Monday, November 30, 2009

Can Dogs Get a Cold?

I don't know...All I know is that my husband was sick the last two weeks and now I'm sick and I hope that Rooten doesn't get sick too!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Happy Dog Happy You

It's a book that we picked up at PetSmart one day because we had some store credit. It was a great accidental find. We like it for the following reasons:

- Easy to read
- Succinct and good advice
- Explanations for why hey recommend things
- Topics grouped by chapters
- Simple illustrations

And that's why I recommend Happy Dog Happy You by Arden Moore

Friday, November 27, 2009

Bananas!!!

Rootin's crack. As he was eating his piece of banana (laced with benedryl) he was drooling - as he was eating it!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Rooten had a long day out today in Brentwood where we teased him with good food all day long and only gave him his doggie food. Poor guy.

At one point I went to pick him up and put him on my lap but failed to get off my lazy behind and tried to bend over and pick him up. The result was me almost dropping him and likely hitting his penis and causing him to yelp :(

Bad mommy! I learned my lesson and will always get off the chair to pick him up in the future (unless it's a very short chair, you know, like those kids chairs at elementary schools).

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thankful to be Feeling Better


Yesterday was Rootin's first follow-up visit with the dermatologist and although he still has mites, he is starting to get a lot better. His hair is growing back in spots where he previously had mites, and his overall spirits seem very high. He's flea free - yay!!!

He seems to be responding well to treatment and is a lot happier - we're so thankful that he is doing so well!!!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Feeling Better

The past several weeks has been difficult for Rootin with all the medications and treatments that he's been on to correct his problems. It's been difficult for us also to have to give him constant treatments, however, we have seen many improvements in his overall health including a softer, darker coat, constant playfulness, more greets of kissess at the door, and general happiness.

We hope that this is a long term fix as we hate to see him suffer.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

ARF

My husband started volunteering at Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) last month. I went to help out at their thrift store today and it was fun! The people are so nice and it was for a great cause - animals!!!

Rootin got another toy as a result ;-p

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Spoiled Rootin

So within the past weeks, we have purchased the following for him:
1. king-sized microfiber throw, for his use only
2. three dog picture frames (okay, so these aren't for him necessarily as the are to celebrate him being in our lives)
3. fleece jacket for walks in the cold
4. new chew toy
5. giant rug for the kitchen as he hates the linoleum
6. attachment to the tub to shower him (this didn't actually work so we had to return it, but it was the tought that counts)

So I guess that's not that much, but it sure feels like we're spoiling him, but then again, with a face like that, who can resist?

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Day at the Shoreline

Today we took Rootin to the Hayward Shoreline again. He had a good time there and didn't growl or bark at any dogs - a very successful day as he usually gets nervous around other dogs and ends up barking at them. The only downside of the outing today was that there were about four little girls that were very excited to see him and wanted to put him but he was scared of all of them and backed away each time and went to hide behind daddy. 

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Road to Recovery

It's been almost 2 weeks since we took him to the dermatologist and so far he seems to be doing a lot better. A couple of days ago he started running again during our walks. He also started playing again and running around and exploring and following our every move. We didn't realize that he had not been doing all those things because it had been so long that he's been sick that we kind of forgot how he used to be - that was a sad revelation. 


Seeing him now feeling better it's just such a wonderful feeling - words can't describe it! We're so glad to have our baby back!

Friday, November 13, 2009

November Tootins

I will try to find items to rave about every month that Rootin seems to like or at least we think he likes or we like. Since this is my first Tootin List, I will start off with several Tootins.

1.Quiet Time Pet Bed - after a lot of research by my husband, we picked this bed and Rootin loves his bed - we even got a second smaller one for him. After trying to get him a plush bed at the pet store and having him reject everything that we put in front of him, Rootin immediately hopped into a smaller version of his Quiet Time bed so we snatched it up!

2. Puppia harness - Rootin likes to go after squirrels, cats, racoons, and even other doggies at times. He gets excited and pulls, which we all know if not good for a dogs throat. We decided to get him a harness after noticing that he was pulling hard enough to hurt himself, so we set off to PetSmart one day since we had some credit with them. While we didn't find quite what we were looking for, we did happen to see a woman with a chihuahua with an Orion harness on. I liked it so much that I asked the woman where she got the harness from and what brand it was. The very next day, we set off to Pawsitive Karma in Castro Valley and got him a Soft Harness in XL, black. Who would have thought our little baby was an XL? Puppia seems to specialize in small dogs, or puppies - go figure ;-p Like the name implies, the harness is soft, and the particular model that we bought does not require us to lift his legs into a hole - great for us as Rootin doesn't like his legs being touched that much. Instead it velcros around the neck and the bottom portion goes under his belly and clips on top of his back - this is a bad description, you have to see it. We really like it - it's by far the best harness that we have seen.

3. Happy Hips treats by DogsWell - Since Corgis are prone to back and hip problems due to their frame, it's important to give Rootin glucosamine. Happy Hips does this and unlike many treats that allow only 3 tiny bits, Happy Hips are jerky strips that are large and with Rootin's size, we can feed him 3 strips daily. With these treats, he can get rewarded constantly for good behavior and it's good for him - it's a win win!

That's all for now. More to come. Thanks for reading!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

It's Official


I'm one of those people. You know, one of those pet owners that calls their pet their child. Yes, Rootin is my baby. My husband and I think of him as our child.

I went to the recycling center today which is behind a grocery store which is next to Pet Food Express and I went in to look and see if there was anything I could get for him. Everywhere I go, if I see a pet store and have time, I'll stop and see if there is anything that I can get for him.I even look in the pet isle at the grocery store thinking maybe they'll have something cool there!

I used to think wow, these people are crazy, do they realize that it's just an animal? However, I do think there are crazy people out there that take their pet obsession too far - like the couple that brings their chihuahua to my brother's house even though my brother is allergic and asked them not to bring the dog over. I'm allergic to most cats and know how awful that can be. Not to mention rude and disrespectful.

So while I am one of those people that considers their dog to be their child, I am happy to report that I will never be one of those people - you know, the crazy ones ;-p

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Vets, Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them


Rootin has been scratching like crazy since we brought him home from Oroville and we've taken him to the vet several times over the past three months and we still don't know what's wrong. Over the past several days he's had a funny discoloration under his right eye and on the top of his head in addition to a hot spot on his front right paw. Sunday night we took his cone off his head for a couple of minutes and he immediately proceeded to rub his eye which then swelled up :(

So I stayed at home on Monday and took him to the vet. Now this is the second vet that we've been to. We stopped going to the first vet because he didn't seem to be on top of things and pushed meds each time we saw him. He didn't even tell us to apply Frontline or Advantage or any other flea & tick medicine after he found two ticks on Rootin - we then proceeded to remove another 20 ticks from him over the next three weeks.

The current vet has seen Rootin about 5 times now and for this last visit she took two scrapings of his skin - one from the top of his head, and one from under his eye. When she came back from examining it, she said that he might have demodex mites but that it wasn't a large sampling. She gave me some eye cream and didn't give me any diagnosis. I asked her about the spots in his ear - he had fly strike when we first rescued him and the spots seemed to be in both ears now, well after treatment was over - and she looked in his ear and said nothing was wrong. I asked more about his continued scratching and whether or not they do allergy testing. She said no but referred me to a dermatologist and gave me eye cream.

When I got home I called and asked which spot she thought she saw mites in - the top of his head or his eye and the answer was the top of his head! I assumed that since he wouldn't let her scrape his eye (which we were still charged for) and because she said that she couldn't get a good sample. I was surprised to hear that it was at the top of his head as she could have easily gotten another sample and tested that again to be sure.

To top it off, the dermatologist that she referred me to today confirmed the diagnosis of mites and also said that the stuff I saw in his ears is ear wax and that's what's causing him to scratch his ear. Basically she's out now and the hunt for a new vet begins again. It's disappointing how difficult it is to find a good vet.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween

I've heard that Halloween can be a scary time for dogs as they often get afraid of everyone in costume - including their owners. Luckily for us, we live in a condominium where no kids come to trick-or-treat so we didn't have to worry about that, however, we ourselves did dress up for a party last night and to our pleasant surprise, Rootin did not get upset or afraid of us and the evening went well :)

Here are some things we did the prepare for the evening and make things less stressful for him:
1. We tried on our costumes and did a "dry run" in the morning. We let him sniff our clothes, and we walked around in them for about 30 minutes or so. My husband's costume didn't cover his face, however, my costume involved a full headdress surrounding my entire face so I made sure to spend extra time in the outfit to make sure he was comfortable seeing me dressed up.
2. Knowing that we would be out for 4-5 hours in the evening and would be dressed in costume when we left and returned, we took him to the Hayward Shoreline in the middle of the day for two hours. It was a new place that he had never been, so he wore himself out exploring and had a blast. He even went to the bathroom three times during the trip so we knew that he was set for likely the rest of the day.
3. We showered him with attention during the remainder of the evening before we left.
4. We took him out for another short walk right before we left.
5. We left the hall light on by the door (where he usually sits) and our bathroom light on in our bedroom (where his bed is) so that he wouldn't be in the dark. This was key as one of our neighbors had a party going on when we came home with music blaring which might have scared Rootin if he was in the dark.
6. Even though we were exhausted, we took him out for another walk when we came home.