rascalsmom

Robin, that is so nice. What a great way to always have Iker with you.

She is very beautiful, and looks like my Phoebe's twin! Even down to that white spot on her nose, and the neck being white, and toes...except that Phoebe had to have the white tip of her tail amputated last year.... And of course at 8 years old, Phoebe's face has greyed considerably. I've had three dark brindle females, I obviously have a weak spot for them.

WOW, that could change a lot of dogs' lives! Having had a corn dog, I would have done ANYTHING to make those evil corns go away....it's too late for Jack, but I hope others will try this!

I am so very sorry, Robin. He was blessed to have found you, and you him.

Hm....we actually have chickens, so I have pine shavings already....that might work. Now to persuade Phoebe to do her business NEAR the house rather than in the furthest corner of the yard.....[The chickens are their own problems recently--frozen water because the lightbulb in our 'cookie tin water heater' burned out; frostbite on the combs; trying to get out there to gather the eggs before they freeze....I am having all SORTS of fun today!] I used to have quite the supply of baby/toddler socks, back when I had the other dogs; I used them many times for injuries on feet. May have to run to the dollar store. Fortunately this cold snap should be over sometime tomorrow.....but the problem of today and this evening remains.

Like a lot of the country, we are having very cold weather. This morning it is -5, which I realize is balmy compared to you folks in the midwest! But this is very cold for us (Western PA). So I've been putting Phoebe's coat on her when she goes out to do her business, and she's been fine, until this morning (-5). She did her thing, but on her way back to the house she started limping, and didn't even make it back the whole way till she stopped completely, lifting her front paws, and CRYING. It was awful! Fortunately my DD was just leaving for work, and she rescued Phoebe by picking her up and carrying her the rest of the way to the house. Good thing, since it would have taken me a few minutes to even get boots/coat on. So what can I do to protect her paws? I did have some booties, but after my Jack died, I gave them all to our adoption group. I am afraid she will refuse to go outside after that experience. Anyone have any suggestions? And how do you cope with this when you live where it's even COLDER??

Pam, I never meant to imply that you wouldnt seek proper treatment for him....I know you would do anything for a dog in need. Was just giving my experience. I hope he is feeling better very soon!

Sounds to me like he needs to have surgery to remove the stone. I had a cat who had bladder stones and while he did not pee blood, when he peed it looked like it was coming out in a spray rather than a stream. I would get that little one to the vet for surgery. Once the stones are gone the diet should maintain his health. Right now we have a cat who was blocked a few months ago (not the same cat as the first one I mentioned) and he is on a strict diet now, after being catheterized to get unblocked. But your pups stone(s) sounds like it is beyond cathing.

Congratulations! They are both beautiful and penguin doesnt look *that* fat in those pics. How wonderful for them to have landed with you!

Thank you! Fixed!

The "View New Content" button hasn't worked me for quite awhile. Is this my error somehow? I miss being able to go just to the new content.

I got the finger cots today. I found some that were cotton and elastic as opposed to vinyl, but they aren't going to work. They just aren't big enough around. I may give it a shot, but I doubt they'll work, as they are about big enough for my pinky finger. May look into pipe insulation.

Oh it would be another layer. Thinking itd hold the nonstick pad in place till I wrapped the cotton padding and vet wrap around it and got that taped in place. Im sure itd never stay in place without all that!

About a month ago, we had a mishap with Phoebe. Her tail was caught in the window of our truck, as DH was putting the window up. Needless to say, much screaming ensued (from Phoebe and from me as well!), and to make a long story short, she had to have the tip of her tail amputated. Since then, we've kept it bandaged, and have done some laser treatments, as well as using the Assisi Loop to stimulate healing. I know this could be a lengthy process. Of course, changing the bandage is always a challenge, since I'm trying to put a square piece of nonstick gauze over the end of her tail. So far, we've done it, though it's not pretty. My question is this--has anyone used finger cots in a bandaged tail tip? To me, they look like a little 'condom', and I'm wondering if this might help to hold the non-stick pad in place. Anyone?

We did laser and Assisi loop on our cats torn knee ligament...were able to avoid surgery. We are presently using the same regimen on phoebe, who had the last few inches of her rail amputated recently due to an injury. We are less than two weeks from the injury and at her appointment six days ago they said it couldnt look better. She goes again tomorrow for a laser treatment and bandage change.

I had the same problem when we first got Phoebe (coming up on five years ago already!). One thing to try and teach is "LOOK". This is looking at YOU. Some dogs master it really fast, others take longer. Phoebe got it pretty quickly with the help of itty bitty milkbones, as she will do anything for food. I used to carry a pocket full of them when I'd walk her, then when a dog was approaching I'd tell her "LOOK", and when she looked at me she got a treat. Great distraction from the other dog, which is not nearly as interesting as FOOD. If it got bad, I would instantly stop, and we would not move an inch until she stopped paying attention to the other dog. Or we'd turn and go the other way. In any case, the walk would stop, or reverse, and sometimes that's all it took for her to realize that carrying on about another dog just wasn't worth it. SHe was only two when we got her, and now she's seven--so she's settled in to home life and calmed down a lot. She will even now give the occasional whine when a dog passes on the other side of the street, but it's waaaaay better than it used to be.

Ordered another one for Phoebe. Finally going to get rid of the original dog bed we got in 2001 when we adopted our first grey. The cover is disintegrating every time I wash it. It's been a good run! 17 years and 5 dogs....not bad.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Nancy.

I'm with Robin on this one. Take your dog there when there are no other dogs. He can enjoy his playtime and be safe at the same time. I was watching two neighbor dogs (different families) playing yesterday. The young husky mix was jumping all over the golden retriever who is about 6 years old. I commented to my dh that I could not imagine Phoebe tolerating that! Needless to say, Phoebe doesn't really "socialize" with the neighbor dogs. I often wish she had greyhound friends to walk and hang out with (like my previous greyhounds had), but that's not the case.

Phoebe is seven years old today

So sorry about Mia---she was my Phoebe's mama. How old was she?

Lovely Loca. Always fondly (if somewhat shockingly ) remembered.

Teach him to stay out of the kitchen. I use a can like greysmom suggested, only we shake the can if Phoebe persists in being where she isn't supposed to be. She hates it, and all I need to do now is say, "can?" and she removes herself. Reaching for a can--any can, not the one with pennies in it, it can even be full of soda or beer or whatever--will have the same effect. If you aren't in the room, however, that won't work, so as others have said, you need to put things out of his reach--retrain the humans a bit.

I also have a VERY food-motivated dog. She would regularly raid the kitchen trash can, until we came up with a way to outwit her...we are lucky that our trash is in a pull-out drawer, with a small drawer above--we simply put a hair tie or a heavy rubber band around both knobs. We've also switched the trash/recycle positions within that trash drawer, so the trash is in the back thereby making it harder for her to get at it if the drawers are banded together. Of course if there is extremely enticing trash, we simply empty it. No need to make it more tempting. Phoebe also was one to be underfoot in the kitchen. We started with the command "OUT", and showing her that it means to be off the kitchen floor and on the living room carpet. We reinforced this with a soda can with a few pennies in it--this was originally a tool we used to interrupt the cat when he was doing something naughty, just give the can a shake, but we noticed that Phoebe was also scared/startled by it, so we really use it more for her now. In fact, all I need to do now is say to her, "do you want me to get the can?", or even just, "can", and she immediately removes herself from the kitchen. She's a smart cookie! You can also search the forums for a video that Krissy posted, about teaching your dog to "wait" when giving treats. It's kind of a game, and it really works! The good thing about food motivated dogs is that they CAN be so easily trained when food is the reward! Now Phoebe understands completely what "wait" means, and when I give her a treat, I tell her to go to her bed, then "down", then I put the treat between her front paws and say "wait". She waits! In fact she will sometimes even drop the treat if she's picked it up and you tell her wait again. Plenty of drool involved, but she has really learned a lot.

This sounds like something we need to see pictures of!