Happy Holidays!

The holidays have sure kept us busy here in apartment number 7.  Finally, I get to take a moment to breathe and recap on all the wonderful happenings that occurred over the past week and a half.  Presents, happiness, stress, and chaos galore took over the minds of people this holiday season.  It seemed I was on constant "Go" mode that couldn't be turned off.  But of course, a little comedic relief, thanks to Oscar, was needed and greatly appreciated.

I celebrated Christmas with my boyfriend Nick, about a week before Christmas day.  Since I believe stocking stuffers are one of the best parts of Christmas, I made sure that he provided my stocking with witty and thoughtful trinkets, as I did his.  A stuffed tiger was hanging out of the top of my stocking when I arrived at his apartment with Oscar in tow.  As soon as I sat down to look in my stocking, I told Nick straight-up, "You know that Oscar is going to destroy this, whether it's for him or not."  And sure enough, no sooner did I lift the tiger out of the stocking did Oscar jump on the couch to rip it out of my hands and continue to drench it in spit while he happily knawed on it.  Merry Christmas, Oscar.

Other shenanigans of Oscar during the holidays included attempts at being sneaky and stealing multiple bows, candies, bits of wrapping paper, and also terrorizing my parents two dogs, Frank and Beans, as well as their cat, Thor.  He also made sure to bark non-stop so we wouldn't forget he was there, and lick everyone's faces.  And of course, he did all this while cruising around, sporting his Christmas sweater :)

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and Oscar and I wish you a Happy New Year!

Oscar sporting his lovely holiday sweater :)

Under the Bed and the Bathtub

Oscar is very stubborn and can be quite a jerk, sometimes.  For example, last night, Oscar was at the peak of causing frustration for Betty and I.

Oscar is not allowed under the bed.  It freaks me out.  There is not really anything important under my bed, but I can't see him when he is, and Lord knows what he is doing under there.  He learned this early, and has overall avoided sneaking under there.  Except for last night.  He discovered the underneath of my bed, again.

I am not good at bending.  This is another reason I don't like him going under my bed, because I literally have to lay on the floor and flail my arms around to try to scare him out.  It doesn't even phase him.  This is where my back-up plan comes into play.  "Betty!  He's under the bed!"

Betty comes in and we try to attack from both sides.  There's lots of, "Where is he?  I can't see him.  Oh, he's over there?  Where?  At the end of the bed.  At the foot of the bed.  Well now he's moved."  All of this is being said while arms and legs are sweeping the carpet trying to catch fur, a leg, his head, anything.  Betty finally extracts him with both of her legs acting like a spatula.  Such talent.  I am jealous.

Then he heard the water run in the bathtub, and saw me grab his brush and shampoo, and it all started over again.  For acting like such a bad-ass and barking all the time, he sure is a wimp when it comes to taking a bath.  Here is a video of Oscar's first bath.  We never did it in the sink, again.  Betty is the one recording/laughing, and I'm the one getting clawed, scratched, and splashed. 

The Beginning

Puppies are cute.  Everyone knows that puppies are cute.  This is why I wanted one so bad.  There were other reasons, too.
- Good company
-Someone who listens and doesn't talk
-Someone who encourages exercise!
-Entertainment
-A reliable friend who is always there
-A buddy

Well, with caring for a puppy, other things need to be taken into consideration.
Like:
-Potty training...this means peeing inside, peeing outside, peeing on your couch, peeing on you
-BARKING...barking in his crate, barking out of his crate, barking when playing, barking when someone comes OR gos, barking for no reason but to make noise, barking to annoy
-Chewing...on your feather throw pillows, on electrical cords, on shoes, purses, backpacks, baskets that hold his dog toys, fingers, toes, socks, underwear, carpet, tables
-Eating...Grabbing whole pieces of ham dropped on the floor and eating it in 10 seconds to throw up on feather throw pillows, chewing up chew toys and eating them to throw them up all over self and crate, eating hair and fuzz to be gagged up on carpet. 

Oscar and his new winter coat!  Yes, I dress my dog for the weather.

BUT, with the little bad, (and kind of funny), comes a lot of good.  I love Oscar and his wild hair.  I love dressing him up in ugly Christmas sweaters and fashionable coats.  I love his energy.  I love how when he doesn't bite, he licks with a tongue twice the length of anything normal.  I find it hilarious that he can only poop on concrete, and must crouch-walk while in the process.  I love the mornings when he lets me sleep until 10.  He even sits still while we experiment with his hair.  He is all around a good dog, and a great buddy :)

Day One

It was a long day of work at Ruby Tuesday, and my back was killing me.  All I wanted was boyfriend, Nick, to come over so we could watch "Dan in Real Life" and go to sleep.  Tomorrow was another busy day, and I was just focusing getting through the night.  Twenty minutes pass after Nick's estimated arrival time at my apartment, so, being the obnoxious girl friend that I am, I called him.  "Where are you?!" I half yell.  Nick says, a bit annoyed, "I'm packing up some stuff I'll be over in a minute."  "K Bye."

Five minutes later the doorbell rings, so I get up and open the door.  "About time!" is all I'm thinking.  Then Nick hands me a puppy.  Its tiny, brown and black, with floppy ears.  " Happy Birthday!" says Nick with a huge grin on his face, because I'm sure he's loving the look of shock on mine.  "Is he really mine?  He's so cute!  Are you serious?  Is he mine?  Are you serious?!"

Yes, he was all mine.  A perfect, early birthday gift that EVERYONE knew about, but me.  I was completely shocked and overjoyed.  It was all so overwhelming, but so awesome at the same time.  I had a cute little puppy that was allllll mine.

Now, my roommate, Betty, and Nick were asking me what I was going to name him (he was a little boy).  All I could think was "Geeeez he was put into my hands five minutes ago and you instantly want me to come up with a name for him?"  But, a name is important and he needed one as soon as possible.  "Hey" would only cut it for the first half hour or so.

These are the suggestions I was given:

Betty:  Crayon
Nick:  Buddy
Me:  Fido

After all the awesome suggestions from my peers, Betty spouts out the name Oscar.  I look at him and realize its perfect.  He is an Oscar.

Then the fun, frustration, pissy (literally), "Whoops", moments of two college students raising a puppy begin.  This is Raising Oscar.