Bathtime and a broken tail

Well to say the least, it has been a traumatic day.

First of all, I gave both dogs a bath today. Charlie is used to bath time because he has been to the groomer a bunch and usually behaves. Since this was Sheldon's first bath (with me, I'm not sure if Debbie gave him a bath before he moved up here), I thought it would be a good idea to give Charlie a bath first. That way Sheldon could see the way a good boy behaves.

Charlie did his part and put on a good show for Sheldon. Then it came time for them to trade places. And remember, Sheldon is very fluffy. I always say that his hair makes up a majority of his body mass. You can imagine how eager I was to see what he looked like soaking wet. I wasn't disappointed!

Mr. Cooper was not pleased with the bath. He hated it. I had the hardest time even just getting all of his hair wet! You know how ducks have those protective layers of feathers to keep their down and skin dry? That was exactly how his hair was. He squealed the whole time and tried to escape. I did my best to hurry and rinse and get that poor little baby out of the tub as quickly as possible. He probably still has quite a bit of shampoo left on him to be honest.


If you think bath time is bad, just wait til you hear what comes next. When Shane and I were coming home from the mall this evening, Sheldon tried to make a break for it out our front door. Our door is very heavy and self-closing. I didn't even realize he was going outside until it was too late.


Only not all of him made it...his poor little tail got caught. From the way he yelped, we both thought he had broken his back or something. We rushed him to the Pet ER at our vet and they said that luckily everything seemed to be okay. As long as he isn't in pain, it shouldn't bother him. We have to monitor him pretty closely for the next week or so and make sure there is no strange behavior, like chewing on it, etc. I'm really hoping it doesn't get worse, because then they might have to cut the little tip of his tail off!

It's kinda hard to tell because he's so fluffy and this is a terrible photo (should be able to see it bigger if you click on it), but if you look right at the end of the arrow you'll see the broken part of the tail. It almost makes a 90° angle to itself. So far he doesn't act like it's bothering him. It doesn't even seem to hurt him if you touch it gently. His tail might be a little crooked for the rest of his life, but hopefully he'll at least get to keep all of it.

Here's hoping that tomorrow is just a little less exciting than today.

weird things from Walmart

Well this was going to be a blog about my fantasy football team, but for some reason the ESPN website hates me, so you'll just have to wait on that. 

In the meantime, it's been a while since I've shown you any strange pictures! As usual, these are things I have spotted in the wild, and felt like it was important enough to take a picture of. 

All of today's featured items come from the wonderful world of Walt Disney Walmart. Enjoy!

I can't remember if I've shown you this before, and honestly I'm too lazy to go back and check right now, but there is a two-story Walmart just a few miles from our house. I've been to quite a few Walmarts in my day, but this has to be my favorite. Not because of their excellent selection of merchandise (I mean, where else can you buy a pair of Pajama Jeans and a new set of tires at the same time?), but because of this little beauty right here:

Yep, you're seeing that right. An escalator. In the middle of a Walmart. Kinda weird, isn't it? Now some of you may be asking yourself, "but when I go to Walmart, I always find so many bargains! How am I supposed to take my purchases up the escalator with me?" These geniuses have thought of everything, including...wait for it...a BUGGY escalator!

I know what you're thinking, and yes, it is magical.

Speaking of magic, check out this gross looking popcorn! Maybe marshmallow flavored corn sounds tasty to you, but I think I'll stick to butter and salt, thankyouverymuch.

Something else I won't be buying ever, gorilla booger hair gel. And no, no gorillas were harmed/had their noses drained for this product, but that doesn't mean it's any less disgusting. The gel is about the same yellow as that bottle. And what about that name? "Squizz." Just say that out loud and try to not cringe.

Honestly this next one got me a bit upset. Probably a bit illogically, but still. Funfetti is delicious as-is. Okay so they put the cookie recipe on the side of the cake mix box. Those are delicious too. Then they packaged the mix as cookie mix. Whatever. But now, a cookie pop kit? First of all, who enjoys cookies on a stick? I have only had one cookie on a stick, and it was from a cookie bouquet when someone was in the hospital. The stick seemed unnecessary. Is it supposed to protect from hand cooties? And why do you need a kit? If you really enjoy cookies with a tongue depressor shoved inside, do you actually need instructions on how to do it? 

 And don't even get me started on those "Fun da-middles."

It gets a tad bit "adult oriented" from here on out, so if I could just see your IDs to make sure you're 18...

...okay, we good? 

This one is cheating a little bit because it's from Sam's Club, but hey, that's close enough right? This My Little Pony game may seem innocent enough, but just take a look at the name. Not to give it away, but I've heard something else called a "pinkie pie" and it wasn't a pony...

 

Lastly, this greeting card is disturbing for two reasons, much like their "2 rules in life." Firstly, you can guess the punch line even before you open the card, "2. don't fart in your wetsuit," duh. Secondly, there are a lot of people out there who have bought this card I'm sure, and some of them are bound to have given it to their dads.

Why is that a problem, you ask? Don't ask me how I know this, because really I don't even know why. I retain a lot of random, useless knowledge. And I do know that a lot of people have a lot of different interests. Some people like to have their feet rubbed. Others enjoy a bubble bath every once in a while. And others get their, um, jollies, from inflatable latex suits. There are lots of options too (NSFW), like if you want just your head inflated, or your boobs, or your whole upper torso. There are even some full body options.

Bet you'll be a little more careful the next time you're in the card aisle, won't you?

Bazinga!

Say hello to the newest member of our family, Sheldon Cooper! 

It's hard to give a size reference on him, except to say that he weighs probably 1-2lbs and is 99.9% hair. We bought him the smallest harness they had at Petco and it is still way too big on him. I can't wait to give him a bath to see what he looks like without all that fluff!

Shane's mom, Debbie, has a Maltese and a Maltizu (Maltese and Shih Tzu mix) and when they had puppies, I knew I had to figure out a way to talk Shane into letting us get one! Debbie had found homes for three of the four puppies, so on our last trip to Knoxville, we decided at the last minute to take the remaining puppy home with us. Had to keep him in the family :)

Anyways, Sheldon is currently about three months old. If you are my friend on Facebook, you may remember this album of the puppies at only four weeks old: 

And no, I don't know which one is Sheldon.

Now if you're wondering why that name sounds so familiar, it's probably because you're a huge nerd like us and love the show The Big Bang Theory.

 A pretty good likeness, don't you think?

Shane was actually the one to name Sheldon. Since we named our other dog, Charlie, after a favorite TV show character, it only seemed right to continue the trend. (Let's hope we find another way to choose names by the time we have real children!)

Charlie with his namesake, Charlie Pace from Lost. 

Besides their abilities to pose similarly, our dogs share a lot of personality traits with their TV counterparts, which was completely and totally coincidental.

Charlie is a very sweet and loyal person (or dog), and would do anything for a friend. (keep in mind I've only seen Lost up to season 3...)

Sheldon on the other hand is sometimes obnoxious and can be a little bit of a pain in the a**, like when he is being a know-it-all (or chewing on Charlie's tail), but is still completely endearing, and somehow you seem to overlook all the annoying parts and focus on the good. 

Charlie and Sheldon don't really get along like I expected, which might have something to do with the whole "chewing on Charlie's tail" thing. I must admit though, my hopes were a bit high (I had visions of the two of them being inseparable, cuddling at night on Charlie's big Wall-E pillow). Charlie has taken the typical big brother approach to all of this, feeling like he is being replaced, etc. Sheldon is a little ball of fur and energy, and wants to go go go all the time. This drives Charlie crazy, since he is used to acting like a cat and taking naps 20 hours of the day. Sheldon also has the tendency to steal whatever toy Charlie is playing with, which is usually followed by a bark-off. But we're hoping that after some of the puppy playfulness wears off, Sheldon will chill out and they will be best puppy friends, or whatever you call it. 

This is what they do most of the time right now: 

But sometimes, if you're lucky and sneak up on them quick enough, you can catch them pretending like they like each other:

So for now, Sheldon will just have to chill out on his own little Wall-E bed (made from the leftovers from Charlie's bed) which is a little bit too small, but that's okay because he'll probably just rip a hole in it and chew up the stuffing anyways. 

Charlie will just have to enjoy hiding in the closet under all the hanging clothes (his most favorite place to be) or chilling out on the couch or bed, since those are the two places Sheldon can't reach on his own.

And maybe, just maybe, someday...

...they just might sit like this for more than two seconds, without Shane having to wrangle them :)