Puppies Are Better Than Psychiatrists

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face." - Bernard Williams

If there's one thing the four of us in our household agree on is no matter what kind of day we had, being greeted by Bella when we walk though that door makes us forget about any hurt.

I have loved all three of my dogs, but this little girl is the most loving one I've had. I've never had a dog that loved to be held and is content to just sit on one's lap, or sleep next to me the entire night with her little paw on my shoulder. Now if only she would let me keep that bow in her hair for more than two minutes after she comes back from the groomer.

She is such a sweet baby, and there's no better way to start the day than a loving kiss from her.

 

 

You can keep your cats and psychiatrists...I've got Bella.

Playing Fetch

Playing "fetch" with Bella...

C'mon, throw it, throw it, throw it...

Oh, the ole fake-out, huh?

I ain't falling for that again!

That's right...the stick is mine. Bring it to you? Pffft. Not gonna happen!

Screw this stick...I want the new one you have...

C'mon, throw it, throw it, throw it!

Repeat ten more times, or until I get tired of picking up sticks which are never brought back to me.

Bella the Rock Collector

When Bella was a teeny tiny puppy getting up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water or whatever, one would hope not to step into a puddle or a pile. She finally grew out of that, but now one is faced with a new "surprise" thanks to her. Nothing says "WAKE UP!" like stepping on a rock. A rock? Yes, a rock.

It seems Bella has become a rock collector. Where most dogs beg to have a stick thrown, my dog begs to have a rock thrown. She is very persistent and will do a little dance until you fling one. She then searches the entire yard until she finds that one particular rock. When she does she lifts it up and either buries it, or puts it in a pile, after sharpening her teeth on it. She does her business with a rock in her mouth, and when she comes back inside she will bring a rock in with her. She will not come inside without bearing a gift -- a rock, a twig, a branch, a leaf. She must be a Sicilian dog.

I have found rocks in my bed. I have sat on rocks on the couch. Rocks peek out of the the massive hole in her chaise. I have washed rocks in the washing machine. And I have stepped on rocks in the middle of the night. Ouch. She is a quirky little thing. She's lucky she's so cute.

This was her yesterday in the snow. All the rocks and twigs were covered so she couldn't built her pyramid.

Cat Dog

The way Bella perches on the top of furniture, I'm starting to think she is part cat. She can certainly be sneaky like a cat.

 "Let me just put my two paws in the window while looking at Mom and she'll not notice what I'm doing."

"Haha, success! I could see Mom, but I know she can't see me through these blinds."

"Drat! I think she may have noticed me. I"ll give her my disinterested yawn. That always works."

"Not this time. What Mom? Can't I stay in my secret clubhouse a little longer?"

"Dinner? Did you say dinner? I'm coming!!"

Bella Gets Groomed

Bella went to the groomer yesterday. See that little yellow bow in her hair? That lasted about ten minutes.

From the moment she returned home, Bella kept rubbing her backside on the bedspread, couch, chaise, grass, and leaves. When she would walk, she would suddenly stop and look to her right backside as if something had bit her, or, something had touched her. I checked her thoroughly and didn't see anything. I thought perhaps it's her tail touching her and she doesn't realize it. Could she be that oblivious?

The groomers seemed to have had a heavy hand with the razor. Rather than comb out the matty hair on her hindquarters, they opted to give a poodle shave, right down to the bare skin. I had asked for the "puppy cut" but I doubt a scissor was used anywhere on her. Other than being shaved on her belly for her operation, this is the first time she has no fur, in a couple of places, especially on her backside. She doesn't seem to like it.

She has been laying around and not her usual self. When I crinkle a paper wrapping, she doesn't come running to see what I have. When I eat, she's not at my feet hoping I'll drop something. Her dog food sat all morning without even being sniffed. Very unusual.

The more I watched her, the more I thought, "I think it is her tail hitting her bare flesh and tickling her." I tried to stop the tail from grazing her backside by first braiding the extra fur and then securing it with the rubber band bow she had on top of her head. I think it would have worked had she not ripped it out immediately. I tried three times. After the third time when she tried to eat the bow, I gave up.

Worried about her not eating, dog food that is, I carried her to her dish. As she stood there, I held her tail off of her, and she finally began to eat. This is what you have to do when you have a special dog. As soon as I dropped it, she'd stop and begin acting skittishly again. As she was eating I noticed a black dot on her. I thought I saw it move, so with my left hand holding the tail up, I took my right hand and moved the little bit of fur left on her back to see if I did indeed see something. Sure enough, there was a teeny tiny tick! Luckily it hadn't attached to her, so I grabbed it with my nails and crushed it in the garbage disposal.

The weird thing is that today is the first time I have ever put a flea and tick collar on her. She has been on the very expensive monthly Trelexis, which does not even repel or kill ticks. I found that out a couple of months ago when she had to have a tick removed by the vet.  Although I had one pill left, something told me to put the collar on her instead. It was probably the warm weather and the possum, squirrel, chipmunk, cat, and skunk that have visited her yard lately. I'm sure they all carry fleas and ticks. I even argued with my husband this morning because he was against me using the collar, saying she was too young. I told him not to worry as it was a puppy flea collar and she was well above the weight requirements. I think the tick didn't attach to her because of the collar. Guess who was right again?

Anyway, I thought maybe that's why she was acting weird...she had a tick stuck to her. But, after removal of the tick and a thorough examination to make sure there are no others on her, she is still acting weird. I hope nothing too traumatic happened yesterday, and that it's just her not realizing it's her tail touching her.

.

How Smart is Your Dog?

I didn't need a book to tell me that my Malti-Zhu is not considered one of the brightest dogs around, but it did reinforce what I had already discovered -- Corgis are smart and Shih-Tzu's, not so much. My daughter had given me "Understanding Your Dog" for Christmas which I found to be very informative. Although I was using it as research for an upcoming story, I also found that our newest edition to the family behaves pretty much the way the book says she'd behave. Well, they didn't specifically mention Malti-Zhu's, but did mention Shih-Tzu's, which is a breed in the bottom 10 of intelligence.

According to the book, "Breeds in the bottom 10 often require up to 100 repetitions to understand a new command and will obey a known cue the first time it is given only 25% of the time. Even if they know how to sit, they may need to hear the word four or five times before they plop their rear ends down." Now, I didn't know this, but can attest to the truth of it. When I take Bella out I say about 15-xxx times, "Go ahead, go do it, be good girl, c'mon, do it, do it, do it! You want a treat? Then you have to make pee-pee. C'mon, do it, do it, do it." Eventually she does "do it" all the while looking at me and lifting her leg. Yes, she is a female, but she lifts her leg. When she's done she'll come running, "Look what I did, lookie at me, aren't you proud, now where's that freaking treat?"

The book mentioned a few ways to figure our how smart your own dog is:

"The Towel Test" -- When your dog is lying down, drape a large bath towel over his head and time how long it takes for him to lose the towel. Smart dogs master this in less than 15 seconds while slow learners can take more than 30 seconds. I tried it with Bella. If I didn't physically remove the towel, she would still be under it.

"The Bucket Test" -- Line up three lightweight buckets. Show your dog his favorite treat and let him watch you place it under one of the buckets. Divert his attention away from the buckets for a few seconds and then ask him to find it. A smart dog makes a beeline for the correct bucket while slow learners may knock over the other two before finally finding the prize. I tried it with Bella. She didn't knock over any of the buckets and began looking for the treat in another room! So, I tried it again without the "distraction" part. Still, she couldn't find the treat until her back leg accidentally knocked over the correct one.

"The Leash Test" -- Pick a time that you do not customarily walk your dog. Without saying anything, pick up the leash and your house keys in full view of the dog. A smart dog associates the leash and keys with a walk and becomes excited at the prospect of going out. A not so bright one will need to hear "Want to go for a walk" before jumping for joy. I tried it with Bella. Fail, but in all fairness that's because Bella has never gone for a walk on the leash. Why? Because she freezes in whatever position she's in when I put one on her. It's like her feet are cemented in the ground. I can tempt her with treats, balls, toys, even paper towel rolls, and she will not budge. Clearly, if she moves with the leash on her she will die immediately.

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a dumb dog. I love my dumb dog because the one thing she "gets" besides whacking her empty dog dish against the wall or my head to tell me she's hungry, even if it's the middle of the night, is how to show love, which is way more important than the number of brain cells she possesses. Besides a bottle of wine, there is nothing that calms me down more than hugging that little baby girl or being smothered with her kisses.

When my daughter (who is second in line in Bella's world) is feeling down, all she needs to do is pick up Bella, "this little girl makes me feel so much better."

My husband is third in line, and Bella gets all crazy and happy when he comes through the door...her chew toy is home! Even if he goes out to just throw garbage and comes right back in, it's like he's been gone for days. "You're back! I've been waiting so long! Let me show you how much I love you...give me that hand so I can chew on it!"

Unfortunately for my son, Bella still thinks he is an evil stranger that comes to our house every evening with the sole purpose of killing mommy. "Who are you? Get out of here! What is that thing on your chin? You must be the biggest dog ever. I'm going to bark at you and scare you until you look at me, then I will hide behind mommy. A treat? You think I'm taking a treat from you? Do you think I was born yesterday?! Clearly, you're trying to poison me!!! Wait..is that a French fry you're eating? Sure, I'll take that, and another one, and another one. What? There's no more??? Who are you? Why are you here? You're going to kill mommmy!!!!"

At least she knows what "It's bath time Bella!" means...

Well, sorta...

Bella's Back!

Yay, the cone of torture is gone! Bella's boo-boo looks good so she got the all clear. When the cone was removed underneath was a matty mess. Just missing one week of bathing made her look as if she has never been washed. Tangles, matts, and dirt. When the vet said they could give her a bath and groom her as best as possible I jumped for joy. Her floppy ears were horribly matted and I couldn't even think of how we would fix that. Well, the only solution was to shave them. She looks like a different puppy, doesn't she?

I have to say she handled that cone pretty good. In fact, she adapted so well to it that when she wasn't trying to rip it off her neck, she found other uses for it, like hiding the antibiotic pill in it when she pretended to eat it. I caught on quick to that ploy. When it was raining out she would use it to catch the drops and then lick the inside of it to quench her thirst. In the backyard, the cone made a handy shovel to rip up the roots of trees and flick rocks in the air. Cabinet opening became one of her favorite pastime's. She learned how to wedge the corner in between the doors and pop them open. I learned I needed to hide her treats in a different spot once I found the entire bag gone. This was last night's booty. Guess what it is...

Right now she's zooming all over the house..."I'm free! I'm free!" Of course I know when I'm not looking she'll get her revenge somewhere. I'm just thrilled I won't be woken up in the middle of the night by a cone in my face, or have to remove her from under the bed because the cone became wedged behind the headboard.  And no more playing hide the antibiotic in cheese. Look at her toss her food dish in the air and slam it against the wall. I guess she's telling me she's hungry. Bella's back to normal!

Boo-Boo Baby's Cone of Torture

Look at my poor boo-boo girl having to wear that hideous cone. She doesn't understand why we are torturing her, and I feel horrible watching her discomfort. The baby girl keeps bumping into walls, chairs and even got tangled in the Christmas tree lights. Her low mournful wail is enough to melt even The Grinch's heart and her pleading "help me" eyes brings tears to my own.

Why is she subjected to this cone of torture? It's because of her spaying over two months ago! I noticed her licking her belly two days ago where the still not completely healed incision was. It looked red to me and the bump looked larger. I showed my husband and he said, "It's nothing." I felt it was "something" so I kept a watchful eye on Bella. I noticed she was being way more cuddly than usual. She reminded me of a sick child that wanted to be held, and if you know her, that's very unusual.

Yesterday I rolled her over on her back and noticed the incision looked even more red, raw, and raised and thought maybe it was leaking. I put some peroxide on a gauze pad and dabbed it. When she about hit the ceiling, I knew I had to bring her to the vet. My son drove us and the poor baby trembled as soon as she got in the Jeep, knowing full well where she was going.

The vet looked at her and asked if she could bring her to the back and shave the area to get a better look. I heard her yelp twice from behind closed doors and I knew all was not well. Sure enough, Bella has an infection from the inside suture. The vet stated it was very rare, especially this long after the operation, but some dogs do have a reaction to them when they dissolve. Since Bella resides in the house of rare medical conditions I wasn't surprised. The wound was opening up so now Bella has two staples holding it together and the cone of despair so that she doesn't lick it. She's also on pain medication and antibiotics. The cone has to remain on her until her follow up appointment next week.

I had thoughts of running up to Brooklyn tomorrow but no way that is happening now. I can't leave my baby in the boy's hands. He's hardly home and will not be as vigilant as I am with her. Although I'm sorta sad I won't be in New York, I'm more glad that my mommy instincts kicked in and I listened to my inner voice. Had I not, and just went away, who knows how bad that infection would have gotten. So, here I will stay, because mommy's babies, even the four-legged ones, always come first.

The Dog Toy Tree

Still can't believe the crock I was handed about how small Bella would stay. "Oh you'll be able to take her everywhere...She can fit in your purse!" Purse? Yeah, maybe if my purse is on wheels and I can roll it. Look at the size of her. She's bigger than that 15 pound turkey she's trying to steal...

She's longer than the 13-gallon garbage can she's trying to pick...

But the girl says she's still light enough for her to be able to hold, so it's all good. Well, not all good.

Look how tiny and innocent she looks here when she was first introduced to the Christmas tree.

Within hours she came to the conclusion that the Christmas Tree was clearly a gift to her...a personal Dog Toy Tree.

What? I'm not doing anything...

After either chasing the ball ornaments, or chewing the other ones, they usually wind up on her chaise.

I figured she needed some sort of a chewing substitute, so bought her a bag of some chicken rawhide things which she loves, and serves as a distraction.

The problem now is that when she tries to hide it, (she must think I steal them and eat them when she's not looking) she has deemed the Dog Toy Tree as the best place.

It isn't.

Bella's Chaise

When I was in Steinmart last week I saw the cutest little doggie chaise lounge. I wondered if Bella would use it if I bought it, or if I'd be wasting my money. So far, any of the other beds she's had she has used so I thought why not give it a go? Although it was $59.99 I had a 30% off coupon so I figured it wouldn't be too bad.

I hefted the chaise lounge up to the register only to find out they wouldn't honor the coupon as it was only good for items already on sale. That didn't make much sense to me, and I relayed that to the cashier but her attitude pissed me off so I walked out without it. Two days later I saw in Steinmart's ad that doggie beds were now 50% off. Score!

I ran back, but was disappointed to see that the cheetah print chaise was gone and there were only zebra print ones left. I corralled an associate who was walking the floor and asked her if she would check in the back to see if there were any cheetah ones left. She returned to tell me the only one they had back there was a jaguar spotted one. I never realized jaguars had spots, but apparently they do. It was still in the box and all I'd have to do was put the legs on myself, so I asked her to bring it out so I could see if that was the one I wanted. It was. She put it on a hand truck and brought it to the register.

The cashier rang it up and it showed it was $59.99. I whipped out the ad and pointed to the doggie bed 50% off picture. She pointed to the word "select" and said this one was not one of the "select" ones on sale. And no, I still couldn't use my coupon. Against my better judgment I said I would take it anyway, and they helped me load it into the car.

Well, I am thrilled to report it was not a waste of money. Bella actually loves it! Naturally I had to stop her from trying to chew the one string that was hanging from it, and clawing at the back of it. And anytime one of her toys goes under it I have to lift up the lounge or she will use her paws like shovels and try to dig through it to get under it. Yeah, she's not the brightest bulb.

So without further adieu, here are a couple of shots of her on it, before the Christmas tree went up. That's another story, for another day...

Digging Out

Did I hear you making vacation plans? Well, you better take me with you...

What do you mean, you need a break? From me???

Look at me, I'm adorable!

Not buying it? It's okay, I've got a plan...

That's right, I'm digging my way outta here...

You think you're the only one who needs a change of scenery?

Maine??? Never mind...I'll just stay here.

On the Couch

Look who I found on the couch. For a small dog Bella has quite a large leap. She still hasn't figured out how to get on my bed, but she's getting closer.

Bella at Five Months

Bella is now five months old. Gone is the timid, tiny tot. She's changed so much.

This was her standing on her tippy-paws at three months, barely able to look inside the door...

This is her at five months...

Her love for sticks remains, but look at her three months later. At 9 1/2 pounds, she's huge...what do they put in that puppy chow?

Wish I had videotaped her actions before she came to a stop with the branch of leaves. She is a maniac. When she gets the zoomies, I step out of her way, and let her go. And man, does she go. When she's outside, it's wild to see the dirt kick up under her paws as she dips and dives under bushes, over branches, through my chair, under the table, and around the yard. When she gets the zoomies inside, she reminds me of a dog in a cartoon running in place, but not going anywhere. Once those paws connect with the wood, she zips behind the baker's rack, under the table, around a chair, behind the couch, rattling the vertical blinds to the end of the cocktail table, a quick spin, and back the way she came.

She still loves playing fetch...over and over and over and over and over again. It just doesn't get old for her. Her toys are scattered everywhere, fluffy filling floats on the floors. With each tug, the unstuffed whatever gets thinner. Any paper that falls to the ground is hers. And I mean anything. Toilet paper cannot be on the holder as she can now reach it. I've tried closing the doors, but still I find an entire roll stretched throughout the house like a Halloween prank gone bad. Half- bitten rawhide bones and sticks seem to reappear no matter how many times I sweep them up. And she hates the broom, with a passion. "Leave my stuff alone!"

Much like Max, she too is what I would call "quirky." She lifts her leg to pee, has a thing against anything white, hates having a collar put on her, and thinks the leash is something to chew on. I still haven't been able to walk her. If I'm able to somehow get the leash and collar on her, she makes herself dead weight. Dragging a dog is not fun. She also "sees" things that we do not see, which sort of freaks me out. Oh, and she hates that puppy in the mirror, who she barks at, tries to scratch, bites and pounces on.

She's also not a girlie girl dog. I've tried every clip, barrette and rubber band to keep her hair out of her eyes. As soon as I put them on she freaks out by rubbing her head against the ground and uses her paws to pull them out. Once she gets them, she chews them. I've had to cut her hair myself. I'm no groomer, but at least I can see her beautiful big eyes and she can see the world better. Although, she still has a hard time finding the stick when we throw it to her, even if it's only a foot away from her. She frantically searches everywhere for it, except for the spot where it landed. She's not the brightest bulb. But she is cute and lovable, when she wants to be.

The best part of the day for me is after my husband leaves for work and Bella bangs on the side of my bed to come up. She snuggles on my husband's pillow and will remain there until I get up. Anyone else who tries to lie in bed with her she thinks of as a "chew toy" but towards me, she's the loving little puppy.  Now stop growing girl!