Friends

Hello. I posted a bit ago with a rant about how I was completely hopeless because dogs are expensive and hard work!
However, as an update, everything has been going swimmingly. My littlest guy who previously lived with my parents has mad fast friend with my roommate's husky mix pup. I'm pretty sure he's happier than he's been for years.
Nixie, the lab/heeler that my malamute mix bit healed PERFECTLY which i guess is super rare, even with antibiotics for a bite puncture wound.

And Kane, my malamute mix has been quite content and hasn't shown the least bit of aggression towards anybody (though he's been on tight supervision, just in case) I think he might have learned from his mistake. He seemed pretty guilty afterwards.

Anyway, onto my questions.

First, Kane has a serious bought of terrible breath. I know he's about due for another teeth cleaning but it ran me about $600.00 last time so I'm going to put it off for a couple months since my job is just starting this weekend. He doesn't appear to have any obvious abscess, and he doesn't appear to be in any pain.
I've stepped up his tooth brushing regimen - once a day, usually at night and it's always followed by one of those tooth/dental bones, which he loves (can anybody recommend a good brand of these, btw? Do you think they're all all effective?)
But anyway, I was wondering if you guys have had any experience with enzymatic tooth paste. I think I remember my vet saying that the toothpaste was mostly a gimmick and just the brushing was important. But another vet recently told me that the enzymatic tooth paste does wonders for bad breath. I just wanted to hear from some others before I go buying some because I'm trying to save money.

My next question is about this dehydrated dog food I saw the other day. It was in a box and looked like potato soup mix or hot cereal or something. It said it bridges the gap between raw and kibble or something like that. Apparently you just add water and cook it for 10 minutes or so. I didn't check the price and I was in a hurry so didn't really get a great look at the ingredients either. I was just intrigued. Any of you use this or know anything about it?

Thanks!

( Photos, just for fun )

"We're not doing anything wrong....."

( ...... )

New rug by the front door means Wyatt can sleep by the heat vent. :)



Yup it's -32 c with a windchill here. :(

Hi all! Was wondering if any of you can help me. Our JRT Gwen is almost 4 months old, and we bought a harness to walk her. Well, all she does is choke herself out. We have tried making her sit, and calm down. She does, but as soon as we start walking again, choking starts once again. If anyone has any ideas or tricks we can use, please let me know. Thanks.

This might be a bit OT, but what do you guys think would help build up more muscle/condition a dog better*:

-Long walks on a leash at a controlled pace with/without her doggie backpack

-Letting her loose in a fenced in field to sprint/run free

*(In addition to her normal daily exercise)

And so its not just text, here is the dog in question - Audrey, my 15mo Field Spaniel:
( Read more... )

I know cash is tight for everyone this year, but if you can help out, please do. Best Friends Animal Society is the last chance rescue for dogs, cats and other animals. As shown in the TV series "Dog Town" they take in animals from around the country, rehabilitate and try to adopt them out. Those they can't live at the facility for the rest of their lives and are well taken care of.

They've gotten a special sponsor donation that matches all donations they receive, but that runs out in one week. Even if you can only give $1, that's turned into $2 they didn't have before. This group is near and dear to me, folks. Please help if you can.

x-posted to my journal.

The winter is a tough time for our family now, as the job I have now requires me to work longer hours and my husband's hours have changed so he works four 10-hour days. This doesn't bother our lab Snickers, as he's old and sleeps on the bed all day anyway. This has been tough for our pup, though, as he certainly wasn't getting the exercise he needed during the week (and on the weekend, as it suddenly became winter and I still need to post our blizzard pictures).

So Remy has started daycare this week, he went Monday and will go tomorrow, as those are the days we'll both be out of the house for over 10 hours. It was *amazing* the difference in him last night. He fell asleep outside of the crate (normally that's the only place he'll sleep) and was just completely adorable, though a little grumpy when he had to move.

We have pictures of our pup from last night, but I'll have to post those later, when I'm at home.

I am now completely sold on the whole "doggie daycare" thing. This is exactly what we need for our boy during this crazy time of year.

If you've not told people what you'd like for Christmas, or you have friends with dogs who you're struggling to buy for, might I suggest checking out Ebay for the Furminator! My friends bought this for me about a couple of months ago after struggling with stupid amounts of pet-hair flying around the house. I found no brush or comb I bought would work on my two dogs - Murphy (Boxer mix) and Pepper (Doberman/GSD mix).

Now, they don't have long hair at all, but boy do they shed hair! I combed them for hours that day and the amount of hair I collected from them both filled a whole black rubbish bag! Not only this, but their coats went from feeling very coarse/rough to very sleek & smooth with a lovely shine! The week that followed I went from vacuuming once a day to twice in a whole week! My husband then misplaced the Furminator and, because of that, we went a month without properly being able to brush the dogs. I have gone back to having to vacuum once a day (sometimes TWICE!) and so went for it and searched high & low for the brush from heaven and I found it!

The last two hours I've been chasing the dogs around the living room trying to brush them again - Oh boy, the whole living room carpet is covered in fur! Usually this would make me squirm, but I am sooooooooo happy to be getting ontop of this again! I'm going to make sure I brush them at least twice a week so it wont all build up again.

So yes, ask Santa for a Furminator this year, you will not regret it! Try NOT to buy it in pet stores, they try to charge stupid amounts for it - My local store had it under lock & key! My friends found it for 1/3 of the price on Ebay!

Right, back I go to chasing the dogs!

Edit: There's a thought - How often do you guys brush your little ones?

so I ordered this huge bed online for my grandfather's arthritic golden retriever... it came in the mail today, so I took it out of the box to see just how big it was... it was quickly usurped.


( more doggies in beddies! )

I have a food question. My mom's elderly basset hound is overweight and on a diet to try to get her weight back down. (This has been true for years. My 82 year old grandmother, who also lives in the household, WILL NOT stop giving her stupid foods such as graham crackers and I know of no way to train either 11 year old bassets to stop accepting food from family members or 82 year old grandmothers to stop offering them.) Anyway, she (the basset, not the grandmother) currently gets vegetables with her evening kibble. Generally, this is a broccoli/cauliflower/carrot previously frozen mix (cooked in the microwave) but if we're having steamed veggies as part of dinner we'll just give her whatever we're having (in her dish, at a time that's not when we're eating). We have yet to find a cooked veggie she won't eat, although she did snub raw celery (she ate it without complaint after we cooked it).

Anyway, my question is are there certain vegetables that dogs shouldn't eat? And if so, why not? (I know they're not supposed to have chocolate, but in our household that is not considered a vegetable.)

Let Byron and Pandora (our cat) invite you:



( And then he decided to yawn... )

Hello again...
our family friend is getting a doggy on a foster-to-adopt basis, cute little beagle lab mix, but she has a heart murmur. He was asking me if I knew anything about taking care of a dog with heart murmurs and what that entailed...

I've never had a dog with one, but I hate going back to him empty handed so - anyone here with any good/bad experience with dogs with heart murmurs?

While Trinka Deu sat nicely in front of the tree for the camera, she didn't seem too thrilled about it.



Phil, on the other hand, was more of a challenge to photograph. It's a good thing he's cute.

( What are we doing again?? )

Nicki, Dakota, Dante & Pudges in front of our "Christmas tree"

( One more here, with all 6 pups. )

Got this woth a Facebook friend request today:

hey, my name is hossam i live i egypt i love dogs so much so can u send to me a young dog plzzzz because i dont have money to have one plz

That's a new one.

taste_buds
Holidays provide a built-in excuse for indulgent entertaining. This all-purpose foodie community covers everything from homemade hangover cures to dinner party menus. Need quick advice? Get five-minute snack suggestions, low-fat ingredient substitutes, and even measurement conversions. Delicious recipes garnished with humorous advice. Yum.

naturesbeauty
Always on the lookout for compelling images, we were delighted to discover this flourishing community of artists who share a love of nature. Honoring the subject with photographs, paintings, sketches, prose, poetry, and other creative works, you'll be simultaneously riveted to your monitor and inspired to run helter skelter towards the nearest wooded dale.

Hey everyone I was looking through my local rescue/humane society page and while I can't really take any animals in right now I was wondering about maybe fostering in the new year but I'm not really sure what it entails, how long it goes on, and what costs are involved, et cetera.

I know some of you have experience foster and I'm wondering if you could share it with me. Personally I'd be willing to take in cats, small dogs, rodents and reptiles, so could anyone with applicable knowledge share with me? Will Charlie be a strike against me? He's been exposed to all manner of animals, from geckos (which he likes to watch) to cats with very evident frontal lobe issues, and he's helped me train 2 other insane puppies so he's very willing to play along.

As I said I'm just in the thinking about stage, trying to get as much information as I can.

I'm going to try and make a long story short -

My grandfather's wife bought her mother a dog a few years ago for company. She promised that if her mother ever couldn't care for the dog in the future, she'd take it back. Sadly, her mother passed away on Friday morning, and so Vicki (my grandfather's wife) is bringing back a relatively young apricot miniature poodle.

I had a dog growing up; his name was Snowball and he was my heart. I can't put into words how much I miss his presence; he passed away almost two years ago. My mom is allergic to dogs, and the fact that this dog is coming back to our city and wouldn't bother her allergies, is an acceptable age (my mom is adamant about not dealing with a puppy at the moment, which I understand), is housetrained, spayed, and needs a home - it just feels so much like fate to me. I've actually been saving up a little each month in the hopes that when I graduate next year, I'd be able to move and get a dog. I have about $300 saved now, and possibly a little more if I cut back on a couple Christmas gifts. I had planned to adopt eventually.

My mom informed me tonight that Abby, the poodle, will be flying in on Tuesday and we're picking her up from the airport until my grandfather and Vicki get back on their flight about five hours later. They're both very open to the idea of us having the dog. My mom said that it could specifically be my dog, since she knows how hard it has been since I've moved home without Snowball (the last time I lived here long term, it was in high school, and he was around). Still, Abby will go home with them at first and if they feel like they can't take care of him (since it has been about a decade since my grandfather last had a dog, and he isn't incredibly active anymore since he hit his 70s) then the plan is that we'd take her in.

I feel like a spaz; I'm researching foods and looking at collars and thinking about what vet I'd take her to. I'm desperately trying not to get my hopes up, but its so hard when it feels like everything is just falling into place. Does anyone have any advice for me? Any super awesome dog products that you feel like you can't live without? And I'm sure she'll be feeling very confused, since she will be coming from Texas to Pennsylvania, so any advice on transitioning a small dog as comfortably as possible? I have no idea what type of food she eats, but I would hope to eventually get her to a higher quality food if possible. I just can't get over the fact that I could actually have my own dog in the coming weeks; I've been spending as much time at my aunt's house as possible to play and be around her standard poodle.

Honestly, I feel like this is the best Christmas present I could have. Not that pets should be presents, but I fully appreciate the responsibility it takes and the added fullness a dog adds to your life. I can't help but be excited at this.

Also, I know $300 is not an ideal amount to have saved for something like this, but since she already is up to date on the vet/shots, and will have toys/beds/things (I think, Vicki really isn't in the right state of mind to discuss much about this at the moment) it should be ok to start with, right? I have a credit card that doesn't have an incredible limit on it at the moment, and if something serious happened immediately my mother could help me out.