To Dream of Dogs

[JackFavell]

Lily has had an upset stomach for several days now. She let me know she had to go out late on Friday night, so I took her out and she went to the bathroom. Because I was up late with her on Friday, Andrew got up earlier on Saturday to find that there were messes all over the kitchen (thank goodness it WAS the kitchen - easier to clean the floor) and one in the living room. I don't know if she got some wheat or something? Then we took her to a new groomer on Saturday, which I get the impression she didn't like. She hasn't seemed quite right since. I can't get her to stop eating grass and sticks and almost anything that is lying around. I don't know if she is trying to get something out of her stomach, or if the grass and such is actually causing her to be sick. She is pretty feisty though and seems energetic. If she's not right by tomorrow I will call the vet. To top off the confusion, she had a couple of regular (not deer) ticks on her in the last week as well.

[Rita Hayworth]

I will be thinking about your dog Lily ... Jack. I hate ticks on dogs and I remember taking care of my dog when I was growing up that had ticks and we had to give him a weekly bath that designed to kill ticks and we did this for 4-6 weeks until he stopped scratching himself. My dog hates baths.

[knitwit45]

Wendy, dogs often eat grass when they have stomach problems. The grass will make them throw up, which can be messy, but it's what they do. Sounds like a trip to the vet is on your to do list for today, if she still is having problems....

good luck!

[JackFavell]

She seems way better today thank goodness. I may call anyway, just to see if they have any thoughts. She doesn't seem to have any pain or joint problems, but she has a tremor once in a while, which could also be a chill, because the new groomer shaved off all her fur.

[charliechaplinfan]

We still have a home groomer he won't be told but hopefully I'll be involved this time.

I'm glad she's feeling better Wendy, it's such a worry when they're ill.

Lara, is almost perfect but occasionally she can't make it through the night and she won't wake us, thankfully last night I heard her about 5am running downstairs and I got her out before she did anything. I rewarded her for being a good girl and waiting but apart from this I don't know how to teach her that it's fine to wake us up. Thankfully downstairs is easy to clean.

[JackFavell]

I just don't know about this... I've never had a dog that didn't tell me when he/she had to go. Lily never seems to have to, but I take her out every four hours or more, so she goes when I take her. The other night she just circled Andrew and went to the door, it was very obvious to me, but of course that night she went all over the kitchen rather than wake us. At least I don't think she tried to wake us as she always goes to Andrew's side when she wants something. Have you tried training her with a bell? There are some places on the web that talk about training them to touch a bell hung on the front door.

[RedRiver]

The Shug is like Lily. That dog will eat anything! (Except dog food.) Grass, leaves, paper. I hope we don't come upon a box of thumb tacks. She'll probably eat those too! I've taken to mixing her medicine with peanut butter. That's going real well. Now I have to worry about my own habits. I love peanut butter! I eat too much of it.

[JackFavell]

Ha! I hear you, red. You are talking to the Nutella kid. I've had to ban myself from buying it.

[charliechaplinfan]

Well I like both and together. They are addictive.

It isn't a huge problem her not telling us to be fair, the floors are easily wiped and she isn't often caught short. We've always praised her if we do get up to take her. When she was in her cage she always did tell us because she won't soil in there but being upstairs with us now, I don't think she wants to disturb us she's so comfy. Perhaps she bothered about going back in the cage.

[JackFavell]

I bet that's it, she doesn't want to go back in the cage, or to disappoint you. Dogs are very conscious of what their people think of them, and can easily get upset or feel guilt if they do something wrong. Except for Lily.

[RedRiver]

Yeah...I don't think Shug worries a lot about what people think either. She makes the rules. It's up to me to compensate! I'm getting a major guilt trip with this discussion. I don't always take The Shug out when she asks for it. We live in an apartment complex. I have to get fully dressed and walk around with her! If we go out at 6:00 AM, am I going to take her again at eight? If not, can she wait till I get home from work? It's hard to find the balance between her needs and the confines of a schedule.

The Booger is really good about waiting. But that's not good for her. I don't know.

[JackFavell]

Speaking of guilt...

As I've gotten older I tend to feel much more guilty about even owning a dog, much less all the stupid things I've done or not done for them. I think you probably do fine red. But whenever I start feeling guilty, I just take Lily out for an extra walk.

I think I'll do that now...

[JackFavell]

I walked down the hall from the kitchen just now and came upon Lily going spastic - jumping up and down in a frenzy of delight. The lights weren't on in the living room yet, so I turned on the light to discover her batting a moth around. She batted it like a kitty, tormented it, grabbed it between her paws, licked it, let it go, then pounced on it several times until it was dead. She then nosed it several times to get it to play with her again, but it wouldn't. She then picked it up in her mouth and put it down in a different spot, I think to see if it would come back to life. It didn't. So she flipped over on her back and rolled all over it. Needless to say, it's dead now. She's very proud of herself.

[RedRiver]

I took Shug to the bank. She loves to go there. They give her treats! But yesterday nobody offered. She went right to the teller's window and stood on hind legs! "Hey! Where's my treat?" It was closing time. They were busy!

[JackFavell]

Oooh, not cool. Those tellers were falling down on the job! I used to work at the bank and let me tell you, I would rather have cut off my arm than to miss giving a milkbone treat to one of our customers dogs. Once we got a pot bellied pig who sat in the passenger seat leaning his arm on the arm rest. His owner said he loved dog treats so we gave him one. Adorable!