Photos: Tyler's Birthday Adventures in Petco!

 Tyler's 11th birthday was November 29th and we celebrated with a day of walks, snuggles, treats, naps under blankets, breakfast with eggs, and some playtime. At the end of the day, we took a family trip to nearby Petco where Tyler and Dash walked around and Tyler got to pick out some favorite treats. There was another dog in Petco, so that sent Tyler into a barking frenzy... because it's his birthday and he didn't invite the other dog. LOL. Here are some pictures from his adventure!

(Photo: Tom and Dash, Tyler and Rob in Petco!)

(Tyler and Dash pose before the trip to Petco for birthday goodies!)

(Dash leading Daddy Tom through Petco to sniff out good stufff) 

(Photo: Tyler checking out the toy box on ground level!)

A Double Dog Happy Birthday: Dolly and Tyler!

Today, November 29, two of our canine kids are celebrating birthdays: Dolly the Weimaraner turns 13 years old, and Tyler the black and tan Dachshund turns 7 (at least we think he does). Tyler and Dolly always cuddle and today's blog is filled with pictures of them doing just that as we celebrate their birthdays! 

DOLLY'S STORY:  We adopted Dolly as a 3 month old pup from the former Wolf Creek Weimaraner Rescue of Knoxville, TN (it's no longer in operation) in March 2005. She was one of a litter of 6 that our friend Amber Keirn (who ran the rescue), took into the rescue from a shelter in Atlanta (yes, a breeder dumped week-old puppies in a kill shelter, but Amber drove down and rescued them). 

ABOUT DOLLY - She's the smartest, most intuitive, caring, obedient, loving , gentle, laid back Weimaraner you'll ever meet. She loves doing agility after dinner (we practice after dinner in the living room during the winter, outside in the summer) with Tyler! She and I (Rob) know exactly what the other is thinking.  For instance: Dolly has taught me (Rob) to refill her water bowl with Fresh water (she likes it less than 2-3 hours old, and who doesn't?) by standing next to it and staring at me!  Dolly loves chewing on nylabones (and the like) and tearing stuffing out of toys. She pushes blankets off at night, because she gets warm and she loves her brothers, Tyler and Franklin. 

TYLER'S STORY: Tyler came to us in December 2012 as a foster dog through Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue (CCDR). Because we work with the rescue, our friend Donna Gerhauser who is a regional manager for CCDR called us and asked if we could somehow get Tyler (not his name at the time) from a kill shelter in North Carolina. We managed to arrange his rescue and transport to us in Maryland through someone we knew who was driving down there. 

TYLER'S ARRIVAL:  When he arrived he was about 1 or 2 years old... we think. There was ZERO paperwork on him. All we knew is that the shelter tested him for illnesses and determined he was heartworm positive!  (We thought that an untrained dog with a bad illness meant that his previous "parent'- really not a parent was atrocious and the people he lived with before were barbarians.).  
SOLVED A MYSTERY OF HIS PAST- We learned that he hates bearded men and people wearing black pants. So we believe a bearded man who wore dark pants abused him in his long ago former home. 

We actually had to keep Tyler crated for the first week or two, until he closely bonded with DOLLY.

TYLER'S BIRTHDAY- Since Tyler had no known birthday, and he bonded with Dolly, never leaving her side, and eating, sleeping, playing and even walking right next to Dolly, we gave him Dolly's birthday of November 29th!  We also realized that we HAD to ADOPT HIM... so we did. (Franklin and Dolly were 8 yrs at the time, and Sprite was 16 yrs). 

Family pic at Halloween; Tom, Franklin, Dolly, Rob, Tyler

THE BEST TAIL-WAGGING AGILITY DOG - We put a lot of training into Tyler, and soon Every day he wakes up wagging his tail and it doesn't stop. He's obviously never forgotten how thankful he is to be loved... and he makes us laugh and feel so loved daily. We took him to obedience school and 2 years of agility classes. He got so good at agility, Tyler taught Dolly at home and they do it together! Tyler loves toys and takes most of them out of his toy baskets and spreads them all over the floor (Tom wants him to put them back!). He barks at other dogs (we're still teaching him not to) and he's fiercely defensive of us, too.  But his tail is always wagging, and he is always ready with kisses every day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOLLY AND TYLER! 

Dolly's Story on her 10th Birthday (and Tyler's 5th birthday): A Special Weimaraner with 2 Famous Names

Dolly and Tyler celebrate today!

Today marks Dolly's and Tyler's birthdays (Dolly turns 10, Tyler turns 5). We know Dolly's actual birthdate, but don't know Tyler's, so because they're bonded we decided to make them the same day. 

A Special Weimaraner with 2 Famous Names

     A newborn puppy and her siblings should never have to experience what Dolly, our Weimarner did. Despite being abandoned, carried away a couple hundred miles, raised in a strange place with her brothers and sisters, she became the world's most loving canine companion.

    I (Rob) adopted our Weimaraner in March 2005 from Wolf Creek Weimaraner Rescue in Tennessee, when she was just 3 months old. She taught me what unconditional love was and prepared me to meet Tom -  the love of my life later that year whom I married in 2009.

The day Rob met Dolly in March 2005 in Tennessee

    Dolly Loretta, originally named Chloe, was born on Nov. 29th, 2004 in a litter of 6 at a breeder's house in Atlanta. When Dolly's mom stepped on a rusty nail and contracted tetanus, the breeder dumped the newborn pups at a shelter. They were a week old. The shelter called Wolf Creek Weimaraner Rescue in Knoxville, Tennessee (the nearest Weimaraner rescue) and Amber (the rescue manager) raced to Atlanta from Knoxville and picked up all six puppies. She and others bottle fed them for many weeks, raising and caring for them until they were 3 months old and old enough to adopt out.

    Timing is everything. On Feb. 22, 2005, I had a Weimaraner puppy named Buzz Wyatt who was killed by a speeding car when his leash opened on a walk. A couple of weeks later, my friend Lynn encouraged me to give that love to another Weimaraner and sent me web links to rescues for the breed. I searched through them and saw "Chloe" as she was called then. I fell in love. My broken heart was about to be mended, although Buzz Wyatt would always be in there, too.

     I filled out the required paperwork on line, did a 1 hour interview on the phone, had a local person do a home visit and I was cleared for adoption. On March 18th, 2005, my friend Jeff accompanied me on a 9 1/2 hour drive to Knoxville for my first in-person meeting with Dolly Loretta. It was sheer joy. I named her Dolly Loretta after my favorite singer, Dolly Parton, and my friend Jeff's favorite singer, Loretta Lynn (as a way to thank uncle Jeff for making the drive for this special occasion).

Napping is good on a birthday

     Dolly is now turning 10 years old. She and I have go through school together, and I've never seen a more loyal, obedient and extremely affectionate canine child. She follows us around the house and always needs to be with someone. She loves our dachshunds Franklin and Tyler, and has bonded like a mother to little 4 year old Tyler. In fact, Tyler keeps her young by playing, eating and sleeping together.

One of our friends calls Dolly a "classy lady," and she really is.

Rob Gutro