Baily and the Prozac

Ok, time for a controversial subject. Prozac and dogs.  Turn back now if you don't want to know...

So as is noticeable, I am still having quite the time adjusting to the new schedule. When I'm home, I'm trying so hard to catch up that I don't have time to get to the computer and when I'm on the road I work so hard I don't have time to get to the computer. BUT I am slowly figuring it all out.

Baily, on the other hand, is not. She has always been a bit high strung. She came to us at 7 weeks old (her entire litter was dumped out) and her foster parents told us she was so cuddly she was never not being held. Uh oh. She spent her first three months going to work with me everyday. She slept under my desk, or in a chair if I was in a meeting. After I got a job where I didn't get to take my pup, she went to doggy daycare. Spoiled, no?

Then we moved to Cali. In NorCal, I worked days while the hubs went to class and the pups were rarely home alone. Same thing once we moved to SoCal. But then I started traveling. Yes, my hubs is almost always home (he has the best class schedule ever!) but I am not. Baily does not like this. AT ALL. She always was a bit of a whiny butt, but I would call home and hear her crying in the back ground. Her shedding was out of control (a sign of stress) and she jumped whenever a door shut. The hubs has said for a couple years we need to get her on meds (we have done so much training but none of it has taken). I kept putting it off but finally gave in.

A month ago I made an appointment with the vet. I talked to him about the situation, all the training (he said he wants to make sure we worked on training first and not looking to drugs to be the answer) and he agreed it was time to try puppy prozac. So I got the bottle, went home and proptly gave it to the hubs.

When I returned the next week guess what? Baily wasn't shedding any more, she hadn't cried very much and she was going on the patio with us (something that used to terrify her). Three weeks later she keeps getting better.

I have to admit, a part of me feels like I have admitted defeat by drugging my dog but its the solution that works for us (short of me quitting me job). We have had a busy couple weeks. I was in Baltimore last week, Virginia Beach last weekend, Baltimore this week, Vegas next weekend and get to work from home for a week. I plan to enjoy my time on the sofa with Baily as my assistant

Sorry no pics this time. There are none I have that can fit the mood.

wordless wednesday... baby baily

Pardon the interruption, but any ideas?

The hubs and I went to get laundry done today and came home to this:

a once clean bath tub filled with all sizes of paw prints. Any ideas as to what they might have been up to during the 1.5 hours we were away?

My Pit Bull did better than your Retriever

Ok, I will start this by saying I have nothing against any breed with the word Retriever in the name (or any breed at all). We started Mesa in Dock Diving. We do SplashDogs (click the link to learn more) and decided to try distance. In short, you throw a toy and the dog jumps off a dock with a two foot drop into a pool. They measure where the base of the tail hits the water.

Anyways, a couple weeks back we drove to Bass Pro Shops so Mesa could try it out. She loved it. But, there was a guy there who was so rude to me and made comments about "real dock diving dogs." He cut in front of me in line "so his real dog could go" and if he ended up behind me he didn't let me get my two runs in since he got on the dock as soon as I released the toy the first time. The others there (both fellow owners, and officials) told him to stop but it was a lost cause.

Anyways, Mesa did so well in practice that we entered a wave (a round). Mr. Bad Guy was in the wave before us and was bragging how his first timer jumped over 5 feet which is really good for a first time. In our round Mesa went and guess what? She jumped 6'10" HA! Take that! And every dog that placed lower than her (and there were more than 10) had retriever in their name.

I really wanted to rub it in his face but alas we went on our merry way, picked up a treat in the store and then started the long drive home.

Here are some pics of Mesa at practice a few weeks later.

First she forgot what she was supposed to do:

Then she remembered:

She did much better when I threw the toy far enough. When I didn't she would change direction mid air:

I have a computer again!!!

While I get things back up and running (and try to play some catch up but hey there are over 650 unread posts in my reader so don't expect miracles) here are some pictures of the pups :)

Baily and Mesa keep my spot warm in bed during the week

Mesa chills out in the bath tub (again)

Mesa is deep in thought

Big Carl did not kill the Mesa, we promise

Baily tries out Mesa's spot on the sofa

Big Carl finds a good hiding spot

All three relax, as best they can

sigh

I am writing this from my phone. Why? Because my brand new laptop crashed and needs the hard drive replaced. You think I'm far behind now? I'm going to have to mark all as read and start fresh. See ya'll in a couple weeks.

We finally did it

I finally put forth the major effort and submitted the girls to Pitter Patter!

in other news, i have been a terrible blogger. not many posts. I am making my way through the backlog and once I get close to catching up i lapse and gain another hundred to read. sorry all!

An oldie but a goodie (one of my first posts) Hiking Time

Took the girls hiking for the first time since we left AK. It was very interesting as they are not at all used to hiking in this heat and the trails are not what we are used to. We were only able to go for an hour since it was so warm and after three hours at home they were ready to go out for more play. This is a huge change from when we used to be able to hike 6 hours and they didn't get out of bed for a couple of days!

On the left is a picture from one of my favorite AK hikes, Near Point

Edit- We haven't been hiking since leaving norcal for LA. The weather here is not good for hiking unless its winter and with my foot its just not been possible. Near Point is 3400ft in elevation gain and about 10 miles (we only did 8 that day).

Coffee Talk with Big Carl

Something about this pics makes me think he is waiting for you to ask a question that he can answer:

'

and shockingly he is not ON TOP of Baily in this pic!

Wordless Wednesday - maybe I should rename my blog to "The cuddle blog"

An uneventful weekend

We didn't make it to the beach this weekend. We decided to go to America's Pet Expo instead. It was huge, and lots of fun. There was a whole area for pets that need adopting. A couple hundred dogs easily. Almost all of them puppies. I think all the rescue groups and shelters though they had a better chance of adopting them out so they brought all the puppies they could find. Benny and Lily were there for French Bulldog Rescue but sadly were not at the booth when we stopped by :(

We recently bought a pop up crate thinking the big ones would want a place to escape from BC. Also, Mesa keeps trying to get into BCs crate (her head doesn't even fit in the door). Here is a pic of Baily not being a fan of me interrupting her relaxaction.

Oh and that thing laying in front? I was watching hockey when BC came trotting out of the bedroom with a pair of my undies like it was no big deal. He has a bad, bad obsession with it. I find pairs laying EVERYWHERE all day long. Here he is laying out in the sun with a pair. Sorry if this offends anyone but its something I think others here can relate to.

Its home day!

I love Thursdays. They are the days I go back home. They are my last day of work for the week This weekend we plan to do more of this:

yes I did post that same pic in my last post but I love it so much and it was buried at the bottom so I thought I would put it front and center :)

A lazy Sunday

First Mesa scouted out her favorite pile of pillows

Then BC scouted out his favorite Baily

Then, for the first time, while in a puppy pile, BC scouted out Mesa. Maybe he was just confused by all the white and brindle?