furkids

So, back when I had fewer dogs (only 2), still 2 cats, and more "other" pets (4 rats and a rabbit {now deceased} and a fish), my sister and her (then) four kids came to visit. After her kids thoroughly enjoyed helping Noodle & Spud with their pet chores, she commented to me, "I can see why you aren't in a hurry to have more kids. With all these pets, it feels like a houseful." She was right. And even though we've mixed it up a bit since then, by adding a third kid AND a third dog, two tank-dwelling frogs, and not "replacing" the smaller mammal pets, it's still a houseful.

Most of the time, it isn't overwhelming and is just our regular, happy life. Usually it is Noni, our male cat, who throws me in to "WHY DO I HAVE ALL THESE STINKIN' PETS?" mode, and it is usually because he gets a UTI or starts showing his displeasure at something by peeing/marking. The latest thing is his displeasure at Orbit's arrival, and he has marked a few places in the kids' room. I've been trying various home remedy conconctions, but it has been a big pain. I ended up moving Orbit's crate into their closet, so I can block it off from the cats, and closing the doors during the day. Also, I've put around butcher paper and other things cats don't like to walk on. I don't think there has been any additional marking, but I still can't quite get the full odor out. It doesn't help that I have a super sensitive nose. So, that's the current frustration.

We had Orbit neutered about 3 weeks ago, and for the next 10-14 days, he seemed to have some difficulty urinating. Plus, he was peeing in his "playpen crate" a LOT. He'd been doing so well with his housebreaking prior to the surgery, so this was disappointing. Over the last week, though, he seems to have gotten back to his pre-surgery level of bladder control, which is a relief. Since he was a cryptorchid (that means he had undescended testicles), they had to do a more invasive surgery than a standard neuter. I was afraid they might have messed something up inside him, but it looks like all is well.

It's funny, because I don't blog about the pets that much, but I really enjoy talking about pets with other people. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of friends locally who share my interest in animals. I've been spending bits of "free" time lately reading through some of my issues of Bark and have really enjoyed it. I love reading books about dogs, dog training, dog behavior, dog evolution, etc. I also enjoy all of those dog movies targeted (usually) at kids, like Hotel for Dogs and (especially) Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Well, I am not a huge fan of the "Buddies" movies, but they are harmless enough. I'm kind of a sucker for animal movies in general. Babe and Babe: Pig in the City are two of the best movies of all time. The latter has so many fabulous quotes, such as "It's all illusory. It's ill, and it's for losers." David and I use that one quite frequently.

Here are some pics of two of the pooches from today's game of Kitchen Fetch. Also, one crappy shot of Orbit modeling his "Sit." He was a hard one to teach sit, only because the best way is to catch them sitting, click&treat, and then after doing that a dozen or so times, you teach them the word "Sit". He almost never sits down. He runs around, jumps, and lies down, but seldom sat except for in his playpen, which made training difficult. In my experience, Sit is one of the most useful commands because you can then require that the dogs be doing a good thing before you let them inside, outside, give them their meals, etc. When they are sitting, they can't simultaneously be jumping around or otherwise going nuts. I make Rudy sit and stay while I pour his food out (he eats outside or in the garage, off the floor so it takes him more than 1 minute), and he is so good, he'll sit even as I walk away until I give him the "Okay," release. He doesn't know too many other commands, but we get a lot of mileage out of Sit.

things that are ridiculous

My dog (Daisy) now wears to bed the following:

1. her plastic cone aka Elizabethan collar
2. an outgrown one of Sprout's rompers (long-sleeved, long legged onesie)
3. two socks on each of her back feet

Why?

Well, I'll tell you.

Over the past few months we have had one sore after another. One of them was a legitimate injury, exacerbated by her understandable licking at it (she had a foxtail embedded in her rump--ouch!), but the others have been various itches that she either scratches until they bleed or licks until they bleed. I don't know if it is an environmental allergy or food allergy or just because we live in a super dry climate, but I do know that it is a lot easier (though heavy on the ridiculous side) to prevent these sores than to deal with them once they are present. And I think the annoyance/discomfort to her is also less if I can keep her from making the sores. She actually doesn't seem to mind the onesie or the cone. The socks I think annoy her, but she's a pretty good sport.

Aren't you glad you asked?


On a somewhat related note -- today I gave her a bath and, for my first time ever, a haircut!! Four weeks ago I did part of her haircut by myself (David has done the haircutting for the past nearly 3 years that we've owned her) and it didn't turn out that great. But I learned from my mistakes and did a much better job this time. It's a small thing, but I'm happy to be able to take it off of David's plate and kind of proud of myself for doing such a nice job. :o)

doggy drama

As if three kids don't create enough drama...

So my little fluffhound, Daisy, finally got over her grudge against me this week. Details: We got Daisy at about age 2.5, and from the beginning she was SUPER playful. Always delighted to play fetch with her plush squeaky toys or tug with her rope. It was one of my favorite things about her. Due to working a lot of hours and then Sprout's arrival, she wasn't getting played with nearly enough. About 3 weeks ago I started feeling up to "things" enough again and wanted to get back in the habit of playing with her. She would have NOTHING to do with it. In fact, she just gave me these looks of "I have no idea what you are doing," when I'd squeak or toss her toys. I have to admit I was worried and disappointed. What if I'd "broken" my dog? I tried every few days with no success. Then last Friday we had some friends over and she got really excited. She kind of forgot herself in all the excitement and ran to bring me one of her toys. I thought, "YAY!" and threw the toy. Nothing. It did seem like a baby step, though, so I was hopeful. A couple of days ago she played the game of "run around like a crazy fluffy demon" and then after that she ran off to find a toy, and we played fetch again. Today we had another great game of upstairs-hall fetch, so I think she might be back to her old, playful self again. And it makes me really happy.

And now a story about Rudy. He was having his crate time today (he doesn't "chill" very well, so he spends a fair amount of time in his crate so he can have some relaxed time) and we suddenly hear some "yowp yowp yowp" sounds. He whines on occasion when he wants out, but this sounded like pain. It stopped and Spud checked on him and saw nothing wrong. Then a minute later it started up again, and didn't stop. I ran over and opened his crate and he hobbled out, dangling his left front paw and yowping like he was about to die. I couldn't figure out what he could have done to it, but I took him outside for his potty break and he was still not putting weight on it. He stopped the crying, and after a couple of minutes gingerly put some weight on his foot. I think his foot fell asleep and it freaked him out, which is kind of funny once you get past feeling sorry for the doofus. :o)

tonight

in pictures.

daily dose of doggies

Here are the furballs playing with a toy the other day. We were playing fetch with TWO toys, so they could both bring one back, but invariably they decide they want to bring the same toy back. Silly pooches.

dogs in the snow

the Rudy Tootster

do I spoil my dog?

It snowed another six or so inches today. (I say another because we got about 4-5 inches on Saturday that hadn't yet melted off the lawns or the streets.) In addition to shoveling the driveway and the walkway this morning (which David was able to help with this time - hooray!), I shoveled off a large patch of grass for Daisy's bathroom needs. I've done this all winter. And really, it's probably more for me than for her. If she traipses out in the snow, she turns into a big snow-blob, which leads to severe tangling and matting, which takes me 2-3 times longer to comb out. Not to mention the puddles around the house as the chunks melt out of her fur. To avoid this, I shovel some potty spots AND put her in either her waterproof jacket or her snowsuit. I only pull out her snowboots when absolutely necessary, though, as she hates them so.

So, while to the uninformed observer it might look like I am spoiling my dog, really I'm just trying to minimize my work. Lazy, yes. Stupid, no.

(If my pictures & such were available and hooked up, I'd share a pic of Daisy in her snowsuit. It's pretty pathetic/hilarious!)

THIS IS MY 300th POST!!!

Cool! I could do something super to commemorate it, but I just want to share an experience from yesterday.

We were driving around and Daisy was peeking out the front passenger window. This kind of rough looking fellow was walking in the cold, smoking a cigarette, and he crossed in the crosswalk in front of our car and saw Daisy peering out at him. He just stared at her, then a big grin broke across his face. When he passed over to my side, he mouthed "That is one cute dog." and he was still grinning so big. He didn't seem like the type of person to appreciate a silly fluffy dog, but I think it really made his morning.

Happy Holidays, from the Family Pets!

"See how we are waiting so patiently for our food? Well, that patience will soon run out!"



"We like to play in this paper. Isn't it great to have a mom who leaves junk around the house for us to play with?"



"This is where I hang out while mom is running her errands. Do I look sufficiently bored?"



"This small hairless one likes to hang out with me. I allow it."



"There seems to be a fat intruder in my house. Huh."



"Look, there's a reason there are no holiday tales about cats. We hate holidays. And this is why."

why you shouldn't leave your dog in the car with groceries

We went to Target to get some groceries and household items, including 3 cheese pizzas for our party tomorrow, and then I decided to go to Costco. I had the food in the back of the car, but since it's not a real trunk, there was nothing stopping Daisy from hopping back there and helping herself to the cheese. I discovered it when we came out of Costco and was not amused. At least they were $2.50 pizzas instead of $10 pizzas. And she only got into the one. So I cut off the doggy-half, and we cooked the rest for lunch.

sigh...

it's all fun & games...

...until somedoggy pees on the bed.

I was playing "getcha" with Daisy, and we were having a great time. Then she jumped on the bed, and I covered her with the comforter, and she exploded with pee. blargh. I'd blame it on being scared, but we've played that game many times and she has always enjoyed it, so I think she just got too excited with a full bladder. So, now the duvet cover is in the wash, the comforter is hanging on the playground to dry, and Daisy is in her crate. (I did let her go outside to finish any business before sending her to jail, though, so I'm not totally heartless.)

The Fluffhound

I sure love this silly little dog. Honestly, it'd be hard not to.




Dogs have amazing tongues!

away....

The kiddos, the fluffhound and I are up at my parents' home in Idaho. David thought we should take a "vacation" so he could work a lot this week. He has a big deadline at work September 1st, and he feels bad about neglecting us when we're there, so we left! We drove up yesterday and arrived about dinnertime. It's a big step for my mom to allow the fluffer in her house. She is NOT an animal person. Actually, she can appreciate animals. Outside, and from a distance. She did think the baby quail that were hatching at the Fair today were very cute, though. I think a lot of it is the idea of having to care for the animals, as well as the mess potential. And while I'm sure she would prefer not to have our fluffy "kid" here, she's so nice and gracious about it that you wouldn't know it even bothered her. I'm pretty lucky to have my parents. I love them.

the earth says hello!

I took Daisy out for a run this morning, and I loved the feeling of my lungs working and breathing the cool morning air. Of course that wore off eventually, but it was great while it lasted. There is some new construction not too far from our house, and in the little strip between the sidewalk and the road where there will eventually be grass, there are hundreds and hundreds of those mini-sunflowers. It was gorgeous! I have some of those sunflowers in my front yard, courtesy of the birds that ate at my feeder this past winter. We would see some of them land (often the red-winged blackbirds) and perch on the footrest, dig their beaks into the seeds and then fling their heads wildly back and forth, scattering all sorts of seeds everywhere! I thought it was rather a buttheady thing to do, but at least I get to enjoy the sunflowers now.

On a somewhat related note, I still giggle at myself sometimes when I'm running with Daisy. I don't think most people would consider a fluffy white little dog as much of a running companion, but I have found her to be perfect. She is actually quite a speed demon, so there is no worry about her keeping up, but she doesn't pull my arm off with her enthusiasm (it helps that she's only 14 lbs) but she does keep me going often times when I'd rather walk. Many people get labradors for jogging partners, which is actually ridiculous as a single lab could easily be a jogging partner for a half dozen people. Kind of like getting a Ferrari for commuting to work when a Kia would suffice.