When I wrote about Maverick, our energetic two-year-old rescue cat, it hit me that someone else in our Family has never really gotten her own spotlight. So let me introduce a dog that has changed our lives.
Quote of the day: “Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” Roger Cara
Piper is really my first dog ever (I’m not counting Brownie, who we had for a year when I was 10, because Brownie was an outside dog only).
Piper is our five-year-old Pomsky.
What’s a Pomsky, you ask?
It’s a mix between a Pomeranian and a Husky. Don’t ask me how it was done.
If you know your dog breeds, you might assume that a Husky mix would be high-energy and vocal. However, Piper has been surprisingly mellow and easygoing.
Rob calls her “the best dog ever.” (Then again, his perspective is based on the dogs he had growing up; there was no training, besides his mom making the dog lasagne. She was Italian…what would you expect?).
I hope you join my email family. I tend to share more photos of our pets in my emails. It’s also my space for fun and positive content. You also get my free eBook when you sign up, but that’s not the best part.
The best part is being part of my community, where we inspire and lift each other up.
Piper’s story started with my favorite local boutique, Just Be Youtiful. Kym had rescued Piper as a 6-month-old from some friends. She lived her life as a ranch dog chasing rabbits and being free to roam.
During that time, she became pregnant (even though she was already spayed…more about that later) and had a litter of puppies. The family planned to keep one of the puppies and find homes for the rest.
Rob and I visited the puppies when she had them at the boutique one day. I asked her why she was only keeping 1 puppy.
And her response was 2 dogs were enough.
So I said, we would take Piper.
Now, anyone who loves dogs knows how hard it is to give up their fur baby, but Kym said yes. But with the wonderful stipulation that Piper could go back to the ranch when we Travel. Thus, when we go out of town without Piper, she goes back to her former family and even gets to see 2 of her sons who live with Kym.
Talk about the best of both worlds.
When Piper first came to us, there were a few challenges.
She wasn’t accustomed to walking on a leash near busy streets and traffic. Ranch life is very different from suburban sidewalks. She also struggled around other dogs, usually when she was on a leash, often becoming reactive because she wasn’t quite sure how to handle those situations.
As newbies who knew nothing about dogs, we invested in training.
And then more training.
And even more training.
We’ve attended countless classes over the years, and what I’ve learned is that training isn’t really about teaching the dog tricks. It’s about teaching us as owners how to handle situations.
Heck, most of the time, we were doing or saying the wrong things.
I’ve made a bunch of videos, including information about what Piper eats and some of her antics. And my favorite is her trick of sitting on every manhole cover in our neighborhood.
One of the questions people often ask is how Piper gets along with our cats.
The answer is wonderful.
She’s been friends with every cat we’ve had, although each friendship has looked a little different.
The first day that we brought Piper into the house, Rob was worried about Monkey and Spookie. But as Piper lay on her blanket, Monkey came up and kissed her on the nose.
They were fast friends. Granted, Monkey knew that she should walk slowly around Piper. And Piper would escort Monkey up the stairs onto our bed.
Our cat, Spookie, was not a fan of Piper and would run away, which would mean Piper would run after her.
It took homemade whipped cream to get Spookie to stand near Piper in a calm way.
When we rescued Annabelle, you could tell that she wanted to be friends with Piper in the worst way. Piper was fine with her, but not super friendly.
And now, Maverick. As you read in Maverick’s post, the 2 act like brother and sister. Creating chaos, but in a good way.
Just like with any animal, their Health is a concern.
I shared that when Kym got Piper, Piper had already been spayed.
But after free rein on the ranch, she became pregnant. It’s one of those head-scratching things. Because why would the original owners lie about that?
Maybe they did, but I had a friend give another alternative.
She said that some dogs get an incomplete spay, sometimes on purpose or accidentally. And then they can get pregnant again.
We had Piper spayed again, just to make sure she didn’t have another litter, but since then, she has incontinence. For the incontinence, we alternate between this product and this to keep it at bay.
If you’re part of the Filogomo household, you tend to get a bunch of nicknames in the process.
Piper is also known as:
-Elmer Fuddette (because she loves chasing rabbits)
-Princess Piper
-Nike (because she’s a sneak –like sneaker–around food
-And the normal ones like Sweetpea and Lovey Dove
It’s funny how our vocabulary has changed. And yes, our voices go up an octave when we talk to her.
On every walk you will hear:
-Leave it
-Not our yard (when she’s trying to explore the bushes for rabbits)
-Good girl (usually accompanied by a treat)
And then in the house:
-Out of the kitchen (especially funny when our friends tried this command with their dog, but it just looked at them…in Piper’s defense, it’s been a long time training)
-Don’t eat your brother (Maverick) because when they are playing, she will put her mouth around his head
-Leave it (especially when our robot vacuum is getting close to Piper’s stuffed heart pillow.
She has learned many tricks, although she was well-trained when we got her too. But some of my favorites are:
-High 5
-Kiss (she’s not a fan of this one, but for the right treat, she will do it)
-Paws up
Piper is NOT a snuggler, except when it’s an hour before dinner. Then I can get a snuggle or two.
If someone had told me years ago that a dog would completely reshape my daily routine, I probably wouldn’t have believed them.
Yet here we are.
She even has friends, which are the chocolate chips in the cookies of life, right?
Because of Piper, we get outside every morning and every evening.
Those walks have become more than Exercise. They’ve become part of the rhythm of our lives.
It’s amazing how you experience the neighborhood in a totally different way when you walk it.
Plus, we have met people we never would have known otherwise.
We’ve also traveled with her because she LOVES a car ride. And she’s the perfect guest in an Airbnb (as long as we have her stuffed toy and blankie).
It’s amazing how one dog can create an entire community around you.
In many ways, Piper even influenced where we live. When we first got her, we lived in an HOA where fences weren’t allowed. So we had to leash her up for every bathroom break.
After 6 months, Rob wanted to find a house where we could have a fence. And that’s how we ended up in this place 2 years ago.
And we Love this house. It really is so much more convenient to let her outside for a minute.
People say that dogs become part of the family. Well, of course. It is reported that Americans spend billions on their dogs as the pet industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors.
In fact, I have a tab on my site dedicated to pets, and if you ever shop on Chewy, I would absolutely appreciate you shopping through my link (anytime).
I’ve written about pets many times if you like these stores:
–Life Journey with Pets
–Useful Pet Products
–The Meanest Cat Ever
As for Piper, who almost didn’t get her own blog post, she certainly deserves one.
Piper may not demand attention the way Maverick does, but she’s quietly woven herself into every part of our lives.
And we love her.
Jodie Filogomo is a retired cosmetic dentist and fashion blogger behind Jodie’s Touch of Style, where she has been helping women over 50 experiment with style in fun, creative ways for over 12 years.
Find out more about the crew, because we love to showcase all ages, body shapes, and women who love different styles.
The post Life With Piper: How a Dog Changed Our Life appeared first on Jodie’s Touch of Style.
