Ten Important Things Your Dog Wants You To Know

I got this from the Bulldog Domain, and even though it's cheesy it rings so true:

"If your dog could talk, these are some of most important things she would like to tell you...

1 - My life will probably only last 7 to 14 years. It will hurt me more than you know if I have to be away from you for longer than a day or two.

2 - If you have patience with me and give me time to learn what you would like from me, I can promise you, you will never be disappointed.

3 - Trust me with your life and have faith in our future together. If I don't feel that you honestly believe in me, I will suffer great emotional stress. My sense of self-worth is totally dependent upon your confidence in me.

4 - Don't stay mad at me for long or confine me to a cage to punish me. You have your friends, your job, and your recreation. I HAVE ONLY YOU!

5 - Talk to me about anything you want as frequently as possible. Even if I can't comprehend your precise words, I can understand the meaning of what you're telling me by the tone of your voice.

6 - Remember no matter how you treat me, I will NEVER forget it.

7 - When you consider raising your hand to hit me, remember I have teeth that could break the bones in your hand, but I choose not to bite you.

8 - Before you scream at me for failing to respond to your commands as I usually do, take time to think about what might be wrong with me that would cause me to treat you differently. Maybe I haven't been eating right or drinking enough water. Or maybe my age is catching up with me and I just can't do what I used to do.

9 - Take good care of me when I get old. Someday you will be as old as me and you will see how it feels.

10 - Be there for me through good times and bad. Never say you can't handle taking me to the vets for stitches or surgery. Nothing could make me feel worse. Everything in my life is easier for me to deal with when I have you standing by my side. Remember my love for you is unconditional and it will last for your entire life.

Judith Howard Toronto Ontario CA"

Switching to Adult Food

So Ruki's 9-months... And we just started switching her to adult food! Apparently, you're supposed to start switching bulldog puppies to adult food between 6 and 8 months. I think she's fine.

We used to use Innova Puppy Dry, and so naturally we are trying a switch to Innova Adult Dry. But I'm worried about two things: the adult formula has less fiber than the puppy formula, and I'm wondering whether to put her on a large breed diet to get glucosamine and chondroitin for her joints (Innova Adult Dry has none).

I want her to have some fiber because I'm worried about the anal glands. We toss her a shredded wheat cereal biscuit every once in awhile, but I'd rather have the fiber in her food, so it's consistently there.

Some people recommend feeding bulldogs large breed formulas because they're "large breeds packed into a medium breed body." Also, they tend to have joint and hip problems, and the large breed formulas are made to reduce mass and be gentler on the joints--hence the glucosamine and chondroitin.

Furthermore, I'm starting to reconsider Innova. The one store in my area that stocks it doesn't consistently have the food we need in stock. I went there, juggling between Adult Dry, Large Breed Adult Dry, and one of the EVO brands, but they only had Adult Dry and EVO Senior. Screw them, then. Maybe I'll switch to a different store that will stock more Wellness, Royal Canidae Bulldog, etc. Maybe Wyosong (to add to their rivalry)?

The other thing, then, is to supplement Ruki with glucosamine and chondroitin and fiber treats. I'll keep the blog updated on our decisions.

Charlee Bear Liver Treats

We've been using Charlee Bear liver treats with Ruki for quite some time. We mix them up with Old Mother Hubbard biscuits (the small ones in assorted flavors) and Merrick Breath Biscuits. But the Charlee Bears were her least favorite until I discovered this trick.

If I offered her a Charlee Bear, she'd just swallow them. Not much fun, not much pleasure. But then I realized, maybe she'd get more taste if I snapped them into pieces before giving them to her--a flavor explosion is how I term it.

And it worked. She loves them now. So if I need her to do something, I'll take a Charlee Bear between my thumb and my index and middle finger, and "snap" it into pieces and then offer it to her.

Just a little hint for using these low-calorie, super-simple, little treats for training.

Over-Tired Puppy

So over time we've kind of figured out how and why Ruki has her crazy times. She's now at the age where she'll have one crazy time a day, a few times a week. (She's almost 9 months.) Crazy time means that she's running around in circles, grabbing at things, play-stancing all over the place, picking things up and tossing them about. Usually lasts for a minute or two. It's cute, but she's crazy.

When it's in the afternoon or early evening, I figure, well, that's just her crazy time. But when it happens in the morning or later at night, we've realized that it's because she's over-tired.

The biggest sign is when I look at her eyes, and they whites aren't clear white--they're more reddish. And there are some bright red veins that run across the whites. It's kind of like when people get tired and their eyes get red and bloodshot. So when this is the case, even though she wants to be crazy, we crate her and let her sleep it off. Then her eyes clear up and she's back to being a teddy dog for the rest of the night.

Update on Tail Pocket and Scooting, Warts

As I mentioned before, Ruki's been scooting in the mornings. It's gotten a lot better since we've been cleaning out her tail pocket about once a week or so with pet wipes.

I also never updated, but about week after the last update about the warts shriveling up, they were totally gone. So really it only took her about a month to grow out of the warts. Whew!

Scooting and the Tail Pocket

Just another update. Since we dug out a ton of gunk from her tail pocket, and cleaned for a day or two afterwards, the scooting is over. I checked out her spot, and the redness is gone and the sores are gone. Just needed a little cleaning.

Wart Update - One Month, Almost Gone!

The past few days, Ruki's warts started shriveling up. The one on the inside is just a sliver. The one on the outside is just smaller, but it looks like it might be gone soon. From Feb. 22 to March 20, about a month, and they're gone. So far.