Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

So, a slight hiatus has taken place. Those closest to me know that the dog hunt had to temporarily put on hold. But it has resumed. Don't worry, I didn't slack off the whole time! My reading list:



AAAAAAND those are just the books from my previously prep list. I added these as well



PLUS, these ones specifically on Cavaliers



Anyone thinking of getting a puppy should really read PuppyPerfect by Sarah Hodgson. It was the reason that I thought "okay, maybe I can do this". It doesn't make it sound easy, but do-able and you can have a well mannered dog! It is all positive reinforcement, covers EVERYTHING, goes week by week what to focus on, what the puppy can handle. Fantastic!

Another great book is Dialogues with Dogs by Dr. Bruce Fogle. It's not so much a training book but more of a dog psychology book to help you understand the history of dogs and how they interpret things. I read it in an afternoon, it was fascinating. For instance, Boxers take the longest to reach emotional maturity (taking up to 3 years!) but Golden Retrievers (one of the most popular breeds!) are one of the earliest to reach maturity (as early as 1 year old). Many people find the adolescent period the hardest to deal with, so if you're looking to shorten it, go with a Golden.

For Cavalier lovers, the best book I have read is Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: Your Happy Healthy Pet by Norma Moffatt (an Ontario, Canada breeder). It was the easiest to read and had lots of tips and realistic advice, since she has been breeding Cavaliers for so long.

Next up, dog therapy training books! Whew!

Disappointments

Well some of my friends and family are aware that DeeDee is not going to be the doggie momma to our Marmalade. It is not our first disappointment but it felt like it since we really wanted DeeDee to be the doggie momma. I felt the disappointment more than Sean did, I think because I had done the communicating with DeeDee's human mom. She was just so lovely and cared for dogs and I just got along with her so well.

I communicated with so many breeders and we couldn't visit every single one of them! And without a voice, I had to rely on email to make my judgements. I know, it sounds callous to be passing judgements on people, but it's something that you ultimately have to do, whether by phone, in person or email. I don't want to make it sound like we determined who is a horrible animal abuser by an email, because we certainly didn't. It is more so about who is the right breeder for you. I went by instinct first and foremost. I truly believe that subconsciously, our brain knows things that we consciously do not, and it sends the message to us with that gut instinct. So if I "clicked" with a breeder, then I chose to keep up the communication. If I didn't "click", I asked myself why. Is it because of using email? Was it because I bombarded them with my 101 questions? Or is something off? That's how we made our decisions.

Obviously, I preferred to get our puppy from a breeder that I just immediately got along with, which is why my disappointment was so great, in the case of DeeDee. Took a bit longer to get over.

BUUUUT we have news of another litter. Seven little ruby puppies, born just days ago, with two available females. We are just hoping they continue to do well and we get a chance to maybe visit them in March. See if our Marmalade is in that bunch.

new experiences with dogs

After a ridiculous morning of stepping in cat poo (twice!), dealing with Roxie bum scooting on the kitchen floor, and then getting locked out of the house, I needed this laugh. moving with dogs

Granted, I've never had a dog, but I still thought it was hilarious. We have moved with our girls twice now. Roxie, is very much like simple dog. As long as she has food and attention from her daddy, she is unphased by everything else. Cocoa, on the other hand, has anxiety problems and is basically afraid of her own shadow and needs others to comfort her. When we moved into our condo, Cocoa decided to claw her way through our boxspring so she could hide. Of course, we thought she had escaped, until we heard her meowing from under the bed, because she couldn't get back out. We had to tip up the bed (and Cocoa inside the bed) and rip up our boxspring more, so we could get her out. We joke now that Cocoa asked Roxie "How should we freak out our parents today?" to which Roxie replied "I like poop".

What fun it will be if we ever move with two cats and a dog.

I watched a documentary today, called Mine. It is the story of the animals caught in hurricane katrina. I was a big blubbering mess for the whole hour and 20 minutes. Really, a heartbreaking situation of being forced to abandon your pets, then trying to find them afterwards but being told they were adopted out. I cannot even imagine being told I had to leave the girls behind. I couldn't do it. I'd be trying to stuff them in my luggage or down my shirt.

During the course of our search for a puppy, we've been asked why we want a dog. There was a moment towards the end of the film that really sums it up, for any dog lover. A man, who had been forced to leave his dog behind, said "Dogs remind us that we aren't really alone... that we aren't as independent as we think".

puppy tones

I know, two posts in one day, overload much? But my throat is hurting something fierce and I want to remember something important (usually I do an oral retell to Sean... yes, that is the teacher in me coming out).

I have been re-reading PuppyPerfect by Sarah Hodgson. It is such a fabulous book, by the way, especially for first-timers. This book made me realize that maybe I could do the dog thing (what can I say? I have traditionally been a cat person). Positive reinforcement based, broken down into steps I understand. She uses the idea of "team captain" versus "alpha" to explain the puppy to puppy parents relationship, which is just much less harsh.

Anyway, I just reread the section on tones. This is a bit difficult for a person without a voice to do, but I still believe there is a difference, even with my whisper. So according to Miss Sarah, there are 3 tones puppies can recognize: Directional, praise and shame.

1) Directional: pretty self explanatory what it's for: giving directions! such as sit, wait, stay, etc. But the tone should be like you are asking someone to please pass the salt, "Please pass the ketchup" "Marmalade sit". After I read the book the first time (I'm now on my third time), Sean and I started practising this around the house. Like when Cocoa is feeling very anxious and meowing her brains out looking for Roxie, we would say, "Marmalade, kill the cat" (JOKINGLY of course!). When you remember to use the directional tone, it helps keep you looking/feeling calm but it's still pretty firm.

2)Praise: again, self-explanatory, it's for giving praise. This tone doesn't really have any rules because it depends on the puppy. I have been reading Honey the Great Dane's blog and her owner uses high-pitched, lots of excitment in her tone when giving praise. But if you have a dog that has trouble containing her enthusiasm, like say Sean's old Lab, Nikki, using that tone would cause her to jump up on people, play a little rough, and as a puppy, made her pee. Obviously, you would need a calmer praise tone than the one used for Honey.

3)Shame: this should be used sparingly, as no one likes to feel ashamed all the time (what kind of team captain is that??). It should be used in certain cases to express your disappointment, like aggression.

With these tones, there are also corrections and tones for the corrections. For younger puppies, like under 4 months, there is really only one correction they can understand and that is "ep-ep" which sounds peppy and is just a gentle discouragement for all unwanted behaviours. With puppies 5 months and older, you can add in "shame on you" (for house-soiling, destruction) which shows your disappointment and "nope" which is just like a short, quick bark, a little more firm than the directional tone (used for all behaviours). After 7 months, you add shhhtt which should be sharp and fierce (for barking or nipping) and "that's unacceptable" which should be strong and dominant, but only used when something is absolutely forbidden, like showing aggression.

Final point: obviously these corrections can only be used when the behaviour is "caught" as the window for making the connection, especially in young puppies, is very short.

whew, thanks for letting me do my "oral recall". I only missed one or two points when I checked back in the book. Not bad.

Potential Dog Momma

Squeeeee!!! Yes, I really did just do that (and I actually made that sound out loud as well... okay, so it was a whisper sound).


Photo Credits Currylane Cavaliers and Abby Manor Cavaliers

This is DeeDee. Isn't she beautiful? She is a potential Dog Momma for Marmalade. She is due January 21st and hopefully has a litter of at least two girls (most likely black and tan). See, now you understand why I squeed.

I am so excited because it feels like the process is moving forward! However, I told myself not to get too excited because if there aren't at least two girls, then there won't be a Marmalade in that litter... But I am clearly not taking my own advice.

Half our problem is that we want a girl, and breeders usually keep one female from each litter to continue the pedigree lines. The other half, is that we want a whole colour, i.e. Ruby or Black and Tan. Some people don't like whole colours because they feel they lack the trademark cavalier look. I admit, I was one of those people... Until I actually met a litter of whole colour puppies. Photos do not do them justice! Even stone-cold Sean gushed "She looks like the world's tiniest Rottweiler" over a black and tan puppy. This is probably the biggest compliment from him as he thinks rotties are beautiful. And when were driving home, he went on and on about how handsome the Ruby boys were. From that moment on, we went from being "open-minded" to "whole colour only!".

Squee!

Sorry, I just needed to do that one more time

food challenge!

We knew all about pet food allergies long before I started researching dogs. Our cat, Cocoa, we believe, is allergic to corn (or some other grain). From the day I got her, more or less, she would throw up her food. Gross, I know, but as a pet owner, you get used to these things. At first, we thought it was "hairball" formulas, then anything with fish, and finally, we realized it was grains, specifically corn. Now that I have researched dog food, I know grain allergies aren't uncommon. It's been challenging to find a food Cocoa will eat (she always wants Roxie's) and not regurgitate. Roxie, the rolly-polly-puddin'-pop, doesn't have a choice; she's on medical grade low calorie food, which does include corn since corn is mostly filler.

Also while searching for information on dog food, I found a "grading" test you can do yourself to determine how great (or craptastic) your dog food is. The test doesn't consider EVERY aspect but I think it is a good jumping off point, especially since it is pretty easy to use. I know I found the name of the author somewhere on the net, but at the moment, I cannot find the link.

Start with a grade of 100.

1 - for every listing of "by product" subtract 10 points.
2 - for every non-specific animal source (meat or poultry, meat meal, or animal) reference subtract 10 points.
3 - If the food contains BHA, BHT, or ethoxyquin, subtract 10 points.
4 - For every non-specific grain source (mill run, whole grains) subtract 5 points.
5 - If the same grain is listed 2 or more times in the first 5 ingredients (rice, rice flour, brewers rice all being "same grain"), subtract 5 points.
6 - If the protein sources are not meat meal and there are less than 2 meats in the top 3 ingredients, subtract 3 points.
7 - If it contains any artificial dyes or colorants subtract 3 points.
8 - If it contains ground corn or whole grain corn subtract 3 points.
9 - If corn is listed in the top 5 ingredients, subtract 2 more points.
10 - If the food contains any animal fat other than fish oil, subtract 2 points.
11 - If lamb is the only animal protein source (unless your dog is allergic to other protein sources), subtract 2 points.
12 - If it contains soy or soybeans subtract 2 points.
13 - If it contains wheat (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to wheat) subtract 1 point.
14 - If it contains beef (unless you know that your dog isn't allergic to beef) subtract 1 point.
15 - If it contains salt subtract 1 point.
Extra Credits:
1 - If any of the meat sources are organic, add 5 points.
2 - If the food is endorsed by any major breed group or nutritionist (not television personalities) add 5 points.
3 - If the food is baked, not extruded, add 5 points.
4 - If the food contains probiotics add 5 points.
5 - If the food contains fruit add 3 points.
6 - If the food contains vegetables (not corn or grains) add 3 points.
7 - If the meat sources are hormone and antibiotic free add 2 points.
8 - If the food contains barley, add 2 points.
9 - If the food contains flax seed oil (not just flax seed) add 2 points.
10 - If the food contains oats or oatmeal add 1 point.
11 - If the food contains sunflower oil add 1 point.
12 - For every different meat protein source (chicken, fish, turkey, lamb et al) add 1 point.
13 - If it contains glucosamine and chondroitin add 1 point.
14 - If the vegetables have tested pesticide free add 1 point.
Grading:
A = 94 - 100
B = 86 - 93
C = 78 - 85
D = 70 - 77
F = 69 or less

Some results of common brands can be found here.

Another food test is here with some results here in the comments section.

Consider the needs of your animal first. Just because it is "good" food doesn't mean it is good food for YOUR pet. Blue buffalo scored really well using both tests but Cocoa threw it up for some reason.

Edit: I have just completed the test for Now! senior cat formula (Cocoa's current food) and it scored an A+ on both tests, yay!