I once again, was unable to make it to the Small Dog MeetUp group event.  I would love to go to these, and rotate taking the dogs, they could use the socialization, but alas, none of them are exactly close to me (about an hour or so away for all the events) and time is usually at a premium here (and so are gas prices!), so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to participate in this group any time soon.  Maybe some day.  They do have a new dog park in Washington, and have events there at least one Saturday a month – that might be a better option for me; but none of these events seems to occur on days I’m available.  *sigh*

Update:  everyone is doing exceedingly well.  Henry just celebrated his 1st birthday on July 3rd!  Happy Birthday Henry!!

Georgie is getting big as well – he turned 5 months old on July 5th.  Here he is with my 6 year-old Hannah.

Here’s Charles – peeking over a chair.

And finally, Hope.  What a sweet girl she is!

And here’s Hope, snoozing at my feet.

I am giving very serious thought to showing Georgie in AKC conformation.  I’m hoping to attend/join a local all-breed kennel club that’s near me; and hoping I can find someone willing to mentor me a bit in showing.  We shall see.  Either way, I intend to enter Georgie in the local dog show that have here in Sullivan each September.  He turns 6 months in August, so will be old enough for the 6-9 month old puppy class for the September show.

I’m also considering agility for Henry and Jack (my Shih Tzu) and possibly seeing how Charlie and/or Hope might do as therapy dogs.   I have never done anything but basic obedience classes with any dog I’ve ever owned; but I’m wanting to try new/different things to do with them.   I guess I won’t know how I, or the dogs, like doing these activities until we at least try.

He’s doing quite well on house training, and has settled in nicely with the rest of the pack.

Hope is also doing equally as well (photo below).  She is just the biggest lump of love I’ve ever seen.  So gentle and sweet.  What a wonderful addition to our family!!!!! 

And Henry will soon (July 3, 2008) be turning 1 year old and is also doing very well since joining our family in December 2007. Here’s Henry in a full run towards me, in a rare time when I actually remembered to take the camera outside with me! 

Nearly two weeks ago, I finally managed to get four of the dogs in for their neuter/spay surgeries.  Since getting three dogs in a very short time-frame (Henry, Hope and George), I had added two to the house that needed to be altered soon that were not.  I also had not altered Charlie, or my Shih Tzu Jack, up to this point; waffling with myself on whether or not to show Charlie and breed him.   I decided not to, and any unaltered animal that was old enough (George was not old enough) had surgery all on the same day!  Boy, that was an experience for me getting them all to and from the vet; but everyone did fine.  I had annual check-ups and vaccinations done and Charlie and Hope’s teeth also cleaned.  So everyone is good to go for another year.  Good news:  all hearts checked out good!!

Because of my more remote location, without easy access to high-end pet stores that sell super premium specialty foods, I chose to feed Flint River, which is delivered to my door.    I did this for a number of years.   My research also lead me to believe that rotating between 2, or possibly 3, foods would ensure a well rounded nutritional balance for the dogs and that there would be no nutritional gaps.  So I alternated between Flint River and Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul.  I did this for many years and my dogs did well.

Then there were the times that I would get really low on dog food and forget to order the Flint River.  So I noticed I was feeding more Chicken Soup than Flint River.  Not a huge deal.  Until the day I was nearly out of Chicken Soup and none of the stores near me had any.  None.  I was told the local distributor was saying they may not carry it any more.  This was a problem.  A big one.

So I went to a newer feed store in a nearby town that’s really more of a feed/pet specialty store (think really small Petsmart), to see what they had that might be suitable to feed my dogs.  I was desperate, yet not willing to compromise on my dog food snobbery standards. 

I was pleasantly surprised to discover Taste of the Wild pet food, made by the same manufacturers as Chicken Soup (Diamonds).  This is a grain-free food and rated 6 stars on the Dog Food Analysis web site.   Excellent!  So I get a 20 lb bag to bring home and give it a try.

OH MY GOODNESS!  My dogs went nuts!  Now mind you, my dogs ate Flint River and Chicken Soup foods just fine.  I could put down their food and they would eat.  They might not eat all that I put down right that minute, they would eat some; leave some and maybe come back later and eat the rest.  But they didn’t turn their nose up and never not eat any.  They did eat it.  But with this food – they wolf it down.  I mean, it’s less than a minute and it’s gone and they are jumping (literally jumping!) when they hear me scooping their food.  They are that excited!  Such a difference in their reaction.

We weren’t having any skin, coat or stool issues before – so nothing to overcome in those areas; and changing foods hasn’t caused any issues either.  If anything, I’d say I see improvement where I didn’t realize there was any needed!

Taste of the Wild gets two paws up from my crew. 

Of course, there are ways around this, one is to use a feminine napkin inside and to change that to extend the usage time for one belly band. Not a bad option, but in my humble opinion, a sanitary pad is going to act much like a disposable diaper in a human baby: it will wick the moisture away from the skin, so as not to be felt and to keep the skin dry. This is perhaps good for the skin, not so good for training dogs not to mark in the first place. They need to feel the wetness to train them not to mark. The feeling of wetness is the deterrent toward repeating the behavior. Just like cloth diapers and plastic pants are better for the environment, and actually better for skin than disposables with chemicals, so too are belly bands, without a sanitary napkin, better for dogs.

That said, you still have the issue of wetness. Now I’m not at all suggesting that one should leave a wet belly band on a dog for extended periods of time. Anymore than you would think of leaving a wet diaper on a human infant! Use common sense here. But, you do not necessarily go around every 30 seconds changing them either, and anyone with male dogs know they can hike their leg and mark quite often, until trained to stop. So at least once every hour or two, change the belly band, until then – you need to deal with a damp to wet belly band and protect your lap, furniture, etc…

So I came up with the idea to add a waterproof layer to the belly bands I had been making. I thought I was being terribly original and creative when I made this yesterday {see photo } (until I Googled and discovered otherwise), but regardless, the concept is still a good one.

I did learn that many are concerned about heat build-up and chafing with the waterproof layers in place. Again, if you don’t leave the bands on longer than an hour or two, this should not be an issue. However, the type of waterproof material used can also have bearing on this problem. I use PUL (polyurethane laminate) as my waterproof layer, and this particular material does come in a breathable variety! So it is possible to use a waterproof layer within a belly band, without contributing to heat build-up and skin chafing issues.

Hopefully sometime in 2008 this will all happen and we can begin this journey.  There’s such a need.  If you want a Cavalier, either go to a responsible breeder, or adopt from rescue.

The breeder assures me she will try to get some more/better pictures for me this week.    Only about 4 more weeks til George comes home.    Squee!!!  

Oh, and did I mention, George is repeat breeding of Charlie!!  He’s a full brother to Charlie – just a different litter (obviously).  Double-squee!  So we’re really expecting King George to turn out equally as nice as Charlie did.