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The Soapy Dog Wash has been an excellent supporter of my business!  Bob & Robbi Crawford have been extremely kind and generous with their time and donations to many different local community animal related events & organizations.  I am so sad that they have decided that they will be closing the Dog Wash, but look forward to seeing what the next chapter in life will be for them. 

I strongly encourage you to go in for one last wash before 12/24/11 there last day of business. 

Fin went into day and looks completely squeaky clean ~ Thanks Bob!  (Just in time for his 1^st picture with Santa tomorrow.)  Stop in get your pups washed and buy them a treat off the wall.    I’m certainly glad we did! 

Come out to Hummingbird Farms Nursery & Gardens - Dec 3, 2011
~The Gardening and Gift Shop Gem of Whidbey Island~
2319 Zylstra Road (at Ft. Nugent Road)
Oak Harbor, WA 98277
360-679-5044 voice, 360-679-6926 fax
www.hummingbirdfarmnursery.com

"PETS AT THE FARM WITH SANTA" ~ Pet Photography Benefit on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3rd, 10AM-4PM. We are pleased to be raising funds for FETCH!

Professional photography will be provided by JOHN PENDLETON of Pendleton Imaging and Photography. John's images are truly magical and memorable, and he will capture you pet's personality and charm. He has some wonderful pictures posted on his Facebook page from last year's fundraiser.

And, with special permission from Mrs. Claus and some merry elves, we are borrowing Santa for the day from NORTH POLE EXPEDITIONS. With that twinkle in his eye, engaging smile, and jolly Ho! Ho! Ho!, our pet photos will melt hearts this holiday season and forever capture beloved pet memories.

LOCAL PET BUSINESSES will be participating, too, with vendor tables filled with their business information, service brochures, and pet products.

This is a great event!  I’m sorry that I will not be vending; but I am certainly looking forward to attending, and getting my girls and Fin’s Pictures with Santa.  I hope you’ll join me and stop by the farm!

The Anne Jackson Memorial Run & Walk, benefiting the Humane Society of Skagit County, is coming September 20, 2011, registration starting at 7:00 am.  Better yet, please register online prior to the event, www.skagithumane.com. 

I look forward to seeing you there.  This is a GREAT Family event--four-legged family members are welcome to walk too!   I walked this with my little one when she was 6; both girls walked last year.  I was so proud to have my family participate and honor an awesome woman who died too young, faithfully serving the people & animals of Skagit County.  The money raised from this event goes back to the Humane Society of Skagit County, benefiting the needy animals here.

The Humane Society of Skagit County is an organization I enjoy volunteering for; this year I agreed to coordinate the vendors at the walk.  It has been very rewarding! 

I would like to personally thank the Corporate Sponsors for the Anne Jackson Run Walk benefiting the Humane Society of Skagit County:

·         Soapy Dog Wash & Shoppe www.soapydogwashandshoppe.com – Vending and sponsoring a Walker & Dog Watering Station on the course

·         Invisible Fence NW http://skagitwhatcom.invisiblefence.com/home.asp  – Vending at the event

·         Highland Animal Clinic www.highlandanimalclinic.com – Vending at the event

·         Northwest Chiropractic Clinic www.nwccmv.com –Vending at the event

·         Skagit Farmer Supply – www.skagitfarmers.com

 

Thanks to the Vendors Participating at the Ann Jackson Run Walk Benefiting the Humane Society of Skagit County:

·         Pet Portrait Rocks by Lisa www.petportraitrocks.com

·         City Bones:  A Dog Treat Bakery www.shopcitybones.com

·         Lil Zookeeper Pet Sitter www.lilzookeeper.com

·         Dirtie Bird Photography www.dirtiebirdphotography.com 

 

 

Please come join me at either of the following locations.  I look forward to seeing you there.  In addition to several new paintings I will have Wine Cork Boards and Magnets.  ~ Check out these fun new take home items!

 

8/6/11 Dogs Life Festival 10-4

This event is located at Doggy Come Play in Burlington.

http://savingpetsoneatatime.org/   Visit the website for event details. There will activities all day!

 

8/7/11 Bark Park Festival 10-4

This event is located next to Riverfront Park in Sedro-Woolley 10-5.  There will be activities all day.

We are proud to introduce you to our new boy Fin!

Fin is a Black Lab; he was born on March 21, 2011 to a liter produced by Mary & Keith.  They are grandparents to Lila’s good friend Claire, and our friends Windy & Almik.  I had called Windy to ask if she could watch Lila when we took Mugsley in, but she was with Keith & Mary in Spokane.  She shared with them of our multiple losses and they wanted us to have Fin (he was Ronny to them).  He is a purebred (the first ever in the Suchsland home) though he does have a shorter bottom jaw so has a little special need, or uniqueness as I like to think of it.  His named comes from “Finian” which was the name of a favored priest of John’s from childhood.  It was also a name that John and I had talked about long ago for a dog.  The girls and I really liked Fin because Labs are swimming dogs so we are honoring his swimming heritage. 

 

We had just begun actively starting to look for a new dog.  I was actually literally in an active email conversation with a woman regarding a dog we were interested in on Pet Finder, when Windy’s text came through with the offer from her in-laws. As a family we talked about it, prayed about, questioned our Lab owning friends, about their thoughts of Lab ownership, and made the decision to accept him.  It felt right, like a cosmic connection to our other boys who were such a special part of our lives!  We are so thrilled we did, Fin is a little joy.  The cats are learning their new brother, Fin really wishes they liked him more so they would play rather than just be meanies to him. All in time ~maybe…

 

We then began trying to figure out how to get him home from the east side of the state, a wonderful opportunity presented itself last weekend.  John was down in CA with his family at a memorial for his mother, and the girls and I were at the great Wolf Lodge in Chehalis, WA for a Girl Scout event.  I talked it over with the girls how neat it would be for John to find Fin home when he got home; they were excited to be able to surprise their Dad!  Mary & Keith were willing to meet us Sunday afternoon, so the girls and I embarked on a “road trip” home via Quincy, WA.  We got to meet Mary & Keith as well as Fin’s parents Molly & Cooper.  It was very special!

 

John was quite surprised to find our new boy home and waiting to meet him.  The girls and I were thrilled we had pulled the surprise off!  Fin is settling right in to our family, it feels so right to have a dog in our home again!  He is so cute, and eager to please.  He is walking on a leash, and fetching his toys.  It is SO CUTE to watch his gangly body run after a ball, and trot it back. (Yes, he can already do that!)  (Someone please take note and remind me of this after he eats my favorite shoe because I was too lazy to pick it up – LOL!)  If you would like to meet him let me know, I’m such a proud Dog Mama!

 

We are excited to have him blending right into our family.  We took him in to see our Vet Dr. Williams at Parker Way Veterinarian Clinic, yesterday for a traveling well doggy certificate.  Plus, of course we were interested in his jaw.  I had noticed that his left bottom canine was behind the top canine, as we expected given his short bottom jaw, but the right side bottom canine had hooked in and was digging into the gum line of front of the top canine.  When we talked about this with Dr. Williams and he examined Fin he noticed that his jaw was starting to cross in tension, and reported that this would only get more sever if left un-treated. 

 

The solution was that Fin had his bottom baby canines pulled to give his jaw the ability to grow without the tension; we will have to keep a close eye on what happens as his adult teeth grow in at 5 to 7 months. We had initially planned to have him spayed at four months, but after discussing this Dr. Williams he thought we should do both operations at once to reduce the trauma for him.  He reports that the major side effect of neutering a male dog this young is that he will always squat to urinate. (So please don’t let your dog tease him at the park!) He also said that studies show that some dogs are a little taller as the hormone release at puberty triggers the brain to put a stop to the bone growth plates.  He said that he does not really see this in his experience, though he advised us to be cautious and get him large breed puppy food as that will help him grow with the vitamin and mineral needs but without the calorie bulk that regular puppy food has.  Fin went in this morning for his surgery.  I picked him up this afternoon and he is doing great! 

 

Fin will get his own portrait soon, but right now I will share my favorite photos of him that Mary and Keith sent us.

 

Thanks for reading and sharing in our joy,  

 

My Best,  Lisa

Another tough day…  This has been a hard month for us pet wise.  Mugsley (who is the lead picture for my website) 13 ½ AKA: “Rug Bug a Roonie” had an OK couple of weeks after Woody and Pastel were gone.  In the last week he is getting stiffer, at times having great difficulty walking or standing and his dog dementia symptoms remained.  His dignity was definitely failing and he needed more assistance even just coming up the two steps to the house.

We had an absolutely beautiful day with Mugs yesterday- Mothers day.  We followed up with the vet today to discuss what was going on.  He told he felt that Mugs was exhibiting symptoms of Cushing's disease, most likely resulting from a tumor on the adrenal gland.  We did not choose to put him through tests or discuss treatments options but rather chose to let him go with the current level of dignity he had.  John and I were able to support him, and honestly it was very peaceful.  Made more so by the fact that our priest, Vicki, was actually at the vet to pick up some meds for her dog and prayed for all of us and him if it was his time (we saw her before going in).  We are choosing to believe that he is with his best friend Woody. 

John and I ended a family era today.  These guys have been very good companions to us and each other for many years.   For so long they were our/my “pet children”.  The dogs especially helped fill a life void as John & I waited those long years to have our children.  When were able to bring the girls home the dogs were supper excepting of each girl in turn, and our family “pack” was an easy transition for us and them.  I will always be grateful to Woody & Mugsley for that! I can remember a friend asking “Lisa what will you do when with all these animals when you finally have kids?”  The question was rather shocking to me but the answer was easy “I’ll keep loving them and teach my kids to do the same.” I can honestly say that I believe I was able to do this for the animals and my girls.

Animals are such important family members to me.  It will be so hard not to have a dog in our home.  I remain grateful for our cats Chia Chia 13 and Kit Snit 5, and our guinea pig Penelope 3, they remain very loving companions. Our family is doing our research and reading about different dog breeds that interest us, and personality traits that we would like to see in our next family dog.  I suspect that sooner rather than later we will be lead to another perfect dog for our family. 

I sincerely hope that I will be a long time before I am giving another blog testimonial for one of my pets!

The slate tile on my home page is a tribute to my pets Woody & Pastel.  It was painted year ago when I came across an old picture of them in an album that I have always loved.  These two have been best friends for years!  

These last two weeks have been very hard; with many of the last 14 days spent in wonder should this be “the day”.   Two weeks ago we learned that our 14 year old cat Pastel had gone into liver failure and her thyroid levels had jumped off the chart.  We tried medicine it has had some good effects, but some bad side effects too.  It is time.  During this time we have seen the further decline of Woody our 16 ½ year old dog. Maybe we were just looking more closely. He has become so fragile again; on Saturday I had to help him stand he had no control over his legs at all at one point.  It is time.  Woody & Pastel have been such good friends since we first brought her home.  They would often sleep in the dog bed together or grooming each other.  We chose to take them into the Vet together to so they could go on to heaven together; allowing their spirits to find a comfy place to curl up in a dog bed in the sky together.

John took this picture of me with them on Saturday.  It was a beautiful sunny spring day, which is nice to have this last memory picture of them with. The girls each had pictures taken with them too.  I was very proud that the girls chose to be with us this afternoon to support the pets to the end; they have known these guys their whole life.  There have been lots of tears and I’m sure there will be more, that is ok.  They were certainly loved and treasured by our family.

It will be interesting to see how Mugsley our other dog does; at 13 ½ he is not doing so well himself...  Our home certainly is in mourning.  However, I am so grateful for the life of these animals, the joy, the laughter, the memories and the love that we have shared with them.   I am glad that they are in peace, and trust that they are in a better place together.  The girls have asked that I paint their urns so that will be happening soon.

Thank you for the kind thoughts and the prayers.

Following up from last weekend’s fun!  The Agility Trails were absolutely amazing!  The new arena at the Lynden Fair Grounds is awesome!  I would totally encourage anyone to go and watch an agility trail; I think you might be like me and start thinking that would really be something neat to do with my dog (–or my next dog if you have a couple of geriatric pooches like I do).  It is so neat to see so many animals in one space so focused on their owners.

I thank the folks who were interested in my work, and supported all of us vendors.   

I also, thank everyone who supported the Girl Scouts by buying Cookies from my beautiful Daughters!

Let me introduce you to the vendors who were there:

I sat next to Paulette Petryk of Sew Bee It Designs she does great embroidery work specializing in Agility designs, with some great general Pet designs thrown in for good measure.   Paulette was busy lady this weekend vending and running her beautiful dogs in the trial too.  She is in the process of designing her website so I will add her to my friends list when she is done.  If you are interested in embroidery work call her @ 425-392-1236 or email: PPetryk@Gmail.com.

I also enjoyed sitting next to Donna McKay-Randozzi of Quality Pet Products she was selling: Zentek Clothing, Cool Pets, Four Paw Fun and Julius K9 Harnesses.  She was also busy vending and running her adorable Boston Terriers in the Trial ~ Boston’s doing agility is too Cute!  Donna can be reached at: 253-857-9392 dmckayranozzi@centurytel.net.

I got see Jeanne of NW Paws at Play, again.  She is so friendly and carries the funniest animal toys and great training treats.  Check out her website to see some of the toys she carries and look for her upcoming dog toy review www.nwpawsatplay.com

I sat across from Kelly Gann, LMP, SAMP of Kelly’s Hands Massage.  What a delight it was to watch her giving the dogs massages.  They looked so totally relaxed!  She also works on people, and they looked just as content when their turn was over.  It was neat to watch Kelly’s calm friendly spirit relax and soothe pets and people. She can be reached at(253)227-4913 or kellyshands@gmail.com.

AKC AGILITY TRIAL
FEBRUARY 25, 26, 27, 2011

JUDGING SCHEDULE     ENTRY NUMBERS

DOGS TO BE MEASURED

Premium

We're excited to be hosting this trial in the NEW Centennial Arena! Larger rings, great running surface, plenty of crating space next to the rings, bright and heated!!
Judges are Lisa Miller-Selthofer and Bob Kirkbride.
Friday night - starts at 6 p.m is full and we have lots of runs starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Anyone is welcome to come and observe the activities. Entry is FREE!  Puppies under the age of 6 months are not allowed in the arena. All dogs must be on leash and under control.

I was fortunate enough to vend the trial last year.  This is a truly a great family event!  I hope you will come and check it out, and visit me while you are there.

********

Yesterday, I was so fortunate to be able to go out and observe some dogs practicing their skills for the trial running, obeying, balancing, jumping and flying!  I had a ball taking pictures that captured these animals passion.

Thank you Andi, Linda, Jean, Connie & Bonnie for sharing your time with me! 

I am in the process of creating a couple of tiles capturing these beautiful animals in action! 

The girls and I have been busy making “Socks for Cat’s in Jail.”  If you are saying “what???” you're not alone.  We have been busy recycling old baby, children’s and women’s socks into toys for cats at the local animal shelters. 

The girls are practicing using the sewing machine, and we stuff the socks with pillow case stuffing and cat nip.  It is always a pleasure to be able to take the toys to shelters and give them to the cats that are a waiting on their forever homes. Pictured are sock types we have used and examples of toys that we have made.

If you are interested in donating/recycling your family’s old socks, or stuffing & catnip please let me know.  

If you want more information about the toys or making them, or what we are doing please let me know.  I’m happy to share! 

It is nice to know that we can give a little comfort and enjoyment to these animals!