Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Nostalgia NOT Needed


Sometimes it's just one of those days where you sit at work ignoring all your responsibilities because all you really want to do is sign onto Facebook and browse the pictures of when your dog was a 1 kg puppy.

Today was one of those days.

But, even though I was feeling nostalgic, I was brought right back to the here and now when I came home to Leeloo, tail wagging like crazy, crouched down in her "excited pose".  And I must admit, the here and now is much better than waking up several times during the night for a distemper puppy to go to the potty.  The here and now is much, much better than wrenching candy wrappers, ginkgo nuts, chewing gum, etc. out of a precocious little puppy's mouth.  And the here and now is much, much, MUCH better than all those times I wanted to bash my head against a tree because of my little stinker.

I'm liking this here and now, and as always, I'm loving my Pumpkinator, whose nickname I may have to change simply because she's much less "Terminator" now and much more "Pumpkin".


Monday, November 12, 2012

Kitty Kaos and Kute Kinships

As some of you know, Leeloo and I are in the process of adopting a little kitten who is currently being fostered by our good friends, Panda and Zoe.

I always thought that Leeloo would be awesome with a cat, but the only cat she's ever been around at any length was our family cat, Trixie.  But my parents were very protective of Trixie and Leeloo was a 9mos. old shit stirrer, so their interactions were very controlled and watched carefully.  Still, the other times that Leeloo has seen a cat, she's been excited and curious, but never aggressive, so, again, I thought it might be a good match for Leeloo, who loves dominating my attention but wants a playmate desperately.

So, back to the kitten, when Leeloo had her first play date with Panda and the 2 kitties, she was so enthralled that she was pawing at their play pen, whining as if to say "HELLO?  Come on out and play!", and her tail was wagging like there was no tomorrow!  Needless to say, Leeloo was absolutely captivated.

Leeloo's play approach lacks finesse.  She often runs full speed up to another animal, which can be intimidating, but she always just ends up standing next to them, smelling their ears.  I'm not sure where this came about, but Leeloo has an ear fetish, and she's does discriminate against any species.  She smells dogs' ears, cats' ears, bunnies' ears, my ears (sometimes she licks my ears too), and I'm sure if fish had ears, she'd be smelling those too.  So, she spends most of the time smelling the ears of the kittens and then using her nose to move them around, but the coolest thing is that she listens to me (most of the time) when I say, "gentle".  I have no doubt that her and the kitty will become best friends.

I had been considering adopting a kitty for a long time, and when we met the 2 of them, the plan was set in place!  So, here is a video of Leeloo with the 2 kittens.  The one with the black nose is the little female named Narae.  The bigger, more confident one is the little male named Maru.


Thursday, November 1, 2012

Trick or Treat? Treat, please!

Leeloo and I hosted our first annual Animal Rescue Howl-o-ween party this past Sunday at Chicu Chicu Pet Store & Dog Cafe!

We were very excited and spent a lot of time brainstorming our costume and finally decided that I would be a fortune teller and Leeloo would be my crystal ball!!!!

So 2 days before the event, we set about making our costumes.


Leeloo "helping" to make her costume...

After a few creative ideas (a.k.a. problem solving) on my part, here is the finished crystal ball...


Leeloo's crystal ball glowed thanks to some finger lasers!

So we were ready for the party and woke up early on Sunday to collect all the supplies we needed to make the party into a Halloween heaven.  It seems SO simple when you think about everything you need to do, but just getting to the start of the party at Chicu Chicu was quite a journey!

With 2 huge yellow E-mart bags full of supplies and Leeloo's carry case slung onto my shoulders, we made our way to the subway at Hwarangdae Station.  We needed to take Line 6 just one stop, so Leeloo went on the train outside of her carry case for the first time ever, and who would have expected it, but Leeloo was TERRIFIED to get onto the subway train.  I think the 2 inch gap between the platform and the train was too much to take, although for a dog, I'm sure looking down into the gap was like looking into an abyss...


Are you sure I can't fall into that?!?!?

Luckily, we made it onto the train before the doors could smoosh us, but juggling all the bags and a curious dog did not a happy Amanda make, and you know what they say about a curious cat (good thing Leeloo is smarter than a cat...)!

So we transferred to Line 7 at Taereung Station pretty smoothly and hopped on the train in the handicapped area, which was appropriate, considering that at this early stage, I was pretty much already emotionally handicapped (and hungover from the night before), but Leeloo was her lovely little self and climbed right into her carry case and just chilled out in her case on the floor.


Leeloo taught herself to stay inside!

Quite unexpectedly, just a few stops before our destination, Katelin MacNair and her golden retriever, Lucy, got onto the train on the exact same car.  We were very surprised, especially because of all the trains they could have gotten on, they got onto ours!  This was the first time Katelin and I had met in person, and it was most natural, almost like we had met several times before!  Even Leeloo seemed to know who they were because she jumped right out of her carrier, tail wagging away, showing some love!

Once we arrived to Gangnam-gu Office Station, the four of us bumped into Trevina with her newly adopted dog, Pong Pong!  Cute little Pong Pong looked quite dapper in his tuxedo and very content to be carried around like the king he is!

Despite all the happy first-time meetings, Gangnam-gu Office Station had been completely remodeled to accommodate another subway line, so it was pretty much like a labyrinth (without the excitement of David Bowing in a leotard) trying to find the elevators to go up and down, and with all our bags and dogs and doggy stroller, there was no way we could conquer the stairs or escalator easily, but a little ingenuity went a long way and we managed (eventually)!

Fast forward 10 minutes and a walk along a sidewalk under construction, and we finally made it to Chicu Chicu (after a solid hour of roughing it), only to have a "Houston, we have a problem" moment.

Turns out the staff at Chicu Chicu had suffered some kind of miscommunication and had thought that only 1 dog was coming.  They raised a huge stink in the most passive aggressive Korean way they could, but our "foreign manners" just saw us setting up while murmuring "yeah, uh huh, okay..." and they eventually just gave up and let us have our party!  :o)

The last snafu of the day, was me realizing that the time I spent making Leeloo's crystal ball was TOTALLY wasted when I left the safety pins I needed to attach it to her shirt at home...GRRRRRR!

Fortunately, the rest of the day went smoothly and it was full of meets and greets with people who had only dealt with each other online or over the phone in the name of animal rescue, so it was nice to get together with our own animals and just get to know each other!

Leah and Angelo brought their adorable cocker spaniel, Penelope, who they adopted from Asan.  Penelope dressed up as a bumble bee!

Picture courtesy of Katelin MacNair

Emily and Ryan brought their little yorkie, Penny, who won BEST CANINE COSTUME as a dinosaur.  Emily made the costume and it was SO adorable!

Picture courtesy of Katelin MacNair

Zenith brought her foster dog, Emma, who is the mom of the 5 puppies from KARAMA, all of whom suffered from and successfully overcame distemper!!!!!!!!!!

Picture courtesy of Katelin MacNair

Zoe came decked out with her rescue pup, Panda, who was dressed as a skeleton!!!

Picture courtesy of Katelin MacNair

Erinn brought out her mini-cocker, Ttokki, and her foster baby, Danbi, for some fun!

Picture courtesy of Katelin MacNair

And you already know Katelin and Lucy, dressed as Woody and Buzz Lightyear!

Picture courtesy of Katelin MacNair

And here is Trevina with Pong Pong, both looking elegant!

Picture courtesy of Katelin MacNair

And special mention is Nicole Shapiro, who was planning on coming with her foster dog, Dooley, but Dooley was a special hospice care doggy and unfortunately succumbed to his ailments just weeks before he could celebrate his first Halloween in a home after 7 longs years at a shelter.  Nicole still came with a lovely, furry English cocker spaniel as her date!

My friend, Helen, also brought her 2 poodles, Tigger and ChoCho.  Tigger was Leeloo's first doggy friend EVER.  Leeloo and Tigger met just weeks after Leeloo's distemper quarantine ended.  Tigger is a few months younger than Leeloo, and Leeloo likes them younger, but there's such a complicated love triangle between Leeloo, Tigger, and Chocho...that's a story for another day, though...

Another VERY special mention is June Kim, who helped organize this event and was on her way to celebrate at Chicu Chicu with her schnauzer, Minni, when one minute, Minni was smiling up at her savior human and the next, it was her time to cross the rainbow bridge.  Unfortunately, this is the worst that could happen to a doggy parent, and to have it happen so suddenly and so unexpectedly, is an unfair way for God to do it.  June rescued Minni 10 years ago from a man who called her untrainable and uncontrollable.  Lucky for Minni, June was just what she needed, and, lucky for June, Minni blossomed in the time they had together.  We in the animal rescue community send our love and thoughts to June and her 2 schnauzer sons at this difficult time.

Rest In Peace, little Minni!  You will be missed!

All in all, it was a day of great frustration, loss, and celebration, and it will certainly be a memorable day for Leeloo and I.



Here are some more pictures...





Evil eyes for Howl-o-ween, group shot!

Thank you everyone who came out with their dogs (we all know it's not easy to travel with a furry one) to celebrate this Howl-o-ween!!!!








Sunday, August 26, 2012

Leeloo, a Nightmare, and a Happy Reunion

Last night, I had the WORST nightmare with the BEST ending ever.  I was flying who knows where on a commercial flight with Leeloo in her Grandpa-style, plaid carry case that had miraculously squished to fit under the seat in front of me.  During takeoff, the plane overshot the runway and ended up on some sort of emergency roller coaster track, where the plane skidded to a stop.  All the screaming passengers quieted and then began cheering like crazy people.



But for some reason, the pilots and flight attendants started screaming at us to get off the plane RIGHT NOW!  I scooped up Leeloo in her carry case and my huge suitcase, but the flight attendants from hell wrenched both cases from my hands and demanded I leave the plane without either.  I was fighting and shouting at them, but the discombobulated mob of passengers behind me swept me out of the plane.



While we were charging out of the plane in a Salem witch hunt fashion, the airline rigged the plane up to some sort of trailer hitch and pulled it down the roller coaster tracks and into a deep canal to dispose of the metal carcass.  I stood on the side of the canal and watched helplessly as the plane slowly drowned beneath the surface, the air bubbles going from a jacuzzi rush to a fateful popping few.  I had been fighting to go back toward the plane to save Leeloo, but the airline agents kept telling me that the plane had been sealed and cleared for destruction.



I then wandered around like a homeless hippie on a bad trip for what seemed like forever, trying to talk to all the airline personnel and find out about Leeloo and my bags.  Every single one of them yelled at me and asked me why I didn't bring them out of the plane with me.  Their accusatory looks seared into me.  I was defeated and frustrated when a random good samaritan told me to check the banks of the canal because a lot of the luggage had mysteriously appeared where I had just been walking.  As I walked down the bank, back toward the submerged plane, there were hundreds of dogs who had been rescued from the plane.



I interrogated several people, asking if they had seen Leeloo, but they all shook their heads and looked at me with pity.  Finally, an agent skipped joyfully over to me and said that Leeloo was "right over there".  I looked over and she was calmly laying in her carrier, not 10 feet away.  When I opened the carrier, she darted out and did her "Welcome Home, Mommy" dance and licked my face.  



I woke up after this and immediately fired up my laptop to psychoanalyze myself and my dream by using the incredibly reliable online dream dictionary, dreammoods.com

Here's what Dream Moods had to say:

Airplane Crash 
To dream that a plane crashes signifies that you have set overly high and unrealistic goals for yourself. You are in danger of having those goals come crashing down. 


Dog 
To see a dog in your dream symbolizes intuition, loyalty, generosity, protection, and fidelity. 


Based on these descriptions, I have no choice but to assume that my goals of being loyal and generous, and my desire to be intuitive, offer protection, and have a strong sense of fidelity, are simply unrealistic goals.  Therefore, I will continue to be a selfish hag, knowing damn well that Leeloo is right here, safe and sound.

Needless to say, the rest of my day went splendidly...

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Leeloo, Dunkan, and the Icky Itchies

Scritchy, scratchy, icky itchies!  This is what Dunkan has.  A rather large colony of combative bacteria made a home of Mr. D's skin several weeks (perhaps months) ago, and now that he's shaved to his birthday suit, well, his almost birthday suit (his ball-less balls still have a hairy covering, which I'm convinced must be par-for-the-course in a country where the men blow dry their pubic hair in front of others in the locker room...), the bacteria has revealed itself as our own, annoying Poltergeist.  Come to the light, bacteria!  Come to the light!

Well, come to the light it did, which is good for us, bad for it.  Mr. D is now taking medicine, getting slathered up in lotion like a fat, 50 year old man in a Thai massage parlor, eating food that's more expensive than caviar, and taking omega supplements (sorry fishies).  Unfortunately, the icky itchies can spread to other dogs, so I sent Leeloo away as if she were the beautiful, older sister of a child sick with small pox.

Leeloo will spend the next few weeks with her best friend, Bongae the Spitz, and his mom, Bernie.  They will have the daunting task of caring for my gongju, which will be nothing less than entertaining and frustrating, I'm sure.  We will meet up on the weekend and head to the dog cafe for some quality one-on-one...err...one-on-one-on-thirty time.

It never ceases to amaze me how empty everything feels when Leeloo is gone.  At least Dunkan is here for me to trip over, a constant reminder that I can't just take a nap or paint my nails or stare aimlessly at my Facebook news feed that hasn't changed since I last checked it 20 seconds before...

Simply put, I miss my Pumpkinator and her reign of terror love in my life.  I hope she recognizes me next weekend!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Where The Dogs Have No Names

"You"...whoever "You" is... I don't really know how to do this or what to say.  I don't even know if "You" is listening or if "You" cares.  But here I am.

I remember my past.  Hunger and hurt.  It felt like I wasn't part of my body.  My skin hung from my bones, desperately reaching and wanting a return to the earth, an eternal vacation from my suffering.  My long ears did nothing to halt the endless howls of sorrow.  The crust and thick, gooey curtains over my eyes did not shield me from the sights of hopelessness.  My belly was left empty, cramping from my voracious and ignored appetite.  I sat in my own filth with my head hung low and my heart drumming an endless drone of exasperated life.  I was in a place where the dogs have no names.

Revolution springs into my life.  Change.  This word conjures up mixed emotions.  Change is bad.  It leaves me outside.  It leaves me cold.  It leaves me tired, my eyes throbbing with pressure.  It leaves me wondering.  Change is good.  It is warm.  It is food.  It is the care for my eyes.  It is the settling of my heart, no longer writhing with an alien attacker.  It is the calmness of a hand.  It is a unique emotion of something I'm unfamiliar with.  Change is strange.  It is warm, but without a hand.  It is food, but tastes like garbage.  It is my skin that doesn't sag, but burns with discomfort.  It is a house without love.  It is confusing. Change is a friend and a foe.

Change has come again.  I am afraid.  Will this be change that is bad?  Will it be strange?  Could it be good?  I am tired of change.  I can no longer bear the uncertainty of what my life is.  It is better to just get it over with and find out which change this is.  I plead to return to the place where the dogs have no names.  Even this would be better than the ups and downs! I reveal all my negative attributes, trying to drive away something I didn't know I wanted.  But nothing follows.  Nothing.  No response.  Interesting.  But then, something strange happens, or rather, doesn't happen.  There is no fear.  There is no hunger.  There is no hurt.  Very interesting indeed.

That unique emotion of something I'm unfamiliar with comes to life.  I am boggled by this strange, tingly emotion.  I want to run.  I want to feel.  I want to share.  I want to learn.  I want.  My heart feels full, but not in the sickly, uncomfortable way it did when the alien attackers invaded.  My belly feels full, but isn't screamingly upset the way it was when there was nothing but garbage filling it.  My eyes see!  This strange, tingly emotion fills every bone, every vein, every nerve ending.  "You" tells me it is love.  "You" soothingly chants that it is no more change.  "You" calls it "hope".  H-hope?

Hope.  I like this.  Hope.  I test it out.  It doesn't taste bitter.  I like it more.  I test it again.  It feels reassuring.  I like it even more.  I test it further.  It sounds smooth and steady.  I like it a lot.  I test it.  It smells sweet.  I really like it!  Hope.  Hope.  Hope.  One last test.  It looks... It looks... It looks... What is that word?  I've heard it somewhere.  It was just a whisper then.  Yes.  Home.  It looks like home.  I love it!

"You". Hope.  Home.  A place where the dogs have names.


With hope,
Dunkan


(Written by Amanda)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Snapshots of Little Miss Leeloo

















This is the monster I'm dealing with every single day.

Pet me!



Starting a New Virtual Adventure

Two nights ago...

Leeloo stares pointedly up at me, head tilted to the right.  Head tilted to the left.  Head tilted to the right.  Left.  Right.  Left.  Right.  Her eyebrows furrow in concentration, still staring at me.  She licks her nose and tentatively puts her paws up on my knee.  Apparently, we need to talk.  I start feeling uncomfortable knowing that Leeloo wants to talk to me.  I'm usually the one doing the talking.  She paws at my arm and yawns, willing me to understand what she wants from me.  I think I understand...

Satisfied with our telepathic communication, Leeloo plops down on the floor and proceeds to lick her butt, an indication that our "chat" has successfully concluded.  With this, I know what I need to do (besides visit the vet for a little anal gland relief)...

Tonight...

Leeloo is smirking up at me, one ear up and the other down.  She has just brought me her half-eaten Dingo Ringo-o-o, tossing it at my feet.  Perhaps this is my "positive reinforcement" for following her willed instructions from two nights prior.  I'm being such a good human!  She now brings me her beef bully stick, encouraging me to follow her cues.  So with hands shaking, fingers numb, heart pounding, thinking of Leeloo's and I's deep discussion two nights ago, wishing Leeloo had thumbs and could take over, I OFFICIALLY start our blog...

Leeloo kisses me on my nose.  It's definitely my reward.