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My FUR-ever friend

Alright…I must admit…I always thought those people that were crazy about their dogs were a little much.  But now that I have Reilly I totally see why people love their dogs so much!

Bryan and I got Reilly this past summer in July right before my parents moved to Honduras.  As much as we were excited for Reilly to join us in San Diego, I was a little nervous because of the impending lifestyle change.  Once Reilly arrived to San Diego, he surprisingly made an easy transition from a PNW dog to being a beach dog in no time.

Speaking of beach dog, I have somewhat of a funny story.  When Bryan and I got Reilly we drove him — and some of my personal items that were still at my parents house — from Seattle, WA to San Diego, CA. We arrived the day before Bryan and I’s one year anniversary.  On our one year anniversary we were so excited to take Reilly to the dog beach for the first time since he had never been.  We ended up taking him to the Ocean Beach (OB) Dog Beach since we live down the street from it.  All was going well until…Reilly decided to poop not only once on the beach but THREE times with each time getting more “soupier” if I may say. By the third time, Bryan and I figured it was time to go.  We started walking toward the car, but by that time Reilly’s poop was getting more and more watery and was leaking out while he was walking.  Poor guy!! We felt so bad for him.  I reached out to one of my girlfriends who is a local veterinarian (Melinda Benitez who is fantastic if anyone is interested) and asked what was happening and what to do.  In short, she said he most likely had salt water poisoning.  She suggested providing Reilly lots of fresh water and rest, but ultimately to let it run its course. If Reilly started to vomit she wanted us to bring him in ASAP because it could be something else more deadly.  Thankfully, we never had to do that and he was much better after sitting in the grass letting it all pass, drinking LOTS of fresh water for a couple hours, and of course a bath.  Weeks after, I read an article in PEOPLE magazine about how a woman lost her dog to salt water poisoning and I was so sad for her.  You can read it here.

Why am I telling you all about this?  Well because our beloved furbaby turns FIVE today!! Here are five fun facts about Reilly:

  1. He is very coordinated with his front paws. My favorite thing that he does is sit on his hind legs and wrap his two front paws around your arm and give you kisses when you pet him.
  2. He attended University K9 in Oregon while living with my parents. He didn’t learn much…
  3. He is the biggest lover but the biggest scaredy cat I know.  He gets very anxious when he hears fireworks or loud bang noises and likes to be in smaller spaces when that happens.  But we are working on it! He used to run to the bathtub at my parent’s house but now I just say “Who’s that?” and he starts barking at the loud sounds, which gets his mind off his fear and anxiety.
  4. He loves to go to the park and the beach.  We have returned many times to the beach without any other salt water poisoning.
  5. He LOVES bacon grease on his food!

So how are we celebrating Reilly today? Well I made him a big pupcake (recipe here and see images below) and will be taking him to the dog park to pawty with his furfriends!!  If you have a furbaby, how do you celebrate their birthday?

Xoxo,

T

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