Coco the Maltese

Happy Birthday!

2008-03-13T22:35:00.001-07:00

Today was Coco's first birthday. She received a Gut-gut as a birthday present and has already managed to chew a hole in its chest. If you look closely at the photo you can see the Gut-gut in the background. This is what she looked like today and on the very first day that we met her (April 2007).

Happy birthday, Coco!

Homemade Ear Cleaner

2008-02-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

Coco had what smelled like an infection in her ear. Normally we are very good about cleaning her ears but this time around her ear smelled funny. It started to smell like there was some kind of bacteria growing in there (kind of like cheese.) I did some research online and there is a homemade ear cleaner solution that many people love and swear by. I figure that I'd give it a try and if it didn't immediately start showing positive signs, I'd go to the vet.

It turns out the ear cleaner worked! The next day Coco's ears started to smell better. In fact a few days of using it and the weird cheese smell went away. I love this ear cleaner and am a true believer in it.

Ear Cleaner
3 oz isopropyl alcohol
1/4 T boric acid powder
1 oz white vinegar
1/4 t generic Betadine antiseptic

In a bottle mix the isopropyl alcohol and the boric acid powder together. Shake it well. Add the white vinegar and Betadine antiseptic. Shake well to combine.

Pour this solution in each ear and let rest there for 1 min per ear. Let your dog shake it out aftewards.

Continue daily treatment with the ear cleaning solution until the problem has gone away. If it doesn't seem to make the infection go away, contact your vet immediately.

I had to buy all the ingredients at Rite Aid. I found that neither Walgreens nor Longs carried the boric acid powder in stock and it had to be special ordered. Another place you can buy the boric acid is from any hardware store (Ace, OSH, etc.)

A Battle of Wills

2008-01-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

Throughout the time we've had Sadie we've found she can be very stubborn. We've had her for about two weeks now and she's only eaten dry food. The other day she decided to try to test us, again, to see if we'd give her wet food. She refused to eat the entire day, only drinking water at meal times. She quickly learned that we would not give in and she had to eat dry food or no food at all. Sadie tested us to see if we'd feel sorry that she wasn't eating dry food and would, instead, give in and give her some wet food. We ultimately won the "battle" and she caved in on the second day and ate dry food.

Sadie likes to test us but we've found if we stand firm that she'll be the one who caves in, which is the way it should be. Our motto is "it is a privilege, not a right." If either of the pup wants play time, it is a privilege. They need to be on good behavior in order to earn extra long play time, treats, etc. If they misbehave then they will learn they don't get these extra perks and will instead spend more time in the crate.

Sadie went in for a bath today and when she was done we saw she had very cute bows in her hair.

Coco and Sadie Weigh In

2008-01-23T16:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I weighed both Coco and Sadie.

Coco - 5 lb 7 oz
Sadie - 12.6 lb

Is No Place Sacred?

2008-01-22T20:03:00.001-08:00

The day started off so well ...

Sadie started the day off by actually finishing her breakfast (she only manages to eat her entire portion 50% of the time) so we were really happy. Getting her to eat is sometimes a challenge and it is always a relief when she eats all of the meal (rather than only eating a few pieces.)

I took Sadie to the vet in the morning so she could get her shots. She seemed ok going to the vet. Coco, on the other hand, was shaking like crazy. I had Coco in a bag and the entire bag trembled the entire time we were at the vet. I wonder how dogs know that they are at the vet even though they've never been to that particular facility before. Sadie was exploring the area and didn't make a fuss when I left her in the hands of the technicians.

After work I picked Sadie up from the vet and she was extremely excited to see me. Her tail was wagging at a 100 mph and she was genuinely happy and excited. Again, Coco was trembling the entire time we were at the vet.

I took the two pups home and they simultaneously went poop outside. I was so happy since it is usually a chore to get Sadie to poop and she takes a long time before she's ready to poop. Perhaps a trip to the vet changed Sadie completely and made her bowel movements happen more quickly? ...

I then waited an hour before feeding both Coco and Sadie. Afterwards Sadie was left in the pen. The pen is where Sadie plays and enjoys freedom. In dog-speak it should be a safe haven. Similar to a den, the pen is where Sadie should consider her home. As such, Sadie should not defile it. Dogs have a strong understanding of dens and home and know not to poop or pee in it (which is the whole idea behind crate training.) Well apparently no place is sacred. An hour after Sadie pooped outside she proceeded to poop in the pen. O.o It's difficult to get Sadie to poop at all; pooping twice is unheard of. It puts me at a total loss since dogs aren't supposed to poop or pee in their home, yet Sadie has defied the odds. This is poop #3 for Sadie on our carpet (twice in the living room and once in the pen.) *sigh* I hope we come up with some fool proof method to ensure Sadie really has emptied herself and we find some place where Sadie is considered safe.

Coco and Sadie - Weekend Recap

2008-01-21T10:48:00.001-08:00

The past few days has been fairly uninteresting from a blogger's point of view. Ming and I didn't do anything terribly exciting with the dogs since we had to do a lot of work. Sadie and Coco seemed happy to have us in the house even though we couldn't actively play with them the entire time. They continued to enjoy one anothers company and do their wrestling/playing in the pen.

Sadie did very well on Sunday night. We had to leave her home alone since we were going to have dinner with my parents. My parents are definitely not dog people. They very much dislike dogs and had a very tough time accepting Coco. My parents still do not want Coco to sit in their laps; petting is about as much affection as they are willing to show Coco. We took Coco to my parents house for dinner but had to leave Sadie at home since two dogs would have overwhelmed my parents. Sadie did well and didn't utter a peep when we (including Coco) left her in the house. When we got home Sadie was, of course, very happy to see us and her tail was wagging like crazy. (A wagging tail signals a dog is happy.) Due to Sadie's good behavior while home alone, she got a treat. We gave her a doggy cupcake and she ate it in the strangest fashion. She ate everything except the frosting. Winnie was most definitely right in that Sadie doesn't like sweets but is very willing to eat around the sweet part.

Tomorrow will be a big day for Sadie and Coco. I'm going to take Sadie to the vet so she can get some shots. Sadie's vet is on the way to the city, which is where I'm working tomorrow. Since I'm driving up to the city tomorrow, I've also decided to take Coco to work with me. Coco doesn't get to come to work that often with me since I don't want her to overextend her welcome. It's a win-win situation. Sadie gets her shots so that she can then go to dog parks and other fun outdoor activities and Coco gets to share the day with me at work.

Seeing is believing... and disgusting!

2008-01-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Dogs have these nasty things called anal glands on the side of their rear end which apparently secretes their "scent." A few months ago, we accidentally "expressed" one of these while giving Coco a bath and then learned that expressing the sacs is a very common practice with pets.

Anyway, a number of blogs talk about their dogs scootching their butts on the carpet when the sacs get too full and need to be expressed. You might have even seen a commercial on TV for carpet cleaner that featured a dog sitting down and sliding across the carpet.

Today, we got a firsthand experience from Sadie. We had never seen Coco do it before, but Sadie was sitting on the carpet and then suddenly scootched herself forward about 3 feet!!! Our poor carpet!! Hopefully nothing came out, but I hope that whatever is in there didn't / doesn't come out on our carpet. O.o. I hope we can get her to a groomer this week so that they can take care of it for us :)

Dog Door and Voyeurism

2008-01-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

We bought a dog door for Coco to use. The hope is that eventually she'll be able to go to do her potty on her own without us needing to supervise her. Once she can be trusted to pee and potty on her own, then we'll start giving her more freedom around the house when we're gone during the day. Currently we have to be there to help her go potty since we need to open the patio door to the outside (where she goes potty.)

I'm not sure how long it will take her to learn how to use the dog door and eventually go on her own accord but hopefully it isn't that long.

On another note, both Sadie and Coco got very lucky since Ming worked from home part of the day today. They played and played all afternoon, as the photo below depicts (yes, I'm a voyeur ^_~)

Coco and Sadie Day 7

2008-01-17T00:27:00.000-08:00

Sadie continues to be a challenge. She has now proven she can walk and pee simultaneously while in the house. Yesterday she pee'ed on the floor on the way to the designated pee area! O.o You can see the dribble marks from where the largest puddle is to where the designated pee area is. *sigh* Apparently she decided that walking and peeing isn't so hard after all.

Sadie is quite the contradiction. Sometimes she is very well behaved and other times she is positively obstinate. Sometimes she does her pee and poop exactly as we intend her to do and eats without much prompting. Other times she'll positively refuse to pee or poop and won't touch her food and/or tries to stare you down into cowering and giving her some wet food. She obviously has not learned yet that she isn't the "king" in this household and that she can't get her way; she needs to live by the rules we set. Sometimes Sadie will refuse to eat her kibble except for a little nibble and looks up at us expecting us to give in and shower her with wet food. We won't give in though and she's going to learn that if she doesn't want dry food, then she won't get anything. I find it very interesting that sometimes she can be an angel and be well-behaved and other times she's very ... trying.

The best we can do is continue to be firm and hope she starts learning that you catch more flies with honey than you do with .... well however the saying goes. :) If she behaves then she gets more play time with Coco and more attention from us. If she doesn't behave she gets more crate training time and doesn't get showered with any affection.

When Coco and Sadie play they play very rough. I think it's good exercise for the two of them; it works out the extra energy they have as well as keeps their spirits up. We have now only let the two of them play together in the pen. Confining their play area keeps them safe and keeps them from running into cords or furniture. We've also found that their rough play has led to our rug getting a few battle scars. :( They've played so roughly that a few woven strands of the rug have started to come undone. Yes, best to put the two in a pen and away from carpet so that we can preserve our carpet but still let them have fun together.

New day, new routine

2008-01-15T09:12:00.000-08:00

After yesterday's "nugget" incident, we decided to try and switch up Sadie's routine a bit. I built the pen so that we have a more controlled space for the pups to play in, but when Sadie went in there, she didn't want to play with Coco and just moaned for a while. Eventually, she fell asleep, which was good.

Last night was the first night Sadie ate all of her food too. We've realized that it's very easy to distract her so even when we want to praise her when she eats, it sets her off and she gets confused and forgets about eating. Lesson learned: Once she starts eating, shut yer trap and let her eat in peace! The other good news is that she ate an entire serving of only dry food.

This morning, Sadie seemed to get into more of a routine. She finally heard nature call and relieved herself on both fronts. This was a bit of a relief because it's the first sign that she may be settling back into a routine. Immediately after, I took her to eat and with just a little bit of coaxing, she started to eat and finished off another bowl of dry kibble along with some water.

Today, I'm going to do a bit of crate training, to make sure that Sadie knows that she uses the bathroom outside and gets comfortable with the routine. It won't be so different from her normal day, except that she will have to stay in her crate for the day. I hope that by the end of the week, she knows to always do her "business" outside and then we can start emphasizing her the commands for #1 and #2 :)

Coco seems to be doing okay. She definitely holds her head up high like she's the queen of the house. She likes to nip at Sadie to try and entice her to play, and sometimes gets more than she bargains for. It feels like Coco is fighting for a bit more attention now that there are two dogs in the house and she's starting to be a bit more aggressive in her attempts. We give both of them a lot of love and attention, and Coco will need to learn that she can't beg her way into every situation.

Coco and Sadie Photos (Days 1-5)

2008-01-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos taken of Coco and Sadie during Sadie's stay with us.

Sadie goes on her back while playing

Coco likes to practice standing against Sadie when they play

Coco and Sadie Day 5

2008-01-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day we've had Sadie and had to get ready to go to work. Sadie is proving to be quite the handful. She pooped on the carpet again! While Sadie was walking in the living room she pooped! This is going to be much tougher to deal with Sadie's pee/poop habits if she poops while walking if we can't anticipate it. O.o

Coco and Sadie Day 4

2008-01-13T20:54:00.001-08:00

Sadie has started to get over her separation anxiety . She and Coco have started playing pretty roughly together, enjoying themselves the entire time. It was such a nice day outside that we decided to let the two of them run around outside. They had a good workout running around outside and I washed all 8 paws once they were done (black paws on white dogs are just no fun to have on the inside of a house.)

Sadie has started to realize the benefits of tummy rubs. Ming and I have started to give her tummy rubs and she has enjoyed them, sometimes even getting down on her back to try to get us to give her the tummy rub.

While the two pups were playing outside Sadie must have eaten something that she shouldn't have. She ended up feeling ill all day and finally throwing up mid-day. She threw up while in her crate, thereby making a mess of herself, her crate, and her blankie. Needless to say she had to get a bath and get cleaned up all over again. We washed the crate pad and her blankie since they also got dirty. The good news is that Sadie appears to be back to normal.

She ate her dinner more quickly tonight than she has the previous meals. She still needed to be hand fed part of her meal but at least time time we didn't have to hand feed her the entire meal and she actually finished off her dinner portion (Coco always wants to finish off Sadie's leftovers but this time around she didn't get to have any scraps.)

Day 3... Continued

2008-01-12T23:02:00.001-08:00

Can an old dog be taught new tricks? The answer appears to be yes.

Over the past few days, we started to get Sadie to respond to commands. She now does "sit" and "down" on command nearly every time. Every so often, she tries to resist the down command and sits instead but we don't praise her until she gets all the way to the ground. It is taking her less time to sit and go down now, although it looks like she's a bit stiff getting into position.

On our walk, we also decided to do some role playing. Earlier in the day, Coco and Sadie were playing a bit on the side yard and Sadie is clearly the "dominant" one. Coco would nip at Sadie for a while until Sadie finnaly got Coco to roll over showing her dominance. During our walk, Cindy and I intentionally made Sadie walk behind Coco and I kept Sadie firmly by my side with her new training collar which. We didn't realize how much the pack mentality had changed until tonight when Sadie would roll over onto her back repeatedly while playing with Coco.

Sadie has graciously stepped down from her position as pack leader for the day, but will this trend continue?

We'll keep track of some of Sadie's commands and how she's doing:

Sit - does this very well!
Down - does this most of the time. She forgets every so often, or tries to resist. She gets into position more quickly on Day 3
Paw - she normally responds to this
Other paw - I think this is a new trick for her, but she picked it up pretty quickly. I still have to pick up her paw every once in a while.
Stand - She seems to like this one, but we're just trying it out. We say "stand" and pat our thighs and she normally hops up on her hind legs.
Come - She's starting to do this on our terms. Before, she would stare at us, or ignore us. Every so often, she would seek shelter under a table or chair...

Coco and Sadie, Days 2 and 3

2008-01-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

Sadie has finally started to realize that her mommy and daddy are gone. She's going through a bit of withdrawal and has started to miss them. It was to be expected that she'd get a little down once she realized she wouldn't see them again soon.

Sadie hasn't wanted to play with Coco at all and hasn't really wanted to eat unless fed by hand. She wouldn't touch her own food at all but would at least eat Coco's food if hand fed. She's been getting her past couple of meals fed by hand so she's at least eating. She seems to really enjoy Coco's food and has started to get used to chewing it (since it's looks like it is harder kibble than she is used to eating.)

On Day 2 we gave Sadie a Greenie treat, which is basically a hard bone which helps promote teeth cleaning and is edible. Sadie took a long time to finish eating it but she really seemed to enjoy it. We gave her the same treat on day 3 and she ate it faster but still couldn't compete with the speed Coco ate hers. Sadie may eventually out eat Coco in speed but so far Coco has the upper hand. We're trying to promote more eating of harder foods for Sadie since she looks like she has difficulties eating hard foods (even going so far as to not want to eat a raw carrot.)

Ming and I really need to work with Sadie in order to keep her spirits up. We've given her lots of extra attention (hopefully not making Coco jealous) in order to give Sadie as much normality as possible. We have even started to teach Sadie some new tricks (I'll elaborate more about it once Sadie has the tricks down pat.)

Ming and I have established ourselves as leaders of the house. Initially Sadie tried to test how far she could push us (by ignoring commands, etc.) and we didn't let her get away with it. She's now accepted that when we say she can't do something or go somewhere, that she needs to live by those rules.

Sadly Sadie had an accident on Day 2. She decided that the carpet was a perfect place for her to do a poopie. O.o I hope this will be her only accident the entire time we've got her but we're going to take extra precautions now so that she knows where is an acceptable place for her to do her pee and poop.

Coco and Sadie, Day 1

2008-01-11T09:25:00.001-08:00

Last night was the first night Sadie spent the night with Coco. Coco and Sadie hit it off immediately. They ran around and played together as though they were litter mates. When Sadie's mommy and daddy left the house, Sadie didn't really seem to notice; she was still having too much fun with Coco.

Sadie and Coco slept next to one another and it was pretty uneventful. In the beginning Sadie made little whining noises but it subsided pretty quickly. She seemed to accept her new temporary living/sleeping conditions pretty readily.

Stay tuned for more chronicles of Sadie and Coco

Public Enemy Number One: The Vet

2008-01-04T10:38:00.000-08:00

Coco was so happy this morning, full of energy and affection as she always is. She is excited when she gets to go out of the house with us. This morning she happily jumped into her travel carrier so she could go in a car ride with me to wherever I was going. Once she realized that my destination was the vet she immediately started shaking and shivering. She has now realized that the vet is not a place of fun. The malls are fun; the vet is nothing but unhappy thoughts. She shook the entire time we were there and I felt bad that I had to leave her there.

Coco is now under anesthesia getting some baby teeth pulled. Yes, baby teeth. I spoke with the vet and there's a chance she has to get doggy ortho work done. O.o Holy smokes! No one ever told me there is a such thing as doggy braces. Lordies, now I understand why people spend, on average, $700 annually on their pets. I dread braces for my own kids and now I find out that dogs can get them too? O.o I need to start a doggy donation fund so that my puppy can have braces -- now how crazy does that sound?

Friends Forever

2008-01-03T15:58:00.000-08:00

In order of preference, these are Coco's favorite things:

food (treats, meal time, etc)
playing with Sadie
sitting in mommy or daddy's lap

Coco has been pretty well behaved this season. Overall I'm very proud of her and she's done well as a 9 month year old. Coco lives for food. Anytime she suspects a treat is imminent she goes absolutely nuts and will do anything we want her to do, as long as we feed her.

Her second favorite past time is playing with Sadie. Some photos of their December play date:

Wouldn't it be so cool if we had two Malteses? They'd get along fabulously

Holiday Re-cap and the New Year

2008-01-02T10:08:00.001-08:00

Coco had a very happy holiday season. She met Ming's parents and they eventually came to love her. At first they were a bit hesitant around her (having never really liked dogs) but by the end of Christmas she loved her and Dad kept wanting to sneak little treats to her and take her on long walks.

Coco has been introduced to more sweets this season than she's had in her entire life. Everyone gave her a Christmas gift and she has eaten a total of 3 cupcakes, 1 snowman cookie, and a Greenie chew bone. I think she's been very spoiled this season.

January 2008 has already been booked for Coco. She has an appointment at the vet to pull some stubborn baby teeth and an extended play date with Sadie. I know Coco won't mind the slight inconvenience of a tooth pool if it means she gets to play with Sadie. Sadie is Coco's favorite playmate and the two completely forget we're around since they're so busy having fun together.

Christmas Ficus 2, Coco 0

2007-12-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

We have a ficus with Christmas lights on it. Since it's the holiday season we have plugged the lights in so they twinkle at night. Coco has decided that the twinkling lights are some sort of enemy so she's taken to growling and barking at it. She's perfectly fine with the ficus when the lights are off but when the lights are on, she starts barking like crazy.

Poor pup. She thinks that the lights are going to somehow harm her (or us.) The past 2 nights we've had the lights on and each night she will growl and bark at the poor unsuspecting ficus. Hopefully Coco will eventually get used to the lights and stop terrorizing our Christmas ficus.

December haircut

2007-12-04T22:50:00.000-08:00

Coco's hair has been getting long so we decided to give her a haircut tonight.

Before haircut

After haircut

More random photos from after her haircut

New Photos

2007-12-03T22:47:00.001-08:00

It has been awhile since I've posted photos of Coco. She is almost 9 months old and 5lbs 5 oz. She's grown quite a bit and it surprises me how long she's gotten. She can reach things which I had previously thought out of her reach. O.o She still has a ton of spunk and energy. She'll play with you for as long as you'll let her.

It's been getting a bit cold around here so she's started wearing her sweater. She likes the sweater because it provides a lot of warmth but it hinders her ability to play since she can't move around as fast when she's wearing it.

First Thanksgiving

2007-11-28T11:14:00.001-08:00

Coco had the best Thanksgiving a pup could ask for. She had her first taste of turkey and persimmon. My dad proved to be unable to resist her large puppy dog eyes and couldn't help sneaking her bits of food every now and then. She got quite the treat everytime she'd sit in front of my dad and look up at him hoping for some yummy food. My dad wasn't satsified giving her normal treats; he had to give her turkey or some other human food. Needless to say, my dad has become Coco's favorite person.

Coco roamed freely around my parents house the entire long weekend. She had a lot of fun sitting in my sister's rooms or following people around the house. She loved the long weekend because everyone was home and she always had someone to follow around to see what they were doing -- a definite curious pup.

It was a memorable weekend and Coco thoroughly enjoed herself. She shared in food and lots of quality family time.

Fort Funston

2007-10-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

Coco went to the beach for the first time ever. She loved it and learned that sand is just as fun as grass. She could run around in the sand forever. Coco had the pleasure of sharing her beach time with her favorite playmate: Sadie. We spend the morning at Fort Funston and the two ran around so long that they tired themselves out.

My favorite photo of Coco. She's on a rock looking at her surroundings

Coco and Sadie together

A New Toy: The Carrot

2007-09-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Coco has been teething quite a bit lately. We can see the adult teeth coming in and trying to take over the spot of the baby tooth. Some of Coco's baby teeth are still firmly in her mouth and aren't even the least bit loose. In an effort to help her get rid of her baby teeth we've been giving her hard things to gnaw on.

Yesterday I gave her a carrot to see if she was receptive to it. Previously I had given it to her and she hadn't shown any interest in it. Yesterday, however, she decided that a carrot was the best vegetable on earth and attacked it. She spent an hour gnawing and chewing on it until she finished the entire carrot. She got upset whenever I'd interrupt her carrot feasting and would always go back to it. When I walked into another room, she'd regretfully pause her carrot eating and trot to where I was to see what I was doing. When I returned to the family room, she gleefully raced back to her carrot and resumed munching.

I'm happy to report that Coco has learned how tasty the carrot can be. It is a win-win situation. She gets something to occupy her time, gets something to eat, and chews on something which will help loosen her baby teeth.

First Night Away From Home

2007-08-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Coco went to her spay appointment today. The vet is going to keep her overnight to monitor her progress and make sure she heals after the spay surgery appropriately. Tonight will be her first night away from home. She was so scared when Ming dropped her off at the vet. I hope she doesn't panic too much and still eats the meals she'll receive at the vet's office.

Agility Photos

2007-08-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

Coco loves to jump and run around. We finally caught some photos of her in action going around the backyard. As you can see, she loves to jump and go for her little rubber ball.

Teething Update

2007-08-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Coco's teething has hurt so much that she can't really eat from her food bowl anymore. She'll eat out of our hands but not when the food is in her bowl. She's lost an ounce in a few days just because she hasn't eaten much. We finally figured out the problem was that the food was too hard for her (since many of her teeth have fallen out and she is waiting for the new ones to come in.) The solution was to do what you do for elderly people: make the food softer and easier to chew. With just a few sprinkles of water the kibble instantly became easier to eat for her and she kept craving more food. I fed her her normal ration of food this morning and she kept looking up at the bag of food wanting me to feed her more from it.

I'm glad she's eating again and hopefully won't continue on this downward trend of losing weight -- she isn't that fat.

At 5 months old she weighs 4 lbs 14 oz

C-Town, Partying, and Teeth

2007-08-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Coco had an interesting weekend. She went to San Francisco's Chinatown for the first time. She saw the man that says "happy happy happy" and all the tourists that loiter around Chinatown. She stayed in our arms the entire time since there is no way you'd want any dog to try to walk around the dirty streets of C-town. She got a ton of attention and everyone did double takes just to walk around and see her again.

After Chinatown we, her mommy and daddy, painted the town red and partied until the wee hours of the night. She was a good sport and was awake and lively when we came home from our late night out. When we came home she wanted to play with us and give us lots of little kisses.

Tonight we discovered the reason why Coco has suddenly developed an aversion to eating. She's started teething and has started to lose her baby teeth. We found a baby tooth on the kitchen floor and realized that her adult teeth are coming in. Wonders of wonders ... little Coco is growing up and starting to make the transition from a puppy into an adult.

Weekend of Fun and Progress

2007-07-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

Coco had a weekend full of fun and excitement. Her "weekend" began on Thursday with another of her puppy kindergarten classes. This time she did really well and actually started to socialize more with the other puppies. Instead of instantly running to a human for attention and affection she also started to feel out the other puppies. She started to sniff at the other puppies and start following them around. She did much better at this class with the socialization with other puppies.

On Friday she met several new human friends. They all thought she was adorable and she lapped up the attention. She enjoyed the smells of BBQ and ran around to each person asking for more affection.

On Saturday she met a chihuahua, Bee. The chihuahua and her actually did quite well together (it probably helped that they were the same size.) Coco kept sniffing at Bee and wanting to play with him. When we put her in her crate she'd whine because she wanted to explore more of Bee. When the two of them were put in the crate together they'd take opposite corners of one another and alternate between smelling one another and pretending the other didn't exist. She did very well with him and kept trying to get him to play with her.
Coco and Bee Photos

Sunday was her best day. She met another Maltese, Sadie, and the two of them did really well together. They were like two peas in a pod. They'd constantly follow one another and had a ball. They played just like the bigger dogs do, constantly running around and playing together. They had a terrific morning/afternoon together and were sad one the play date had to end. Even though they'd never met prior to today, they bonded instantly. We left the two of them together when we went out to get lunch and I don't think they missed us at all.
Coco and Sadie Photos

Coco is currently passed out due to all the activity she had today. She ran around more today than she has ever run before. Tomorrow, after a good night's rest, she'll be back to her normal high energy level.

Random July Photos

2007-07-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

More random photos that we took of Coco because she just looked too cute

Puppy Kindergarten

2007-07-12T23:19:00.001-07:00

Yes. There is a such thing as puppy kindergarten and yes, Coco is enrolled in one. Today was the first day of her class. The main goal is to teach the puppy correct socialization habits. The class was split up into small breeds and large breed dogs. In the small breeds section Coco was able to play with 2 havaneses, a maltipoo, and a chihuahua. It turns out she became very timid around all the other dogs and didn't want to play with any of them. :( She became my shadow and followed me around everywhere I went. She'd also seek out affection from any of the other owners but didn't have any interest in playing with the other puppies. *sigh*

Hopefully next week she'll progress a bit further and want to start interacting more with the other dogs. It looks like we'll have to arrange some puppy play dates with our friends who have dogs to help her get used to the fact that there are other dogs out there in the world and that she's got to learn to play with them.

She came back from the class happy and tired, making bath time really easy this time.

As I write this post she is completely passed out and could easily sleep through the night.

Chewing on Pee Pad

2007-07-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Coco has picked up a nasty habit of chewing on her pee pad. In the beginning she'd just move it around in her pen. Now she has realized that she can chew on it and send all of the stuffing (which would soak up her pee) flying all over the place. The past two days I've come home from work only to see her covered completely in white stuffing and bits and pieces of the pee pad everywhere.

It was so hard to try to comb out all of the stuffing from her fur (some had even lodged itself into the fur on her face) that she got an impromptu bath to help get rid of all the pee pad remnants.

Since we don't want her to rip up her pee pad everyday, thereby not giving herself a place to pee when we aren't home we started to hunt for alternative solutions. We gave bitter apple a try and, surprise, surprise, it worked. The bitter apple has proven an effective deterent if sprayed on both sides of the pee pad. The first time I used it I only put it on the top side of the pee pad. Coco quickly realized that only one side of the pee pad tasted awful and proceeded to just tear up the back side of the pee pad (sans bitter apple.) The next time we used it we got smarter and put bitter apple on both sides of the pee pad. Presto. Ming came home today from lunch and saw the pee pad was still in tact. Coco didn't have any stuffing on her and she still had a place to pee. Hallelujah! I am forever indebted to the guy who invented this stuff.

No More Puppy Shots

2007-07-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Coco finished receiving all of her puppy shots. She can now go out and conquer! Well, by conquer it means she can go out into the real world and take walks, etc. since she's been immunized against all of the deadly dog diseases.

She didn't take kindly to the shots (she never does) but held up like a trooper. For the first time she didn't squeal when the needle went in and she got plenty of dog treats to keep her happy.

Coco got plenty of love this weekend since we were home nearly the entire time and played with her as much as possible. She also got some backyard playtime, meaning she was able to freely run around on the lawn, her favorite thing to do.

Coco is becoming a bit of a chunky monkey. At the vet's office she weighed in at 3 lb 15 oz. She is 11 in long and 9 in tall.

4th of July

2007-07-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

July 4th was a very boring day for Coco. We had a friend over and BBQed with him. Ming did work around the house and I prepared for the BBQ. Coco was left just watching us work and not having any time to play with her.

It was also 90+ degrees outside so it was very warm in the house. Here she is bored with nothing to do in the excruciating heat

Recent Photos

2007-06-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

Below are some recent photos of Coco. She is in need of a haircut!

Coco has made her pig an alien. She manged to sever the loop at the top and make it a pair of antennas

Food Coma

2007-06-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Food coma is a common term to describe what happens when you eat too much. After gorging yourself on a lot of food (think during Thanksgiving) all you can do is plop down onto a couch and fall promptly asleep. Puppies also experience food coma.

Over the weekend we started to feed Coco more food since the vet said she wasn't eating enough. When we got her we thought she was a bit "chunky" at 2lbs 13 ounces. On Saturday we went to the vet and she weighed 2lbs 11 ounces -- she had lost 2 ounces in a matter of 2 weeks. After that we decided to give her more food.

Her first meal after coming back from the vet's office was lunch. I gave her a 1/3 of a can of dog food mixed with some dry kibble (more than her normal ration of it.) As always, Coco had a healthy appetite and devoured the food. After eating, however. she was so full that she didn't know what to do with herself. She was too full to want to run around like she normally does. We decided that she didn't look like she wanted to be out and roaming around freely in the house so we put her in her pen. Upon putting her in her pen, she promptly fell asleep.

Coco had eaten so much that all she could do was sleep. She decided that sleep was the best way to deal with food coma.

Coco's lesson: don't eat so much food. Leave some for later
My lesson: don't give Coco too much food else I won't have a puppy to play with for a few hours

Prized possession

2007-06-11T16:06:00.001-07:00

Ever wonder why the cheapest toys are always the best? Coco's favorite toy for a few days was a cardboard paper towel roll. Now, she's moved on to empty plastic water bottles. She will chew on these things for hours! She loves to pick the water bottle up and hold it in her mouth and run off to the living room with her head and tail high up in the air. Maybe I'll surprise her one of these days and leave a lot of water in the bottle ;)

A weekend affair

2007-06-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

Coco had quite the set of experiences this weekend. In summary, she got sick from eating weeds in the lawn, socialized with a toddler, and got a ton of attention from Cindy's family. Saturday was Coco's usual routine. After a long Friday with very little attention (Cindy was at work, and I had an all day meeting and couldn't visit her during my normal lunch hour), I learned just how resourceful she was at escaping. After Wednesday's great escape, we decided to put her pen in the kitchen, close both doors, and then block off the entry way to the dining room with some cardboard boxes. In hindsight, we are idiots. Dogs can chew through cardboard!! When I got home, she was waiting in the foyer and there was a trail of cardboard chewings from the kitchen through the living room. .

With that behind us, Saturday was fairly uneventful. Cindy left Coco in the yard while she did some gardening and she had a grand 'ol time romping around in the lawn and chewing on the many weeds in the lawn. This is pretty normal -- she loves the flowery weeds and will chew on a handful of them before she goes back in the house. But, with Cindy gardening, she had an extended playtime. Not too long after Cindy left for an event, Coco threw up a whole mess of partially digested flower buds in her pen and proceed to spend the next few hours feeling ill and occasionally dry heaving. By the time Cindy got home, she was back in good spirits, but it was a tough lesson.

Sunday was Coco's first quiet night! She actually stayed content and let us sleep in an extra hour or two. Her reward for that was a few hours with a toddler! The two of them were like peas in a pod. Coco followed Maya around the house like a happy puppy and Maya was enthralled by Coco and loved to give her toys to play with. Needless to say, we forsee a bright future between these two. The afternoon was pretty uneventful. I kept her in the pen while I installed a new kitchen faucet, but the evening was filled with activity when Cindy's family arrived. Coco romped around with Cindy's sister for a few hours and got more than her fill of love and attention.

What Do I Look Like?

2007-06-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

I look like this!

I am one smart puppy!

2007-06-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Today I figured out how to get into Daddy's blog account so I could give you my first hand view of my new home. First off, I have to say that I am one super cute and smart pup! Yesterday, I learned to escape from my pen and surprised Mommy and Daddy. I don't think they have any clue of how I did it. I learned that I can use the wall to shimmy up the side of the pen and escape into the dining room. Today, I was able to hop on top of my crate and from there, I have a nice birds-eye view of everything.

I woke up my mommy and surprised her today. Daddy left me in my pen while he went to get ready for work. I worked my way out of the pen and ran to mommy and daddy's room. Mommy woke up and was surprised to see me exploring their room.

There are so many new scents and places to explore. I hope that I get to see Mommy and Daddy more. They seem to be out of the house for most of the day and I get lonely in my pen. At least today they left me some peanut butter and other treats, but I have to figure out how to get it out of this rubbery Kong.

Starting to Settle in

2007-06-06T11:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday marked the beginning of several firsts for Coco:
- first started eating all of her food without needing to be coaxed
- started responding to the treats we bought her (instead of shying away from it)
- started to seem to get the idea that she had to go potty outdoors. Sometimes she tries to hold it until Ming comes home from lunch to take her outdoors.

We went to visit the vet a few days ago and Coco weighed in at 2 lbs 13 oz. She is well on her way to growing up to be a big puppy. Her parents were 6 lbs so her adult weight should be in the same neighborhood -- that is, if we don't overfeed her or under exercise her

First Meeting

2007-05-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

We first met Coco on May 1st along with her litter mates and parents. She had plenty of fun hiding from us in various places. When we finally found her from one of her favorite hiding spots (between the stove and the cabinet) we fell in love and instantly knew she was a new addition to our family.

Due to our hectic schedule we left Coco with her breeder until the beginning of June (when we'd have more time to properly care for her)