Dog's Life

I am pretty spoiled. Not only do I get to lay on the couch, but Jamal will take the blanket from Grace so that I can stay cuddly and warm. Its a dogs life...

Sibling Meetup

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we got to meet two other puppies from Mickey's litter. There was a play date with the former foster family (that adopted two of the puppies), Nike and us.
I forgot my camera so its been a little while to hunt down some pictures to share with you all.

A little round of introductions...

You all are familiar with Mickey. He has short black hair and weighs somewhere around 12 pounds.


Nike is Mickey's friend from previous play dates and hosted this one as well. She has long hair, is mostly black and weighs about 8lbs (at the play date)


DoG is the male puppy with short, mostly white hair and weighed about 14lbs at the play date. Full disclosure, it was DoG that we spotted in the Homeward Trails ad and wanted to adopted initially. Since the foster family had already decided to take him we chose Mickey from the litter.


CaT is the female puppy with long, mostly white hair and weighed only 5 pounds at the play date! That is how much Mickey weighed when we brought him home. Its crazy to think how much Mickey has grown since then. If CaT was a boy the foster dad wanted to name her Captain Jack (from Pirates of the Caribbean) due to the black patch over the eye.

The pups had a good time running around Nike's yard sniffing and playing.

They also pleaded to get inside when the adults took a break from the mosquitoes to watch the Belmont Stakes.
At the end of the fun day it was time to take some group photos. Mickey wasn't in the mood.

"Gee Mickey" the girls sigh with exasperation "when are you going to just grow up and smile for the camera"

Cheese!

Ears

Mickey's ears have taken an odd turn. Most of the time in the last month one ear goes up while the other stays down. You can see that in pictures in past posts.

The floppy ear does sometimes go to full alert as evidenced by this picture taken Saturday, June 20th.

I kindof like his little lop-sidedness. It reminds me of someone raising a single eyebrow as a sign of amusement or like he has a little hat on in a jaunty manner.

Dairy Godmother

In case you haven't heard, the Obama's visited the Dairy Godmother this weekend. This is the yummy yummy custard place in Del Ray. I think I have taken just about every one of our house guests here for some delicious desserts. I even blogged last week about how we picked up a treat for our little Mickey to enjoy post-surgery.

Well, I guess Mickey spread the news of the yummy treat all the way to the White House. Not only did Obama get custard for himself and the girls, but he also picked up some treats to take home to Bo.

Man vs Puppy

Okay Mickey, here is the ball... I know you want it

oooo, throw it throw it!

Come here and get it!

this is interesting...

ggggrrrrr

ggggrrrrr

My, how big you are

March 11, 2009

June 15, 2009

When Mickey stretches out in his kennel he does so long ways. His nose and toes can touch the two opposite ends. Compare this with the first shot when his nose and toes were touching the opposite ends, of the shorter length!

Pain Meds

Mickey was sent home with some pain medication to be given orally once a day.

I used my favorite cloaking device, peanut butter, and prepared the syringe.

He licks along the peanut butter and when he has the syringe in his mouth I dispense the meds.

RIP - Husky

Well, the husky hasn't gone to the toy cemetery just yet, but the little husky toy has been pretty badly beaten in the last few weeks.



Once Mickey had breached the skin and could get at the stuffing, we unstuffed the toy and gave him back the pelt. He now can put his whole face inside the husky and gnaw away from the inside.

Additionally, Mickey likes to destroy the soul of a toy. The squeaker is the heart of most dog toys, but since this wasn't originally a dog toy, he had to find something else that represented the essence of the being.

Now that Mickey has removed both eyes, the ears and the tongue of the Husky toy its only a matter of time before he completes the destruction and sends it to the great toy cemetery by the front door.

Puppy Pop

We went for some frozen custard on Friday night and grabbed a puppy pop treat for Mickey. We gave it to him this weekend as a "welcome home" gift.

We got him the banana flavored pop. They also had pumpkin, but I've got to wonder why they don't make bacon flavored puppy pops...

We served it in the food dish to minimize the sticky mess



sniff sniff

hmmm. I guess one lick won't hurt... I put everything else in my mouth.

wow. that's great!

Furminator

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this tool yet. The FURminator is a pet hair comb that removes more hair than regular brushes. The removed hair is already dead and loose, but if you can remove it with brushing and throw it away, there is less to leave on the carpet, couch and our shirts.

On their website they have lots of pictures like this, showing the amount of hair removed in one session.

All I can think about when I see these pictures is how did they keep the dog sitting nicely in the middle of all that hair? Doesn't it look like it'd be more fun for the dog to run around through it, sending hair floating all over the place?

But I digress...

We are lucky that Mickey is small, and therefore has less hair surface area. Also, his hair is short and he doesn't go through any 'shedding' months (like a Husky for example). However, he does shed and we like to control it as much as possible.

He doesn't mind the FURminator, sometimes I think he likes it (like a little massage), othertimes he tries to get away. He also likes to try to eat the removed fur, so I need to have the garbage can near me when I comb him for immediate disposal.

From the FURminator website:

Your pet's undercoat can become a dense mess of loose, dead hair — and the major source of shedding. The FURminator deShedding Products were developed to grab and remove undercoat hair quickly and easily, without cutting or damaging the coat.

Mickey gives this product two paws up for making him look sleeker and allowing him to get on the couch more often.

Mixing it up

Mickey is a mixed breed. His mom is a Jack Russell Terrier mix and was brought to the shelter pregnant along with a male Lhasa Apso. Judging by the appearance of his sisters, it is a good guess that those are his parents.

+

*not Mickey's mom

When people see us out and about, they usually ask what type of dog Mickey is. Sometimes they try to guess.

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Dachshund + Chihuahua
This isn't a bad guess, since he is a lot longer than he is tall. His radar ears are close to the Chihuahua when he's on full alert.

The worst guess I heard was, 'Is he part Pit Bull?'

Really?

Jamal likes Mickey's harness because he thinks it makes Mickey look wider and stronger across the chest. I didn't realize the effect was so stunning that it made our little 12 pound puppy look like a dog bred to take down a full sized bull.

Mickey's Back!

Well, he came back yesterday but we were just too busy fawning over him to worry about blogging. He slept 95% of the day yesterday.

We have to keep him from the following:
-running
-jumping
-stairs
-long walks
-licking his stitches

He doesn't seem to understand the importance of this list at all. This morning he was in an energetic mood. He wanted to run around and basically be a dog, but I had to try to keep him from following those instincts.

I am debating putting up pictures of his new look. Mostly because it looks really weird/gross right now. I haven't had a boy dog before, so I have no idea if that's how its supposed to look. I hope that when he gets a little bigger the skin will be stretched cover more area instead of looking like a deflated balloon.

Bye Bye Balls

I took Mickey in this morning for his neuter surgery. There wasn't too much this morning that was different from a regular morning other than he wasn't able to eat or drink anything.

After our long walk and saying goodbye to Jamal, I outfitted him with his car harness and we headed out.

He usually naps after his long morning walk, so maybe that's why he looks so tired. Also, the car harness is pretty intense and weighs him down a bit more than his normal leash. Maybe, just maybe he knew what was going to happen? I seriously doubt it. I think I am projecting my own feelings of worry onto him.

He stays with the vet overnight, but they will call this afternoon to let us know how the surgery went.

Going to the Birds

On our walk Wednesday morning we must have gotten too close to a nest on the bike path at the back of the neighborhood. A bird dive bombed Mickey several times, coming so close I think he touched him once or twice! Mickey cowered in fear, confused as to what this thing was and why it was doing this.

I think I know why, and its not just because we were in the bird's territory.

Word has spread that Mickey loves to eat dead baby birds. He has found three so far and eaten one of them. I wised up and pulled the other two out of his mouth before they could be digested. ewww.

So if you see Mickey rolling around in the grass seemingly celebrating the joy of being a puppy in summertime... 9 times out of 10 he's found another dead baby bird and wants to roll in his food before eating it.

Happy Doggy

Hey! I'm a happy little puppy. Usually when Jamal holds me like this I have a very serious face that they call 'the professor'. This time, I'm just so happy to be playing and chewing with my toys (including this guy's fingers) that I couldn't keep a straight face. They tease me that I will lose my balls this week, but I have no idea what they're talking about, I always find my tennis balls and bring them back. They're crazy to think that I might lose them...

Sunday's adventure

On Sunday, Mickey and I took a long walk. We went back to the small dog park and then to the farmer's market. The small dog park was full of big dogs, but Mickey was actually cool with it. He wanted the big guys to chase him around the yard, but unfortunately they were mostly pooped from the hot sun.


We swung through the farmer's market afterwards and Mickey was much better behaved. None of that "I'm not taking another step" nonsense I fought with last time. Maybe the dog park loosened him up and he was more agreeable. He wanted to stop at every booth to say, 'hello' (and maybe to hang out in the shade of their tables).


Once we got home he plopped down in his kennel and didn't want to come back out (probably afraid I was going to drag him on another long walk!). I indulged him by bringing his water dish over so he could cool down and quench his thirst without stepping foot outside of the comfort of his bed.

oh wow, this is refreshing

pretty soon I'll be able to clean out my eye gunk all by myself!

Flashback

On Saturday, we were able to get together with three other littermates for playtime. The foster parents were also there, so we were able to hear some cute puppy stories about the five pups.


The puppies were slated to be put down right after they were born, but a shelter worker hid them and mom in a backroom until they were old enough to be taken by Homeward Trails. I am so thankful for that person, whomever they are.


I was able to get a picture of Mickey when he was about 8 weeks old (we got him at 10 weeks).

Awwww

Laying Out

We have gotten really lucky this week with some nice sunny days.

Mickey loves to sit out in the sun, in spite of the heat and humidity. Jamal warned him on Wednesday that it was very warm and there was a possibility of overheating. Mickey ignored his warning and snoozed in the hot muggy grass...

Only to jump up suddenly wheezing and panting and limping over to the nearest bush to hide under. It took a great deal of effort to drag him out from his little hideout in the mud to bring him into the stairwell where I had cool concrete and a water dish waiting.

After he quenched his thirst, the little imp had a grand ol' time tipping the bowl over! Then he would pant pathetically until I would refill it. After two sips, down went the paw on the side and all the water was now on the concrete...

So ended Mickey's time in the sun...

Canvas Bag = Loads of fun

peek-a-boo

One of the 'toys' Mickey picked out from my room in Naperville was a small canvas bag. He will ignore it for a few days and then out of the blue play with it for over 30 minutes.
He loves to wrap the canvas handles around his snout and chew on it. It is also great for digging at and hiding toys inside.

So, even though I threw away all those swaps from St. Louis Supreme Assembly, Mickey wouldn't let me part with this relic from 1998.

Look out

Mickey is starting to discover the fun of watching the neighborhood. He likes to sit outside and watch for the cars, people, and bugs that go about their lives around him.



While he isn't a big fan of the window seat we put together for him, he has figured out that there are windows behind the comfy couch.

After I called Jamal downstairs to see this, he told me we should keep the window shut to keep Mickey from accidentally falling out.

Photo Shoot

Okay Mickey, we all know how much you like your husky toy. Lets put together a little photo shoot to capture the essence of the husky and you. Sound good?

As a consummate professional, I am ready to go.

Okay, now show me what you got

Work it, work it.

Perfect. Love it.

And I'm spent.

You're not a cat..

On Sunday, Mickey kept asking to go outside (I'm happy he's starting this!) and after he did his business in the grass he would want to lay around in the sun. I think this is fine, but it is pretty boring to be the human holding on to a sun loving dog's leash. Jamal had the idea to give Mickey an area to sun himself inside while looking at the activity outside. We moved the ottoman to the bay window and I put a towel on top to protect it a little better. We plopped Mickey on top of his new throne and went back to watching TV.

Now, we can't see the bay window when we're sitting on the couch but after about five minutes we heard some whining coming from the window.

He had gotten off the ottoman to the window sill and was stuck. (Mickey doesn't jump down from large heights yet). I'm the meanie who made Jamal wait on the rescue until I grabbed this shot for you all.

Farmer's Market

This Sunday, Mickey and I went to the West End Farmer's Market. It is held weekly at the large park that borders our neighborhood.

Mickey was overwhelmed by the number of other dogs and the sound of the Peruvian flute player. I was able to pick up a yummy pastry for breakfast. I wish I could have shopped more but I was either dragging Mickey along (as he practiced passive resistance) or was carrying him (and I didn't want to go near edibles with a dog in hand).

I did convince the little guy that we should at least get documentation of the excursion for you guys.