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?
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Happy happy birthday Sadie! I love all of her food challenges 🙂
Aw, Happy Birthday Sadie! I think it’s so awesome that you and Ryan make it such a special day for her! That’s so cute!
We also have a very spoiled vizsla and we buy him a dog cake every year and lots of presents to open (which most are destroyed within minutes, very few make it through the first few days!). Our vizsla turned 6 in June!!
<3 vizslas!!! Aren't they the best!?
We are slightly (downplay) obsessed with our vizsla. I love when you talk about Sadie, because my husband and I laugh at how much we can relate to how you treat her. They are not normal dogs, they are like little humans. We treat ours like a child, and life in our household revolves around him!!
Haha I just posted this morning about a similar test we did with ours! We do this nonsense to them every so often 😉
Sadie was SUCH a cute puppy!
You and Ryan are such great dog parents! We have two labs, and we always get them a bone and make sure we take them on a walk for their birthday since that’s their all time favorite thing to do! Now that we have a baby of our own, they’re a little less spoiled than they used to be, but we still make sure they feel extra loved on their birthdays. 🙂
yay, sadie! Happy Birthday, pretty girl! I just moved away from home and my family puppies. And honestly one of the first big purchases I am making in the next 6 months will be a dog. I can’t live without these bundles of joy in my life! We will definately celebrate birthdays.
I have a very spoiled little girl, and I make her pupcakes with peanut butter cream cheese icing every year. She LOOOOOVES tissue paper, so we of course also open presents!
http://www.browneyedbaker.com/category/recipes/dog-treat-recipes/
Aww Happy Birthday Sadie! I love that idea of a food challenge with her. That’s so fun. I would say I would have picked the chicken, too. I feel like dogs just like that, ha.
Happy Birthday to Sadie! We try to celebrate Lilly’s birthday but since she came from a shelter we have two different dates that could be the day! We usually try and do “Lilly friendly” activities like hiking and playing in the backyard. As far as a food challenge we have not tried that before but are definitely going to soon! What a fun idea!
I love that food challenge!! I totally want to do that with my dog and see what she picks!
One year for my dogs I made them dog treats (I have a book of them!!). and with her and my cat I try to make time to play with them whenever they want that day (my cat thinks she is a dog haha).
Happy Birthday Princess Sadie!!
We are obsessed with our rescue yellow lab Ace and our rescue black lab Clyde!! They are our world 🙂
Oh my gosh, Sadie was so CUTE as a puppy! Look how tiny she was!! 🙂 Happy birthday Sadie! We celebrate my dog’s birthday too, but not nearly to the extent as you and Ryan do!
Happy Birthday Sadie! I love love the food challenge. I’m totally trying this with my fur babies this year!
Happy birthday Sadie! Dog birthdays are a must, I just celebrated my dog nephews birthday on the blog yesterday:) My golden retriever loves wearing her birthday crown, she truly is a queen. Sadie was such a tiny puppy, so cute.
Happy 6th Birthday to Sadie!!!!! I can remember when Jax was small enough for me to hold him. Miss that.
Aww happy birthday Sadie! Her puppy pictures kill me. We don’t know our dog’s birthday (she’s a rescue mutt), but we are sure to include her in all family celebrations with special canned dinner and a new toy.
Happy Birthday to Sadie! Growing up our dog always got vanilla ice cream on her birthday 🙂
Happy birthday, Sadie!
My girl is going to be 12 this summer but she still acts like she’s not a day over 2.
Happy birthday, Sadie! I think my favorite of your posts about her is when you talked about the way her feet smell. Haha, so weird !
Happy birthday Sadie! We definitely celebrate Allegra’s birthday! We don’t do big birthday celebrations so it’s never anything to wild, but she definitely gets lots of love, an awesome walk, a new toy, and a special snack!
Sadie was so cute as a puppy! One thing we do to celebrate my kitty’s birthday is give him some whipped cream, he loves that stuff!
Happy birthday Sadie! I love to see dog owners who make their dog part of the family, that’s the way it should be IMO.
I love the Sadie food challenge! I’ve been pushing my husband, Ryan, to get a dog FINALLY, but he hasn’t budged yet- womp womp! I guess for now, I’ll just have to continue to live vicariously through you and your puppy adventures!! Happy Birthday Sadie!
I totally celebrate my dogs’ birthdays! My lab’s birthday is close to Sadies! She will be six on 1/28.
We celebrate with a homemade birthday cake (there are some great dog-friendly recipes out there!), a new toy, a walk or trip to the dog park, and party hats.
Oh she was so teeny tiny!!!
Happy Birthday Sadie!
Love the puppy pics.
I give Kostas extra treats on his birthday AND on his adoption date! It’s a win-win for him.
Too cute! Happy Birthday!!!
Happy birthday Sadie!! I love that birthday food challenge tradition! So fun.
aww, she was such a cute puppy! I might have to consider a vizsla when I get a dog one day.
We never have known our dogs exact birthdays so we celebrate on the nearest holiday! Valentines Day, St Patricks Day and Easter!
We actually did your food challenge with my brother’s golden retriever on her first birthday after reading it on your blog! She went for a hot dog over scrambled eggs. Haha I just brought her some vanilla froyo.
aww happy birthday Sadie! I love Sadie posts 🙂
heart melt! puppy sadie was SO cute (and still is 🙂 )
I love that food challenge- how funny! You definitely picked the better contender 🙂
Awww puppy Sadie is so adorable (not that she isn’t now)! Happy Birthday to Sadie.
Happy birthday to Sadie! We usually celebrate out little Max’s big day with a special doggy cookie. I actually thought about making some special dog treats this year. His b-day’s in 10 days!
awww puppy sadie pictures are SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!
What a fun little challenge!! I am going to try that with my dog Cooper for his birthday. I think we will need to do chicken vs. steak!
Happy Birthday Sadie! It is always so fun to look back on their puppy days and remember how small they were. Sadie was a cutie back then and still is today.
Happy Birthday, Sadie!!! I love, love, love puppy Sadie. Puppies always tug my heart in a special way! Love the food challenge too. You guys are so creative and thoughtful!
I always celebrate my doggy’s birthday! It is right near mine so it is super easy to remember 🙂
Each year on our dog’s birthday, we take him to the pet store and let him “pick out” whatever he wants. A couple treats here and there, and ALWAYS a new toy 🙂 It’s always fun seeing how long they last him. Also, his birthday is on Valentine’s day and we love spending the day spoiling him since he brings so much into our lives!
Bahhhhhhhh too cute! I love it. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen baby Sadie pictures before — what a precious little puppy dog! No one in my family celebrates my dog’s birthday except for me haha. If he makes it, he’ll be 14 this March! (But, being such an old man, I have no idea if he’s actually going to make to March or not. He’s crazy old!)
Aww I love that you guys are always carrying her around like a little baby, and of course we celebrate my dog’s birthday! Lil Hal is turning 3 soon, they grow up so fast.
Happy birthday to Sadie! What a fun way to celebrate 🙂
Awwww, happy birthday sadie! I can’t wait to get a pup of my own, but till them I’ll just enjoy pictures of the beautiful Sadie 🙂
Happy Birthday, Sadie!! You have such great parents!! Julie, we have a weimaraner who’s turning 8 this year and she reminds me so much of Sadie! Hope it was a fun birthday for her!
We have a German Shorthair Pointer named Susan. On her bday I make her a cake with canned wet food (which she never normally gets) frosted with mashed potatoes.
We found out last year if your dog is at Doggy Daycare on their bday you can have a party for them with special treats and their friends. Haven’t done it yet, but maybe. And yes she is spoiled rotten.
Aw Happy Birthday! I used to celebrate my dog, Cindy’s birthday every year. Even now, although she is no longer alive, every July 23 I think of her and have some type of dessert in her memory. For her birthday every year, I would get her a cupcake or a giant cookie and share it with her (usually a vanilla cake cupcake and give her the cake part or a black and white cookie and not give her the chocolate side). Oh and I had the cutest doggie card that I would show her every year. It was always funny to reuse the birthday card but hey, I was a kid at the time and it was what I chose to do. lol
I just celebrated my dog’s 2nd birthday and made him a dog friendly baked oatmeal cake with peanut butter yogurt frosting. He may (or may not) have had a birthday hat on all day… LOL Happy birthday to Sadie!