Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

Sharing Knowledge

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A couple of months ago I wrote a post about a dog named Murphy.

To date I haven’t seen Murphy or either one of her parents at obedience class.

This morning though, I stopped by The Mellow Mutt to drop off a crate I had borrowed from Sara, for our Paws To The Rescue run, and there behind the gate sat poor Murphy, panting.

Yes, Murphy was panting just sitting there. I think she’s gotten even bigger since the last time I saw her.

Sue said, “It makes me sad to look at her.”  I agree.

Then Sue said, “She’s also got some disposition issues.”

No doubt she does.

I’m carrying a few extra pounds myself and I know how cranky and unhappy I feel.

Once upon a time I had a philosophy about Sampson, that it was ok if he was a little over-weight as long as he was happy.

Naturally that attitude has changed.

Why you ask?

Besides the obvious health reasons of less stress on his heart and less stress on his bones, it’s really the change I’ve seen in him.

Since Sampson’s lost weight, I’ve seen how much happier he really is.  How he enjoys the simple things, like running as fast as his legs will carry him up the hill to the field, or play bowing before jumping up and wrestling with Delilah on the bed.

The last time I discussed Murphy’s weight with her, Murphy’s mom (K) said, “How can you deny your dog treats, when they look at you and you know they want a treat?”

I explained that Sampson and Delilah get treats, they just get a low-calorie treat like carrots.  Heck, I will reward my dog for a good down, with a pea.

Oh. Yes. I.  Would.

Somewhere in all of my rambling blog posts I wrote how I would love to take people’s dogs home with me, feed them a good quality food, work them for three weeks and then have the person join us for the last week so they could 1) see the improvement in their dog(s) 2) learn how to train their dogs.

But that was back when I thought I wanted to be a dog trainer. 🙂

Still I have one really well-behaved and one reasonably (most of the time) behaved dog, they have both lost a lot of weight in the last two years, look and feel great.  We are constantly getting compliments regarding Delilah’s coat.

Why wouldn’t someone want their dog to look and feel great?

Our vet has said we have given Sampson and Delilah a couple of extra years to their lives, which makes me extremely happy.

So how do I impart this knowledge to someone with an over-weight dog, who is probably rushing full speed down the road to bad health? Who probably doesn’t want to hear it?

And how, pray tell does their vet not say something to them about this poor dog’s weight?

Coconut Oil

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The AWESOME Jodi Chick (or as she calls me, the other Jodi) over at Kol’s Notes recently did a review of coconut oil.

If your unfamiliar with coconut oil it’s really not like an oil at all.  It comes as a solid and liquefies at 70 degrees farenheit.

I’ve been giving Sampson and Delilah coconut oil once a day now for about two months, I started it because they were itchy in the fall.  It was recommended by my raw food mentor, Sandy who thought they might be itchy from…acorns.

She explained that acorns have mold (which explains why squirrels are so freaking crazy) and when the acorns drop they crack and the mold spores escape.  If the dogs lay outside on the acorns or walk through them, they can ingest some of the mold.

Sandy suggested Salmon oil and coconut oil to help with the itching.  And that is when I discovered just exactly how beneficial coconut oil is for EVERYONE, not just dogs.  Check out some of the benefits of coconut oil here.

In fact I have replaced Crisco with coconut oil for baking.  When a recipe calls for ‘greasing the pan’ I use coconut oil, I’ve even done stir fry with coconut oil.  Vegetable oil is not welcome in my home anymore!

I love my dogs and want what’s best for them, and what I really like best about the coconut oil is it’s something I can buy that is not just for us, and not just for the dogs.

AND it is beneficial to all of us.

Death By Chocolate – Part Two

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If you missed the post about Delilah’s first attempt on my life, you can find it here.   Since she failed in her attempt to kill me by force, she decided her next attempt would be to give me a heart attack.

Before you read any further, I will let you know that we are all fine.

I had planned on walking the dogs this morning, but needed a quick trip to the post office.  I was gone from the house for 20 minutes, 25 minutes tops.

I came back grabbed a cheese stick to munch on and started gathering all the items I use on our walk.

Cell phone, pepper blaster, treat bag, keys. (The poop bags are missing.)

I noticed the dish rag was on the floor.  I picked it up, looked at Delilah and said, “Why is this here?”  She turned her back and ignored me.

I went to the area where I keep our walking things and then I noticed this.

Of course this is how it looks after I picked it up, I was so freaked out that I didn’t think to take a picture.  Why?  Because before it was destroyed and consumed it had at least two to four of every one of these inside it.

I remember saying, “Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God” while I looked frantically for the vet’s phone number.

I finally found it and called the vet, our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hi this is Jodi Stone, Delilah just ate a whole bunch of supplements and other stuff.

Angie: OK, what did she eat?

Me: Well flax seed, calcium, vitamins, some Benadryl, some Omeprazole, and some adrenal support supplements.

Angie:  OK, let me see if a Dr. or vet tech is available to speak with you.

Me: Ok.  Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God.

Angie: OK, I spoke with Dr. B, she thinks Delilah will be OK, but just to be on the safe side, you should make her vomit.  You can either bring her here or do it at home.

Me: Well how do you make her puke?  (I mean I’ve heard of people puking their dogs before, but in all my years of owning dogs, I’ve never done it.)

Angie:  Dr. B says a quarter to half a cup of Peroxide.  Start with a quarter cup and if she doesn’t vomit, give her the other half.  If that doesn’t work, you will need to bring her in.  Give her a little water after you give her the Peroxide.

Me: I don’t know if I even have Peroxide.  (As I’m talking, I’m walking to the bathroom and checking under the sink.)

Me: OK, I have some.  Now how do I get her to drink it?

Angie:  Well when I had to give it to my cat, I used a syringe.

Me: OK, I’ll see what I can do, if I can’t get her to puke, I’ll call you back.

Angie: Call us back either way.

After we hung up I began rummaging thru the cupboards, thinking how many times I will need to fill the syringe  to give her a quarter of a cup.  That’s when I remembered Mr. Honey Bear.

Yes, I saved the bear that my honey came in because I thought it might be something fun for my grandson to drink out of when he was at my house.

Mr. Honey Bear worked great.  But she wouldn’t take any water.

And then we waited.  Of course Delilah was all kinds of pissed off at me.  I tried to keep her off the deck so the vomit would be on the ground and I kept stroking her and telling her it was OK.  Her stomach heaved once, but she didn’t puke.

After five minutes I called the vet’s office back.  Of course I couldn’t remember who I talked to, so I asked them to ask around and I ended up with Angie again.  I told her she’d had the quarter cup and hadn’t vomited and asked how long I should wait before giving her the second quarter.  Angie said it should be pretty immediate and if five minutes had passed and she hadn’t puked, I should give her the rest.

I hung up and filled Mr. Honey Bear again.  Delilah didn’t want anything to do with me, she walked around, then went to tinkle, right after she tinkled she turned around and puked.

Thank God.

I’m still not sure what happened to my cheese stick.

Book Update: My word count is the same as yesterday.

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