Pooches: The Story about How Miss M Learned to Wave

When I first adopted Miss M. she was very wild. Given that she was a "Bully Breed" I knew I needed to keep her disciplined. I was quick to enroll her into training, and since then our lives have changed. Miss M. earned her degree from Anti-Cruelty society where she took Dog Training 201, Trick Training, CGC Prep, and an Intro to Rally class her and E took together. Through these classes Miss M evolved from a crazy pooch into an enthusiastic dog who takes directions well. She learned simple skills like lying down with a single hand motion, keeping a "stay" position for over 3 minutes, and even staying with a bowl of food in front of her and not eating until I give the signal. She also learned fun things like falling down dead when "shot at", rolling over, waving, and even putting her own toys away. These programs are fairly inexpensive and they allow you to retake the 101, 102, and 201 classes for the dog's lifetime. Miss M. really enjoyed the classes. Her favorite part was when they would pick her to be the "model" and do the trick in front of the class. Although, I think she was just in it for the treat.

Pooches: Spa Day

Every few weeks we usually bring the pooches over to Petsmart to get a bath. We call it their "Spa Day" imagining them frolicking in the back, hanging out in fluffy towels waiting to get their nails done; in reality we know it's probably just them standing in a cage getting hosed down. Unfortunately, we haven't had a chance to bring them to the "spa" and Miss M is beginning to smell like Fritos. In the meantime, we have been using these grooming wipes to neutralize their odor. These have a green tea leaf fragrance which, surprisingly, is quite appealing to dogs. It's like an aromatherapy and the pooches treat it like a massage rolling around at their backs. They like it so much that at the end of the rubdown Miss M even tries to sneak away with the wipe to chew in her lair. The wipes don't really leave the pooches smelling like herbs, nor do they mask any huge odors, but they do neutralize the pooches natural scent. And they enjoy the rubdown.

-A

Pooches: Hans Washington B

As we have written earlier, we make Mr. B wear the chewed pieces of the Ikea Sheepskin as a mini-toupee. We came home recently to find a whole lot of chewed pieces of the sheepskin. We decided to make this into a small head of hair for Mr. B. Here is Hans Washington B AKA Harpo Marx B.

Pooches: Hans

We have been having a problem with Mr. B where he has been chewing little chunks out of his Ikea Sheepskin when he is home alone during the day. We have decided the most appropriate punishment for this behavior...is to make him wear the pieces as mini-toupees and refer to him as"Hans".

Pooches: "Cousins...Identical Cousins"

We had our very own "Patty Duke" experience the other day as we saw this dog on Petfinder. Everyone always remarks how unique Miss M looks, but here is her mirror image Robocop. I can just imagine them meeting at doggy daycare and playing pranks on each other until they realize they are long lost twins....or maybe that was Parent Trap?

Pooches: Mr. B is so Sly!

Mr. B had some crate issues in the past, but we feel comfortable leaving him out while we are away. We actually go through this whole elaborate routine each time we leave where we put him in the crate and pretend to lock it, but leave it open so he can burst out. When we come back, even if we had just seen Mr. B staring down at us from the window, he runs back into the crate and pretends he has been there the whole time. This time we had left the empty bag of dry food out, intending to throw it out back, when Mr. B got his little paws on it. He dragged it back to his crate, thinking he wouldn't get caught. Here he is feigning innocence.

Pooches: The Raw Food Placemat

We had posted before about how we put the pooches on a raw food diet. Everything is going well with their health and diet; the one thing we didn't account for was how careful we had to be with raw meat. While we're making sure to clean their bowls right after they eat, the pooches aren't as cleanly in their manner of eating. Mr. B actually eats his "crocodile-style". He'll grab the whole hunk and throw his head back so in a couple of gulps the whole thing is gone. Meanwhile, Miss M. makes sure to eat hers in little bits. She takes some bits from her bowl, deposits them on her bed, and ends up grinding all the pieces everywhere. We have decided that we have to begin feeding them outside their crates, and use easy to clean placemats. I actually got this idea from my sister who showed me what she's going to do for her two kitties. You can use any fabric, napkin, or cloth placement and all you have to do is iron on this vinyl coating so you can wipe them clean after any use. I like this white and brown fabric, which also seems to match Miss M, or this shop located over in Bucktown has alot of interesting fabrics. And they even have their own etsy shop.

-A

Schwang Manor: Pitbulls Roasting by an Open Fire

We finally started using our fireplace last week and the dogs have really taken a liking to the fire. At first we were looking for gas logs to use with the gas fireplace, but then we would have to keep the gas going and with gas prices these days its not a good idea. So while looking for wood, I came upon Duraflame firelogs. After reading TreeHugger.com about how Duraflame is an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional cut firewood, I decided to give them a try. It is easy to start a fire with the Duraflame firelogs and they stay lit for about 2 hours, though it states that they are 3 hr firelogs with minimal waste.

Pooches: Poor Mr. B

We adopted Mr. B back in August, so Ms. M has been living with him for about 5 months now. It was only in the past two months that Ms. M has started getting really close to Mr. B and using him as furniture. When we are working in the living room, Mr. B likes to slip into his crate and sleep. Every so often we would find that Ms. M secretly sneaks into his crate and use his body as a pillow. What happened in the photos above was that we heard Mr. B sigh heavily and to our surprise we found Ms. M using his head as a pillow. Poor Mr. B.

Pooches: Raw Food Diet

Everyone from our vet to the pet store owners have been telling us about the benefits of a raw food diet. So we start Ms. M and Mr. B on the raw food diet from Nature's Variety. We have been planning on getting them onto a raw food diet, but we were waiting until we were on break, so if they had any issues we could take them outside immediately. Both Ms. M and Mr. B responded very well to the diet. Neither had any digestive issues and it seems like their waste is smaller and more solid. We feed them about 8 oz of the raw food diet in the morning and they get a cup and a half of their normal dried food in the evening. Nature's Variety offers the chubs which saves us a bit of money. It comes out to about $36 for two weeks of breakfast food for 2 dogs. All you have to do is cut the chubs into appropriate portions.