Monday, July 27, 2009

Mari's Officially a Lady!

Not something I'm super psyched about but I came home tonight & picked Maribelle up like a baby (like I often do) and noticed she'd started her first heat. My baby isn't a baby anymore!

Here she is earlier today...such a pretty little girl.... :o)

Friday, July 24, 2009

Happy Birthday!

Today we celebrated Ivy (my youngest human kids) 9th birthday. She got lovingly decorated by her sister & cousin with frosting & all the Chi babies had to help clean her off! We didn't let them totally clean her off since it was people frosting (and not good for their bellies) but they did enjoy a few licks.

Matilda's Tricks

Matilda has always been a super quick learner and always eager to do tricks. We've been a bit slack & haven't had any practice sessions in months yet today when I sat down with her she remembered every trick I'd ever taught her...and even picked up "back" in about 30 seconds.

She'd been doing tricks for 10 minutes when I finally started recording so in the beginning she's even more excited/anxious to do them (if you can believe it LOL). We forgot to practice "wait"...but she's also SUPER with that! :o)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Mischievous Milo!!??

Milo has been the least problematic dog as far as around the house goes. He is our lazy Chi who is happy to spend his days laying around on the couch, sleeping and always listening for the cabinet door to see if a snack is to follow. Yes, Milo loves food. Which is probably the reason he is about 1-2lbs over weight at 10 1/2lbs. As our biggest Chi, he isn't "fat" but as the vet puts it...he has some padding on his rib cage.... And he really eats no more than the rest of our crew. I think it's a mixture between an unfortunate metabolism (which I can so relate to!) and the fact that he is well, lazy!

At any rate...this will show you just how much Milo loves food. Yesterday, I was busy editing some photos up stairs when Ivy came up all huffy. Apparently she walked out into the kitchen to find Milo had hopped up into a chair that hadn't been pushed in and then onto the table where one of the girls had left a piece of toast. Yep, there he was standing on the table munching on a piece of toast - I'm sure thinking he's in heaven! Needless to say, even though he was naughty - I couldn't help but laugh. It was such an unexpected behavior from him! I did get after him a few times for trying to push the baby gate open leading into the kitchen that afternoon. I knew he was only trying to get some more toast!

If only I had walked in with my camera...I would loved to have caught his face. hehehe

Friday, July 17, 2009

Frozen Green Beans!

My pups absolutely love frozen green beans. Not only are they healthy, they're perfect for warm summer days & don't disappear in 2 seconds (maybe 5 with these LOL). Anyway, here are some snaps of my pups trying to get another green bean....












And our Chi Wanna-Be practicing Ivy's newest trick for him..."bear". LOL

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Why so serious........ :o)






Maxie: Don't even look at me - I-AM-INVISIBLE!



Mom: Come on Maxie - look at Mama...
Maxie: Ooooh, okay. If I have to.




Mom: Oh Maxie, you don't love me anymore?
Maxie: Of course I do, Mama. **kiss**kiss**

Monday, July 13, 2009

Digesting Teeth....

Okay, so dogs do fine passing their teeth when they're teething. But yesterday - while the girls & I were busy packing Gabby's bags for her cheerleading camp this week the pups decided to try their hand at passing HUMAN teeth!

Gabby had been saving her last few baby teeth in a little plastic tooth necklace/holder (courtesy of Bristol School) that she hung from her entertainment center - about 2 feet above the floor. We've been sure to keep her room free of "stuff" on the floors because the pups have been notorious for finding "treasures" to consume in there (M&M's, paper, pencils, pens, markers, etc). Well, this didn't matter - someone got bored & decided to pull it off the entertainment center, chew through the necklace, which Gabby had duct taped "just in case" & consume all but 1 molar.

Poor Gabby was devistated! So far the teeth seem to be passing okay (no vomiting, tummy swelling, etc). Since Gabby is at camp this week she said I could keep the poo in a baggy & mush it around until I found the teeth. I "accidentally" forgot to poo scoop this afternoon trying to avoid seeing a tooth and retrieving it. Does she really still want it after it's passed??? Ewwwwwww....... Maybe I should save her a bag full of this weeks poo (3 poo's 4 times a day for 4 days...that's a lot of shit to go through...quite literally! haha) so she can sort through it when she comes home?? :oP

Friday, July 10, 2009

Papa & the Puppies...BRAVE Matilda!

My grandfather comes over once a week...sometimes more sometimes less. He just adores all of our Chi's (especially little Maribelle). Matilda, as I may have mentioned before, doesn't exactly like to be touched by people outside of her immediate family. There are only one or 2 people other than us she'll allow & that's basically my mom who spent the night with the pups & human kids last year so she got comfortable with her & my brother who for more than a year was here at least 3 days a week for about an hour at a time (when he picked up my nephew when I babysat him). That last one is a miricle since my bro so lovingly used to tease Matilda as a pup when she was very nippy toward people who tried to touch her - BAD UNCLE! She's not 100% comfortable with these people even, but she'll cautiously tolerate pats & sit in their laps.

Other people that come over often enough - she has no problem sitting in their laps as long as they don't touch her...my Papa being one of them. But any time he goes to touch her or put his arm around her as to "hold" her she'll generally jump right away & down like she's afraid of cooties or something.

Anyway, last night when we got a visit from Papa, he sat down & Matilda was the first to jump up in his lap & to both of our surprised she happily let him not only touch her (he's so gentle & soft with her...he's really great!) but put his arm around her. Of course he was careful not to "squeeze" because that surely would have freaked her out...but she sat there for a good 5 minutes with him. It was great to see her progress!




And for fun...my Papa, my almost 9yo daughter & our 4 pups...

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Naughty Boys!

My crew has always been great with pottying outside. They have a doggy door & have been fantastic about using it since it was installed. Even before they did well with holding it in until they were taken outside with the exception of a few issues when they were going through puppy adolescence - well, Milo anyway. Maxie has always been great.

For the past 2 weeks however, I've been finding multiple pee/poo's in our sunroom (where the doggy door is located. It's hard to catch them in the act down there because they often go down & play (or go outside to potty) and it's in a seperate room from where we usually are. A few days ago I did catch Milo relieving himself down there & quickly put him through the doggy door telling him "outside pee pee" like I always have before he goes to bed.

As if 1-3 "accidents" a day weren't enough - today was horrible! I've lost count but I'm sure it was 4-5 soooo, we're back to square 1 with the boys. I say the boys because not only did I catch Milo down there peeing the other day - I've been trying to keep my eye on them & noticed Maxwell had just come up from the sunroom so I went to peek & there was poo (Milo has very distict poo's so I know it wasn't him & the girls had been with me). Thinking me catching Milo in the act possibly could have been enough - I gave him the benefit of the doubt at first & just crated Maxwell since we were busy cleaning & unable to keep an eye on them. Not 20 minutes goes by & Milo didn't pee in the sunroom...but on the COUCH!!!

He did this several times when he was around 7 months...right after we brought Maxwell home and I will NOT have it again. So in the crate Milo went as well. It's only been this evening they've been crated & Maxwell earned his out when he peed on command (when we put him out the doggy door). Milo is being a diffucult little dude & won't even walk down the ramp outside the doggy door - instead he comes right back in so right back in the crate he went and will stay until he pees outside. He's proven to have quite a bit bladder & will hold it in until it just comes out on it's own. Speaking of that...

Before all of this started - Milo had an incident where Gabby took him to bed with her like she often does. She put him out the doggy door before bed but he came right back in so she figured he didn't need to go. Gabby didn't even make it in the bed when Milo peed ALLLL over her bed. We've been having loads of rain lately so the outside play area has been blocked off for some time. Maybe he's just wanting to go pee in the grass?? But then again...he peed fine all winter in the enclosed area.

At any rate - I hope this passes quickly because I'm getting mighty tire of cleaning up their messes. Hopefully they'll get the hint & hopefully the girls don't pick up on their nasty new habit!