Big Apple Pittie Pack Update

About a year ago, I was involved in the start-up of a local pack walk called the Big Apple Pittie Pack. We created a meetup.com group, a Facebook page, did research on how other pack walks around the country operated and even had a snazzy graphic designed by our friends at Our Waldo Bungie!

We organized and scheduled a few very successful pack walks, and learned something new from each one, bringing those lessons over to the next until we thought what we had was almost perfect. Then, summer 2012 hit, and it was brutal. Every weekend, the weather conditions were either unsafe for our dogs or unpleasant for the humans. 

We enjoyed our pack walks, and felt like we were having an impact on the perception of pit bulls in the communities in which we walked. We liked being among a group of people who shared similar feelings about dogs and pet ownership, in general. And of course, we loved meeting new people and exposing them to the wonders of a delicious, friendly, adorable pittie. But try as hard as we might, the swing of things just couldn't get back on track and we lost all momentum.

As anyone who organizes a pack walk like this knows, a lot of time, effort and energy go into the planning to ensure that everyone can enjoy the experience in a responsible, safe and pleasant manner. And sadly, we have come to the decision that we will no longer be moving forward with the Big Apple Pittie Pack.

That being said, just because our plans for the Big Apple Pittie Pack have fallen apart does not mean its message is dead. You all can still show New York City that pit bulls, and their owners, are just the same as dogs of any other breed and their owners. And more importantly, that dogs should not be judged based on their breed, but the merits of each dog as an individual.

Thanks to Josh from That Touch of Pit for his assistance in drafting this post.

I'm Five!

G celebrated her fifth (!!!) birthday this past Saturday and I still can't believe that my little piglet is now a bone-afide adult! We spent her special day doing what we do best: walking through Riverside Park with me telling G how beautiful and amazing she is.

G also spent her first few days as a true five-year-old displaying mature pup behavior:

• On Sunday, she came with me to the appliance store on 86th Street to purchase our new washer and dryer. I laid my coat on the linoleum flooring for her and she quietly snuggled up and snoozed while I sat at the desk for about 20 minutes. Precious!
• Last night, in the rarest of the rare - G slept through the night without waking up once! I almost couldn't believe it when I woke up at 6:30am and my little nugget had hardly moved (and frankly, was still snoring). Naturally, I wondered if she was sick or injured, but turns out she was just pooped from daycare the day before.
• Finally, we are in full swing renovation mode on the apartment (ugh, more on that later!). All the contractors complement me on how well behaved G is during the day - apparently she hardly makes a peep and simply sleeps in the living room or wags her tail. Too cute!

How have you see your pups mature over the years?

Thought I'd share the first try at a birthday photo. You can caption this one Fail.

Diet Goosie: Same Pup, Fewer Calories

As today is a bank holiday in observance of Veteran's Day, G and I are parked on the couch trying to catch up on some of the work we missed when Sandy blew through. All in all, G's a pretty good work from home buddy. She takes up residence on the other end of the couch from me and snores through a solid 5-6 hours of me typing away before she's ready for her first potty break.

I snapped this shot of G curled up into a little ball next to me. In the interest of full disclosure, I've been trying to get G to lose a little weight recently as she used to be about 46 lbs. and has spiked to 50 - whoops! In addition to reducing strain on her joints and knees that extra weight adds, when our vet commented that she's starting to look a bit like a square coffee table from the top, I decided it was probably time to go on a diet.

That being said, despite what this picture shows, we've been pretty successful so far. She's lost probably 2 pounds (although we have to go to the vet to confirm this) through reducing the amount of food she gets per feeding (by no more than a quarter cup) and replacing traditional doggy treats with baby carrots in a Kong (she LOVES them).

Slowly, I'm start to see the outline of waist and G even seems a little more game to take long walks.

Any other diet tricks for your pups?

And Now a Word from the Cats: VOTE!

P and M want to remind everyone to vote today!

G Makes her Concerned Face at Sandy Aftermath

Well, things are slowly getting back to normal on the island of Manhattan. Transit is running, trees and other damage are getting cleaned up and power has been restored for most. We are praying for people in New Jersey and the outer boroughs of the city who were not as fortunate as we were. It was a devastating storm that has put a lot of things in perspective and I just hope that everyone stays safe and can get things back to normal as soon as possible.

This past week, I took G out for several walks to burn some of the energy she built up spending hours on end inside during the height of the storm. G was making a 'concerned' face while I snapped some pictures of her in front of some of the damage in Riverside Park - seems weird the way animals know when things aren't quite right! That being said, a few downed trees are nothing compared to what most are dealing with and we truly, truly know how lucky we were to have no major issues.

A downed tree already being cut up and removed on Thursday afternoon.

A tree snapped in multiple pieces due to high winds near 90th Street.

And on the way to get my wisdom teeth out on Friday (fun), I passed by the precariously dangling crane on 57th/7th. Scary!

Our 200th (!) Post: G remains unimpressed

Wow. I simply cannot believe that I have posted 200 times about little old G and our lives together in NYC. This blog is such a great reminder of all the things I've experienced over the past year and a half with my prettie little pittie and I am so glad to be a part of a close-knit group of bloggers who love their pups just as much as I do.

I started blogging after reading a USA Today article that mentioned our favorite Two Pitties in the City and now I've learned so much from blogging and can't imagine not doing this. The chronicle of G's, my kittles and my experiences are priceless.

Thanks to all of you who read and comment - it means so much! :)

Happy Howl-o-ween!!

We're ready for the trick or treaters (even though I secretly think G wants to nose dive into the Reese's herself and P.Kitty could care less!).

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

We Survived!

...but our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their lives, homes or sustained massive damage due to the storm.

G and I ventured out to Riverside this afternoon, and walked along the promenade (not in the park, they're technically still closed!). It was sad to see several historic, large trees did not survive the storm. You can see on the right in the below picture the street lamp that was essentially beheaded.

So scary, but I'm so glad everything is okay - though the destruction can see daunting, the loss of life could have been much, much worse.

When Backup and Restore Literally Saves Your Sanity - an essay by Goosie Mama

All of my photos of my G and my life in general are taken on my iPhone. I think I own a digital camera, but I haven't touched it in years, and frankly, I'm not sure I could find it if you asked me to!

Now, for those techies out there, you'll know that the new iPhone comes with a 29MP camera. This is pretty impressive, especially considering the first digital camera my family owned was a 25 lb. Kodak number with a whopping 1.2MP that cost more than a monthly mortgage payment.

Naturally, since my AT&T contract was up for renewal in September, the same month (conveniently) that the iPhone 5 came out, I ordered my new phone 4 weeks ago and happily (and impatiently) awaited its arrival.

This Tuesday (gahhhh, 21 business days later), my gorgeous new white iPhone5 arrived at my apartment; and after some chasing down and choice words with the UPS man, I couldn't wait to start using it.

To ensure everything was easy, peasy during the transfer from one device to the other, I decided I should update my old iPhone4 to the new iOS6 operating system prior to transferring my number. No problem, right?

Wrong. iOS6 caused my iPhone 4 to crash and I was getting an error that the phone was unable to restore. I spent almost 3 hours on Tuesday night trying to fix this with no luck and I had no phone service to boot. That being said, I wasn't in full panic mode yet, because I could clearly see that the last iCloud back-up and restore had occurred on Oct. 22nd. All was (still) good.

So in order to continue troubleshooting, I got to work super early on Wednesday morning with my Mac, iPhone4 and iPhone5 in tow (and my Kindle for good measure - thank goodness I didn't get mugged!). After another 3 hours of troubleshooting (with zero help from Apple, might I add, uninstalling every antivirus program I have), I finally successfully restored my phone. The bad news? The backed-up version of my phone from October 22nd was nowhere to be found. Thus, none of my pictures transferred over.

Well, even I had to admit that a working device is better than a dead one, so, I grudgingly decided that I would just have to transfer over to my iPhone5 and be really sad that I'd lost a year and half of G pictures (things were getting really emotional at my desk).

I started the process of moving to the iPhone5 and - GASP - a back-up and restore message asked me if I wanted to restore from 9am 10/24 or from 8pm 10/22 - OCTOBER 22nd?! That's the one I needed!!

I pressed the button and voila! Everything, down to the exact way I had my apps, music, pictures, screensavers, emails and alarms was back in action on my new phone!!

I can safely say back-up and restore saved my sanity and my photo library :)

Proof that my phone has all of its' photos back - here's G passed out 2 years ago!

Positive Pittie Press: Pittie Puppies!

Thought I'd share this link with our friends in the blogosphere - warning: get ready to squee!!

In honor of Pit Bull Awareness month, Jezebel.com posted a homage to the top 20 pittie puppy pictures (although, let's get real - G's baby pictures aren't on here, so the top 20 isn't really complete).

Enjoy!

And a G baby pic for good measure (gosh, she was one mushy puppy!!):

Fallish Strolls

G and I frolicked through Riverside Park (again) this weekend and enjoyed the gorgeous, perfect fall weather.

G had slightly over-exerted herself at daycare on Friday (granted, she was there for close to 10 hours, so what are you going to do?!) and her limp was back in action. That being said, she was in a mood to meander a little and then collapse on the pavement to simply watch the action around her.

I snapped this cool shot of G relaxing between my feet and checking out all the fall sights and sounds. Pretty cool shot, huh?

Fallish Saturdays: Dress-up and Your Dog

G and I had a great weekend frolicking around SoCo (South of Columbia University - apparently this is the nickname of our neighborhood), showing off our matching fall style. G kicked it in her knit letterman sweater supporting our most favorite college team and I couldn't help myself by wearing a matching sweatshirt. We were truly a site to behold (I'm sure)!

What I find refreshing about dressing G up is that people find her much more approachable when she's decked out. In Riverside Park, a man and his young son asked if he could take a quick snapshot to send to his friend (apparently an SU alum) and G received many more smiles than normal from strangers we passed on the street.

What's more, on our way into our building, we passed our Super and Board President and her fan-gear even elicited a little giggle from them (which, if you know our history in the building, is a big win!).

Two Pitties in the City often talk about how dressing up your pooch can make them more approachable and help to break stereotypes when you're out walking your pups. 

What types of outfits have you dressed your pooches in that have received a good response?

Wordless Wednesday

Suggestions for Giving your Pup Eyedrops??

Well, the verdict is in ($150 later ...), and it looks like G scratched her eyeball at daycare.

When I arrived home to pick her up to go to the vet, she looked better in the sense that she was able to keep her right eye open, but it definitely continued to drain excessively, so a trip to the doctor was necessary.

The vet did some quick stain tests (shocker, apparently G did not appreciate it) and determined it was likely a scratch and not a viral issue. They sent us on our way with some eye drops (that I will struggle) to give G twice daily and we should be all set!

That being said, any suggestions from the blogosphere on giving pups eye drops?

G needed the vet, the vet tech and myself to keep her still to give her the drops in the office and I've already failed epically this morning trying to get them in her eye (I was not going to chase her around the apartment!).

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

P.Kitty's thoughts on all of this eyeball drama? "This dog is too high maintenance for me, I'm outta here!"

Wordless Wednesday (not really): No, I'm not winking ...

My poor little pup is having mega-eye issues.

I noticed on Monday when she was coming home from daycare, her right eye was draining excessively. When we woke up Tuesday morning, she was squinting, her interior eyelid was closing up and the draining hadn't ceased, so to the vet we go this evening to figure out what's going on.

I vaguely recall accidentally poking her in the eye on Monday as we got into a cab to go to daycare (yes, I feel awful), but I'm hoping that was just coincidental.

We'll update everyone tomorrow!

The Walk Heard Round the World

...or around our apartment at the very least.

G has been a notoriously lazy walker for the past year. She's not going to be rushed for any one/mutt and she's going to take her time smelling the roses. As her dogwalker (I'm sure) lovingly described it: "She really likes to ...meander."

Well, it must be something in the fall air, because G was rip-roaring and ready to go yesterday at 8:30am and we managed a solid 2.5 mile walk all over Riverside and Hudson River Parks. It was a gorgeous day and this only increased the pep in G's step and she actually walked at a normal dog pace. Miraculous!

It was days like yesterday that remind us just how lucky we are to live in a city that values and maintains its extensive park system. Every time I think of leaving the city, I know it's things like the wonderful convenience of the parks that we will truly miss!

"I love water (except for rain)." - G

 "Are you seriously still taking pictures, Lady?" - G

Oddly reminiscent of our favorite G picture of all time!

I may be sleepin', but my ears ain't!

Let the Sunshine In!

G can sniff out a sun spot a mile away and this weekend was no different. I found G in this position a lot when she wasn't outside basking in the sun (read: grazing in the grass). If you note the cat ear shadow in the lower left as well - the kittles were all over the gorgeous weather!

I call this G's Phantom of the Opera face:

Must Be Fall!

We broke out G's fall collar (and bought a new bone to chew on) to celebrate the BE-A-YOU-TEE-FULL fall weekend. What did the blogosphere do to celebrate the return of fall?

TGIF: We Heart Parks!!

Well, in honor of fall and the return of one of our favorite shows "Parks & Rec," I figured I should post some shots of G enjoying our closest park (Riverside - the best one!!). You can tell how excited G is because she's in her requisite frog legs pose.

And, because it's Friday, G would like to remind you to get outside and enjoy the beautiful fall weather this weekend: