Kate

I am fortunate enough to have a life that allows me to own three chihuahuas, which is not for everyone but I do recommend it if it is something you’ve found yourself curious about and you are willing to devote a large amount of your time to fur removal and wondering what everyone is barking about.

I had a chihuahua named Lido before I met my husband, who also loves dogs, so the three of us became a happy crew. In 2018 my husband surprised me with a trip to the Dog Show which is how I got it in my head that maybe I would want another dog. Two weeks later I strong armed a loud little guy that we named Ant into our home. He has anxiety.

In 2021, our friend adopted a dog from Aniband Dog Rescue in South Korea. Aniband does their best to take advantage of volunteers flying from South Korea to the States so our friend had been putting out feelers online because they had a flight headed here and were hoping to adopt out some dogs. There was an all white dog named Sunn available, who my husband fell in love with. On the day of his flight, we drove to JFK and a tired volunteer handed us a strange beast in a small carrier and continued on her way.

I liked three dogs a lot, it turned out, and we had a great crew for a bit. Loving a pet is knowing that heartbreak is unavoidable and doing it anyway, though, and that fall we had to say goodbye to Lido.

We kept up with Sun + Ant together for a bit, and had a wonderful time. Neither are alpha dogs and they did their best without Lido here to boss them around. 

In January 2023, I decided to try my hand at fostering, since maybe someday I’d have three again but not yet and maybe I could just help out some other dogs in the meantime? I applied to foster with Fishtails Animal Rescue, who are wonderful advocates for animals that are medically urgent. I waited.

I got an email from Erin at Fishtails on February 23, 2023 with a photo of a little chihuahua who had a cast on her leg and needed to be pulled from ACCT by end of day; she would need to have her leg amputated, which Fishtails booked for the very next day. I drove to the shelter and was handed a stinky, confused dog– the doctor told me she was so sweet, I told him that’s nice to hear but I’m just her foster, he laughed at me.

I had a good week of trying to convince myself that it was true, but after Erin reached out to me to let me know that people had contacted the rescue asking about her, I panicked and told Erin that I needed to keep her, and she very kindly let me know that they encouraged foster fails. So I did.

Her name is Toody Tulip, you can call her either, or anything that starts with a T, really. She is magic, and I certainly am biased but outsiders have confirmed. Here’s what we did on May 30th, 2024.

Toody comes to work with me most days. I had an allergist appointment in the morning so we got to the office late. I had to go straight to a meeting, where she slept on the desk. She considers everyone that I work with a good friend and feels very comfortable there.

After the meeting, we finally got to my desk, where she sleeps most of the day like this. She had 13 teeth pulled last year, so it is not uncommon for her tongue to stick out.

In the afternoon she will get antsy, and flip over for belly rubs. She will also do this to anyone who comes to my desk at any time of day.

She is known around the office as a great coworker to stop by to pay a visit to if you’d like a little break or a calming moment. I thought she might make a good therapy dog for this reason, but I don’t think she’d cut it because we recently learned that she tries to herd toddlers. There’s no toddlers in the office, though, so she is content with just doing it as a day job.

At 3:30, we had a visit to the photo studio at work, where she had booked her first modeling gig. The stylists had picked out some jackets that worked well for her. She does like to wear jackets and sweaters. I am not a great seamstress but I alter her clothes at home so she can wear them easily.

She worked the camera with ease and grace, who knew? She took the work seriously and we were in and out quickly.

At 5 o clock, we finally got to head home. Here she is, levitating it seems.

I had her stop for one last photo at the office, in front of the Juneberry bush, which is nearly ripe. She sniffed one that had fallen on the ground, but was not interested. A google search told me that they are nontoxic to dogs, but she had dinner on her mind. She was not interested in posing, either.

An accident on 95 meant traffic was at a slow crawl. Winding through the Navy Yard, she stuck her head out the window to feel the breeze and watch folks on foot pass us.

We took the long way back to Fishtown through the city because I’d rather be moving than sitting. I like to drive past Citizens Bank Park sometimes, just to look at it. The Phillies are not in town, so there’s no traffic around the stadium. It looked the same as it always does.

I tried to get tickets to Bark at the Park this year since I bet the Jumbotron would love Tulip. It wasn’t our year, it turned out, but we might take her to a Reading Phils game. They host Bark in the Park once a month. It might be a good time to head to one of their games soon, since Trea Turner could end up there on his rehab assignment. He could meet Tulip.

Toody loves coming home from work to Sun and Ant, who have readily accepted her as the new top dog. Our bunny is in the photo, too, the bunny is indifferent to Tulip. She is named Amy, after famous bunny owner Amy Sedaris. My husband feeds the dogs dinner every night (I take the breakfast shift). At dinner Ant gets a little bit of Prozac in his food, it helps with the anxiety.

Our whole living room is full of stuff for the little dogs. I got the corn squishmallow at Costco a few months ago because I’m an adult and I can buy myself whatever I want, but it was quickly claimed as a dog bed. We’ve since introduced the Banana and Bucee’s squishmallow to the bed pile.

We have a big bin full of toys in the living room, but the favorites are usually scattered around the room, pictured. Every now and then someone makes their way to the toy bin and pulls something from the bottom of the pile, as a group they’ll embrace the new toy, but generally it falls out of rotation once they’ve all spent some time with it. I wish I could know what goes into the decision making process when someone starts grazing the toy bin.

Tulip’s favorite toy by far is the small ball, which she has many of, but at any given point most are MIA, under a couch or behind a shelf or otherwise yet to be revealed.

I take her to the backyard to play fetch, which I think she would play infinitely if she were able. She is very fast! I don’t know how old she is but I measure her wellness in speed, and she is thriving.

Our friend Liam is in town and staying with us– he is a close friend and I enjoy having him because I don’t feel like I need to host. I like hosting, of course, but it’s also nice to just have someone around who is comfortable in our home and does their own thing.

Liam got back to the house after a day around Philly, I think this was the day he went to John’s Roast Pork and the Italian Market, but this isn’t an entry about Liam’s day in Philly so I’m not fact checking.

The three of us decide to head to Loco Pez for dinner, which was devastating news to Tulip, who was still up for playing catch.

Goodbye, Tulip! We will be back soon. If I could drop out of society and play ball with you all day long forever, it would be a tempting opportunity.

Kate lives in Fishtown and has three dogs, one cat and one bunny in her home. She vacuums a lot. She got Toody from local rescue @fishtailsrescue.