Friday, August 31, 2012

Cheers to a 3-day weekend!

Hey guys we made it through another week! YAY! Time for a 3-day weekend!
Frank is here to show you one of his favorite weekend activities - visiting a park! (especially one with water!!)

Have a good weekend! The boys will be back on Tuesday!!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Beans Birthday Recap

Little Man Beans has a birthday a while back (on July 11 he turned the big 5!). Here is a recap of his birthday (an ice cream treat!).
He was pretty scared of the ice cream & cone that Ben put in his food dish (he kept running away from it... crazy dog!)
{investigating}
{Having a sample... }
Then he decided he liked it...
"OOh... thats good. Hey-are you watching me?"
At which point he dug in and really enjoyed his treat... licking the bowl CLEAN  (good boy!)

"I'm sensing I have something in my beard?"

 And then he finished! Yum!! With the end of summer approaching soon (or maybe not with the 90' weather we are having lately?) we'll have to try and hit up the ice cream stand around the corner one more time and get both of the boys a treat...


Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Cuddle Buddy Frank

Doesn't this just make you say "Awww... I want to cuddle up with Frank!"

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Frank meet Rudy; Rudy meet Frank

Alright we're going waaay back in time to last June (BLAST FROM THE PAST!)... here is one of Frank & Rudy's first meetings..
 I can see Frank lickin' his chops right now thinking "Mmmm ... sssnack!"

Actually he and Rudy get along quite well. They don't even notice nor care for each other most of the time... {Beans on the other hand is a little TOO interested in Rudy, so they both require separate cage/outside time so Beans doesn't take Rudy as another "toy" ...}

Who's in the cage now??  ... the irony ... :)


Monday, August 27, 2012

Best Buddies Walk Together

We've been going on lots of walks lately, and its so cute because for about 80% of the walk these guys walk right next to each other (like siamese-twin-dachshunds!).
 "Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right"

Frank used to pull a lot on the walks, but I think Beans has helped to slow him down and get him to enjoy the scenery.
"Moooom! Why'd you stop???"
"Because! I had to get a picture of your cuteness... duh!"

I even got a shot of their 'big dog' shadow on a recent walk. Don't they look ferocious? GRR!!

Friday, August 24, 2012

Finally Friday!!

Happy Friday from Beans!
Who knows what trouble these little guy will get into over the next couple of days...I guess we'll see!
Have a good weekend!!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Post-Walk Nap


 You KNOW you went on a good walk when all you want to do is go home and take a nice looooooog nap....  



Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Squeaky Green Snake!

We got this snake toy for Frank back in April, and it's turned out to be one of his favorites. It's one of ours too, because the squeakers STILL work even after hes chewed through them (all 3 of them), meaning we haven't completely wasted our money. Of course now it's not looking too great because Frank has torn the toy up and taken the squeakers OUT, but he still gets pretty excited to play with it when we pull it out of the "Toy Graveyard" {more to come on that in another post...}....
My toy!
Mmmmmmmmy toy! Not yours! 

His favorite part about the toy is figuring out that he can squeak ALL THREE squeakers at once (one under each foot while he stomps,  and one in his mouth... talented dog, I know! Wish I had a video...). SPEAKING of talented dog, check out this beautiful picture of Frank with the squeaky snake... does he not look like he could be on the cover of a romance novel?

Fabio?

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Lazy Afternoon

Oh, hello there...  
Don't mind me.. I'm just relaxing after a walk...  
See ya tomorrow! :)

Monday, August 20, 2012

Quattro!!

Frank & Beans had some fun hanging out in Toledo this past weekend while Ben & I were in Detroit...
{I think they missed us...}

While in Detroit we got to hang out with a friend's dog, Quattro! What's up Quattro?
I can't remember what kind of mix Quattro is (Bichon and ... ? ), but he's a pretty cool guy. He's even got some crazy hair on top of his head like Beans!!

He is the perfect size to be Frank & Beans playmate!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Road Trip!

Happy Friday everyone!
Frank & Beans are taking a "road trip" with us up to Toledo this weekend. They're going to hang out with Grandma Jackie (who gets to watch her grand-dogs for the weekend) while Ben & I head up to Detroit for the Woodward Dream Cruise.
So, how do we make it up to Toledo with 2 dachshunds, 2 humans (& sometimes 1 Rudy) in the back of a Mini Cooper? Pack lightly!
The dogs are usually the most comfortable, stretched out in the back seat (WITH their doggie seat belts attached, of course)...


Usually by Sunday afternoon on the drive home it looks more like this .... 

It's hard being so cute, isn't it? 

Have a good weekend! See everyone on Monday!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Fat Dog Slim

This is the story of Frank's weight loss journey...

{Cue the Jennifer Hudson Weight Watches song....}

It started back in December when we had to make a visit to the vet. Weighing in at a hefty 18.8lbs, we were told that Frank had to drop a few lbs or he'd end up with health issues (because of their long back and short legs, dachshunds need to maintain a healthy weight otherwise they can face back and hip issues).
We were given a large case of prescription dog food (which was $$$, and smelled HORRIBLE by the way) and told that a healthy weight for Mr. Frank would be between 12-15 lbs.
This is his "fat" picture, taking in November 2011. The angle of him and the picture make him look HUGE but for the sake of the story it puts his size into perspective ;)

.... HUNGRY DOOOOG!!

Anyways.... 


Over the course of the next few months, we fed Frank this the stinky dog food, weighing it down to the exact ounce, in an attempt to get him to drop the L-B's. We made frequent weigh-in visits to the vet, slowly watching the weight come off (and his energy level go up!).

At the vet for one of our weigh-ins. This is Puppy, one of the vet's dogs. Puppy assisted in the weigh-in.... (Frank was NOT a fan)


Back in April we could all celebrate because our Frank met his goal weight at 14.4 lbs. (thats a whopping 23% weight loss for those counting). We were so proud of our little guy (and ourselves). Back to the normal dog food!


 

Check out the skinny dog! Look at those hip bones!!


We continue to weigh Frank (and Bean's) food to ensure they aren't getting overfed (and NO human food.... except for the some green bean and carrot snacks). We encountered an even bigger surprise last week when Frank went to the vet to get his rabies vaccine. I was a little worried for this guy to step on the scale (and so was he, because he was fighting me the entire time). The result? MORE weight loss. Now our Frank the Tank weighs in at a slim 13.8lbs (almost 27% body weight loss again.. for those counting).

We are so proud of our little guy! He has so much more energy it's crazy!!! We are also very happy to have made the quality of his life that much better :)

Let's all give Frank a round of applause!!! Yay Frank!!!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Chillin'

These guys crack us up... We let them loose to run around the house and what do they do? They lay down next to each other in Beans's cage... 


Best buddies :)


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

iDachshund

We've been busy making updates to the page...


...or at least we're trying to ...
{its hard to type when you've got such short little arms that can't reach the keyboard!}

I made a few updates to the Daily Frank & Beans page so things are more accessible. I liked the template a lot better but realized that you couldn't even see some of the widgets I set up :( Some day when I've got more time I'll play around and make my own SUPER COOL website for them but for now we must live with this template ... 

:: sigh :: 

Did you know that Frank and Beans now have a FACEBOOK page (LIKE!!)? AND you can even send Frank & Beans an eMail, because they just got their own eMail address!! This is all getting too crazy! Too, too crazy! 
Check out the links on the right side of the page as well as the Contact page at the top for more info!!

They also requested that you become a Follower of their site so they can have lots of friends (their request, not mine...)

{Frank and Beans told me they like when you comment on their pictures, too ;) }



Monday, August 13, 2012

Jenga Dog!

New page layout! I'm still working on getting this set up and realized that some of the features I had on here (Subscribe & Follow, Daily Puppy etc) were hidden with the layout I had selected :( Now you should be able to see the sidebar with some page features (FACEBOOK PAGE!!)

One of our activities this past weekend was hitting up a bar with some friends. Neons, downtown, allows dogs on their patio, so we had to check it out!
Frank enjoyed a nice cold beer...
{he WISHES!}

.... followed by a challenging game of Jenga...

{he would occasionally need our help to push the blocks through since his arms are a liiittle short...}

Beans wasn't too interested in participating, but enjoyed just laying under our chairs, and chillin... 
{I guess he looks a little upset in this picture, but in actuality he seemed to be having a really good time! ... Smile, Beans!}


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Haircut!

Somebody got a hair cut! Yesterday, Beans had a date with the dog groomer. His hair was gettin' a little long and crazy (even though we LOVE to play with it), we knew he needed juuuust a little trim. Here's what we got!

Before
(yes we "enhanced" his little mohawk on his head and back .. but it's just so much fun!!)

After
{sorry for the blurry pictures, but can I just say this little guy is SO hard to get a good picture of? He's always turning his head!!}

It must have been a super stressful day for him, because when I brought him home all he wanted to do was sleep... 

Frank was happy to see him too. He missed his hangout buddy...

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Random Rudy Takeover!

Some of you may know this, some may not, but we actually have ANOTHER member of our family.

Ladies and gentlemen... meet Rudy!

Rudy is our 3 year old cockatiel whom I named after Rudy Flyer, the University of Dayton mascot. Rudy's cage is located right next to Frank & Beans, so the animals get to hang out ALL DAY when we're at work (lucky dogs, right? especially when Rudy is in one of his "singing moods" which happens fairly often). 

Rudy heard of The Daily Frank & Beans site and wanted to see what it was all about, so today it's all about Rudy - say Hi Rudy!



Rudy says "What's up guys?"

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Go Tigers!

Frank and Beans are HUGE Detroit Tigers fans. Any time there is a game on, you can find them perched in front of the TV cheering the Tigers to victory.


They are SUCH big fans that they even convinced Ben & I to get them a Tigers shirt (... amazing... isn't it?).
At the moment we only have one shirt between the two of them, but they seem to share it pretty well, and actually enjoy wearing it (Ok so I didn't really ASK them if they enjoy wearing it, but when I get it out they do cooperate and hold their paws out as I put it on, so that counts, right??)

... and they even take naps in it .... 


Don't tell Frank, but the shirt fits MUCH better on Beans... 


We might need to order another one in a bigger size for Frank {but don't tell him that.. we don't need him getting all self conscious about his figure or anything....}

Go Tigers!!! 

Monday, August 6, 2012

Dog Park Adventures

We are back from our long weekend away! We sure missed Frank & Beans while we were gone, and are hoping they thought of us a few times too (of course in between having parties with the neighborhood dogs, drinking all the beer in our fridge etc...).

Last Sunday we all took a little trip downtown to attend the official "leash cutting" for the new dog park at Washington Park.
Frank & Beans had a GREAT time exploring around....

They met some fellow doxies...
{the little guy looks like he might want to eat Frank... }
Relaxed in the water.... 
"Hiiii!!!!"
...and of course rolled around everywhere we could... 

... including into a rock...  

:: THUD :: 
{actually I don't think he even noticed}

Both humans and dogs had so much fun! It was pretty crowded there with lots of other dogs for the opening celebration. We are all looking forward to heading back there very soon, maybe when its a little less crowded so the little guys can have a more freedom to roam. Stay tuned!