wisdom teeth recovery

What's up with all my pics not posting? ay de mi. Anyways, I believe Tinker thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in bed/on the couch with me all day yesterday and she is enjoying a similar day today : )
I don't look like a chipmunk and the ibuprofen is taking most of the pain away, so thats nice.
But honestly... the pudding and jello is getting old real quickly. The milkshakes are not, but how many of those can i drink in a day?!?!?

hehe, Tinker actually went for a walk this morning, although she's been picking up her left hind leg pretty severely outside in the cold. and not quite as bad in the morning when she wakes up. The vet said to add MSM to her glucosamine/chondroitin regimen. I just don't want her to be in any pain.... one step at a time i guess.

Valentine's Day

Tink's just getting ready for the Valentine holiday! (aka: mum is bored and tired of doing nothing : )
Notice the ring she is flaunting again! Winston, Tinker loves you!

an unusual view

I was going through some pictures while i'm sitting here recovering from wisdom teeth surgery and found this picture that nick took a while ago. I thought it was humouros and it made me smile. Every once in awhile we see her sitting in front of the mirror and we kind of chuckle ; )

Let her eat Cake!

We forgot the icecream... but we have more cake for tomorrow : )

Tinker's birthday cake, carob with peanutbutter icing

wait just a minute...

mmmm, tats gwood mmmmy

Let me help clean that up mum

Lick it clean!

I think she enjoyed it : )

Happy Gotcha/Rebirthday Tinker!!!!

We've had Tinker 1 year from today!!!! She started her Day by sleeping in bed with us (Nick said that when its really cold out she should sleep in bed so she doesn't get cold at night--he's come a long way too, but thats for another post : )
Breafast was kibble with some Nutro healthy dessert- Apple Torte variety.

Here are Tink's gifts we got her... we'll do cake and icecream later : )

What are we doing Mum?

Ooo, a photoshoot... not too sure about this

Her new rainbow collar

Here new reflective collar.
It's silver with a black snowflake design on the center...
you'll have to take my word for it : )

A handy dandy contraption to move her tags from collar to collar easily

Tinker's very own cookie ball!!! She's been playing with it on occasion all week ; )

The carob cake and cupcakes are ready along with peanut butter icing and some peanut butter ripple icecream for the party girl later on : ) I'm so glad she's ours!

We're also using today to celebrate her 10th birthday! Happy Gotcha Day! Happy Rebirthday!!! (I love that phrase Charli!) and Happy Birthday Little One!

Tinker's first year with us, recapped

On Sunday, Tinker will be with our family for 1 whole year : ) It's hard to believe that its been that long but at the same time it seems much longer. She had made our little family so much happier and complete. Let's review:

1. January- our first road trip down to GA and back to bring the lil Stinker home : )
2. Containment escapades begin- first with the little crate, then putting her in the bathroom, then the expen she dragged into the living, then finally her big and permanent crate
3. Tinker learns to beg & understands that every crinkling bag is a potential treat
4. Tinker learns her away around the first apartment then we move so she can learn it all over again here in the "new" apartment
5. Tinker develops/exhibits a chew drive. The sky is the limit: zuke z-ridges, pens, pencils, sams yams, marrow bones, and peanut butter filled kongs
6. Tinker is introduced to other dogs for the first time and everyone lives
7. We visit my parents in MA and Tinker not only tolerates the 3 other dogs, she co-habitates peacefully (she also rides a horse for the first time ; )
   
8. Tinker heads to the cabin & the Rowe family sees how spoiled she is. She also wins over the Rowe women hearts (the men only took a little longer : )
   
9. Tink discovers that she can sleep anywhere, not just her bed. We find her sleeping on the floor, under the chairs, on pillows, on bags....
10. Tinker's coat gets shiny, her energy level goes up, she shows more emotion, thunderstorms do not phase her as much, & she's a happy girl!
11. Tinker is showered with presents! Blankets and beds and treats and toys! She is (always) one spoiled little girl
12. Tink's microchipped and we find out she's already chipped
    
13. Tink visits the ocean in OBX & almost gets swept away by the ocean! She has a great time relaxing & walking
    
14. She has surgery to remove her tumors & once again her energy increases after she heals
15. Tink is totally spoiled during the holiday season with coats & treats & time off!

So this totally ended up being longer than i expected, but its a nice review in "short" (and i could have written so much more!--hence the entire blog!)

Auntie Lindsay loves Us!

Lindsay and the rest of concert choir and jazz band went to HAWAII over break and Lindsay brought Tinker back a beautiful little lei! Nick & I got a fresh pineapple which we are eating TONIGHT!

The Hawaiian roll

It fits just right....

..but mum i want to EAT it!

Tinker & Auntie

Aren't I beautiful?!?!
Kisses please!

Tink's Pink Ring

Winston gave Tinker a beautiful pink diamond ring in her Christmas package and she pulled it out of her toy bin for the first time so we decided for a photo op : )

Beautiful bling

Does it go with my eye?

Tink can drive?!?!

Tinker is now legal in the state of PA to drive?? nooooo, she is licensed and can continue to legally live here.

A driving dog? Hehe... a blind driving dog? now that would be fun : ) Maybe thats a photo op waiting to happen....

oh happy day....

It's been a while hasn't it? It's been busy over here with non doggy events, but here we are now gearing up for Tink's Gotcha Day (next sunday!). We actually got her gifts already and gave them to her too!!! (whats the point in waiting ; ) 2 new collars from old navy, a tag holder and a yummy cookie ball!!! We'll post pictures for gotcha day so it all looks on the up and up : )

Anyways, Tink is doing wonderful. She is walking up the stairs again!!! Her Daddy put her front paws up and away she went! And she did it 6 more times yesterday and this morning so we look good to go : )
Lots of nice long walks with the warmer weather as well. Tink's had some extra energy with the colder weather, but with the warmer weather its been great for walking and burning some of that extra energy.

It's almost a year since she came home with us and she continues to come out of her shell and continue to find herself. Confident and comfy, she will never cease to amaze me.

We'll have to pull out some pictures in honor of her 1 year anniversary soon : )

Christmas Treats

These are the treats that Tinker received from her Gram and Pap Rowe. Tinker thinks they are sooo tasty and I think they are great for her! Thanks Gram and Pap

Christmas with Gram & Pap Rowe

we just came home from visiting with Nick's mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and unborn baby neice/nephew : ) It was a wonderful time of lots of sharing, FOOD, cookies, and fun antics with the 3 dogs-Maddie, Lucy, and Tinker. All 3 of the girls did well getting along. We kept an extra eye on Lucy & Tinker when food was around--Lucy didn't eat her food but made sure Tinker didn't touch it either. Tink is getting so much better around other dogs overall though-- Maddie's beginning to give her a second chance. Maddie had a "cookie ball" that Tinker loved to push around and get the kibble out of. Guess what we'll be finding for her for her gotcha day on january 21!!! so excited! another toy she likes to play with in the house. All the girls took turns sharing the cookie ball (with supervision of course ; )

Tinker moved her bed by this plant and fought and hit the plant so many times while nesting.

The leaves were just about touching her little face!

Another angle--how is this comfortable?

(See her shiny coat?!?!)

We slept in the basement on an air mattress, notice where the princess placed herself!!

Up close--Yes Tinker's hiney is on NICK's pillow ; )

Playing with daddy!

Gram had some of Tink's favorites--snausages. In fact they were snausages fortune snookies. Tinker totally plopped herself in the kitched right next to Maddie and patiently waited. At one point Nick and I were laughing at her and she turned her little head as if to say "what??!?! I want one too!" Such a cutie!


Our Christmas with the Rowe's was saturday morning and what a beautiful morning it was. We all took turns opening gifts and of course the doggies had their turn too : ) Tinker recieved a great box of organic treats with no corn wheat or soy. They're crunchy and peanutbuttery and she sniffed them out all weekend no matter where we put them!


Mom, let me help you with that


Lucy, Zach & Liz's pup, snacking on her gift from gram and pap.


Maddie, the not so little one who wouldn't hurt a fly : )


Tinker and Daddy posing for the camera

Aren't they cute!?!?!

We had a great time spending the weekend relaxing with the family. It was a great weekend and a great way to begin wrapping up our lovely vacation.

A girl with many coats

Matt, Amanda, and Plato came bearing Christmas gifts yesterday when they came for a visit!!! Amanda made this beautiful coat herself!! And it adds a wonderful new dimension to Tink's quickly growing ensemble, don't you think?

Relaxing on her bed

showing off the backside of her new coat

The distant "i'm a beautiful model" pose

And finally, "Mum, i love this new coat, can i keep it?"

Isn't she precious?

Yearly Check Up Visit

Tinker and I headed over to Leola for her yearly check up and vaccinations. Some minor shaking, as we sat there, but a few cookies helped assuage her fears : )

The Vet just thinks she is doing beautifully. He mentioned how beautiful her coat is several times. He said "If you looked at her from this angle (she was sitting with her back to him), you would never know she is the same dog as before." She looks great, she's acting great. Her weight is back up to just over 14lbs and he made sure to tell me not to let her get any heavier, which i knew. She has a nice thin layer of fat over her ribs, but you can still easily feel her ribs--perfect weight : )

She took her 2 shots like a trooper, she didn't even flinch. She has another little bump on her underside, but after taking several minutes for us to even find it, the Vet said that it's not a mammary tumor and is skin deep more or less. But he made sure i knew that if it changed in anyway, I was to get her back in ASAP. He doesn't want to do surgery on her any more than i want it to be done.

I love this vet, he's just very down to earth and practical. He's kind and gentle with her and thinks she is just the greatest little girl--which of course I love and know to be true : )

As we were leaving we had a little quorum as to Tink's age. And the decision was to set January of 1997 as her birth month and year. This will put her at 10 years of age, which is the general consensus among the vets and vet techs that she's been in contact with. And this makes me happy cause i'll have at least 5 more years with her : ) (Even though she's gonna live to be 35)

And the best bit--as we were leaving he said "now get outta here; i don't want to see you for another year." Now if that isn't good news, i don't know what is : )

Winston's Christmas Gifts!

Tinker's boyfriend, Winston, send up a wonderful Christmas gift for her the friday before we left for MA (hence the delayed pictures!) He and his Mum, Stace, are so thoughtful!!!

The blanket that her goodies are on, is sooo incredibly soft and fluffy!
I, I mean, she, loves it so much!

Winston so thoughtfully sent up some toys so encourage her playful side! Our friend little Plato enjoyed breaking in her chew toys for her last night. (don't worry Winston, Plato is a chi terrier and won't even come near your beloved Tinker!)

Winston sent over a beautiful pink diamond ring, one of the most rare kind to show his love to little tinker. And those cookies are made with bacon!!! Let's just say Tink thinks those are pretty special : )

Tink didn't enjoy snuggling with the dragon too much,
but she enjoys snuggling with the red blankie!

Thank you so much Stace and Winston for the delightful Chrismas gifts for the little stinker!