Puppy Update

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Maggie is the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time. This little girl is special. I haven't quite put my finger on exactly how, but she is. Nichole says she has Angel eyes. I'm not so sure I know what that means, except she says to her it means Maggie is just one of those creatures that loves you with absolutely everything they have. And that she certainly does.

She's nearly as big as Molly now. Although thankfully NOT in weight. Molly has a bad habit of snitching Maggie's left overs and has packed on the pounds something awful, even with a 2 mile walk everyday. I will try to get a new photo of her.

Maggie makes me laugh. She is hilarious. She loves to fetch........and she will fetch anything. We've been working on her frizbie (just realized I've never tried to spell that lol ). I think she'll be the first to enjoy playing with one. She does the most awesome back flips trying to catch it. She also likes her tennis balls.....and if you bounce it really high, she'll do the back flip thing to get it too. Somewhere along the line she discovered a cat toy I'd bought for Bruce that was an angry bird on a stick/string toy. I dunno why keep trying with this cat, he never plays with things. When she was much younger she found it and fell in love. She'd toss it for herself and catch it and roll around with it in her mouth forever. Until she finally wore it totally out. Darrin helped me find her a dog version. You'd thought I'd given her the moon when I took it out of the shopping bag. lol It's so cute.

She has vastly improved on her walks. It used to be she'd do just fine on the leash, then out of the blue she'd start acting nuts, tugging on it, doing back flips. I get that she was trying to play but it drove me crazy. I short leash her when she does it and she'll stop. Now the only thing that triggers it is if Molly stops to do her business. No clue why. And every once in a great while she'll up and trying to wrestle with Molly while we're walking. That's just the kid in her......and Molly looks at her like she's off her nut. And she feels sooooo privileged to get to walk with Rowdy!! You can see it in her expression. lol

Maggie does indeed love just about everyone she comes in contact with whether they have wings, 4 legs, or 2 legs. We don't run into as many folks on our walks now that temps are cooling but most want to stop and pet her and remark at how sweet she is. I was getting a bit worried that this might affect her guarding the house.........but no. There are people she will not allow near her or me or Travis. She'll growl and stand in front of us. I was much relieved to see she is able to "read" people like Molly can. (and Molly has never been wrong either)

Maggie seems to know who the family is. I mean that they're family, not just people who come to visit. I say this because she greets them with the same all out enthusiasm as she does me and Travis. This evidently even includes extended family. When my Mom, my sis, her daughter, and 2 granddaughters (4 & 2) came to visit I thought their might be an issue. It was raining and there was no way that Maggie could stay in the yard if she couldn't calm down. And I wouldn't consider putting her into the crate all day. It's her home. But Nichole and family were coming down, easy child and the boys were coming over and heck she nearly pops out of her skin when they come, let alone new people too. Know what I mean?? Nichole came first......and she brought along the little boy she watches. When they come Maggie doesn't have to be separated until she calms. Aubrey and Oliver adore her and are not the least bit intimidated by her. When Mom came I did put her in the kitchen with the child gate until she calmed a bit, then brought her out with the leash. Maggie reacted the same way with Mom, my sis, my neice and her girls the same way she does with us. And they all just could not get enough of her. Mom fell in love and kept saying what a sweet love puppy she was. Sis and niece were fawning all over her telling me how special she is. I'm just standing there with my mouth open thinking really?? (I mean it was sort of odd) But it made for a very nice visit and Maggie got oodles of affection/attention and only had to go into her crate when we ate dinner. :) She also got to show off her "tricks".

Maggie has a cute newish thing that really just cracks me up. I rarely drive these days. If I need to go somewhere, odds are easy child does too, so she drives and I ride along. Well, when easy child pulls into the driveway, she honks to let me know she's here. Maggie now runs into her crate and waits for her goody when she hears easy child honk. LOL She really cracked me up the other day when we were going out and I put on jeans and a sort of nice shirt, fixed my hair a bit....nothing fancy........and when I walked into the room, she goes into her crate. :rofl: So I asked her if that was her way of telling me I tend to dress like a bum around the house? LOL

What is really nice, though, is Molly and Rowdy really seem to enjoy Maggie too. Rowdy hasn't played in years, but he doesn't seem to mind this wiggly gangly puppy hopping over him in her excitement when she out in the yard. Molly really has fun playing with Maggie. But I know my neighbors must thing they hate each other and fight all the time. lol Maggie cleans Molly's ears. If Molly makes a strange sound or seems to be coughing more than normal, Maggie checks on her and stays with her long enough to be sure she's ok. And a miracle has happened! Bruce likes Maggie too!

And here is the kicker. Usually pets are "out of sight, out of mind" with Travis. But Travis comes down each day to spend some time with Maggie.....he also helps me walk the dogs everyday. He took good care of the dogs while I was at Mom's that weekend. And one evening easy child and I were getting back late from shopping and I was trying to call Travis on the cell so he could help carry in stuff. It was walk time. He didn't answer. We passed him on the street.......he was walking the girls! :)

Maggie is finally getting the hang of Stay. It's not easy to teach her because it's just me and her. But she's finally starting to get it. AND......no more accidents. (thank heaven!)

Now I know I'm not the only one with a puppy to brag about. Janet how is your little girl? And I wanna hear about a certain cute lil cocker spaniel pup too!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Abby is doing really well but something happened last night...she had a pee accident in the house which is very uncommon for her. And it was bad because she did it right in the middle of the family room when Tony was home! She wasnt feeling well though because I had put her outside about 7pm for her water time and figured she would come back in when Tony got home because that would give her plenty of time to get it out of her system. He didnt get home until almost 9. When she came in she headed straight for the couch to lay down and when Tony felt her nose it was warm and not cold and wet. She had been perfectly fine all day though.

Abby is my special baby though. I probably should have know considering her mom. She seems to have a delicate system and I cant feed her normal dog food. She cant have anything with corn or wheat in it. Makes for some expensive feeding...lol. I did find one bag that the grocery store sells called Purina One Naturals that has nothing bad in it and she loves it. Tony on the other hand thinks we are feeding her a more expensive diet than we eat! Might be right...I eat tuna and canned sausages...lol. He gripes but buys it...lmao. He learned the hard way about what happens when he lets her have wheat. He gave her some table scraps that included some biscuits and she passed the worst gas for hours...mostly all near him! Because of the diet she is on and her actual type of fur, she is so soft she feels almost like velvet, especially on her face.

She also loves her toys. I have bought her this kong type toy that I fill with peanut butter and she adores it. She still loves her stuffed dolls that either crinkle or make squeaky noises too and she will drag them all over the house. And bones? OMG...she loves bones! Real ones. I buy her a new one at least every two weeks. I have to buy two though...one for her and one for Buddy or they fight over them. Speaking of her and Buddy. You would never believe they arent brother and sister or that Buddy is 5lbs to her about 30-35 lbs. They chase each other and tumble and wrestle together like they are fighting but they arent, its all play. Noisy but play. I came home the other day and they had knocked a picture on the wall to where it was crooked...lmao. They must have been flying.

They are both fierce guard dogs. I have a front window that they have worked the curtain aside so they can see out of and if someone comes up in the yard, they get on their front legs, press their faces to that window and just set up the worst ruckus you have ever heard in your life. If she stands fully up on her back legs she is about up to my boobs now. I figure fully grown she is going to be somewhere in the range of about 70 pounds or so..maybe more. She goes into get spayed next Monday..the 15th. I am taking her and Ziva. No puppies for these girls.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Aww. I wanna see a picture of her if you can Janet!

I think Maggie is much more sensitive to the cheaper brands of dog food, or the ingredients too. She loves kibbles n bits and it's the only food I can get her to eat well and consistently , but it doesn't love her very much. I tried to keep her on pedigree puppy but only way I can do that is to keep putting a can of the pedigree dog food in it. She won't touch puppy chow with or without can food. They must have done something to the formula.

I have recipes for making homemade dog food that can be canned. Cost is supposed to be a bit more than normal dry food but less than can food. I'm going to try to make some up for them here in the near future and see how they do with it. I just can't afford to buy the expensive organic stuff all the time. And I can make it as organic for them as possible while keeping out the stuff they can't digest well such as the corn. The recipe is rice based, but I can substitute rolled oats for the rice if it's too constipating for them. You can serve it with a good dry brand to make sure it's filling enough and to stretch it longer too. Best of all, next year I can grow many of the ingredients myself and bring the cost down more.

I have to do something though, because Maggie's gas is worse than Molly's and I don't think I've ever seen a normal BM from her. (and Molly's gas will run you right out of the house) I've tried 3-4 brands of good dog food with no better results. And like I said, I can't afford the organic stuff long term.

You reminded me to make her appointment to be spayed though. I was going to do it last week but my little trip to the hospital has thrown me way off stride.
 

Jody

Active Member
Oh my they both sound adorable. How old are Abby and Maggie? Nyla is 5 months and its going slow on the potty training. She's as cute as can be but she is a handful. She also does something that is completely gross. She drinks her water and after she does she kind of vomits it back up. It kind of slimy. yuck. I tried putting just a small amount in her bowl to see if she would do it but yep she still does it. She is full of energy, and I love her, i just wish she'd calm down a little and let me snuggle with her. She loves her some Broady though and he loves playing with her. I do think she is going to be the boss.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Jody, I'd love to see updated photos of Nyla too. :)

Maggie will be 6 months old in a week. EEK! When did that happen?? Geez, dogs are like babies........that babyhood sure doesn't last very long. :(
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Abby (and her sister Ziva who lives with Uncle Cory) were born on 3/27 which makes them just turned 6 months old on 9/27. Ziva didnt get the tummy issues Abby has...go figure.

Even with Abby on this $24 a bag dog food her stools still arent like normal. I could never walk her and pick up her poop. It just doesnt have a shape..lol. Makes it easier on my lawn because when it rains, it just auto cleans it.

I have a new picture of Abby and I will change my avatar to it so you can see her. It will take me a bit though because I have to get it off my phone and I cant remember where I put my phone!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Janet she is such a beauty!

I'm going to try to snap one of Maggie today. You shouldn't have worried about the trash can............Maggie is a paper freak, if it's paper she shreds it. Before I snap her picture I've got to go around picking up the zillion little pieces of paper from her latest bout. I dunno where she got it from but it doesn't take much.......I've seen her take a 4 inch piece and shred it into bits all over the room. Grand fun she thinks. omg lol
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Funniest thing about Abby...she can open my front door so we have to keep it locked. LOL. I have one of those door knobs on my front door that is a handle instead of a round knob and it never occurred to me that she would ever figure out how to open the door but she did. You have to push the handle down and then push the door in at the same time but she has figured out how to do it! We hear her scratching at the front door and eventually if we dont let her in she will try the handle to see if its locked or not. LOL
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Well, some dogs take longer than others to be consistent. And it's not like you're in the physical shape to scoop her up and literally run her out when she's about to do it on the floor either. To help get Maggie consistent, she gets a small piece of bacon strips or a liver snack each and every time she goes, without fail. I ran out once.......I won't let that happen again. It was an accident a day until I went to the store. (didn't help the boys were here too) I did the same thing with Molly because being a kid Nichole wasn't super consistent about taking her out right when she needed to go. Usually around 2 yrs I can ease them out of needing the treat as reinforcement by the very latest. If I don't have young kids around interfering with the process it's usually around 3 months. But young kids are distracting. lol My last 3 month dog was I think Holly. Betsy did superb 90 percent of the time from 5 wk on, but again Nichole wasn't always consistent about getting her out. Shoot, she still isn't......and has had to clean up a few accidents lately. Now she's back to the treat and the egg timer (mostly for her) and accidents have stopped. Poor Betsy has done two moves in a very short time from for a dog who was born and raised in the same house for 6 yrs. It threw her for a while.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Abby is pretty good about #2 if she can help it. We had to stop putting her in her kennel because it seemed like invariably she would have an accident in it. I dont know why she did that at night but it just seemed like she did. We have accidently left her inside some nights ( or someone forgets to lock the door and she lets herself in...lol) and she does fine. We still put her outside most nights but that will most likely change when the weather gets cold. Her main issue is peeing. I always give her water outside and I leave her there for at least two hours after I give her water. Then if she has done her extreme playing routine with Buddy, I take her back outside to have more water and another at least hour and a half to two hours of down time. She sometimes still pees. Not every day or she just wouldnt get to come in.

We have taught her some basic manners. Down, stay, dont touch, sit. She hates the leash though. She hates it when I have to change her collar. It seems like every week I have to take it off and make it bigger because she is growing so fast. Tony has to hold her down for me to clip her nails. I bought one of those stupid pedi things that rotate but she hates it so I just clip them with nail clippers.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Houng Dog, I love dog stories! So cute.

Janet, that does not sound normal at all. She seems to have a virus. How is she today?
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Well she is a happy dog if she has a virus. She plays like all get out tearing through the house with Buddy. Her nose is also cold and wet. She does go to the vet on Monday to get fixed so I am going to ask them about this. When she was a little bitty puppy I had them on canned Chicken Soup for Puppies but when they got older and I had two fairly large growing pups I had to get them Puppy Chow by Purina. I assumed they were doing okay on that because they were outside because Tony wouldnt let me have two puppies in the house for more than a little bit. They were REALLY active together. LOL. Once we got rid of Ziva to Cory he said we could bring Abby inside. She did really well for about 2 weeks but then one night she had an accident in her pen. First one was she peed and we just assumed one of us had let her have water too close to bedtime. Next time she pooped and it was a mess. All over the place and she was just miserable. We cleaned it up and wormed her thinking that might be it. I also changed her food to one without any corn or wheat. She has now been on that for just about a month now. I have heard it takes 28 days to complete that change. She had another accident in her pen. Now we just got rid of the pen but we can see her take a dump in the yard and it looks just like what we were trying to solve. Now I know for sure she has trouble with gluten because Tony made the mistake of giving her some leftovers that had biscuits in it and omg...she passed the most awful smelling gas you can even imagine. And it didnt take long for that gas to start...lol. It would have peeled paint except most of our house has wallpaper!
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Ew! Well, it sounds like you have gotten closer to a solution, experimenting with-her food.
And if her nose is wet now, that's a very good sign.
Let us know what the vet says on Mon.
 
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