Thanks to Preston’s cyber friends in Houston, Preston got a long list of pet-friendly places to visit. Mommy and Daddy helped Preston check off three dog parks from his list in his first month here.
1). Congressman Bill Archer Bark Park- 17 acres of off-leash area with open space, walking trails, an agility course and two bone-shaped pools.
Preston visited on the day when a Great Dane meetup was taking place.
2). Millie Bush Bark Park- 15 acres of open and well-manicured space for off-leash fun. There are walking trails, agility equipments and three pools. This dog is only 5 miles from Congressman Bill Archer Bark Park. Can you believe that two such awesome dog parks are so close to each other? Lucky Houston dogs!
In Houston, the small dog areas of the dog park are for dogs 20lb and under (size restriction here is smaller than parks Preston used to visit in CA or MA). When 30 lb Preston visited the small dog area as a guest, he had an entourage following him…
3) Danny Jackson Bark Park- This is a smaller park (by TX standard, of course) with 3 acres of off-leash area and two swimming pools. The best thing about this park is…it is only 1.5 miles from home!
Preston hopes to make lots of new friends here.
The part Mommy likes the most about these bark parks is the doggie shower! Preston can always come home as a clean dog! But he doesn’t seem to be as excited about this amenity as mom is.
Duncan held back with me while Turtle made his usual rounds.
Turtle checked back often to make sure everything was o.k. and to get Duncan up to speed on dog park etiquette.
Then Duncan felt brave enough to go explore on his own!
Then it was back home for a nap on the cool kitchen floor.
Abby & Finn were abandoned by a river in Minneapolis where a fisherman spotted them and brought them to a local shelter. They were suffering from dehydration and neglect and would not have lasted much longer on their own.
We're so happy to have them in the family!
Long before going to Aunt Chrissy and Uncle Jo’s wedding in New Hampshire this weekend, Mommy and Daddy started worrying about who was going to take care of Preston when they were away from their new home. Since Preston was still adjusting to the new home, Mommy and Daddy thought it would be a good idea if he went to a boarding kennel where he could hang out with other doggies as opposed to staying at home with a pet sitter. In the search for the best boarding kennels in Houston, Rover Oaks Pet Resort’s great customer reviews stood out the most. Mommy and Daddy made a visit and were given a tour of the facility. They were very pleased with what they saw and immediately booked a luxury suite for Preston (since it was Preston’s first time staying in a kennel, Mommy and Daddy wanted him to have a cozier room that feels like home. Next time, they are putting him in a standard room called “Bunkhouse” to toughen him up!). The luxury suites were so popular that Preston had to be on the wait list until a cancellation came up.
There are different packages including some extra services to go with the lodging. Preston got the package with the most playtimes (3 hours in the morning, 3 hours in the afternoon) that would hopefully tire him out.
Here are pictures of some of the nicely decorated luxury suites at Rover Oaks (photos taken from RoverOaks.com). Aren’t they cute? No wonder the reservation has to be made way early!
Preston stayed three nights at Rover Oaks. Mommy and Dadddy missed Preston so dearly over the weekend that they showed up at the door to pick him up as soon as Rover Oaks opened at 7am on Monday.
Mommy and Daddy made a special request to see Preston in his room and take some pictures. Preston was surprised to see Mommy and Daddy and looked a little confused.
He must have told the staff at Rover Oaks that he misses his best friends in California, Mina and Milo the Westies, so they gave him a room with the Westie theme.
Once Preston realized he got to go home with Mommy and Daddy, he was beside himself with excitement. (warning: you might want to turn down the volume of your speakers first)
The moving company finally delivered Preston’s toys!
Before all the toys arrived, Mommy and Daddy got him a new stuffie and they named it “Tyson” (yes, after the famous skateboarding bulldog). He likes Tyson but still misses the rest of his toys.
Preston was really excited about seeing his toys. He couldn’t wait to unpack them.
Here is a video of Preston checking out his new apartment, which is twice as big as his Boston home, for the first time.
Preston is adjusting well to his new life in Houston.
Mommy and Daddy still have some more pictures to share from the last two days of their recent roadtrip.
As the family drove further south, the temperature and humidity were getting higher. In Atlanta, Mommy had to pour two bottles of water all over Preston (oh, he loved it!) before taking him to Centennial Olympic Park and Coca-Cola Museum to snap a couple of pictures.
Mommy and Daddy were very excited about their next stop – New Orleans, Louisiana! They remembered how happy their tummies were last time they visited this city.
New Orleans is a fun city to visit. French Quarter is always festive!
Preston didn’t get to taste the canjun cuisine Mommy and Daddy had but he wasn’t going to leave New Orleans without at least having a bite of Cafe Du Monde’s beignet!
We held the puppies and reluctantly left to catch our ferry to Ellis Island. We were very distracted at the museum thinking about those cute puppies. My mom, aunts, cousins and grandma were all visiting for the weekend and when we couldn't convince any of them to take one of the puppies, they started trying to convince us. After about 30 min of deliberation (yikes!) Tyler and I decided to rush back in a cab to see if any of them were still left.
When we got there, we discovered two had been adopted and one of the boys was still left! It took about 20min to fill out the paperwork and then we were walking away with our new puppy (wondering if we had seriously gone crazy and if Turtle would ever forgive us.)
After discussing names with the family that night at dinner, we settled on Duncan, or "Dunk" for short.
Duncan had his first full day with us today. We took him to Central Park and let him explore the neighborhood. It took us a while to complete the tour because people kept stopping to meet him; one guy even wanted to take his picture.
Here are some of the photos we took today. We'll have Duncan in NYC for the next two weeks and then he'll go home to meet his big brother! Wish us luck ;)
It's been hard being apart for so long, but we did get to spend some time together over 4th of July. Turtle spent a lot of time swimming with his cousins Luca (rotweiller) and Maggie (lab puppy).
Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Awhile back, Mommy and Daddy were contacted by the production company about putting Preston on Animal Planet’s special called “Dogs vs. Cats“. They were thrilled that Preston could show the world how funny and smart he was on TV!
After months of anticipation, the show finally aired on Saturday. It was a very entertaining show and brought good laughs to Mommy and Daddy. In the show, dogs and cats go head-to-head in seven competitions: companionship, athleticism, cuteness, history, cleanliness, intelligence and cost. Preston represented the dogs in both companionship and intelligence competitions.
Here are some behind-the-scence photos during the filming of the intelligence competition.
After a week-long road trip, Preston arrived at his new home in Houston the night before “Dogs vs. Cats” aired. Mommy and Daddy brought a TV with them in the car and scheduled the cable installation on Saturday afternoon in time to catch the 7pm show. There were only a dogbed and a TV in the empty living room but tons of fun and laughter from watching the whole family on TV!
Hope many of you got to watch the show. If you missed it this weekend, a re-run is scheduled on August 7th (sat) 3pm ET/PT.
For those of you who don’t have access to Animal Planet, here is a brief summary.
In the Companionship competition, Preston was asked to choose between Mommy and 30 pounds of Bacon.
“Sorry, Mommy! 30lbs of bacon is once in a lifetime opportunity that no doggie can pass up…”
The winner in this competition went to Golden, the cat who chose his mommy over 30lbs of tuna. (but in Preston’s heart, he was the biggest winner that day. mmm…bacon…yum)
Later in the show, Preston faced a tough opponent in the intelligence category. He was going against Vegas show cats!
Mommy and Daddy were impressed by what those professional show cats could do but they had confidence in Preston.
Congrats! Preston won it for the dogs in the intelligence category! Mommy and Daddy were so proud!
Hope you enjoy the show!
On day3 of the trip, Preston visited Washington D.C., one of Mommy and Daddy’s favorite cities. Daddy was even considering taking a job here but eventually decided to go to Houston.
The next day Preston arrived in Virginia and continued his journey south through Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.
The beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains on Skyline Drive.
Mommy and Daddy planned a 3-hour hike in Shenandoah National Park. It is a bear country here so Preston had to be on leash. Mommy and Daddy picked a trail (rose river trail) with streams and waterfalls. They know how much Preston loves the water.
**Reminder** See Preston on TV 7/24 (Sat) 8pm ET/PT (7pm Central) on Animal Planet “Dogs vs. Cats“!