Teethies

Let's take a poll.

How many of you actually brush your dogs teeth?
How many of you take your dog to get their teeth "cleaned" at the vet?

I have actually heard of brushing your dogs teeth, but in my entire life, I can say I have never done this, nor has anyone I know (that I remember). After my smaller dogs breath continued to get more and more fowl, I finally asked my dear friend Joy (the vet tech- poor gal- gets all my 9 million worried pet questions) if it could mean she has a bad tooth. She said yes, and I began what seemed like the never-ending battle with little Josie for her let me see her teeth. When I finally did, I realized, that the poor little pup has at least 1 if not more, that are definitely rotten. So, both dogs had to go in a few weeks ago to be knocked out, have their teeth cleaned, and have whatever needs pulled, extracted. And Josie had to start on antibiotics the week prior and stay on em for 10 days because of the infection in her tiny mouth. This fun little excursion to ensure I'm a good pet owner and mommy you KNOW was going to set me back a pretty penny...and of course, being my over analytical psycotic self, I now feel like all my past pets were mistreated and abused. What if they, too, had rotten teeth that hurt like hell and needed removed? And I just let them live out their days in paing and agony actually hating me.

Does this mean I'll start brushing Josie and Gabby's teeth. Doubtful, I'll probably take the easy road and just take them in for cleanings whenever they are suggested. Good lord, I'm retarded. I need pet insurance. I don't know anyone that really has that, but I'm starting to think it might be a good plan.

***UPDATE***
The dogs are fine. Didn't die or anything as I had feared. ha Poor little Josie did have to have 2 teeth removed and the one that I had been concerned about, pretty much just came out when he touched it. $407 later...their little puppy teeth are sparkling and their breath is a much less revolting! ha

In case you ever wondered...

SCOOPING POOP IN THE FROZEN TUNDRA.

This is my current dilemna. You basically have 2 options. Follow your dog to the backyard and try to catch it with the pooper scooper as they take care of business OR wait like you normally would and try scooping the poop every few days or so.

Let's discuss the first option: Catching it as they go. You can't really let them go and THEN go try and scoop it up. Trust me, it just makes a mess and you tend to smush it everywhere BUT into the pooper scooper. However, the dogs unfortunately are not really to keen on the idea of me standing behind them with the scary metal scooper under their rears (nor am I for that matter). They get stage fright and run off...pooping as they go, spreading the steaming joy all over the yard, instead of in one general location.

Option #2 (pun intended): You let the dogs have their moment of privacy (why I'll never know, cause they always want to come to the bathroom with me and even sit on my lap! NO...I DON'T LET THEM!!) So you go out ever few days to scoop the mess...but you find that because of all the snow melting, refreezing, snowing more, blah, blah, blah...it takes great strength and patience to take care of it. See, sometimes, the warm doggie poop sinks into the snow and sometimes it sits nicely on top. Either way it's frozen solid and you have to use the pooper scooper to chip away at it to get it dislodged or dug up from it's snow tunnel. This is where the patience and strength come in. Remember it's freezing cold outside, so you quickly run out of both ...perhaps after about 4 or 5 doggy piles...which still leaves a LOT left. The other problem with this is that when you begin chipping away to get the poop dislodged...more often than not, little pieces begin to fly...inevitably hitting you..the loving pet owner that is just trying to make your dogs life a bit cleaner.

Sigh...I've thought about taking a hair dryer out to melt some of the dang snow. Then I decided that would waste too much energy, time, and effort with much too little to show for it. Other than a muddy and steamy poop landfill of a backyard.

**************************************************

Random side note: In 4th grade we had a project in which we had to invent something that would be useful and affordable to the average American. Although my dad was usually the one to help with math and science, my mom helped me with this particular project. Our plan was to invent a dog food that some how had magnetic forces in it...so that when you went to scoop the poop with your magnetized metal pooper scooper, it automatically went right where it was supposed to.

You would, of course, want to limit the amount of it that your dog ate...because you would NOT want to get pelted by hundreds of steaming doggie bullets the moment you lifted the scooper!

****************************

SECOND SIDE NOTE: YES...my mom is a riot! I'm not sure how my teacher felt about that invention...but my mom was a teacher at the same school...so I'm sure I got an A!! ha

Dog #3???

This is the dog I've been wanting. They moved her to a different animal shelter though...Now she's in Greeley, CO. She's so cute...but they named her Cuddles. I'd feel bad changing her name...but Cuddles? Seriously.

She is a Beagle/Basset mix and is about a year old. My dog Gabby is Beagle/Basset. She's not house trained though, because she's always been an outdoor dog. That wouldn't be fun!

Now what do we do??

First REAL snow of the season...the dogs are NOT amused...

They sniff the entire yard and run the perimeter in search of the Snow Bandit...


Gabby gets highly irritated with me taking pictures and says "ENOUGH! Let me in where it's warm already ya lunatic"!!!

They search for buried treasures...(i.e. frisbees, food dish, bones, a stray cat??)

Josie stands on patrol...in case the Snow Bandit reappears in her short visit outside...

Both pups quickly find a spot to claim as their own, back inside trying to warm back up before they go out in another 4 hours to potty! HA

YEP! SUPER SPOILED! But admit it, they're SUPER CUTE too!