Friday, April 17, 2009
There is a doggie door just to your left. Feel free to use it any time.
The girls are also nicely framing one of the best things we have ever bought - a top entrance litter box for the cat. Why so much excitement over a litter box? Well, when the boys were puppies they picked up the nasty habit of fishing in the litter box. It was disgusting and keeping them out of the litter box while giving the cat free access to the litter box became a real pain. Then I discovered a top entrance litter box at Petsmart one day. It is essentially like a plastic storage container with a hole cut in the top. With a $30 price tag, we passed on buying the box the first time we saw it and tried to make our own. The sturdiness of the lid was a big issue after we cut a hole in it and since I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the cat’s litter box experience, we shelled out the $30 bucks for the real thing and it has absolutely been a perfect solution to our problem.
Lucky for us, the cat isn’t too picky about her litter box design.
And speaking of the cat, she is probably the one that uses the doggie door the most!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
In the comments of yesterday’s blog post, Linda had the idea to post a few before and after pictures of Sol. Sol has most definitely been through a lot since she has been with us and much to my surprise she has only been with us for a little over three months. It seems much, much longer than that! (And I mean that in the nicest way.) So, I went through the photos and picked a picture of Sol for each month she has been a part of the OBP pack.
December 2008
Sol came to us on December 29, 2009. There wasn’t much time left in the month, but we did get a few pictures of her when she first arrived. This photo was taken on her 2nd day with us.
January 2009
This picture was taken on January 4, 2009 after Sol had a few more days of OBP livin’ under her belt.
February 2009
This picture was taken on February 24, 2009. At this point we knew about Sol’s cancer. Nine days later she would have a mandibulectomy to remove the tumor from her mouth.
March 2009
This picture was taken on March 6, 2009. Sol had surgery on the 5th and we were able to bring her home the next evening. Hard to believe she had part of her jaw removed the day before.
The next picture was taken on March 20, 2009. Just a few weeks after her surgery and Sol has adjusted perfectly.
April 2009
Taken on April 6, 2009, Sol is sprawled out doing what Sol does best - keeping a close eye on me while I’m in the kitchen.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
I know I just posted a few pictures of Sol riding in her pouch, but I couldn’t resist posting another one.
We were out the other day for a walk and we got about 3/4’s of a mile away from home when Sol started slowing down. So we decided it was time to time to put her in her pouch. She was about 10 yards away and as soon as she saw her pouch getting set up for her she sprinted over and stood there wagging her tail. She couldn’t wait to get in! I think the pouch is her preferred method of travel 
Thursday, April 9, 2009
I think it is safe to say that Sol has the routine around here pretty much licked. It didn’t take her long, but I think she had a little bit tougher of a time than Luna since she doesn’t pick up on any verbal cues. Not being able to hear was just a little speed bump for her though. She learned in her own way and now she knows pretty much as well as the rest of them when it is feeding time, when it is time for me to get off work, when we are going to go for a walk and most importantly that she needs to stop by the kitchen to pick up her good night treat before we go to bed.
When she first arrived, I would frequently have to wake her to let her know it was time to eat. She would be snoring away in her little bed and wouldn’t hear everyone else run off to the kitchen or me clanking around in the kitchen with their bowls. This was a total culture shock to me as I can’t even walk through the kitchen without grabbing the attention of the three fawns.
But she never missed a meal. I would just go gently wake her and she would trot off to the kitchen. One time, I brought her food dish with me and I just held it under her nose while she was sleeping. It took her a few seconds, but her eyes sprung open after she caught a few whiffs of her food. It was quite a hilarious sight.
I think the thing she learned the quickest was that going potty outside usually gets her a treat or a meal. Before I feed the pugs, I take them to the yard to go potty. After everyone has gone, we come in and they get to eat. Before they go to their crate I take them out to go potty, stop in the kitchen to pick up a treat and then give them their treat when they go to bed. Sol knows that going potty in the yard gets her good stuff, so she is forever running out towards the yard to go potty. It’s funny, because, she frequently gets confused when going to her crate. All the pugs will go potty in the yard and as I am walking from the kitchen to the crates, Sol will stand at the door thinking she has to go out to go potty again to get the treat.
It has been a long time that I have had to wake Sol up for a meal. Her internal clock has synced with the rest of the pugs and she just knows what is going to happen next. It is quite amazing how these pugs have my routine down pat and sometimes know my next move before I even do.
Monday, March 23, 2009
We try very hard to make sure the pugs get in one very good walk per day. They are always out and about during the day, walking to the mailbox or just taking a quick trip to the corner and back, but in the evenings we like to take them on a nice, long walk that is about a mile or longer. When we first got Sol I wasn’t sure how well she would do with our walking schedule. Don’t get me wrong, she loves to get out for a walk, but she by no means has the endurance of Benjamin, Henry & Luna. We didn’t want to start a routine where we walked her separately. She wasn’t too fond of being left at home while the three fawns went out for a stroll and that idea didn’t sit well with us either. Then we remembered a pouch that we had bought many years ago when the boys were puppies. Our solution was to let Sol walk as long as she wanted and then when she tired we would put her in the pouch for the rest of the walk. That way she gets in her walk and still gets to be with the pack and the boys and Luna still get their power walk.
It has turned out to be the perfect solution because Sol loves the pouch. She just sits in there with her little paws hanging over the edge taking in all the sites and smells. The good part is that Sol is up to about a half mile walk a day. If the weather is just right she will walk the full mile, but she by no means does this every day. A half mile seems to fit her well and she is very content trotting along behind the three fawns. As soon as we see her start to tire we plop her in her pouch and continue on our walk. Relieved to be done with walking, Sol relaxes and smells and snorts the rest of the way home.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The other night we took the pugs to the City Center for a nice stroll around the lake. On our way out of the house, we made our way through the laundry room and I opened the door leading to the garage. When I opened the door, I realized that the big garage door was up. The pugs weren’t leashed because we were headed right to the car and I didn’t think the garage door was open. I didn’t think much of it, though. The pugs were so excited to be going for a car ride that they were just running big circles around the car and out into the driveway waiting for me to get them buckled in. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man walking down the street. I saw him and so did the pugs. I didn’t make a big deal out of it because I knew the pugs were so happy to be going in the car that they wouldn’t care about greeting the man walking down the street. Sol, however, felt obligated to give him the what’s what. She trotted over to the edge of the driveway, stood tall and let out three woofs for good measure. The man turned and smiled and Sol stood her ground until he was past the house. Then she turned, proud of herself, and ran to the car.
So if you are walking by the house, and Sol happens to be awake, you’ve been warned.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sol’s follow-up appointment this morning went very well! Everything is healing very nicely in her mouth and the pathology report on the part removed from her jaw showed clean margins! I am so very happy about that! I have been keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that we would get clean margins.
Thank you everyone for the well wishes!
Sorry for the delayed update. It has been a long, hectic day, but the best kind of long, hectic day you can have
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