OTTAWA - PARLIAMENT HILL

Abby had a wonderful time visiting Ottawa. So many activities, so little time... We walked around downtown Ottawa for an afternoon and of course had to visit Parliament Hill, the Prime Minister was occupied so we could not get in to visit with him that day!! Abby stopped into the Byward Market, a stop for President Obama when he visited Ottawa last year. We bought nice warm rolls from the bakery for supper..yummy http://www.bywardmarketsquare.com/. We went shopping at a dog friendly store called the Bark & Fitz. Abby bought a super nice new coat and a fitted car seat cover...good haul! She had the opportunity to see other dogs.....one smaller doggie arrived for a "grooming" appointment....oh the life of a Big City Dog!!
Abby had excellent accommodations as her human sister rolled out the red carpet for her visit. Abby had freshly baked tarter buster treats waiting her arrival! She had the good fortune of a nice fenced in backyard to run and kick up her heels and basically had full run of the house. Poor Sherwin kitty had to take a backseat for the weekend as Abby and he just did not have time to bond. Abby is not terribly calm or gentle with cats....yet.
We were worried about how she would make out on the 10 hour car drive but she was fantastic. She slept some, sat up and looked around, balanced on the arm rest to say hello and nibbled on her bone treat when she was a bit bored. We stopped three times each way to let her air her pants, do her business and have a drink. While driving through Montreal, she sat in the back almost human like...watching the cars (and there were many). Such a good doggie.
On our way home on Monday, we stopped at the Tim Hortons (I know surprise) that was located really close to where we were staying. A lady walking in the parking lot began to stare at the car and she walked around the vehicle and came to the passenger window.....we wondered....a nut cake? We rolled down the window and she said "I was looking at your dog, she has Catahoula in her". We quickly replied that she did come from Arkansas and it is entirely possible. The Lady proceeded to tell us that she thought Abby had a significant amount of the Catahoula breed in her..... Come to find out this lady is involved with a catahoula rescue organization called the Catahoula Rescue of Ontario (in Ottawa) www.petfinder.com/shelters/ON270.html. Most of the dogs that this organization rescues/fosters comes from the southern US. She opened her cell phone and showed us pictures of some of her dogs and they were very very close in resemblance to Abby. She had two in particular that looked a lot like Abby. Small world......little Abby often provides the opportunity for us to meet new people. Very nice lady with obviously a very big heart. She could only talk to us about 10 minutes because she was a school bus driver and had another route to do and still had to get a coffee. We thanked her for stopping to say hello to Abby, she said to check out their site, which we did when we got home. On our first visit to our Vet last January, he mentioned a predominant look of a Boxer so from now on when we are asked about Abby, we are going to say we have designer breed and call her a Boxahoula!!! LOL
We are going to the Fredericton SPCA Pet Photos with Santa this Saturday and have bought Abby a nice new red necklace....will she wear it? Who knows, she can be quite independent at times!
Another excellent adventure has come to an end.......until next time.