Sunday, February 19, 2006

Dairy Goatee

It seems that Luna is a bit of a messy eater.  Whenever we put her food bowl down she goes straight to work eating and flicking bits of turkey everywhere.  After she cleans the bowl she then runs around the kitchen getting all of the scraps that she flung across the room.  After almost every meal, she ends up with a little yogurt on her chin.  It’s a good thing that she has brothers.  One of them always licks the yogurt off her chin for her.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Henry Follow-up

A few weeks ago I told you about how Henry started limping and favoring his right leg.  We were very concerned so we took him to the vet to get everything checked.

Much to our relief, there is nothing wrong with his knee and his hip condition has not worsened.  Unfortunately, though, Henry has developed arthritis in the area around his hips due to his hip dysplasia.

The vet recommended that we start giving Henry glucosamine and on days when things seem to be bad a baby aspirin to help with the discomfort.  We have been giving Henry the glucosamine for a little over a week now and I can’t really say that I have seen it make a difference.  We are going to keep it up for a bit longer and hopefully it will start to work its magic.  In addition to the glucosamine, we are also working to help Henry shed a few excess pounds.  Despite our diligence, it seems that Henry (and Benjamin for that matter) have gained a couple of pounds.  If we can get Henry back to his ideal weight this will help to relieve some of the burden off his hips.

Fortunately, Henry is handling this all very well.  He is a little slow getting started in the mornings (especially on cold and rainy days) and after he has been sleeping for awhile he gets a little stiff.  But he still is able to play in the yard and chase Benjamin & Luna and to Benjamin’s dismay he still is as fast as ever.

Monday, February 13, 2006

A trip to the dog park

We didn’t have any big plans for Sunday so we thought it would be a good day to take a drive and go to the big dog park in Jacksonville and let the boys and little Luna run around.  This was Luna’s first trip to the park so we were curious to see how she would do in such a huge park with so many dogs.

Luna handled it like everything else that has been thrown her way the past two weeks since we have adopted her.  PERFECTLY!  She was the perfect little lady playing with many of the other pugs and small dogs in the park.  The only tip-off that this was her first visit to the park, was that she fell into the pond in the small dog section.

The small dog section of the park has a small pond at one end where dogs can cool off.  Luna thought of the pond more like a puddle and when she was chasing Benjamin & Henry around the pond she thought she would get a leg up by cutting through the middle of the “puddle”.  Well to her surprise the “puddle” was a little bit deeper than she thought.  All in all, she handled it well.  She quickly swam to the edge and shook herself off.  Surprisingly, she wasn’t phased by any of it.

We had towels in the car, so we got her dry and put one of Henry’s old sweaters on her to help keep her warm for the rest of the trip.

The boys were up to their usually antics.  Running around the sand pile, going through the tunnels and chasing other dogs at the park.  They did a good job looking after their little sister and making sure she didn’t stray too far from the pack.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Baby Gifts

Since we have a new addition to the family, there have been some warm wishes coming our way.  A couple of people have sent cards and Luna’s aunt even sent her a darling little “DIVA” t-shirt in pink tie-dye.  She is very wiggly when she has it on but we will try to take her photo with her wearing it once she has calmed down a bit.  Thanks everyone for the good tidings!

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

The Groomer

Ever since the boys were really little, Henry has taken the role of the groomer.  He makes sure that Benjamin’s ears are always clean.  Henry licks both of Benny’s ears until they are absolutely spotless.  Most of the time this is a very relaxing process for Benjamin, but sometimes Henry goes a little overboard.  That is when Ben tries to walk away but Henry doesn’t let him.  So, Ben just toughs it out until Henry has completed his mission as a canine Q-tip.

Sunday, February 5, 2006

Luna’s 1st Bath

Because of Luna’s skin condition she needs to be bathed frequently with a special shampoo.  This is her first bath since we adopted her and she handled it very well.  She didn’t seem to enjoy it as much as Henry does, but she did much better than Benjamin usually does.

The bathrobe that we got her is a little bit too big, but for the most part it served its purpose.

Friday, February 3, 2006

Running on the beach

Yesterday, everyone was full of energy, so we thought we would go to the dog beach after work to give everyone a chance to run around.

This was Luna’s first trip to the beach, at least with us, so we were curious to see what she would think.  It turns out, she is very much like the boys.  As soon as her feet hit the sand she was off and running.

The boys chased Luna, Luna chased the boys and at times we weren’t sure who was chasing who.  There were just three crazy pugs running and running.

We didn’t go in the water as it was a little chilly, but Luna didn’t seem to mind getting her feet wet by running in and out of the water that was lapping on the shore.