My Poor Head

So, I have had a constant headache for the past...well, forever. And I thought that most of the reason it was hurting was from the 2 car accidents I have been in. They really gave me some whip lash. But, the other day while my little girl was talking to me, I realized it was b/c of this lil munchkins booming voice! It doesn't matter if she is just talking to you, her voice level is SO LOUD all of the time!I don't know how many times a day I have to say "Please lower your voice", or "Not so loud". I could be a rich women if I got a penny for every time I ask her.
Obviously she doesn't realize she is talking/shouting all of the time. I'm sure it's probably annoying for her to have me asking so many times to keep it down. Maybe she needs to be a singer so she can belt her thoughts and feelings out in song. Or maybe her ears are plugged up and so it sounds to her like she needs to talk louder than she really does. Whatever the reason is, I hope I can help resolve it soon b/c you can only take so much Excedrin before it eats at your tummy's lining. Then you would still have a bad headache plus an ulcer. No good.
When we get back to America, she is getting her ears checked. If they look ok, then singing lessons here we come! I wonder if Christina Aguilera or Mariah Carey shout/ talked when they were younger...or even still do. Hmmm...
I Love my little Ava, I just need her to stop shout talking so my head can get a little rest. I'm sure all of you moms know what I'm talking about :)

Little Miss Ginger

I wanted to dedicate a post that was all about our little miss Ginger. No, we don't have a red headed child. Ginger is our crazy, sweet and smart 50 pound Golden Retriever puppy that we were blessed to find out here in China.

Who knew that this little ball of fun and cuteness would bring more happiness into our family's lives than any of us could have ever imagined.
Being out here in China with my husband gone at work all day and no friends for Ava and I, it gets lonely. We needed something to help us cope a little better and help pass the time. So, my husband and I talked about possibly getting a dog. I got online and did some research for different breed options. I was looking for dogs that were patient with kids, did good in apartments, and that were smart. I did not want a dog that could not learn how to come tell me that it needed to go potty. So, with all that in mind, I actaully found the perfect breed called Papillon. It was a smaller breed, had good characteristics, and was #8 for being one of the smartest breeds of dogs. So, we asked one of my husbands co workers to help us try to find one out here in China and after a couple weeks he found a "breeder" that said he had one for sale. That next weekend, we all got into the car to go look at the puppy.
Once we met up with the guy that was selling the papillon, he had us follow him into an alley that our car could barely fit through. Then, took us into a very old and run down apartment building. I wasn't really surprised since this was just how things were done out here and people just live in all sorts of places and buildings. So, we followed him into his apartment. As soon as he opened the front door, a wave of stench that smelled like urin and feces hit our noses and the high pitched whines and whimpers of puppies rang our ears. I stepped into the apartment and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Crates stacked on top of crates stuffed with puppies that were hungry, dirty, sick, and sad. We had walked right into a puppy mill and I was instantly sick to my stomach. Not because of the smell, but because I couldn't believe that any human being could think that this was okay. It wasn't just the guy that we followed into the aprtment either, there were 3 other people there that were just ignoring the whimpers and cries of all those precious puppies.
You would think that a little 4 year old would have been estatic to be in a room full of puppies, but even my little one could tell that this was not right. As soon as we entered the apartment, she wasnted to be held and would not look around. She was upset by the situation also. If my 4 year old knew it was wrong, how did these people feel ok with what they were doing?! We just needed to get out of there so, I had our friend ask the man where the papillon was. He said that it was at the vet and that they would get it back in a couple of days. I was furious! "Why didn't he tell you that on the phone?" I asked our friend. "We just drove an hour to get to this hell hole and they don't even have the dog that we came here for." I could tell that our friend was embarrassed but it wasn't his fault and I knew that. I was just mad that any of us, especially my little girl, had to have this experience and that these people were trying to jerk us around.
While our friend was talking with the man trying to figure out why this happened and when they would have the puppy, another one of the guys was trying to get us to buy a Yorkie. The poor thing looked too small to be away from it's mother and it's hair was all greasy. It occured to me as this man was trying to get me to hold this poor, sickly dog, that they probably never had a papillon. They knew that we were an American family wanting a dog so they thought they could lie to get us to their "buisness" and then try to get us to buy a different puppy. I was mad at these people and I refused to hold any of these puppies they were trying to get me to play with. I did not want to get an attatchments to any of these dogs because I knew that even if we did buy one and take it away from that awful place, it's chances of survival were slim to none and that was just something non of us wanted to go through.
We left there upset, let down, and disturbed. The saddest part may have been the realization that there was no one for us to call to report what we had just witnessed since there are no animal protection laws in China. We just had to try and put that place out of our minds.
Our friend continued to search for a papillon but it was a rare breed here in China. The places that claimed to breed them were all puppy mills and so I started my reserach again. This time, my only requirements were that the breed was good with kids and smart. Yes, we do live in an aprtment, but not for much longer so, I figured that it would be ok for a year as long as we played and walked the dog everyday.
During my search, the breed that always popped up was the Golden Retriever and I felt good about that because my grandparents always had Golden Retrievers. Stella was the dog they had when I was born and I remember loving her so much and would climb all over her. She would just let me. She never snapped at me even though I probably gave her plenty of reasons to do so.
When she passed away, my grandparents had her cremated and kept her ashes in a beautiful urn. Not too long after her passing, they got Amber. She was such a smart thing and she LOVED playing fetch in the water. My granparents lived right off of Lake Cresent and so my brother and I would spend hours on the dock throwing Amber's tennis balls and sticks into the water as we watched her dive into the lake, and somehow fit 2 tennis balls and 3 sticks into her mouth and then swim back to us just so she could do it all over again. I had nothing but good memories with Golden Retrievers and so, we approached our friend once again to have him help us out with our search. He was such a great sport, especially since he probably didn't quite understand what our obsession was with owning a dog. Out here, it just isn't very common to own a pet, and the people who do own dogs, are usually small, brown colored poodles or pomeranians.
If you are wondering the most common question about dogs out here and that is, "Don't they eat dogs in China?" Then I will answer you honestly. The answer is, yes. The poor eat dog if it is slim pickins for them, but it's not like stores or butchers sell dog meat and it's never on a resturant menu. If money is tight and they see a stray dod.... They will eat dog. It is sad but every country or religion has some animal that that they eat that other countries/religions think they are crazy for doing so. Like the Hindus think that the cow is sacred and worship it, while our food in America is mostly based around the cow. Just different cultural beliefs.
After a few more weeks of searching, our friend was able to find a nice couple who's parents Golden Retriever had puppies. They were helping sell the puppies for their parents and only had one left. The wife had wanted to keep her but was not able to so, My husband and friend went that night to go look at the pup. This time I did not go just in case it was some other upsetting situation.
Later that evening, I got a call from my husband letting me know he was coming home with a puppy! I was so excited for him to walk through the door and to see the look on Ava's face! It was indeed, priceless!

She was kind of in shock!

Ava and the family was in love with this little cutie pie! She was just so sweet and good natured. We felt so lucky to have her! She melted our hearts and we were attatched as soon as that ball of fur came through our door.
That first night was a blur! There was a whole lot of excitment going on and we needed to decide on a name. We tried out Lady, Goldie, Princess, and Beauty. We liked those names but none felt totally right. Then, Ginger popped into my head. We all liked it and it just sounded good! Poor thing was probably so confused since the name she had been called was Chinese. Piao liang which means beautiful. Actually, all of the commands that she had been learning thus far had all been in Chinese so, it was like she was starting from scratch again but she caught on fast!
A couple months after Ginger came into our family, the usual little ball of joy was beginning to act different. She was becoming lethargic, and seemed depressed. I was worried it was b/c she felt cooped up, but then, a day later, she began vomitting. We took her straight to the vet and they ran the Parvo virus test on her. It came back borderline so, we were instructed to watch her overnight and if she was still vomitting, then we needed to bring her back. Sure thing, our lil Ginger could not keep anything down and we took her back the very next day. They ran the test one more time and it came back positive for Parvo. The vet explained to us that it was a very serious virus and that there is no cure. Only support for the dogs immune system to help fight the virus off. He also explained that the treatment was very expensive and long. We told him we didn't care. We just wanted our pup to get all of the care and help that they could give here. A lot of people in China cannot afford the kind of treatment that our Ginger needed, so, I think it came as a surprise to him that the cost would not be a factor that we cared about. The vet then let us know that 50% of puppies that catch the Parvo Virus end up losing the battle. We were beyond scared for our lil cutie. We felt so helpless. All we could do is shower her with love and comfort her throughout this time. She was so sick and weak, my husband would have to carry her from place to place. And everyday for 14 days, we had to take her to the vet where she was put on an IV drip and recieved 6 different shots every visit. The poor lil thing was so sore from being poked so much that she would whimper if you touched her wrong. We couldn't even give her one drop of food or water for a whole week while her digestive system was repairing itself.
After a week of the treatment, we began to see some spunk come back to our puppy. She started to walk around a little more, wag that lil tail of hers, and even give us some playful nudges. Even though we were estatic to see these changes in her, we tried not to encourgae any play. We needed her to rest and recover. We continued the treatment and everyone at the vet's office began seeing the changes as well and kept commenting on how strong she was. After the 2 weeks, our Ginger could keep her food and water down and was getting stronger everyday. She had survived the Parvo Virus! What a trooper!

Since her battle with Parvo, Ginger has been nothing but a our crazy puppy! She loves to play! She is so smart as well! She knows how to "shake", give a "high five", "sit", "lay", "beg", and does pretty good with "staying".
Potty training her was fairly simple considering we live on the 18th story and didn't have a whole lot of control over how fast we could make it downatairs. Needless to say, she had a few accidents in the elevator that we had to hurry and clean up in the beginning. No accidents at all anymore though!
On top of being smart, fun, and affectionate, Ginger is very protective of our family. Not protective in the sense that she would bite or attck anyone b/c that is just not in their nature, but protective in the way that she always needs to know where everyone is at all times before she can relax. If one of us closes a door, she whines and paces, even scratches at the door that is closed. She will actually come get one of us to open the door for her if it stays closed for too long. And if we are all in seperate rooms, she has to come peek in and check on us and then position herself somewhere in the apartment where she is able to see all of us. It is so sweet but sometimes just taking a bathroom break can be a rushed situation b/c she is needing to know what is going on!
We can not wait to be able to bring Ginger home to the USA and have a yard and parks that she can go play in without people being scared to death of her. She is bigger than most dogs out here so people get very scared when they see her even though she has the sweetest face. We have people all of the time that will not get into the elevator if she is in it. We have also have had girls AND guys scream out when they see her. It is pretty weird and I can't help but laugh. Could you imagine if we would have gotten a a german shepard or a great dane?! ha ha!!
Well, now you know about the best thing that has happened to us out here in China. Ginger has helped keep our spirits up when we have been lonely and homesick and makes us laugh every single day. What would we have done without this 50 pound (soon to be 65 pound) hunk of love? Little Miss Ginger, thank you for your unconditional love you give us everyday and the smiles that you put on our faces! We love you!