pup life

Happy 9th Homecoming, Rory!

September 24, 2020 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

Today marks 9 years since I brought Rory home! I would say it’s his Gotcha Day, but I think that would technically be when I first met him on August 7 and was like, “Mmm hmm, yes. He’s the one.” Nevertheless, I still like to consider today his Homecoming Anniversary. 💜

It goes without saying, but finding the good in these trying times has been hella difficult. I miss the obvious things like hanging out with friends, seeing family, going out and about, and traveling. But one thing I haven’t taken for granted is that I’m able to spend more time with Rory — especially since he’s now considered a senior. AH! It hurt to just even type that 😩 He’ll always be a puppy to me! I can’t even tell he’s aged since he’s all white and is still super energetic.

I remember last summer, I was at a shopping outlet out of town [le sigh] and I had Rory in a stroller — this woman came up to me and asked if she could pet him, so I said sure and when she asked how old he was and I said 8, she goes, “Oh cool, a senior dog.” 😨 I still can’t believe it’s been 9 years though. Getting a dog has been a dream of mine since I was just a wee baby, so even though all this time has passed I still look at Rory sometimes and think to myself, “Holy crap, I have a dog!”

Rory tolerates me terribly singing “Always Be My Baby” by Mariah Carey to him or my own original silly ditties. Also me walking by and shaking his butt saying “SO FLUFFY!” And in turn I tolerate him barking at anyone or anything that walks by our house while he looks out the front window (most recently he barked at a hummingbird), or playing hard to get when it’s time to put his harness on before we go out for a walk. Or when I ask him to come over and he just stares at me and walks away. He’s basically me in dog form and I don’t know whether to be amused or annoyed 😅 I love him unconditionally anyway.

Cheers,
Nina

pup life

Rory’s 1-Year Homecoming Anniversary

September 24, 2012 Nina Penalosa7 Comments

rory puppy havamalt havanese maltese — 24 September 2011: My heart melted when Rory climbed up on my shoulder and knocked out.

According to Timehop, today marks the day I picked up Rory to live with me for all of evers! It’s crazy to think that it’s been a year since I’ve brought him home — I still have moments where I look at him and say, “Oh sh!t. I have dog!” I’ve been wanting a puppy ever since I was wee lass, but our household couldn’t accommodate a dog at the time, and I had this thing where I didn’t want to pick up dog poop. The site of fresh canine fecal matter alone set me on a gagging spree, so how was I supposed to clean up after a dog EVERYDAY? But my tune’s since changed, although I get enraged when I see random poop when I’m out and about because other people can’t seem to pick up after their own dogs… I mean, seriously. Is it that hard to put a plastic bag in your pocket or purse? But I digress.

It’s been an amazing year with my little companion. All the poop and pee spots I’ve had to pick up and wipe have been more than worth it because I LOVE this little dude like no other.

Sometimes you end up looking like your dog.

February 2012: Rory does not like the Cone of Shame.

April 2012: Rory wants Tim to play with him!

April 2012: Probably my favorite picture of Rory.

rory petsmart marvel comics the incredible hulk — May 2012: Rory at 8 months old.

rory havamalt puppy — Look at that sweet smile!

September 2012: Rory relaxing on his chaise lounge. Yes… he has one of those.

Rory and I during his little lion man haircut phase.

And thus concludes the pic spam of my little man.

Here’s to many more years of love and fluffiness! 🙂

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I’m not dead yet…

August 8, 2012 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

Oh my, it’s been quite awhile since my last update hasn’t it? Ew. I just started a blog post with a question. Ever since my junior year of high school I’ve tried to avoid starting anything off with a question — my English teacher said it’s a cheap way to engage a reader. Sorry, Mr. G! And sorry to anyone who does happens to start off articles/posts/essays/etc. with questions… awkardly looks to the side and scrunches mouth.

But anyhow, I shall be writing about random and nerdtastic things here in a bit, including my attempt at an easy-peezy Nutella cookie recipe I found on Pinterest! However I’m working on a couple of posts that will be featured on other blogs. Bear with me please. 🙂

For now here’s a picture of Rory with a commission piece I had done by Jenny Parks, the creative master mind behind Doctor Mew! It’s Rory dressed as his namesake!!!

jenny parks commission doctor mew rory the last centurion roman — LOOK AT HOW AWESOME THIS PIECE OF ART IS. LOOK AT IT. LOOK!

And here’s Rory’s namesake (in case you’re not familiar with Doctor Who, and in case you’re not you should really acquaint yourself with it):

rory the last centurion roman doctor who arthur darvill — via Tumblr

TTFN!

pup life

Cone of Shame

February 18, 2012 Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

My poor little Rory is currently in a world of pain — he got his junk snipped off yesterday. In order to keep him from trying to lick his phantom sack, he has to wear the Cone of Shame! I feel really bad for my baby, he’s going to be rockin’ this thing for 2 weeks. Ahh! I was told that I could put him in a baby onsie since it’ll keep him from licking it. Anywho, after the surgery, my aunt and I went to Petsmart to buy him new food. She stayed inside the car with Rory, but when I got out he was yelping so loudly that people walking nearby looked to see where the commotion was coming from. Oh, and he totally peed on her too. He’s never peed on anyone before! I’m hoping it was just because he was startled and in pain.

Needless to say, with the condition he’s in, I’m in full-blown mommy mode. *serious face*

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Sick Puppy

November 7, 2011 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

MY BABY IS SICK! D:

Yes, this means another non-fashiony-related post. Bear with me.

Yesterday Rory started throwing up after I gave him a treat for pooping on his potty pad (’cause that’s what you’re supposed to do when they do their business in the right spot, y’know?). We thought he would be okay, but he would NOT STOP PUKING.

I tried calling our regular vet since their business card says they’re open on Sundays (with an appointment only), but when I called and asked if I could come in, they were like, “Sorry, we’re closed today.” If you’re closed, then what the hell are you doing there answering the phone???

So my mom and I went to the emergency vet where he had a parvo test (twas negative, thank –insert deity-), an x-ray, and was injected with fluids. The doctor was saying how there were some odd bits in his x-ray.

I guess he has a lot of gassy stuff going on, which isn’t normal, and they think there might be some foreign body thing in there. To be honest, I’m a bit confused as to what’s going on because the whole time I was at the emergency vet, I was silently freaking out and could only process words like “he might need surgery.” And my mom and I were there for HOURS since we had to wait to hear from the radiologist about the x-ray. We never heard from him. Or her. I’ll just assume it’s a him because boys are full of disappointment. >_<

But he’s doing fine now, he hasn’t puked since we brought him to the vet. He’s eating again and is back to his mischievous old self. *wipes sweat off forehead*

His whole treatment basically cost the same amount as an Annual Pass to Disneyland. D:

This gif pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole situation:

I’m taking him to his regular vet for a check-up. I’m quite sure my little companion is going to be okay. 🙂

pup life

Welcome Home, Rory!

September 26, 2011 Nina Penalosa4 Comments

Saturday was quite a momentous day as I finally got to bring my little fluffaluffagus, Rory, home! I spent a good 2 days trying to get my room organized, and the purple paint job my dad and I did last week turned out really well… more on that some other day though. I picked Rory up around 5ish. He was the first of the litter to go home, all the puppies were causing a commotion and his mama kept jumping on me like, “Bitch, what the hell are you doing with my baby?!”

Once I put him in his booster seat he cried the whole way home and it frakin’ broke my heart! And since the harness I got didn’t fit him, he wasn’t completely secure in his seat, so I had one hand on the wheel and one on him (except for when doing turns, ’cause that shiz is dangerous!).

Rory had a lot of visitors when he came too! My aunts from the bay area were there to greet him, and they gave me a pack of peepee pads (now I have an endless supply of peepee pads!). After they left, Tim came along and brought Winnie the Pooh sugar cookies to celebrate, and then Jen came in tow with the bow ties she made for him. And she made them all in one day! 🙂

I noticed that Rory likes hiding in dark places — when we brought him to the kitchen he immediately hid under the microwave stand, and in my room he first went underneath my vanity, and then he made the bottom of my bed his bat cave. I even stuck his bed under there. 🙂

This morning my internal alarm went off at 3 am and Rory was up and about, and I fed him since he didn’t eat a lot yesterday. Somehow I managed to get him to take a poop on the peepee pad, but completely FAILED at making him pee on it. He was SO close to the pad too! *sigh* My mom came in my room around 6 and took him downstairs so I could sleep. Isn’t she nice?

I’m not gonna lie — these past few days have been slightly stressful as I try to teach him the ins and outs and figure out this potty training business, but I think this is whole experience is going to be good for me. It’s nice to have this puppy to take care of and love unconditionally. He is the only man whose shit I wanna deal with (literally and figuratively). 🙂

Oi, I’m so groggy. I’m gonna go see some tea about this.

pup life

Puppy Wishlist

September 17, 2011 Nina Penalosa2 Comments

Rory shall be coming home to me next weekend! I would’ve taken him this week, but my room is not prepared for him yet. It still looks as if H&M, Target, Forever 21, and a few bookstores had a drunken sleepover and upchucked all over the place. And I need to paint the walls too. Yesterday I went to Lowes and picked up a couple of purple paint samples and painted a bit on my wall. I like them, but I’m just wondering if I might want to check out some light green paints too. Decisions, decisions. Bleh.

Anywho, over the last few weeks I’ve been going to PetSmart, Target, and Ross to grab things for Rory like food/water bowls, grooming stuff (I found a kit for $7 at Ross!), shampoo, puppy treats, toys, collars (the one I got him is too big so I had to return it), retractable leash, poopy bags, peepee pads, etc. I still need a crapload of other things though.

I’ve been saying that I want to throw a puppy shower (like a baby shower, but for a dog), but I figured no one would take me seriously. I told Marquis about it and he was like, “Yeah, no. I would not go to your puppy shower.” Thanks a lot, friend! But last week when I saw my Uncle Cesar he said I should throw one, and I didn’t even tell him I wanted to do one, he just came up with it on his own. 😀

I don’t think a puppy shower is gonna happen though. 😦

But here’s a list of things I need/want to get for my puppy:

crate (maybe a medium sized one so he has a bit of leg room)
chew toys
dental care stuff
food (I need to find out what his caretakers are feeding him)
nail file
and fun stuff…

Bow tie collar from Pecan Pie Puppy. Because bow ties are cool. I also like this one and this one.

Fancy dog tag from Urban Puppy.

Optimus Prime dog shirt. I seriously gasped when I saw this shirt at PetSmart. I didn’t realize it would be SO EFFING HARD to find geeky dog gear. You’d think there would be an abundance of Star Wars shirts and things of that nature for pups, but nooo.

Plaid harness from Urban Pup. I don’t care for the hat, I just really dig this harness. 🙂

And of course, an argyle sweater, also from Urban Pup. I have always wanted an argyle clad puppy since I was, oh, I don’t know… 16? MY DREAMS WILL SOON BE REALIZED. 😀

There’s a bunch of other things I want as well. And I gotta buy some stuff to ward off fleas and ticks and whatnot. Do any of you have dogs or have had dogs? What kind of stuff do you recommend I get?

pup life

Doctor Woof

September 2, 2011 Nina PenalosaLeave a comment

Last Saturday was mine and Tim’s SUPER EPIC SCOTT PILGRIM-DOCTOR WHO-STAR WARS-COOKIE BAKING DAY, but it was mostly filled with puppies, Doctor Who, and cookies. But really, you can’t go wrong with puppies, Doctor Who, or cookies. There’s all kinds of win in that combination!

First, we went to go visit Rory, but the owners weren’t home yet, so grabbed some lunch and headed to Target to look at the Star Wars toys and proceeded to drool over the new Lightsabers that made vwoomp noises. They even come with DVD tutorials on how to look like a badass while using them. WANT.

Afterwards we went back to see Rory, and Edgar (my Auntie Nelly’s co-worker/awesome dude who’s giving me my puppy) was cleaning the garage — he said it was starting to stink in there from all the puppy pee. Edgar brought the puppies out on the front lawn, so as he cleaned, Tim and I played with them. This was their first time outside of the garage! Rory seemed to really like hanging out in the dirt and took a nap.

I also bestowed Tim the honor of being Rory’s godfather. 🙂

A few days before my visit, Auntie Nelly told me Rory had an accident, and she said it in such a nonchalant manner too. I was like, “OH MY GOD. WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!” Poor little dude just got his furry butt stuck in a sticky mouse trap. Edgar further explained the incident to me. It happened in the wee hours of the night and he heard one of the puppies crying, and alas, it was Rory! He said he had to cut off some of his fur to get the sticky stuff off, but when I inspected him, I couldn’t tell that anything had happened.

All the puppies are supposed to get vaccinated and whatnot really soon. I was told that I get to bring Rory home sometime in October when he’s 2 months old. Plus he’s not able to eat super solid food yet since he doesn’t have all his teeth yet. Betty is the only one that’s developing — she has soo many teeth! Rory only has one tooth so far. Rory is also ridiculously mellow. Compared to the other pups he’s really quiet. The other boy in the litter is a little attention wh*re, always squeking and seeking your attention.

Anyway, the day continued with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but then right before the first evil ex fight I was like WE NEED TO BAKE COOKIES! I brought this cookie mix thingy back in January, but we always put it off. They turned out really fugly, but were super delicious, and that’s what counts most!

And they were ready just in time for the Mid-Season Premiere of Doctor Who entitled “Let’s Kill Hitler” and Rory (the character, not my dog) punched Hitler, told him to shut up, and stuck him in the cupboard!!!