Like we did when we adopted Levi, we took Winnie to Lexington Animal Hospital to get checked out. I knew Dr. Orange would give Winnie the great treatment Levi gets.

However, there was a new doctor at the office: Mikolaj Guzek. But it took a while to actually see him thanks to COVID protocols the office was implemented.

My first appointment was canceled since they were going to quarantine. In other words, somebody at the office caught the coronavirus. It’s nice that they did that, though I never got a voicemail indicating my appointment was canceled… so I went to the office without knowing.

But the day of, I had to wait outside for my 11 am appointment. I didn’t get Winnie in to get tested & everything until 12:30 pm, which seems ridiculous to me to have to wait that long with an antsy pup.

I was told that Winnie was all good initially, though she had a BB lodged in one of her legs. It doesn’t cause any pain thankfully, but it’s sad to know that she got shot at one point in her life. That’s my baby girl and I gave her extra hugs when I found out.

I had to drop off a stool sample and upon getting the results, we found out that Winnie was positive for giardia. Giardia is apparently a dangerous parasite that she ingested by drinking water or eating grass that was contaminated by feces.

I got some medication for Winnie to get rid of her giardia. It was a powder I had to put in her food, but it was complicated since Levi tried to steal some of her food until I lured him away. We retested her stool a couple of weeks later and no more giardia!

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One phrase that makes my dogs jump, run and even yelp is “who wants to go for a walk?!” And I take them out for at least one most every day.

During a recent walk, a random SUV stopped across the way from me and called out for me. I paused my podcast to approach the woman, who turned out to be the owner of Daisy’s Pet Sitting / Dog Walking.

She offered up her business card in case I’d ever need a dog walker. I politely declined, but took her card anyway, for a number of reasons.

1. Walking my dogs is my way of spending quality time with them.
2. Their reaction to wanting to go for a walk makes my day and it gives me such pleasure to see them excited.
3. If I would need someone to watch my dogs, I would probably go with K9 Resorts again instead of having them left alone for a majority of the day.
4. I would find it hard to trust someone who would have keys to our house & didn’t know on a personal level.
5. I don’t see anything online about this specific company including reviews or even a website.

Number 4 is probably the biggest one in my book because I love my dogs too much to depend on someone with no online reputation. I barely want to leave them alone for too long, but I know they’re good with one another.

I also noticed the name of the woman I spoke to was Doris Cistrelli, not Daisy. Perhaps Daisy is an ode to a pet or child, but Doris is so close to Daisy that I’d just go with Doris’s Pet Sitting / Dog Walking.

But alas, that is not my business. I was merely the victim of a drive-by dog walker. Doris seemed like a nice lady based on the 1-minute interaction I had with her, so hopefully she has a good clientele and the animals she cares for are treated well.

The care of the animals is of the utmost importance. They count on us humans to be good to them, which is what I strive to do with my dogs every day. They just melt my heart.

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We’ve been looking to adopt another dog for about a month or two. I looked into Ruff Rehab where we got Levi first, but Google says they’re permanently closed.

I went to their site and no adoptable pets. That’s really sad to see that an animal rescue is no longer helping pets in need, but at least they all got adopted. So my search continued when I stumbled upon a dog I liked who was up for adoption at Lost Paws Animal Rescue, who is based out of Pittstown NJ.

It’s strange since Lost Paws has a lot of cats & kittens up for adoption as you can see from the business card.

One of the few dogs they had was a beautiful girl named Winnie. She’s 1 year old and she’s a mix between a Jack Russell terrier and a hound who recently arrived from South Carolina. Levi came from Georgia, so it’s a thing that dogs come up from the south to get rescued.

And she was described in the Petfinder profile that Lost Paws Animal Rescue put up as affectionate, very social and loving to go on walks, play & snuggle. That sounds like a good mix of what we can provide for her in our home

I took Levi to meet Winnie at the PetSmart in Bridgewater NJ where I was initially confused since she wasn’t there. But apparently her foster mom hadn’t arrived yet and once she did, I got to see Winnie for the first time.

And I fell in love. And it looked like Levi did too since they were rolling around & playing together. Winnie is a bit taller than Levi, but she’s not too big. I was ecstatic when Lost Paws told me I could take Winnie home that same day and that’s what I did!

Winnie’s First Week at Home

I was so excited to take Winnie home to see how my significant other and kids would react to her. The camera phone was rolling and everybody fell in love with her like I did.

My daughter’s jaw dropped! My son was cheering and my significant other was so happy, though she didn’t get to say hello to Winnie for like 5 minutes since she was running around & making herself at home.

Once everything calmed down… more chaos ensued. Winnie may have been really nervous in her new home because she peed and pooped a lot inside the first couple of days. She’s gotten a lot better about it and we’ve gotten better about reading her cues to need to go outside.

And she loves going outside, resulting in Levi going outside with her. They played really rough with their teeth, ending up with us having to separate them. I learned that Jack Russell terriers are very hyper dogs and Winnie fits the bill.

She runs all around the yard, all around the house and jumps a lot. In fact, she can jump onto a dining-style table. Her jumping is definitely one thing we will work on when I take her to obedience school.

We got Winnie on a Sunday and the next day, it was time to juggle 2 dogs, the kids doing remote learning and my work. I was SO stressed out the whole week since it was a lot.

I made it through Week 1 alive and knowing that Winnie & Levi get along better and she’s getting used to how things operate in our household. We’ll see what happens with Week 2 & beyond as Winnie becomes more of a fixture in our home, granted that her farts can be room clearing.

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A couple of days after we picked Levi up from the East Brunswick NJ K9 Resorts location, we noticed that his left eye was blurry & did not know why. So I took him to my vet Dr. Orange at Lexington Animal Hospital.

When we visited the good doctor, he told me it looked like a healing ulcer most likely a result of a blunt trauma. And my guess is that it was probably from the doggy daycare at K9 Resorts since Levi is very playful and I’m sure he met plenty of other playful dogs.

Dr. Orange gave me eye drops & recommended that I see an ophthalmologist in order to truly know what is happening since he’s a general veterinarian and not an eye specialist. Enter Michele Edelmann of Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls NJ.

It was a long drive, but this was the first time I took Levi to such a large vet’s office. He was very excited to see other dogs (and cats) & tried to play, but I had to reign him in. It took some paperwork and arriving 15 minutes before my appointment, but I finally say Dr. Edelmann.

And she treated Levi so nicely. She has such amazing bedside manner and let me know that my pup had more than just a healing ulcer. He has something called uveitis, which is an eye inflammation, and she told me it could be from trauma.

But also from a number of other things like a virus, cancer or even glaucoma that would lead to the eye not working at all. She put him on 3 different eye drops and told me to come back in 2 weeks.

Since we were leaving on vacation that day, I had K9 Resorts do the first part and I did the second part. A total of 10 drops a day, which must have been hell for poor Levi.

But it was worth it since we went back to Dr. Edelmann & Garden State Veterinary Specialists to find out that Levi’s eye healed just fine. He went from 10 drops a day to just 2 since he has to get off of one gradually.

I hope I never have to see Michele Edelmann again for the sake of my pet (and my wallet), but I’m going back to her if Levi ever has any eye issues.

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My recent trips to Havana Cuba and Tampa/Orlando marked the first times we needed to get someone to watch our beloved dog Levi for an extended period of time. And I decided to look around for kennels.

After looking online and even speaking to someone I was referred to who owns a dog boarding business, I chose K9 Resorts as Levi’s dog kennel though the closest location to my home was filled between Christmas & New Year’s.

So I had to take him to 2 different ones for the 2 different trips.

K9 Resorts: East Brunswick NJ

I was nervous about leaving Levi at a dog kennel for the first time, especially since I was going to be in Cuba where I’d be hard to reach if there was an emergency. But I almost wasn’t able to have Levi stay at the K9 Resorts in East Brunswick NJ.

That’s because there was a miscommunication. I spoke with franchise owner Bill Ippolito and even visited with him to see the facility. He told me I was all set, but apparently that wasn’t the case when I went to drop Levi off the day before our flight.

I arrived and Bill had not put in my reservation! Luckily, there was a spot open and the other rep at K9 Resorts said “of course he did” (showing that this is something that happens often).

But Levi had a good time and was fine at doggy daycare playing with dogs his size (40 pounds and under) with lots of toys & ramps, although he wound up getting hit in the eye as we found out and I’ll explain in a future blog post.

K9 Resorts: Fanwood NJ

For my trip to Tampa/Orlando, I booked the original K9 Resorts location in Fanwood NJ. And of course, there was another complication since they thought I was going to drop Levi off the day after I wanted to, which would have been impossible since our flight was that day.

But they had room for Levi, so that wasn’t an issue. Because of Levi’s eye, we opted to do individual dog care instead of doggy daycare. This means that Levi got at least 10 minutes of one-on-one interaction per hour.

And apparently, the employees at the Fanwood K9 Resorts loved Levi and played with him all day long. He is a playful doggy and such a good boy, so I’m not shocked he got lots of love.

The Fanwood location has a much fancier exterior & lobby than the East Brunswick location, but then again Fanwood is in its own building while East Brunswick is attached to some sort of ethnic supermarket & a hair salon.

It was expensive, but I would definitely take Levi back to K9 Resorts. Though I’d probably do the Fanwood location and probably opt out of doggy daycare for reasons I’ll explain in my next blog post.

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It may be a little bit after 12 months of adoption, but I’m going to talk about his 1st-year checkup at the vet. We still use Dr. Barry Orange of Lexington Animal Hospital because of his experience & bedside manner.

Levi got his shots, some blood taken and a general checkup. All turned out well for my little pup and he got greatly rewarded for being a good boy with some new toys & treats. I always get a few 2 for $5 plushes that he loves destroying.

Speaking of which, we had to call Alvarez Upholstery once again since Levi chewed up another part of our couch. It cost a bit more money to fix, but the couch looks like new.

There are several other things that Levi still mangles up including a 2nd SNES power outlet, several crayons and much more. But we catch him in the act sometimes and stop him in his tracks.

But there are also some fond memories I have of Levi. I love how he jumps up in excitement every time I walk through the door. He’s such an affectionate boy whether he jumps on you or just wants to snuggle up.

And his warmth really helps though his tongue is hot when he gives out kisses. He also loves fetching the ball and making the couch (or our bed) his home. Sometimes, he can be an attention whore who cries if he doesn’t get his way but that’s once in a while.

He also makes the cutest sounds sometimes just to let you know he’s there, specifically when he wants to be included in the fun. We always try to include him since he can drive you crazy, but give a cute face to make it all go away.

Levi also enjoys going for walks. I walk him most mornings and he sometimes run into some of his dog friends. Everybody loves him and he loves everybody.

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All kids need to go to school in order to learn & become smarter. The same goes for fur kids like Levi, which is why I decided to take him to obedience school.

And I figured what better place to do than Petco and their Positive Dog Training program since I already get Levi’s food, toys and accessories there at the Clark NJ location. I saw that they were doing a special there for a couple of hundred bucks and decided to jump on it.

I did my training with one of their trainers Victoria and had a great experience. Their main theme is positive reinforcement and no negativity allowed, which can be replaced by ignoring when the dog cries for attention or jumps up on you.

Not to mention consistency being the most important aspect of dog training.

Petco Adult I Training Course

I was nervous on the first day I brought Levi to training, partially because I was hopeful he would learn and get along with any other dog in the class. I found out that dogs are natural followers and want to be led, as well as enjoy being rewarded by their pack leader… in this case, me.

The first thing I was taught is “look at me”, done to get his attention on me in order to ensure he was focused. Some of the commands I was taught during Adult I were:

• Sit
• Lay down
• Drop it
• Leave it
• Touch command (for focus)
• Stay for duration & distance
• Come

The rewards for Levi being a good boy were training treats for the most part, except for drop it. I always used his toys for drop it because he would let the toy go and get rewarded with another one.

During this time, I was taught to never show him the treat before teaching him since he would only do it for the treat and not because he learned the skill. And to truly master a skill, he’d be able to do it 80-90% of the time.

Petco Adult II Training Course

After Adult I came Adult II where Levi had to relearn all of his lessons in a more distracting environment. While Adult I took place in a small room, Adult II took place around the pet store.

Whether it was in the presence of other animals, pet store shopping items or customers saying how cute Levi was (which he totally is), there was a lot to be distracted by. This is where the food lures and non-verbal gestures came in handy for some of these commands.

Levi learned all of his lessons well and is still being educated by me to this day using some training techniques at home. Plus, I have a LOT of treats to get through!

But here are some other lessons I learned during dog training to be a better master to Levi:

• Making sure you reward good behavior with praise
• If he isn’t listening when you turn away to ignore him a bit, leave the room for 10 minutes & come back
• Only reward him on the first time you say a command when he does it (no repeating)
• Handle Levi (poke & prod) once a month to see if anything is abnormal
• Once he masters something in one area of the house, try another since each room is different & he must master a command inside before doing it outside
• Be patient as Levi learns new commands with distractions

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Dogs like to chew things up and destroy property with pride on their face. Until they’re caught. And my dog Levi is no different.

He has a running tab of things he’s put his teeth into in our household. It includes (but is not limited to) the following items:

• Several kids toys including a cheap plastic soccer goal
• Parts of the lawn either with holes or yellow spots from pee-pee (yeah, he gets walked now)
• Trash from the bathroom garbage
• A variety of clothes like socks, skirts, shirts & pants
• A plethora of toys of his own & the kids
• Quilts and blankets used for lounging
• A glove designed to handle the heat of a grill
• 2 hammocks
• An unidentified number of shoes, sandals & slippers

The last item, which is pictured, is the couch. And what’s more annoying than paying good money to fix your dog’s mess by calling an upholsterer? Business card magnets. And having a calendar on it like Alvarez Upholstery does makes it more obvious it’s a magnet, but still… how can use a calendar that small outside of crossing off the days?

Alvarez Upholstery

Yes, I had to call an upholsterer to fix this couch. Several actually before I finally went with Alvarez Upholstery.

The guy’s name was Lou and he’s been in the upholstery game for 37 years. He went to a class for repairing several materials that you’d find in a car and he’s been doing that for 20 years.

It took him like an hour or so to patch the hole that Levi made. He joked that he spent more time talking than he did working and that sounds about right. I got his whole life story including:

• Trips to see his siblings & family out in Arizona
• Having cameras installed in your house or putting ADT signs out front to ward off robbers
• Growing up in Cuba and coming to the United States
• Having accounts with restaurants like Applebees and Buffalo Wild Wings

Lou Alvarez did the job right and quickly without us having to lug the whole sectional to his workshop. Other companies I contacted told us we had to eat the cost of bringing it in, but being a mobile upholsterer does help out a lot.

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Business Card Magnet Calendar Count: 1