First things first, I apologize for the blog issues yesterday. Hopefully everything is up and running smoothly now! We’re still trying to make some adjustments following the launch of the redesign and the blog went down for a little while. (This was not caused by my web host, Site 5. I wholeheartedly recommend them!) I truly appreciate your patience!
Sadie’s Birthday
Yesterday was a special day for the Fagan family.
Sadie turned six years old!
Given the fact that our obsession with Sadie is more than apparent on the blog, I am sure none of you are surprised to learn that Ryan and I celebrate her birthday. It’s a special day and Ryan and I always have fun reminiscing about puppy Sadie.
She was so tiny and I can still remember Ryan carrying her around with her chest resting on his forearm and her head in the palm of his hand. She was such a little squirt!
Longtime PBF readers may remember Sadie’s annual birthday challenge! In keeping with Sadie’s birthday tradition, last night, before dinner, Ryan and I brainstormed another birthday food challenge for the birthday girl.
Ever year on Sadie’s birthday, Ryan and I select two different foods that we think Sadie will love and put them both in front of her at the same time, taking bets as to which one she’ll go after first.
This year the contenders were…
Rotisserie Chicken vs. Pulled Pork
My money was on the chicken since Sadie is a chicken fiend. Ryan decided to pull for the pork (<—like the pun?), since he thought that was the underdog.
Ryan and I plated our respective entrants into the annual food challenge and set them on the floor, allowing Sadie to sniff each plate before Ryan held her back.
We counted down from five before releasing her and allowing her to make her selection.
The winner?
The chicken! It was gone in 2.5 seconds. Sadie made her mama proud.
I think Sadie had a great sixth birthday! We enjoyed a nice long walk in the morning, bought her new food in the afternoon (we feed her Orijen dog food) and took her on a short hike before dinner.
(I snapped this picture after Sadie stepped on a sand spur and Ryan carried her over to the soft sand to remove it. I’m pretty sure she would’ve preferred Ryan to leave the sand spur in her food and carry her around like that all day long.)
It was a Sadie-centric day!
Some of my favorite Sadie-related blog posts:
- Campaigning To Be The Favorite
- Everything About Her
- A Dog’s Happiness
- Life Lessons From Sadie
- Sadie Turns Three
- The Many Looks of Sadie
- The Hand Game
- An Announcement
- Sadie Email Updates
Questions of the Morning
- Pet owners: Do you celebrate your pet’s birthday? Do you do anything special or random like our annual food challenge?
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
I love the idea of a food challenge – what a clever thing to do!
I absolutely adore Sadie! I’m glad to see that she had an amazing day. Wendy and Oliver send her lots of kisses from Oklahoma!
Baby Sadie is so cute! I grew up celebrating my pets birthdays, so when I get my own there will definitely be birthday celebrations happening!
Aww happy birthday Sadie! Can’t believe she’s six already!
The redesign is such a nice change. Downtime stinks but it looks great now!
We absolutely celebrate the furballs birthdays — but I have always LOVED your idea of the food challenge for Sadie!
I can’t believe Sadie is 6! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and love reading about her bday challenge! So much fun for you and her! Happy Birthday Sadie!
That is so fun what you guys do with the food for her b-day. too cute! Happy bday Sadie!
This is so cute! Happy Birthday, Sadie!
Aww…Sadie was such a cute puppy (still is)!! Congrats on winning the challenge 😉 Our pup is turning 1 in March so I will have to think of something to do for him…
haha I love that you post this every year!!! Sadie is quite the character 🙂
I’ve been following these challenges for year! How times flies! Happy birthday, Sadie!
My family has poodles, and one year my Mom made poodle cupcakes for our dogs! It was the cutest/ most ridiculous thing. And Sadie is adorable as a puppy (and now)!
We celebrate our dog’s birthday as well 🙂 She is a huge part of our family, and I couldn’t imagine not having her!!
Ah, I love this challenge idea — it’s so cute!
My family always celebrates my dog’s birthday! For the past 3 years, we’ve gotten her a “Happy Birthday” crown, and last year, even invested in one of those noise blowers that was decorated with a dalmation! She’s a weimaraner, so it definitely makes her look super goofy! Shannon always gets a fat piece of ice cream cake to celebrate — maybe not the best for her, but she is one happy dog 🙂
We celebrate Plato’s birthday every year but nothing out of the ordinary with food treats for him. He gets ice cream on a regular basis : )
We celebrate our dogs birthday with a glazed donut! We have a husky and her 7th birthday was on the 7th so it’s extra special! Happy birthday Sadie!
Happy Birthday Sadie! I used to do a food challenge with my old dog Bubba, and like Sadie – when chicken was in the mix it always won 🙂
I make sure to get my dog a new toy for his birthday. They don’t normally last very long but it’s fun to see him get excited over his new toy
Happy birthday, sweet Sadie!
Our vizsla & lab were both born in August so we do a joint party for them. They wear birthday hats, & every year we do something different…either a dog cake, steak, burgers, etc. And they always get “special breakfast” on their birthday (eggs & bacon). It’s probably their favorite day of the year.
Aww, so sweet! Happy Birthday Sadie!
Happy Birthday Sadie! Glad to see we aren’t the only ones who spoil our dog on their birthday 🙂 I love the challenge that you do on her birthday–sounds fun!
Happy birthday Sadie!
Happy Birthday, Sadie! I can’t believe how tiny she was as a puppy!
We totally celebrate our dog’s birthday — she’s my furry child, how could we not? 🙂
Happy birthday Sadie!! She is just a couple months older than my dog Murray. They grow so fast! Can’t believe she’s six already. Those puppy pictures are too precious for words.
OMG Baby Sadie is adorable!!!! I love following her adventures 🙂 My dog toby DEFINITELY gets a party for his birthday! We’ve only celebrated his birthday once since adopting him but there will be many many more to come! And he’s totally spoiled… he’s got an instagram (@txtsfromtoby) and his own blog (txtsfromtoby.tumblr.com)! It’s hard to say if I should be proud or ashamed of that… 😀
I’m not sure of my little babes (dogs;)) birthday since she was a shelter dog – – but we definitely celebrate her “adoption day”!! New treats, toys, and lots of playing!
Happy birthday Sadie! What a lucky puppy she is to be so loved!
We definitely celebrate birthdays for our cats! I’m also usually mocked at work for having them set as reminders in my Outlook 🙂 We don’t do anything big, but it usually involves a small new toy and vanilla ice cream. They LOVE ice cream!
P.S. I LOVE the new redesign!!! I’ll miss the secret smiley face on the right side :-D, but everything looks fantastic!
I love that food challenge – what a great idea!
My dog Rocco just turned two last November and its kinda becoming a tradition too take him to the pet store so he can pick out a new toy. He has a habit of picking up a toy out of one of the bins, walking around the store with it and refusing to drop it.
Krystal
That is such a cute idea! 🙂 I have two rescue dogs and we don’t know their birthdays or their precise ages but we celebrate the days we adopted them. It is more a family celebration than anything. They’ve completed our family! I’m sure you feel the same way!
Happy Birthday, Sadie!!
Happy Birthday Sadie! All 3 of you look so young in that picture!! And how fun to do a food challenge with her.
-AJ
OccasionallyAJ.com
Happy birthday, Sadie! I just love that face she makes while Ryan is carrying her through the woods. 🙂
Happy birthday, Sadie! Did you guys video the chicken vs. pork challenge? 🙂
Oh my gosh, Sadie was such an adorable puppy!! I love that you celebrate her birthday. In my household we celebrate my pup’s birthday too! I usually buy her a special treat or toy.
I think Sadie would like a Sadie-centric day everyday…although I have a feeling she might already have that 😀
Awe Happy Birthday Sadie girl! It was my pup’s 3rd birthday on Monday, and I spoiled her more than ever! 🙂
Aw happy belated birthday to Sadie 🙂 I celebrate my dog’s birthday also…both the day she was born and the day we brought her home, she’s spoiled rotten! What a cute tradition, I bet she had a wonderful day.
You two absolutely crack me up with Sadie! My husband and I have two weimaraners, 3 year old Lola and 13 week old Ellie, and we are doggy crazy! I literally laugh out loud with all of your Sadie posts because we are the same way with our girls! Happy Happy Belated Birthday to Sadie girl!
Do you celebrate Sadie’s actual birthday, or the date that you adopted her? I’m lucky enough to know both for my dog (rare for rescue dogs), but I can never decide which to celebrate!
Oh Happy Birthday Sadie!! I loved watching her previous bday challenges! Maisy turns 2 in April and we may have to think of a fun bday challenge for her! I really love seeing puppy photos of Sadie!!
happy happy birthday Sadie! I have always celebrated my dogs’ birthdays~they are absolutely part of the family!
happy (belated) birthday Sadie!
I look forward to her birthday challenge every year! so fun!
We fed Orijen for a while too! We ended up having to switch, because our dog reacted badly to anything other than the 6 Fish formula, which is crazy expensive! Our dog is having his 4th birthday next week — we are for sure having a party!
Happy birthday Sadie!! Sasha had her first birthday last year and I cooked her up a massive steak and she was SO EXCITED. She was also confused. I didn’t think to cut it up and she just picked it up and dropped it a few times and then she went to town on it!
And my cat… she gets nothing for her birthday. Poor Jax.
My dogs get a McDonalds kiddie cheeseburger on their birthdays! They love it, but both of them manage to take the pickles off of it. Apparently dogs HATE pickles!
Ha!!
I am glad that I’m not the only one who celebrates my dog’s birthday! When Duncan, who’s passed away, turned 10, we had a little picnic in the park. Such a fun day! We now have Ziggy, who gets some extra special treatment on his birthday. He’s also spoiled rotten on his moving day too, which was the day we brought him home with us. I’m thinking everyone should get two special days a year! These dogs have the life!