New Beau Friend

This is Beau, a gorgeous 9-month old German shepherd. We've seen Beau a few times here and there since he was a tiny pup, but lately, he's been coming to the soccer fields to play on a regular basis.

Cabana and Beau hit it off right away, becoming instant romping pals. Maggie likes to get in on the action, too. Beau is a big guy at over 90 pounds, but being a young gentleman, he knows how to tone things down for smaller dogs (which, in comparison to Beau, is just about every dog).


Cabana doesn't go into a submissive roll for just anyone, but I think Beau's sheer size makes Cabana feel she should do it often. In this photo, Cabana looks like she's either scared or drunk--but neither is the case. One of Beau's favorite things to do while Cabana is laying quietly on her back, is to gently gnaw each one of her legs in succession. He does it so tenderly, it's kind of sweet. He also tries to put Cabana's entire head in his mouth, and it almost fits!

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Tuesday Topics #32 - Runny Nose in Car

Cabana gets the most comfortable spot in our car. We keep her bolster bed in the back of our Toyota Rav4, where she can lay down or look out the back window. Is it any wonder that Cabana loves going for rides? We humans huddle up in the front, along with the groceries, book bags, and other paraphernalia, while Cabana luxuriates in the rear with the whole seat to herself! (This bolster bed was a $3 find at SCRAP.)

But I've noticed for some time now that when we get home and I go to get Cabana out of the back, she often has a runny nose. Just a droplet or two of thin clear fluid. I don't think her nose is runny at other times, and it doesn't continue to run after we've come into the house.

Could it be because of changes in temperature (hot outside, air conditioning in car)? Or could it be stress-related? She doesn't seem at all stressed in the car, so it would really surprise me if it was stress. I might think it was related to exertion, like after running around at a dog park--but I haven't paid enough attention to know if that's always the correlation. For instance, we might just have come back from picking the kids up at school where she didn't even get out of the car.

She doesn't have any other symptoms of being sick, and it seems to happen sporadically over the course of the past year or more. Does this happen with your dogs? Any ideas about the cause?

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Happy Birthday, Dear Maggie!

Happy birthday to one of Cabana's all-time favorite pals, Maggie, an English Springer Spaniel puppy. Could there be a sweeter face?! She also has the sweetest personality, jauntily coming up to me when we arrive and leaning against my legs for a 5-second back rub.

We see Maggie most mornings at the soccer fields. When Cabana and Maggie see each other in the distance, it's instant joy. They greet each other, then they romp non-stop, running and wrestling, falling over each other, often ignoring the other dogs. Because they have similar play styles and are close in size, they're a great match for each other.

Maggie's owner, Susan, and I look on in simultaneous pleasure, knowing that our dogs are happy--and tired out!

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Toy and Himalayan Chew Review

Like most dog owners in developed countries, I am always on the search for great dog toys. (I doubt dog owners in remote parts of the world, like Kiribati for instance, are as concerned with their dogs' pastimes as we are.) For the purposes of this post, I am lumping things dogs chew and ingest into the toy category. I basically mean anything that you give your dog to keep him/her occupied. Requirements are that the toys don't make a mess, are not overly stinky, won't cause gastrointestinal distress, are not highly caloric, and have a favorable cost/longevity ratio (ideally, an expensive toy should last a long time, while it's okay if a cheap toy doesn't last quite as long).

Red Dog Squeaky Toy - $2.00 at Big Lots. Surprisingly, we've had this toy for several days now, and Cabana has not torn it to shreds! It has a very QUIET squeaker. In fact, much to the dismay of the other shoppers at Big Lots, I squeaked each one of these in the store and picked the one that was the quietest. For $2.00, it's hard to go wrong. I give this toy 4 out of 5 stars. It may not be the most interactive or interesting toy in the world--but the grin on this red dog's face is hilarious and makes me smile when I see it in Cabana's mouth.

Ugly Blue Spider Squeaky - $3.00 at Big Lots. When you squeeze this toy, all the legs unfurl like a party blower. You'd think all these skinny legs would be quickly eaten by now, but after a week, it still has 8 intact legs! Cabana loves to destroy rubber toys and stuffed toys, but for some reason, she carries this spider around very gently. It also has a quiet squeaker, so 4 stars for this one, too.

I've been really curious about these Himalayan Dog Chews for some time now. I couldn't find any locally, and I wasn't keen on spending $9 + shipping on something that might not last very long. But I finally gave in and bought one on eBay, hoping for a 5 star find.

The chew is made of yak and cow milk, with a bit of added salt and lime juice. It's sort of a cross between cheese and wood (taste of cheese, hardness of wood). The reviews said these last a long time and that dogs have to work to soften it in their mouths, then they can get little pieces off the ends.

Cabana LOVED this chew. Unfortunately, it took her less than 15 minutes to devour more than half of it--she just broke big chunks off of it and gnashed them down. So I took it away from her, so I could save the rest for another time. In my opinion, these don't last too much longer than a big bully stick, so I give it 2 paltry stars. It might be a good choice for small dogs with delicate mouths, but for Cabana, I think we're going to stick with antlers, since I haven't been able to beat its cost/longevity ratio yet.

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Wordless Wednesday - Back to School

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A Day with the Neighbor Lady

Yesterday was my husband's company picnic. Because the morning is spent on rented boats in a middle of a lake, dogs are not allowed to come. We'd be gone a long time, about 8 hours. Although I think Cabana could have held her bladder all that time, our neighbor two doors down adores Cabana and had been offering to watch Cabana for us, so I decided to take her up on the offer.

This neighbor is an older woman who used to have two doxies a while back. So she has some dog experience, but I was still really worried about leaving Cabana in her care. On one hand, I thought, why am I acting like an overprotective mother leaving her infant with a babysitter for the first time? But on the other hand, my excessive worrying made me realize that I was letting this neighbor watch Cabana as a favor to HER, rather than feeling she was doing a favor for us.

But I had already made the arrangements, and I knew this woman was REALLY looking forward to watching Cabana. I typed out a page of instructions and asked her to PLEASE not give Cabana too many treats (this neighbor keeps a whole tray of Milk Bones on her coffee table--I don't think any other dogs come over to her house, so I guess they're just meant for Cabana, in case we stop by).

I also told her that we had walked Cabana already and that I'd prefer that she not take Cabana anywhere (I had horrible visions of Cabana getting run over while in this woman's care, and then we'd have to move away because I'd be much too distraught to live near this neighbor anymore.)

We got home and picked Cabana up--and guess what? Cabana was fine! She wasn't road pizza, she hadn't swallowed poison, and the neighbor was all in one piece, too.

On our way home from the picnic, we passed this winery. It made me think of our little yellow dog, and I stepped on the gas pedal a little more firmly. Just a little.

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Reading to a Dog

Last week, I mailed in our paperwork (forms, medical history) for the Paws for Reading program, which provides a motivational and non-judgmental venue for young children to improve their reading skills by reading to a friendly dog. Yesterday, I went to our local library to check out a Paws for Reading team at work. This lovely golden retriever Penny was the canine part of the reading team.

While the human part of the reading team got things ready, arranging the furniture, taking out a sign-up clipboard and other materials, several children lined up, waiting for their turn to read. The kids were so cute! I wondered, would kids line up and be so excited to read to a human? I doubt it. But the thought of reading to a snuggly dog (even if the dog doesn't seem to be listening) definitely excited them and motivated them.

Qualifications for being a therapy/reading dog include: accepting a friendly stranger, ignoring food on the floor, negotiating tight spaces, allowing their paws and tail to be handled/grabbed, being calm around medical equipment, quick recovery from loud noises, not reacting to "odd" characteristics (shuffling gait, canes or crutches, wearing unfamiliar clothes or paraphernalia). Dogs must also pass the Canine Good Citizen test, and only flat collars can be used (no metal collars or head collars).

I worried that Penny would be "perfect" and that I would feel discouraged about Cabana's ability to do the job. But somewhat to my relief, Penny was not perfect. She was as sweet as can be, but she licked a lot, licking me, the kids and her handler. She also tried to jump up on the chairs (without any kids sitting in them), and sadly, she wasn't really interested in what the kids were reading! In fact, she dozed off in the middle of a book. I thought the dogs would be trained to at least feign interest! But I guess that's too much to expect, and obviously, the kids didn't care that much whether the dog seemed to be listening or not.

So I left the library feeling encouraged. I haven't heard back from the program yet, but the next class doesn't start until the end of October, so I don't expect to hear anything for a while yet. Gives us a good amount of time to keep working on obedience and walking skills. I've been walking Cabana with just a flat collar lately, in preparation for the testing. She has been doing great, except when other dogs pass by--but we are allowed to use treats, even for the test, so I definitely won't be phasing those out just yet!

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Tuesday Topics #31 - Phasing Out Treats

I was so pleased to hear that Guide Dogs for the Blind recently selected Natural Balance as their food of choice. When watching the TV show "Eight is Enough" in the 70s (for those of us who are old enough to remember it), who would have ever thought that we'd be feeding Dick Van Patten's dog food to our pets?

I think both Katrin and Ally had suggested Natural Balance food rolls as a highly motivating treat for recall. After much skepticism and distaste at the thought of cutting up this sausage-like meat, I have found that NOTHING makes Cabana come running like this stuff. I can call her away from just about anything (except cat poop, which is the bane of our walking existence) when she knows I have Natural Balance food roll pieces in my treat bag.

Cutting up the food roll is not as disgusting as my vegetarian self had feared it would be. It has a slightly mealy texture, almost bread-like, and a fairly strong odor, which is probably a good thing since Cabana immediately knows when I've got a treat in my hand. A medium sized roll is enough for one month of treats, and each of the hunks in the photo above amounts to a day's worth of treats.

I chop the roll up completely, divide into equal portions, and freeze them in snack-size ziplock baggies. Each morning before heading out the door for our walk, I grab a baggy from the freezer. I really like this method because it helps me keep much better track of how many treats I'm giving Cabana. As I mentioned in my previous post, I try to be vigilant about how much Cabana eats. By having a measured amount of treats in the baggy, I know exactly how much to cut back on her regular meals.

Which brings me to my Tuesday Topic. I've heard that the difference between a good trainer and a great trainer is knowing when and how to phase out treat rewards. But I've seen the GDB trainer in my neighborhood still giving his 4-year old dog treats, so maybe some people never phase them out? I don't give her many treats in the house, but when we're walking, I mainly give them to her for recall and to help with dog distraction. But do I want to rely on having treats handy forever?

Have others been able to successfully phase out treats? Does treat-less good behavior come more naturally with age? Do you replace it with just verbal praise (seems sort of short shrift in comparison with Natural Balance morsels)? Or do you just save treats for the biggest and best behaviors?

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Random Updates

After much coming and going of our family members in the past few weeks, it's comforting to have everyone under one roof again. With the new school year nipping at our heels, I'm hoping we'll all have a chance to catch our breath in these final weeks of summer vacation.

As for Cabana, she has been enjoying our cool summer. Temps have barely topped 80 degrees here--but I am sure we're in for a sweltering September and October. Below, Cabana found a softball in the grass last week, thankfully one that was not being currently used by softball players (she has been known to steal a ball in play a few times, much to my horror!).

The ball is way too big to fit comfortably in Cabana's mouth.

But it serves its purpose, since keepaway is the name of Cabana's favorite game. Keepaway is much more exciting to her than boring old fetch.


I feel like I don't get back to subjects of past posts, so I thought I'd give a few brief updates today.

Vizsla incident - Cabana seems pretty much back to normal after the scare with the Vizsla a few weeks ago. After being fairly convinced that Cabana had not been hurt but was barking/reacting for other reasons, about a week later, I found a dried scab maybe an inch long, on Cabana's side. I don't know why I hadn't been able to see the cut before, and by that time, it had healed completely. But it answered some questions I'd had. So she had been hurt, not badly, but maybe enough to make her flinch when being towel dried.

Shopping with Cabana - I appreciated everyone's input about taking dogs shopping. Overall, it seemed that blog readers are cautious about taking their pet dogs to stores, which is probably wise. One question that was raised was why we would want to take our dogs to stores. For me, the answer is that I still consider Cabana to be in training. I hope to get her into a therapy dog or reading buddy program--so the exposure and experience of being around strangers is important to me. In fact, I just turned in the paperwork for the Paws for Healing/Paws for Reading program. We will start class at the end of October!

Health issues - Several months ago, Cabana had some funny bumps on her paws. We thought they might be histiocytomas, which are benign tumors that are fairly common in the GDB population. They went away in a couple weeks and never caused any pain or further incident. I took Cabana to the vet last week for a routine check-up, and the doctor said Cabana looked great. I asked him about her weight (54.5 pounds) because I am now always paranoid that she's too plump. He said that her current weight is fine, but that she should not be allowed to get any bigger. Sigh. I try to be so careful about how much food/treats she gets, so I guess I will have to keep on being careful. I wish I could let her eat as much as she'd like! Must be a vicarious desire. I have more to say about food/treats, but since it's a mouthful, I'll save it for my next post.

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