Tricky Thursday: Beg/Sit Pretty

   One of my favorite hobbies is to train my dogs new tricks. That's why, today, I'm starting a new weekly post on My Household Zoo called Tricky Thursday. Every Thursday I'll post instructions on how to train your dog a new trick. All of these instructions are assuming your dog already knows the basics: sit, lay down, stay, recall, etc. That's the tricky part I guess, haha.

  This week's trick is Sit Pretty or Beg. If you have a small dog, skip down to Step Two. If you have a large dog, start at Step One.

Step One: Put your dog in a sit. Go behind him/her, and put your feet against his/her butt. Touch your heels together and form a "V" shape with your feet. Reach to your dog's chest with one of your hands, and hold a treat in front of his/her nose with the other hand. As you bring the treat up and back, apply a slight pressure to your dog's chest to lift their front paws off of the ground. As the front paws leave the ground, give a command(sit pretty or beg) and release the treat. Continue step one until your dog no longer needs your hand on their chest for support. Try having your dog be in the sit pretty/beg position for longer periods of time before you give the treat. Make sure your dog is not putting its front paws on your hand for support. Remember to end the training session on a positive note, before your dog gets bored or frustrated.

Step Two: Put your dog in a sit in front of you. Put your treat to their nose and move it up and back, like you did in step one. Make sure you don't bring the treat too far up, or your dog will jump up onto their hind legs. If your dog does this, put him/her back into a sit position and try again. If your dog is too big and isn't well balanced yet, return to step one and practice some more, letting the dog use your legs as support but stop using your hand on their chest once they no longer need it. You are going to want to work towards putting the lure in front of their face(as shown in Zora's pictures) rather than above their head(as shown in Midget's picture).

 Remember, don't let your dog put his/her paws on your hand for support!

Step Three: Once your dog can hold this position for an extended period of time, and once he/she is able to get into the position with the treat in front of their face instead of above it, begin moving the treat away from your dog after you give the command. The goal is to get your dog into the beg/sit pretty position without the use of a food lure. Good luck!

-Cynthia

Meet Minxie

Species: Rat
Age: 1 Year
Nicknames: Just Minxie
Minxie's Story: Oh boy.. Minxie. Minxie is a rat on crack. No joke. She is the most hyperactive rat I have ever seen. When something in the cage is destroyed, I know it's been her. She is the first one to chew on any plastic or fabric I put in the cage. She's also a little escape artist, as you can see from the above photo. When I open the cage, she's the first one at the door. Not to see me, mind you, but to see if she can climb out of the cage! With all her hyperactivity comes playfulness too, of course. She is always chasing around the other girls, trying to play with them even when they've had enough of it. She also loves a good game of hand wrestling, where I grab her lightly and ruffle her fur and then she chases my hand and my hand chases her. She is definitely a rat full of personality, and I love her for it!

   Minxie is Anna's daughter. She was the only one in the litter with her color(see above photo). Minxie and her brothers and sisters were born exactly a week after Belle's litter, on September 17th. All of Anna's pups inherited her shy personality, except for Minxie. This made it a bit harder to find them homes, even though they all had rex fur. I had also kept Minxie's brother, Casper, who unfortunately passed earlier this year due to an infection that ran rampant through my whole colony. I believe it was the sendai virus but I'm not sure. It also killed my old male "grumpy" rat, Ren, who was never able to live with other rats, and it killed the baby I had just recently gotten, whom I believe brought the infection into my house in the first place. That scenario just stresses the importance of quarantine, and I'm glad I didn't lose all of my rats.

   Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to upload many pictures of Anna's litter growing up onto Facebook or Photobucket. I did take a lot of pictures, but the hard drive I had saved them to died.

-Cynthia

I Heart My Dogs

   Do you ever have moments in life where you look at what you're doing or saying or where you're at and then you say, "Wow! I am such a pet person!" as if you are surprised? I had one of those moments earlier today. My day started out a little stressful, so to counteract the stress I decided to sit on the couch in the front room and read my book. Right now I'm reading "Tell Me Where It Hurts" by Dr. Nick Trout, a veterinarian. I'm loving it, but it's maybe making me think a little too much about how I'm going to end up losing my dogs some day.

  Anyways, dogs being dogs, they sensed my uneasiness. All three of them. And so, within seconds, all three of them were on the couch. All 170 pounds of them, plus my undisclosed amount of weight. Midget was on the left side of my lap, Zora's butt was on half of the middle couch cushion and her chest was on the right side of my lap, with her head resting right on my chest and her big brown eyes looking up on me, and Jack was on the farthest cushion, the middle cushion, and had his head resting on Zora's butt. Yea, he takes up that much room.

   What surprised me about this situation was their "teamwork" and determination to be next to me and make me feel better. Midget will usually growl, snarl, and carry on if any of the dogs get within a foot of her, and yet there she was sleeping while Zora's head was right against her. Zora will usually bully Jack and growl at him if he is on top of her, and yet there she was focusing on me with his head on her butt. And Jack is usually so polite, he never wants to be on the couch or the bed or anywhere if he feels like there isn't room for everyone else, but he was still laying their sacrificing his - oh, I dunno, pride? - to be near me.

   I love my dogs, all 170 pounds of them.

(Jack LOVES baby animals. I was trying to catch his tongue in action. This is a young African Soft Furred Rat to those wondering.)

-Cynthia

Wordless Wednesday: Smoochin Snakes

   By the way, imagine my surprise when I went to check my BlogPaws account today and I saw a picture of Anna, Belle, Minxie, and Riley on their Wordless Wednesday post! Check it out, it's the first one in the Blog Hop:

Sewing Adventures

   So... They aren't anywhere near perfect. One of them I even sewed the wrong way. You know how you are supposed to sew the two fabric pieces together with the outer sides against each other so you can flip it inside out and hide the edges? Well, yea. I forgot to do that. The good news is that the best way to learn is from your mistakes, and I will know forever remember to put the right sides together.

   I made these shelf covers for a cage called the Critter Nation. The cage is made by Midwest, a brand dog lovers might recognize from their kennels and crates. The Critter Nation is, in my honest opinion, the best small animal cage on the market. It is the sturdiest small animal cage I have ever seen, and also one of the largest. It has full doors, so it is easier to put large boxes and cage accessories in and find your small critter, should she be hiding somewhere. The only drawback to this cage is that the floor and the shelf are plastic pans.

  The problem with plastic pans is that you can't use litter. You are forced to either litter box train your critter, use fleece covers, or do what I did and buy metal pans from Bass Equipment. The pans are made specifically to replace the plastic pans in Ferret Nation and Critter Nation cages so that you can use litter. While this solves the floor problem, there hasn't been a solution made for the second level - the shelf. I have simply been putting litter in it, since there is a little bit of a lip, but they tend to kick it out through the bars and make a mess anyways.

  And why did I go through the trouble of buying bass pans and using litter, you ask? Well, for starters, I didn't have a sewing machine to make liners. But that wasn't my only problem. My girly rats are a nightmare for fleece, and anything they can sink their teeth into really. The problem was that much worse when they were babies and I had more of them in the cage. Fleece liners never lasted more than a day. Now that my rats are all over one year old, I am going to attempt this whole fleece thing. I "installed" the liners last night and they are still intact. Things are looking good!

-Cynthia

Meet Riley

Species: Rat
Age: 1 Year
Nicknames: Just Riley
Riley's Story: Riley was one of Belle's babies. She was born on September 10th, 2010. We decided to keep her because she was the only rat of her color that had a head spot instead of a blaze. Can you see the white spot on her head? It's pretty hard to see since her overall coloring is light also!

  Riley definitely inherited her momma's sweet personality, although I wouldn't say she is as sweet as Belle. But she is always the first or second rat to come give my hand some sweet rattie kisses. It's pretty cool that I was able to have her living here since she was born. I was able to condition her to being held and pet and "grabbed", just like you would with a puppy to get used to veterinary examinations and grooming. Here are some pictures of Riley as she was growing up:

Riley is the one in the middle.

Her eyes JUST opened! You can see her brother or sister in the background, her/his eyes haven't opened yet.

-Cynthia

Happy.. Tuesday?

   Okay, I know I claimed to only leave the blog during the weekend.. But we had a busy Monday as well! Not much blog related to post about though. I am on one of my week long breaks from school.. Brown Mackie College is somewhat different than traditional schools. I take one course every month, and I get one week off every three months.. And this is one of those weeks. I sure am enjoying the time at home to sleep and play with my critters, and hopefully catch up on cleaning LOL.

   So this weekend I had planned on doing the third K9 Kamp activity, and I planned on taking Jack to the dog park for the first time. Nature didn't agree and she rained on us all weekend long. Oh well! Hopefully Jack's first dog park adventure can happen next weekend, along with the 4th K9 Kamp challenge.

   Speaking of K9 Kamp.. Did anyone notice that I won the second week giveaway? I am so excited! I'll post about how the dogs and I like everything when we get the prizes.

   One last thing, and it's exciting! I got a sewing machine! Yaaaaay! I've been wanting one for years now. Thanks to my partner I finally have one. I've never used one in my life, so it took some getting used to. I practiced on some scraps first, then I repaired my partner's blanket. He was pretty thankful for that. I've also made some shelf covers for the rats' cages. Umm.. Let's just say I'm not an expert yet! I'll post pictures when I put them in the cage if I'm not too embarassed! Anyways, maybe sewing tutorials for pet related items will be in this blog's future.. Dog toys, cat toys, beds, hammocks for rats. What do you guys think?

  Here's a picture from this weekend. Midget and my partner are making the most of their rainy weekend, catching some ZZZZs:

-Cynthia

Meet Anna

Species: Rat
Age: 1 Year (born June 2010)
Nicknames: Just Anna
Anna's Story: When we originally went to the breeder's house to get a rat, we had really planned on getting just one. After I watched them in the aquarium for awhile, I narrowed it down to a female adult, who was Belle, and this little rat who I might guess was around a month old. That little rat was Anna. When I picked them up, I asked my partner who he liked better. It only took me a few seconds to decide on Belle - she was a lot calmer than scared little Anna. My partner didn't agree. He thought Anna's perfectly symmetrical blaze was the cutest thing ever.

  We ended up going home with two rats, which was fine by us really. It was better for them too, which I didn't know at the time. We aren't really sure how Anna and Belle are related. I like to say that they are sisters, but in reality Anna could be Belle's daughter, or niece, or cousin. Anna never really warmed up to us. She is still the most skittish of all of our rats, but I still love her and so does my partner. Shockingly, even though she was so small, Anna was pregnant when we got her and she had a litter of rat pups exactly a week after Belle did! We had a LOT of rat babies to take care of! Anna's daughter, Minxie, is still living with us, and she will be introduced on Thursday - make sure you check back to meet her!


-Cynthia

Meet Belle

Species: Rat
Age: 1-2 Years
Nicknames: Bell-E(like belly)
Belle's Story: Belle, along with Anna, was one of my first female rats. We got them both from a feeder breeder, someone who breeds rodents to feed to snakes. The man was selling his snake and so he was also selling the rats. We picked Belle out of the tank because she was one of the friendliest rats that was there. Shortly after she came home with us, we noticed that she has two different colored eyes. This is called "odd-eyed" in rats. If you look closely at her picture, you can see that one eye is ruby colored and the other is black.

  A few weeks after we got her, Belle ended up having a litter of rat pups. I guess that's what happens when you get pet rats from a cage that has both males and females! We still have two of Belle's babies, Dante and Riley, who I will introduce later. Belle is my nicest female rat. She loves to give rattie kisses. Earlier this year, she had a mammary tumor and it was removed on my birthday, August 9th. What a great birthday present! During the surgery she was also spayed, which will hopefully reduce the chance of another mammary tumor appearing.


-Cynthia

10 Gross Things Dog Lovers Do

   Have you ever had a friend or family member look at you in disgust while you were sharing some smooches with your pooch, or letting them lick your plate clean? There are many things dog owners do that may be appalling to non-pet people. Why? Because we love our doggies!

1. Doggie Kisses: Most, if not all of us, have no hesitations about letting our canine pals give us a big, wet, sloppy kiss on the lips. I admit that sometimes I don't let my dogs give me kisses, just because the slobber gets a little sticky, but usually I enjoy them! And I don't know about you, but I'm not afraid of returning the kisses either.



2. Sharing Shower Time: I know of so many people who shower with their dogs.. and their cats too! My dogs don't really like the water, so we don't partake in this activity, but Jack loves to come up to me during my shower or afterwords and lick the water off my arms and legs. Dogs are such lovable weirdos!

3. Potty Time Party: Maybe this one is just me.. But whenever I go to the bathroom and leave the door open, Midget follows me right in. She sits next to me or even puts her paws up on my knees while I'm relieving my bladder. I think she does this because it's our only "alone time".. Jack is just too big to fit in the bathroom comfortably, and Zora got the idea in her head that she should wait outside of the bathroom and do a play bow while she waits for me to come out, then run away from me. I don't know where that behavior came from, but chasing her around the house and vice versa is pretty fun.

4. Potty Time Party.. Outside: You know.. When your pup isn't feeling so well, and you have to go outside with them to examine their stool and make sure they don't have diarrhea or bloody poo. That's always fun, and I'm sure we can all say we had to do it at least once. My heart goes out to those who are forced to search the poo for their $10,000 diamonds.

5. Overexposure: Maybe some of you won't admit to it, but most of us have walked around in the nude around our canines. Why not, right? They don't have the ability to laugh at us.

6. Washing The Dishes: Who can resist those pleading puppy eyes? Most dog people have given in at least once and let their pal lick the plate clean.

7. Slobbery Foot Massages: Once again, maybe I'm alone on this, back me up if I'm not! But some of my family, myself included, can't help but enjoy when the dogs decide that feet taste good and spend a good five minutes licking our ticklish toes.

8. Dry Willies: I totally don't do this, and I've never seen anybody else do. My partner is gutsy enough to actually put his thumb underneath the ear flap.. Not inside, of course.. And give the dogs a nice long ear rubbing. Jack loves it. I do it over the ear flap, of course, but I don't think anything can beat the hands-on ear rub my partner gives them.

9. The Bad Touch: As a part of most baths, our hands go.. ahem.. places they wouldn't go most other times. Notably around your violated puppy's jewels. Not to mention the nightmare-inducing hanging poop particles that are notorious for long haired breeds, and the occasional inspection of the anal area to see if those anal glands need expressed.. Which brings me to number 10.

10. Anal Glands: Okay, responsible dog owner admitting that I have never done this in my life! Respect to the people who have. I know that one day, as a veterinary technician student and dog owner, this task will be bestowed upon me. Until then, I consider myself a gland virgin.

My post was inspired by this post.


-Cynthia

Meet Mr. Copper

Species: Gopher Snake, Applegate Albino
Age: 3 Years
Nicknames: Just Mr.Copper
Mr. Copper's Story: Mr. Copper came to us around a month after we got Mrs. Copper. After we found out Mrs. Copper had girly parts, we began searching for a suitable male counterpart. We soon found Mr. Copper on the Kingsnake classifieds, and got in contact with the man who was selling him.

   We had Mr. Copper shipped, and when he arrived we were a bit shocked at how small he was. We were afraid to put him into the tank at first, even though Gopher Snakes aren't known for cannibalism. He grew very fast though. Mr. Copper is the polar opposite of Mrs. Copper, which makes him match the description of most Gopher Snakes. He has a bit of an attitude, and while it takes a lot for him to actually strike at you he rattles his tail like a rattlesnake any time he is disturbed. He also concerned us when we tried to feed him. We were used to Mrs. Copper, who was just fine and dandy with eating while our big human faces were staring at her. On the other hand, we soon discovered Mr. Copper would only eat in complete darkness, and it still took a good 30 minutes for him to eat. He is slowly beginning to lose his shy streak, though.

   We still aren't quite sure on the Copper's sexes. This spring, which is breeding season for Gopher Snakes, Mrs. Copper seemed to have a very high interest in Mr. Copper. She was constantly getting next to or on top of him. Mr. Copper would keep slithering away as fast as he could. This could simply mean he wasn't ready to breed, or it could mean that they are both males. Maybe next season we will have better luck.


-Cynthia

Meet Mrs. Copper

Species: Gopher Snake, Albino
Age: Estimated 2-3 Years
Nicknames: Mrs. Copper
Mrs. Copper's Story: Mrs. Copper came to us as just "Copper". Copper was one of the pets of a young, newly married couple. Unfortunately, they were forced to find a new home for many of their pets because the man was joining the military and had to leave. My partner had just moved in with me from out-of-state when I saw the advertisement for a gopher snake on Craigslist. I had been wanting a snake for awhile, and my partner and I wanted to get a non-dog pet together, so I had been browsing the website for a couple of days. I had never heard of a gopher snake before, but we did our research and discovered they were even easier to care for than some of the more common snake species, like Ball Pythons.

   We got in contact with the owner, and went to pick up Copper the next day. We were told Copper was a boy. The owner gave us some information, like Copper's age, what he ate, and so on. He gave us Copper's 55 gallon aquarium and aquarium furniture along with him. Within a week or so we took Copper to the veterinarian because he seemed to be yawning a lot. It was our first time owning a snake, and we were worried snake parents. While we were there, we had the veterinarian "probe" Copper to verify his sex.

   Well, fortunately Copper was fine.. But, according to the veterinarian, he was a she. Copper's name was immediately changed to Ms. Copper, and then later Mrs. Copper. Mrs. Copper is a healthy eater. She loves to come out of the tank, and she has a much more docile disposition than most other Gopher Snakes. We are still unsure about her sex, because during breeding season she will chase Mr. Copper around the tank and he shows no interest, but we hope to get a third opinion some day soon. Until then, I hope we are not burning a male snake's ego with the name "Mrs. Copper". As if a doctor not being able to feel your junk wasn't shameful enough.


-Cynthia

Wordless Wednesday: Let's Dig!

-Cynthia

Meet Thorn

Species: African Clawed Frog(Reticulated Albino)
Age: Almost 3 Years, Morphed 11-15-2008
Nicknames: Just Thorn
Thorn's Story: Thorn is my little male froggie. He is a special, somewhat rare color: reticulated albino. This gives him the same pattern as a normal or wild-type African Clawed Frog, but in shades of gold and white. He is also significantly smaller than my females. I have yet to see any eggs, and I honestly believe this is because my girls are too girthy for him to grasp onto! I have seen him hugging their heads though, which seems to be the perfect fit.
 

      I got Thorn from a nice man on YouTube. He had posted a video of a LOT of little baby frogs that he had bred, including some reticulated albinos. Luckily, I came across that video shortly after it was uploaded, and we began talking about the possibility of me getting one from him. He sent me one of his best marked females. I named her Orchid. And, well, amphibians being amphibians, sexing frogs is not always the easiest thing. After several nights of the tell-tale vibrating boy-frog calls, and seeing him grab onto my females several times, I decided Orchid was a he and he was going to be called Thorn.

   Thorn is the shyest of all of my frogs. He usually hides when I come near the tank, and I often have to especially drop food near his face so that I can make sure he gets some. I don't think a small appetite is the problem, though. The real problem seems to be the girls' pig nature. Regardless, he still loves living with them and singing to them on most nights.

   Here's a video of him:

Do you see him? He is the frog on the left.. LOL

-Cynthia

I Learned How To Fetch!

Check out Koly & Kelly's K9 Kamp for tips on getting fit with your dog and chances to win some awesome prizes!

9/15/2011: Oh my gosh. The challenge this week is to fetch with your dog for 60 minutes.. Literally. I had to chase my pups to the ball and run back. I am so glad I started this on the first day, because I was only able to do ten minutes! Haha. Now I'm nomming on a provolone and salami sandwich, and some strawberry milk.. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

9/16/2011: Did I mention I haven't actually ran since P.E. class in my freshman high school year? That means over two years. It's actually pretty scary to run when you haven't moved like that in so long. I kept feeling like I was going to fall flat on my face. Not to mention the impending doom of two beasts barreling behind me, getting eerily close to the inside of my knee before veering to the right or left to pass me.

   Let me add some credibility to my fears of getting bulldozed by my dogs. It was only a week ago that, while I was in the back yard moving some branches that had been cut down into a pile, Zora sharply turned around the pile and rammed herself full speed into my knee cap. It didn't feel good. I couldn't straighten my leg for about two days, and it hurt. Then, almost as if by magic, one night I accidentally quickly straightened my leg and it popped. Loudly. It burned for a few minutes, and then, voila.. All the pain was gone.

   Hopefully the upcoming updates aren't this long, or this will be one loooong blog entry. But I just wanted to also include that I noticed Midget wasn't having quite as much fun as Jack and Zora. She was chasing them, but she never actually got to the ball, and she would give up after a couple of throws. So for about half of the time, I put the two big bulldozers into the house and had some one-on-one with Midget. She had a blast.
   Today's Time: 15 minutes
   Total Time: 25 minutes

9/19/2011: Didn't really get much time to play fetch this weekend, but we did hike a mile! Today I was able to do 15 minutes, though in complete honesty those fifteen minutes weren't as intense as the past two times. The dogs weren't really interested today. They were having more fun chasing each other around the yard, and a hefty amount of the fifteen minutes was spent trying to get them interested. Oh well. Better luck tomorrow.
   Today's Time: 15 minutes
   Total Time: 40 minutes

9/20/2011: I tried something different today. To finish up my last twenty minutes, I played fetch with each of the dogs for five minutes, and then let them all out together for another five minutes. Zora seems to be the one who leads the others away from the game. I have to admit that I don't often - ever, actually - play fetch with the dogs. They enjoy tug-of-war and chewing more. Don't get me wrong, I've tried the whole fetch thing with them before - they were just never too excited about it, so I didn't continue. That explains why I only JUST found out that Zora doesn't even know what a ball is... She chases it, then smells it, then wanders off. Even when I toss it up into the air she won't catch it. Oh well.
   Today's Time: 20 minutes
   Total Time: 60 minutes


   This past week has been fun. I found out something new(ish) things about my dogs, and found out that I actually can still run! I must admit, after I was able to catch my breath while feeling my lovely fan hit my face, I did experience a bit of that "runner's high" which I always believed to be a myth. My legs have been like Jell-O throughout this K9 Kamp challenge, and it honestly made me proud of myself. I could tell that my muscles were being worked. I'm sure the dogs had fun, even if throughout most of it they were chasing each other instead of the balls. Any time we spend together is time well spent!


-Cynthia

Happy Monday!

   Well, we went through the blog's first weekend and one thing is clear: I have no time to post on the weekends. My lifestyle is kind of flipped: most people have "free time" on the weekends, which they spend on their hobbies.. Computers, anyone? But my weekend free time is spent with my partner, watching movies and running errands and spending time together because we don't really get to during the week. So my computer time is on weekdays.

   So what DID we do this weekend? Well, along with a bunch of "human" stuff you probably don't want to hear about, we went to a fundraising event for the no-kill shelter in Michiana(Indiana/Michigan border area, for you non-locals) called "Mutt March". Guess what? Jack was in the news:

  
   Do you see him? He's right there in the center! We had Midget with us too, you can just barely see her legs between Jack's back legs. Zora didn't come along because handling three dogs is a bit difficult in an event like this, where there are hundreds of other dogs and people and distractions. She did get to come with us to the Coveleski Baseball Stadium on their recent doggy friendly day. See?

    Anywho, the Mutt March was a lot of fun! The dogs got some Pet Refuge bandanas: a blue one for Jack and a pink one for Midget. I promise pictures as soon as I get a new camera. We hiked about a mile, which was the "medium" difficulty trail out of the three options. Hey, don't make fun of me! My legs were sore from this week's K9 Kamp challenge!

   I was also overjoyed in discovering that Jack loves agility. They had equipment out for us to try, and Jack tackled everything like a pro! The A-Frame, the jumps(including the tire jump), the tunnel and the chute! And this is from a dog who's never seen agility equipment in his life. I was so proud, and it inspired me to make... err, have my partner make.. some agility equipment in the future. Does anyone have any tips or good tutorials?


-Cynthia

Meet Lilly

Species: African Clawed Frog (Albino)
Age: 3 years, Morphed 2-28-2006
Nicknames: Just Lilly
Lilly's Story: I got Lilly in late August of 2008. I ordered her from the same company that sent me Sheba(Grow-a-Frog), however instead of being a tadpole she was a six month old frog. Although Lilly and Sheba (presumably) morphed only a month apart, Lilly was much smaller than Sheba and I had to keep them separated for awhile. To this day Sheba is still bigger, but I believe that is just because she is an exceptionally large frog.

   Within the past year or so, Lilly has developed a disease called "bloat". Not much is known about this disease in African Clawed Frogs. It seems to occur randomly, and there are two types. One type is referred to as fatal bloat. The frog seems to fill with air, (s)he floats and can't swim to the bottom, and (s)he eventually dies. Non fatal bloat is what Lilly has. Usually, frogs with non fatal bloat will appear very bloated, and when they move you can see fluid moving underneath their skin. This is what Lilly has, however she hasn't bloated up as much as most frogs do. The cure for this disease is unknown. Aspiration(removal of the fluid with a needle) has been attempted and provides a temporary fix, but the frog soon becomes bloated again. Food management has been shown to help somewhat.


-Cynthia

Meet Sheba

Species: African Clawed Frog
Age: 3 years, Morphed(tadpole to froglet) 1-20-2008
Nicknames: Just Sheba
Sheba's Story: Ever since I was about ten years old, I have had some kind of pet in my life. Unfortunately, in mid to late 2007, we were forced to move. My parents needed to find a house quickly, and within their budget, which wasn't very much. The only place they could find had a "no pets" policy. This, of course, broke my heart, but luckily my grandma was kind enough to let Jack live with her for the period of time that we lived there. My mom, who felt bad about the situation, would take me to pick Jack up and take him to the park for a few hours every Friday.

   Anyways, back to Sheba. There was no way that I was going to be able to tolerate living without ANY animals, so I begged and begged my mother for something - a fish, a lizard, anything. At the time, I was being home schooled, and we happened to be walking through one of the educational stores when we saw "Grow-A-Frog" kits. Alas, that was how we chose what I would get. In the beginning, I was a little upset because this "grow a frog" would only ever live in water, and I could never hold it or pet it. But I learned to accept these things.

  These "Grow A Frog" kits were tiny plastic boxes in which you raised a tadpole, and then when your tadpole morphed you needed to upgrade to another tiny plastic box. Luckily, since I am the kind of person who likes to do these things, I searched the internet for information. Quickly I discovered that these frogs need TEN GALLONS of water per frog. The little 12" x 12" box had nowhere near that much water. My mother's co-worker had given me a 29 gallon aquarium about a year beforehand, and it made the perfect froggy home.

   Sheba is now a huge frog, as you can see from the picture above. She is the most greedy of my three frogs when it comes to food, and she is also not at all shy. During feeding time, Sheba often grabs the arms and legs of her tank buddies on accident. She has also bitten me countless times during feeding and while I am cleaning the tank. Nearly every time my hand is in the water, I get bitten. Luckily, African Clawed Frogs have no teeth so the bites are harmless.. The inside of her mouth feels somewhat like a cat's tongue.


-Cynthia

Happy Birthday, Jack!

   My old man turns five today, and to be honest, I'm not that excited. I'm actually pretty upset about it. It's pretty widely excepted that large and giant breed dogs age much faster, and that they are considered "senior" by the age of six. Jack was my first dog, and I really wish he could just live forever.

   Anyways, moving on from the sadness, I was going to get him a birthday cake this year like we did last year. Unfortunately, the home doggie bakery had their website taken down so I couldn't contact them to get another one. Not to mention my stupid camera is broken :-/ so I wouldn't have been able to take pictures for you folks. But don't worry! We are treating him extra special today. I've shared all of my food with him, and even took him for a power walk - just me and him! Some alone time with just the two of us, which we haven't really had since Zora joined the family. I'm also hoping I can convince Jack's daddy to take us to the store and buy a big raw bone for him after work today ;)
  Instead, here are some pictures from Jack's birthday last year:

 

-Cynthia

Meet Midget

Midget is saying thanks to All Things Dog Blog and

Pet Mate for her floatimal toy.

Breed: You tell me! We have wandered into the "guessing zone" of terrier, chihuahua, pug, and most recently cattle dog.

Age: Again, you tell me! Her teeth are much worse off than 5-year-old Jack's, however smaller dogs are notorious for having worse teeth. She also has some graying around her muzzle, but she runs and plays with the best of them. My guess is 5-7 years.

Nicknames: Midge, Midgy

Midget's Story: First, let me justify her name. My family, including myself, are not at all good at coming up with names. At first, we called her Hyena. Or even Hiney. She does look sort of like a hyena to you, right? Well, I've been around bigger dogs my whole life. All of my friends and family had large dogs, so I was definitely not used to the size of this 20 lb little rascal. One day, I called her a midget, and she seemed to perk up, so it stuck.

   We found Midget at a grocery store. Seriously. We were taking my grandmother grocery shopping, and when she got back she said there was a little dog outside of the store. "It ran inside and one of the employees carried it outside," she told us. By the time I got up to the doorway of the store, an employee was carrying her outside again. It was a very hot day, and she was panting a lot, so I'm sure she was just trying to relax in the air conditioning. I offered to take her and try to find her owners, and the guy handed her over.

   I had high hopes for poor Midget. I have found several other dogs, and reunited them with their owners. I thought I had that "rescuer luck". But unfortunately(fortunately for my family), I tried every trick in the book and could not locate her family. So, after a bit of pleading from my partner, she became a permanent family member this past April.


-Cynthia

Our First Wordless Wednesday!

My partner says that Dante looks a lot like the sweeping hamster in this picture.

What say you?

-Cynthia

Meet Zora

I think Zora has a beautiful smile. What do you think?

Breed: German Shepherd/Boxer mix

Age: 1 Year, 02-15-2009

Nicknames: Just Zora

Zora's Story: Last year my mom and step-father split up, and we were moving to a new house. The house is owned by a family member who had been renting it to another woman. Eventually, that woman needed to be evicted for not paying rent and that's when we moved in. The lovely surprise she left us was a rambunctious brown dog in the backyard. Our had been feeding the dog until we moved in, and she gave us as much information as she could(like breed and age) when we decided to keep her.

   Apparently, Zora's old owner left her outside all of the time. We didn't get her until she was about seven to eight months old. This meant that we had to potty train her and teach her household manners.. Which is really still a work in progress. Zora is a loving family dog, and she is beautiful. However, she has her "quirks" like counter surfing and chewing, and she is not at all fond of strangers. Hopefully with time and a bit of training, these things will all be a part of the past.

-Cynthia

Walking it Off With the Pack

Check out Koly & Kelly's K9 Kamp for tips on getting fit with your dog and chances to win some awesome prizes!

   Well, poo! Today I walked 60 minutes with my pups, which is the first K9 Kamp challenge. I brought my photographers(little sisters) so I could share some photos with you all but apparently my camera isn't working well anymore. The pictures it takes outside are blue with little lines through it.. They almost look like pictures with inverted colors but when I try to invert the colors again, they turn black. Sorry guys!

   On another note, that walk was a very insightful one. Training one dog to walk well with you is a whole different ball park than training three dogs to walk well with you. By themselves they are (almost) perfect little angels.. Together, they are a pack of wild dogs. They barked and lunged at 50% of the dogs we passed.

   Since we walked the full sixty minutes, I got to see more of the neighborhood than I knew about. It was not a pretty part of the neighborhood, even compared to where I live now, but at least it was a new experience. We saw many new dogs, although most of them appeared to be "outside" dogs which is unfortunate. There was a beautiful blue-eyed husky whose fur was kind of matted and dirty. There was also a breed which surprised me. I had heard a booming "Woof!", the dog sounded massive. When the back yard was visible, I saw that it was a Dogo Argentino. That is an amazing dog breed, in power and appearance. I would never expect to see one in just any neighborhood, especially not in my own.

  One last note. If anyone living in my area(Northern Indiana) is interested in a pure bred chocolate Labrador who apparently has good lineage, let me know. He's six years old. I'm not sure if they are just trying to find him a good home or make money from him, but maybe it's worth checking into. Somebody outside saw me walking with my three dogs and asked if I could use another one. What a funny man. He says his sister is going through a divorce and has to move to an apartment where dogs aren't allowed.


-Cynthia

Meet Jack!

Hello Jack!

Breed: Labrador/White Shepherd mix
Age: 5 Years on 9-15-2011
Nicknames: Jackers, Bubba
Jack's Story: Jack was my first dog! I got him when I was thirteen. I was going through a period of depression, and I really believe Jack helped me move out of that funk. When I was looking through newspaper classifieds for a dog(of course I didn't know better at the time), my mom kept advising me to look for a labrador, because that is the breed she grew up with. On the other hand, my step-father said he wanted a german shepherd because he grew up with them.

   Within a few days I found the perfect match! A labrador/shepherd mix, how lucky was I? When we went to the farm that had the puppies, I first encountered Jack's beautiful white shepherd momma. She was a little territorial at first, but warmed up to us when her owner came outside. I later met his dad, who was a rambunctious young yellow lab. When presented with the puppies, I watched them for a few minutes, and I picked the one that I thought was the quietest one.. Boy, was that a joke. The little bugger howled nonstop for the first couple of weeks. Howled if we weren't giving him any attention, howled during bath time, and howled just for the heck of it.

 

Little did we know this "itty bitty cutie" would 

grow into a handsome ninety pound dog

   Anyways, he's over that now, and nothing like either of his parents. He is incredibly friendly towards any stranger, and he's also a very "gentle giant".

   Jack has made a huge impact on my life. Not only was he my first dog, and not only did he help me come out of my depression funk, but he is my inspiration. Before I got him, I had always wanted to work with animals, but I must say I didn't know much about them. I was still in that, "Oooh! What a cute cuddly puppy!" stage, and most children thirteen and under are. However, when I got him things began to change. He has always had skin and allergy problems. His condition inspired me to learn, and learn I did. I could never have imagined how much information there is out there. I learned about quality dog foods, about natural dog health.. And of course these lead to me learning things about the pet overpopulation problem, the importance of spaying and neutering, abuse, and puppy mills. I was learning how to become a responsible pet owner at the young age of thirteen, all through self-education.


-Cynthia