Bailey at Work

Bailey got to come to work with me on Friday! He does so well at work. He sits in my cubicle and plays with his toys. He loves the attention he gets from my coworkers. More offices should be dog friendly. Having dogs in the work place really helps to relax people and bring a sense of fun while working. I am lucky that Bailey can come to work with me twice a month. He enjoys it but not every dog is suited for office life. Bailey is pretty low energy so he is content just playing with his toys while I work.

The Story of Bailey

I adopted Bailey from Rochester Animal Services in June of 2006. I had been looking through pictures of dogs on Craigslist just for fun when I saw an add for a Chihuahua that someone was claiming was going to be put to sleep soon if it wasn't adopted. So I went to see the Chihuahua, which was not Bailey. He was super loud and hyper and instantly I knew he wasn't the dog for me. Also he was not in any danger of being put to sleep. In the next cage over was Bailey. The most beautiful dog I had ever seen. He was being so quiet playing with this tennis ball.

I am not sure exactly what kind of breed Bailey is but I like to guess hes Pomeranian Chihuahua mix. Bailey has a deformed rear leg that we think he was born with. The leg does not have a knee and is completely straight. Bailey doesn't even seem to notice this, he gets around great. I filled out the adoption application and found out there was a wait list to adopt Bailey with 5 other people in front of  me. Since Bailey was a stray he had to be held 5 days before he could be adopted. I called the shelter every day that week to see if anyone had dropped off the list. By the time adoption day had come two people had dropped off the list but I still worried about not getting him. I arrived at the shelter 3 hours early and waited to adopt Bailey. No one ever showed. Bailey and I were meant to be together.

Lollypop Farm Greece Location

In case anyone hasn't heard the Lollypop Farm adoption center in Greece Ridge Mall will be temporarily closed until January 31st. They are moving their adoption location to a larger area near Rochester Athletic Club. There are cats, small animals, and birds available for adoption at this location. The hours are Monday and Tuesday 5pm - 9pm, Wednesday and Thursday 4pm - 9pm, Friday and Saturday 10am - 9pm, and Sunday 11am - 6pm.

Please consider adopting when searching for a new pet. Lollypop Farm has tons of wonderful pets available for adoption and the selection is always changing. If you do not find your perfect pet the first time be patient and see if other local rescues might have what your looking for. Rochester has several independent small rescue groups.

Frosty Paws Winter Carnival

The Frosty Paws Winter Carnival is an event to raise money for Rochester Animal Services the shelter on Verona st. I adopted my Bailey at this shelter 4 years ago. While it is a much smaller shelter than Lollypop Farm it is still very much needed in our community.

The carnival will be held at Artisan works in Rochester on Saturday January 29th. Entertainment will include magicians, stilt walkers, music, face painting, tarot card readers, and animal psychics! There will also be a live and silent auction.

This is the third year of this event. I have not gone in the past but it sounds too good to pass up. So if your looking for some entertainment in Rochester that weekend be sure to check out this event.

Water Aerobics

This Saturday is the last day of Bailey's therapy at Theravet Acres. Bailey started water therapy about a year ago after his knee surgery. Therapy was recommended to help along the healing process. He hasn't been going for a year straight. He went for a few weeks and then recently I signed him up for another set of sessions. Theravet is located in Webster NY so its not too far of a drive for us. I was a little nervous to sign him up at first because it is very expensive and Bailey doesn't always like new places. However Bailey loves the staff at Theravet hes not thrilled with walking on the water treadmill but he does it. He doesn't think of going to Theravet like going to the regular vets office, he is always very excited to see his friends when we arrive. Water therapy and laser therapy helped with his injuries and I would definitely recommend Theravet to other animal owners that have a pet with a recent surgery.

Flyball Practice

Peanut started flyball again last Friday night at Boom Towne. Flyball is a dog sport similar to a relay race. It  has been a fantastic experience for us. Peanut is a really smart high energy dog that needs to be entertained and challenged. It turned out that flyball was perfect for her. She loves running and jumping over the hurdles. She has completed one beginner flyball class and now practices each week with the local flyball team 2 Fast Fur U. I have been trying to take some pictures of her during practice but it is definitely a two man job. She is also so fast it is hard to capture her on camera! Hopefully pictures will be coming soon.

Peanut the Run Away Doggie

Peanut has been escaping from the house lately. She keeps slipping out the front door and running around like a crazy thing. The scary part is she runs so fast I cant catch her. I mean I can't even come close to catching her. We do practice the come command but this has shown us how much more we need to practice. I took Peanut & Bailey to Lollypop Farm recently to practice. They have a secured fenced in area that I was able to let her run around in. Of course she came to me every time then. This is one of my goals for 2011, practice the basic commands with the dogs so they do it right every time. As you can guess come is #1 on our list of commands to keep working on.

New Years Resolutions Doggy Style

Peanut
~ Stop chasing cats. Well some of the time.
~ Listen to mommy and come when called
~ Be an ultimate flyballer
~ Channel my energy be more zen

Bailey
~ Be more patient with my little sister Peanut
~ Take another training class at Lollypop Farm with mommy
~ Stop running at cars

~ Be nicer to the German Shepard down the street

Walking at Lollypop Farm

Yesterday Peanut and Bailey went for a nice long walk around Lollypop Farm. I love to take the dogs there because the farm walk gives them lots of exciting sites and smells. There is also a great dog walking trail across the street. Since we had such warm weather yesterday I thought I would take advantage of that to give the dogs some extra exercise. Peanut need a nice long walk outside to get rid of all of her energy. By the time we headed home the dogs were muddy but happy and thats all that matters.

This is the duck pond at Lollypop, Peanut just LOVES birds. She had so much fun looking at all of the birds.