me (this teenage attitude phase started about 3 weeks ago) Well guess what? He sleeps in the bed with me again because Diego does. Oscar wedges himself in between me and Diego at night.
If I brush Diego, Oscar has to be brushed too. If I tell Diego to go potty, you better believe Oscar will go potty first.
It’s pretty funny. I am making a conscious effort to treat each child the same. If I kiss and hug Diego then I make sure to do it to Oscar right after if not at the same time.
Oscar really does enjoy him though. They go in the front yard each morning after our walk and chase each other around like maniacs. They cuddle together on the couch and play tug of war with their stuffed animals.
Diego is a great addition to the family. I do have to say that one day I was headed to Amira’s house and I had to pack up double the stuff to bring both dogs…there was a second where I was carrying two crates and the two bones out of my hand dropped and I got a glimpse of what it might be like to be the Octo-mom. It’s hard work having multiples, don’t let anybody fool you.

The Untold Stories of the backyard

So I decided to take my chances and leave Oscar in the house without putting him inside of his crate. Every time I decide to do this I always immediately regret it. I was gone for 4 hours. I came home, opened up the front door and was basically slapped in the face with the pungent smell of crap. I was disgusted. I was looking everywhere for Oscar and I could not find him. I was looking everywhere for a pile of poop and also could not find it. So I went outside to the backyard and Oscar came running up to me panting. When I bent down to say hi to him the smell that was radiating off of his body was indescribable. I have smelled poop many times in many different situations; this was like a bag of crap that had been sitting out in the sun for a few weeks and then crapped on again. It was really, really bad. I can't even fathom what had happened in the past 4 hours but I did know that my dog had been double dipped in shit. I threw him outside and closed the dog door so that I could investigate why the house smells like it was bombed with a diarrhea grenade. I looked everywhere and there was nothing...then I checked his blanket on the couch and it smelled horrible. Basically the house stunk because Oscar was in it and there was a dark cloud following him around the house...we can call him Pig-Pen. So I threw the blanket outside, lit every candle in the house and opened every window. I then went and grabbed Oscar to throw him in my bath tub. I had to wash him 7 times to get the smell off of him and then after that I was still so grossed out that I shaved him with my brothers hair clippers (Sorry John Paul). After he was clean I had to investigate. I went outside to the gate where he sometimes sneaks out of and noticed there was a brick covering the hole that he gets out of. This means that someone put him back in the yard and covered the hole with a brick so he couldn’t get out again. This means that someone picked up my dog and put him back in yard when he was covered in straight feces. This person didn’t think to leave a note so that I could bake them cookies for the rest of the year? Who are these freaks...just picking up dogs covered in shit and placing them back in their yards with no recognition. They deserve some sort of an award. I just wish I could get the story. I am so interested in the story and I will never, ever know it. Did Oscar escape and when someone tried to capture him to bring him back he splattered shit all over himself in fright? Did he decide to get out and go roll in 40 day old poop in the alley? Maybe a neighbor had to put him back so many times that they decided to throw crap at him to teach him a lesson? I just have no clue. My imagination runs wild. So needless to say..it will probably be another few months when my memory fails me and I decide to try to 'trust' him again. Keep you posted.

Ghandi Griffon

My brother's girlfriend bought a puppy- a mini pin named Rondo. Basically if I had to describe Rondo I would say "Tasmanian Devil". My brother brought Rondo home after a trip to see his GF and we had the pleasure of taking care of this 9 week old puppy for 2 1/2 weeks. Well Rondo took a liking to Oscar...and when I say took a liking this means a liking to biting, pulling, scratching, and snipping at Oscar's face 24 hours a day. Rondo literally would not stop pestering Oscar. Oscar would try to go to the bathroom and Rondo would be biting at his ankles while he was pooping...it was horrible. The first week I was just following them around yelling at Rondo and trying to protect Oscar. It started to be a joke in the household because Sam and my brother kept saying "Oscar will not defend himself...if Oscar was faced with death he would just curl over and kill himself" Everyone would sit there and laugh because Oscar would literally just stand there and look at you while Rondo hung by Oscar's bottom lip. We were all waiting for Oscar to finally get sick of it and bite Rondo back...we kept saying "Oscar, come on and get him back!!" he never would... he knew if he wanted to get away he could jump up on the couch but he could rarely get away unless I smacked Rondo's butt. I felt so bad for Oscar...he would just sit there and get tortured by this little annoying dog. I think he did secretly like it though because in the mornings Oscar would wait patiently by John Paul's door waiting for Rondo to wake up. Basically Oscar found himself in an abusive relationship...you want to leave but you just can't. So Amira came over last night and she got to see the abuse face to face and she said "Oh my gosh, Oscar is a Saint....Oscar is a dog Ghandi". It really cracked all of us up but it was true. No matter how bad Oscar was treated he never bit back. He will be the perfect dog when I do finally have a family and that just makes me love him sooooo much. Rondo left yesterday and although Oscar might miss him a little bit, I think he is finally at Peace:)

Being Butted

Oscar has a funny way of telling you he likes you. When he decides he likes someone he puts his butt on any part of their body he can get to. This has become a joke in my house and my brother says "uh oh--you are about to be butted". It is just so funny--he usually puts his butt on my boobs for whatever reason. The silly thing is it's not like he is just sitting on you....every part of his body is making sure it isn't touching you--only his butt. So it has become obvious that if I am dating someone then they need to be butted..or they aren't approved by Oscar and ultimately I have to stop talking to them. This whole situation is probably a double-edged sword because when a guy comes over I am waiting to see if he gets butted and when he does I am so happy inside..but the guy is thinking "why is this girl's dog putting his ass on my white shirt and she is smiling over there...this is disgusting!" hahah so in the end there is a fair chance I will be booted for being butted but I am telling you...Oscar's ass is my guiding light:)

Oscar and the tortured screen

So a while back when I had my Honda civic, it was stolen and dropped off in the ghetto of Escondido. The only thing they took was a picture of Oscar that was on my dashboard and his travel crate which was in my trunk. For many nights after, I held him closely thinking they were coming to get him from me! haha. They never came. Anyways, since then I haven't purchased a new crate because they can be pretty expensive. So I found this one at right aid that was made out of a vinyl material and zipped up (what was I thinking with Houdini in the house) So I decide that I will put him in the mesh crate while I go to the zoo with Caleb. We have a blast and when I get home Oscar is greeting me at the door shaking his butt left and right and so happy to see me...he is of course out of breath from the anxiety he has had with me being gone all day. The first thing I think...is how the hell did he get out. I had put him in the crate and put the crate in my room with the door shut. So I go in my room and the crate is torn to shreds. So I am looking all around and my first instinct was that someone came in and let him out of my room after he escaped the crate....but no one was home at the time. So I am just mind boggled. Then I see it...the shred of screen on my hamper. I look up and I see my screen hanging out the window with a huge hole in it. Oscar had chewed a hole in the screen and then busted out of it--jumped out the window to the backyard and went in through the doggy door and was waiting for me when I walked in. It was so unreal that I couldn't even be mad...I laughed. He is the most unreal dog I have ever met. Please see photos.

It has been a while:)

Wow--I was going through my old saved documents and I found this blog I had started about Oscar. I can't believe it will almost be a year since I have written anything in it!!! So much has happened with the little rascal. He just turned 3 on September 25th~I of course turned 27 on September 9th...luckily we are both Virgos. Right now he is sleeping soundly at my feet and I am trying to decide which story I should tell as my welcome back blog entry. I think I will share about his eye surgery :( About 5 months ago his eye really started bothering him. He was always scratching at it and it was watery and red. I took him to the vet twice and they kept telling me he had conjunctivitis....but the medicine wasn’t working and it was getting worse! So finally I took him to an eye care specialist. Low and behold they called me within ten minutes of dropping him off to let me know he had Ectopic Celia. Basically, his eyelashes were growing into his eyeball. So they had to do surgery right away and there was no hesitation for me---if he was in pain, which I knew he was, and it could cause him to go blind....I knew it needed to be done. Since his first initial surgery he has had to go have two more within the past 4 months. His eyelash hair keeps growing back although they scrape the eyelid and laser off the hair follicles--there is still a possibility it can grow back a couple of times. Luckily the majority of the cost is good for a year...so let's just hope he is good after that. Above is a picture of the saddest dog in the world.

The chicken breast.

So Oscar is constantly getting into the trashcan. He has now found ways to get into the trashcan under the sink...and so, if I forget to shut the door to my room at night, you can almost always gaurentee that when you awake in the morning, there will be trash from one end of the apartment to the other. He sneaks in the kitchen I am guessing around two in the morning when I am in a deep sleep and goes to work...So the other morning I woke up noticed my door open, and my heart fell because I knew what this meant. I walked out into the living room and there was trash EVERYWHERE. The worst part about it was that I had decided to clean out the fridge the night before...there was everything from old frozen chicken breasts to ice cream bars with frost bite. When you see the mess, it almost makes you laugh...in fact I did chuckle...because it is so fricken disturbing that all you can do is laugh because you are so disgusted by this small dogs actions. This creep. He comes out in the night and has a hay day. So I start picking it up and I notice the bag of old frozen chicken is opened and while there were three breasts I threw away, now there is only one in the bag. I start thinking of the stomach ache this dog will have and it makes me hopeful that he might learn a lesson...but then I realize that when he goes crap in his crate while I am at work, I will be the sad soul picking it up and cleaning after him, yet once again. So it takes me a while to clean up and I am screaming and of course he is hiding in his crate because he knows this is bad. I try to find the chicken but I accept the fact that is is already in his stomach creating salmonella poisoning. So I clean up and I get ready for work. Well later that night Amira gets home from work(having no idea what had happened the night before) and when she goes to sit down on the couch she sits on a thawed out chicken breast in between our couch coushions... she was slighty disgusted to say the least. Later that night I found another one under my bed. Another wonderful tale of Oscar the Grouch....but I guess the dog is smart enough not to eat raw chicken. That jerk.