Sighthound Sighting Number 102

Have you seen the same look on your houndie's face? The "You can't be serious," look. This little whippet doesn't do much, but he's really cute.

Just Like Home

My girls are pretty spoiled. I work from home, so they don't really know the word schedule. Their crate time is non-existent. Nothing is off limits, except the cats' room. They have dog beds, but prefer to use our king-sized place of rest. They eat raw food. Enjoy a marshmallow before bed and the occasional gourmet dog biscuit from our favorite pet bakery. Basically, their lives are the doggie equivalent of an episode of MTV Cribs.

So when we go on vacation, and I cannot figure out a way to bring the girls with us, I have a handful of resources I turn to to care for them. I'm picky. Very picky. So picky that the closest kennel I use is two and half hours away from my home. I typically tour the space. I interview the care taker(s) - this includes the kids who feed them, let them out and clean up after them if necessary. If I see or sense an angry teenage boy might have access to my girls - the facility is immediately off my list. I want to see where they sleep. I want to see where their food is kept. I want to know they are comfortable feeding raw. I must see that the outside play space is clean (no poop). I look for care takers playing with and loving on the other dogs. I look to make sure my girls will have little, preferably no, contact with other breeds. I check to make sure the facility has the ability not put my girls near a constant barker. If possible, I ask for references - and I call them.

Basically, I approach this like I would if I were picking a day care for a six week old baby.

We vacation in Florida at least once a year and I have a fabulous twitter/blog friend, Stefanie, that keeps the girls when we are near the Tampa area. Unfortunately, she lost her oldest greyhound, Macy (godspeed sweet girl), just two days before we were to drop our girls off. It didn't feel right to interfere with this household in their time of grief. Stefanie recommended Just Like Home Pet Hotel (JLH).

There was no time for an interview, walk through, or references. We were already there enjoying the David Island Dog Beach and taking over the local LaQuinta. After a call with Joanie at JLH, I felt good, but this control freak was a bit out of her comfort zone. I had to throw caution to the wind and remind myself that if I wasn't comfortable when we dropped them off, we would just take them with us and figure it out when we got to Fort Myers.

But the best part was Joanie herself. She was warm, welcoming, and genuinely loved the dogs. She has a great fabulous pre-arrival paperwork. It asks questions like, what the dogs like to play with, their potty schedule, food schedule and their preferred sleeping location. It stormed almost every day there, but Jonie was comfortable with catering to a thunder phobic dog and even called me a couple of times to let me know that everything was ok. She would text me photos during their stay so I could see them. Joanie teared up when we came to pick them up. Seriously - this was exceptional care.

So if you are driving to the Tampa area and want to bring your pup along for part of the ride, call Joanie. And if Animal Planet wants to do a doggie cribs t.v. show - I know who I will nominate first.

Hunger Strike

I can only remember a couple of times where my parents wouldn't let me leave the dinner table until I cleaned my plate. I'm pretty sure both of those times, the meal included lima beans or peas of some sort. My dad didn't like his vegetables either, and I'm pretty sure my mom was forbidden to make them ever again. Especially after his daughter, who is was too smart for her own good, pointed out that dad didn't clean his plate so he should have to sit at the table until he was done as well. Yeah, that didn't happen, but a spanking did.

Over the last three weeks, Roxy's eating habits have become really poor. It started with refusing the nightly marshmallow that I give each of them at bed time. Okay, so she doesn't want sweets, not a big deal. Then she started leaving everything in her Kong totally untouched, except the cream cheese or peanut butter. I figured Seka bullied her into giving her Kong up, which happens even in their crates sometimes. The next reject on the menu was a raw chicken back. Then came the turkey neck's turn. Three days ago, she totally gave up chicken gizzards and hamburger all together. I think she ate grass and a couple of slices of American Cheese for the last two days because nothing else would do. Maybe she's making a vegetarian statement of some sort.

There's really only one culprit: her choppers. Poor Roxy just has the bad teeth gene and despite regular brushing and a raw diet, she continues to lose teeth a pair at a time. She most recently had two pulled in August. Now, it looks like she's going to lose at least two more on the other side. We were waiting to complete an antibiotic cycle before having them pulled, but with her eating habits becoming so poor, I guess we may have to do this sooner, rather than later.

My dilemma, what do we put on Roxy's menu after she has lost most of the back teeth in her mouth? Do we move to kibble for her? It can't be easy to eat dry pebbles without back teeth. Will she be able to chew raw bones again? Are we headed down a path of canned dog food for good (ugh, please no)?

I really want to keep her on a grain-free diet, especially when she's allergic to peas (I wish I had that excuse) and eggs. Both are used in a lot of commercial kibble. We live in the country, so we lack convenient access to uppity dog food and I'm a poor planner when it comes ordering ahead of time. I guess we'll just see if she can gum the raw dishes once we get her appetite back.

Seka, on the other hand, is psyched that her sister isn't eating her daily ration. Before I really got a handle on the severity of the situation I'm 99% sure Seka ate Roxy's food too. Something Fatty McPatty didn't need. But the joke was on her tonight as Roxy wolfed down a can of Newman's Own canned dog food as she stood by drooling on the sidelines.

There's an App For That

I'm an Apple-aholic. To me, there's no more perfect computer, electronic instrument, or insta-cool gadget than those produced by Steve Jobs and his think tank. I've always been an Apple-maniac ever since my college roommate had an old-school, green screen, Apple desktop that we shared for four years. It never crashed. It never burped. And it never failed - even as we stayed up all night chatting with boys from the Air Force Academy.

So certainly I have an iPhone and an iPad. I also have a lot of apps for both. I thought I'd share with you my top picks for dog folks who prefer the superior technology found on a Mac product.

1. Instagram: I'm seriously addicted to this photography app. It lets you take really cool, old-school photos and share them with your friends via Facebook, Twitter and/or on the Instagram feed. The photos you see on this post are made using this app. I don't use any other photography app these days. While it can't turn you into Patrick Demarchelier, but it can sure make you feel like a Vogue genius.

2. The GreytLife: This greyhound-friendly app, among other things, includes resources for greyhound events nationwide. This is a pretty all-inclusive list for those of us who like to get together with like-minded greyhound folks across the country. This feature alone has helped me to plan my vacation this year.

3. Simply Postcards: I've started sending postcards to our nieces and nephews (this includes all of our close friends who have kids) when Kevin and I are doing something fun or just want to say hi. This app allows you to create a postcard from any photo on your iPhone, write the text for the back and they will print and mail it to the recipient for you for a couple of bucks. Seriously, no more crappy location postcards and looking for stamps in the middle of vacation.

4. Goodreads: I was a serious bookworm as a kid. Then I went through a phase (of about 10 years) where I didn't read for pleasure. Now my addiction has resurfaced and I'm constantly looking for new books to read (on my iPad of course). Goodreads allows me browse thousands of book lists created by Goodreads users and create a "must read" list so when I finish a book at 2 a.m. and I'm ready to read something else, what to start next is a no brainer. This service also includes reviews on dog training books!

5. SiriusXM: If you know me, you know that I have a crude sense of humor. I love Howard Stern. I think he is a genius. I love his wife, who is the spokesperson for the North Shore Animal League. When I'm on the road, I must have my Stern. This app lets me listen to Stern and my other favorite SiriusXM channels no matter where I might be (ok, the NYC subway is a bit sketchy, but anywhere above ground, it works great). One warning, it is a suck on your data usage, so if you don't have an unlimited data plan, you may want to only use this in emergencies. Babba Booey.

These are just a fraction of the apps you can find on my iPhone (which is attached to my body at all times) and the collection on my iPad (which is carried with me frequently) is growing steadily. Apps make your life a better place, no doubt. Now, if they can come up with an app that will pick up dog poop...

"Once you go Mac, you never go back."

Life Changing Grey

I think any dog owner can say that their dog changed their life in some way. I certainly know I can. This story, which is incredibly well written I might add, is a love letter to how an injured greyhound changed a bachelor's life forever. Enjoy.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

This Dog Rocks - And Rolls!

I love stupid dog tricks on David Letterman. While the dogs usually perform pretty cute stuff, I always like the way Dave seems a bit afraid and skeptical of the four-legged performers. On Thursday night, a beautiful French Briard named Norman (love that name), broke the ice with Dave by riding a scooter better than most people can. Seriously this dog cracked me up. Maybe it was the long beautiful coat, his expressive face or the fact that his feet were as big as mine, but I really thought it looked like a kid dressed up as a Muppet riding the darn thing. Click here to see Norman knock Dave's socks off!

The Itchy & Scratchy Show

I love Sam Simon. You may or may not know this genius behind the Simpsons, but besides being incredibly creative and an amazing writer, he has used his wealth to help dogs through the Sam Simon Foundation. In fact, he's been known to go to various animal shelters and adopt every dog there. Every dog no matter the age, color, breed, or temperament. I fantasize about being able to do that. Sam Simon does it.  

One of my favorite characters that can be credited to Simon (besides Santa's Little Helper) is the satirical parallel to Tom & Jerry - Itchy & Scratchy. Every episode staring this duo on the Simpson's television was violent, bloody, gory and really funny. I love the theme song for this silly little sub-set of characters and lately, I sing this song to Roxy as her new nickname has become Itchy Scratchy. 

I posted a few months back about her horrible skin condition that continued to get worse. The thyroid tests proved to be normal in every way (no excuses for her loony behavior now), but she was still covered in gross sores that were armed with green puss. She was consumed with itching and scratching 24/7. She couldn't sleep and I couldn't sleep and it made her noise phobia a lot worse because she was so miserable and on edge. 

Dr. Hottie suggested that we do an allergy panel. This is not cheap, but I was at my wits end and she had consumed more Benadryl and steroids than one canine should, so this was really our only option. I knew she had allergies, but I had no idea how much she was allergic to. In fact, Dr. Hottie said he was shocked and the number of red marks that came back on Roxy's report. Well, at least she excels at something. 

She is in fact allergic to every kind of grass known to man, peas, eggs, pork and me. Yep, she's allergic to human hair! Oh, and did you know that dogs can be allergic to themselves. Seriously - dog and cat dander is on the list and she was non-reactive, thank goodness. I don't know how you treat a dog who is allergic to her own fur.

The treatment is just like human allergy shots. They start with a milder exposure to the allergens via injection on a regular basis. There are 3 vials - green, blue and red. The blue shots are the ones that usually cause problems with some sort of reaction as they are the strongest in concentration. 

We're half-way through the treatment cycle. For the first 2 weeks she got a shot approximately every other day. Now we're on the higher concentrated stuff and she gets a shot approximately every 5 to 6 days. Warning: this treatment isn't for someone with the fear of needles, as they are rather large. 

So far, so good. Her fur has become much, much softer and her skin isn't peeling off in sheets. The scabs on her sores have healed for the most part and both of us are sleeping much better. While the test was pricey, the vials of shots are reasonable. I do think that by this point I would have spent the same amount on an endless cocktail of steroids, antibiotics and antihistamines. 

Roxy's lack of scratching may not require the singing of the Itchy & Scratchy theme song these days, but she likes the extra attention she is getting just the same, even if it comes in a syringe.