Hug your pets tonight

Hello friends, so sorry this blog has had a bout of radio silence.  The past few months have been pretty hectic, but I am hoping to spend more time on all my blogs now.  

There is something happening that pet owners need to be aware of.  For the second time in a month, I have heard of an attempted or successful pet robbery.  Both times involved dogs that were safely confined in their owners' yards.  Each time the owner turned their back for just a moment.  With the first incident, the owner returned to see a strange man holding her dogs.  When questioned, he said they got loose and he was returning them.  In the second incident, when the owner returned, the dog was gone.  Last I heard, the dog was still missing, and the suspected thief was a neighbor.

These incidents happened hundreds of miles apart.  I just do not understand what would possess a person to steal someone's pet.  In both cases, I believe, these were indoor pets, who were outside for recreation and potty trips.  It only took seconds for the situations to occur.

I know I am guilty of opening the back door, and letting the dogs run outside and play, while I wash dishes or cook in the kitchen.  I keep an eye on them, but clearly, it only takes seconds for someone to try to steal your pets, even from the safety of your enclosed yard.  So, please, I beg you, hug your pets a little tighter tonight, and keep a close eye on them at all times.

The Power of Two

This totally warms my heart.

In honor of National Dog Day this week, there was a photo contest in which we entered the dogs' photos.  I sent my Hubby several possibilities.  He showed one in particular to his coworker, M.  M has a doxie as well, and has been begging her husband for a second one.  He has been resistant, and Hubby has been telling M what a good thing it has been for Dex to get a little sister.  So, Hubby sends M the picture.  M forwards it to her husband.

Her husband responds by saying, OK, we are getting a second doxie.

So, this picture right here, helped make M a very happy woman, and is going to send a doxie to a loving home where he or she will have a great older sibling.

Yeah, my dogs are just that awesome.

Lookie what I got!

This past weekend was a big arts and crafts festival in our town.  The vendors include lots of people with doggie themed wares, collars, coats, toys, that kind of stuff.  I looked for something for the doggies, but nothing caught my eye.

As we were walking along a stretch, we saw a vendor who made really cute woodworking items.  We had bought something from this particular vendor last year at a different festival, and we had it customized with our last name.  When we saw one of his new items, at an incredibly reasonable price, we could not resist.

Isn't it the cutest?

Travel Tips

Hello friends!  I am hoping some of you can help me out.  We are having a bit of trouble traveling with Dexter.  When we first got him, and he was the only dog in our house, he traveled just fine.  He wanted to sit on my lap in the car, but other than that, he did great.

How that we have two dogs, traveling is more complicated.  Chloe does great, she sleeps in the backseat, she never fusses if we leave our room without her, she does get scared when pottying in a new place, but otherwise, she is a breeze.  It is Dex that is the issue.  He now gets very excited in the car, almost agitated.  He paces and jumps and claws, it is awful.  On our most recent trip, we bought a calming collar for him, and it worked like a charm.  He spent most of the drive sleeping in the back seat with Chloe.  The only time he got agitated was when we went through a drive through for lunch, and that was only because he wanted our french fries.  He was an angel;  I thought we were home free.

I could not have been more wrong.  The trouble was once we checked into the hotel we were staying at.  He would totally freak out when we would leave the room.  His excessive barks could be heard throughout the hotel.  And when we returned, he had totally detroyed the plastic tray that serves as the bottom of his crate.  It was awful.  I am at such a loss as to what to do.  We really want to be able to continue taking them on trips with us, but if his behavior continues like this, we just cannot.  It is not good for him to be getting this upset, and it is really stressful for us.

So, friends, do any of you have any suggestions as to how we can handle this behavior, and how to make traveling with the dogs more enjoyable for all of us?

What I Like About You- Chloe Edition

Oh Chloe.  Miss Peepants.  Chloebell.  Chloenstein.  Chloe Bear.  Sally Draper.  You honestly have made our family complete.  I was so nervous about adding a second puppy to the family, but you were our missing piece.  There is so so much I love about you.

First off, your ears. From the day we brought you home, your ears had the cutest little curls on them.

You ears were really the only indication, for a long time, that you were a long haired doxie. The rest of you is starting to catch up, but your ears are still the shaggiest part of you. They are like permanent pigtails, and I just love it.


Next, your eyes.

You have such soulful brown eyes. You are my brown eyed girl. They always look a little sad, because your fur around them is so dark, so it looks like you have on black eyeliner. Such an emo puppy. And don't get me started on how cute that snoot is.


Next up, your personality. And for such a tiny dog, your personality is huge.

From the minute we brought you home, you ruled the roost. You are miss sassafras. You bully Dexter, you bully Nora, and you are smaller than them both. You climb stairs, and leap off of the couch. You give daddy special kisses by "booping" him, and you kiss my by licking my eye. You have so many weird quirks, like rolling in the grass, but that is what makes you special. Now, if only we could get you potty trained.

But I think most of all, I love that you are Daddy's Girl.

Because for a long time, it was just me and Dex all day everyday, he is such a Mama's Boy. I am glad that you and Daddy have your own special bond, even though you show that you love me lots as well. It makes me all warm and fuzzy when we all sit on the couch together, and you fall asleep in Daddy's arms.

In short, Miss Thang, you have made us complete. And I love you to pieces.

Poor Kitty

Well this week we did something that we sincerely hoped to avoid.  It was probably the most difficult decision I have made regarding my pets.  Yesterday, we had Nora declawed.

When I first got Nora, she never really clawed anything, and I did not have any nice furniture to worry about, so, no harm no foul.

When Hubby and I started dating, and since we have gotten married, Nora warmed up to him better than she does most people.  However, she does get territorial sometimes, and dislikes it when Hubby is in the kitchen.  She finds him there, and swipes.  Also, she swipes when he walks up the stairs.  More than a few times, she has drawn blood.  I get frustrated when she hurts him.

Then, she started clawing our new furniture.  In less than a year, she destroyed our brand new couch.

We got to a point where the Soft Paw nail caps were no longer working, and she could not be distracted by scratching toys.

So, our choices were declaw her, or get rid of her.  And we did not want to get rid of her, so...

Tuesday, Nora came home from surgery.  She is happy and well.  No bandages, or stitches.  Her nail beds are glued closed.  She is eating, and purring, and doing well.  The only problem is trying to keep her confined to one room so she does not run down the stairs.

I know a lot of people disagree with declawing cats, and I assure you, this was not a decision I took lightly.  But in my heart I think we made the right choice.

The Great Collar Debacle

I got the brilliant idea to get Nora a collar, after all these years.  I got her a cute little pink collar with flowers on it, and a bell.  She got used to it pretty quickly, and all was right with the world.

That is, until the 4th day or so.  You can see in the photo above, that the collar was getting a little "wispy".  That is because Nora was licking and chewing on it.  So, one evening, she was in bed with me, and all the sudden she started making a noise like she was in pain.  I could not figure out what was wrong, Hubby thought she was having a seizure.  Here, she somehow got her tongue and/or teeth caught in the collar.  Needless to say, once she was freed, the collar was removed.

I have since gotten her a blue pleather like collar, it is not nearly as cute, but so far, it is much safer.

Whenever I need a reminder...

Sometimes these doggies drive me a little nutty.  The barking.  The whining.  The play fighting.  The 3 trips to potty in an hour.

But, no matter what I love them with all my heart.  Whenever I am sad, they cheer me up.  Whenever I am sick, they give me medicine in the form of kisses.  And there is nothing, and I mean nothing, like the joy of having two adorable doggies snuggling in your lap.

Hubby says to me all the time, "those dogs love you".  I really hope so, because I love them both so much.

The barking, I can take or leave.

One Year Anniversary!

Today is our one year anniversary of this blog.

Looking back, Nora thinks the blog was a much better idea than the 2 dogs we acquired this year.  I disagree, all were fabulous ideas.

Thanks for reading!

A Weinerful Weekend

Hello friends!  I just wanted to say I am feeling much better, my tail bone is starting to heal, and I had a great weekend!

Friday, Chloe had her final distemper vaccine.  She is up to 4 pounds, and did wonderfully at the vet.  Just like her brother did, she earned her name tag by being so brave through the shots.

Of course, the ladies at the vet, and the vet himself, fauned all over her, and declared her perfect.  I was quick to point out how sassy she can be, but that I adore her regardless.

All weekend, the doggies have been so happy to see us; when we leave the house it breaks their hearts, and when we return, they shower us with love.

I think they are just happy to see me feeling better.  I am convinced they know something is just not right.

See how much love the give me?  I would not have it any other way.

Sally Draper, AKA Ms. Peabody

When we got Dexter, we quickly realized that we were calling him not only his name but a million nicknames as well.  Over the months the nicknames have changed, as he has grown and changed.  Lately I have taken to calling him "Chubber" or "Chub a Lub" because he is getting so big, not really chubby, just a thick, fully bodied grown up dog.

We quickly realized that the nickname tradition was going to continue with Chloe, and actually Daddy has been the one coming up with her nicknames.  So far she has 2.  The first is "Sally Draper".  This is after the little girl on Mad Men, the daughter of the main character Don Draper.  The little girl is a hot mess most of the time, with a sad face, and that pretty much describes Chloe, with her hound dog looks and her still fuzzy longhair fur.  Plus in quite a few episodes, Sally Draper acts like a brat.  Ahem.

who me?

The other nickname is a bit more, uh, sensitive in nature.  We have taken to calling her Ms. Peabody.  This is due to the point we are at with her crate training.  We ran into the same issues with Dex at this age.  She will gladly go outside for #2, but she is consistently tinkling in her crate.  Which means she smells like pee all.the.time.  And even when she does tinkle outside, she then proceeds to walk her dainty little feet directly through the puddle.  There is no way around this, save for bathing her 3 times a day every day, and with her having long hair and it being January, she would catch pneumonia, so, guess what.  Ms. Peabody it is.

Apparently, she has turned up her nose at the idea of this nickname.

Pretty in Pink

Guess who got her first collar this weekend?  That is right, Miss Chloe is now wearing a collar!

On Sunday, we gave her a bath, since she had taken the full course of antibiotics and eye drops.  She is so little it took next to no time to bath and dry her, and all in all, she did really well with the first bath at home.  After she was dried, we presented her with the hot pink collar.

She is such a little pee wee that even the extra small collars would not fit her, and while a toy collar may have, I found a cute cat collar with a little bell that was just her size.  She LOVES it.  She does not fuss with the bell at all, so my hope is by the time she gets tags, she will be used to something hanging from her collar and will not chew them.  Dexter has chewed his so bad they are not readable, which kind of defeats the purpose.

And even though her collar makes her look a little more grown up, she is still a baby.  She is growing really quickly though!  She likes to romp a lot, and most of the time she is trying to beat up on her brother.

The rest of the time, she is acting like a little princess.  Which of course she totally is.

Santa came back...and this is what he left today!

Meet our newest family member, Chloe.  We all just love her, well, ok, Nora is a little skeptical, but the rest of us adore her!

What could it mean?

Can you spot the tiny difference in the following two pictures?  It will require a sharp eye.

Did you find it?  What could it mean?

Stay tuned for a big announcement!

Do you like her nails?

I made a decision long ago to not get Nora declawed.  From everything I had read about the procedure, it seems pretty painful for the cat, and it can make cats more hostile, because you are taking away their defenses.  Since Nora can be temperamental at times, I do not want to run that risk.  Also, should anything ever happen that Nora escape outside for a long period of time, her claws will allow her to protect herself.  But, something has to give, because she is totally destroying our couch, which is only a year old.

In the past we had tried a temporary solution that worked well, then we stopped using it for a while.  It looked like it was time to re-institute the intervention.  They are called Soft Paws.  Soft Paws are little vinyl caps that you glue over the cat's individual nails.  The caps come in various colors, even holiday packs, and the glue is completely safe and non-toxic.  Each application lasts about a month to 6 weeks, so when you get a pack containing 40 caps, if you just put them on the front paws, that pack can last 6 months.  They stay on really well.  In fact the reason we stopped using them before was that the ones we had stayed on so well, the glue we had for new applications dried up, so when the caps did eventually fall off, we had no glue to reapply.

I will admit, the application process for us can be a bit tricky, because before we started using these, Nora was not used to getting her nails trimmed.  So she was really scared.  It is best to trim the nails before applying the caps.  Because Nora is not used to having her nails touched, she gets really anxious.  But she gets over it pretty quickly.  My advice to you is start trimming your cat's nails when it is a kitten.  In fact, they even make kitten sized Soft Paws.

Once all the caps are applied, you do have to hold your kitty for a few minutes to allow the glue to set.  And be prepared, kitty will try to chew the caps off at first.  You have to train kitty to get used to the caps.  So the first kit you get may seem to go pretty quickly if kitty chews the caps off and you must reapply often.  But kitty will get used to it, Nora sure did.  And look how pretty her nails look!

After she was finally able to get down, I will admit she did go and hide for about an hour, but by bedtime last night, she was back to cuddling up to me and loving all over me.  And now, she was able to show off her pretty new manicure at the same time!

For anyone looking for an alternative to declawing, I strongly encourage you to talk to your vet about Soft Paws, and check them out.  We just love them, don't we Nora?

P.S. They also make Soft Paws for doggies too, so if your doggie scratches things in your home, or scratches him or herself due to skin conditions, check them out!

It happens...

We have been struggling lately with Dexter's morning trips outside to do his business.  Normally, Daddy takes him out at 6 am to potty, then he comes back in to sleep, and I feed him breakfast later.  But this week, in the mornings, he only tinkles, and does not do his other business.  It throws his schedule off for the rest of the day, and affects his mood.

So imagine my happiness to see this note on the white board this morning from Daddy:

Only pet owners and parents understand how happy poop can make you.  Seriously.

Love Letters

Today, I got love letters.

This morning, Dexter, with the help of Daddy, gave me the sweetest little love letter.

It was so cute, and made me smile so big!  I love the fact that the letter is so true, he does show his love for me by licking my face and smothering me with kisses.

Not to be outdone, Nora decided she wanted to give me a letter too.  Apparently, she wanted to have no help, so, resourceful cat that she is, resorted to typing me a letter.

I had my blog composer open, as I was working on an entry for another blog.  I left it on my bed while I ate lunch, and when I came back, she had somehow opened a new draft, and typed a letter up (I am not joking, she actually did this).  I previewed it to see how it would look, and here is Nora's letter to me:

Clearly she could have used a little help.  I like to imagine it says the following:

Dear Mommy,
I love you so much, and love to snuggle up with you in your nice warm bed.  I am sorry for being mean to Daddy.
Affectionately,
Nora

See that Aqqqqqq, I know that was her attempt at "affectionately".  And all those NNNNNNNNNs?  She was totally trying to sign her name.

I have the smartest cutest pets ever.  I love you guys!

Wake up call

Last night, I had a bad headache at bedtime, and took something to not only make it go away, but help me sleep.

I slept like a baby, and did not hear a thing until I got a wake up call this morning.  Not on my phone, or from an alarm clock, oh no, nothing like that.

I was woken up my a little pink tongue lapping at my face.  Hubby had snuck the doggie upstairs and put him in bed with me before he left for work.  It was awesome and adorable.

I loved this wake up call.  How can you possibly have a bad day when it starts off so full of love?

My girl is grown up. Almost.

I think I finally understand how mothers feel when they see their kids growing up.  Especially when they get those rare moments where their almost grown up kids still want a hug, a kiss, a snuggle.

Last night, Nora gave me one of those moments.

Ever since Hubby and I moved into the house, Nora has steered clear of snuggling with us a lot.  Having so much room, and having Hubby in the bed with me every night has really changed Nora's patterns.  She will still snuggle with me on the bed during the day, or on the couch sometimes, but night time snuggles are really rare.

Lately, however, we have been bringing Dex up to the bedroom for night time snuggles.  And I think Nora has been realizing how nice these family moments can be.  So, last night, after Dexter went to bed, Hubby and I were lying in bed talking, and Nora hopped up for some family time of her own.  For about half an hour, she nuzzled, snuggled, kissed us, and purred very loudly.  It was awesome.  It made me so happy and was a wonderful end to the day.

I am glad there are times when she still wants to be my baby.

Ugly Dog Toys

We ran to the store tonight to get some more Pork Chomps for Dex, he really loves them and they are helping with the chewing.  While we were there, we saw what was hands down the ugliest dog toy I have ever seen:

What the.....

a cross dressing Santa hooker chicken?

Why would anyone ever buy that horrific thing for their dog?  Do you ever buy ugly dog toys?  I do not mean ugly cute ones either, like little monsters or something, I mean ugly ugly.

Who ever thought this thing was a good idea?

Oh sure, Dex would happily chew its head off and rip out the squeaker just as lustily as he would a cute toy, but, I would have to look at this thing until he mauled it enough to justifying throwing it away.  Why, just why?

I guess when a toy is functional, it does not have to be pretty, like rope toys, or kongs.  But something like this, I would be embarrassed to have it in my house.  Tell me friends, do any of you have embarrassing toys at home?