A Heavy Heart

Oates and I are very sad this week.  It's with a heavy heart that we mourn the loss of not one, but two of our very close doggie pals.  We have had to sadly say goodbye to Colby the Lab and Chester the Boxer.

Remember when we got to have Colby  for the weekend?  Colby was about the same age as Oates and as you can imagine, we are pretty heartbroken by it.  He was taken from us too soon, and was always a good loyal dog to his mom, Shannon.

Chester faced a battle with lymphoma and hard as he fought, did not win.  He was a lover, and a slobberer and his mom and dad even taught him how to fetch a beer from the fridge. I hope there is beer in heaven for him to fetch!  What a good boy...

When things like this happen to your friends, you see and feel the heartbreak.  I cannot imagine a life without my little Oatesy... We all fall in love with our pets, and they are family to us.  Oates and me send out our best to Colby and Chester's families.  We are there for you when you need us!  You can get through this, and your loveable pups will always be loved and missed.

Movin on Up

This puggle no longer lives in Westwood Paradise.

Sad.  I know.

When Oates heard we had to move, he was pretty angry at us.  The house he grew up in. The house he loved to try to escape from.  The house he called home.

And when we moved in to the new place?  He was as shaken as I was.  It's no fun.

Seriously mom... where are the wood floors and the upstairs that I can sneak up!?  You actually think I can live here??  What about your blog??  You'll have to change the subtitle!

Mom and Dad kinda felt the same, but things are working out.  Yeah, we don't have wood floors, but Oates has a great new backyard with a deck so we can hang outside with him now.  And yes... I will have to change my subtitle... but what's in a name?  Oates will always be the Puggle in Paradise, now matter what neighborhood it is. 

Tonight, Oates and I went on our first adventure into the neighborhood and it was great.  Yeah, there is no park at the end of the street now, but there are plenty of dogs around and all the streets have sidewalks!  Tonight we met a black lab, and what looked like a red puggle.  They were friendly and cute.  Then we met another dog on our own street that was a chow boxer mix... which made me realize that the red puggle looking dog from before was probably a chow boxer too.  Very cute - very puggle looking.

Are chow boxers common?  Is that weird to see two within a block and 5 minutes of each other?

We had a fun walk, and our neighborhood now lets us walk past lots of shops and restaurants for some fun new socialization.  There's lots more flowers around here too it seems.  (Very paradismic!) It's crazy the difference a mile can make.

We will miss the old place, but we're settling in just fine.  And after plenty of elbow grease and some new paint, we'll be good to go, and Oates will be making this face in no time!  Paradise has found a new home.