Kitty Litter Appetizer

This is driving me crazy! Elphie will not stop eating from the litter box! We house the litter box in the bathroom/laundry room through our kitchen. We try to keep the sliding door closed the majority of the way, just enough for the cats to slip in and out, but it doesn't seem to be working, so Elphie will wander down and snack on whatever is in the box. IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY! I don't know how to stop this. I'm just afraid that she's going to get sick. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Alliteration Alley

I love our dog walker. She leaves notes that often consist of cutesy alliteration, such as, "a pee and poop for your peppy pup". Sometimes I want to leave her notes in return with my own alliteration, "Elphie is everywhere eavesdropping with her elongated ears".

Yeah, I won't quit my day job.

Happy 2011!

September 25, 2010 was my last post - that was last year! What was I thinking? I guess I just got a little too involved with trying to keep Elphie contained that I didn't have time for blogging. Shame on me :(  Turns out Elphie can't be contained so I was throwing away my blogging time for nothing! Oh, motherhood...

Elphie turned 9 months this month. We think she's done teething but that hasn't stopped her from chewing up the house. We've lost a rug, a part of Husband's sandal and a piece of my favorite chair all within Elphie's teething stage. We used to keep her in her own playpen during the day while we were at work, within range of the doggie door, but as she grew she got smarter and learned that she could climb up the gate and out into the world (the "world" being our living room). Noticing that this was our last ditch effort of keeping her in one area, we were left with the decision to let her have free roam of the house. This was not a good idea, hence the destroyed articles previously mentioned. Finally we sucked it up and chose to crate her during the day while hiring a dog walker to come during the afternoon to care for and play with her. Even though this was the most expensive option it turned out to be the best one, for both us and for Elphie. A win/win situation if you will. We don't come home to a destroyed house and Elphie has made a new friend. Sometimes our dog walker will bring her dogs on the trip so Elphie gets some puppy play time, too. 

My schedule has changed a bit now that we crate her. I get up at my usual time but now I take her for a short bathroom trip walk in the morning and one again at night. At least I'm moving more with this schedule so I guess that's good :::grumble grumble::: Eventually I'm going to get up even earlier and go for a real walk and take Elphie with me. Eventually.

Toothfairy

This picture makes Elphie look like her head is bigger than her body. While that is somewhat true, it is not entirely the case. I was trying to take a picture of her for the longest time. Finally she sat still and looked at me so here is the result - Madam Elphie Bighead.

Our baby's growing up. :::tear:::  She's started losing her baby teeth. She was chewing on something the other night and for the life of me I had no idea what it was. Finally I went over and she dropped it on the floor. Lo and behold it was one of her teeth. If I didn't know better I would think something was wrong. It's pretty disturbing saving your dog from choking on its own tooth. Now more than ever I assume she's going to be looking for things to chew on. Good thing we got her a gigantic rubber donut with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles :)

In other news, I can't wait for Fall to finally be here. It's the end of September for crying out loud and it's freaking 103 degrees today! This is probably the one major drawback about living in California - you never see the changing of the seasons. Once it gets below 90 I look forward to finally bringing Elphie to a dog park. It would just be cruel if we brought her now.

Couches and weak bladders

Yes, yes I know...I've been MIA again. Sorry about that. But here I am...and with a new Elphie picture to boot! Woo!

This picture comes after a day of spending it in her crate. We learned that she can't be trusted, even when she's just in the other room by herself, because she went ahead and peed on the couch again. So we spent the majority of Saturday afternoon cleaning up after her mess. :::sigh::: Kids! Sunday we decided to let her out for a bit but not often on the couch. She kept jumping up regardless, though, and we kept pushing her off. Finally I pushed her off and told her to lay down. In her defense, even though she was back on the couch yet again, at least she was laying down!

She is pretty cute, though. Don't tell the hubby, but she won't be off the couch for long ;)

We gave in - Elphie is now allowed on the couch. It was only a matter of time before she got her little paws up there. She's a terrier so she's chock full of energy, literally bouncing off the walls. She's only allowed up there while supervised, specifically when we're playing fetch with her, but she's so incredibly happy. She likes to run from one end of the room to the other to get a running start and then jump and barrel right into my stomach and/or face. That's a little obnoxious. When she's done playing, or when Hubby gives her the "settle down already" look, she'll just dig her nose into the blanket and lay down. It's those times that she's the most cute. You know, when she's calm?

We brought all three of the animals to the vet last Saturday. Elphie received the last of her puppy shots and in four more days she can officially be socialized into the world. We're really excited to bring her to dog parks! I just hope she won't get too overwhelmed or crazy.

I'll post more pictures soon, I promise! (I know I always say that) Have a great weekend everyone!

Elphie's first car ride

I always feel like the mother with the unruly children whenever I go to the vet. Granted I've only had to take cats, but one of the cats (aka Boq) is a real pain in the patootie. And today Hubby and I had to wrangle up all three animals and trek to a brand new vet so that the kids can get their shots. Man was that fun! By the time we got home I could make another animal out of all of the fur on my body. Things went well, though, and everybody is healthy. Elphie has a dandruff problem and the vet says that's abnormal for her age and it's due to the food she eats. We feed her Eukanuba Puppy. I guess it used to be a good brand but then the family sold it to some other company and it's no longer the high quality it was. Of course they gave us a free bag of food to try that you can only purchase at the vet. Funny how that works, huh?

Luckily Elphie is now all done with her puppy shots and within 10 days we can bring her to the dog parks. That will be fun and I can't wait! Hopefully by then the temperature will also get to below 100 degrees. It's been hot as Hates here this month. Craz-y! Because the high for today is 105 we decided to forgo taking her for a walk. She'll just plop down on somebody's yard anyway.

That's all I got for you today. I'm going to have to upload more pictures of Elphie and I'll post them in my next blog. You'll be surprised how big she's gotten!