Two Peas in a Pod

Lightning and Jack have become like peas in a pod... they act so similar to each other, play the same way, use the same vocalizations and will seek each other out for companionship.  The past few days I've been able to sneak up and snap a quick photo of them napping together and laying on the floor in the same positions just inside my living room.  This is their favorite hangout spot while I'm working in the kitchen or piddling around on the internet here at the table.

I love that even their paws are in the same position!

 These are the 2 that will click their teeth together at each other in the middle of a wrestling match.  Thunder and Gizmo take that as an aggressive act, but these two act like it's funny and do it toward each other all the time.  And their wrestling matches can stretch for hours with one on top and then the other as they roll and jump and twist and dive bomb each other.

Dos Amigos...

They are also the 2 who are most likely to lay their heads up over my legs to snuggle and nap for hours on either the couch or bed.  The other boys like attention until they are ready to sleep and then it's pretty much hands off.  But Lightning and Jacky... they like the physical contact with their human, me.

Lightning has been especially good at looking out for Jack since he was neutered on Tuesday.   They kept the play a little more gentle and let it escalate into their usual antics at Jack's pace.  It didn't take long.  He came home thirsty and very hungry but after getting his tummy full and a little more reassurance that we all still love him, he jumped right in!

He'll get his chance to console big brother soon enough.  Lightning is scheduled for a little snip snip of his own on Wednesday of this coming week.

Back to back this time, but still remarkably similar.

See that ring toy in the background?  Lightning finally learned to play tug with me using it.  He's the only one, so far, that will pick it up and pull against me when I hold the other end.  And then shake it mightily... sometimes so mightily that I think it's going to rip my arms out.  Yesterday and today, he's been teaching Jack to tug with him.

It's so fun to watch them together!

I love my boys!!

Peanut Butter Banana Pupsicles

I finally have the concoction figured out for the boys to get their Pupsicles!  For the past several days I've been paying attention to what foods my boys are the worst beggars about and surprisingly it's bananas that they love most for a people food treat.

A piece of banana, the pieces in a sip of my smoothie, banana bread - all of it sets off a look of pure felicity!

Are they weird or do all dogs like bananas?

My only previous experience with a pet and bananas was with my old cat, Lizzie.  She took a sniff of a banana... once.  And she was so disgusted by it that her whole head pulled back in a big wrinkle that would make the 'bitter beer face' of television fame look like a silly grin.  She shook her head vigorously trying to clear the air and then she retched.  No barf, just a super-dramatic gag.  She very graphically showed me that bananas had no place in her world.

But my dogs LOVE them!

They also love peanut butter.  I can't find any place where it says either of these things are bad for dogs and the vet didn't react negatively during our last visit when I said they'd had a piece of banana bread for a treat that morning.  Nor has she had any cautions when we've said we give them a fingerful of peanut butter now and then.  I'm using apple juice as a base.  Juice is ok.  Only large quantities of apple seeds are harmful to dogs from minute amounts of cyanide in the skin-like covering of the seed.  See?  I think things through and check this stuff out before just randomly handing them a bite of what I'm eating.

Peanut Butter Banana Pupsicles

Add to blender cup and whirl until fairly smooth:
1 1/4 cups apple juice
6 oz vanilla yogurt (1 small container minus a spoonful or so)
2 Tbl (+/-) creamy peanut butter
1-2 bananas broken into pieces




Pour into ice cube trays, or molds of your choice, and freeze.







Pop out and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer to give your puppy as an occasional treat during the hot summer.  It sure makes my boys think they've got something special!

I'm guessing that you saw right off that mine are round instead of ice cube shaped.  I confess.... I didn't go buy the ice cube trays I talked about a few posts back.  We had some of those appetizer-size frozen quiches we got on our Sam's Club trip and the plastic tray they are in inside the box is near perfect (a little bendy, but 'near' perfect) for both these little dog treats and for freezing cookie dough and I can get it in the freezer.  SCORE!!  I love free stuff!

Yes, you could munch these little disks yourself.  Or give them to your kid.  They would be quite tasty, I think, if I hadn't used Greek yogurt.... man, that tangy aftertaste and barf-o-rama smell that stuff carries are a turnoff!   The dogs don't seem to mind, but I do not like it and will be switching back to the plain old regular yogurt we've always got at the store from here on out.

If you object to giving your dog sweet treats, or you have one of those puppies without a sweet tooth, try chicken broth, unflavored yogurt, shredded chicken and mashed up cooked peas and/or carrots instead.  Next time I have a bit of leftover chicken I plan to make that variation for them.

How about that?

My puppies get treats better than some people give their kids!

Livin' The Dream

I woke up early this morning from a bad dream.

In this dream, it was Christmas and we were at some wealthy person's home as overnight guests along with a variety of other people.  Some of the other people I know, some I didn't and they have no real life connection to one another but we are all really tight friends in my dream.  It was early morning and everyone was either just getting up or arriving and we were all bustling around unloading cars and bringing in food and extra tables and chairs and presents.  Oh the presents!  They were so pretty with the glittery wrapping and the big fluffy bows!!

When I stepped out of the bedroom my foot landed right in the middle of a big cold puddle.  I cursed under my breath and hobbled off toward the kitchen for paper towels to clean up.  That done, I went in the bathroom.  And there was another puddle.  Everywhere I went in this house, there was a little puddle.

And it was irritating me no end to keep stepping in them!!

Finally, there was one at the base of the grand staircase in the entryway and I realized the puddles were pet urine.  I asked some of the other people coming in, if our hosts had pets and learned they had small dogs.  The guy answering said the dogs were afraid of people and probably hiding up in the owner's bedroom because of everyone coming and going.  I was thinking it was awfully strange... considering the number of puddles I'd found unattended to, the house should stink like a giant litter box and it didn't.  My friend, glancing over the top of the table he was moving inside, saw the puddle by the stairs and rolled his eyes and said "Usually the maid takes care of it pretty quick, but she's off for a few weeks to spend the holiday with her family in Bolivia."

Not because the maid had some time off, but that the pet owners themselves didn't step up and get the messes taken care of was frustrating me.  And I wanted to yell at them!

I woke up then, with my heart pounding and breathing hard and feeling that frustration come through pretty strong.  And then there was that deflating moment where I lay there looking around the room trying to sort out what was real and what was dream that I realized, "Oh yeah... I'm livin' the dream."

And so I got up and put my boys out for their first morning potty trip.

50-lb Thunder (looking straight at the camera) and 48.5-lb Lightning
(down with his head thrown back) wrestling in front of one of our fans.

Dog Pee

I failed epicly as a puppy parent tonight.

The boys have had 'accident' after accident all day long.  Sometimes I think it was revenge peeing... a way of getting back at me for hollering NOOOOOOOOOOOO! because they'd squat while looking right at me and then walk around the room to make sure it was splattered as widely as possible.  And they have giant bladders...  A racehorse, one of those famous for it's copious amounts of urine, has nothing on my boys!

I swear I've mopped up gallons of dog pee today.

Gallons!!

And in this moment I can't think of much I detest more than dog pee and peeing dogs.  Enough to declare I will never have another puppy and that any future dog needs to be grown up enough to be house-trained and have learned a few manners before I'll think about bringing it home.  I might even mean that.

And we all should have bought stock in whatever company owns Bounty.  I've used enough paper towels to create a quarter of record profits for them just from mopping up dog pee.

(Note to self:  I should hit them up for a product endorsement deal!)

Dog pee is making me crazy.  It's got me completely frazzled and feeling bitter about getting stuck with all the clean up.  Well, not all the clean up.  But certainly a heck of a lot of it.

It wouldn't be so bad if dog pee had even one redeeming quality about it.  But it is what it is... dog pee.

While I was cooking dinner they flooded the dining room for the second time today. Am I being overly dramatic calling it a flood when the whole floor was wet?  They've peed in the living room.  They've peed in the family room.  I think one of them peed in the bedroom... I swear my blood pressure goes up enough to make me wonder if my head is about to explode when I, unsuspectingly, step on that cold wet spot.  I just want to scream!

And tonight I'd had more of it than I could deal with and I did scream.

One of those blood curdling, top of the lungs, scare the pee out you when you hear it kind of screams.

Yes, it scared them and freaked them out.

And yes, they peed.

As if I needed more dog pee to deal with...

I have so had it with dog pee tonight... if the grocery store was still open I'd go get a box of Pampers and diaper the peeing hounds every second they are inside.  It's not like I don't take the rotten little beasts out every couple of hours all day long.  I do.  And they pee a gallon in the yard... or on the driveway... or on the carport floor then, too.

Dog pee, dog pee, dog pee, dog pee, dog pee, dog pee...

Are you as sick of it as I am yet?

But, yes... I still love them.  Or at least I will again by morning!

Dogs and Weeds: Both Are Growing FAST

When we first brought the puppies home, we had some 'big boy' collars, the black leather ones with silver spikes, waiting but they were way too big.  Even latching it in the first hole it would slip off right over the little fella's head.  This morning I moved Thunder's out to the next to last hole...

They're almost grown out of their first real collars!

At 15 weeks, just over 3 months, old both are near 30 pounds now!  Their growth is visible from day to day.  At times I just sit back and marvel how grown up they are getting, especially evident in the deepening voices of their barks.  They're sounding less like puppies and more like the big dogs they're growing into way too fast!!

Yes, they are growing like weeds!  So I thought today might be a good day to share some updated pictures and tell you more about their developing personalities.

Lightning, listening intently to some silly noise
I was making to get his attention...
May 17, 2013

Lightning is the slightly smaller of my boys and has become my mischievous little instigator... the first to head off and explore the woods or neighbor's yard, the one who almost immediately curls his lips back and snarls in that 'scary growl' while play fighting, scooper of food from bowl to kitchen floor and thief of all shoes, slippers and laundry he can sneak away to find.

Several people have commented on those behaviors being more the dominant alpha dog and a sign of superior intelligence.   And that sometimes it can be tough to get them to submit to training.  I can see that.  Lightning certainly has a mind of his own.  Sometimes I'd even call him stubborn like a mule when I want him to do one thing and he wants to do something else.

Thunder, giving me the look that says 'enough
with the camera in my face already!'
May 17, 2013

Thunder, my big boy, is much more chilled out and affectionate.  He likes getting, and giving, hugs and kisses.  And almost has the concept of 'soft kisses not bites' down.  Almost.  Given the chance, he will chew stuff up.  Me included!  He's the follower, the one who takes a lot of crap before he snarls back, and most often the one who comes first when called.  And he's the 'good' rider when we go in the car... napping peacefully through his brother's whines for much of the time. Thunder was also the first to master going up and down the stairs, sitting by the door to let me know he needs to go out and walking (relatively) calmly on the leash.

He's more the people pleaser and, I anticipate, he will be much easier to handle for any training we opt to do in the future.

They are so different from one another... but both well loved and so very much fun!!

Now if I could just keep them out of the woods and weeds.  And especially the ticks.  It seems to be an especially bad year for ticks in northern Georgia.  Even with the weight-appropriate monthly flea and tick treatment, we find ticks on them a couple of times a week picked up on their adventures out here:

Back yard on May 16, 2013.  Filled in so much in the last month!!

I Love Saving Money

I am not brand loyal to very many things when I shop.  That's not a criticism for those that always buy the same specific brand of any particular product, just a statement that I don't.

Bounty, Scott, Viva... they're all paper towels.  All going to be used for the same lowly purpose.  (At my house right now, that purpose is primarily cleaning up puppy accidents!)  Similarly Charmin, Angel Soft or another brand of 2-ply is ok.  Left to my own devices, I will choose whichever one is cheaper that day.  Think about what it's for... why flush the extra dollars?

Photo credit: http://www.drugstore.com

When we brought the puppies home, we knew we needed something to clean up accidents.  Derek reached for Resolve.  A can like this lasted about a week.  At our local grocery store, the price is $5.49.  Being a cheapskate, I didn't want to pay that much again so I looked for a coupon but I didn't find one so I looked for it at the Dollar General next to the grocery store.  They don't carry it.

But I still needed something to clean up spots on the carpet.

What to do?  What to do?

I kept looking around the store and found a store brand clean up product that said it would eliminate pet odors.

For $2, I figured it was worth a try.

If it was crap, at least I wouldn't have wasted much of our very sparse funds.  And if it did the job, I'd look like a freaking genius for trying it.  High reward - low risk.

Premium Stain & Odor Remover

And after a week of using it... I like it.  I definitely think it's doing the job it is intended for.  The stains come up very easily and the house doesn't smell of urine or feces when you walk in.  Right when you are using it, it doesn't smell as perfumy as the Resolve does and it's a liquid you squirt on instead of a foam.  But it's getting the job done, I'm not big on perfume smells and I honestly can't think of even one good reason to get hung up on the foaming/non-foaming difference.

I recommend Dollar General's Premium Stain & Odor Remover for anyone who has pet clean up needs and wants to save a few bucks!

Genius.

Beauty is a Beast!

In order to get that fierce guard dog look that is so classic for a Doberman, tails and ears are trimmed while they are very young puppies.  Then, their naturally floppy ears, must be splinted until healed so they are erect.  In the past that splint has been external and required almost a full taping of the dogs head to keep it in place for 6 weeks.  More recently, a system was developed to use a stent internally which, after healing, is removed via a single tiny incision.

Our boys got stents before we ever picked them up from the breeder.

And I was pretty sold on this method.  It's clean, neat and only requires us to tape the very tips of their ears *if* they flopped.  Both of Lightning's, and one of Thunder's, ear tips flopped.  And keeping tape on them has been difficult.  I couldn't imagine having to do the whole external splint and tape the whole ear thing.

But now that's changed...

In their 'boys will be boys' rough housing, one of Lightning's stents broke through the skin on Sunday evening.  I think it bothered us more than it bothered him but we dutifully made the appointment to have the vet remove it.  They couldn't take him until Thursday morning so we've had to just watch him and feel bad about it for a couple of days now.  When we got out of bed for the first potty run Tuesday morning, I noticed it wasn't just broken skin but an inch or so of stent poking out.  By the time I got him back in the house and cornered only about an inch and a half of the stent were left inside his ear.  I bit the bullet and pulled it out.

This is what it looks like.  The stent is a piece of semi-flexible plastic much like fishing line, or what you use in a string trimmer for the lawn, but it's heavier.

Now we've got about 3 weeks of externally taping his ear so it will hold its shape.  And he's a royal pain in the backside about it.  He fights about holding still to get the tape put on and then thrashes about trying to find a way to get it off.  And then his brother helps him with his predicament...  Thunder bites his ear and pulls the tape off sending me running to pull it out of his mouth before he swallows.

And I don't really know what I'm doing when I try to tape it so I'm finding it to be a real ordeal.

I wish there wouldn't have been issues with the stent.  If that had gone smoothly I'd have no hesitations about it.  But one of Thunder's twisted so he has an ear that sits at a bit of a wonky angle (we hope it will straighten when the stent is removed) and then all this mess with Lightning's ear...it gives me doubts.  I'm truly not sure what I'd choose to do if I could get a do-over!

And this is the sad way he comes out looking.

For the 10 minutes the tape lasts...

Our Family Is Growing

I'm excited to announce our family is getting a little bigger!  We get twins!!

Now before you all get the wrong idea, I'm not pregnant.

Oh heavens... THAT would be an epic disaster.  Even if we were married that would be rough considering health and schedules and the lifestyle we have planned.  What really works best for us is a furry family addition.

And now we've been blessed with the opportunity to get some gorgeous puppies!

The second weekend in April we've made plans to go pick them up from Shady Grove Kennel, a breeder in Dublin, GA.  We are getting two male blue Dobermans.  The 'blue' comes from the smoky gray shading of the darkest part of their coat.  (Black is the most familiar coloring, but there are also blues like we are getting and reds who have a rich coppery brown coat.)

Our babies were born early in February to parents who've each racked up an impressive number of championship trophies on both the domestic and international circuits.  Based on their genetics and how big these little guys feet are, we estimate they'll both be very large dogs.  As in more than 120 pounds at maturity kind of large.

Wowzers!  That's a lot of dog!!

This little sweetie is Thunder.  Doesn't he look muscular already?  And ready to head up our house's living security system.  Seriously... would you want to be an unwelcome visitor and come face to face with him when he's all grown up?

And this one is called Shadow.  (I'm campaigning to rename him Lightning.)  He's destined to become my personal trainer and take me on long brisk walks down our little lane and in the many nearby parks.

I can hardly wait to snuggle with these adorable furbabies!! Just look at their cute little faces almost begging for hugs and kisses!

I've been trying to learn a little bit about Dobermans the past few days while we've been plotting and planning and trying to figure out a way to make this happen.  And they are amazing dogs!

Realizing it's part sales-hype, I've loosely pulled these comments from our breeder's website:

A Doberman is a lively dog with lots of speed, strength, and agility. He can run with a horse, maneuver quickly enough to catch a rabbit, track faster than a Bloodhound, tree a mountain lion, and beat you to your favorite chair every time!

He is also a very gentle dog with the firmness of Gibraltar... He will let a baby crawl all over him or take his six-year-old mistress walking to show her off and guide her with mature judgment.  Sensitive dogs, they are keenly alert to your feelings and wishes.  If someone visits you whom you don't like, watch the dog. He will be watching your visitor. After he has been with you a few years, you will find less need to command him because he will know what you want and respond automatically. You become a part of him and he becomes a part of you.

Dobermans are the only breed of dog originally bred as guard and watchdogs yet they are also noted for their gentleness and obedience.  They are also beautiful with ample square-ish and highly muscled bodies, a sleek dry coat with precise clean markings, a long arched neck for balance and nobility, and a dark almond shaped eye set fairly deep.

Yup... I'm gonna be a very happy pet parent with the cutest furbabies in the history of ever!