The V E T For Dental...

Well the new foster boy won't be a foster for much longer. Mommy announced WE'RE KEEPING HIM! Yeah right on! She said he fit in so well and quickly and works well with every aspect of our family that Diego (now Jasper) will become a permanent part of our family. He will be staying indefinitely and become my big brother. You can expect to hear lots more on him. We got him a week and a half ago on May 19th, and since then he's settled into our hearts and laps and been teaching everyone in the family, even me, all kinds of new things. He went to the V E T today to get his teeth done. Mommy said he had awful breath and possibly an infection. Jasper doesn't eat his food like a normal dog, if it's dry food he swallows it, if it's mushy food (which is what we eat) it has to be warm or it hurts his mouth. Mommy is pacing around nervous to find out how many teeth they have to pull. Isn't that mean?! Mommy said he'll feel better but my gosh that sounds mean, pulling teeth. Poor guy. We all miss him and it feels weird without him around. We have to go pick him up in about two and a half hours, till then mommy is just waiting to hear from the vet. Here are some pictures from yesterday of the two of us having a good time.

Diego is here...

It's been a very busy weekend and the human is just now getting around to the blog. We left early Saturday morning, my goodness it was a long trip to Denver. Little over two hours with traffic but I was a good girl. We went to the MidAmerica Boston Terrier Birthday Bash in Denver (ok it was in Northglenn close enough!) and we had a blast! I got to meet the big surprise, my new brother!

He's a five year old true brindle boy who is a owner surrender. Two families merged and no longer can provide him the attention he needs and some behavior issues we're stated to be the reason behind his surrender. They have had him his whole life, the poor boy was heartbroken! He just stood there and didn't care to join in any festive fun at The Bash. I tried to play with him but he just ignored me, no growl, no snap, he just looked away and kept searching for his daddy. Momma tried to cheer him up and bring him places and get his mind off of it, but he was stubborn.

Finally after getting so much attention at the bash, we headed home. My brother still wasn't in a good mood. We relaxed a bit at Grandma's house we we're going to be there for awhile. I got to meet a new family member! Jethro is Aunt Sara's new dog, he's a coonhound and he's a BIG boy compared to little me! Sunday we had to go to a Birthday party there was going to be lots of dogs and it was an hour drive so Mommy took all three of us for a walk together cause everyone else went to church. We had a blast!

We've been going on daily walks, Mommy said we need to exercise more while the weather is nice so we walk roughly .8 miles every night after dinner. We live at 9,494 feet and this altitude bothers my mommy, and I get sooo tired, but Diego, that boy LOVES to walk and can go forever! With all the hills in this town it's tough cause the human has to push that big wheel thing that the little human sits in, a strowler, they call it heh, I don't like that thing, the big tires scare me. Well we gotta go cause the brother needs a dental and mommy needs to call the vet to get him an appointment asap, she said he smells like infection, whatever that is.

Clean Bill of Health

Well we just got back from the vet, those mean people poke and prob me everywhere, but I showed them I tinkled on the floor then went wild running around the room I think my mind was something like this... Dr L. holds me and starts lovin on me, so I return the favor and give him lots of kisses. He laughs and let's me lick him. Then he turns me around shoves something in my bum guys! How rude! He loves me then pokes me! So he puts me down after I blankly stare at him for poking my bum, and I dash around the room like a wild animal. I stop and piddle and then keep dashing around, I'll show you! Then he picks me up and I act like nothing happened, then he pokes me with something sharp in my neck, my human said it was a shot to keep me healthy. Then he shoves this water into my nose, something about helping keep away the colds. THEN they shove this awful tasting stuff in my mouth. My furiends I officially have been poked everywhere I could imagine except my eyes... though they did shine a light in them and in my ears. BUT I got a clean bill of health and Saturday we're going to the Boston Terrier Birthday Bash for MidAmerica Boston Terrier Rescue in the Denver area, we're sooo excited, my human said there's going to be LOTS of Bostons there. I'll get to play with them all. Can you imagine that?! My human promises to bring her nice big camera and take lots of pictures. But it's been a long day and I'm going to sleeeeeeppp now. One last request, can all my Furiends say a prayer for Lily the Frenchie, her partner in crime Benny, and their humans? Lily had to have back surgery and everyone is very worried about her, you can read more about Lily and her family here at this blog, Two French Bulldogs Please say a prayer for them! Thanks, Gia

Week One & A Half

April 17th marked the addition to our family.  A small four pound, eight week old, Boston Terrier puppy had traveled from Tulsa to Denver to become part of our family.  We picked up our cuddly little girl that afternoon and have been so grateful for the amazing joy she has brought to our life.  We quickly settled on a name, Gia, and she would be quite the Diva like the supermodel she was named after.

Gia has been with us a whole week and a half nearly ten days to be exact.  In that time we have learned so much from the abundance of information the internet and the people online that we decided to compile everything going on in one place.

Gia developed some behavior issues on day three of being with us, she started to growl.  I felt like it wasn't an aggressive growl and started to search for information on young puppies growling when being in a person's lap and being adjusted with movement.  The information I found online has been plenty but nothing seemed consistent.  We we're in information overload and we we're starting to feel helpless.  So many people recommended a behaviorist but we simply couldn't afford the travel fees included on top of the price we we're given, living over an hour from any major big city with those services was such a great disadvantage for us.  We searched high and low for one in our area and decided if we wanted to get this resolved now, we would have to do it on our own.  So my research began at the vet.  Our vet ruled out medical issues and suggested that it was an alpha puppy behavior and not aggression.  We were given tips on how to curb her growling (but not prevent it!) and it's been working miracles for us.  Gia officially is minimally growling when being handled in only a few short days since trying these new methods given to us by our vet.

Over the last ten days Gia has been here we have weaned off the kibble she came on and onto a higher quality kibble and eventually onto The Honest Kitchen (THK) Preference diet.  THK is a dehydrated 100% human grade dog diet that you add water to.  THK Preference is a base diet that requires you to add your own meat as well as hydrate with water.  Gia wasn't enthusiastic about this food at all.  I was set on trying everything under the sun, more water, less water, more dry mix, less mix, soak longer, sprinkle with chicken on the top, I was exhausted at trying to get her to eat and quite frankly, I was worried.  She barely touched the stuff unless I sprinkled chicken on the top and even so, she wasn't eating enough for me to feel comfortable.  We went back to the high quality kibble and I e-mailed the company in hopes of finding something that worked for my little picky diva, Gia.  The representative, also a Boston Terrier mommy, suggested Parmesan cheese (I always called it stinky cheese!) or adding broth instead of water.  After I felt Gia had ate enough kibble (over the course of a few days) for me to be ready for her rejection of the THK again, I was ready to be as stubborn as her if she choose to reject it again.  Our first meal with Parmesan cheese was a total success!  I wasn't ready for her to eat so enthusiastically, I was quite shocked at the change in her behavior when eating the same stuff (minus the Parmesan cheese) as before, that she rejected time and time again.

This blog will be a compilation of our clicker training, positive re-enforcement training, holistic ways, and adventures.