Happy Birfday, Barley!

Barley turned 2 today!

Admittedly, we would've forgotten if it weren't for our vet sending her a sweet e-card.

Fortunately, she's already the most spoiled pet in the world as we had just gotten her a new Nyla and a rawhide. The best gift (for all of us, really) was that our fence was finally fully installed today, which means Barley has her very own private park!

To top it all off, we made her the usual celebratory meat cake, which she scarfed down in about 10 seconds.

Happy birthday, Barley!

Trial by Fire

Barley's been to MonDog Beach in Chicago so she's had experience in the water. However, while she's romped and jumped through Lake Michigan, she's never actually had to swim.

Well, now that we're in North Carolina, we decided to do what everyone seems to do on the weekends here, which is to "go to the lake." Nobody ever mentions which lake they're going to--they just all say they're going to the lake. Well, we took our chances at Jordan Lake a few weekends back, and we were able to find a spot where Barley could jump in. We didn't realize how much deeper the water would be so when SB threw the ball into the water, Barley bounded after it like usual; except this time, as she tried to make her way back, she quickly realized none of her paws could reach the ground. So she started paddling...like mad...check it out.

Where are we?

It's been about 2.5 weeks since we moved to NC, and Barley has been doing her best to adjust to the new surroundings.

Here's Barley sitting and staying like a good girl at our stop-over in Beckley, WV, during the big drive down to NC.

And here are our new neighbors--she seems interested in them, but they definitely don't want to have anything to do with her.

Soon, she'll be making a new friend--a dog walker. Let's hope she doesn't wig out when she walks in the door.

Howl

We've been trying to grab video of Barley howling at an ambulance for months because it just sounds so funny. It's this low-pitched hum that gradually gets louder and higher as the ambulance gets closer.

Well, I finally was able to do it yesterday.

I apologize for the shakiness of it all, but it all happened so fast, I was basically falling over myself to catch her.

1 dog, 2 owners, 365 days

It’s difficult to believe that it’s been a year since we brought little Barley home. She’s really made an impact on both of us. She’s so cute and lovable. Whenever I am having a bad day I know that when I get home I’ll have a little fuzzy bundle of fun to take my mind off it. Since we’ve had her, she’s easily doubled in size and infi-tupled in lovin-ability.

The pictures are from Christmas time, it was right around then that we brought out an ottoman and put her towel on it to allow her to perch and survey her home. She really likes to be aware of everything that’s happening around her. She also loves her rope ball, which aside from the super duper Nylabone, is about the only toy she can’t destroy in under a week.

Tonight she’ll celebrate with a meat cake, and tomorrow we’ll start year two with our little woobie.

She's Magical

A small earthquake hit about 50 miles west of Chicago early this morning. A friend of ours sent an e-mail around asking if anyone felt it. None of us had, but something clicked in SB's head as he thought more about it.

You see, last night around 10 p.m., SB, Barley and I were in our bedroom watching tv when Barley suddenly got very irritated. She sat up and stared towards our sliding glass door. Normally, she faces the opposite direction towards our front door because she hears people or other dogs walking in the hallway. We got a little freaked out because she jumped up and ran over to me whining. SB got up and asked her to come with her to check out the living room, but she wouldn't budge from my side so I got up, too, and she hesitantly followed SB and me. We checked everything we could think of but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

And then it clicked this morning. SB totally thinks Barley is "magical" and sensed the earthquake before it ever hit. I'm a little bit more skeptical because it would've been a solid six hours between her freak out and the actual quake.

A few hours may be hard to believe, but apparently a few seconds is possible. Check it out...

Dog Senses Arcata Earthquake at News Station - Watch more Funny Videos

Wookie

One of the best things about having Barley is the greeting she gives us when we get home from work. She bounds towards us, wags her entire butt, jumps around, runs away, repeats.

This seems to be normal for most dogs from what I can tell, but one thing we did not know about was the Wookie. You see, if Barley's not at day care, she spends the most of the day in her crate listening to classical music (she gets a break half way through the day when sb comes to play with her at lunch) so by the time one of us gets home at the end of the day, she's ready to party.

Well, when we get home and walk into the room to let her out, she stretches and then makes this sound that can only be described as Wookie-like - you know...like Chewbacca.

Turns out, this might not be all that odd. One of my favorite columns in The New York Times is "The Puppy Diaries." The most recent column talks about Scout's greeting ritual, which includes what is described as a "gutteral moan." I can only assume that this very similar to Barley's Wookie sound.

SB has been trying to get her to "Wookie" on command, but she hasn't quite gotten yet. However, I wouldn't bet against him and Barley succeeding someday soon.

Dogs Rule. Cats Drool.

At least that's what Brian Williams tells me...

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And I'm guessing the guys over at FUCK YOU CAT. would agree wholeheartedly.

Snow Day

Barley...meet snow. Snow...meet Barley.