Welcome Kirbe

And Then There Were Two-

No you are not seeing things. Andy and I decided that Freddie needed a friend. Meet Kirbe. He too is a Catahoula Leopard dog that we found at the Humane Society. I was looking around on the Humane Society website the other day and Kirbe showed up. I immediately called Andy and he told me we should go and look at him. Andy is such a softy, I am sure that many of you remember when we got Belle, well Abbey came shortly after. Now that we had Freddie, I had an inkling that another would be coming soon as well. It is a miracle that another Catahoula showed up at the humane society, and without us even knowing Freddie's foster mommy, who works at the humane society in Coon Rapids called to tell us about Kirbe. When I found out that she had left a message at the house about Kirbe we were already in a room getting to know him at the humane society near where we work. He is a very sweet boy, but has Kennel Cough. I brought him home last night and he is such a sweety. He is 5 months old and weighs about 39 lbs. Freddie and Kirbe haven't met yet as we wanted to make sure Freddie wasn't here when we brought Kirbe home cause we didn't want him to get sick. Freddie went to his foster parents house to spend time with his brothers Bailey, Brady and Beau. Going to Jen and Matt's is like summer camp for Freddie, he enjoys it so much. Next week we are leaving for vacation in South Dakota, so Kirbe will be going with us. I don't think Kirbe has ever lived in much of a home as he was found as a stray about 6 wks ago, he has spent a good part of his life in a shelter, so now not only does he get a new home with friends to play with, but he gets to go on vacation. He is pretty good in the car, but likes to be where he can see things, he would sit on your lap if you would let him. We are working on crate training, the first night ole softy (Andy) ended up sleeping on the floor with him, but tonight he is going in the crate, I'm such a mean mommy.
We will send more photos from our trip. Hope everyone is doing well.

Love always

Missi, Andy, Freddie, Kirbe, Belle and Abbey.

The Wag and Wash!

Freddie got a bath at a Wag and Wash. In Two Harbors there is a self serve car wash and it just happened to have a dog wash too. Freddie is really good in the bath.

Stormy, Freddie's Three Legged Friend

Stormy was another dog that we met at Gooseberry. He is a Harley dog so was rescued from Hurrican Katrina. He is obviously living the high life now!

Lovin at Gooseberry

Freddie and Missi pose for Andy at Gooseberry!

Freddie and Andy at Gooseberry Falls, MN

Enjoying a nice day with dad at Gooseberry!

Missi and Freddie hug on the shore of Lake Superior

Escape to the North Shore

Well, Andy and I actually had two days off together, so we took every opportunity to get out of town. I surprised Andy with a mini weekend to the North Shore. A friend of mine told me about a motel that took dogs and it was cheap so I made a reservation and we were out of town. We stayed in a place called the Mariner Motel, it was a nice place with knotty pine paneling and towels as curtains, it reminded us a lot of a place that we used to go to in the UP of Michigan. It was the perfect Missi and Andy kind of place. Freddie went along for the ride and was awesome the whole weekend, he was great in the car and was great at the motel, I guess bribing him with lots of treats is key.
Andy and I started off at Split Rock. Freddie went to his first lighthouse.... he is officially a Sugden now. He played in Lake Superior and found it to be a great watering hole. It was a totally beautiful day, in the 80's and it had been raining in the cities so Duluth and the North Shore was definently the place to be. Freddie was very popular no matter where we went. Everyone wanted to meet the three-legged dog. Everyone wanted to know how he lost his leg and wanted to know what kind of dog he is. Catahoula What? a lot of people would ask, either that or what Andy and I call the Catahoula look. It's amazing how many people told us that Freddie was missing a leg. One of these days I am going to ask Freddie where he left his leg. Freddie took a little siesta in the motel while andy and I indulged at out favorite restaurant on the North Shore, Betty's Pies. 13 different pies and good home cooked food, can't beat it. The first night I had apple and andy had peach strawberry, two days on the North Shore meant two trips to Betty's Pies.
On Labor Day Andy and I went to Gooseberry Falls. As I was walking up the path to the visitor's center I had three people stop me to tell me how they couldn't believe it that there was another three legged dog up by the visitor's center. Freddie and I just had to meet this other dog. We walked right up to a harley mama sitting on a bench with her chichuahua Stormy. Stormy was a rescue dog from Hurricane Katrina and he had the exact same leg missing as freddie. He was really cute, had a little Harley vest on and everything. Freddie and Stormy were the talk of the visitor center and drew quite a crowd, most were paying attention to Stormy, but Freddie definently wasn't left out.
We took Freddie down to the falls and he walked all over the falls, drank the water and just really enjoyed himself. It was the perfect weekend, very relaxing, it was definently hard to come back to reality. Freddie is a great vacation dog, he will definently be going to the North Shore again.