Avoiding the Snow

Mia has a teeny tiny brain, or that's what I'm always telling her, but she does seem to understand the snow.  This morning we woke up to 7 inches of snow covering everything outside.  Abe shoveled off the deck and then a small area at the bottom of the stairs for her bathroom.  Mia comes from the south, so she finds snow very intriguing and it's sort of like a love/hate thing she has.  At first it's so cool and new and exciting and she'll pounce around in it, and then a couple minutes later she realizes that it's actually cold and she wants to run right back inside.  This was the first weekend day in recent memory (probably ever) that she didn't ask to be walked after eating and using the bathroom.  I think after she realized that there was snow out there, she wanted nothing to do with going back outside again for the rest of the day.  Instead she snoozed for most of the day in lazy-dog mode.  We were both relieved to now have to listen to her whining for her walk, or to have to trudge outside in the snow for her.  The roads out here don't have sidewalks and they are more narrow than we'd like with the snow out there.  One day of no walk won't kill her, tomorrow she will be back at daycare to do some indoor playing!

Free At Last

This morning we took our little princess to a nearby baseball field to try free ranging.  We thought it may be a good idea to experiment with letting her off leash to play fetch with a tennis ball.  This was our very first time doing this outside of the yard, so we knew that it wasn't going to go perfectly or anything.  She lasted about 10 minutes playing with us before she caught the scent of something more fun and went bounding into the woods.  She loves loves Loves running off leash, it's probably her favorite thing in the world.  Luckily, she came right back, but after that we decided it was enough for the first time and also we didn't want her to think that was Ok to just run away so we slapped the leash back on.  She did pretty well, and got a little exercise chasing the ball but we can't have her running loose into the woods or people's yards.  I'm not sure how we can train her to ignore her natural instincts and chase after other animals or scents.  This is probably where the remote trainer either works beautifully or fails miserably.

Gifting and Toys

I think that our doggie daycare Christmas gifting actually worked.  For the first time since Mia started going there, she was sent home with a report card that noted things like: how she played, her general mood for the day, her activity level, bowel movements, and then just side notes.  It was noted that she got a scratch on her nose but it was disinfected and treated.  It really was just a small scratch, so I'm pretty surprised that anyone even noticed because she gets little things like that all the time just from playing crazy and other dog's nails aren't always cut short - and like they never make a point of mentioning it.  She also got a doggie daycare nylon drawstring baggie with their logo on it.  I know that all the full time daycare dogs got one this year, but we've never gotten gifts from them before - we've never gotten anything but large daycare bills, so that was pretty nice!  

Seems like Mia is in a pretty festive mood these days.  She loves playing with her new stuffed toys.  We generally don't allow her to have stuffed toys because they eventually get ripped apart and eaten if we don't pay close attention and that kind of stuff can mess a dog up.  We did pay close attention this time, and although she had no idea what we wanted her to do with the stuffed reindeer at first she figured it out after a few days and then it became her new BFF until the stuffing came pouring out.  We had to take it away but then replaced it with a stuffing less crocodile from Abe's dad.  I think she loves it just as much as the reindeer, and she will really love anything that gets us to chase her around the office (one of the only carpeted surfaces).  She loves new things!

Pass the Remote

Does anyone have any experience with remote training collar training their dogs?  Don't judge us.  Mia is a wonderful dog, she just needs to learn to be more obedient especially if we are going to have a baby in the house.  I can't be chasing her around the yard or having her bark like a mad woman at people anymore in public or at home.  Since the vibrating anti-bark collar works well, we thought that this remote option may work well too.  There are several settings so after you get to a certain point in obedience, you just hit the tone button and the dog will stop the stupid shit and you don't even need to send a shock or vibration or anything.  Much like, I just need to show Mia the bark collar and she'll stop barking, I don't need to put it on her.

She's gotten better with the barking, but worse with the exploration of the world outside of the house.  It would be great if she could learn to be off leash on our property.  It would also be great if she didn't bark at people during daycare drop off and pickup anymore - I'm sure she has the title of Scariest Mutt Ever.  Speaking of daycare, we just got the entire staff there presents for Christmas.  We also just gave our very awesome dog walker a big Christmas gift too.  The idea behind these gestures is completely selfish.  We want to bribe all these people to treat our dog extra special.  This will work right?  I'm pretty sure that it does, if even just for a couple of days!

Milestones: welcome to the teenie bopper years

Good Morning from the couch.  Excuse our bed head.
When we first got our little bundle of crazy, she was just that - completely and totally out of control.  We tried training her at home, we sent her away to boot camp, and then we tried more.  We didn't go over the top or anything, and sure we both work full time, so there was only so many opportunities we had to get her into situations to train (weekends mainly).  I am pretty sure that she just has a rebellious personality.  The good news is that I'm pretty sure that we've entered the dog teenage years and she seems much less crazy than she ever did a year ago.  She's willing to leave my side and go take a nap in her favorite spot for hours at a time by herself.  That is probably nothing major to anyone else who owns a dog, but it's a gigantic milestone for our dog.  She can know that I or both of us are home, and she may still choose to go do her own thing - it blows our minds.  Usually on the weekend, she's bugging us to take her for a walk sometime between 8-9am.  She'll just sit and stare at us and whine, it's super annoying.  These days, it's like she wants to go for her walk but she's much more willing to wait on it and doesn't necessarily make a huge deal of it.  Everything is a little less dramatic than it used to be I guess.  This Mia is much easier to handle than the younger version of herself, that's for sure.

Sometimes I wonder if having a second dog would make her better or worse.  Would we have 2 crazy dogs with weird habits, or would the other dog distract her Mia out of her oddness?  When other dogs are over, Mia doesn't do any backwards walking, she's too busy playing.  Would having a second dog mean that they'd play together and amuse each other or would it mean that they would just sort of be 2 dogs who live in the same house?  Either way, I'm not ready to add a second dog to the family yet.  Having Mia plus a baby, plus a new puppy is just way more than I can handle and honestly we can't afford it since doggie daycare is something that we need since we're gone all day.  If I found a way to work in my house, then I'd certainly consider another pup, but definitely not until then.  Someone needs to be around all the time, otherwise it just doesn't make sense for us.  Mia will just have to continue entertaining herself until then.

Wish List: Bones

Eagerly waiting for Santa.
10 minutes later she barked at the poinsettia.  Santa doesn't visit barking dogs Mia!

Run! It's a Mutt!

I picked up Mia today at daycare, and it was a day like any other.  There were actually less dogs in crates waiting for pickup than usual, it must have been a slow day.  Another dog came out with her - must have been one of her buddies since she is a "special dog" and isn't part of the general public of friendly happy dogs.  So I say Hi to the boy, say Hi to Mia, and we headed towards the door.  Right before Mia got to the door, it suddenly opened and two women in Army uniforms were standing there and they FREAKED out when Mia started barked at them.  It was unfortunate.  She was startled by their sudden appearance, she only barks about 50% of the time at people when we are leaving daycare, which is a lot less than a year ago but still it's not such a good percentage.  It was bad this time though because she was caught so off guard.  The women were So Scared, like it was as if a monster started to attack them.  It is the same reaction that I would have if someone pointed a loaded shotgun to my face, or if a zombie suddenly came running towards me at full speed, or if a shark suddenly appeared and I was snorkeling in the middle of the ocean.  The looks on their faces plus the defensive body movements didn't do anything to calm Mia down.  They ran out of the gated area and let us go by, but they were still completely scared of my dog and may have peed their pants.

I've never come across dog owners that were so afraid of dogs, I mean usually if Mia barks at another dog owner, they're all like whatever.  I wanted to stay and see what kind of dog they came back out with, I bet it was a tiny little 5 pound thing that can barely be considered a dog.

If Mia was trying to be the most vicious dog on the block today, then Mission Accomplished.

Scary Things

Mia is deathly afraid of this super cool elephant balloon.  She avoids going anywhere near it and/or barks at it like it might come attack her.  I had to move it in order to get her to walk down the hallway to the garage this morning.  Something about balloons that she really hates, maybe that they move...?

Over the weekend, we had many guests in the house.  She did her usual "I'm going to bark at you for 1-3 minutes and then I will want to be your friend" routine with the adults.  With the kids, she was her usual asshole self where she feels the need to bark at them on and off repeatedly.  Luckily, she is still afraid of her bark collar.  All we have to do is show it to her and she will stop the bad behavior for a bit.  I mean, it doesn't stop her for good, so we have to keep waving it around through the day but it works really well considering there is no battery in it.  We did put it on her a few times, and she would put her tail between her legs and go sulk in a corner somewhere.  The collar is probably the last thing in the world that she would ever want near her, even more than this balloon.  She did a really good job overall though.  It's not often that we have guests in the house.

Dog Show Watching

Just Mia and mom watching the dog show Friday night.  Decidedly Mia looked most like the pointer, but she still is a dog that is like no other.  I don't think she enjoyed the dog show as much as we did.  She gave it a shot though, and then went to sleep - per usual.  I will never understand how these people are able to train dogs so well that by the age of 2 (still a puppy really) they are able to stand still and run around an arena will all other other people and dogs there to distract them.  It makes no sense to me.  I know that we have like one of the most disobedient dogs out there, but I still will never understand it.

Winter Warmer

Ok, so yesterday morning was a lot colder than this morning's walk but I wanted to see how she did in her winter jacket.  It's funny because she hates the Thunder Jacket and she hates her hot dog costume, but she will wear her LL Bean sherpa lined coat all day.  I think she knows that she only wears it when she's going for a walk, which is like her favorite thing ever.  You can even see her tail slightly wagging.

It's Getting Cold!

Morning walk in 32 degree weather.  It was cold, mom was freezing her ears off.  Mia came back inside and while she didn't seem to be cold at all, her skinny legs were pretty chilly when I was giving her a tick check rub down.  Yes, we still have ticks out here in the country.  Before we got inside, I flicked one off of her head.  How did it get up there?  I think the next morning walk will require her warm winter jacket.  I don't know about other dogs, but she hasn't fully grown in her winter coat yet.

Couch Potatoes

Mia watching TV with her daddy.  Yes she is always this un-ladylike.  It almost looks like Abe has a thought light bulb going off over his head.  I assure you, they weren't watching anything that would give someone good ideas.

On Her Own

Mia has become a lot more independent in the past month.  Meaning, she's completely willing to leave my side for hours at a time so she can go snooze upstairs on our bed by herself.  She never would have done this before, and she was always allowed to go into our bedroom with or without us being there.  Of course it's the most comfortable spot in the house, and she curls right up on a super soft throw blanket.  The dog trainer we used about a year ago told us that dogs don't care about soft things or soft surfaces, they just don't care.  He was wrong, Mia cares.  She will hunt out the softest place she can find before curling up for a nap, you'll never find her sprawled out on hardwood floor unless she's over heating or something.

It's kind of sad that she's so willing and able to leave us and do her own thing around the house since I'm used to her being my constant shadow.  However, she's also become more independent outside.  Our free ranging sessions have become less frequent because she doesn't stay in the yard anymore and I have to retrieve her each time.  She'll run around the yard like a maniac and then end up in the woods completely focused in fun smells, and I have to jump into the woods with her leash to get her back.  She also tends to hop in and out of the street too, which makes me nervous.  For the most part, she is technically in the yard, but going 15 feet into the woods is not a good time for me when I need her to come back.  An invisible fence is looking more and more appealing for the spring time.  She just loves running free so much, but she just has to be contained otherwise it's just too stressful for me.  I'm afraid she's going to get hit by a car, or another dog is going to come walking up the street and she's going to bolt and greet him, or she'll just start walking down the street without me like she did once.

Also, I've now spoiled the shit out of her - for my own benefit.  I've started giving her chicken with each meal.  So 2 cups of dry food, 1 spoonful of wet food, and then 1 piece of chicken - the size of a tender which I microwave and then tear up into shreds.  This means that she now eats her entire meal every single time (when before she'd often skip meals here and there and generally not eat breakfast), and she's actually excited to do so.  Now I don't have to listen to her stomach growl, bring her outside only for her to eat tons of grass knowing it's because she's starving, or worry that she's not eating and is too skinny.  This is more work on my end, but not too much.  It may become an issue if we ever need to leave her somewhere and someone else needs to feed her, but then again with the baby on the way we're not going anywhere for a long time.  She hasn't had a stomach issue ever since I started this about 3 weeks ago, and she hasn't skipped a meal, so it's a win/win for now.  This is probably like bribing a kid to eat their dinner so they can get dessert... oh well.  

Welcome Home

Oh my princess!  Ignore that scratch on her nose... she totally didn't get that at daycare from another dog because she deserved it.  This was a text photo update from one of the daycare people while we were en route to Maui.  She looks so cute, sort of like she's wearing her tail for a hat.

I figured that she'd probably be boarded for 8 days and then come home and be a little insane for like 3-4 days getting back into her routine.  That was not the case at all, she was back to normal like 24 hours later.  She was basically normal the first night she came home, the only weird thing she did was a lot of extra backwards walking in the kitchen (which she usually does) and she didn't go right into her crate at bedtime (I had to scoot her in there).  I feel like the difference here is that we boarded her at her daycare where she knows the people and the dogs and the smells.  My childhood dog Buffy would be boarded when we went away (at her vet), and when she came home, she was bat shit crazy for like a full week and her eating and bowel movements were all off.  She was so confused and annoyed and surprised all at once for a full week, but not Mia.  We picked her up on Monday, and by Wednesday the house was her's again - including her favorite nap spot on the bed.

I did miss her a lot when we were away, but... not as much as I thought I would.  I mean, I love her and her company but it also felt kind of nice to have a week where my life didn't revolve around her needs like my weekends typically do.

I picked her up yesterday at daycare, and two boys were telling me how they took her to the agility course in the back yard to play fetch and they were like, "your dog is So Fast!!  We'd throw the ball and she'd get it and bring it back in like 4 seconds!  She was jumping over all of the course obstacles, she's such an agility dog."  She's totally super fast and athletic.  Sometimes when she's in the yard, if I turn my back for 2 seconds, she's gone... usually she's just in the front yard running at top speeds for fun, but man she's crazy fast.  Later that night, I noticed that she had scratched her upper foot pads... like the ones on her ankles, they are all scraped up like the equivalent to little kids skinned knees or something.  I sprayed Neosporin on them but since she doesn't actually use them to walk, I figured they'd heal on their own.  I think I have a full first aid kit in her cabinet at this point: hydrogen peroxide, tweezers, gauze, athletic tape, athletic wraps, Neosporin, Claratin etc.  I'm happy to patch her up at home when I can, it saves us the $65 vet visit, but why must she be so rough and tumble?!

The Cuteness

Mia loves to model.  She is proof that the more you expose a dog to, the more they get over things they don't enjoy.  For example, she used to shy away from the camera, now she just takes it.  I took her to the ice cream stand today... so I could buy a pint to go, and she sat in the car quietly staring straight ahead even though I parked next to a car with a dude inside and there were lots of people milling around.  Not even one bark, when she used to go bananas, I was so proud.  I mean it doesn't always work, but today she is in a more laid back mood I guess.

Hot Dog Dog

We know that it's not Halloween yet, or Howl-o-ween, but Mia could Not help herself... she just had to be a hot dog for a minute.

Truthfully, she hated wearing this.  I think she was insulted.

Little Angel

Mia is not very good at gardening, nor at staying Out of the garden.

She is, however, Excellent at snoozing in the middle of the day.

We had family come over on Sunday for a little dinner, and when they all came in, she went crazy of course barking like a mad woman.  After just a couple minutes she was totally back to normal, so faster than any previous group entrance which is Great.  Also, once they were here and settled in, she acted like she always does - cool, calm, collected, sleepy.  The only incident that occurred was her humping my brother's leg... I really don't understand why she does that to men.  She never ever does that sort of thing to me, so I'm not sure if she thinks that I'm clearly her master or if I'm just her buddy and she doesn't need to express her dominance with me.  She still to this day humps Abe, he wrestles her down each time to prove his point but it's not really working in the long term.  She's probably humped him over a dozen times now.  This was the first time for my brother, he was totally not expecting that.  It does seem when people play rough with her, that she thinks that she needs to prove something with the humping - I never play rough with her.  I play chase with her around the dining room table, play fetch with her football, take her on walks, free range in the yard, give her treats, snuggle, and we nap together.  It's a much different relationship than the one that Abe and her have.  He likes to snuggle with her, but when they do play, it's Rough Housing, like fur is flying and she loves it.  I'm the Queen Bee in this house, but Mia is a close second... she's like my right hand woman.

Problem

I am so embarrassed for my dog right now.  She's having butt issues, specifically anal gland issues.  They need to be expressed or something but I'm not sticking my finger up her butt yet it keeps spontaneously leaking and it is the most foul odor anyone has ever smelled EVER.  She does actually seem mildly embarrassed by this problem, but I really don't know how else to solve it.  I just watched an online video that a vet made about this and he said that dogs should have 2 teaspoons of fiber per 40 pounds of dog 2 x a day to help avoid this gland issue, but he expresses his dog's glands almost daily and then he showed it.  The dog didn't even flinch!  The second that I even lift up my dog's tail, she's onto me, and scuttles away.  Seriously, the last thing I want to do in this world is This but taking her to the vet to have a vet tech do it for like $40 also seems silly.  OMG.  help.

In the Shadows

Poor Mia.  With her mom being pregnant and her dad being busy with work, she seems to be getting pushed to the side a lot these days at home (except for her full days at daycare)  She isn't acting up at all, her stomach is doing just fine, I think she's just wishing for more attention but there's just so much going on with the adults.  Out in the world, all she wants is to socialize, and at home all she wants is to lounge with a companion so she's sort of like WTF?!  Even her blog is being neglected.

We took her to the vet last weekend to get updated on her shots, and she went bananas.  I thought that we were past this, since the last time I brought her in there myself she did really really well.  This time, not so much.  Maybe there was just a little bit too much going on with kids there and other dogs, but at least she didn't pee on the floor or anything....just barked mortifyingly loud.

I've had to restrict her free ranging because the last time I let her do it, she chased a squirrel into the woods right next to the road where she ran around sniffing like a mad animal in the road then back in the yard then back in the road, etc.  She has no awareness of cars, so I was Not pleased.  The squirrel had completely taken over her brain, and the usual ways I get her back easily were not working: walking back inside, saying "let's go back inside", calling her name, shaking a bag of treats, pulling out a treat and having her walk towards me, etc.  Finally, I had to just chase her into the woods and grab her, while repeatedly yelling at her - I'm sure the neighbors could hear me being nuts.  I got burs stuck in my work pants - my Only maternity work pants mind you, which we found all over the house for days after.  She has not been allowed to be free and easy ever since then and she has Not forgotten about the squirrel, she looks at those woods every day wishing for it to reappear.  She's not the brightest dog in the world, but she does not forget animal sightings - Ever.

Mia and Rosalita

So far Mia's new food regime has done wonders for her body, she's feeling much better.  She used to gorge herself on grass outside because her stomach hurt but she hasn't done that at all this week.  Most meals she'll eat at least 75% of the food, which is better than before when she'd skip meals on a regular basis.  I like to think that she's much happier now, and we're much happier too now that Abe isn't being woken up several times a night so Mia can go have poop explosions in the back yard.

This is Mia and Rosalita at daycare, they're a cute pair.  I'm very surprised that a female is one of Mia's best friends, normally she tends to get along with males much better.  I saw a video of these two running around and playing and Rosalita seems to have the same style of crazy and rough play so I guess they are a good match after all.  I really need to find one of those little play houses for Mia.

This Labor Day weekend, Mia will be boarding at daycare for 3 nights... she will not be pleased but hopefully she has friends to play with during the day to make it less painful.

Another food experiment

Ok, new tactic.  We're cutting way back on the wet food for Mia.  Previous meals were: 2 cups of dry plus 1/2 can of wet.  I thought that she needed the calories since she's so active and never gained any weight... and look so thin.  I'm not sure if it's all the wet food flavors that we use, or just wet food in general that bothers her.  I mean she loves the flavor, but it might not love her stomach.  She's now getting 2 cups of dry plus 1 spoonful of wet just to get all the kibble a little flavor.  Three days of this, and so far things seem to be going very well.  She is eating her food, she's not having diarrhea, and actually she may be a little bit more regular than she used to be.  Also, we're only giving her treats without wheat or gluten or anything that she could be sensitive to.  The Trader Joe jerky treats she was eating before apparently had wheat in them.... odd, I mean it's jerky.  She really likes this Dogswell brand in the Mellow Mut and the Vitality flavors, they are 100% allergy free, so eat up puppies!

Sigh

A weekday morning like any other.  I got up, showered, and in the middle of getting dressed Mia let out a few squeaks from downstairs in her crate.  Usually she really likes to sleep in, so I went downstairs and took her outside where she did her business (number 1 and 2 if you really wanted to know).  We came back inside and I made my princess a glorious breakfast of kibble and wet food mixed together.  I put the food down on the floor and said, "Mia, where are you??"  Out she came from under the dining room table which is not one of her usual hangouts.  When I went to see what she was up to... there it was.  A pile of diarrhea on the carpeting, Right after we had just been outside!  WTF!!

This must stop.  I don't even know what to do with her, but she's sick just in time for the weekend of course.

Little Piggy

Mia ate about 2 bites of her breakfast yesterday, and no dinner at all.  Today, she ate no breakfast and came home and wanted to eat grass which usually means that her stomach is upset.  I put down a bowl for her that she wouldn't even go near.  A few minutes later, I put down a human bowl with her regular kibble and a different flavor wet food to try and entice her.  Again, the food went ignored and she continuously asked to go outside to eat more grass.  At one point, I just left her outside and I came back in to make dinner.  I was too annoyed with all her very specific grass eating, and it was taking forever.

A few hours later, as I was washing the dishes Mia started to eat her dinner from the human bowl of course.  I finished the dishes, and turned around and she had eaten all of that bowl and 80% of the dog bowl too before I took it away.  She essentially ate 2 meals in one sitting like a fatty.  Like 3 cups of dry food and 3/4 a can of wet food.

I'm not sure if she just tricked me or not.  Was she really ever not feeling well?  Was this a ploy to get more food given to her for dinner?  I don't understand what just happened.  If she needs to be taken out during the night because she has the poops, I might just kill her.

Camouflaged

Mia is playing a hilarious game with me.  She thinks that she's hiding in the plants under the deck.  It's also her favorite place in the whole yard for some reason - no idea why, seems kind of boring to me.  Something smells very interesting under there all the time though - frogs or mice or something probably.

BFFs

I somehow missed this hilarious photo of Mia playing with her best friend at daycare Loki.  It was posted on her daycare's Facebook page back in April.  Mia and Loki kind of look alike with their paint dipped tails and paint dipped toes... actually they look a lot alike - same long skinny tail, small very lean and thin frame.  I am going to find out what kind of dog Loki is!  Truth be told, Mia is only allowed to play with a handful of dogs at the facility because many dogs find her too aggressive in her play methods and she especially bullies on little dogs - meanie.

Poops in the House

Don't worry, after Mia had horrible diarrhea on Friday... it was back for Saturday too.  She left us 4 presents in the dining room on the carpeting which took days to really get out.  I'm thankful that she didn't poop on our new rug, and she is consistent in where she needs to use the emergency bathroom.  We had our dog walker come over multiple times in just a few hours to let her out and each time she did poop outside but then she would poop again inside too.  By Sunday she was feeling and doing perfectly fine of course.  Maybe she just had a little 42 hour bug?  Maybe she just felt like pooping all over the house.  Either way, she's all set now and we didn't go to the vet or anything which was good since we are due to go in a few weeks for all of her annual shots.

I just got word today that her current daycare is looking for a new location.  They need something a little bit bigger I think, they really do have a ton of dogs that come through there and the facility is pretty run down and old.  They promised not to move more than 2-5 miles away from the current location, but I'm still worried about what this could mean for us.  We have a love/hate with this particular daycare, but if we don't take her there, there is literally nowhere else for us to go since we get home so late and sometimes we get home Really late.  Last night I picked her up at 9:58pm - daycare pickup ends at 10pm and doors are locked and the boarded dogs go to sleep for the evening.  The search for a new space could take a few months or up to a year, so I'm not going to worry too much, I just don't want her to lose her friends or the people who know how to handle her!  She's a very pampered puppy.

Explosions

Mia is sick with diarrhea - again.  She's actually so sick that this time she had it in the house Twice - and once when we were actually at home!  She never ever goes to the bathroom in the house.  The first time was when we were out, so she probably did try and hold it but eventually couldn't anymore. The sheer amount was insane... Abe gagged and couldn't even be near it, the smell took over the entire house.  The second time, was in the morning after she had gone outside at least once so I'm not sure why she decided it was a good idea to go inside on the carpeting.  It's bad though.

The last time she had diarrhea was Wednesday August 1, just once.  But previous to that her last incident was back in May.  I keep a log of all her health problems, which is crazy, but very useful.

Abe is convinced she has worms.  I think she just keeps picking up tummy issues at her daycare.  Either way, the dog is sick Again.

Puppy Cam

I really love this puppy cam... it makes me want a handful of teenie tiny furball puppies.  

http://explore.org/#!/live-cams/player/service-puppy-cam

Mia the Terror

My pretty girl at daycare!

Water Water Everywhere

Mia gets a food and water bowl in the kitchen like most dogs, but for some reason she doesn't drink from that water bowl.  We've tried.  At one point it was her only water source and she ignored it.  We did end up giving her a tiny bowl that attaches to her crate for when we used to crate her during the day if we went out for errands or whatever, and she will drink from that, but she's still looking and seeming very dehydrated.  Last night Abe decided to try giving her water in the family room, another key hangout.  She drank the entire thing, I've never seen her drink so much water at once before.  The bowl is just an extra huge coffee cup that I generally use as a cereal bowl.

Why does she hate her real water bowl so much?  I would think that a dog would know that they need to drink water, and they would just do it.  She apparently doesn't seem to know...

She's Literally Nuts

OMG.  Where do I even begin...

Let's sum it up:  dog uncontrollably shaking her head for up to 5 minutes or so, emergency vet visit, $450, clean bill of health.

Last night Mia was sitting on the couch, and she looked at me and suddenly her head started bobbing up and down and she obviously had no control over it.  She was completely conscious and knew what was going on, she'd sit, and then lay down and just wasn't really sure what to do.  It would stop for a few seconds and then start right back up again.  We did take video to show the vet, which was helpful - if only to prove that we didn't drive her there at 10pm for nothing.

The vet was really nice, and unfortunately the tests he had to run were really expensive.  I'm not sure if they were expensive because we were after hours at an emergency clinic or if they are just expensive in general.  We took her home and an hour later they called us to say that she is completely healthy.  This sort of thing may never happen again, or it could happen here and there and could be neurological, which is like totally vague.  Who knows?  If it happens again for up to 15 minutes or two days in a row, we have to take her back to a vet.  I feel bad that we can't help her more, but she really seems unbothered by it today.  I always knew that our dog had brain problems...

Also, we got her a Thunder Shirt for her anxiety.  She has major issues with hard surfaces - our entire kitchen.  It can take her up to 5 minutes to walk across the kitchen from the office to get to the family room.  She whines and is scared, and walks backwards as if something is going to attack her.  It takes her forever to walk through the kitchen to get to our deck door where we take her out to the bathroom, and at night this is really annoying because the bugs get into the house while we wait for her to gain the courage to run out.  Anyhow, the first wear we saw no difference.  It does say that it can take up to 3 wears though to see any improvement.

Poor dog.

Pretty Girl

Is she doing the over the shoulder pose that hollywood starlets find so flattering or is she staring at the ceiling fan like a weirdo?  I'll never know.

Pushing Boundaries

This is after a back yard free ranging session with mom.  Look how happy she is?  Like everything in the world is right with her.  The session went pretty well: she ran around, jumped in the garden, sniffed at the shed, and then bounded into the woods.  This is the first time that she's ever shown any interest in the woods... mom didn't like it.  I tried to get her back - with no luck.  So then I just turned around and walked back towards the house and luckily she followed me back inside.  There is perhaps nothing worse to her than being all alone, it's just not her style, she likes to be with her pack.

All Alone

Mia's day today, which is completely out of her usual daycare routine.

6:10am wakeup barking at some noise or something
7:00am 40 minute walk with mom right before a massive downpour
9:00am mom leaves for a meeting
12:00pm Charlotte comes with Shadow for a 1 hour buddy walk
3:45pm mom comes home and finds nothing out of place!

I kept her home from daycare today since I planned on having much shorter hours away from the house and I'm so pleased that she behaved herself while I was gone.  I somewhat expected to come home to at least one thing chewed up or something like that, but no, it appears that she slept the entire time I was gone.  Two long walks seemed to really have tuckered her out, even now at 4pm she's dead asleep on the couch!

What an angel.  Also, she's extra super smelly right now, and I can't even stand it: Bath time on Sunday.

Hot Dog

Yeah, mom didn't fill the pool up all the way because she accidently put it on a slight hill.  The pool is a little bit too big... but it didn't matter.  We really need to get one of those really small plastic ones I guess!

Mia is free range pooling in this hot weather.  So far so good.  The pool is just like Ok, but she loves sprinting around the yard at full speed and then getting some water from her gigantic water bowl.

Not in the mood

Someone is feeling a little under the weather today...

Moving Up

Mia really wants this Molly Mutt crate cover - such an amazing invention.  She's sick of using her ghetto blanket.  She's going to have to start working more hours to buy it for $60!

Free Range Doggie

Mia had such a nice day yesterday.  First she had a tree to deck runner installed to allow her 80 feet of movement in the yard - and I think she likes it.  Later, her friend Jasper (an Irish wolf hound) came over for a cookout.  They played well indoors and on the deck, so we figured that we should just see what happens if we let them play in the yard together without any leashes or anything to keep them from running off.  At first they ran at full speed around the house in circles and then they settled into rolling all in the grass.  There was really no urge from them at all to wander off out of the yard into the street or anything.  This was the first time that we've ever let Mia off her leash because we really thought that she would run away like a jerk.  A major factor in all this was that there weren't any other people or dogs walking by the house to distract them, if that were the case then I'm sure Mia would run off to bark at the passers by.  I'm so proud of her though, she really did so well!  Jasper is invited back anytime.

Stay

Stay.
Sometimes she listens to me - most of the time she doesn't.

Moving On

I didn't end up taking Mia to the vet last week, her illness seemed to pass pretty quickly - luckily for everyone especially my wallet.  I've started a log of how often her tummy bothers her though for the next time we go to the vet for something like this.

Mia attends daycare 5 days a week when we are at work.  At first we really loved it, but they've had a lot of staff turnover.  At least 5 of our favorite people have left since October with no explanation or warning.  Everyone else there is fine, they just aren't Great.  I don't think they particularly care about Mia, and the other people seemed to know Mia really well.  The owner is a little crazy... a lot crazy, and they keep messing up the billing.  Anyhow, so this summer we are going to pull Mia out of daycare 2-3 days a week and have the high school girl down the street that we use on weekends sometimes walk Mia for an hour with her own dog on the days she stays home.  We really like this girl and she is usually available last minute.  Mia has been allowed to stay out of her crate when we're gone these days with no incidents, so she can continue with that.  This will also save us a decent amount of cash and 20-30 minutes per day of commuting - which saves our sanity.  I'm hoping that Mia's stomach issues will calm down too... if they are somehow daycare related.  When fall comes we'll have to figure something else out, but this seems like a good solution right now.

Back to the vet

Mia is sick again.  It started yesterday and into last night (1am and 4:30am bathroom emergencies).  Just now she pooped what looked like water, and clear and pink jelly.  We're going to the vet on Friday... and until then I'm sure that the constant loud noises that her stomach are making will continue.  Poor girl.

Bathing

Mia had a Sunday afternoon bath on the deck this weekend.  I thought it was going to be a horrifying experience, but it actually works pretty well - much better than in the bathroom anyhow.  I changed out her good collar with an old one, and then tied her leash to a strong post.  Mia normally loses it when feeling confined, but she got over it pretty quickly.  She obviously was not enjoying getting cold water poured all over her during the rise stage (even though it was a super hot day) but she didn't mind the scrubbing and she may have really liked the towel drying part.  She knocked over the bucket at one point so I lost half my water, but it turned out that I didn't need as much as I thought.  After the bath, I rewarded her by taking her on a walk and air drying her some more.  By the time we were out walking, I think she entirely forgot about the whole bath situation and she was smelling So Much Better!  Summer deck baths here we come.

Her Remote

Sometimes she's just so much like us.

She Should Be Committed

I think my dog may be brain damaged.  She goes through these cycles of being afraid of everything and then being afraid of nothing.  Currently, she's getting stuck in the family room again... like she doesn't want to walk past the fridge and she'll just stand there and whine.  She walked in there just fine, but now she has forgotten that it was safe and is now stuck in here.

The worst it's ever been is when she was afraid of everything and 1. we had to carry her from the office to the deck to go outside, and 2. we had to bring her through the front door out to the car because she wouldn't go anywhere near the hallway to the garage.  3.  She also refused to join us in the family room and confined herself to the office unless we came and picked her up.  It was all really annoying and confusing.

We had always thought that her fears coincided with her not feeling well with her tummy troubles, but her tummy seems to be just fine right now so this has come out of nowhere.

She is determined to be the first dog ever sent to therapy.  Speaking of which, maybe we should get her some Xanax.

Stinky Feet

We have a serious problem.  Mia's feet smell So Mother Effing Bad!!  Sure, she doesn't smell all that great because daycare really smells like stinky dog and that's fine.... but her feet are making me want to vomit.  Sometimes I'll wash them off with some soap and water, but it only sort of helps and it comes back the next day.  I feel like I can smell them all over the house, and it's So Gross.  She lays next to me on the couch, and her feet are wafting towards my face.  I can't take it!

After a little bit of research I learned that her feet may be sweating.  I guess dogs can sweat out of their noses and their feet, and since the fur around her pads may be trapping the moisture it just starts to smell... horribley.  Is there another solution or is there an easier way to wash a dog's feet than to rub a wet wash cloth all over them while she tries to run away?

I'm telling you, it's bad.

It's Back

The poops are back... poor girl.
I have no idea what to do about her tummy.

Comfort is King

Sometimes she's so human, this is not one of those times.

She's Still Crazy

We've always known that our dog was a little crazy, but we just assumed that rescue dogs come with some baggage.  She's the sweetest dog in the world around us, but there are many moments out in public that she's not very sweet at all.  I just found out that she was pulled out of the active puppy group at daycare back in February because she was too much for many of young puppies or older active dogs to handle, and she now has playgroups in much smaller controlled settings with a handful of other dogs that she is friends with or one on one playtime (always with supervision) - all depending on which dogs are there that day.  She apparently has 2 best friends at daycare, so that's good at least, she can't be friends with all of them.

I was surprised by the need to pull her out of the general public of dogs - but I guess most parents think their kids / dogs are super wonderful, when in reality that isn't the truth.  These smaller playgroups may actually be benefiting her though because she's getting more correction and bad behavior is instantly stopped and avoided unlike in a larger group when it takes a few seconds for someone to step in through all the other dogs.  At home and around the neighborhood, she's really been fantastic and maybe daycare has been helping that - or maybe having a very consistent Saturday and Sunday long walk have helped things.  We see other people and dogs all the time now, and she rarely reacts with a bark or a whine.  Most of the time she just watches what's going on, and she's able to greet other people and dogs nicely - unlike back in October when she was a real mortifying jerk about it.

It's all sort of funny to me because what we really wanted was a happy go lucky lab with a nice temperament.  I'm not sure that I would go the Petfinder route again... without being able to meet the dog first, I think that was really the key.  Our friends found a local dog that they were able to meet before bringing home recently and he's the most chill dog ever.  Mia is hardly ever chill, especially around kids or guests.  I'm pretty sure she's been terrorized by kids in her past life.  She has been able to get over her fear of men, even really big scary looking men, but so far she does still have a fear of kids or people who are smaller than average.  I've been thinking about doing a regular obedience class with her this summer to sort of keep her sharp... we'll see though.

Leave It

The poops may be gone for now... but who really knows, I'm sure they will be back.

This morning on our Saturday run, Mia met two dogs: Kevin and Ziggy. They are two little white pomeranians or something.  These are the kinds of dogs that typically give Mia a hard time, the really energetic small dogs that think they are in charge or much bigger than they really are.  Of course they were off leash in a playground and came charging at Mia.  I'm so proud of her for not barking or trying to charge back, she just waited for them to come over.  They played for a bit, and they weren't really playing very nice but it was fine.  I was almost tempted for a moment to let her off leash because they were running around and she couldn't really get as involved.  I think that if there are other dogs around she would just stay with them - Unless she saw something like a bird of a bunny or something, and then she'd chase it.  Maybe someday she can be off leash, but I should really just be happy that she's mostly healthy today!

Also, she learned a new trick at daycare during a training session.  The kids there taught my baby how to "leave it".  It's amazing!  They'll get her to sit, and they'll hold a treat and put it on the ground and say Leave It... and she will.  She won't even try to eat it, I'm Shocked and Awed.  Abe tried at home with her favorite toy and got the same result, she's so smart, she learned this in only a couple of days.  I really like that the new manager at her daycare does training sessions a few times a week with the dogs, I think that it really helps and is more productive than just having playtime.  Soon enough, she's going to be able to retrieve and pour beers for us... maybe.

The Pooping

I'm pretty sure that my poor dog has IBS. I've lost count as to how many times Mia has had a bought with diarrhea - cha cha cha. This is maybe the 4th or 5th time? All I know is that she had diarrhea yesterday a few times through the day, and then a bathroom emergency at 1:30am in the pouring rain - which was a total disaster in itself. Imagine buckets of rain coming down on you and your dog who is walking while in a poop squat all over the back yard and looking at you like she wants to annihilate something... and then you lock yourself out and she starts barking at the door because she's like: why won't you open the stupid door?! Yes, Abe is better at these bathroom emergencies than I am. Today when I picked her up at daycare, the poor kid working was like: Mia had really bad diarrhea today. I don't even know what to say to that... I'm a little mortified for her.  I'm also mortified that her gas is super loud and hilarious.

I guess we'll be going back to the boiled chicken breast and white rice?  We're currently in phase II of the parasite meds (they are given 3 weeks apart) from the last time she was sick so that may help, but who really knows.  I just want the poop to stop.  It needs to stop!!

A Tick Invasion

Mia has been in a mood lately.  She's feeling all sorts of clingy and attention seeking, but annoyed just as easily.  I'm pretty sure that we are boring her to death, but really how much time does one spend entertaining their pets?  We did our usual Saturday and Sunday runs in the morning - which she loves, she got some very special treats that took some time to eat, and there was a good amount of play time around the house.  She is never satisfied with the amount of play time.  She is just a really demanding girl sometimes.

Last night, I made a horrifying discovery.  There was a fully engorged tick at the base of her tail where it connects to her back.  OMG.  It was gigantic, like so huge that her hair was puffing out funny and that was the only way that I noticed it.  We removed it with a Tick Key - which is actually harder than the directions made it seem.  I am still not sure if it came all the way out, or if we left the head inside.  It's kind of hard to tell.  Anyhow, Mia got her lyme vaccination just recently so I'm not too worried... it was just gross.  Really, that tick was probably there feeding on her for a full week!  It's just really really gross, and that will likely not be the only one this year.  The ticks are so bad out here, just today I found another one on her but it was really tiny and wasn't actually attached very well.  She probably licked it to death - I only found it because she wouldn't stop licking her leg.  

The issues continue to pile up around here.  Mia's stomach is really upset again today.  Tomorrow begins phase II of the parasite meds, so hopefully this will cure her completely.  

Running Buddy

Mia has been so good these past couple of days.  Yesterday, I took her for a trail run and it was about 1 mile pure running and then 1 mile run/walk.  She did very well, but by the end she was tired.  I thought that it would tire her out for the rest of the day but it didn't somehow.  If anything it may have amped her up more or something for the morning.  She was so good running because she was just going and even though we saw lot of other dogs and people her mind just stayed on the run and she didn't bark or freak out.  Mia has the desire to run, she'd go 100 mph if I let her, but she's a sprinter for sure.  Distance isn't really her thing - which is good for me.

During today's run she did 2 miles nonstop and it wasn't easy, it was trail and many road hills.  By the end she was pretty spent.  Same thing today too, where we saw lots of off leash dogs and people and kids and she remained totally focused on the running without barking or being bad.  She's such a well behaved dog on these runs, it blows my mind.

After today's run, I took her to the park because she loves it there so much.  It was hot out though so all the dogs were staying in the shade and about 20 minutes into the fun her energy level went from an excited 10 to and exhausted 3.  At one point she found a hole and decided to lay down and close her eyes for a bit.  She's never taken a nap at the park before, so we packed it in and I had to help her jump into the car - she was that tired.  A worn out dog is a very well behaved dog!  Since she started running she doesn't bark at people walking by the house anymore, and she doesn't act as crazy.  Exercise is such a good thing.  For her, she needs runs I guess and walks just aren't quite enough to tire her out to the point of not caring about the things that usually set her off.

My legs are really sore from these short runs, they're very challenging.  Do dog's legs get sore too?

Just another night

View from above.  My two buddies.

Delicate Flower

Well her little pink wrap bandage came off of her dew claw last night, and I've never seen her so excited before.  She helped me take it off... sort of.  It was like me trying to avoid her face with the scissors as she tried to bite the bandage off.  As you can see, the claw is really tiny right now and the pink part is the really sensitive area with all the nerves and stuff so that's growing back nicely.  It does still bother her and I'm trying to keep her from licking it too much.

In other news, she has a new bandage... she has had a benign cyst on her elbow for a couple of weeks now.  The vet checked it out and says that it will go away on it's own in a few more weeks.  It's totally harmless for the most part.  The only tough part is because of it's location, it's always getting opened up again and a little bloody - gross.  In order to keep everything in the house clean, I decided to give it a spray it with Neosporin and then give it a little wrap tonight.  it's just medical gauze with wrap tape that sticks to itself.  She doesn't seem to mind it all that much actually, and it is keeping her from licking it.  I hope she keeps it on there because it really is getting awful looking!

I have to say that Mia has had a lot of relatively minor issues lately and people likely think that I'm being crazy or over reacting.  Answer: Yes, and No.  Mia's health issues are nothing compared to cancer, disease, hip or joint issues, or diabetes or something that takes consistent and long term maintenance.  We took her to the vet and they helped us fix her.  My mom thinks that daycare did all of this to her... and it's possible that daycare contributed to all of it, however, if she stayed home in her crate everyday when we were at work we'd have a very healthy yet highly out of control pissed off dog, so I guess a few trips to the vet isn't so bad.

She's a trooper.

The Dew Claw

I got a phone call yesterday from the daycare owner informing me that Mia had somehow ripped her dew claw off and it was bleeding.  She went into great detail as to what could be done, but said that it would be best if I took her to the vet.  Luckily, I was already on my way home since I got out of work early on Good Friday.  I called the vet and got her an appointment and it all just somehow worked out.

I got to daycare and checked it out, and honestly it didn't seem that bad to me... I mean it was sort of like if a human broke her nail a little too short, but it was bleeding and sensitive to the touch.  She would squeal if I touched it, so I packed her into the car and we headed to the vet for the second time in a week.

She was actually super well behaved at the vet, which never happens.  In the lobby she's usually having a nuclear meltdown, but for some reason (maybe because she exercised all day) she really just sat and hung out and whined a little here and there but was a 2 on the 1-10 scale of meltdowns.  I've never seen her so calm at the vet before, or in public even.  She did seem a little worried, like she knew something unfun was about to happen.  They weighed her (they said she is now 50 lbs) and they took her into the exam room.  Like they literally took her away from me because when I'm in the room she turns into a whimpering baby who won't come out from under the chairs or behind me, but apparently when they take her into another room she's much braver.  The vet said that she ripped off 80% of the nail, so actually the hard part was done for them and they had to trim the remaining part, and then they cleaned it.  It's just an open hole of a wound right now, so they disinfected it and wrapped it up.  They said the pink bandage needs to stay there for 3 days while it heals so nothing gets in there.  Mia is thrilled by this...

I'm surprised that it's been almost 24 hours and she hasn't tried to bite it off yet.  They told me to use the cone but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, the thing just makes her so miserable.  We're trying to just watch her with it and if she tries to take it off, then the cone will come out.

Apparently this is something that happens all the time in bigger dogs that are either really active outside, or play really crazy, or just move around a lot.  The little claw just gets caught on stuff and is easily broken or ripped out - this is good to know because Mia plays all sorts of crazy.

More Tummy Issues

Exactly one month ago today, we took Mia to the vet because she was having really bad diarrhea - bad enough for daycare to tell me "your dog has Really Really bad diarrhea..." and they are used a lot of really gross and weird stuff - and luckily we had a vet appointment the very next day.  We took her poop in to be tested but it came back negative for everything but her intestines were clearly inflamed so they gave us a week's worth of anti diarrhea medicine and suggested that we feed her boiled chicken and rice for a few days.  We did this, and she got better for about a week, and then she was sick again.  I put her on an all chicken and rice diet, and she seemed to get better, and then we tried to ween her off of it and she got sick again.  It finally got so bad that Abe heard her crying at 4am from her crate for a bathroom emergency, so he had to take her outside and then again she had another bathroom emergency around 6am.  Guys, it was gross.

Abe stayed home from work and we made her an appointment at the vet for today and bagged a sample.  This time there was indication of a bacterial infection so they gave us 2 weeks worth of a different antibiotic, and also a broad spectrum medicine to take care of any parasites that may be living in her, and special food to eat with her kibble for a week.  Yes, the appointment was a million dollars in case you were wondering.  I'm a little surprised by all this considering that the same thing has been going on for a really long time now, but whatever, at least they found something that they can treat.  We'll see how it goes... she seems to be feeling fine, or maybe just a little tired.  She stayed home from daycare today, didn't get a walk, but is somehow really sleepy anyhow.  Maybe she's really traumatized from getting a thermometer stuck up her butt?  I would be.

Social Butterfly

Today marked Mia's return to the dog park after taking off a couple months due to the colder weather and snow.  She went Buck Wild!  There is nothing more fun to her than running around with other dogs and causing trouble.  Of course there were kids there today too... and she didn't do so good with that.  She barked in their faces and jumped on them and barked and tried to jump up more, but after about 1 minute she got distracted by a tennis ball and got over it.  After that moment she never even gave those kids a second glance, like they didn't even exist to her anymore so that's good.  I thought the father of the two girls was going to yell at me, but like... I would have just been like, "Sir, kids aren't even allowed in this park you freaking Idiot.  Good Job."  So yeah, take that dude.

Mia had such a nice day at the park, and we left when it started to get cold.  She met lots of new dogs today including the funniest basset hound that I've ever seen - he was totally just a walking cartoon character.  There was a super anxious husky type dog, and usually those seem to be very mellow, but this one was totally out of control... and it made me feel a pretty good about Mia's state of mind these days.  All dogs have their own issues.  A little before we left, she met a black lab that became one of her new besties.  They got along so well, they were like inseparable - so cute.  I'm sure they will see each other again!

She was not all that excited about going home...

The Only Child

We thought about getting a second dog so that Mia could have a buddy to have fun with around the house.  She's a very social dog and loves being around other dogs and humans so we figured - why not?  People usually say that the big jump is going from 0 dogs to 1 dog, and adding another dog isn't that big of a deal.  That sounded great to us, we love dogs so the more the merrier.

We talked to her trainer who said that he would keep an eye out for us, and we went onto Petfinder as well.  Of course there was a super cute dog on Petfinder, he is a golden / lab mix who had a really nice personality and was about the same age as Mia.  I emailed the rescue group to see what that steps were when there is already a dog in the house - can they meet? etc.  We even filled out an application for this particular dog.  A couple voice mail exchanges were made and it was left as: the application looks great, they'd call us back soon to talk.  - This was over a week ago... and they never called us back.  During that period of time, we actually changed our mind.  It's not that we didn't want that dog, I Really wanted that dog!  However, we came to the sad realization that we are just not home enough to add another dog to our family and we can't afford daycare and dog walkers for two while also taking on the financial burden of all our new house projects.  We're gone from 7am - 7pm most days, that means that Mia goes to daycare (she really loves daycare) during the work week which is in the neighborhood of $350/month.  On weekends we will occasionally need to crate her while we spend a few hours doing errands / spend the night out doing social things, and then we have a neighborhood kid come by and take her for a long trail walk (which is totally loves) which is about $10 or like $50 per month.  All of that is totally affordable for one dog.... imagine doubling that.  Mia is super important to us, and we wanted her in our family no matter the cost but we can't fathom spending over $500 per month in daycare/walking because we're not around... that's the problem, we're just not around enough.  Until one of us is home more often on a regular basis, then this just isn't possible and it likely just might never be possible for us.

This is a real bummer, but it's better that we figured that out now before we got another dog in here.  There are other more important things in life, and Mia is a happy dog.  She has lots of friends at daycare, and at the park so she'll survive without a buddy at home.

I can't believe the rescue group never called us back...

A day in the life...

Wake up in her crate and then wait on the bed for mom and dad to get ready for work.

Hop in the car and drive to daycare to see all her buddies.

Play like crazy all day.

Which results in this at night:

She's a super couch hog!