ADOPT 2010 Contest

My name is TEDDY! I’m a 12-pound, 7 or 8 year old Pomeranian, and I’m the sweetest thing (according to my Mom, but I think she may be biased in that regard!). Just so you are not on pins and needles while reading this, my story has a very happy ending! But it didn’t start out very well for me. I have no strong recollections about much of what happened to me prior to my Mom and Dad welcoming me in to my furever home, but I know that I was in really rough shape. Somehow or another I was found wandering around alone on the Cross Bronx Expressway, which is one of the most heavily trafficked roads in the whole country! Since it isn’t possible for a pupster to access the road easily by foot (it’s an elevated highway with complicated on and off ramps and no shoulders or sidewalks) the people who found me figured I was thrown from a moving car. Or maybe I jumped. Like I said, I totally blocked it out and don’t remember a thing.

From there, the people took me to the New York City animal shelter where they discovered that I had two broken hind legs and a broken pelvis, an abscessed tooth, and was all matted and dirty. In the New York shelter system, if no one claims you within a couple of days, that’s pretty much the end of the line for you. But no one in their right mind would have claimed me or volunteered to take me in the condition I was in. You should see my “mug shots” from the shelter! Yowza! It doesn’t even look like me!

Luckily for me, a great rescue group called Posh Pets saw me there in the cage, in misery, took me away, fixed me up at the medical center with surgeries and medicines, and placed me in a temporary foster home. They put my picture up on their website for adoption, and that’s where Mom found my little face a couple of months later! When mom took me home, I still couldn’t put all my weight on my four legs, and kept one leg tucked up underneath of me, so that people thought I was a three-legged dog. I literally hopped when I walked! For a little while I lived with Grandma, she was in a wheelchair and couldn’t walk, either, but she had a ramp out to her backyard, which was easier for me to negotiate than my Mom’s apartment, which has lots of steps. But after a short while of recuperation, Mom brought me home, and here I have been ever since! Mom and Dad have both been through serious illnesses (brain tumor and cancer, respectively) so they are very understanding of my weaknesses and foibles, and love me in spite of (or maybe even because of?) my disabilities.

We have a great life – Mom and Dad work at home much of the time, so I almost always have some company in the house, and for about half the year we go up to live in a cottage on Greenwood Lake, in the woods. I love it up there! We take slow walks up and down the hills, and I get to sniff everything in creation. We never hurry! I can’t walk too fast, and neither can Mom and Dad, so it all works out perfectly! The rest of the year we live in New York City, right on the Hudson River, which I also love very much – the mist rolls in off the river, and I get to stand at the top of the cliffs and smell all the smells coming in off the water and hearing the tugboat horns. I could stand there for hours, just turning my head this way and that, nose in the air, sniffing all the scents. There are also LOTS of dogs in this neighborhood, and I have many friends – Lily, and Luna, and Barclay, and Watson, and lots of others. The neighborhood is very dog friendly, and when we visit the stores and cafes, all the shop owners know TEDDY! They say “Good afternoon, TEDDY! How are you today?” I still have a pronounced limp, and some days it is worse than others, but overall I can get around pretty well! I just can’t walk too far…

What a difference in my life from a few short years ago! Mom dotes on me, says I am the best puppy in the world, and the cutest little bear ever, and things of that nature - you know, sort of embarrassing things - but I don’t mind! I love my squeaky toys and my stuffies, and can be very fierce with them! I especially like to play tug of war, and “Monkey,” where I pretend to give my stuffie to mom, but then run away with it! I also am very talented, and can squeak my toys in time with the music! I love kids, every kind of human and all other animals, and I am overall very happy and content. I smile a lot. So, as I said at the beginning, this story has a happy ending. I am one of the lucky ones, and fortunately, we all know it - me, and Mom, and Dad - and are thankful to have found each other. Love, TEDDY!

Penultimate Day of 2009

Greetings, everyone! It's the penultimate day of 2009, which Mom tells me means the second to the last day. It's been a strange year, and we've been away from dogster for too long. Lots of things happened to us this year, some good, some not so good at all, and many that prevented us from spending time with our dogster pals, but hopefully that's all about to change!

A quick re-cap of the year's events:
~The beautiful Figgie went to the Rainbow Bridge in March, at the age of 20. We still miss you, Fig-Fig! Mom just got around to throwing out Figgie's old treats and medicines, and giving away a huge bag of cat litter to a neighbor.
~My Grandma (Mom's Mom) passed away in May, right after the Memorial Day weekend, and Mom took a serious hiatus in her life from just about everything after that. I miss Grandma very much, she was my second Mom, and I used to spend alot of time at her house, running up and down the wheelchair ramp to the backyard. She used to love to sneak me special treats and tid-bits of food that I generally wasn't allowed to indulge in (because of the portliness factor - heck, I think Grandma may even have been the CAUSE of my portliness factor!).
~Then we spent most of the next five or six months up at the lakehouse, when Mom was working on two book deadlines at once! There were more than the usual number of black bear this year around the house! They're BIG! We also saw a bob cat and lots of deer in our woods.
~We had a freak early snow storm up at the lake in mid-October, which I LOVED!
~Mom went for part of the fall to Marrakech, Morocco, for some Population Scientist Union thing, as well as some site-seeing around the ancient city and the Atlas Mountains, and I stayed home in NYC with dad. Lonely times for both of us!
~Then it was Thanksgiving up at the lakehouse, and the excitement of closing up the house for the winter.

And now it's almost the end of 2009, and we are hoping and wishing that 2010 is the beginning of a better year for us, less sorrow, less hectic, and more fun with TEDDY!
I wish everyone reading this diary page will have a good 2010 - a most happy and healthy New Year to you all! Love, TEDDY!

THE GREATEST SORROW IN TEDDY”S HOUSE

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Greetings, everyone! Mom is back now from her horrible conference all week, and she hopes to be back to active status in our favourite dogster groups!

Mom and I wanted to thank you all for your words of comfort, special gifts, and candle lighting for my fursis Figgie, who passed over onto the Rainbow Bridge last Monday. It means so much to us to know that you all are so caring and supportive. We truly appreciate it, and think you guys are wonderful! We are still hurting very much, of course, but we can't tell you how much your kindness helps. Love, TEDDY!


Monday, March 23, 2009

It is with the greatest sorrow in my heart that I have to report to you that my fursis Figgie passed over to the Rainbow Bridge this morning. Figgie has been ill for some time now, and was recently diagnosed with masses in her liver. She struggled to live, but in the end, the disease won. We all feel horrible, but Mom feels worst of all, since she is away at a conference right now, and wasn’t even home for the last two days of Figgie’s life.

I will miss Figgie, even though she ignored me most of the time, but still, I knew how much Mom and Dad loved her, and so I loved her, too. She slept curled up against Mom in the big bed almost every night for nearly 20 years. That’s a long time! Longer than many marriages. Every night, if Mom got up to pee, Figgie would make a certain noise when mom came back to the bed, to let mom know she was there, and not to sit on her. Mom is going to miss that little warning meow.

Figgie was originally a feral cat, and Mom and Dad found her as an infant in 1989, abandoned by her mother and living in a woodpile up at the lakehouse. They heard a crying and whimpering and thought it was a hurt bird. Dad went out to find it, and surprised Mom by coming back in the house with a small fluff ball. The raccoons had gotten to her eyes a little bit, but she recovered. She didn’t even know how to drink, that is how young she was. Mom remembers her as a little ball of orange fur tearing down the long hallway, legs flying out in all directions. She used to play “Buddha belly” with Figgie, roughhousing a lot, and Figgie was tough girl and loved it. She was the third cat in a household of geriatric cats: Orpheus lived to be 22 years old, and Jebbly lived to be 21. For the past several years, she's been an only cat. Aside from her twice-yearly checkups, she never had cause to go to the vet, until last month, when she started losing weight very dramatically.

Mom feels bad she never created a catster page for Figgie, but you can see pictures of the Fig on my page on dogster. She was a beautiful girl. We know she is at peace now, but please think about her anyway, as you go about your day, and remember to appreciate all the people and furry companions that share your life, and don’t take any of them for granted, because it is very hard when they are no longer around.

WE MISS YOU, FIG-FIG!
We will miss you forever.
Love, TEDDY

Been TAGGED by Daisy Elise!

Well, this must be my lucky day! I've been tagged by my buddy Daisy Elise! And now I must find 7 random (yet, hopefully interesting!) things to say about myself! And then I get to tag 7 other lucky pupsters! OK, here goes:

7 "Fun Fact" about TEDDY! (to paraphrase David Letterman!)

1.) I LOVE my squeaky toys, especially my little monkey;
2.) I squeak the toys in time to the music – I am very talented in that regard!
3.) I am a rescue pup – was found on the Cross Bronx Expressway with broken legs and pelvis;
4.) I’ve been in my new “forever home” for about a year and a half;
5.) I love to stand still outside and sniff the breeze. I could do that for hours;
6.) I actually LIKE the ice and snow, and can’t wait for it to get cold enough!
7.) I wish my friend Figgie would like to play with me, but she just mainly ignores me, except when she attacks me if I get too close! That’s not nice, Fig-Fig!

RULES OF THE GAME:

Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Dogs who are tagged, need to post in their diary the rules and their 7 pawsome facts. Then choose some dogs to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to bark them a pmail that they have been tagged and to read your diary, or, send them a fun Rosette announcing they've been Tagged.

My “Lucky 7” Taggees:
Bailey
Jazzy
Foxy
Digger
Tobias Bear
Tessa
Cloud

Almost Forgot! Here's the pupsters I tagged:

Almost Forgot! Here's the pupsters I tagged:
Wylie
Dash
Cosmo2
Roan
Lord Percee Bear
Pippin
Harley
Pooh Bear
Sophie
Whew! That's alotof tagging! I'm exhausted now! Love, TEDDY!

OK, I've been tagged!

OK, so I've been tagged for the first time! But not just once! Twice, in the same day, by two different pals. By Bailey, and by Kobe. Oh, my! I'm not sure if that means I get to tag 14 other pups, or what! But I assume that's what it means! Well this is fun. Here are the rules, for those that I will be tagging momentarily. Now, I also put in my 7 random facts, which was also fun to think about (even though some are a little lame - it's late at night!)
So here are the rules:

RULES OF THE GAME:

Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Dogs who are tagged, need to post in their diary the rules and their 7 pawsome facts. Then choose some dogs to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to bark them a pmail that they have been tagged and to read your diary, or, send them a fun Rosette announcing they've been Tagged!

OK, here goes: Seven random facts about myself!
1.) I love cheese and all dairy foods.
2.) I love to snuggle with my Mom (OK, well that’s not very original, but it’s true!).
3.) I hardly ever bark, but I do growl a lot, especially when Mom tries to put me down off of her lap.
4.) I caught ear mites from Figgie, but they are gone now. I hated the ear mite medicine.
5.) I am very friendly with other pupsters and kitties, and just about anyone else, too.
6.) I love to play fetch with my squeaky toys, and chew them to smithereens.
7.) I love to twirl, and due to my gimpy leg, sometimes I topple over when twirling too hard!