Tag Archives: dog birthday

Annie

In honor of Annie…

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June 7th will be our annual dog birthday party.

Annie was the first dog of my dogs to have a birthday party.  She had never had the opportunity of feeling special before she was rescued and I was compelled to give her as many celebrations as possible.

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Annie’s first birthday party, Annie turns 10! 06/07/16
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Annie turns 11! 06/07/17

This year she would have been 12.  Last year, I knew that chances were slim that we would be having another party for her. 12 is a ripe, old age for a Newfoundland but I was hopeful.  She had some chronic conditions that we were managing, but none of them were fatal and she was so happy with us.  I knew she wasn’t going to give up easily, she was enjoying the good life and for her, every day was a happy day filled with love.

Winn turned 1 on March 6th and Maisie turned 5 on May 12th.  Rather than doing birthday parties for them, I decided we would wait until June and have our first annual doggie birthday celebration.  I pulled out the hats, made some pupcakes and frozen yogurt sundaes and gave them these special treats after dinner. I remebered Annie and it felt good to have another celebration in her honor.IMG_3979.JPG Happy Birthday girls, and Happy Heavenly Birthday Annie!

 

dogs

Happy Birthday Baby Winn!

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From the very beginning, Winn has loved to rummage around and bring me things. She proudly shows off her treasures and while it’s tricky,  I’ve tried to get a picture whenever possible.

What could be a better way to celebrate her growth over the past year than to take a look at her answers to my constant question “what’s in your mouth”?

She quickly discovered that the recycling bin held all kinds of fun items from containers:

to boxes:

She loves to chew on the food and water bowls and string them around the house. I’m trying to train her to round them up and bring them to me so that I can fill them. That isn’t going so well.

She likes to bring me socks:

and random s**t she finds around the house:IMG_3832

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My all time favorite was when she snuck upstairs, busted into the guest room, broke into the closet and pulled my sewing basket off the shelf.  She rummaged through all of the spilled contents until she found the perfect item and ran downstairs and posed by the treat cabinet ready to make an exchange. There was a long trail of ribbon behind her as she proudly waited for me.IMG_5186Last but not least, day 364, yesterday. She chewed on a huge box that I set outside to and then tried to hide the evidence in her jowl when I opened the door.IMG_5788She’s a character and has brought an unlimited amount of joy to our family.  Happy Birthday baby Winn, you are getting to be such a big girl but you are still such puppy at heart! Can I still call you my puppy and tiny baby now that your are one year old?IMG_1857

 

Annie, Annie's second chance

Celebrating Annie

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Having a puppy reminds me of the years when my kids were little and we counted their age progression in months. 3 mos., 8 mos., 17 mos., etc.

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My life-sized Christmas bear

Winn turned 9 mos. this week and as fun as is to watch her grow and change, I am also reminded that Annie continues to age as well. She has a few more grey hairs on her muzzle and is having a slow recovery from recent oral surgery.  Aside from those two reminders, she still acts like the Annie that I know.

Every morning she runs to the back door with an urgency and expression that says, “outta my way, I gotta pee!” and I smile as I watch her quickly go down the stairs and run around the yard looking for the perfect spot to relieve herself.

She sleeps a lot and I love watching her snuggle up in her bed as she snores away the afternoon. When she is waking up, she will rub her face and head all over her bed, groan, snort, and roll around.F3900E19-B1D5-40C7-B1B1-D1F7B7397FC7

Her stomach is her time clock. She gets restless and lets me know with an elbow nudge, a bark or a stare when she thinks I should be in kitchen preparing her meal. Currently, she’s on multiple, small meals which suits her just fine. I think she takes great pleasure in getting fed more times than other two! (Of course they get a little smackerel while she’s occupied with her bowl.)

Since it is recommended that senior dogs get twice yearly health checks, I think it’s only fair that they should have twice yearly birthday celebrations. Yesterday Annie turned 11 1/2!

I decided not to put on birthday hats, instead I tied a big red ribbon on each of them.  I froze some vanilla yogurt in my cupcake mold and brought them out after dinner. They were a big hit! It was such an easy treat to create, and they loved it. They knew something good was coming their way when the camera came out and after they each had one, they chased me into the kitchen for seconds. IMG_6837

We want more!
This is taking too long!

We love you Annie, you make every day a wonderful day. We will plan a HUGE celebration for your 12th birthday in June!

Annie, Our 3 Newfies, recipes

Annie’s birthday pupcakes

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Last year we celebrated Annie’s birthday for the first time and I wanted to do it in a memorable way.  I was planning on going to our local dog bakery for a cake but then decided to bake it myself, after all, I had made the majority of the birthday cakes for everyone in my family so making one for Annie should be pretty simple.  I looked at several recipes and settled on this one from Allrecipes.

This year I decided to make pupcakes with the same recipe and they turned out beautifully!IMG_1920

Annie's Birthday pupcakes

An easy dog friendly recipe that can be made into a cake or individual pupcakes

  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 peanut butter (I use natural peanut butter, stay away from anything with Xylitol as it is toxic for dogs. It is used as a sweetener in gum, peanut butter and toothpaste)
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 6 cup ring mold, bundt pan or cupcake pan.
  2. Combine the egg, peanut butter, oil, vanilla, and honey, if desired, in a large bowl; blend well. Stir in the carrots and mix thoroughly. Sift together the flour and baking soda and fold into the carrot mixture. Spoon cake batter into prepared pan.
  3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or 15-20 minutes for cupcakes.  Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes; then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.