Weekend Update with Highs and Lows!

The past few days have been very busy with the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, which was spent with family, and also babysitting the Big Brown Dog, Halas. He still comes to the house and looks around for Connor and can’t seem to understand why he can’t find him. Having Hal for an overnight stay isn’t the same as having a full-time dog, so when my friend Jonathan called on Wednesday afternoon to tell me he’d found a great dog at the local SPCA where he serves on the Board, I headed over there.

The lab was too big and looked as strong as a tank, so as we wandered around the kennel I saw a little dog and just fell in love. We  had a chance to walk around with him at the SPCA and while he was excited by being outside and the other dogs, he seemed pretty relaxed. And once you picked him up, he just melted in your arms. So I filled out the application, had the interview and made plans to pick him up on Friday morning. After some searching for a name that fit him, I decided on Rhory, using the Welsh spelling. I picked him up on Friday morning, so excited to have a dog again, and when I got him home, much to my horror, he turned into the Devil Dog!

Rhory never stopped jumping and biting me. Even after several long walks, running around the back yard and numerous games of tug, he didn’t settle down, except to completely eviscerate a stuffed hedgehog.

He hated the crate and was frantic to get out, which made us both unhappy. Compounding everything, I realized that either he wasn’t completely housebroken, or that I couldn’t read his signals to go outside. While I realized that some intensive training would probably help him stop the jumping and biting, my schedule was such that it wouldn’t be able to happen for a week or more, and that he’d have to have one-on-one training because he hadn’t had all of his shots yet, which also meant no doggy-daycare.

By Saturday morning, I was miserable. Rhory bit me at every chance and wouldn’t stop jumping on me, so my legs were covered with scratches and bruises. I realized that when I went out for a few hours to do some errands, I was dreading going home.

I felt like all I said to him was NO! Things came to a head when he bit me hard enough to break the skin. After a lot of hard thinking, I realized that the only thing I could do was take him back to the SPCA where they could find someone more suited to his personality. Funnily, as we arrived and were walking in, one of the workers recognized him and was surprised at how “bouncy” he was! I was crushed to return him, but knew in my heart that I wasn’t the right person for him, nor he for me. But doing it quickly before we bonded was the best thing.

Scarily, he’d just had his shots a few days ago, so the SPCA was obligated to give me a pamphlet on RABIES! I know that with some attention and lots of training, he will be a great dog for someone, but not me.

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In the time-honoured tradition of healing a broken heart, I did what any gal would do… I went shopping! I wanted to visit some friends’ shops in support of Small Business Saturday. First, I headed to LaContessa to see what fabulous things they had and to check out the creative décor at the shop.

From there, we headed up to Halcyon House Antiques, where the shop is ready for the holidays! Halcyon is known for their stunning mantelpieces!

And for their sumptuous displays!

Halcyon House always has the most beautiful selection of ornaments. This year they also have some stunningly gorgeous snow-globes.

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To cheer myself on Sunday after returning all the things I bought for Rhory to Petsmart, I visited friends who are prepping for the holidays by doing a spot of decorating! This includes my buddy, Andrea who hosts a fundraiser for the SPCA each year. She’s the queen of decorating and her house is always over-the-top FABULOUS! Here is just a peek at what’s in store for the party!

Later I stopped for drinks at other friends, who were right in the middle of decorating their over-the-top tree! We were a little worried, but David managed not to fall on the tree!

I just adored these ornaments from the late Smith & Hawkin, which used to have the very best ornaments. These were tiny Faberge-style eggs that came in a tiny egg carton.

As I headed out, I had a chance to admire their apple trees, which, while still small, had a harvest of more than 100 apples this year, and which still have their leaves as we head into December!

I hope that your weekend was great. What did you do?