Neuman Throws a Party!

Well, I'm catching up after a rather long hiatus! So, what's happened in the past month? I went to Pool School and we went on vacation for two weeks to New Smyrna Beach, Florida. They have a great dog beach there that I'll tell you all about later.

The Sunday before we left, however, my buddy Neuman threw a party. OK. So he didn't really throw a party. His parents invited my parents and me to meet him at K9 Kingdom for Small Paws Sunday! K9 Kingdom is an indoor doggie adventure park and they set aside 1/2 of the park for small dogs on Sunday mornings.

When I got there do you know what the first thing I saw was? Neuman looking out the window of the play area waiting for me! He's such a good buddy.

Anyway, we had tons of fun chasing each other around and playing on the obstacles. We even held a "ferocious face" contest. As you can see in the photo above, we can both look pretty ferocious if we try. I think that this contest was a draw. What do you think?

Well, I'd better go so that I can work on my ferocious faces. I want to win next time!

New Toy Day, Small Dog Social and Pool School!

Well, life certainly has been busy. Which is why I haven’t blogged in a few (several!) days!
But life is slowing down and I’m back on the computer.

Yesterday was Sunday so that means it was New Toy Day for Gidget! Some people who know me in person have asked me if every Sunday is New Toy Day or if it’s just some Sundays. Let’s set the record straight – it is every Sunday. My mom once read that you should keep puppies interested by rotating toys in and out of the toy box. Glad she read that article!

Yesterday’s toy was a rope tug toy with two rope loops with a tennis ball on each loop! Wow! There’s nothing I love more than tennis balls and tug toys. Except squeaky toys, of course. I love a good squeaky toy!

Yesterday was also Small Dog Social at Animal Friends! I love Small Dog Socials even more than squeaky toys! When we pull into the parking lot, my parents get me out of the car and I race to the door so that I can see my buddy, Newman. That’s a picture of us playing at the top of this post.

Newman is a nine-month-old pug and he’s a lot of fun. But I think he’s losing interest in me. We used to spend the entire hour playing, but yesterday he spent a lot of time playing with another pug! You didn’t see me playing with the other two cocker spaniels did you? No you didn’t! Next Sunday, we’re going to a new place to play and Newman will be there. Hopefully, he’ll only want to play with me again!

This week promises to be exciting. I have my usual Puppy Training class with Brett at Misty Pines Dog Park on Thursday, but I’ll also be learning to swim! Tomorrow evening Brett is teaching a swim class! Mommy calls it “Pool School" and thinks I need it before we go on vacation to the beach in a few weeks.

The high temperature will only be in the 60s tomorrow. To me, that sounds like perfect swimming weather. But Mommy says she’s glad Daddy offered to take me to Pool School since the handlers get wet too. I even have a really cool bright orange swim vest to wear!

Caught in a Quiet Moment

Here I am with my brother Simon - caught in a quiet moment. I'm the little one. As you can probably tell from the picture, Simon is my best buddy. Isn't he handsome?

Simon is also an American Cocker Spaniel. He's about eight million years old and has a giant head. Our parents adopted him from Oldies But Goodies Cocker Spaniel Rescue in Northern Virginia five and a half years ago. I don't know why Simon ended up in rescue because he's a very nice dog and, as we've already established, quite handsome.

Simon is also quite patient and he puts up with a lot from me. Although I am cute as a button, I can be a bit obnoxious. I want to play, play, play all day and Simon wants to sleep, sleep sleep the day away. But if I decide to take a nap and I snuggle up to Simon, he usually lets me. Once or twice he's even snuggled up with me. I'm one lucky pup!

Racing Through Life on Three Paws

Yep! That's an action photo of me Racing Through Life on Three Paws. You can hardly tell I only have three legs!

People are always wondering if I really can do everything that a dog with four legs can do. If the photo above isn't proof, I don't know what is.

Sundays are always special days at my house. Also known as "New Toy Day", every Sunday I get a new toy when I wake up. This week's toy was a plush popcorn box filled with white fuzzy popcorn. It's got a great squeaker! I love a good squeaky toy!

I get to go on field trips every Sunday too. Sometimes we go to the park. Once we even went to a a special park just for dogs. But some Sundays are extra special. That's because I get to go to a Small Dog Social at Animal Friends!

Every dog at the Social weighs 25 pounds or less so none of us get run over by the big guys. I have bunches of friends there and love to play with them. There's lots of running and jumping, and you've never seen anything until you've seen a pack of small dogs racing around the room.

The picture above was taken at this past Sunday's Small Dog Social. No one at the Socials pities me because I only have three legs; they've seen me in action and know that I can do anything that a four-legged dog can do - and I may even do it better!

Hello Citizens of Cyberspace!

The first thing everyone asks when they see me hopping around is "What's her name?" I think that people expect a name like "Tripod", which is cute, but my people chose to call me "Gidget", after the spunky young girl in those old surf movies. Like her, I am eager to try new challenges and I don't let anything hold me back from enjoying life.

The second question is "What happened to her?" Well, my front right leg was broken in an accident and I was surrendered to Animal Friends, a no-kill shelter in Pittsburgh. The nice people at Animal Friends took me to a specialist at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialists and he decided that the because of my age (just 11 weeks old at the time) and the damage to the leg, the best thing to do would be to amputate my leg at the shoulder. So, one day I went to sleep with four legs and woke up short one "armleg".

When I was discharged from the hospital, I went to live with a nice man and lady with another cocker spaniel named Simon. This nice family was providing a foster home while I recovered from surgery. My foster parents fell in love with me immediately. I can't say that Simon felt the same way. He's quite elderly and was not prepared for a young puppy with so much energy. But he slowly succumbed to my charms.

For several weeks after the amputation life was good. Then one day my foster dad took me back to Animal Friends. I don't remember much about that day except that I was very sad and lonely, and apparently I must have broken something else because another doctor "fixed" me that day. I'm not sure what he did but at least this time when I woke up I still had all my legs!

The next day life turned around for me again. My foster parents came back to the shelter and said they were taking me home. But first we had to make a stop a place called the Adoption Desk where Mommy and Daddy signed lots of papers and a nice lady named Beth put some extra tags on my collar. Then Beth made an announcement over the loudspeaker and told everyone in the building the I'd found my "forever home". I officially had a family again!

So, it cost me an armleg (Get it? hahaha) to get here, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Check back soon. I lead an exciting life and now that the boring details are out of the way I can start blogging about Racing Through Life on Three Paws!

I'll be writing more about my adventures, Animal Friends, www.thinkingoutsidethecage.org, and Oldies But Goodies Cocker Spaniel Rescue, www.cockerspanielrescue.com, a non-profit breed rescue organization where my adopted brother Simon came from.