Damn, what the heck happened?
Sucks to be the owner of this car.
January 9, 2009
This photo was taken a few weeks ago — the night that Lola went missing, in fact. It’s of our neighborhood, at twilight, as we’re about to be encased in a holiday fog. 
January 6, 2009
Ask About New York’s Dog-Scooping Law
The New York Times City Room blog is doing something really neat this week: readers are invited to post questions for Michael Brandow, the author of a book on New York’s poop scoop laws!
Answers to questions will be posted on Wednesday. Check out the article (and comments) .
December 31, 2008
Your Ass is on My Face
- What up with your booty!
The other day, Sammy sat on Lola’s nose. Lola was so happy to be back home that she didn’t even mind it. But I saw a thought bubble appear over her had that said: “Your ass is on my face.”
December 27, 2008
REUNITED!
LOLA HAS BEEN FOUND!
This afternoon, almost exactly 72 hours after I lost Lola, I received a call from the young lady who found her on Christmas Eve and had taken her in.
Apparently, while I was frantically searching in the park, Lola found her way back to the apartment and waited for me at the top of our stoop. The young lady saw Lola cross two busy streets and asked passersby if they recognized her. Since no one had any information, the young lady, the owner of five dogs herself, decided to take her home.
I had posted nearly 60 signs around the neighborhood, but it wasn’t until today when the young lady returned to her workplace across from our apartment, that she saw my flier. She called me immediately. From how she described Lola’s behavior, we both knew instantly that we were speaking of the same dog.
We are so lucky to be reunited after three long, frightening days. Lola ate some wet food while she was away, but didn’t drink any water because she was in such a state of panic. I lost about four pounds myself from not eating, and from all the walking and stress.
I’ve learned some basic but important lessons from this experience. Always put on her collar and tags before we go out. Get her microchipped. If she has a lot of energy and there are squirrels in the area, keep her on the leash. And, have faith in the goodness of people.
Lola has had her water. She is resting at my feet as I type. Sammy Sanchez is humping her from behind. All is right again in the world.
December 27, 2008
Lola is Missing – Day 3
This was taken a few minutes before Lola ran away.
Lola is still missing. I posted many fliers around the neighborhood, on lamp posts, in pet stores, at the laundromats. As I gazed out the window, I watched a man tear down two of the fliers. I went out a few hours later and put them back up.
I wrote posts on , Craigslist and . People have been leaving comments of support and encouragement.
Yesterday, I went to in Brooklyn. Lola was not there, but I saw many dogs that looked like her. They were beautiful and sweet-looking, leaping to the door of the cage as I peered inside. This whole experience is devastating for us, but seeing those dogs at AC&C made me feel desperate.
My wonderful friends, especially Vanessa and Thomas, and our extraordinary dog walker, Cheryl, have been helping me keep my spirits up. My sister has been sending me emails in the middle of the night with lost dog tips that she finds online. My husband is in a lot of pain, too, over this. Our hearts ache for Lola. We pray that she is in a warm, safe place.
If you see her in the neighborhood, please contact me (sakuraamend at yahoo dot com) or call the 78th Precinct ( 718-636-6411 ) or Animal Care & Control ( 212-788-4000 ).
December 26, 2008
Lola is Missing
Lola ran away from me when I was walking her the night of Christmas Eve in Prospect Park. The time was about 4:45 pm and we were inside the park, walking along the path that parallels Prospect Park Southwest, the corner of the park near Bertel Pritchard Square.
Lola is about 3 years old, she weighs 45 lbs (medium-sized). She is a caramel-colored boxer-pit-lab-chow mix, very friendly but may be skittish or scared. She has big beautiful brown eyes. She has a small white patch on her chest and white hairs on her chin. She was wearing a purple harness. Unfortunately no tags. I searched the park for hours and posted many signs. The police at 78th Precinct and Prospect Park police have her fliers.
Please contact me if you know here whereabouts or have seen her: sakuraamend at yahoo dot com.
December 22, 2008
Best Buddies
Best buddies tolerate eachother no matter what.
Best buddies also snuggle together.
December 17, 2008
Dogs and Dog Owners Love Vacuum Cleaners
Sammy goes cuckoo when he sees a vacuum cleaner!
One day I’ll post a video of Sammy dueling with our Kenmore Hepa filter vacuum cleaner. Like many dogs, he goes on the attack the moment I switch it on and continues barking at the cleaner head as I drag it from room to room.
in front of him worked only a few times, so he still continues to go head-to-head with it. It’s become a guaranteed good laugh as long as we’re careful — we don’t want Sammy to get sucked up by the hose!
Vacuums are a necessary piece of equipment for pet owners. Not for the entertainment value as I described here, but because most dogs shed and those darn little hairs get just about everywhere. I learned today from one of my favorite eco-friendly pet product sites, , that Bissell makes a vacuum cleaner called the which sounds magical in every way. The two companies have teamed up for a .
Dog or cat owners should check it out! I entered and will definitely replace my old Kenmore if I win!
December 9, 2008
The Adventures of Shitlock Holmes
Until yesterday, we had a 100% record of cleaning up Sammy and Lola’s poops.
Here’s the story. I was walking Lola in the park, very early in the morning. As I watched her squat down into position, I realized that I was without bags.
Oh, crap. Literally.
I was amazed (but pleasantly surprised) to discover that there were no random plastic bags littering the park. So, I had to leave the poop behind.
I felt so guilty about it for the rest of our walk. Then, to my astonishment, Lola squatted down again and did a second poop. Oh, man. It was still before 6:00 a.m. There were no other dog walkers from whom I could borrow a bag. And now there were two mounds of dog poop littering the park.
When I got home, I asked my husband to go to the park and retrieve the poop. No surprise, he said he’d do it but didn’t. I fretted about the poops for the rest of the day. So later that night, we walked with the dogs back to the park and searched for the poop. We agreed that we would pick up Lola’s Poop #1 because Poop #2 was too far away.
As we walked in the dark and cold and I tried my best to remember exactly where she had squatted earlier that morning. We were getting frustrated and I started to question whether the effort was really worth it. I mean, the dogs poop 5 times a day! Missing two poops out of over 1,800 isn’t bad!
As we scanned the frozen ground, and walked around in circles, Sammy came to a full stop and refused to move forward. He does this sometimes when he smells food or a good pee-pee spot, but we were on a mission to find Lola’s poop and we didn’t have the patient to wait for him.
I tugged at his leash but he refused to budge. I called out to him in frustration and as the words were leaving my mouth, I saw that he was sniffing a mound of poo. Lola’s poo! Sammy had found it!
I was so relieved.
There’s still one more poo out there, somewhere near the Drum Circle in Prospect Park. Sammy “Shitlock Holmes” Sanchez and I will seek it out over the weekend.
