Love That Dirty Water

Although Boston isn't Elphie's home, she still loves dirty water. Her upset tummy has been connected to her love for lapping puddles. I brought her to the vet on Saturday and they called on Tuesday to give me the results of the stool culture: she tested positive for Giardia. I did a little research and learned that Giardia is "an infection of the small intestine caused by a microscopic organism (protozoa)" (definition courtesy of http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Apparently it affects both humans and animals, usually caught by drinking stagnant and/or dirty water. I'm told that people who drink the water from Half Dome without filtration suffer from this ailment. Ick. I also read that it is undetermined whether the infection can be transferred between species. With that being said, you can bet your booty that I'm washing my hands every time I take her for a walk! That does not sound fun. I've seen, first hand, what it can do to the body and I'm not going to be signing up for that. Luckily it is easily treated with a combination of medication in various forms. I was sent home with pills for the diarrhea, powder to act as a vitamin supplement and liquid to treat the infection. I'm hoping she'll start to feel like herself again really soon.

Elphie has an upset tummy, although you never would know it with the way she goes about her day. She's just a tad lazier than usual but for the most part she's rather peppy. We put her on a 24-hr fast on Sunday and have been and will be feeding her boiled chicken, rice and cottage cheese for the next couple of days to help regulate her system. By the way she scarfed her dinner down yesterday, it seems like she thinks it's the best food in the world. I bet she's going to be upset when we switch her back to her regular food.

Camp has been going well and each day Elphie acts like it's her very first day. She always comes home with a shining paw-gress report and we learn that she loves to play with toys (we could've told them that) and that she's the life of the party. She's always making friends and she rarely rests during break time. I'm a-OK with the latter because that means she's not a bother when she gets home. It makes for an easy evening for mom and dad.

Doggie Day Camp - Day 3

Day 2 was a success so why wouldn't we bring her back for day 3? Although I have a feeling this getting up early in order to bring her stuff is going to get old fast. She was tuckered out after the second day and passed out on our bed while I watched TV in my lounge chair. She went out like a light and didn't even wake when the cat jumped on the bed to hiss and swat at her. Those are signs of a tired pup!

Doggie Day Camp - Day 2

Today is Elphie's second day at doggie day camp. I was actually considering not bringing her today to give her an additional day to rest, but she was peppy yesterday and back to her old self and I remembered the joy her exhaustion gave Hubby and I so I sacrificed my own sleep to get up early and bring her in.

PetsHotel was pretty packed this morning. There was a family of women dropping off their pooch to be boarded and I overheard the mother complaining about the price of it all. I couldn't help but wonder what in the world she was expecting. Unless you have a friend or relative to visit with your pet while you're away, and if you can't bring him wherever you're going, you would have to resort to boarding. But I still think PetSmart's prices are reasonable for the amount of care they give your pet. It's not like they keep your dog locked up in a cage all day - at the very least they take him out for a "walk" twice a day. You can also choose to add on a session of doggie day camp and/or individual play time for an additional cost. And have I mentioned the dog ice cream? For an extra $4, you can request your pooch receive a treat of either a Kong toy filled with peanut butter or soft serve dairy free bacon ice cream! How cool is that?! They get a free ice cream on their birthday, too! If I were a dog I'd love to hang out there!

I feel bad cutting back on our dog walker because they're really cool. They do an outstanding job and you can tell that they really care about animals. But the truth of the matter is, Elphie needs hours of stimulation and it just makes the most sense to bring her to camp. And let's face it - when Elphie is pooped it makes for a relaxing evening for Hubby and me. I understand now why parents force summer camp upon their children. Lots of play makes them sleepy and sleeping children = happy parents. You can bet your bottom dollar we'll be picking up that practice when we have kids! Does newborn camp even exist?

Doggie Day Camp ROCKS!

I think the excitement of Doggie Day Camp was a little too much for Elphie yesterday. Hubby picked her up last night and he said that they got in the house and she plopped down on the tile floor and wouldn’t move for 10 minutes. She was a big blob of BT all night and all she wanted to do was sleep. This morning, however, I came downstairs to find three small vomit piles in her crate. She only threw up liquid and it seemed rather fresh so she must’ve done it shortly before I came downstairs. She looked scared and ashamed but I didn’t yell at her because I wouldn’t want to be yelled at if I had to throw up in bed because of an upset tummy (well, at least one that wasn’t caused by extreme drinking the night before). We had a rather calm walk this morning when she did her business and even got a little excited when she saw another dog. We decided to give her a day to rest so we’re leaving her home today to sleep while the dog walker comes and visits. I’m sure she’ll be back to her old self by tomorrow and ready for another fun day at camp!

Busy Weekend

Elphie with a ball at the dog park.

This weekend was a big one for Ms. Elphie. On Saturday she had her first grooming appointment. We were told she did pretty well but that she wasn’t a big fan of the dryer so the groomer had to let her air dry. Honestly, how many dogs are big fans of the blow dryer? Maybe I should stop tormenting her with mine when I do my own hair. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t help matters. Then Sunday rolled around and Saturday became pretty much a moot point. We met some friends at the dog park and Elphie spent two hours chasing other pups and rolling around in the dirt and mud. We literally had to hose her down before going home, so that was $35 down the drain. It was worth it, though, because she highly enjoyed herself and she was out of commission for the rest of the night. Hubby had to literally drag her down the street on her walk last night before bed. She was even a little sore this morning when I took her out.

Elphie pooped after running around all day.

While we were at the groomers on Saturday (we brought her to PetSmart) we stopped by the PetsHotel lobby and spoke with a representative about their offers for doggie day camp. Now I never thought I would be *that* person who would bring her dog to camp during the day but it’s really a great deal. A half day (up to 6hrs) costs $15 and a full day costs $20. The camp runs from 9a-5p with a couple of breaks in between but you can drop off your “baby”, as your dog is referred, as early as 7a and pick up before 9p. They’ll even give a feeding! So this morning I got up early and brought Elphie and her baggie of food to PetSmart at 7:00 and Hubby will pick her up on his way home at 7:00 tonight. Luckily we’re not spending any more money because it’s the same price as our dog walker. We’re hoping this opportunity will help Elphie socialize more with other dogs and quite possibly calm down a bit. She’s so excitable and LOVES people and other animals so this will give her a way to release all of that energy. We’re going to see how this week goes (we’re aiming to bring her to camp 3x this week) and see if it improves her behavior. I’ll keep you posted on how it all goes!

I give up...

I've resigned to the fact that Elphie just may be a little too young and excitable to learn how to walk on a leash. We've spent most of our "lessons" tugging each other back and forth so I've decided to give it a rest for a few months until she gets more adjusted to leash life and less distracted. I know she's smart enough to learn, but she's defiant and stubborn, too. Typical woman :)

The reason why I know she's smart enough to learn is because I've been able to teach her other tricks. She now knows how to sit, stay, down, shake, up, come (when she feels like it), give high fives (granted she uses both paws for that, but she's got the gist of it), and roll over. I was the most proud of roll over because she was more interested in the treat than she was in the trick.

Maybe she's a rebel and will never walk beside me on a leash. Maybe she's a social butterfly and would prefer to run off with her puppy buddies than to go on a relaxing stroll. Maybe she was born as the wrong breed and should've been a blood hound. Who knows! All I know is that if she had a middle finger she would learn quickly how to flip me the bird.