Most Google campuses allow dogs any day of the week, which is pretty cool. However the one I’m currently at in Kirkland is leased and the landlords don’t allow them. Once we move into our own campus in February, being built just down the street, we’ll be able to have dog day everyday. Until then, we have annual events in which Googler’s dogs are treated like celebrities. The highlight of the day, is the dog massage. Yes, a specialist–if that’s what you want to call them, came in to give out free dog massages, as well as special sessions on “accupressure, communication and energetics”. Just reading the email announcing the day made me burst out laughing.

Here’s a little video from the day… more on the massage later. That video is still needing some crafting…

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Not all that much new happening around here, so we figured we’d post a Remy video for our lovely nieces and nephews. Of course, our hope is that you get some enjoyment out of these, too. Oh please tell me that we haven’t become _that_ couple with their dog.

And here’s the lower-bandwidth YouTube version.

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When Josh and I decided we wanted to get a dog, we hoped to find one with a little personality. Or a lot of personality. We just didn’t want a boring dog. Oxymoron, right? When we first brought Puppy Remy home and all he wanted to do was hide under the couch and sleep, we avoided talking about it. We still hoped that a little personality would come blossoming out. Although we did google “doggie depression” just out of curiosity. (We realize now that that search was perhaps a bit…paranoid.)

The good news is that once the anxiety of being ripped from the loving paws of his two brothers (we’re sorry, Cecil and Harry!), little Rem-rem seemed to come into his own quite a bit. If not take complete ownership of the apartment. Now he’s always doing things that make us laugh. Things like jumping onto the toilet seat to watch the water go down during a flush. He waits for just the right moment to steal clothing from the hamper (especially undergarments). He wakes up when I get up in the early morning, only to go right back to bed after ten minutes. (Likes to sleep in.) He growls at you when you choose to sit on the couch. I mean, you could be playing with him, hello. He howls whenever the ambulances go by and is basically terrified by trains and motorcycles. When you’re walking him and he gets really excited, he’ll run in circles around you (like the horses in Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken. Remember that movie, Petrella girls?!?!). He always cocks his head and looks at you when you talk to him, and tries so hard to understand what you’re saying. We think that’s pretty frustrating for him.

There’s more, and we thought we had discovered most of the fun aspects of him. Then today we decided to take him on a drive with us. I had brought an ice water with me. Since Remy was on my lap and tends to shed, I figured the water was tainted and let him have it.

About two minutes after his first long drink of ice water, his sides started heaving in a disturbing way, and then the ice water came right back up. I tried unsuccessfully to catch it in the cup, but it all landed on me. I felt quite brave and non germaphobic when I didn’t start crying and even laughed about it. Josh kindly offered to take Remy while I tried to mop up the mess with leftover drive thru napkins. So we learned that Remy doesn’t do well with cold liquids.

Warning sign unobserved. Our fun drive continued.

Then Remy started licking his lips. A lot. Which he never does. Josh was concerned. I was preoccupied with the whole freezing cold sensation dripping down my jeans to take the time to analyze what could be happening.

Then there was a gagging sound followed by the smell of partially digested dog food, and we discovered yet another new trait of Remy.

He gets carsick.

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The story…
After Lauren and I got back from San Francisco this summer, we decided it was time to get our very own puppy. So we did just that. We snatched this little guy up from the GA Humane Society and we just love him. His quirky personality is matched only by the supreme amount of toes on his feet — a grand total of 22. Officially, we don’t know what breed he is, but the main word from his foster parents is “Jack Russell Terrier… mix”. And “mix” is where it gets interesting. The official papers state that he is a Saint Bernard (they’re known to have six toes on each foot — an “undesirable trait” for breeders as we later read), but when we questioned the foster parents about this, they said, “well, he could also be a Chihuahua”. So who knows… but we’re going with Jack Russell and we’re naming him Remy.

Here’s a few more pictures from his first few weeks with us. Hope you enjoy them!

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