Pooches: Puppy Mr. B

One of the few "bad" things about adopting a dog is that unless the pound or the rescue group has pictures, you will never know what your dog looked like as a little puppy. Mr. B was already 5 years old when we adopted him, so we can only imagine what he looked like as a puppy. While searching on the web, I came upon this picture of a puppy pit bull that looks exactly like a imagined younger version of Mr. B. Their coloring and the patterns are really similar and they have the same eyes. The only thing is that we cannot tell if the puppy is a real dog or just a stuffed animal.

Pooches: The Power of Fish Oil

With the advent of spring we have had a lot of great flowers, great weather, and great amounts of pet shedding. While the pooches will naturally shed their coats with the seasonal change, we found out that this fish oil product, which you can find at most pet stores, delays shedding. The omega3 fatty acids keep the pooches skin and hair well conditioned; it is mainly the dry skin and brittle hair that cause shedding. We put a couple of drops in with each meal and we have noticed that the pooches do have shinier, well-conditioned hair. The only catch is to make sure you wipe their lips after they eat it. Miss M. loves to put her chin on everything which doesn't bide well when it's covered with fish oil.

Pooches: Inexpensive Medicine

After making many mistakes, we have learned how to save money on the pooches. Buying medicine at the vet can be really expensive, so we found some online sites that offer them much, much cheaper. I've bought them from Doctors Foster & Smith, but this past time I found a much cheaper rate at EntirelyPets. The site will email the vet to get a prescription and it arrives on your doorstep in a matter of days.

Pooches: Spring Shedding Clean-up

Despite our frequent visits to "the spa", when Spring comes the pooches shed their thick winter coat. Unfortunately, some of it is bound to end up on our microfiber coach and cubes. I found this dry sponge is made to spruce up upholstery and it's an easy way to pick up the stray hairs from the pooches. I've also found it's great at cleaning the dried spittle Miss M used to leave behind when she would sneak up to sleep on the couch when we were gone, and slink away when she heard the key in the door.

Pooches: Expression

So one day, Mr. B started to really smell like a mackerel. This smell was bad enough to even wake both A and I from a deep sleep 2 in the morning. After doing some research, we came to the conclusion that his anal sacs or anal glands needed to be emptied. During a vet visit, we asked them to express Mr. B's anal glands, which we thought we be free or for a nominal fee, but to our surprise it was $30. So we needed to find a cheaper way of expressing Mr. B's anal glands. We found a video on Expert Village on how to express a dog's anal glands, but it didn't look like something either A or I would be willing to do. Then one day, while we were at PetSmart waiting for the dogs to be taken in for their baths, we were told that they would express both Mr. B's and Ms. M's anal glands for free. It is actually a free service with their baths, but you need to ask. Now we can have fresh smelling dogs with empty anal sacs after their spa day at PetSmart.

Pooches: Twins--As in the Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger Type

Whenever we're out walking the dogs, people always ask if they're twins. Despite the fact they would technically be octuplets, it is funny because they're different breeds. But, since they've been living together they have slowly morphed into one dog. Kind of like those couples that start to look alike. Basically, Mr. B. sees Miss M. as the #1 dog and has started imitating her. This includes the way she sits, lays down, even her bad habits like hitting against the bed in the morning so we feed her, and sneezing all the time. Just look at their mannerisms:

While they're both still Pittie/Bully Breeds, Miss M. is technically an American Bulldog/Boxer mix. She has long limbs and stands nearly 6 inches taller then Mr. B. Her hands are like claws that can grab things and she has saggy jowls and an under bite. She is also brindle-striped.

Mr. B. is an American Staffordshire Terrier. He has stubby little legs but HUGE biceps. He has a huge, meaty head and is grey-colored. He likes to curl up like a little lamb.

Schwang Manor: Security

A and I stopped by our local Chicago Police Department (CPD) station the other day, because our neighbors and us have noticed some unusual activity going on in our neighborhood. CPD informed us that burglaries have gone up significantly in many areas of Chicago. Apparently burglars are bumping into doors to see if an alarm would go off and break in if they don't hear one. On the front door to our building, we saw all this damage from someone trying to jimmy the lock using a screwdriver or a pry bar. To prevent this from happening again, we installed a latch guard for an in-opening door. In addition, we have installed security strike kits for both our front and back doors. They include these really long, heavy duty screws that makes breaking in through the door a lot harder. One thing to say is that CPD has been really helpful. They informed us about our beat meetings and how they are on trial at these meetings. One police officer even told us to demand a lieutenant to give us his direct number at these meetings and not allow him to give us a different number. Two officers even stopped by the house to follow up with the attempted burglary and gave us some tips on how to deter potential burglars, such as installing a latch guard. They even recommended buying an ADT or some other security company's security sign online and post those up around the building, because burglars will usually head down to the next building. Finally, they said that the sound of a big dog's bark is a great deterrent, too bad Ms. M doesn't bark and Mr. B stopped barking.

Pooches: Cookie Jars and Canisters

One of the great joys of owning a dog is that you never know what you will come home to. On Valentine's Day, A and I decided to go out to dinner and Mr. B decided to have dinner as well. So we come home to find 15-lb of what used to be 30-lb of dog food knocked all over the floor and an empty bag of lamb stuffed with sweet potato treats. So Mr. B somehow found a way to open the lower cabinets where their food is stored and went to town on the dog food and the treats. Luckily he only ate one whole bag of dog treats, because he had some pretty messy bowel movements for 4 days. So we decided to buy a vault for the dog food and cookie containers for the treats. The nice thing about the vault is that it keeps the dog food fresh and keeps ants and other insects and vermin out. In addition, the cookie containers with the treats add a little flair to our kitchen. Instead of having cookies in jars for humans, we have treats in jars for our adorable mongrels.

Pooches: Walking Safety

Miss M. is not always the most popular dog. Back when we lived in our old apartment, there was a Chocolate Lab living on the first floor that couldn't stand her. When we would walk outside the dog would bark crazily and throw itself against the screen window. When we were in the lobby the dog would ram itself against the door clawing to get out. One time when we were coming home it did get out and it began attacking Miss M. It wasn't until later that I learned about Directstop. Apparently dogs can't stand the smell of citronella, so you can spray this in the dog's faces and they'll back off. It doesn't hurt the dogs, but it separates them before the dogs can hurt each other. You have to be especially careful here in the city where there are tons of dogs, and even more irresponsible dog owners. While we have control of our dogs on our walks, there are all kinds of people who walk their dogs off-leash. This can cause problems as the dog on leash feels confined and threatened and could lash out in self-defense. We haven't had to use it yet, but it does make me feel safer to have it.

Doggystyle: Robin Hood & Little Red Riding Hood

We had ordered these Ruffwear raincoats a bit ago, but it wasn't until this past week with the rain and warmer weather that we were able to try them out. We really like these because they have hoods which keep the pooches dryer and willing to stay out longer. The thing we didn't realize was the hoods actually make them look too much like Robin Hood, and Little Red Riding Hood. With our next outing, we might switch the coats to be more gender appropriate. So Miss M. will be going to visit Grandma's house and Mr. B will be the heroic villain.