A Weekly Round-Up of Rover-Related Links from Around the Web

Happy New Year, friends, and welcome to the first Favorite Things Friday list of 2019! We’ve been on a little blog break while spending the holidays in Chicago, but I’m so excited to be getting back to our normal schedule.

As most of you know from Instagram, we had a bit of a rough start to the new year. On New Year’s Day, Dave (while on a leash) was attacked by an off-leash dog in our apartment building’s common area. It all happened really fast—the dog was far away from us, but took off from his owner and ran toward Dave and grabbed onto his neck. Josh dove in between the two of them and shoved the dog until it let go, and probably saved Dave’s life—hero!—but our baby still had deep gashes on the back of his neck and ear. I was panic-sobbing and Dave and Lizzie were wailing and it was a terrifying few minutes.

We rushed Dave to the vet and got his ear stitched back together. He’s been pretty groggy and will be in a cone for another eight days, as well as doing a round of antibiotics to avoid infections. Although we live in the same building, we had never met the dog or its owners before, but they have agreed to pay the vet bills, which is a relief. Frankly, I’m just so glad Dave wasn’t hurt worse. As a small dog owner, an attack like that has always been my worst fear. As of today, he’s finally starting to perk up, beg for treats, and pester Lizzie like normal. 💙

It’s funny because minutes before Dave was attacked, Josh and I had been talking about our New Year’s resolutions. Aside from the resolutions I make every year—to drink less coffee and try every ice cream shop in NYC while somehow also getting the best abs of my life—I had just said I wanted to make a “gratitude list” each day.

It’s so easy for me to get so hung up on my little frustrations or stresses, that I don’t even stop to appreciate how great a normal day is. And the bottom line is that each day that I get with our little family is an amazing gift. I’d never choose to go through Dave’s attack again, but those terrifying few minutes on New Year’s Day are gave me a fresh awareness of how precious each day with Josh and the pups truly is.

Anyway, that was a whole lot of writing about us and I promise that there really is a Favorite Things Friday list coming after all this text! Please know, though, that we were so incredibly moved by all of your kind and comforting comments and DMs this week—it was beyond wonderful to feel like so many people all over the world were rooting for little Dave. Thank you!

All right, for real now, here’s our weekly round-up of all the links for dogs and dog lovers that we’re shopping, bookmarking, and reading this week.

xoxo Heather

#1 Pretty in Pink

Loving all of Ripley & Rue’s new items, especially this adorable Galentine’s Day bandana!

#2 Loafing Around

Wondering if it would be crazy to take a trip to Shanghai just to visit this corgi cafe.

#3 Tail-Great

Melting over the adorable pictures of this year’s Puppy Bowl contestants.

Puppy Bowl 2019 on The Dapple Dog Lifestyle Site

#4 My Kind of Town

Discovering this adorable dog boutique while exploring Chicago. Doesn’t that window display just give you warm fuzzies?

Tails in the City Dog Friendly Chicago on The Dapple Dog Lifestyle Site

#5 Rosy-Tinted

Thinking Lizzie would look fabulous in one of these blush House of Barkley hoodies.

#6 Sausage Party

Dying to go to next year’s Key West Dachshund Parade after watching videos of this year’s festivities.

#7 Snuggle Season

Thinking I need to order Hunter & June’s cozy new sweatshirt ASAP.

#8 Windy City

Turning 30 (eep!) in the middle of our Christmas trip to Chicago and celebrating by spending two nights at Chicago’s Thompson Hotel, which is incredibly dog-friendly. We loved their puppy swag bag and long list of dog-friendly neighborhood spots. The cocktails were also pretty 👌🏻

*Image courtesy of The Thompson Chicago*

#9 Stick Together

Deciding that I need this corgi tape set in my life.

#10 Picture Perfect

Tearing up over this adorable tribute to Dave created by talented Gilmore the Dachshund illustrator, Elizabeth Huller Eisemann. Thank you, Liz! Check out her shop here.