It has been over a year since I've last written here... I have not made a blog post since 2020. That is insane. However, I think you will easily forgive me. This past year has been been a tiresome one for all of us, and we over here have gone through some incredible changes in the last 12 months.
I don't have anything spectacular to share, but I will dive into what my life looked at in 2021, in a nutshell*.
In May of 2021 we said goodbye to Riley, but not like that! I sent him to Ontario to stay with his grandparents. I was packing up my house that I just sold (100% took advantage of the insane market - woop woop! Sorry to all buyers out there). And I was preparing to move into an apartment building with Rey Rey in Halifax.
These were some very big changes (absolute huge) that had me feeling a little (hella) anxious. How would Rey adjust with Riley being gone, how would she do in an apartment,
UM the elevator? Close contact with other dogs... Different noises, me leaving her there, no backyard (here's to morning walkies so Rey can pee and I can't feel my face).
Fun side story - I let Rey go on the balcony after it snowed to see if she wanted to play in it and she got confused and totes used the bathroom out there OOPS. It was a one time occurrence, and she no longer plays on the snowy balcony first thing in the morning.
I won't spoil how Rey has or has not adjusted to the elevator (or do we walk up and down fourteen flights all day long) because that is worthy of another post.
She also got to go to her first ball game, I was playing. She loved sitting with me in the dugout. She did not love when I had to play in the field. Clingy much. Was it the excitement? Did she want to chase the ball? Is she obsessed with me? Absolutely yes, probably all three.
I let her run bases when the game was over and I gotta say... put her in coach!
I left Rey with my parents for a week. I had to go away for a bit so I left her (for the first time) with her grandparents. You should have seen the size of her suitcase.
Flash forward a few months to September, and now Riley has moved into the building next door... this had me concerned because Rey would very likely smell Riley outside when he goes to the bathroom, and running into them could leave her very confused! So we had to deal with this as well.
Rey also developed incontinence during the summer months and we were navigating that. (She pees when she's asleep - totally loses control of her bladder - poor girl). In fact the very first night in the apartment I woke up in bed at 3 am laying in her urine. We both had a quick shower, I threw the sheets in the wash and we finished off our night on the couch. We opted for medication to help her with these - will also dive deeper into this topic at a later date.
We made a quick stop to see Rey's mama for the first time since she was 10 weeks old!!!
Rey and I joined a novice obedience class just for the heck of it. Really, I wanted to put Rey in a controlled environment to practice obedience, exposure is always great, and brushing up on skills we already know. Spoiler alert: we passed with a score of 199/200. Rey wants me to tell you that the point lost was solely my fault, and it really was, she is perfect.
MY SISTER FINALLY VISITED FROM QUEBEC!!!! This is huge for so many reasons, but how it is a big deal for Rey is because she got to meet my nephews, 2 years old and a 3 month old at the time of the first visit. Rey had never met a toddler or a teeny baby before. How did it go? I'll tell you later. Muahahah
Over the past year Rey had made SO MANY FRIENDS. I wouldn't say that she was greatly under socialized, however, she was eight months when covid started, she had gone to puppy socialization and other training groups (more on this as well), prior to lockdown. But now we couldn't get out and see people, at least she had her brothers. I started taking Rey out with a group of dogs and at first I was so nervous, I had no clue how she would behave, but her progress has been incredible. Rey actually got attacked (so not as bad as that sounds). Though I was horrified.
Rey met a 13 week old kitten.
Rey's sweater collection grew exponentially.
And finally, Rey had the best Christmas ever.
I googled 'in a nutshell' and it says 'A brief statement' or 'In a few words'.
I think both 'brief' and 'a few' is relative. So I'm going to say I did okay.
There is so much more I want to say about all of the things that I've mentioned. And I will. Be patient (I say to myself).
2022 is also very incredibly exciting and I can't wait to share what we are up to!
To wrap things up, Rey and I are great. We are doing fantastic and we are happy. Change can be a good thing and we are making lemons out of everything that life thro- I realize as I type this that I'm saying that wrong and I think it's hilarious so I'm keeping it.
Make lemons friends.
Xo Cass and Rey