Silly Girl Turns Seven

Happy Seventh Birthday to my sweet, silly and snuggly Roxy girl. Thank you for making me smile every day.

Vacation Vet

Roxy doesn't feel well.

Some of you know that the location of my summer vacation often revolves around where the Boston Red Sox are playing. We've seen the Sox in Oakland, Seattle, Phoenix and of course Boston. Now you can add Tampa to the list. Most of the trips often require air travel, so the girls do not tag along. But this year's trip only took 5 hours in the car, so we officially enjoyed our first family vacation.

While there was beach time, baseball and of course a celebration centering around the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup, we had a bit of drama just prior to Wednesday night's game. It was wicked hot in Tampa on Wednesday and we spent a bit of time with the girls lunching at John's Pass and then spending a few hours in the ocean (a swimming lessons post will follow - stay tuned). It was HOT. There was NO BREEZE. But, the girls seemed comfortable soaking in the salt water and chillin' in the shade.

Upon leaving the beach Roxy took a tinkle. Of course all crazy good greyhound owners inspect what goes in and out of our dogs, so you can imagine my horror when her urine was black/red. Not cool, but my skills as a amateur veterinarian diagnosed it as a UTI. After a call to Dr. Hottie back home, he confirmed my diagnosis suggested we seek medical attention as UTIs/bladder infections get bad pretty quickly.

Now comes the tricky part. It's 4:15p on Wednesday afternoon. Google maps (thank you iPhone) found four vets within miles of where we were.

I thought this was vacation?

• Vet Number 1, didn't have time to see us. Thanks for nothing. 
• Vet Number 2 wasn't open after noon on Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Who keeps these crappy hours? 
• Vet Number 3 didn't answer the phone. I guess I got the message. 
• That brings us to Vet Number 4 - The Animal Hospital of Seminole. Fabulous service. Friendly people. An Auburn University trained vet who is familiar with greyhounds. And they took us without hesitation. 

Roxy had a nasty bladder infection. She's never had any urinary tract issues in the past, so this was a bit unexpected. According to the vet, low squatters (Roxy fits that description) can pick up bacteria much easier than other dogs. She could have gotten it in the water, on the beach or in the tall grass at our condo. The only concerning result in her urinalysis was even though we could see the blood in her urine, there were no blood cells present in the sample. According to vacation vet, this is a sign of overheating in a greyhound, as the heat destroys the red blood cells in their bodies. Basically, I'm a bad mommy.

A shot, a week's worth of antibiotics, instructions to keep her inside the next day and a charge on the debit card later, we were out the door. I figured this was the last time we would hear from our friends at AHS.

Nope, their fabulous customer service didn't stop after I signed the debit card slip. They called to follow up the next day. How fantastic! And then I received this birthday card especially for my sweet little girl via e-mail yesterday. You must check out the link as it is breed specific! Ok, I know it's a whippet, but it's pretty close.

So any of you Florida folks are looking for a new vet or are in the St. Petersburg area and need a vet, I highly recommend The Animal Hospital of Seminole. For our next family vacation I will print out a list of vets prior to our arrival just in case. You can never be too prepared.

Happy Birthday Heart Dog

Happy 8th Birthday, Solitary Seka.

You are my sunshine.

Mommy's girl.

Seka last week at Mountain Hounds.
She does not use Just for Greyhounds coat color. My girl's got good genes. 

Summer Sun

My friend Denise posted this pic of her greyhound, Peanut - aka The Nut, soaking up the summer sun today. It make me laugh in the middle of a very busy afternoon and I just had to share it. Move over Spuds MacKenzie, here comes The Nut!

Cube Dog Takes Over Your Phone!

Thank you to Cube Dog for sponsoring this review. For more information about Cube Dog please visit the Facebook page or download it on iTunes.

Do you remember those key chain pets that were so popular back in the late 1990s? I was in college when they were all the rage and I got one as a gag for Christmas that year. Little did that gift giver know that I would play with that thing until the battery died. And no, my "pet" did not die. I kept it fed and watered, thank you very much. 

Today, I would feel foolish with a little electronic egg hanging on my keys, but I still like having something to play with/distract me when I'm waiting at the doctor's office or for the car to be serviced or for my plane to board. It never fails that when I start a game on iPhone, I get called back and of course I was having the best game ever only to be interrupted. Now I have my Cube Dog.

A sponsored review, I know, not like me. But when I had the opportunity to try out the new iPhone/iPod 4 app called Cube Dog, I knew there were several of you dog lovers out there who would love to take a cute cube pup along with you. It's not like the electronic pets of 1997. Cube Dog allows you to create a pup, play with it and - this is the coolest part - take pictures of your Cube Dog right where you are! 

Here's how it works. You create a 3-D dog using a set of cubes and options for you to choose from. It's super easy and you can even change the color of your little friend. There's a store where you can buy other Cube Dog parts to add to your pallet, but I felt like I had plenty to choose from. Once you have your pup looking like you want, you can play with him or her. 

Your Cube Dog can do lots of tricks. My favorite is that it can call you from it's own iPhone. Seriously, your screen looks like you're getting an incoming call and I was highly confused when it first happened. Of course you can rub it's belly and play fetch with it. The responses are really cute and made me smile - which is exactly what I need when I'm waiting in an airport for hours on end. 

My favorite part of the Cube Dog app is the ability for you to take pictures of your pup right where you are and send them to Twitter, Facebook or e-mail to friends. Pinky, my Cube Dog, spent some QT napping with Seka and seems to have the hots for Emma. 

This app would be a lot of fun for kids of any age. If you can block access to the store, I would before handing your iPhone or iPod 4 (with camera) over to your child. It's too easy to access the packages to buy and you may end up spending money that you didn't anticipate because your son or daughter wants his or her Cube Dog to hide in a coffee cup or have round ears. 

Oh, did I mention that you do not have to feed, water or play with your Cube Dog to keep it happy and healthy? So there's no threat of doggie loss. It is simply a fun distraction that you can take with you on the go. I can't wait to see the pics of where your Cube Dog shows up.  

Check out Cube Dog on Facebook to enter into a cool contest during the week of June 6 - 13. Check out this YouTube video for more details about the app, which is free right now in the iTunes App Store.

While Cube Dog provided me with the app to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Cube Dog, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

Raw Rules!

The Mountain Hounds greyhound gathering in Gatlinburg, TN, starts tomorrow. One of the fun parts about any gathering weekend (besides the wine on the balcony with great girls) is attending seminars that are geared to crazy greyhound people. Yeah, I'm a school nerd, so sitting in a class about massaging your greyhound or basic greyhound first aid is exciting to me - don't judge. Even more exciting (and flattering) is I've been asked to conduct a seminar on Saturday morning for beginning raw feeders.

If you're a regular reader, you know I started feeding BARF/raw three years ago and have never looked back. This unique way of feeding bases the dog's diet on wild dogs and/or wolves. As the name suggests, the meat is raw - never cooked - and bones are a part of the daily menu. This freaks a lot of people out, but for those of us who feed this way, we wouldn't go back to commercial kibble even if it was free.

And because I'm one of the few seminar junkies at these things, I'm not beyond a little bribery to increase my attendance. So, tonight I sat down at my embroidery machine and created these little Raw Rules! feeding towels. There will be eight lucky winners on Saturday morning. So, if you're attending Mountain Hounds and you want to learn more about raw feeding, join me at 9:30a just outside of the vending area.

I feel it is only fair for my readers to receive a little inside information. So to win a towel you've got to get a sheet with color - and that color is pink of course! See you guys there.