Cooper Goes Home

Cooper & His Forever Family We had a busy day. Sparky was visiting this morning with his humans and now they are off to Montreal. They should have arrived at home by now.

He was delightful to have around. You should have seen him playing with Cooper, Spicey and Truffie the mad race game.

Then Cooper was off this morning with his humans. It was bittersweet. I know I will see him tonight so its not a real goodbye but still the house is in a funk with Cooper and Sparky gone.

It's a strange funk that goes over the group as if to say where's the fun? Not that they can't create their own fun but always nice to have different fun with visitors and all.

Sparky After His BathSparky, Cooper, Logan, Rox and Panda got a bath today - oh boy. Am I ready for class or what! Now to change out of these dog grooming clothes.

I hope Cooper had a fabulous day. With all this rain its not the best timing to go home but it is what it is. I look forward to seeing him again tonight.

Did you practice?

Shoshi Cleaned Up

 Shoshi was unabled to be clean due to her surgery until she was healed. She was needing a bath at that time so you can imagine the condition she was in.

Sure I brushed and combed her but dirty hair simply mats by touch so when I washed I had to take the thinning shears and cut into those spots and pull it apart. It took me 2 hours to do her but I am particular about finding anything and I want to be careful not to hurt her when pulling a mat apart. It's rare we get any as I do brush and clean them up all the time but this was special circumstances.

I am telling you this cause with hair like Shoshi's you can cut into the knot with thinning shears and pull the knot apart and not see it.

She may have the coat from hell but it's also easy to cut into it and not see where you did as she has that electrified look - paw in the socket look. Her hair has taught me so many techniques on how to demat or coat a cuticle etc.

Them after using a tightly tined comb I went through her emtire coat making sure I didn't miss a thing. I cleaned her pads, her tummy, her ears and them she went out in the rain and came in as a mud ball.

They all came in as a mud ball. I can't win....

Sparky & Envy

We are still working on a name for the little one but Sparky is warming up to these little things. It's nice to watch it all unfold.

Today I managed to brush all the dogs. Tomorrow I wash a couple and play catchup and tonight I get to snuggle in bed with the dawgs.

How can it get better than that?

Sparky's Visiting

I think Abigail, Treasure and the rest of the gang is going to enjoy his visit. (they did indeed). I hope his parents don't mind me being half asleep.

Will fill you in later...

Well Sparky and his parents came but I have no energy to do photos. I will try to get to it when things calm down.

Sparky's parents are wonderful and it was great to see them. Sparky has been having a grand time but I think he thinks Treasure's pups are curious things that he is trying to figure out.

Recall Class

 Ah thanks goes to Nadia and to Lynda for sending me photos so I can see what happened in recall to a point. I would love to hear what everyone thought of the class. It's painful to have missed so much.:-(

It looks like Nathan was praying to the dawg gods he remembered what to do or something. hahahahaha

He got home late so I got oh an hour sleep and then I was up for the night. Today I managed to sleep from 8am till 2pm.

We are getting semi back to normal. I figure by Monday ewr may be in great shape or conditioned.

Missing My Dawgs

Yes, I take turns snuggling, grooming, playing but I am not sleeping with the dawgs.

I miss Truff snuggling up next to me.

He is turning out to be my dawg.

Fiona is also over the moon in love with me. Why? I give her massages and lots of love and she knows I am taking care of her pups and I know that is noticed.

I have to say I really do not like the all night shift. But I am the one that supplements for the most part so I get to miss the rest. <sigh>

Oh well, this too shall pass.

Times Are Changing

Truth be known I rather like the haphazard look of hair flying every which way and leaves stuck and well messy but I do like knot free.

So how do you combine such?

Just let them play and brush each day.

Who looks the messiest here? Certainly not Cooper but he's had a bath. :-)

In less than a week Cooper who now knows his new name will be going to his forever home.

We will miss him and I gather Truffie and Spice will too.

It just means they will have to come to visit.

Bath & Stuff

This was Panda after her bath. Her and Logan looked quite good. Logan's hair has fullness these days and so does the Panda.

But did they stay that way? Nah

Wait till the snow comes. What's worse - dirt or that wet stuff? Time will tell!

Healing

 Shoshi needs a bath in the worse way. But her face has to heal completely so maybe by weeks end. Let's see how much emergy I have.

The longer I wait, the bigger the job.

Everyone got brushed, played with and snuggled with.

It was me that got a 3 minute shower. We do have our priorities. Yes, 3 minutes was long enough but at times its nice to have it longer!

Halloween Stylin'

This is Cody all dressed up for Halloween!

This is Meeko all dressed up for Halloween.

Daisy is not one of ours. But she hangs out here and plays with our gang at times. So, I included the cutie!

Crabbie

Can dogs get moody? Yes! Kat and Treaasure was on a roll today. It was as if they just was unhappy about everything. Oh they snapped out of it but gad isn't it enough to have humans crabby and here you have dawgs that are?

The difference is the dawgs just want to complain to each other and not necessarily to you but humans...well you know what happens when they are crabby.

We actually gave Treasure and Kat a time out and now they are back to normal. It is rare but yeah talk to the paw I just want to snooze and be left alone can happen. Don't let them get away with being grumpy or it will validate that this behavior is okay and it ISN'T!

Crisp!!

 The gang had a lot of play outside today. It was brisk and good weather to play retreive.

Our neighbours to the south of us are dealing with all sorts of white stuff. We have been blessed with just a tad bit of crisp weather. Time to get the waterpots in and the cover of the sunshade.

Here's to a no snowblower winter yet again.

Okay, stop the whining. It's bound to be fun!

PS: Shoshi is doing much better than yesterday!

Shoshi Update

Shoshi gets picked up today and gets to dine on wet food.

They say she is fine. The tooth was difficult to get out so she will be sore. She will have pain pills. The tooth broke into pieces but they managed to get it all out. The infection was still there despite a weeks worth of meds. She will have another 2 weeks of meds but no more pain.

This is our very first dog in all my life that had to have an extraction on adult teeth.

When you looked at the tooth you really couldn't see it. The crack was a hairline but just enough to let bacteria in.

Due to the difficulty she has to stay on iv for a tad longer than we expected to help get the anesthesia out of her system. But she is quiet and coming home soon.

Nathan is going to get her while I had to remain home to sit vigil with Fiona. Fiona is not doing anything today but that was Nathan's excuse so he gets his alone time with his gal. hahahahaha

They did clean and polish up those teeth while they were at it.

Update on Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 9:33PM by Darlah

Shoshi is home, stoned, bruised, swollen but ate and is snoring a great deal. She's on a soft food diet till she heals. She is also snuggling. This mom is feeling so bad for her.

Shoshi Has Surgery

Shoshi got a hotspot under her eye. We thought that she was bitten by a bee. It swelled up and had a head similar to a bee sting and it was itchy.

I cleaned it out, cut the hair all around it and got her on antibiotics and brought her to the vets today.

Well, it appears that not recently but probably a year or 2 ago she got a slight crack in her extreme back tooth from chewing on something hard. It was enough to let bacteria in slowly. She now has an abscess.

How she cracked it remains a mystery but its a tooth with deep roots and it won't be fun to remove it but the alternative is to give her antibiotics each time it flairs up and manage her or remove it.

As she has been rubbing her face, I imagine it is hurting her but she's too brave to let us know as many dogs are.

As she is getting older, it is best to handle it now vs. managing it and then having to deal with anesthesia as a senior. She's in that almost senior age.

Shoshi is an amazing dog. She never complains about a single thing. All she wants is to snuggle and be with you.

As Fiona is due anytime, she is sleeping over Yvonne's tonight and tomorrow she has surgery. We get to pick her up tomorrow afternoon/evening.

We've been told it will be difficult to get out so she may be sore etc. Gad, I wish it was me instead of her.

Cooper's First Class Video

Thanks to his owners we have video of Cooper and the rest of the crew! Check it out here!

Finding Excellent

Check out this video. It's not a Havanese but it tells a story. Each of us have to watch and listen to our dog and their needs and help them to achieve what floats their boat, so to speak.

Each dog excels in something, some in a variety of things but one thing really gets their heart beating with happiness.

Your goal should be to find out what that is and help them be all they can be. It's truly worth it!

Just think what they give you back and would when you help them to be all they are meant to be.

My two cents for the day...

In Class

I was sick (actually still sick) so Cooper's new owners took some photos. Check them out here.

This was the very first class I ever did miss. I tried but the body wasn't cooperating. I hope to get to next week but that will depend on Fiona, won't it.

Lynda also took a slew of photos and I really appreciate those too. It almost felt like I was there.

Cooper travelled with his new family and came home with Nathan. This will be great bonding.

We had a day off from training but starting tomorrow we will be back on track. Nathan has been holding down fort with Dennis as I am good for nothing today.

I need to eat but I am afraid to eat. Such a vicious cycle.

Today I did bath Coco and Doozie. I am not sure how I accomplished it but the dogs seem to be good for me. Even sweating up a storm around the dryers they gave me hugs and kisses. That makes it all worth while, don't you think?

Before the Rain Hit

 We had a blast before the rain hit and now Roxie, Panda, Logan, Cooper and his new parents went to class with Nathan.

This is the first class I have ever missed but for some strange reason my tummy is not cooperating. I was going to go and I still want to be there but as sick as I just got, well I am also glad I didn't go. <sigh>

I just hope I get some photos from this. It is Coopers first class after all. :-( His new mom said she would take photos.

We have had a funny day. Nathan had to run errands. I was grooming. It's obvious to me that Treasure and Fiona and Shoshi needs a bath but Shoshi has a hotspot right on her face. We think she got stung by an insect and she had a reaction so no bath till that goes away.

But as you can see in this photo, it's not stopping her in the least!

Dog Football

Can you just imagine it? That's what was going on today this mad rush, slam bam I got it to the finish line.

It was all in fun but believe me we laughed and laughed and laughed.

And now it is raining....

We still do games in the house but nothing like trampoline football time!

Oh be still my heart! The Terra seems to have all puppies gravitate towards her. They find comfort nestled in her legs.

There's something about big dog conditioning with such a gentle soul. Terra is indeed that!