Hi, I’m Savanna! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my spunky Chihuahua mix, Penny.

On August 15, we celebrated Penny’s fourth birthday. It’s hard to believe that we’ve had her for this long; it feels like just yesterday that she came into our lives for the first time. I love celebrating birthdays, no matter who it is. But this year, I almost dropped the ball and completely forgot about Penny’s birthday. We’ve been so busy lately, and the day snuck up on me. But we were able to pull it off, so here’s how we celebrated Penny turning four.

Picking Out Her Gifts

For Penny’s first birthday, I made her a little apple and peanut butter cake. But for the past couple of years, I’ve just gone to PetSmart to get Penny a special birthday treat. I was a little disappointed this year because my local PetSmart didn’t have a lot of birthday-themed stuff. Last year, they had a whole section of doggy birthday cakes, party hats, etc.

After poring through the dog aisles several times, I finally found her a birthday outfit, a little cookie donut, and some dog toys.

Penny’s Birthday “Party”

When I got home, Penny immediately got excited when we started telling her, “Happy Birthday!” Obviously she has no idea what that means, she just knew it was a good thing because we were excited about it too.

I set the PetSmart bag down and she got even more excited. This isn’t unusual. She always thinks everything we bring home is for her. But this stuff actually was for her, and she got more and more excited with each thing we pulled out of the bag.

I first put her little birthday shirt on, which was super cute. We sang the Happy Birthday song to her, and again, she had no idea what was going on but her tail was wagging the entire time. Then I gave her the dog toys and she played with each one of them for a little bit.

But I saved the best one for last…the donut cookie.

Penny’s Favorite Gift

The donut cookie was clearly Penny’s favorite gift. I put it down on a plate for her to eat some of it, but she mostly just licked it and couldn’t really get it in her mouth enough to take a bite of it.

So I held it up for her to lick and nibble on, and it was so funny when she would stick her tongue through the hole in the middle to lick the icing off the front. When she had licked a good bit of the icing off of it, I broke the donut cookie into smaller pieces so she could eat it. I think she may have even liked the donut cookie more than the cake I made her for her first birthday.

I know Penny has no idea what’s going on or what day it is, and she won’t remember her birthday celebrations every year; she just knows she gets special treats sometimes. But I remember her birthdays and how happy and excited she gets when she gets those special treats. I love to make her feel special because she brings me so much joy and happiness every day.