Princess Leia's Birthday

On the 26th, my eldest canine kid turned four years old! According to several online dog age calculators, Leia is approximately thirty-five. Yes, I know what you're thinking: that doesn't add up. Well, apparently calculating a dog's human age is not as simple as seven to one like most of us have always thought. Regardless of all the math, my baby is now older than me. This is the first picture I ever took of/with Leia. She was only two months old at the time.

Now she's thirty-five and all grown up. She might be thirty-five in human years, but she definitely has the energy of a four year old. To celebrate her birthday I got the girls a Kong balloon, the biggest rope they've ever had, and cookies from a local baker who specializes in dog treats. The only thing that survived was the rope.

The Kong balloon is a new toy that we just started carrying at the store where I work, and I couldn't resist getting it for Leia's birthday. I knew the girls would destroy it in a matter of minutes, but it was only $5 and it was worth every penny to watch them have fun with it.

Of course, before all the fun began I had to make them pose for pictures like a good mom. This is actually a great way to reinforce, or teach, the "leave it" command. "Leave it" is a command used by dog parents to tell their four legged companions to leave something alone, or in this case to be patient. I arranged the cookies and new toys on the coffee table and had the girls sit next to it so I could snap a few posed pictures. To ensure their cooperation I used Zuke's duck flavored training treats, and the girls did extremely well. Then they devoured the cookies and destroyed the balloon. A perfect doggy birthday party!