Snow

We had our first "dusting" of snow on Monday. I can't help but thinking how happy Brittany would have been. She LOVED the snow :o) For some reason the snow sent her into "puppy-mode" she would run so fast all through the yard it was so funny! I was always worried that when the pool was covered in snow she would end up running right out onto the cover but she never did - I guess she was smarter than I thought :O)

Can't believe

tomorrow will be 9 months since we lost you :o( I still miss you so much.

Thanksgiving won't be the same this year

I truly believe Thanksgiving was one of Brittany's all-time favorite days of the year :o) For the past 9 yrs we have been hosting Thanksgiving and I swear I am not lying when I say that dog would literally sit in front of that oven the entire time that turkey was roasting LOL! Only time she would take a break was to get a drink or to go out to pee LOL! We always knew where to find her :O) Of course once the turkey and all the other yummy food was served it just wouldn't be right not to make up a whole plate for her as well!!! After she would eat she would go and lie down and sleep the night away - until dessert time that is :o) It won't be this year without my sweet girl :O(

My "doodles"

The other day we were driving (sorry I cannot remember where only that we were all in the car) and the girls started talking about middle names. Heather wanted to know why we picked Brooke for her middle name and Kaitlyn asked why her middle name was Marie, then Heather asked what Brittany's middle name was so I answered "Doodles" :o) Heather and Kaitlyn both started laughing and asked why I called her that so I told them because whenever Britts would go out in the yard she would tend to "doodle". What I mean by that is she would roam around and not get straight to her "business" LOL! I can remember this most when I used to have to actually take her out in the yard on a leash before we had the whole yard fenced. For some reason she would tend to "doodle" the most when it was freezing cold/snowing or when I was running late for work. She would never get right to the business at hand (peeing or pooping) she would wander around acting like it was the very first time she had ever been in this backyard (rolleyes/smile) or she would start to pee but then realize nope this was not the exact spot that was worthy of her pee (again rolleyes while smiling). So basically that is how she got her nickname which eventually turned into her middle name :o) Brittany Doodles :o)

Brittany's bed

the other night Scott brought home Frontgate - which is basically a catalog with very nice indoor/outdoor furniture, decorations, gadgets, etc for unbelievably expensive prices. Anyway, the reason he brought it home was because on the back there was a nice big dog "bed" and lying all snuggly in it was a nice big Mastiff!

Which got me to thinking of all the beds Brittany went through over her 10 years of living with us. When we started out (I have already blogged about this) we thought we would use her "crate" as her bed. That last oh all of about 3 days LOL! She ended up spending probably the first 1/2 of her life sleeping in my bed or on the couch in the home theater room (I think she was mostly on the bed) This lasted up until about 3 years ago when we bought our new king sized bed - unfortunately the bed is raised up so high that even I have trouble getting up onto it nevermind this poor dog with her one bum leg so poor Brittany had to find somewhere else to sleep. Of course I felt terrible about this so I set out to find her a nice comfy bed that I thought she could love and make her very own "space".

So the first bed we tried was the girls' old toddler bed. Yup we figured this would be PERFECT for Britts because it was just the right size and since it even looked like a regular persons "bed" she might not be so traumatized now that she can't sleep in our bed. So we broke out the toddler bed - somehow managed to get her up onto it (it really wasn't high off the floor at all) she spun around on it a few time and then jumped off only when she jumped off the bed moved and it ended up basically flying across the floor, scared the hell out of the poor dog and she never went near the thing again LOL!

Ok so now we need to find something else for her because I didn't have the heart to make my sweet girl sleep on the cold floor. For a while she did sleep on the little oriental rug we had in the bedroom but I didn't think that was soft enough or cozy enough so that is when we decided to pull out the extra "comforter" we had up in the attic. Well she LOVED it - that was Brittany's new bed! Yeah her new bed up until she chewed the thing to shreds that is LOL! I can't tell you just how many comforters we went through with that dog - she would sleep on them and cuddle on them and just chew lightly on them til one day something would set her off and we would come home and find a completely destroyed "bed" (sigh) oh well! I still have her last "bed" well actually it isn't her comforter we got rid of that because it was too big and really where would I keep it - but I did keep her last "blanket" she used to love to lie in the family room. I won't wash it either because if I do then her "smell" would be gone :o(

But I just have to laugh alittle when I think Brittany and her beds - she went through so many of them LOL!

In my eyes there is no other breed like the Mastiff

A Mastiff seems to be able to read your soul, they seem to be able to know what you are thinking, what you want out of them and they deliver, naturally. All they want is your love and devotion and that too just comes so freely, naturally.

7 months ago

my beautiful beast was relaxing on the kitchen floor chewing on her blanket. It all happened so fast - one minute she was fine the next we were rushing her to the vet :-( I soooo wish I could go back to that day -I always hugged and kissed her every day but I would have done that 10x over if I knew that was the last day she would be with us. I am still having such a hard time. I am excited at the thought of getting another pup but in the back of my mind I am terrified of feeling this way again :O(
I guess it is normal - I just have to try to take my mind off the bad and think about how much joy a pup/dog brings to my life. And also just have believe that I will see Brittany again one day :o)

Monday will be 7 months

I can't believe it will be 7 months on Monday :o( to me it feels like yesterday :o( My heart still aches so much - I miss her so much :o(

Feels like forever

since I wrote here - I just haven't been in a "blogging" mood lately I am still really missing her SO much. I long to just hug her and pet her :o( Anyway, the other day Heather reminded me of something funny so I thought I would write about it today. We were in the yard and I was using the hose to water some of the plants and things and all of a sudden Heather brought up how Brittany used to love the hose. And that she did - she would come over whenever Scott would be hosing down the patio or watering the flowers and she would sort of hang around and wait for his to shoot the hose over her way then she would go bezerk! She would jump up (and believe me that couch potato didn't do that all that often) and start chopping away at the water - it was like she was trying to eat it or something LOL! She would look so funny. One time when Scott was playing with her with the hose she actually jumped and fell back and landed "lying down" on the lounge chair - it was quite a sight LOL! Silly girl :o)

Only for my mother-in-law

Brittany had alot of little quirky things she did - chewing the blankets was probably one of the biggest - I am pretty sure I already wrote about this but just a quick note she LOVED blankets - she would spend hours just happily chewing on them - she wouldn't even really rip them to shreds she just liked to lay down with the blanket between her paws and just chew for hours. That was one of the "quirks".

Another quirk we found pretty interesting and pretty funny was the way she would act when my mother-in-law would come over. When she would first come into the house Brittany would go nuts she would come galloping by where ever MIL was standing and she would wait for her to pet her then she would literally flip out LOL! She would spin in circle - no lie - until the nut would literally fall to the ground! She did this almost every time my MIL would come over. Scott was convinced it was MIL's perfume but I am not sure - maybe it was the sound of her voice? MIL made such a huge deal over Brittany so of course when she would come over she would greet all of us the same happy way especially the dog so I think maybe the dog remembers that? I have no idea - all I know is it was pretty funny to watch. Only thing we did worry she would end up hurting herself - she spun so fast LOL!!!

Can't believe

it's been 5 months since we lost our beautiful girl :o(

So strange

We had a bbq this past weekend for the 4th of July. How strange it felt not having my sweet girl wandering around the yard amongst all the people - hoping that maybe just maybe someone would drop a hamburger or hotdog on the ground :o) The nicest thing about Brittany was that she liked mostly everyone - if she didn't want to be bothered she would go find herself a nice shady spot in the back of the yard away from everyone - though that didn't happen too often she liked to be around everyone. She would have loved this bbq - a few days before I bought a giant beach ball - everyone was throwing it around in the pool - she would have had a blast with that thing. She always loved a good party :o) Though I remember one b/day party we had for the girls poor Brittany must have eaten too much that day because all of a sudden in the middle of "present opening" she just vomited all over the patio! Of course all the guest were "shocked" - Heather, Kaitlyn and I just continued to open the gifts LOL! Scott got the hose and cleaned up - see not a big deal we were used to it :o)

Feels like I am slacking

I haven't been in the mood to write much lately. I am still having such a hard time I just miss her so much. I am trying to remember all the funny things about her but I find myself breaking down crying more than laughing. I do want to get another mastiff - I am hoping by the end of the year we will have another. I know this sounds crazy but I am already worried about feeling like this again. Imagine worrying about loosing something I don't even have yet :o( One thing though that has been making me smile when I think of it is now that the pool is open I keep remembering how Britts would "sneak" in when she wasn't supposed to. Of course there were alot of times we would invite her in but I am talking about the times that she was only supposed to be outside to go to that bathroom and she would end up in the pool - which would drive me nuts cause now I would have to leave her outside til she dried off - not completely but dried off enough so I would have a big giant ball of soaking wet fur walking around my house shaking off on all the walls and the furniture. And believe me she always seemed to wait to get into the house before she would shake LOL! Anyway I keep seeing that face - that guilty face looking over trying to give me that look like she had no idea she wasn't supposed to be going in the pool LOL! the funniest thing too was how when she would go in she would try to sit but her butt would always float up behind her and she would try to steady herself but she could never make herself be able to actually just "sit" without floating :o) She really didn't go in too deep she would just go in enough to sit and the water would be almost up to her neck - though sometimes Scott would pull her in alittle further and she would turn and swim back to the side - she looked so funny like a giant cow swimming LOL! Oh how I miss her :o(

It's been 3 months

today is 3 months since we lost our beautiful girl :o( I am still having a hard time. I miss her so much. I miss everything about her :o( I never in a million years thought it would be this hard :o(

Brittany the butterfly :o)

today we opened our pool - as excited as we are to have it open it is also bittersweet because this will be the first summer our beautiful girl will not be swimming with us. As we were folding the cover my husband looked at me and said "I just got so sad for a moment" and I told him of course he did because I did too - just looking at the spot where she would swim (Uh I mean sit LOL) was hard knowing she wouldn't be there anymore. As my husband and I and the girls talked about how funny Brittany was in the pool all of a sudden a beautiful butterfly showed up - it flew over the exact spot that Brittany used to sit in the pool and then it flew around the patio and landed and few times - I know it might be wishful thinking but for that short moment she was with us again

Where's the beef?

I have always been a "roast beef" lover way back to when I was a kid. I love a good roast beef/cheese and mayo on rye sandwich though I find lately I am sticking more to turkey maybe because I "think" it is better for me? I am not sure. Today I walked over to the cafeteria to grab something for lunch and as I was standing there on line I overhead someone talking about a roast beef that they cooked on the grill. I have never cooked a roast beef on the grill - only in the oven and I usually like to cut up some fresh garlic and poke holes in the meat and put the garlic in there to cook and yummy it is soooo good.

Anyway the person talking about roast beef on the grill suddenly reminded me about the time that I had an uncooked roast in my fridge so Scott decided that since its days were numbered (the "use by" date was quickly approaching and I really has no plans to cook it in those few days) he decided he was going to try to cook this thing using the rottissieri (sp?) on the grill. I of course thought "yuck" but handed over the roast and told him to grill his heart out :o) Which he did. He was very proud of that roast beef and walked proudly into the kitchen with the barbaqued beef on a wooden cutting board and he placed it on the counter (I guess assuming I would slice it up???) anyway a few seconds after he put this thing down there was a knock at the door and it turned out to be some friend of his from wherever and his girlfriend (who I have never met). He invited these two people in and we all went into the other room where we have a bar and we all stood around chatting and drinking beers. Scott ended up taking his friend out into the garage and I stayed behind with the girlfriend (I can't even remember her name). So we continue talking when all of a sudden Heather comes bursting into the room yelling about how the dog is eating the chicken!!! I stopped to think quickly because I hadn't cooked a chicken so what was she talking about? Plus the dog was safely behind her babygate in the kitchen and she would never pass that gate (I shouldn't reall even call it a gate it was one of those playyard things like a big long gate that you could make into a circle to confine your kids, pets. etc. Well since Brittany was on the big side :o) we would use the gate long ways and pretty much have her confined to one big section of the kitchen (far away from the stove, counter, etc). We normally only blocked her in there when we were going out or if we had people over and we didn't want her bugging people (or when we were eating dinner and she was begging way too much LOL) most times though she wandered throughout the house (and as she got older she was allowed to roam whereever she wanted whenever she wanted - see she finally figured out eventually she was bigger than the gate LOL!) anyway getting back to Heather yelling about the chicken I couldn't imagine what she was talking about until I realized the "chicken" might just be that barbaqued masterpiece roast beef that Scott had just spent all that time grilling to perfection! So me, Heather and this woman went running into the kitchen and low and behold there she is with the entire roast beef in her mouth! OMG it was about the funniest thing I had ever seen. I couldn't even be mad at her because first off it should have never been left where she could get it (even if she was behind the gate that bugger knew there was a nice piece of beef within her reach if she could just figure out how to move that pesky gate - which obviously she did!) When we caught her we surprised her and she quickly picked up her head with the whole piece of meat hanging out LOL! She must have been in heaven! Of course I ended up taking it away from her but I still laugh when I think it. What a buster! She probably thought "this is a dream come true" there she was with that nice juicy yummy piece of meat and there was no one there to stop her from eating the whole thing LOL! Until I walked it and crushed her dream! So really how could I take that meat away from her and not let her enjoy at least a piece - so I took it and sliced up a few pieces for her and put it in her bowl with her dry food and she went to town :o) The rest of the meat went in the garbage. Oh and Scott wasn't mad either he actually thought it was pretty funny that finally after all this time that dopey dog finally figured out she could move the gate LOL!

Having a hard time again :o(

I just miss her so much :o( It was 2 months yesterday that we lost her :o( I keep hearing the vet say "she's gone" :o( I just can't get her out of my head again. I was doing ok for a while I could even talk about her and just laugh and not get sad but once again it has hit me like a ton of bricks. I miss everything about her. I miss that face looking up at me while I am cooking dinner. I miss her greeting me at the door with a shoe in her mouth. I miss her standing by my bed in the middle of the night trying to wake to let her out - she wouldn't bark loud she knew she had to use her "inside" bark LOL so she would bark really quietly - at first - then it would get louder until I got up. Smart cookie. We are going to get another Mastiff - hopefully we will have one by the end of the year. I am trying to take my mind off it until then but so many things keep reminding me of Brittany. I keep thinking how it is spring and the weather is getting so nice and warm and how she used to love to sit out on the patio and just relax. I used to love giving her a bath on a nice warm day and then just letting her "dry" in the sun. She always got so tired and relaxed after a bath :o) She was such a good girl :o) My sweet Brittany.

Hanging the head out the window

The other day we were driving and I happened to notice the car next to me had a dog in the backseat - might have been a Golden Retriever? Anyway it was a beautiful day and the window was open just enough for him to put his head out and let the cool breeze blow on his face as they were driving along. This got me thinking about poor Brittany and how horrible she was in the car. That poor dog could never make herself comfortable she was always spinning around and falling off the seat - nevermind even trying to look out the window. Though on a few occasions I remember looking in the rearview mirror and seeing her sitting up with her head turned and leaning on the back of the seat as she looked out the back window. There was also a time I remember when I was driving her to the doggie "hotel" because we were going on vacation - I was looking straight ahead and thought she was lying quietly on the backseat when to my suprise I glanced to my right and there she was LOL! That big head was resting smack on the middle of my console!!! It was so funny she had manuevered her body so that she was lying straight and was holding her front end up with her front paws on the floor so her head was able to rest comfortable on the console :o) I tell you she never ceased to amaze me :o)

Easter eggs and baskets

I love this time of the year - I especially love when it is nice and sunny and warm on Easter sunday - which is supposed to be the case this year :o) It reminds me so much of when I was a kid - when it seemed like every year Easter was sunny and warm :o) Anyway now that Easter is coming it got me thinking how much Brittany LOVED chocolate. I know chocolate is a big NO NO for dogs too so it always worried me that when the girls got their easter baskets they would leave their candy lying around and of course Brittany's radar would be on full blast and she would find it and eat it and then heaven forbid get sick - though I think because of her size she would probably have to eat a whole lot of chocolate before it would have a bad affect on her. I have given her chocolate in the past - in very small amounts and she was ok. So each year when I would put out the girls baskets with all their chocolate in it I would always have to them up high so Brittany couldn't get her paws on them. But it never failed - as careful as I was she would always somehow manage to get into the baskets - mostly because one of the girls would leave their basket on the floor in their bedroom and even though I would barracade the bedroom doors so Britts could not get in she would always somehow manage to squeeze through and get in there and then wreak havoc LOL! I remember a few times we would come home and find an easter basket grass trail going from the bedroom out towards the kitchen (a sure sign that bugger was up to no good) but the best was the time we came home (it might have been last Easter) and there were actually foil egg wrappers on the floor but no chocolate - that buster actually seemed to have "opened" the eggs and only ate the chocolate LOL! Or then there were times that I would find only lollipop sticks and no lollipop - I actually caught her one time with a tootsie pop - she was holding it in between her paws and just licking it really gentley it was the funniest thing I didn't have the heart to take it away from her (somehow I doubt she would be giving it up easily anyway). I find it interesting how we as people always seem to love the things that are not good for us and that hold true with dogs as well (especially when it comes to chocolate :o)

"The Lion of Dogdom"

"What the Lion is to the Cat the Mastiff is to the Dog, the noblest of the family; he stands alone, and all others sink before him. His courage does not exceed his temper and generosity, and in attachment he equals the kindest of his race."

My heart aches today

I miss her SO much :-(

Don't run!

That was one of my famous sayings when anyone was around Brittany :o) Don't run!!! because you see if you run she will think you are playing with her and she will chase you LOL! Which unfortunately can be pretty scary for a little kid I mean let's face it being chased by any dog is scary but when you have a 170lb dog coming for you that makes it just alittle more upsetting. So whenever the girls would have playmates over or we would have parties I would always from the get-go let the kids know not to run or Brittany will chase you. Unfortunately I couldn't warn everyone especially strangers coming down our street. I remember one incident that still make me chuckle when I think of it though to the kid that was on the receiving end I don't think he thought it was funny at all. For some reason we had Brittany out in the front of the house on her leash - now I wrote a little ways back about how Brittany was never good on the leash which makes me think there had to be a good reason she was out there I just can't think of what it was! Maybe we had just gotten back from somewhere I honestly can't remember but at one point we (Scott and I ) were sitting on our front steps and Brittany was sitting right next to us and Scott was holding her leash - and when I say holding I mean he had the leash around his wrist which he should have known was a no-no cause like I said many times before Brittany loves to chase squirrels and whatnot and if she sees something and you are not prepared you are going for a ride. Well that particular day it wasn't a squirrel or cat that caught her eye but this little chubby kid coming down our street on rollerblades. All of a sudden I saw her ears perk up and she straightened up and before I could say "grab her" she was off and running and unfortunately Scott was attached to her and he was off and running on his butt LOL! and that poor little chubby kid - well I never saw someone rollerblade so fast OMG that kid looked like he was skating for his life and all along I am yelling as loud as I could "she doesn't bite don't be scared"!!! OMG just thinking about that now makes me laugh cause honest I would be scared too if I saw a dog that size coming for me but Brittany was just so happy go lucky and goofy and all she wanted to do was chase the kid down and probably kiss him up when she caught him - luckily it never came to that once Scott was able to gain control she never even got out of the driveway. But lesson learned never "assume" it is ok to just leave Brittany's leash lightly placed around your wrist LOL!

I have to say in Brittany's defense she was never aggressively chasing anyone to hurt them, most likely if she ever did catch anyone it would be to kiss them uncontrollably LOL. And as you can see I said "if" she ever caught anyone because she never did - that big old lug would usually tire out by the time she got to the end of our driveway LOL!

The sun is finally shining

and best of all the temp is supposed to be in the 60's the rest of the week! Spring is here (hopefully) One thing I hate about March is how the weather can play tricks on you - one day it might be 65 degrees and then the next day it might snow! Now that spring is approaching it got me thinking about how Brittany loved to be out in the backyard. Especially if it was a nice sunny warm day she would just lay out there in the grass (well that was way back when we didn't have our pool) the whole yard was grass and she would go find a nice spot and lie down. She also loved to chase whatever little critters were in the yard as well. And she was relentless! I remember my neighbor had this little white cat who we affectionately named "stubby" - we named him that because for some reason he had no tail! Anyway Stubby used to like to frequent our yard and for some reason even knowing there was a dog back there never seemed to bother him. Though I must say most time he would come in the yard was when Brittany was safely tucked away in the house and most she could do was jump back and forth by the back door barking and carrying on because you see Stubby not only liked to frequent my yard he also had a habit of sitting right next to my back door LOL! Anyway I remember one day when I came home from work Scott told me he had let the dog out in the yard and I guess Stubs decided to take a walk over not realizing the dog was actually out there and next thing you know the chase was on! Scott said it was the funniest thing he never saw that dog move so fast but she chased poor Stubs right up a tree he said all he saw was the cat holding on to the tree stump with all 4 paws spread wide open and the dog standing at the bottom looking up wagging her tail and every once in a while doing like this side-step thing! He said it was the funniest thing but he did feel bad for Stubby because the poor cat was probably scared out of his mind so he went out there with the leash and had to drag Britts away from the tree! From that day on I don't think I have ever let her out when I knew there was a cat in the yard. Some dogs can't be bothered by cats but that wasn't the case with Britts she LOVED to chase them. I remember always being worried when we had the pool covered that Britts would see a cat and go crazy and just trampled right across the pool cover - luckily that never happened!!!

Brittany and the rain

It is supposed to be a terrible weekend. Today the rain is supposed to start but then tomorrow it is supposed to get really windy and just rainy and flat out horrible. Days like these always remind me of when Brittany was a pup and she would need to go out and it would be rainy. She would trample through all the mud and the puddles - she loved it. Then she would come back in the house and I would right behind her wiping up the muddy pawprints. As she got older though she didn't like the rain and much and if it was really bad she wouldn't even go out - poor girl I guess she would just hold it til the rain stopped LOL! When she did go out though she would come back in and every single time that stinker would shake herself off and my door and wall would have little rain sprinkle spots. I miss those spots :o(

Just my dog

"He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him. And I expect I will - as I always have. He is just my dog." - Gene Hill

Missing Brittany :o(

It's been alittle more than two weeks and I would be lying if I said I was feeling better. I miss her SO much :o( When I am at work it is easier because I can do things to take my mind off of her but being at home is torture. Everywhere I look I "see" her :o( That sweet face. Oh how I would give anything to be able to hug her and pet her one more time :o(

Milkbones anyone???

Spring is in the air - at least I hope it is! The lousy thing about March is it is a major "teaser" month - one day it will be warm and then the next we could end up with a foot of snow!

Anyway I was thinking back to our first spring/summer with Brittany. Seems like it was so long ago (well I guess 10 years is a long time). It wasn't that easy back then because we didn't have our yard completely fenced so poor Britts couldn't really enjoy the yard like would have liked her to (at that time anyway - we eventually did get the entire yard fenced but that wasn't until about 4 years after Britts came to live with us). Anyway our yard is quite large so I could actually send her out there and just keep an eye on her - see our yard was partially fenced but the part that wasn't fenced was on the sides of the house so if she went straight back she was fine. So most of the time when I would send her back there she would just wander around and if I would call her sometimes she would come and other times somehow miraculously she would loose her sense of hearing :o) So Scott or I would stand there like idiots yelling her name and there you would see that hunk of fur scurrying and sniffing out all the interesting parts of the yard. One thing about Brittany she LOVED her yard - every time she would go back there it was like the "first" time she'd been there. She would have to walk slowly and sniff every part of the yard. Then there would be the times she would be walking slowly and then heaven knows why but she would suddenly sprint across the yard and when she would run it was so funny because for some reason her butt would kind of go "under" and so would her tail and we would see her run by with her ears flapping LOL! OH well getting back to us trying to get her to come in - yes it was not easy to get her back in when she was busy back there so eventually one of us (usually me - are you surprised?) would go back and collect her (if I could catch her that is) and bring her back in the house. Now honestly this didn't bother me all that much most times but when it was rainy or chilly I would kind of NOT really want to have to go back there and chase after her so I tried to think of something that might entice this little stinker to come to me that way I could get her back inside without having to get wet or cold or whatnot. So thinking thinking hmmm what does Brittany love - I though maybe if I squeaked one of her toys and called her that might do the trick. Nope she didn't bite! Then I thought hmmm maybe if I "knocked" on the back door that might get her curious enough to come see "who was there" and nooooo that didn't work. So now what - what did Brittany LOVE that I could use against her LOL! Ahhhhh now it came to me - MILKBONES!!! OMG that dog went bonkers for Milkbones. So I decided what the heck so one day while she was way in the back of the yard "inspecting" Scott and I stood at the back door and called her a few times - she looked but of course went back to what she was doing UNTIL she heard a noise - a noise only SHE would know and that noise was the box of Milkbones shaking shaking shaking!! OMG when I tell you that little stinker ran like the wind it was SO cute so as soon as she came close enough we held out the bone and lured her back in the house. And that is all it took - after that we did this whenever she wouldn't come back in on her own - and it worked! Brittany liked many different types of people food but the one "dog" treat that she always loved all her life was Milkbones - so much so that we always bought the gigantic box from Costco.

And she knew that box was hers. We would put it up on the counter and she would stand by the counter and just look up and stare at the box - then she would spin around a few times and then look at it some more until finally someone would notice this poor starving pooch and come and give her what she craved LOL! They say Mastiff aren't one of the really "smart" dogs but to me this one was pretty darn "crafty" LOL!

A few things about Brittany

Even though Brittany was such a big dog she was pretty much scared of her own shadow.

Brittany loved the snow - when she would get out here in the yard she would go crazy - she loved to run and bury her nose in the snow and make tunnels and then she would appear at the backdoor with her "beard of snow" - she did this every time she would go out in the snow!

Brittany loved all kinds of food - but a few of her favorites were chicken drumsticks (seriously that girl would turn into a "beast" when you gave her a drumstick LOL) PIZZA - OMG her mouth would water so much there would be a puddle on the floor! Ice cream - oh how she LOVED ice cream. Whenever I would notice her not really eating her dry food all I would have to do was put a scoop of ice cream in her bowl and BAM all the food was gone! And another favorite of hers which some might consider odd was the apple. Brittany LOVED apples! I am not a huge apple lover (unless they are used in a pie :o) anyway when I was pregnant with Heather I craved apples - and they had to be sour - the sour-er the better :o) So every day I would sit down with and peel my apple and my pal would be sitting right beside me and we would share an apple :o) I miss sharing my food - I think it is partly because of Brittany wanting everything I was eating that helped keep my weight down :o)

Brittany loved to be near us - she never wanted to be alone - if we were all in one room you could be sure she would be there too :o)

Brittany was EXCELLENT with the girls - she loved them - she never snapped or showed any aggression EVER. She did, however, love to steal their toys :o)

Brittany loved to drink out the toilet - therefore, all toilets were kept closed at all time :o)

Brittany loved to steal shoes, she wouldn't ruin them (not all of them anyway) she would just carry them around and when she would lie down she would place them between her paws.

Brittany LOVED to chew on blankets - that was one of her fetishes - if she got a hold of a blanket you could kiss that blanket goodbye :o)

Brittany was HORRIBLE in the car - that poor dog just didn't know how to ride in a car like a dog - you know how you see dogs sticking there heads out the window and taking in the cool breeze - well not this dog - this poor thing could never seem to get herself comfortable on the seat and she always seemed to be falling off or spinning around - hence the reason why she seldom went in the car LOL.

Brittany was also not too good on the leash - she pulled alot and if she saw something she wanted you were going for a ride. And believe me I went for plenty of rides LOL! Another reason why once our yard was completey fenced that is where Britts pretty much spent her outside time.

Brittany loved the pool - only she didn't really like to "swim" she just like to walk in the pool up to her neck and then sit there :o) when she would actually swim she looked so funny - I would tell the girls she looks like the Wildabeast crossing the river full of crocodiles LOL!

so there are just a few things I wanted to share about Brittany. Those few things are the things that made her special :o)

Saying goodbye

I had originally thought I would NEVER be able to be there if we had to have Brittany "put down" I just couldn't bear it. But lately the more I thought about it the more I felt I just had to be there. I couldn't let her go without me holding her and hugging and telling her how much I loved her. I never wanted my girls to be there though - they shouldn't have to go through something like that. So Saturday night it was extra emotionally hard since this all happened so quickly and there was no one around to leave the girls with we ended up taking them with us. Luckily when we got to the vet hospital there was no one there (except 3 older women who had just put down their cat :o( - so they took us right away. Honestly I think I was in such denial because I really didn't "see" us loosing her that night :o( Until I heard Scott whisper to the receptionist why we were there then I just completely broke down :o( This was really it :o(

So they took Brittany in the back to get her set up with her iv and we waited out in the waiting area. We all talked about her and cried and then we tried to explain to Kaitlyn (our 5yr old) what was going to happen and that is when she really started to "get it" that Brittany wouldn't be coming home with us :o( Only she doesn't understand really what death is so she thought we were giving her away to the vet :o( It took at least 10 minutes of her crying for us to convince her that we were not giving her to the vet that she was going to live in Heaven now with God and all the other animals that have passed on. We told her she would be with Aunt Sue's dog Jasper and she would see all her "family" and all the other pets that have died and gone to heaven. That seem to help her a litle bit and she calmed down.

I guess it took about 15 min or so for the techs to get Brittany set up then they called us in the room. She was lying on a blanket on the floor and the girls got to say their goodbyes. I could tell Heather was alittle timid and she quickly hugged and kissed her and then Kaitlyn hugged her and the receptionist took them out to the waiting area. Then the vet told us what she would be doing - at that point I just got down on the floor and wrapped my arms around her and sobbed. So the vet went on to give her the sedative and then injected the anesthesia - as we sat there waiting Brittany almost seemed to perk up? We both looked and I was at this point a bit confused and asked exactly how long does this take? The vet looked confused as well and then said "hmmm this is odd? we have enough here that it should have worked - this has never happened before?" so now we are like WTF??? What do you mean this has never happened before? So she then stood up and told us she would be right back. We both sat there just staring at each other like WTF WTF WTF???? Then a few moments later the vet comes back in the room with another set of needles and then goes on to tell us "the first time the tech tried to get the iv in Brittany's front paw she tried to bite them so they had to use her back paw but for some reason it wasn't working - so we need you both to step out so we can put the iv in the front paw but we will need to muzzle her since she tried to bite". Ok so at this point now we are not only emotionally distraught we are totally PISSED OFF! So we both go out in the waiting area right outside the door and then a few moments later they call us back in and that is when I seriously thought Scott was going to deck the vet! He looked at her and said seriously how the hell can you screw this up???? So then she says "well what happened was since the dog tried to bit we had to use her back leg and there was a fatty cyst where the iv was placed so that is why it didn't work blah blah blah" so then Scott told her you know what this hospital is just one big screw up after another - we have had no good experiences here whatsoever when it comes to this dog - we can never get a straight answer, they give us wrong information and the list just goes on and on. Oh and not to mention they rob you freakin blind! So of course the vet is all flabbergasted and she keeps blinking her eyes really fast (I guess she thought Scott was going to flip his lid LOL!) but in all honestly he wasn't yelling or going crazy he was just simply telling her the hospital sucks plain and simple. This is one of the most emotional experiences to go through and we had to go through it twice :o(

So after all that was said and done the vet did her thing and our beautiful beast drifted away peacefully.

That's it. she is gone :o( and there is nothing I can do about it :o( I feel so out of control :o( I am not handling this well at all. My heart is broken. It is like I can still feel her in my house. I keep thinking I can hear here coming down the hall. When I look down off the side of my bed she is no longer there and it is killing me :o( I know in time my heart will heal but right now it just hurts so much. I will keep writing though about her - this blog, afterall, a way for me to keep my memories of her alive so my next entries will be happy ones I promise :o)

All we have left are our memories

We had to say goodbye to our beloved Brittany on Saturday, February 20. She hasn't been well for a while now and I guess it all just got to be too much for her. Saturday started out pretty much like any other day - Britts was acting her "normal" self - well what we would consider normal for her these days. She had been coughing alot through the night which had me quite upset but by the morning she seemed to settle down and was sleeping peacefully. I had to take the girls to a b/day party at 10 so we left and were gone for about 2 hours. Scott was home working on my car. When we came back home Britts was up and about wandering around the kitchen then she settled down on one of her favorite blankets and just relaxed while we did "whatever". See one of my favorite things about Brittany was that she LOVED her family - she loved being around everyone - she was not the kind of dog that would go off by herself and not want to be bothered she always wanted to be right near us and the closer the better :o) Anyway we went on with our day as usual and around dinner time I ran out to pick up some food for us (I don't like to cook on Saturday - for some reason it has become almost like rule in our house LOL) When I got back I had picked up Tai for Scott and I and Wendy's chicken nuggets and fries for the girls. During dinner - like usual - Brittany was very "spunky" she spent most of her time hanging over by the girls because she always knew they were the easiest victims when it came to stealing food LOL! They of course always shared with her - so she had some fries and a chicken nugget or two. Then Scott decided to mash up a meatball and mix that in with her dry food. She ate it all up - but I noticed she left most of the dry food behind (what a stinker). He then let her out in the yard to do what she had to do. But about 10 min later she was standing by the door again? So I let her out and sure enough she had to go and then she came back in. I guess it was about 8:30ish or so I decided I wanted to try to finish reading my book so I sat down in our back room and called Britts to come and sit next to me (the girls and Scott were in our bedroom watching tv and playing on the computer) so I figured Britts would probably rather lay out here with me where is was nice and quite so she could relax. Only she didn't want to lay down instead she seemed restless and she started to pace around. Soon after she looked like she was going to vomit - which is not unusual when she eats something she likes she tends to gulp her food and then she will sometimes throw up soon after so I just tried to coax her to go out in the yard that way she wouldn't throw up on the rug or floor. When she got outside she continued to dryheave but nothing would come up only mucous. That is when I started to get nervous - since we were told about the lung tumors back in October I dreaded the moment when she would start to have breathing issues. She wandered aimlessly through the yard dry heaving for at least 15 min. I tried my best to coax her back into the house finally I was able to get her back inside and she continued to walked around gagging and choking - of course I started shaking and poor Heather (our 8yr old daughter) started crying. Finally she layed down on the floor and it was then that we got really scared because she started almost gasping and looked like she was really struggling to breathe. So we packed everyone up and went off to the vet hospital.

Obedience school anyone?

Seems like whenever we would tell people we were looking to get a puppy the first thing they would say is "oh you definitely have to take them to obedience training school" then when we would tell random people the breed of dog we were getting they would really push the issue of training. So when Britts was about 12 weeks we signed her up at the local Vet hospital for their obedience classes. From what I can remember the class was for 1 hour every Wednesday night for about 6 weeks? Geez I cannot even remember for sure how long but 6 weeks sounds about right. I do have to admit I was pretty excited to start the classes I thought it would a great way to meet other "dog" people plus Britts was going to be a BIG dog and I really was worried I wouldn't be able to control her so this class was just what we needed.

On the first night we all just introduced ourselves and our puppy and the trainer just went over some basic things and then he took each of our dogs and got familiar with them. There were mostly large breeds in the class but the one dog that still sticks out to me was the little Yorkie that was there - amongst all these giant breeds there was this little itty bitty Yorkie! I often laugh to myself still thinking why in the world would this little guy need training - I mean all the woman had to do if the dog got out of control was put him in her purse LOL!

Anyway we were there to learn some basic commands (sit, stay, down, etc). We were also going to teach our dogs how to walk correctly on the leash. That was the main thing I was excited about because I had always envisioned me and Britts taking nice leisurely strolls around the neighborhood (oh yeah more on that subject later LOL). I am pretty sure the trainer would "train" for about 45 min and then the last 15 min of each class was dedicated to "free play" which basically meant we all let our pups off their leashes and let them just play and roll and run and carry on with each other (all except for that little Yorkie that poor little guy would have gotten trampled so he was not allowed to play LOL). There was a nice Rottie there (I am not a fan of the Rottie but this pup really impressed me - he was about 5 months old and just the most obedient sweet dog - he really did well learning his commands and he was just a nice dog all around) there was also another dog who I can still remember to this day - she was a 5 month old Newfoundland (I think I am spelling that right) her name was Abby - anyway she was gorgeous she was a reddish-brown and just looked like a big teddy bear. I also remember she immediately took an interest in Brittany (who BTW seemed to be alittle nervous around the others when it came to free play - she would tend to lag behind when the group was running and kind of stuck more by Scott and I rather than play with the others). One night when it was time for free play we took Brittany off her leash and immediately Abby came over to check out Britts. I never saw Britts sit so tall and still like that night LOL! It was the funniest sight she just sat there really tall and didn't move a muscle - only her eyes moved back and forth - she probably figured if she stayed really still and didn't make any sudden moves maybe that big brown pile of fur would go away LOL! Eventually as the weeks went on Britts played more and more and didn't seem as nervous. I guess she was coming into her own :o)

Throughout the class she did ok but honestly I didn't feel as if she really "learned" anything - she was pretty good with sitting when we would tell her to but as far as the walking on the leash ugh it was a disaster - still is 10 years later. She is just NOT good on the leash plain and simple. She pulls alot and if she sees something she wants forget it whoever is holding her leash is going for a ride LOL! I have been on plenty of "rides" with her that is why for the past oh 6 years she has been pretty much a "backyard" pooch - meaning we have a huge backyard which is all for Brittany - it is where she can run free and get all the exercise she needs. Scott on the other hand would still take her on the occasional walk - though over the past year that has really stopped because she has pretty bad arthritis in her back leg.

Brittany did end up receiving her "degree" from this obedience class but I would have to honestly say it really wasn't what I had envisioned it to be. Part of is was our fault since we didn't really reinforce any of the training techniques the trainer showed us but I just didn't feel like he really showed us all that much KWIM? I think if we were to get another Mastiff we would probably do more extensive training and possibly get a one-on-one trainer to work with us rather than going to a class with alot of other dogs - it seemed to be too much of a distraction for Brittany. But you live and learn right - all in all the class was fun and heck Britts did learn a few little things like how to sit really tall and still when a big hairy "beast" comes to check you out LOL!

So we did get the snow afterall

We probably got about 7 inches - not a ton but enough for Britts to enjoy herself. We are expecting more tomorrow - so that on top of what we already have should be good for some snow fun for the old girl :o)

I was thinking the other day about how fast 10 years have gone by. I'm sorry I spent so much time caught up in "every day life" to really enjoy what was important. I can't even really remember Brittany as a little pup - to me she has always been this 170lb "dog". Though just the other day I saw my neighbor across the street and suddenly remember how much he loved Britts when we brought her home. He kept stopping by to see her and I remember he was holding her and I was so worried he'd drop her! For some reason too he has an "odd" affect on her. She almost gets "giddy" when he is around LOL! It is like she has a crush on him or something. The funniest thing had to be about 5 years ago he stopped over with his wife and we were all standing in our home theater room when in comes Brittany she walks over to Larry all excited and then proceeds to pee all over his foot!!! OMG I didn't know whether to laugh or be angry with her but it was just so funny! Why in the world she did that we have no idea - Larry just laughed and said no big deal but I know Scott was so embarassed - poor Brittany was banished to kitchen LOL!!!

Maybe some snow?

Well supposedly we are going to get hit with some big snowstorm this weekend. However as the time is drawing nearer to actual start of the snow to accumulations have suddenly started to drop - why am I not surprised? The weather people I think get a thrill out of getting everyone in an uproar and oh yeah I think they have some sort of deal going with all the grocery stores as well - cause you know when people think "snow" they immediately need to run out and clean off the bread and milk shelves LOL!

I am not a huge fan of the winter - but I do like a good "snowstorm". Brittany has always loved the snow. I remember the first time we took her out in the snow. She was only about 9 or 10 weeks. We took her to this bike trail and we thought oh how fun we would try out her new leash and take her for a walk on this trail. Oh sure - good plan right? well Brittany didn't think so - as a matter of fact she didn't like that idea at all and decided she wasn't going to walk to we had to take turns carrying her. Now when you think "puppy" you think aawwwww this little itty bitty puppy that can fit in your pocket. Well WRONG when it comes to the mastiff puppy. I always remember my mother seeing her for the first time and saying "OMG she is so cute but that's a puppy???" LOL! Anyway our 9 week old puppy had to weigh probably about 25 lbs so imagine carrying a 25 lb pup who has no "control" meaning she can hold on to you so you have to try to maneuver (sp?) yourself so you can hold on to her while you are trying not to slip and fall - actually it is pretty funny now thinking back of course it wasn't all that funny then. By the time we got back to the car we were both out of breath and poor Brittany was shivering - we hurried up and got her in the car and wrapped her in a blanket. We couldn't wait to get her home and get her all toasty warm!

Funny how over the years she really has adapted to the snow - she LOVES it! when she goes out for the first time after the newly fallen snow is on the ground she gets almost "giddy" she will gallop along and dig her face into it and come up with the "beard of snow" she really loves it. I think over the years that has been my favorite part of the snow is seeing her enjoying herself in it. Even now she is old and really on her last leg but she will still seem to turn into a puppy when it snows! I feel this weekend might be her last "snow" so I hope it is a good one and I hope my sweet gal has the time of her life and gallops to her hearts content :o)

I'm going to jump forward for a moment

When I thought of writing this blog about Brittany I wanted to do it because I wanted to somehow try and keep my memories of her not only in my head but down on paper (that way even when I am older and "forgetful" I can always go back and read about her). So alot of what I am writing happened maybe 10 years ago maybe 5 years ago, etc. However, today I wanted to write about something that is happening right now. Brittany is not doing well :o( We have known since October that she has tumors in her lungs. When she first got sick the vet told us she had maybe 2 weeks. That was almost 4 months ago. Unfortunately the past week or so she has been sort of going downhill. She is coughing ALOT and it is a very non-productive type of a cough (meaning she is not coughing any up even though she sounds extremely "mucousy" - sorry if I didn't spell that right). Anyway this past week me and Scott have been talking about what we are going to do since she really does not sound well and she looks like she has lost even more weight (don't forget this is a dog that once weighed 175lbs - when we took her to the vet in Feb of last year she was 165 when we took her back in Oct she was down to 136 :o( I don't even know what she is now. She is having trouble getting up now too - not all the time but sometimes so I have to help her. She limps alot as well and we are not sure if it is just her artheritis or if it is something more serious. When we found out she had the lung tumors back in October we decided to just take her home. We didn't want to put her through any painful testing or procedures. She is a 10 year old Mastiff - lifespans for the Mastiff is 8-10 years. why should we put her through any kind of testing or treatments that will make her sick at this stage of her life - I know the vets try to push the chemo but really what will that give her another month? We just couldn't do that to her. We really thought we were going to loose her shortly after that vet visit in October but she is still here - unfortunately like I said she has been deteriorating. I can't begin to describe the sadness I am feeling - I can't even talk about it with anyone without tearing up. At home I will literally sit and sob. I never in a million years thought something like this would hit me so hard but I feel as if this is going to kill me. She is my pal. We had her before we had our girls. My house is not going to be the same without her :o( I am not sure when we will take her - I really hoped she would just go to sleep one night on her blanket and pass away peacefully but somehow I don't think that is going to happen. I don't want her to suffer and I don't want it to get to the point where this poor sweet dog is gasping for breath. But I keep thinking who am I to decide "when" she should die? This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. I do plan to continue telling the stories of Brittany because as I said I want to keep my memories written down somewhere so when I am old and gray I can go back and read about my sweet girl. I always said all Brittany wants is love - that's it- just love and oh yeah any extra food off your plate that you don't want :o)

I was just thinking

after reading my last post I was just thinking how up until about 3 years ago Brittany would always end up sleeping on our bed. She would find her way up there and get nice and comfy - she didn't care either if she had to lay on top of me or Scott - she just wanted to be on the bed with us. I remember a few times Scott would wake up short of breath only to find the reason he couldn't breathe was because the dog has her head lying across his neck LOL! Or I would wake up to see Britts sleeping right inbetween us with her head on the pillow. The worst though would be when she would dream - she would start "running" in her sleep and would kick the heck out of me all night! I would sometimes stack up some pillows so if she did start running I wouldn't take such a beating LOL! On a few occasions I remember Scott storming out of the bedroom with his pillow and going to sleep on the couch and under his breath muttering "this is bullshit" LOL! That all ended though when our new bed was delivered. We went from a Queen size to a King size and the mattress we bought was very high off the floor so there is no way Brittany can get herself up there (especially not now she is over 10 yrs old and is really showing her age these days) but I know if she could she would be up there in a heartbeat snoring away :-)and of course I would welcome my sweet girl :-)

Ahhhh the "crate"

Well it is easy to say that life with our pup was certainly alot different than life with no pup LOL! We now had this little sweet puppy who totally depended on us for everything. Luckily Scott was working nights so he was home all day with her and then I was home all night so she never really was left alone.

When we first thought about getting a puppy everyone was adament about "crate" training and told us oh it is the best thing to do and if you don't you are crazy blah blah blah. So we took their advice (who were "they" anyway I cannot even remember LOL) and the night we bought our puppy we also bought the biggest most expensive crate we could find. We came home that first night and set that crate up and thought oh yeah this is gonna work - this will be sweet Brittany's home away from home - a place where she can retreat for some R&R and some privacy - oh yeah SURE!! Let's just say the first night in the crate was perfect - we didn't hear a peep out of her. The second night was not so bad either maybe just a little whimper here and there. We actually thought this is kind of odd - aren't puppies notorious for keeping everyone awake during the night? Well yeah our sweet little bundle decided to wait til that third night to show her true "nighttime" colors. She probably figured by this time we were totally in love with her so alittle "crying" during the night couldn't hurt. So that is just what she did - she barked and she whimpered and she "cried" on and off for most of the night. I of course would get up and go out into the dining room (that is where we kept her crate since at that time we had no furniture in there) and make sure she was ok - I would stick my hand in the crate and pet her and just as she would settle down I would head back to bed only to get nice and comfortable under the covers when the barking and crying and whimpering would start up again. Of course Scott slept right through all that. Funny how a guy can do that - sleep right through anything that happens during the night? Crying babies or crying dogs nope they sleep right through it. I guess their hearing is not as good as ours LOL!.

So let's say by 5am I was just at the end of my rope I was SO tired plus I felt horrible :o( I felt like here we just ripped this poor puppy away from her mom and brothers and sisters and the only life she knew and threw her in this crate in this empty room all by herself - how cruel!!! So you can all guess what I did next - I know someone who tries to be "logical" and do the right thing I did the totally wrong thing - I let that little darling fuzzy puppy out of her cage and let her follow me down to our room and into our bed. I know BADDDDDD thing to do but really I just couldn't help myself. Of course as soon as she got herself settled nice and snuggly between us with her head on the pillow she was snoring in no time! And I too was able to go to sleep (not knowing that this particular "scene" you know with her nice and snuggly between us with her head on the pillow would be going on for the next 7 years!!!)

getting to know our new puppy :o)

the first few days with our pup were pretty much a blur. We did have to come up with a name for her - we tossed around a few ideas (I had really liked Gretchen but Scott didn't) so eventually we came up with His Majesty's Sweet Dreams Brittany (we call her Brittany or Brits and now sometimes "Brittles" :o) His Majesty's represents His Majesty's Mastiffs (they are the breeders - Eva and George - who we got our pup from - and once again they are awesome and even now 10 years later we still keep in touch with them :o) I actually came up with the "sweet dreams" part because when Scott and I were first married he worked nights (10pm-6am) - the first 4.5 years we were married we lived in an apartment so I was not too nervous to stay alone all night but then when we bought our house I was a wreck. Seriously we lived in our house for alittle over a year before we got Brittany and in that year I might have slept maybe 3 hours each night - I was scared plain and simple to sleep there alone. We live in a really nice area too but yea I was scared so I guess I would fall asleep around 11-12am and then I was wide awake again at 2am and I would stay up pretty much til around 5 and then I would fall back asleep just in time to wake up for work (rolleyes). I knew every single show that was on from 2-5am LOL! I even found this old cartoon Wait Til Your Father Gets Home that I used to watch when I was kid they were showing it on Cartoon Network and I actually used to look forward to watching it in the middle of the night! Anyway once Brittany came to live with us all of a sudden my "fears" were gone. How can that be I mean she is just an 8 week old pup but for some reason I just felt "safer" with her there. As the years went on you can see why as at her top weight she was about 175 lbs!!! She was and still is my best pal and my protector :o)

But getting back to the first few days as I said in my previous entry we had to introduce her to Samantha our "attack" cat - that made me alittle nervous because I really didn't know how either would react - though I was pleasantly surprised to see that Brittany really didn't give a hoot at all about the cat and the cat - well she was very "cautious" she would walk around the pup with her back arched (she was declawed so we didn't have to worry about her hurting the puppy) but she remained pretty "civil" towards Brittany thank goodness. Of course there were the few minor scuffles - you know like when the cat would sit in the hallway and wouldn't let poor Britts go by - and this is when Brittany was older too she wasn't a little pup anymore LOL! Samantha would sit in the hallway and when Britts tried to pass she would bat her really fast with her one paw and poor Britts would run the other way LOL (big attack dog right LOL!) I also remember a time when my parents were over and all of a sudden we see Samantha racing through the living room jumping over the couch and hiding behind it within seconds Brittany was right behind her she actually jumped up on the couch and all we could see was this little black paw popping up batting the air LOL! I look over and my mother is crying I was like WTH??? why are you crying?? "because that dog is going to hurt the cat" and I laughed and said "that dog" will never catch the cat LOL! and they were not hurting each other they did that all the time - not once did the dog or cat ever show any "real" aggression towards each other. On the other hand the cat did show aggression towards Scott all the time LOL!! But that is another story entirely :o) (to be continued)

closer to finding our puppy :o)

So like I said in my first entry I worked for an Animal Health company so I had access to alot of different Dog magazines - Dog Fancy was one that I loved to read so I started looking through the section where they named some different breeders and I found a breeder in Maryland (I think that is where it was sorry it was 10 years ago so my memory is alittle foggy on all the little details). Since Maryland is drivable from NJ I figured what the heck so I called the number and ended up speaking to a woman who told me she didn't have any pups available at that time but she did know of someone in NJ that she knew to be a reputable breeder and that had pups available. She gave me the number and I quickly called and that is the first time I spoke to Eva. She was so nice on the phone and she told me she did have 3 pups still available so we set up a day and time to go see the pups. We were so excited - it took us about 1.5 hours to get to the house and when we got there we were invited in and we talked with Eva and George for a little while and then they brought in the "dad" of the litter. He was beautiful! I can still remember him - he walked into the living room and he looked like a big teddy bear. He has the kindest face and he walked over to me and I would be lying if I didn't say I was nervous honestly I had never seen a dog that big in person LOL! He came over to me sat down and put his head on my knee and at that moment I KNEW I had to have one of these dogs. Eva then brought out the "granddad" he too was awesome - my husband still talks about him and always says when we do get another mastiff if it is a male he wants to name him Virgil after that gorgeous dog. We also got to meet the "mom" who was also just beautiful. Then Eva and George brought out the 3 pups they had left :o) These were the 3 biggest cutest puppies I had ever seen. If I could have I would have taken all three LOL!!! They were just soooo cute and "warm" and they had that puppy smell and they were all really tired looking LOL! We decided that since we liked all 3 that we would let the pups decide - we sat on the floor and we waited to see which pup "picked" us - and sure enough the biggest of the 3 came wandering over and sat down and just hung by us the rest of the time. The other 2 came around as well but this one in particular was the "one" - though honestly I didn't think we were actually buying right at that moment until Scott said "ok I guess we will take this one right?" OMG I was SO happy!! But I was nervous too - isn't it funny how you could want something SO bad and then when you finally get it you all of a sudden become nervous? So we took care of all the sale "details" and then we were off with our new pup. Only we didn't even have all the "supplies" we would need for her so Eva and George said they would come with us to the local pet store because they needed a few things so they would help us get the things we were going to need (didn't I say they were awesome) what a totally "different" experience than the first attempt we had at buying a Mastiff LOL! At least here there were no swan/duck like things chasing Scott around the yard (hehehe!!! I swear I still cannot tell that story without laughing - mostly because he didn't think it was funny not then and not now LOL!)

At the petstore we ended up buying the food we would need along with a collar and the all important "crate". Ah yes the crate - we were all gung-ho about the "crate" training (which lasted all of about 2 days LOL! see can you tell already I am a total pushover for this dog??) My sister laughs because just the other day I told her I think I have found my "passion" in life (of course my 2 girls are my passion) but I also think that the Mastiff is my passion - she said I could have told you that 10 years ago LOL! Anyway after we bought all our supplies we thanked George and Eva and we headed home with our brand new addition :o) I held her on my lap the whole 1.5 hours and I'd be lying if I didn't say by the time we got home my arms hurt - I mean who's arms wouldn't be sore after holding a 22 lbs puppy for 1.5 hours :o)

The best part was we hadn't told anyone we were buying the pup - so no one knew we had her except for us. So when we got home Scott set up the "crate" and we tried to get her familiar with some of the house. Now there is one part I forgot to mention and that is Samantha. Who was Samantha - well Samantha otherwise knons as "the beast" was our little black cat. Who BTW was not your average cat. Nope unfortunately Samantha was one of the meaniest cats on earth and how we ever got so lucky as to own her is beyond me. I have no idea why she was so mean since everyone knows my pets are treated with the utmost kindness - for heaven's sake these animals are treated better than some of the people in my life LOL! So anyway we have this really mean cat and now this new puppy so we have to try to introduce them to each other without the cat going beserk! (more to come so stay tuned :O)

continuing our story

so in my last entry I ended at us calling the number in the paper about the mastiff pups for sale. I spoke to the woman who was the so-called "breeder" and we set up a time we could go down to her place to see the pups. I was VERY excited as you can imagine and so was my husband (even though he tried to play it "cool" - I knew he was excited simply because he ran to the bank and withdrew the $800 in cash - oh yeah that is what the woman was asking for the pups $800 which right there should have sent up a red flag but really what did I know? I thought WOW that is a real bargain LOL!) The day we were going to see the pups I got out of work alittle bit early and we headed down to the woman's house (which luckily was only about a hour away from where we lived). Now mind you this was January and it was EXTREMELY cold so when we got to the woman's home we expected to be "seeing" the puppies inside the house. Nope WRONG! These little pups were being kept outside in the yard - they were in a fenced in enclosure and there was a little dog house with a "heat lamp" in it. Right there I was turned off - not that I am bashing anyone who keeps their dogs outside - I mean that is what some people choose to do I guess I was just turned off because it was FREEZING outside and the dead of winter and these were just 8 week old pups. Moving on we looked at the pups and they were all pretty cute only they were a bit on the scrawny side - all but one - he was pretty hefty looking and the breeder proudly told us "he's the biggest he weighs 16 lbs!" now not knowing a whole lot about mastiff puppy "sizes" and really what should be the healthy weights at a certain age we thought ok he looks good so hmmm maybe we will take him only to find out that he wasn't for sale. Ok WTH? Then why show us him? The breeder told us that someone has already come and put a deposit on him BUT if we really wanted him we could have him. Uh ok I thought the reason you put a deposit on something is so someone can't snatch it out from under you? That didn't sit too well either. But he was pretty cute and I really did want a puppy so before we said we wanted him we asked if we could see the mom and dad - which according to the woman when I spoke to her on the phone were "on the premises". Only somehow now that we wanted to see them miraculously she didn't remember telling us that both parents were there - only the mom - the dad was somewhere in LBI??? HUH? Well whatever we thought ok let us see the mom. Now from what I read and from what people have told me that the way you can sort of predict what the temperment of the puppy will be is to "meet" the parents - if the mom and dad dogs are approachable and "nice" then most likely the pups will follow suit. Well here that didn't seem to be the case. We were not allowed near the mom (who BTW was chained up way in the back of the yard). There was also another Mastiff over to the other side of the yard who we were not allowed to go near either because apparently he had been abused and didn't like strangers :o( So ok now I am really getting turned off and I think my husband probably would have left even sooner had I not been asking some questions. We decided to talk privately so we took a little walk across the yard and now here comes the part that even 10 years later when I think about it I start laughing out loud. As we are walking we come across what looked to be a giant swan of some sort - so my husband (oh my gosh now I am laughing) decides he is going to try to pet this thing and just as he is reaching out to pet this swan-like duck thing the woman yells NOOOOOOO!!! Don't touch him!!! and with that this ducky thing raises it wings (and now it looks huge) and kind of lurches forward and starts chasing poor Scott through the yard. He is running like hell and I am just standing there not know whether to laugh or somehow try to help him!!! Eventually this duck/swan got tired and stopped chasing him and wandered back wherever the heck it came from. I think it was at that point that we both decided that this was not the person or place we wanted to buy our puppy from. We didn't want to totally insult the woman so we just told her we needed to think about it some more and that we would contact her. She proceeded to follow us to the car telling us how that pup would be gone and how it's now or never blah blah blah. But we stuck to our guns and we told her we would call her (which of course we never did). One thing too I forgot to mention was this woman was also supposedly breeding Labs and Rottweilers. There were also about 50 cats roaming around the "grounds" as well. It just didn't sit well - even though it killed me to leave those puppies in her hands. Honestly if I could I would have taken them all (I believe there were 8 total). But I think we made the right decision in not taking the pup. I had hoped to be driving away with a puppy in my arms but the more I thought about the more I realized with a dog this size we REALLY needed to go to a reputable breeder - one that really cared about their dogs and one that we could trust to help us if we needed and one that was honest and just flat out a loving dog owner - not just in it for the $$$. And lucky for us about a week later we found that person :o) (to be continued)

From the beginning

I am semi-new to this blogging "thing" so I hope you can all bear with me til I really get my "mojo" going LOL! I have decided to start this blog just so I can document my life for the past 10 years with my "beautiful beast". I wanted somewhere I could come and just jot down all my memories past/present of her and hopefully give a few people a good laugh because hell knows we can all use one now and again and I think my sweet girl can provide that (I know she does for me).

Anyway a funny thing happened to me about 10 years ago - I bought my very first Mastiff. I had always been an animal lover and have always wanted a dog from the time I was little only for some reason my parents never thought it was a good idea to have a dog. I mean really what is a family without a dog right? Well a family without a dog was my family LOL!

So when I "grew up" I figured ok so I will probably get married, buy a house and then finally get to have my dog. And pretty much that is how it went down. We were in our house for maybe a year when my "need to have a dog" itch got SOOO overwhelming that I was becoming unbearable. And I swear at that point I would have taken anything - anything with fur and 4 legs that barked yup I would have taken. I was that desperate LOL! My husband on the other hand had different ideas. He had worked a few years for a private company and the owner of the company had a dog called a Neopolitan Mastiff. My husband was beyond impressed with this dog and often brought up the name when we would talk about getting a dog of our own. When I new the time was drawing near I decided to start doing some research on the "Neo" - needless to say I was not too impressed. I thought they were ok looking but I was alittle hesitant when I read all the information on them - though they are a good family dog for the most part they are alittle on the "tough" side and that kind of intimidated me. Also they were VERY expensive and honestly I had no idea where to even start looking for a breeder because 10 years ago they really weren't all that popular. So I kind of "nixed" the idea of that particular dog but in doing my research on the Neo I happened to come across the "English" Mastiff (which BTW is now known as simply the Mastiff). The more I read the more I absolutely HAD to have one. I printed out all kinds of materials on the Mastiffs and brought them home for Scott to read. He too was very impressed and that is when decided this was the dog for us. (I should mention that back about 2 years prior we had seen a Mastiff pup in one of the local pet stores so we knew what the pups looked like only at that time we knew nothing about the breed). So now that we decided we wanted one we now had to find a breeder to buy a puppy from which 10 years ago was not easy because again the Mastiff was not a very popular breed. Luckily at that time I was working for an Animal Health company and I was in the department that dealt with Heartworms/Fleas and Ticks and all that good stuff - so I had plenty of dog literature to look through to try and find us a breeder. I also kept checking the local newspaper and hoped to get lucky and one day low and behold I see an add "Mastiff pups for sale" and I immediately called the number! (more to come :o)