Yes!!!

i have now been told by about 6 people that basil looks like a dog named finn, yet we have never encountered finn himself! He seems to be quite popular. Where is this infamous dog?

basil went to the vet today and she was very good and she loved the doctor! stitches out! but she does seem to be allergic to something (she’s been sneezing and her paws show signs of licking). vet suggests trying new food as it could be chicken :(

wellness food has been great for harry’s skin and paws, he gets a mix of wet and dry food and he loves it better than anything else ever.

i love this pic but feel that i am being judged as wanting

probably fair

it’s time for an update.

pupdate por favor

i don’t wanna jinx it but.................

it’s maybe gonna happen?!?! LL is def swaying towards saying yes. she called ytth at work and talked his ear off for over an hour—her main concern is that we won’t be able to spend enough time with a dog (lol!!!), i thought she was gonna be freaked about the garden and the hardwood floors, and her crazy allergies, but she is an animal lover and just wants to make sure we are fully prepared for the commitment. but she LOVES ytth so much, and of course he had great responses to all her concerns. she is also worried that if she says yes to us, she’ll have to see yes to our neighbours, who she doesn’t really like and who asked for a dog when they moved in 8 years ago.

she is gonna “sleep on it for a few days” but she said that talking to ytth had def swayed her towards our side.

KEEP ALL YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good luck!

i really really hope she says yes!

Everything crossed!!

Pupdate:

Basil is awesome and I love her so much! She started puppy class last week and she is the prettiest, most popular, best behaved girl in class. The other pup moms fawn over her. She learned shake and lay down really fast, but we are struggling a bit with the leash manners (she is easily distracted by squirrels, dogs, birds, buses, cars, people, etc. and pulllls a lot). She is also showing some weird behavior around s! She loves him but then sometimes she gets too excited and pees a tiny bit, usually when he first comes home. It is an excitement/submissive thing rather than a housebreaking thing...he needs to work on his approach to her maybe? I didn’t even know this was a thing!

The other day we went for a meet and greet at the doggy daycare recommended by our new upstairs neighbor, who has a dog that basil gets along with like gangbusters. They only let her meet the other dogs for a few min and then they said she exhibited like every type of doggy behavior possible. Weird. Anyway, she is going on Thursday to see how it goes, and they have a webcam so I can check in on her. She loves the dog park and plays well with all the dogs there, from Rottweilers to pugs, so I don’t know what was up with the amy are people. I think she just takes a few min to adjust to new environments and they didn’t give her enough time? We’ll see. I don’t want them to reject her!

I have to go on a work trip next week and it’s going to be so hard!

Also I think she is growing! It’s hard to say bc I don’t have a scale or measurements but she looks a little taller, and I think her face is starting to look a tiny bit re grown up? I could also be making it up.

*more grown up

:)

how much does day care cost?

we figure that we won’t need it, bc atm i am only working 3 days p/wk, jordan can take pup at least 1 day a week to work, and poss my boss might let me bring a dog?? idk, she’s weird and pass-agg so who knows. but the problem will be when ytth is out of town for work—i will have no way of getting pup to work with me since i don’t drive (and it’s 6 miles each way, which might be too long a walk for most dogs). even working the shortest day possible, pup would be home alone at least 7.5 hours. i guess we could hire a walker, but i’m uncomfortable giving my house key to a stranger.

cecil got adopted the other day which is :) but also :(

It is $30–35/day but she would probably go max twice a week, because I work from home one day and scott is off every other Friday and the others I can usually run home at lunch to walk her. Daycare is twice the cost of dog walker, but she gets an entire day of play instead of a thirty min walk. i think a dog could definitely manage for 7.5 hours. I just make sure to fit in lots of exercise and activities to keep her mentally stimulated. but yeah, you feel guilty. Next week when I go away she is going to boarding because s leaves at 6 and gets home at 5 and that would not work, esp since he’d have to get up at like 415 to feed/walk her. At least at boarding she gets an indoor/outdoor kennel and attn from the staff.

I am so worried she’s gonna hate me when I come back, or have terrible separation issues (she does howl sometimes when I leave, but not always. Weird.).

tbf i haven’t seen you in quite a long time but am still fond of u

/no howl

Aw thanks. Daycare webcam is addicting! Not a very productive day at work...

Basil is completely wasted after her day! They said she was a little shy at first but then really enjoyed playing with the other dogs :)

she is such a find.

I taught her roll over in about three tries today!

also:

Basil was not very happy when s picked her up from boarding last night and she went to the bathroom a lottt. I think she had been holding it in protest and finally relaxed when he came to get her :( apparently she has slept all day and i hope she is not too irritated with me when/if i get home!

more pix pls

this taxi driver when i arrived in dublin was telling me about his untrainable boxer puppy and he said, ‘he’s as daft as a brush, we should have called him basil,’ and then he said, ‘basil brush was a puppet on an old english tv show,’ and i said, ‘i know, we used to watch that in nz, i loved him,’ and then i said, ‘ha ha boom boom,’ which was what basil brush always said after he cracked a terrible joke and the driver was pleased in a nostalgic way and then i said, ‘my friend just got a very clever dog and she has named her basil,’ and the driver looked skeptical and changed the subject to oscar wilde.

My landlord’s idea of ”a few days” appears to be vastly different from mine—it’s been ELEVEN DAYS!!!

the good news is that my boss, despite being an asshole most of the time, said that I can totally bring a dog to work.

oh yay<3

Hooray! Good luck!

Miss basil is snoooozing up a storm today but she did wake me up to go out at 630. I think she is happy I am home and not too angry with me :)

puppy bol

puppybl

peepup patel

pup fiction

Puppy has pink eye :( apparently sending doggies to daycare is like sending kiddies to daycare O_o

aww

peepup patel

loool

i love to look at this dog. i love tuxedoed animals.

it’s been more than 3 weeks and still no answer :/

basil is soooooooooo pretty! i <3 her

Why is she toying with you?? I’ve half a mind to call her myself and tell her how much that house needs a dog!

Last night I let b sleep in the room instead of her crate (on dog bed, no human bed for her!) and she was a pro—no noise or accidents all night, and she let me sleep til 15 min before alarm went off.

she called tonight. it’s a big fat NO.

sadface.jpeg forever

sorry smoovy

this makes me mad.

sorry justin3<3

Awww, so sorry :(

we are incredibly, inconsolably bummed out

now we have to get super serious about buying a house, bc not having a dog is NOT AN OPTION!!!!!

oh the best part:

she was going to say yes, but decided to “sit with the decision for a week, to see how it felt” and then she decided that she just couldn’t deal with the stress of worrying about us owning a dog, because she doesn’t think we fully comprehend the commitment of owning a dog

wtf, her

It’s like she’s never met you? You understand the commitment of being married but not owning a dog? She sounds kinda loonie to me.

i hate ppl who think they are the best at making decisions for other ppl

This person is wrong.

^^^

It would be one thing if she was saying she didn’t want a dog on her property, but it seems like she’s trying to make it about you, which is sooooo wrong.

yeah it’s the moral judgment that’s bugging me, like, what if we decided to have a kid? would she say the same thing???? or, is she happier knowing that some poor dog is in a shelter instead of our nice warm loving home??? you couldn’t find two ppl more aware of the responsibility—or more committed to it—than us. we have discussed every aspect of dog ownership, all the possible scenarios like what if it needed $15,000 in medical care (yes we would pay whatever it cost, as long as it was to the dog’s benefit and not just our own), the kind of travel we’ll be doing (dog-friendly hotels only), a million other things... everything!!!

she said that she would feel more comfortable if either of us had been dog owners as adults, instead of this being our first time—that is insane to me!!! the reason we waited till our 30s is bc we understood that until now neither of us was ready for the huge emotional and financial and physical commitment of owning a dog, it’s not something we take lightly at all.

arrrrgggghhhhh /end rant

This woman is a controlling idiot and should be forgotten and left behind as soon as possible.

I am so irate for you!!

me too, i’m genuinely outraged.

<3 <3 <3

- moved 6500 miles away from home

- married for years

- pays the fuckin rent every month

- doesn’t understand commitment

sorry doggie, you’re better off in a pound than with these sketchy ppl

grr

seriously. i don’t even like dogs and i’m outraged on your behalf.

you’re gonna move, right? and tell her it’s because she is controlling and judgmental? right?

i mean there are particular dogs i like. just as a population i don’t care for them.

i feel the same about people.

every time i click submit on this thread, a doggie face flashes on the screen for a moment. i think it’s a sign that things are somehow going to work out for ruby and her dog.

also, every time i type the word dog an n sneaks in. you can guess where. it’s horrifying. i am horrified.

but i like making that doggie face flash so i’m going to post over and over again. i feel like i’m doing magic spells for ruby.

Aw <3 ¡

The thing is that she is a.genuinely good hearted person but she is super WEIRD and kind of nutty. Like, I know that she really believes that her priority is this theoretical dog’s welfare but it’s just sooooo dumb.

We’re probably gonna go see the bank about mortgage stuff soon. The way I’m looking at is: this must be for the best? Maybe we would have gotten a dog and them she would have decided to sell the house and we’d be super stressed teething to find a new place that would be ok with our 100lb dog, affordable and nice and in a good neighborhood? I mean, owning is the end goal anyway, we were just putting it off, or trying to, bc house buying sucks big time.

aww, i’m sorry this woman is a wacko :(

basil did an awesome job in her final exams tonight :)

this pic came out horrible bc i cut myself out of it and then instagrammed to brighten it up but anyway here she is pulling a mckayla maroney over this hat (not impressed).

what are the requirements and exams?

She had to do all the things they learned, including: sit, stay, lay down, watch me, loose leash walking, leave it, recall and some other stuff I forget.

Awww! ♡♥♡♥♡

pls to see cuet video on the facebook

basil says hi

she is such a serious little dog! <3 her

basil had so much fun playing with cousin tia on sunday. now i feel bad we don’t have a yard of our own :(

oops.

<3 <3 <3 <3

I gave b some kale tonight and she loved it! I was proud.

We also tried jogging together and she was great for a while but then she went nuts and started biting the leash (maybe but a fan of restraint?). Sigh. I will try again with different harness.

lol kale

we’ve decided, fuck it, we probably can’t afford to buy this year or next, so we’re gonna find a new rental in the next few months so we can finally get our dog!

yay! Do it! Warning: it’s rally hard to predict how much a dog will cost! i am about to drop mad $$ on a fancy trainer to help get basil through some if her anxious/fearful and impulse control issues (most of which didn’t manifest until recently). It’s ok i don’t mind if it will help her be happier, but goodbye, tax return!

Oddly she is doing way better with obedience stuff! (tomorrow she “graduates” from intermediate class).

P.s. Harbl i actually saw that woman out walking with her cat on the leash!

I just got yelled at by a crazy old witch for walking basil on the sidewalk within one of the adjacent condo communities. we were about 50 feet away from her and her shitty little dog and I stepped aside so the dogs would not cross paths because I could see that her little dog was acting somewhat aggressively. she told me I was not allowed to be there and that I had to leave. I was somewhat confused and she told me only residents could walk there and she knew I was not a resident because they have a 30 pound weight limit. I told her I was not aware that I was not allowed to walk there and she went off saying that there are signs posted everywhere. she told me my dog was scaring her dog because she was big, not having any realization that my dog may have been scared as well (she is actually fearful of many dogs, which is why I’d stepped aside). I explained that, and again said I was not aware that it was not allowed and she continued to tell me I had to leave but wouldn’t stop yelling at me so that I could. So i told her she was being very rude but that didn’t help. by the way, she was accompanied by her elderly mother and they were also many onlookers sitting there like WTF. (I apologized to them for the crazy once she had gone.) we walk there all the time and every other resident there has always said hello and been friendly towards us. one person even asked if our dogs could say hello to each other. after she left I exited the community but walked the perimeter to check for signs about not walking your dog. there are none.

I hate people.

this is really irritating to me because I know that basil has some issues but I work very hard to keep her out of uncomfortable situations and I’m a very responsible owner in that i am conscious of her triggers and am proactive in managing her when we’re on walks... many dog owners around here have no control over their dogs at all or don’t care that they act inappropriately. also if her dog is scared of my dog, then her dog is going to be scared of a 30 pound dog. she needs to learn how to manage her dog and not take it out on other people.

this is one scary dog

(her response when we got home)

That woman is crazy and wrong on so many counts. I am tsking her harshly + shaking my finger at her, she is so wrong.

Also—awwwwwww!!

fuck that lady!!!

<3!

(and by the way i don’t hate all little dogs, just the poorly behaved ones whose owners don’t think it matters that they’re aggressive or reactive because they’re little and easier to control.)

I feel like that woman was probably pro-segregation.

lol. what an asshole. she was probably covering up her shame at having an inferior dog.

I noticed today that my neighborhood/condo community (covers many blocks) actually has signs posted about having your dog leashed, licensed and spayed/neutered (I’m fine with that... Not telling anyone they can’t walk down the street!) but there are definitely no dog or sidewalk related signs in the adjacent complex. I’m still irate at her snobbiness...it’s not like she lives in some fancy gated community...it’s 3 outdated buildings and the condos are cheap. Not like a “have to keep the riff raff out” type of place. I should just get over it, but it just makes me want to move evn more.

you should make a point of walking basil over there EVEN MORE FREQUENTLY. and when she sees you and starts yelling, you should just smile a little condescendingly, pretend you can’t understand her and keep walking.

it’ll drive her nuts

basil is having fun in the rain with her doggy sitter

i like the color composition of that picture

Me too! I want those towels. I love the color.

doggie sitter says b cried the whole first day til she bought her a new tug toy and apparently she has been content with that ever since (spoiled! Apparently the toys i packed weren’t good enough!). Also they went on a two mile run today and i am amazed because i can’t run more than a few blocks with her before she wants to attack the leash! I went to the pride parade and there was a table with free doggie stuff so hopefully she will forgive me for going away. I miss her!

basil’s first fireworks:

1. What’s going on out there? Lets go!

2. What are these curious noises? Oh well, lets continue our walk.

3. Calmly met three other dogs (this never happens)... Too preoccupied to care about them?

4. Poops.

5. I want to go home. NOW!!!! (High tailed it 3 blocks... Hey lady, are you walking the dog or is the dog walking you? At least I know she knows where home is!)

6. Mommy, hold me, I’m scared! (Intense snugglez)

7. Finally over. Pant for 5 min.

8. Lay down. The end.