Puppy updates!

We have now had Freya for a little more than a week, and we are even more in love with her than we were when we got her. Because we know that a lot of people are interested in how she is doing I'll keep doing these updates until she is 100% healthy, and then I'll just do fun updates whenever I remember and get up the motivation to write a blog post- and to help keep my brain focused I'm going to separate this update into groups.

FREYA 
Knee:
On Monday Freya had the stitches removed from her leg, she immediately started walking with less of a limp. She still limps a tiny bit, but not a whole lot. The vet has cleared her to start obedience class on the 23rd, pending the news that she is officially ours on Saturday. The vet also has said that we can start slowly exercising her more in order to build the strength back up in her knee. I was told that they believe she has Petellar Luxation, which is essentially a trick knee. So yay! No ACL issue! However, Scott and I are waiting to find out if she needs to have more x-rays done just to be sure. She is certainly putting weight on leg, which is something my parent's dog, Simba, didn't really when he blew out his ACLs. So we are hopeful that she

does not need any more surgeries.

Skin:
Freya is eating well, and will only eat her food if there is coconut oil on it. Since this is helping her skin we are perfectly fine with this (thank goodness for Costco since we can get a big thing of Coconut oil there for only $18). Her dandruff is doing away, and after the stitches were removed we were told she could have a bath, so she did. She is smarter than Nico since she realized that she only had to bump the shower door to open it. Washing her one handed was an adventure but her fur is already much softer.

Behavior:
Freya has been very energetic, so trying to make her rest has been a bit of a challenge. We've been alternating her between her crate and laying on the floor beside us while leashed. Freya doesn't seem to understand she is still healing and really wants to play. We are now very sure that we need to work with her on play biting since she does that A LOT and her little teeth are freaking sharp. However, we know she is not trying to hurt us, only play with us. She and Nico are getting along. We are still watching them carefully, but we think we know one of the reasons that Nico was so cranky. Which brings us to a ........

NICO update.

This is the face of a pout-pout pup.

Nico has been unusually cranky for the last week or so and this weekend it was finally clear why. Saturday he started shaking his head a lot and scratching at his right ear. By Sunday he kept his head tilted to the right the majority of the time. So we took him to the vet and, yup, he has an ear infection. He has ear drops for the next week (which he just LOVES) but he is already messing with his ear less. Nico is also now on reduced food because he has gained weight. However, we know what caused this and are working on getting him back to a fit looking size. Once Freya can go on walks it will help, and then once we get the fence it will be even better!
As far as Freya goes, Nico has accepted her it seems and when she stole a benebone from him (it was a drive by theft on the way to her crate) he didn't even react. He is slightly confused by her barking and play noises while she is in her crate.

Either way, both pups are doing well and adjusting to having a new sibling and we're looking forward to watching that bond grow.

Welcome Home Freya!

This weekend Scott and I welcomed Freya to our home. She is our foster-to-adopt from Bully Paws and we are so excited.

After everything we went through with Snickers we had every intention of waiting at least a month before we adopted again, but then Freya's picture got shared through facebook the next day and we fell in love. Now there is a little more to the story. 

We had been talking about what kind of dog we wanted to adopt when it was time to adopt again, and we had settled on adopting another Bully breed because of how chill and sweet Nico is. One of our friends is fostering a puppy for Bully Paws named Skittles and Scott had mentioned the idea of adopting her if she hadn't been adopted yet when we were ready. But I just didn't get that feeling with her that I got from Nico and I wanted that feeling again. That and for reasons that might only make sense to my brain, I did not want another dog named after a candy. This was a discussion we had on the day we put Snickers to sleep. The next day Freya's picture got shared on facebook, and I told Scott I had that feeling that I got when we first saw Nico's picture. His response was "there are no coincidences" and that is a phrase (or at least an idea- I'm not 100% anymore) that I am pretty sure is repeated in a book I had recently read that is a modern take on Norse Mythology (I can't be 100% sure because I've read A LOT of books recently). Add on the knowledge that Freya is a Norse Goddess who, among other things, presides over death, and we were saying "Ok universe, we get it". The next weekend we met her, without Nico, went home and sent in the adoption application. 

                                                                                Now, this has not been an easy process. Poor Freya has some health issues that need to be taken care of before she can officially be adopted. She was spayed and had a benign mass removed from her leg. Those incisions are still healing. Then last week something happened to her leg, and now that has to heal with a possible ACL surgery in her future. However, it is much better for her to heal in a loving home than in a shelter, so until she is cleared for adoption, we are fostering her! We are absolutely in love.

Now for her and Nico, we can honestly say it has not been love at first sight. Nico has been the only dog for three weeks, and before that Snickers was a loner so he has to learn to share his people. This is a slow process since Freya is on crate rest for at least another week and a half. There have been tense moments with both Freya and Nico growling at each other. We're hoping once Nico learns that she isn't going anywhere he will adjust. He NEVER growled at Snickers, but she was here first so that might have something to do with this too. We largely suspect the few growlies are because of jealousy but we have complete faith that Nico will adjust. While there have been some growlies, there have also been licks through the crate and Freya barking and wagging her tail at Nico clearly wanting to play even though she can't put weight on one of her legs. So while the first couple days have had their tense moments,  it has only been a couple days and it might take two or more weeks for them to truly adjust. 

So we have a new family member and we will continue to post updates about her and Nico as we have them :-) 

Welcome Home Freya!

Adventures of Destructo Dog

Many of you know about our many adventures with the pittie mix we adopted back in August, well the adventures keep on going. Last week Nico figured out how to get out of his latest crate, which is a plastic airline style crate. That's three crates he's gotten out of. We've decided to give up on the crates, however, that means we are going through a whole new learning process on what is truly puppy proof in regards to Nico, aka Destructo Dog. We already knew we had to lock up the recycling bin, and while he's never gotten into the trash, we lock that up for good measure. Around Christmas, and crate number 2, we found we couldn't leave anything on the peninsula counter or the table, he could knock them down. We also learned then that we couldn't leave anything close to the edge of ANY of the counters or he would get it.

Well, this week we learned that we can't have ANY dirty dishes out. How did we find this out? Well, one of the mornings I was running behind and I got MOST of the dishes washed, except a pie plate. So I put that on top of the microwave thinking it would be safe there, but I was wrong. When the hubby got home, only a little before me, not only was the pie plate lying broken on the floor.... so was the microwave. So we no longer have a microwave. We're seeing how long we can go before getting a new one, partially because we are debating what to do. Should we just get another that sits on the counter? We both aren't fond of that idea because we like the counter space being open! Do we want to get shelves to mount above the peninsula and have the microwave either sitting on those or mounted below them? Not a huge fan of that idea- I feel like that will close off the kitchen a bit and one of the things I love about the kitchen is how open it is. The other option is to raise up the cabinets and to put the microwave above the oven/range. This is something we do eventually want to do- but since it will involve repainting, buying some additional shelving or small cabinets to put underneath the current ones once we range them we were planning on waiting on doing this until AFTER the basement was finished. This option also involves electrical work because of the fan that is above the stove now. Thank you Nico for yet again possibly  re-arranging our time line of home improvement plans.

This morning I spent some time re-arranging the shelves in the living room because yesterday Nico decided the DVDs and video games looked appetizing. That luckily was really easy and led to a better arrangement of storage down by the front door.

I guess today we will see what destruction Nico can cause in the 2 hours I'll be at work today- plus probably another 3 for errands/travel time. We'll see! One thing is for sure, once we have kids, the hubby and I will have to do very little baby proofing because our house will be puppy proof.

Nico just doesn't understand.....

After around four months of Nico and Gypsy Kitty hostility, last night the hostility came to a head and Gypsy Kitty moved in with Elfie's parents. We had already been planning on moving her up there after having a discussion with said parents on Sunday- we just decided to move her up 12 hours a head of time. For the longest time I thought that the hostility was Nico thinking that Gypsy was food, now I'm not so sure. He's been pacing up and down the stairs all morning (since about 6:30 when we got up) and keeps staring, whining and barking and the two doors the cat was usually behind. It's really quite sad. On top of Nico acting up, Snickers is very confused and walked into the former kitty room and started whining. It's a sad day but Gypsy will be safer and happier up with Elfie's parents, and we knew this was eventually going to have to happen since Gypsy hates kids since some kids used to try to sit on her. On top of that our allergies towards Gypsy have been progressively getting worse and worse. Oh well. Gypsy is up with Elfie's parents, the dogs are with us and hopefully everyone in the house will settle down, and hopefully that means more blog posts will get written!

Nico doesn't understand that Gypsy now lives with Elfie's parents.

We're BAAAACCCKKK

Ok so, since we got Nico we've kind of slacked of on the blog, but trust us, Nico has been eating up SO MUCH of our time it makes sense. While we don't regret, even for a second, rescuing him, he is a handful and a half. So, an update about Nico and Snickers.

The two dogs are now getting a long the majority of the time, with only a few growlies here and there from Snickers when she is protecting something that she views as hers (mostly food). Nico has successfully destroyed one crate, about 1/4 of our bedroom carpet, a baby gate, the bottom of our bedroom door, a Washington Nationals Hoodie, a bathroom rug, and his face (multiple times). We finally figured out a way to keep him from Houdini-ing out of his crate and Hulk-destroying it. After he destroyed the first one- which was also the same night he destroyed the carpet and the bottom of the bedroom door, we got smart. We got a new crate, zip-tied ALL the edges together, and zip-tie the door shut when we leave so it has no give when he pushes against that. Once we did that, he focused on moving the crate, with him in it, and destroying the plastic tray within the crate...this is when he destroyed the Washington Nationals Hoodie that I loved so much. So next up we got a piece of plywood, cut it down to size so that it's about 2 inches bigger than the bottom of the crate, and used u-nails to nail the crate onto it. We also cut a piece of plywood to size to fit inside the crate, wrapped that with a stapled down blanket and replaced the plastic tray with that. Since we've done that he hasn't moved the crate or destroyed it any more than he did before we started that. Granted, we're not sure if we fixed it, or if it's just a matter of time before he figures out how to Houdini or Hulk-Smash his way out of the fortified crate.

Also, yesterday was Nico and Snicker's Good Manner's class graduation. We're happy to say that both dog's have improvement, but Nico still has a LONG WAY to go before he'll be ready to take the classes for his CGC (Canine-Good-Citizen) certification... the next step in getting him ready to be a therapy dog that kids can read to! Our biggest struggle with him, other than him either not knowing his name or having selective hearing, is his undeniable urge to chase Gypsy, the cat. She is NOT amused, ends up fluffy and has scratched his nose up more times than we can count. We're hoping we can fix it before he loses an eye. He's pretty good at sitting on command in the house, again not perfect, not doing it EVERY time, but getting there. He really is great at walking on a leash unless his sister, Snickers, starts getting him riled up.We just have to keep telling ourselves, he is better than he was when we first got him.

As far as the house goes, we really haven't done much. We finished our front flowerbeds, but haven't gotten around to ripping up the bushes and haven't done anymore painting or updating on the inside. We'll get there. So yes, after a couple months of unexpected hiatus, we're BAAACCCKKK.

Meet our newest family member! Nico!

Meet Nico, our newest (and most energetic) furbaby! Nico is between 4-5 years old and is an American Bulldog mix who is simply adorable. Nico came from one of the local animal shelters, which sadly is a kill shelter and we got to him just in time! Last week a friend of ours shared the information about Nico on facebook and the fact that he was an urgent case in need of adoption. Even though Dork_Syd and I had said we were going to wait, something about Nico made us change our mind. So last Thursday we filled out the adoption application through Bully Paws. Saturday we drove up to an adoption event to meet Nico. Since that went well, we then drove back home and then went BACK so that Nico and Snickers could meet. That meeting also went well! Sunday a Bully Paws volunteer came by and did a house visit to verify that our house was acceptable for a bully breed. Monday, around lunchtime, we found out that our adoption application was approved so we could pick up Nico!


So today, I took off work and went to get our newest family member. Bully Paws took him to the vet, where I met them, so that he could get a clean bill of health. For the most part, our boy is a healthy guy. He needs lose 10-15 pounds. They also put him on medicine for intestinal worms and gave us an antibiotic for him for his skin since some of his skin is in rough shape. Some of his teeth are also worn down almost to his gums- which might be why he has shown very little interest in the Nylabone we got him (we might have to get one that isn't for such a tough chewer). So he came home with us! He's gotten a shower (it was easier than trying to get the big boy into the tub) and he was SO GOOD during it- even washing the sore areas of the skin he was fine, he just leaned against my legs. He LOVED being towel dried. In fact, even when I thought he was dry enough he kept coming back for another rub down.

Behavior wise it's going to take a couple days to really know since he is in a new home so is excited. Right now the biggest obstacle is that he has no obedience training- or if he once did he's completely forgotten it. He also doesn't know his name since Bully Paws named him. Right now we have to alternate having him leashed to the banister and in his crate because he keeps trying to jump all over the furniture and me. He also wants to chase the cat. However, while he clearly wants to get closer to Snickers, they are getting along fine within about a foot and a half of each other as long as Nico doesn't start jumping around. If he starts jumping around Snickers gets skittish. So yes, our work is cut out for us but it's really not that bad- he appears to be fully crate trained which is nice, especially since we're going to be working on crate training Snickers now that we've gotten her anxiety under control (the majority of the time).

Anyway, welcome home Nico!