After 1 Week in NY

Lola has been getting along well with the other 3 dogs in the house.  A few scuffles, but nothing too bad.  Took her out to a field the other day to run around off leash, and boy was she exhausted!

Happy Howl-o-ween!

Almost Done Packing

Lola is pooped after a grueling 5 hours of watching me pack, too bad there's another 4-5 hours ahead!  She'll probably go crazy tomorrow when I take all the boxes out and the apartment has next to nothing left in it.

That Funny Lil' Lola O' Mine

So, Lola has been angry since I sold the couch since she has "no place" to lay down.  So today I took some of my extra bed pillows and a fleece blanket and made a makeshift couch or at least put them down where the couch was.  She immediately went over and passed out there after our walk today.

Lola on the couch while Arrested Development was on.

The new "couch."  She was passed out and buried her nose in the blanket until I touched my camera phone, then she sat up to look at me.  But she's been sleeping there all day since I made this for her.

Furniture

Sold my couch and chair today.  Lola was at first upset I covered the couch with a blanket after I cleaned it (trying to get most of her dog hair off).  Then she got comfortable laying on the very soft blanket I'd spread there (but only AFTER I showed her it was OK to sit on).  She dug around at it trying to fluff it up or something.  She was pretty upset when the nice family came to take it away.  I don't think she misses the chair much, but she liked to sleep on the couch while I do work.  Oh well, I'll put some pillows down over there so she still has some place comfy to lay.  Right now I've dragged my dresser out of my room so that in 20 minutes when the family I sold it to comes to get it, they don't need to go in my bedroom again and I can gate Lola in it.  (The wife is afraid of dogs.)

Farmville

So, I'll admit, I play Farmville on Facebook.  I was looking to see what this week's mystery prizes were, and I was surprised to see this:  

Unreleased Lobster Corgi for Farmville by Zynga.

 Apparently the animated version has the corgi wagging it's nub/lobster tail.

Lola HATES Light and Fraps

 

Lola indulging in some chocolate flakes if she can get them.  She doesn't like being observed while having some chocolate.

 

FRAP!

 

Some weird light on the wall.

 

More weird light.

Showing the Apartment

Today, the first person to come look at the apartment to rent it after I move out came over.  She was nice.  Lola was very polite, got a little anxious when the lady walked back to the bedroom or any time I didn't keep myself between Lola and the woman.  Not that Lola would ever try to attack or bite her, she was pretty happy to hang out in my lap or around my feet while the woman poked around.

Happy 3rd Birthday Lola!

What's going on? (Notice her back foot, it's actually sticking out to the side while her other drummie is straight back.)

Oooh, a shiny new name tag with some bling, that way, no matter where I go, people will know I'm an LA girl.

Hurry and take the photo, I have a new toy to destroy in 3... 2... 1...

Herding Instincts

There's a Texas BBQ around the corner from my apartment and they have a slightly smaller than lifesize cow statue that they put out when they're open.  When Lola was a puppy she used to try to nip its heels.  We haven't walked by it in a long time (we usually go for walks in the other direction where there's less traffic and it's quieter - more of a suburban neighborhood in the other direction), but I took her by the cow again for the first time in a long time and she still barked at it and tried to nip its heels.  Haha, I'd love to see her with real cows (or sheep).  Tomorrow the Bean turns the big THREE and will no longer be a puppy, though I doubt she'll act like an adult...

My parents got a new dog (a Parson Russell mix), they adopted him today (so we'll celebrate that as his birthday since we don't know when he was born), but he's about 7.  He's black and white, my sister texted me a picture.  His name is Satchamo, but I plan to call him Satchmo, and I think they're going to call him Satch.  He seems to be well trained (yay!) and since my parents have another dog Sadie and my sister (who lives home) has a dog Abby (both PRTs), he'll be well socialized.  I guess Sadie is "angry" there's a new dog and she's missing out on her 10 naps a day, lol.  No conflicts, but I think Sadie is used to being the "new" dog and therefore the center of attention.  It'll be CRAZY next month when Lola and I go back... granted, it's a nice size house, but 4 people and 4 dogs... I don't think there's enough room on the couch!

No walk today, tomorrow though for sure.  We did a long walk yesterday (around 3 miles), and we'll do a long one tomorrow (maybe not quite the same route).  Normally, I wouldn't consider 3 miles a long walk, but Lola's front left elbow didn't form 100% correctly.  She walks fine on it, but when she's tired you can hear her joint crack (sort of like when you crack your knuckles - same sound).  No walk today because it's still been cracking.  Usually we only go 1.5-2 miles and every 4th day rest, but it's been cooler so Lola's wanted to go on longer walks.  Still, I know that if her joint deteriorates more, it'll be a few thousand dollars for them to go in and repair it.  Right now it's not bad enough for them to do it, but it'll happen eventually, I'm sure.  I actually found out about it because I was trying to get Lola up to pace to go running with me, and I noticed that after runs her joint was always cracking all the time.  So no more running for Lola.  Now that we only walk,  it doesn't always crack, luckily, but when it does after a night's sleep, I know we can't go for a walk that day.  Poor Lola... But then again, she seems happy to laze about the apartment for the day anyway.

Camera Shy

Polski

I started practicing my Polish today.  Just learning some salutations and the verbs być and mieć (to be and to have).  Lola thinks it's funny, I think, the way I sound when I speak Polish.  Next time I call my Aunt Edith, I'll have to great her in Polish (since I know she speaks it very well).

Upcoming birthday!

Lola's birthday is less than a week away!  She'll be 3 on September 27!  I'm excited.  I got her a new collar and name tag (a little more glitzy this time around).  It's finally getting cooler out here in LA, so I've been able to walk Lola in the mornings and on longer walks.  She's been pretty content to sleep her days away now - I assume she's entering that adult phase of her life.  I'll be sure to post a picture of her in her new collar next week.  I've let her sniff it and I've fitted it to her, but we're still using the old one.

In the meantime, no job leads... so Lola and I will be moving back in with my parents next month :(  Well, at least I'll get to enjoy fall this year for a change and Lola will probably enjoy the much cooler weather and having other dogs to hang out with.

I've also been working on the family tree a bit more, got some stuff about my mom's grandparents and am trying to track down their parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.  It's been going alright.  I have a few people I want to call and ask some questions of, even if they can't give details, knowing there's someone to look out for there is very useful too!  For example, I found Emma Parry's obituary and she died in 1941 and had 6 grandchildren.  Well, knowing how many kids and when they were born, 5 of those 6 were my grandmother and her older sister and 3 younger brothers... that meant obviously that Emma's son also had a child before 1941 (just 1, but he might have had more after).  So knowing he was probably married, I managed to find his wedding announcement to Genevieve Buckley in 1939.  Not sure what their child's name was or how many more they had after 1941, but... Aunt Jean's daughter's godparents are Uncle Joey (her brother - whose last name is not Parry) and a Mrs. Joseph Parry (perhaps the wife of her cousin AKA the 6th grandchild of Emma).  Of course, Mrs. Joseph Parry might not even be related at all, who knows.  I assume she didn't ask my grandmother (her sister) to be godmother because my grandmother just had a baby a few months earlier?  Things to speculate on for sure.

derp

Lola's derp face.

I always laugh when I see this picture.  Poor Lola, this is her first time in NY and therefore right after our very LONG flight across the country back to NY.  She'd never flown before (and it was my first time traveling with a dog, she went as cargo because she was too big to be in cabin).  So she looks really stressed out since this was just after we got to the house and she met my sister's dog Abby for the first time.

Abby

Lola was still suffering from a fungal infection at the time, so she had some fur loss on her face around her eyes (they were constantly tearing up and her ears were getting a lot of wax build up really quickly).  Luckily, the vet my parents use actually prescribed something which cleared it up (unlike my own vet, who thought mange, and then ring worm - although the 2 weeks of anti-fungal pills for the ring-worm did clear up the problem temporarily).

Lola does much better traveling by plane now, not that I do it too often, but I think she's figured out I'll always be on the other end anxiously waiting to get her back and free her from the crate.  I'm always a nervous wreck, I love when I can watch them put her on the plane, that way I know she didn't get left behind or get on the wrong plane.  Never had a problem, but I've heard horror stories from other dog owners.

On a rather different note, I've been working on my family tree (mostly focusing on my dad's side, since Mom's side actually is fairly well documented - they liked joining things like Daughters of the Revolution and the Mayflower, etc).  So I've been talking to semi-distant relatives for the 1st time ever - people I didn't even know existed!  I've also decided I want to learn some rudimentary Polish.  I'll have to struggle on my own for a while, but maybe once I build up some vocab and some basic grammatical knowledge I'll take a class or hire a tutor or something.  Not sure.  For now I got these books: Spoken Word: Polish and Barron's 301 Polish Verbs (I wonder why not 501 like most of their other verb books?  I have their French and German, I've found them useful, so I figure this would be too).  I know how much Lola enjoys listening to foreign or semi-foreign (after all, Old English eventually became Modern English even if it sounds and looks very different) languages.  I did get her a new toy though: Hide-a-Squirrel, she's liked the bird and bee versions, figured I'd get the squirrels.  Abby really liked hers.  I'm hoping the toy will occupy her while I job hunt and work on my Polish.  Hopefully I'll eventually get good enough to be able to browse through birth records back in Poland to further research my dad's side of the family.

Flowers

Lola always stops to smell the flowers, and sometimes she lays in them.  She was always interested in my potted plants, but she's also interested in the neighbors' gardens.

 Luckily, this morning's walk seems to have pooped her out completely, so I might give her the day off tomorrow.  In the meantime, I'm trying to get Lola excited about moving, even though I don't know where we're moving to right now (depends on if and where I get a job).

Bath Time!

So I've had to put off bathing Lola for a week longer than I wanted, mostly because I wanted her puncture wound to heal up a bit more before I soaped her up.  I tried pretty hard to avoid getting shampoo in it, although I definitely got some water over the area.  She really hates being in the tub, no grip... I usually wind up getting in with her, so my legs always get really clawed up.  Not so bad today, but my favorite part is AFTER the bath.  I love watching her run around like a crazy dog.  I also love how soft she feels after.

Unemployment

I think even Lola is annoyed I'm home all day every day.  I must be interrupting her normal routine (which I imagine is just moving around the apartment and napping in different places).  We watched Insidious last night.  Not going to lie, I was sort of freaked out once I got in bed and there were all sorts of weird noises (granted, I stayed up a little later than normal - so I'm sure the noises are normal and that I'm just usually asleep when they happen).  Lola seemed pretty spooked too, didn't want to go out to pee before bed or anything.  And despite the fact we didn't see anyone while we took our normal bathroom walk, she kept looking over her shoulder and was certainly very alert.  Weird puppy.

Dog Days of Summer

It's finally gotten into the 90s here in LA.  Unfortunately, I don't have any A/C, so I have to keep on top of making ice to feed Lola.  I do make sure the fan is on and pointed at the bed (or couch) so that Lola can lounge in front of it.  Her favorite is to sprawl out on her back and let it waft over her.  At least today is the last day for antibiotics, although now Lola seems more interested in licking her wound.  It's still red looking, but the skin around it looks fine and it doesn't smell, so I'm not too worried about an infection.  Although I'm definitely keeping a close eye on it.

Lola taking one of her many toilet naps.

Update

Lola is doing well.  She was pretty tired and depressed yesterday - I'm sure a combination from all the excitement on Tuesday (long walk, the attack and then rushing to 2 different veterinary offices) and then the starting of antibiotics on Wednesday and the soreness from the rumble setting in.  I think Saturday we'll go for a walk, but today and tomorrow I think I'll just take her around the block once.  She's been playful today, bringing me toys and then ACTUALLY playing with them instead of just bringing them over and watching me play with them.  She's still a little clingy, wanting to lay in my lap or curl up against my stomach when I'm on the floor. (Yes, I spent hundreds of dollars on chairs and couches to sit and lay on the floor, lol.  My favorite it when I'm lounging on the floor and Lola usurps my spot on the couch, I'm sure in her mind I'm usurping her spot and she's just reclaiming it.) 

However, she still isn't very happy about being outside.  When no one is around she will stray a little further from the apartment, but as soon as we see anyone (whether they have a dog or not), she immediately wants to turn and go the other way/home.  She's eating and drinking normally, so I know she's got to pee and whatnot, but it's such a challenge because she just keeps trying to beeline to the apartment before doing her business if we see anyone outside (they can be hanging out across the street too, not even walking towards us)!  I'm guessing for right now it's because she doesn't feel good and knows she's hurt and she's just trying to protect herself a little bit more.  But at the same time, I don't want her to start to be afraid of walking passed other people or dogs on the sidewalk, so sometimes we'll stand off to the side to let people pass by, other times I wind up dragging her passed them. 

An Unwelcome Trip to the Vet

Lola's 3 stitches and a lot of blood

Ugh, I was walking my pup on our normal route, it's about 2 miles and we were a little over half way home.  There's one house we pass that has 2 dogs, a little one (as my father would call it an ankle biter) and a larger German Shepherd mix (he looks young too, but I'm not sure he's still a puppy).  The yard is fenced in, but the larger dog knows how to open the gate and that's exactly what he did.  So suddenly I have 2 dogs running at me and Lola.  The big one jumped right at her and bit her, at first it seemed like a lot of snarls and showing of teeth, so I started to let her leash go so that she could get away.  A car passing stopped and asked if I needed help just about the time the bigger dog picked Lola up and shook her around.  Lola let out this horrible cry and I started screaming at the dog.  He let her go and I managed to get her up in my arms and try to body block the larger dog.  Right about now is when the owner came out and grabbed her dogs with some trouble.  I checked Lola there, but almost as soon as I got her down the 2 dogs escaped again and came running back to her exposed belly, luckily they were stopped in time.

The woman admitted that the larger dog was aggressive and they were working on it and that he knows how to let himself out of their yard!  I didn't see any blood until a few blocks later, but figured more important to get back, grab my purse and take her to the Vet.  I managed to take a picture before I left with my digital camera (I watch a lot of People's Court and Judge Judy, Lola really likes those shows too).  I took her the few blocks to my normal vet, but they were closed (or no doctors were in), so he pointed me a few blocks further and we went there.  Lola was fine the whole walk back and down to the other vet (no car!!).  She got 3 stitches and some anti-biotics, they said she was really good and she's still happy looking and not attacking her wound with licks or trying to pull her stitches out.  (I wonder if she remembers the cone from when I had her spade.)  So that took forever since we were a walk in and not critical, but the people there were chatty, so it wasn't too bad.  I brought Lola home and then went back to the house, but they weren't in.  So I left a note.  She just called and offered to pay the bill, so I didn't have to ask and I'm glad this isn't going to be some ugly small claims court battle.

Lola really is a happy little pup, not sure if she'll be more weary of big dogs now, or that house (although I'm going to avoid walking passed it for a while).

Ye Olde English

I think someone misses me when I go to class...

This morning Lola and I listened to a video about Old English on YouTube by ProfASAr.  He has a whole bunch on a lot of older Germanic languages, very interesting.  After I did my best to read Beowulf (not that I understand Old English) aloud to Lola.  She seems to enjoy when I read aloud.  She likes to snuggle in close, and usually ends up with her wet nose on the page.  Her interest couldn't have just been because I was talking funny and using strange words and pronunciations -- she likes when I read anything aloud.  I've read to her parts of The Last Unicorn and also The Silmarillion, maybe next I'll try out some of my French Harry Potter on her.  She really seems to enjoy being read to.

Exhausted!

I guess the heat got to Lola yesterday after our walk - although it's been in the upper 70s only and not too humid.  Usually during the walk she'll need a few breaks (it's hot and she's low to the pavement and sidewalk so I'm sure it radiates heat on her the whole time too).  And then she'll get into the house and it's like we didn't just walk 2 miles.  But she looks like she's curling into that pillow for dear life.  Just so cute!

I'll Get You My Pretty and Your Little Dog Too!

This is Lola doing her Wicked Witch of the East impression.  When I can't find her during the day, she's usually hiding under my bed with just her back legs sticking out.  And when you come close to her, she pulls them under!  Oh, if only I had tiny little red (or silver if you prefer the book version) slippers for her.

About Lola

Lola on her 1st night home on Jan. 19, 2009.

Lola is a purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi born on September 27, 2008.  Her corgi parents are Bob and Fido Barker from Meinno, SD.  Lola went to a pet shop in LA where I saw her several times before I realized I was supposed to be taking her home with me.  She's pretty small for her age (I've met 4 month old corgis who were already bigger than her), so I think she might have been the runt in her litter.

Lola enjoys going for long walks and hiking, but she doesn't like swimming.  She's very friendly with other dogs and people (except small children who are loud and jump around - she just tries to hide behind me).  Lola's left front elbow didn't form quite correctly, so when she's tired from her workout it "cracks" sometimes, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all (although I keep an eye on her to make sure she's not getting overworked).  She also enjoys watching me do pilates and yoga, the latter of which she'll sometimes participate.  Her favorite is shavasana (corpse pose), she loved to flop over and roll onto her back and lay there with me.

Lola is very L.A. and watches what she eats.  I was warned that corgis are like little vacuums and will eat anything they can, but Lola actually leaves food in her dish when she's full and treats on the floor.  Lola loves all food, but she can't eat carrots (they make her tummy upset), and I feed her corn-free Purina One Beyond (she really loves it).

Lola has 2 "cousins" - Abby and Sadie who are both Parson Russell Terriers.  Her best friend is Sultan, a mutt who is part Sheltie and maybe part corgi (based on his coat pattern), and he's probably got something else mixed in there too.

Lola is a funny little pup who likes to watch TV (she constantly tries to get behind the TV to get to the people on it) and her favorite movie is Lady and the Tramp.  Lola also loves Top Gear (UK of course) and rock music (especially Clutch).  It oddly keeps her calm.  Lola, unfortunately, tries to chase cars (probably why she likes Top Gear so much), and I keep working at breaking her of this, but she's stubborn and tries to herd them.

Whenever Lola gets new stuffed toys she immediate performs trephination and removes its "brains."  Her new favorite toy is her bird house with 3 birds that she can try to get out.  I call them her Angry Birds, since if they're in the house and she whips it around they tend to fly out and knock things over (luckily she's never broken anything).

Lola has a bed right next to mine that she lounges in during the day, but when she's tired she hides under my bed in her "cave."  And of course, at night, she sleeps on the bed with me - usually down by the foot, but by morning she's usually got her head on the other pillow.

First Blog

So, I've been inspired by the Daily Corgi and other corgi blogs I've read to create one for my own Corgi.  So that's her, my little Lola Bean.  Right now Lola sleeps next to my desk while I work from home this month.  At first she didn't understand why I put a pillow next to my desk, but pretty quickly she realized it was for her comfort.