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.