Giving Thanks

I came across this hilarious photo of a cat and dog in Thanksgiving garb, so I replaced the other dog's face with Cabana's. I'm hoping the actual photo was also a product of Photoshop--cats can't really stand like that, can they?!


Here's Cabana sitting in front of our house. But tonight after our puppy meeting, Cabana went to the home of a puppy sitter in our group. She's been to this puppy sitter's house before, so I hope she'll remember it and have a good time with their pet dogs.

In the morning, we're heading down to Los Angeles to spend Thanksgiving with my sister. Cabana can't come with us because my sister is extremely uncomfortable around animals. No tolerance for cats, dogs, gerbils, bunnies--she might be okay with goldfish, but only if she doesn't have to touch them. Also, my sister lives on the 12th floor of an apartment building, so it was a double strike against bringing Cabana. :(

My family members are all vegetarian, so we won't be eating turkey. Our Thanksgiving meal will be Thai food and chocolate cake. Yes, I'm very thankful for that! And I won't have to do any of the cooking! Even more to be thankful for!

Wishing everyone a safe and harmonious Thanksgiving!

Vote Cabana the Cutest Dog of the Season!

I just entered Cabana in Hallmark's Cutest Dog of the Season Contest. Click here to vote for her!

Here's the photo I entered:
You can also enter your own dog photos. Just so you know, you can vote for multiple dogs, so you can vote for Cabana AND vote for your own dog. I doubt I'll win, but it's fun anyway!

I'm looking forward to watching this Hallmark movie, A Dog Named Christmas, airing on November 29. It's got a yellow lab in it--what better reason to watch!!

Crazy Singing Dog

My mother-in-law recently sent us a package full of Christmas decorations. One of the items was this silly singing dog. You push a button on its paw, and it sings "Silver Bells".

Cabana isn't quite sure what to make of this singing stuffed animal. But it sure is cute to watch her! (Description of video: Toy is droning and making its motions. Cabana dashes up to it, then runs away, leaping, twirling. When the toy stops, Cabana ventures up to it and tries to incite it with playful motions to make it go again.)



Every time I turn this toy on, Cabana yawns. I know the yawn doesn't mean Cabana is tired. It means something else, like that she's annoyed maybe? I'm not sure...does anyone else know what it means?

In this second clip, Cabana tries to make the toy do its thing again. When it doesn't, she comes over to me and hits the camera with her nose, which makes me giggle.

These Paws Were Made for Walking...Fast

Cabana is a high energy dog. I think she really WANTS to walk nicely without pulling--but she just can't contain herself in the beginning of our walks. Midway through, after some energy has been expended, she's much better about walking in the right position, next to my left leg.

Because Cabana is over a year old, she's allowed to run a bit (Guide Dogs doesn't want dogs under 12 months running alongside you on leash because it can be hard on their joints). I usually jog the first few blocks with her, so she can release some energy. Well, I might be jogging, but for her, it's barely a trot (I'm a shorty at 5'1").

The new snap collar worked great at first, but a big drawback with the snap collar is that it stretches out. Proper fit is crucial with the snap collar; if it's even a half inch too loose, it just slides down, instead of staying high on the neck where it's most effective.

If you have the same problem with your snap collar, try soaking it, then putting it in the dryer for about 5-10 minutes. If you put the collar in a sock before putting it in the dryer, it will minimize banging and protect it as well. But MAKE SURE you only put it in the dryer for a short time. If you forget and dry it too long, the collar may not even fit on a chihuahua--so proceed at your own risk. Our collar shrank about 1/2" in 10 minutes, perfecto!

I have found that alternating between the snap collar and the head collar helps Cabana walk with less pulling. Maybe it keeps her from getting too used to the same kind of pressure.

Even after a brisk 45-minute walk (between 2-3 miles), sometimes, Cabana will still do her labby loops through our living room right afterwards! Like I said, she's high energy!

We usually walk Cabana fairly early, starting out between 7:00-7:30, to minimize the number of dogs we pass (since she's on food protocol, we go through a lot of kibble on our walks, and I need to save SOME for her meals!). This morning, though, there was a frost on the ground--chilly! I waited until closer to 8:00 to go on our walk, hoping it would warm up a bit--but even at that "late" hour, we didn't pass a single other dog. I guess Northern California dog owners are pretty thin-skinned! (I know the Utah folks are sniggering at us, too cold to walk with a mere light frost!)

Happy...

Cabana wishes everyone a happy Friday the 13th.


And a happy weekend ahead!!

Yellow Pillow Dragon

My younger daughter S sometimes calls Cabana her "yellow pillow dragon" because she likes to get on the floor with Cabana and use her as a pillow. S thinks Cabana looks a little like a dragon--there is a slight the resemblance, in the shape of Cabana's face.

But the other night, the tables turned, and Cabana decided to use my daughter as a pillow instead!


In the photo below, near Cabana's front paw, there's a bowl of popcorn on the floor. Cabana is so good--she didn't even TRY to go after it!

Lion Raising Tips

This baby lion reminds me slightly of Cabana. I know, lions are feline, Cabana is canine. Call me crazy.

Ahhh, it's nice to have my computer working and virus-free. But now that I'm finally able to blog, I don't really have that much to say!! But here's a loosely puppy raising-related post.

Recently, I read the book "A Lion Called Christian". Although the book was published in 1971, the story was made popular again by the video on YouTube, which I'm sure most folks have either seen or heard about.

It's an amazing true story (though rather short, about 3 hours long on audio). These two young Australian guys are visiting London, and they go into Harrod's Department Store. Harrod's is known for selling just about ANYTHING, and they happen to have 2 lion cubs for sale. The guys fall in love with one of them and decide to buy him. They do have to fulfill a few preliminaries, but still, it blows my mind how easily they were able to acquire him.

At first, Christian is a cute little fluffy thing--but after a few short months, he's strong enough to do serious damage to his owners, if so inclined, whether using his claws or his teeth. Although they had ZERO experience in the animal training realm, it's remarkable how the guys were able to train Christian.

They would run around in the basement of the furniture store where the guys worked, playing with balls and stuffed animals and other toys. They'd play and get all rowdy and rambunctious. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? But whenever Christian would do anything slightly dangerous, like nipping at them or chasing them, they would immediately stop playing. They didn't want Christian to have any inkling of the amount of power he had--and how LITTLE power they had.

By stopping whenever things got dicey, Christian learned not to direct any of his immense power toward humans. After the guys finally realized they couldn't keep this 600+ pound beast and found a way to release him into the wild in Africa, even years later, Christian was still gentle and loving toward them, as witnessed in the YouTube video.

The lesson I learned is how valuable the simple act of stopping is when training lions...and puppies. A few weeks ago, when Cabana and I were romping around in the backyard, Cabana got overly excited and nipped at my hand. She didn't make contact with my skin--but I remembered the trick that Christian's raisers used. I stopped playing with her immediately and took her inside. I think this has made Cabana much more careful about what is acceptable play and what isn't. She hasn't tried nipping me since then.