Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Nicole & Jet and Abby

Who is in the photo at right?

My name is Nicole AKA MinnChica from The Book Pushers Blog. My two dogs are Jet (the black lab) and Abby (the mutt). Trying to get them to sit still for a picture is virtually impossible… But I tried.

What's the occasion for Coffee with a Canine?

Honestly, just you! I’m not a big coffee drinker, but every morning when I sit down with my juice or water to catch up on email from the night before, both Jet and Abby sit and relax in the office with me.

What's brewing?

Again, I’m weird and don’t like coffee. So this morning I have a big glass of OJ.

Any treats for you or your dogs on this occasion?

No treats. Just breakfast in a little bit.

How were you and your dogs united?

We adopted Jet back in 2005 from the Humane Society. He and his litter were only 6 weeks old, and found behind a dumpster somewhere. He was the runt, and now weighs in at about 85 pounds! Abby was adopted from a no-kill shelter in 2006. She was an adult dog and looked so sad and pathetic in her cage. She sucked me in with her big brown eyes.

How did your dogs get their names? Any aliases?

Jet got his name from my husband who loves the band Jet. We also call him Jet Blue or Stinky Breath! Abby got her name from me. She is also known as Abby-Cakes. When we first adopted her, her name was Lacey. My husband could not remember that name at all and would just make up stuff to call her when he wanted her attention. After about two days of listening to him call her “Stacey” or “Macy” I gave up and we re-named her. Abby was something he could remember.

Do your dogs have a favorite place to go for walk?

We usually just walk around the neighborhood. Abby doesn’t do so well around other dogs, she is very skittish. So we try to walk the backstreets and avoid streets we know have multiple dogs.

Squirrel, postman, cat...?

We have our very own cat, and she and Abby get along so well. They cuddle and can usually be found together. Jet not so much… Abby is also part greyhound (we think) and she loves to chase bunnies. And she usually catches them too.

Tennis ball, squeaky-toy, Frisbee?

Jet loves his squeky-toys. Footballs, thin stick-like things. Anything that squeaks and he is in doggie heaven. Abby isn’t much of a toy girl. She doesn’t play with anything we put in front of her. She does love her beds though. We have about three around the house, including one my mother-in-law made for her.

What is each dog's best quality?

Humm… that’s a tough one. Abby’s is probably the fact that she is so sweet and such a lover. She is the most gentle and kind dog on the planet. She loves to be petted and cuddled all the time. Jet is very well behaved. He can learn commands quickly and rarely gets into mischief.

If your dogs could change one thing about you, what would it be?

I think they would want to make us more active. My husband and I aren’t super outdoors type (and living in AZ can make that very difficult!). I think they would probably wish we took them out and about more, especially to the pool during the summer.

What's each dog's proudest moment so far? The most embarrassing?

Abby’s would probably be when she passed her basic training class. She was a little scatter-brained and it was somewhat hard for her. Her most embarrassing is whenever a new man comes to the house. She is very skittish around tall men for some reason, and tends to run and hide. Jet’s would probably be when he learned to swim. Although he’s a lab, he was scared of the water for some reason. So when he finally jumped in, it was a big deal. His most embarrassing would probably be after he got his doggie dental surgery as a pup. He was all sorts of out of it when we brought him home. It was funny (and sad) each time he ran into a wall.

*The bad dogs photo [above left] was taken around the time of our wedding when someone *cough abby cough* decided to chew up one of the groomsmen’s rental tuxedo shoes….

Follow MinnChica's posts at The Book Pushers Blog

--Marshal Zeringue