New Puppies!

No, our family is not getting a new puppy. Heaven forbid.

But Carmen at Gryphon Mals has a new litter of Malamutes that are too precious not to share with you. There are four new puppies - two girls and two boys.



Mommy Amore is very excited to have new puppies to take care of - she's a very good momma.



And as you may or may not know...I am a big fan of shelter dogs but that does not mean I'm 100% against breeding. Carmen is a RESPONSIBLE breeder, which is the key. She does not do this for the money and is not a "back yard" breeder. All her dogs are genetically tested if they are going to breed and of course only bred if they have the appropriate temperament and character. She's very picky about who gets one of her lovely dogs and many of her dogs are truly "working" dogs - pulling sleds and doing shows.

Trooper is one of Carmen's dogs and as a responsible breeder she's already told us that if we had any issues with him and the baby that he is welcome back at her farm anytime.

Congratulations Carmen!!!

Having a Good Time

My dogs are such crazies sometimes. Although it's not always their fault.

The day after Christmas we had a birthday party to attend...we left the house around 3 p.m.

Dinner for doggies is at 4 p.m. and they rarely let us go past that time.

We did not make it home until after 8 p.m.

Can you guess what happened? :)

An entire bottle of whiskey was broken on the kitchen floor...we think they knocked it over getting to the bread and bagels on the kitchen counter. Which they ate in their entirety.

The living room was scattered with plastic and paper from the box of chocolates they had opened and eaten.

It's our fault, we know. We also know that we are lucky to have such big dogs who have fairly tough stomachs because between the alcohol and the chocolate most dogs would have been on their way to the emergency room.

Yesterday morning they also managed to get a hold of more chocolates that were on the counter. We're slow learners apparently.

The bread and bagels are now on top of the refrigerator.

$550 Later

Phew...that was one expensive vetrinary appointment, though we have had worse. Three of the four dogs needed updates on their vaccines and one, Kodiak, needed to be checked out for some hair loss issues.

I love our vet, but boy it's painful when the bill comes.

We did find out though that Quinn has a bladder infection!!! No wonder she pees all over everything all the time. So we have medication for her and hopefully that will help the frequency and urgency.

Kodiak is losing hair. :( The vet didn't think it was just a reaction to a new collar we'd gotten him so he's doing blood work. He also checked for mites, and thankfully there were none. He's thinking that Kodiak either has a Thyroid problem or Propecia (spelling?) ... I think that's what he said.

I see more bills in our near future.

Great Tag Line

Isn't the internet amazing? I meet so many incredible people, and so many wonderful animal lovers. On Etsy I met a really cool woman named Kathy who owns her own pet service and her website just had me cracking me up.

Her tag line is ... "I love them, if you have to leave them." Isn't that cute?!? I love the idea of a Pet Nanny who comes to your home to take care of your animals so they don't have to be somewhere strange. Our dogs didn't seem to mind being boarded when I was in labor and recovery, but I know hubby hated it the whole time and even when I was recovering and could barely stand up he was asking if he could go get them. *grin* He's a goof.

Kathy is in Michigan, a bit too far away for us. But maybe you know someone in that area who needs assistance. I bet Kathy would be glad to help!

Lower Rent for Doggy Fosters

Well, this is a new one. I hadn't heard of anyone offering cheaper rent for those willing to foster dogs but an offer has come across my e-mail for exactly that.

Ginger's Pet Rescue has a home available for rent:

Two Bedroom, One Bath, huge double lot back yard 6 ft fence located in the Shoreline (Washington) area.

There will be no last month rent or damage required and lower rent in exchange for fostering 4-6 small dogs at a time or when we have any urgent dogs that need a place to stay for a few days.

There is also a garage apart from the house that we can make into a place for the dogs to play in as well.

If you are interested or know anyone who may be ~ * please email me at xxxx

How cool is that?

If you know anyone who might be interested leave a comment and I'll send you the e-mail address. Or you can visit Ginger's Pet Rescue website.

Fun Times!

Timber got to go to daycare yesterday. It had been over two months since the dogs were boarded and he'd only gotten to go one time since then.

It was quite an experience since I had to drop him off and I had the baby who was going to daycare as well.

I have a Rav4 and there isn't exactly a lot of room for a dog and a baby in a car seat. But we had an old 'gate' like thing that we used to use in our former car - a Jeep Grand Cherokee - which fit perfectly in the back of my car. So Timber got to ride in the very back for the first time ever. It was pretty funny trying to get him in there since he'd never entered my car from the very back before. And I had to make sure that his tail was out of the way before I closed the door. Poor guy was a little confused at first.

But he did absolutely perfect! He didn't cry or bark and he didn't try to crawl through the gate thing (something I was actually worried about since the very top has an opening that he *could* get through if he tried).

Of course, he was his typical crazy self once we actually got to daycare. He is SO flippin' strong!

I picked him up around 6 p.m. and he sure does pull a lot less hard when he's super tired. =) After he ate his dinner he laid down at my feet and promptly fell asleep.

A tired dog is a wonderful dog!

So Much for That

A long time ago I bought a pack of doggy diapers for Quinn, thinking it would be easier than just letting her "leak" all over the place. I bought a Medium or Large and they were nowhere near big enough.

This weekend I decided to try again, but this time I bought an XL, which is supposedly big enough for dogs up to 80+ pounds.

Ha! Yeah right! Nowhere near big enough. Hubby got one over her tail but couldn't get the tabs even close to closed.

She's fat, but good grief...she's not 80 pounds fat. They should make diapers that will fit big dogs. What if Trooper needs them someday? He's even bigger!

So that's another $20 bucks down the toilet (so to speak). We'll keep using the puppy pads on the kitchen floor. She's a very good girl and tries very hard to only go potty on the pads. She's so smart.

She is also still quite spunky. I was feeding the dogs the other day and all of a sudden hear a fight start. It was QUINN and Trooper! I'm 99.9% positive that she started it because he was trying to lick out her bowl, which he always does, but she probably wasn't done. She was totally snarling...lips fully back and teeth barred. We haven't seen her like that in a long time.

I pulled Trooper off of her (of course he was on top and defending himself, even against his sissy) and separated them. That's only the second or third time they've gotten into it. The first was when he was a little puppy and tried to steal her food. She drew blood that time! :) This time there was no blood. (Oh, I remember the second time...a few weeks or months ago, also over food, and Quinn got a little cut above her eye.)

Trooper really is amazingly reserved in his fights. He could easily kill any of the other doggies and yet he rarely draws a drop of blood.

Just another reminder that we have to be extremely vigilent in making sure all food is kept away from the dogs or keep the dogs separated when food is present. Timber and Trooper got into a fight this weekend in the garage and hubby said it was over the bags of dog food we store there. :(

Most of the time...I'd say 95% of the time, all four dogs get along very well. It's the other 5% that stress me out and make me want to send Trooper to Seattle to his auntie.

Dogs are Weird

One second Trooper and Timber are in an all out brawl that sounds like they are killing each other and the next they are playing like best friends.

There have been several additional fights since Trooper attacked Timber when we brought the baby home. We've tried to watch them carefully and not give them excuses to fight, but it doesn' seem to take much.

The other week I woke up around 4 a.m. to horrible sounds coming from the kitchen where Trooper had Timber around the throat...daddy was trying to kick them apart with the baby in his arms. *sigh*

I had no glasses on, no shoes, and didn't even think. I reached down and grabbed my 90 pound Malamute by the scruff of the neck and yanked him back and away. Pretty stupid, but it worked. (Neither dog had a scratch ... no blood whatsoever ... as bad as it looked like Trooper wanted to kill Timber, he obviously was holding back, which is a scary thought.)

And I've had to do that same move again, just yesterday. Except this time Trooper had Quinn pinned to the ground...and I honestly don't think he started it that time. Quinn has a tendency to growl and bark at the other dogs when they get too close to something she values and it was dinner time. I think that Trooper simply responded back in kind. Again, no scratches and no blood. But Quinn is too old for that kind of activity.

All the dogs seem to be doing fine this morning...playing together in the cold weather. But it's obvious that we have a situation here that is volatile and unsafe for an infant. Yet another reason why I make T&T stay in the kitchen when I have the baby by myself in the living room. I will not sacrifice his safety.

I love my dogs and I want them to be happy...we know that they need more exercise and are trying to figure out a way to get that for them. I walked Trooper the other day - just the two of us - and his aunt took him for a super long walk this last weekend. Timber mostly just needs his daddy time...he's such a love bug and just glues himself to daddy's side when he can.

Babies sure do change things dramatically. :)