This weekend I spent time with two RESCUE dogs—Phaedra first on Saturday & then Sunny on Sunday!

Phaedra is a 5-year old Boxer mix.

I picked her up about 8AM on Saturday, excited to take her for a walk/run around the lake.  (Her back page comments said she was super energetic!  No one had been able to wear her out yet.)  About a quarter mile into our jog though, we came across a HUGE dragon boat racing event!   I’m talking about 400 people & boats to match, so we decided to meander through there.  Phaedra did an excellent job weaving politely through the crowds & stopping to chat with folks a few times.  We also watched the actual races; Phaedra liked to quicken her pace when we were walking parallel to the boats, as if she was trying to race them herself!  Then she tried to yank my arm off when she saw her first potential friend—a German shepherd about 100 yards away.

You see, Phaedra is a social butterfly.  If there is another dog within eyesight, she MUST go see him/her!  Must.  Must.  Must.  It is a non-negotiable for her.  Even if the other dog is barking or growling or cowering in fear, Phaedra is just wagging her tail, trying to inch in for a kiss, giddy with excitement at meeting someone new.  Since she weighs about 75 rock solid pounds, there were many times throughout our day together that I found myself digging my heels into the ground, tensing my muscles, and leaning back with all of my strength to pull her away from a dog who was not fond of her or keep her from pulling me to a dog she spotted way on the other side of the street.

After making it back home, Phaedra’s tick fever was starting to act up from all of the exercise & her breathing was a bit labored, so I thought we’d chill out for a bit.  Phaedra though had other plans, which led me to discover how well she would fit into the Russell family

1)      She looks like Winona’s half sister

2)      She whines for attention like Guinness

Whine, whine, whine.  If I wasn’t paying full 100% attention to her, Pheadra would whine.  If I didn’t give her prime seating on the couch, she whined.  If I gave her an apple oat treat instead of a bacon bit, she whined.  If I tried to take a cute picture of her, she whined.  What a diva.

Fortunately, I knew Phaedra was going to be a little diva before I even met her.  Why?  Because in my head, for some reason, I could only keep imagining her having the same personality as Sugar Mama from “Proud Family” (an old Disney show from when I was growing up) mixed with Pheadra from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” mixed with Beyonce.

For example, while I imagine Sunny saying “Hi everyone!  My name’s Sunny!”  I can only imagine Phaedra saying “Wad up yo my name’s Phaedra,” as she lounges in a feather boa getting her weave fixed.  J

After getting all of her whines out, we headed to Pet Club in Paradise Valley.  Pheadra got along great with everyone, dislocated my shoulder only four times when customers came with other dogs (she prefers meeting new friends to hanging with her dog daycare friends, the other RESCUE dogs), and also participated in her first Easter egg hunt!

Then it was back to dog days.  She’s such a diva, I bet she refused to socialize with any of the other dogs at daycare who refused to bow to her.  She really is a gem though!  Such attitude.

Sunday morning brought the love of my life back into my life—Sunny!  Sarah and I had gone out the night before so she slept over, but I slipped away to go get Sunny bright & early.  Sunny was absolutely STOKED to see me!  She sprinted to my car and started jumping up onto it, trying to get into every door possible, but I couldn’t get one open fast enough!  (Her knees are doing much better; she was like a kangaroo!)  Then I was moving too slow getting into the car so she took over & tried to drive herself.

After driving her back home, Sunny was super sketched out to find Sarah in my bed.  After curling her tail between her legs & standing there completely tense & uncomfortable while Sarah pet her, she went and laid in the living room.  After a while though, she became comfortable and was back to normal.

Sarah and I decided to go to breakfast at Ncounter, a very busy restaurant on Mill Ave.  We found a spot on the patio & Sunny was very well behaved!  She sat in her chair like a grownup & gobbled down the scrambled eggs I had ordered for her so quickly, that I barely managed to capture a pic.  Then she laid down while Sarah and I finished our meals.  Everyone at Ncounter loved her!

Back at home, Sunny lounged seductively on my bed for a few hours before we headed to Pet Club in Gilbert.

 Once there, she sat calmly in the volunteers’ chair, greeting everyone that arrived at the store.

After about 45 minutes, she decided she deserved a treat.  So what did she do?  Obviously, being Princess Sunny, she went into the dog bone aisle & picked out the largest bone she could find for herself.  And then at it so quickly that I think she may have actually inhaled some particles.  At that moment, I realized Sunny is just like Grandma Joy—she has a HUGE sweet tooth!  She never eats her dog food (gotta maintain that spring break body!), but she adores any sort of treat or human food that she can get her paws on.

In fact, Sunny decided to test her luck a few times in the dog aisle by going for not one bone…not two…not three….but an entire FAMILY SIZED bag of dog treats!  Three times she did this!  Even after she realized she wasn’t going to get them, she still kept making me walk by them and she would stop and look up at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes ever:  “Pleaseeee can I have the treats, Paige, pleaseeeeee?  I promise I’ll be extra good!  Pleaseeeee.”   For once, I held my ground.