Happy Birthday!

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

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

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

Yesterday I weighed both Coco and Sadie.

Coco - 5 lb 7 oz
Sadie - 12.6 lb

Is No Place Sacred?

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

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!

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 :)