On the Homefront, Reading and Other Tales

Canada Day weekend is approaching and that means that June is almost through. I'm not sure about the rest of the world but on this side of the planet June was pretty rough. I've never really thought that June in Newfoundland was all that nice. It usually rains a good deal in the first half of the month but by the middle things are pretty warm and starting to to shine. This month in this year was wickedly cold and wet. I can't imagine raising a tiny pup in a rain storm like June. Potty training would be horrendous and the poor thing wouldn't get any decent walking in.

I came to the home-front on the west coast of the island last weekend and I'll be staying until this Canada Day weekend is over. I'm kind of reluctant to even think about traveling back. It's not easy returning to an empty apartment and a lack of family support. I'm enjoying my time here quite a bit. It's a nice thing, family, they allow you to be who you are and it doesn't matter if that means your utterly frustrated one day and completely at ease the next. But June is over and so I'll go back to the city and await the birth of the pups.

There hasn't been much talk of my dog acquisition out here. And it's probably partially because of the fact that I haven't got a job past October yet. I'm worried about that but I keep the faith that I'll have something by then. There was some commentary that "a cat is so much easier than a dog" but the fact is I'm kind of done with cats. I don't really want a cat at all this time around. I want a dog, particularly a Cav. So I've had the battle previously and I've made a decision. This is the way life is going. It's no good to deny it's existence and it's no good to cause a scene.

I've been reading Paul Owen's The Puppy Whisperer book. It's filled with useful stuff. A lot that I've already read before. It's a bit slow going because there are so many sections. I've visited my cousin who has a NS Duck Toller, aka a Little River Dog, named Cash. He's a bit nervous around people at first which worries me that he doesn't get quite enough socialization in Port aux Basques (which is always a challenge as there is no dog park or social club). He's in his adolescence stage right now and tries his boundaries but my cousin is a very good dog owner and she walks him whenever it's not pouring down rain.

I also met my Uncle's dog Charlie who's a Sameoyd ( I know that's not spelt right for sure) and has no leadership or direction. My Uncle doesn't know how to train a dog like that and he got the dog out of lonliness. He suggested that I take that dog if I was wanting one. That's not acceptable. I'm not going to take a large breed dog when I'm renting off of people. And though I'd take that dog under the right circumstances in a heartbeat. I hate seeing my family think it's okay to keep him outside all the time and not train the dog for living inside. He's a smart dog. He understands command. But he's confused about how to use his mouth and his body. He's confused about the rules. He needs someone so much and it kills me to see him suffer like this. A dog requires compassion and love. My Uncle needs to smarten the heck up. I have no room for a large 100 pound dog right now but I want to save him so bad that it hurts.

Oie. Life is complicated sometimes.

News from the Brood

So over the weekend I got an update about the future puppies. I emailed Cherie about how the progress is going and I got some information back from her:

Hi Melissa,

The weather is awful isn't it...hope it's not a sign of the summer.

Kylee and the rest of the clan are doing great. We just had a puppy come back to stay with us for 10 days while their family goes on vacation.

Kylee is showing signs of being pregnant already. Looks to be anyway. I'm pretty confident that she is. Over the next week or two I will certainly know for sure. We are always excited with the anticipation of a new litter, ie. how many she'll have, what they'll look like, etc.

Anyway, I will certainly let you know how things progress.
Take care,

Cherie

This is eventful news. That means Kiely is most likely pregnant with my puppy. Soon they will be born. It's about a month away from the due date so it should be relatively fast. Then I'll have 2 months of waiting before I bring him/her home. But the good thing is that I'll get to visit and see the little one while I'm waiting those 8 weeks.

It's been a very difficult week so this news was welcome. I'm wishing my friend Hannah were here so that I could bitch freely for about an hour and she would tell me all of the lies that I need to hear before I commit to the reality of it all and go back to dealing with life. I haven't heard from her in a few weeks so perhaps it'd be useful to message her.

Reading Review #5: Paul Owens

I finished reading this book sometime last week. I remember reading it at work and various places but to be honest I'm not sure that I "loved" it. The thing is, if you didn't already know, I've been reading dog books for quite some time. I have a bunch of digital books that I've been meaning to read as well but haven't made the time outside of picking up one's in print.

This book's first chapter was excellent at setting up how the book progressed. It's very good for owners who have adopted dogs and I see value in it's training methods. I just found that it got repetitive.

I've graduated from a degree in psychology in the past and so habit training (the same training we use to test rats in a maze) is pretty well known in my world. I actually wish I had this book in my Intro to psychology courses to understand successive approximation, generalization, and habituation.

I get where Owens is coming from in this book. It's very easy to read and understand so if you have no clue what all of this "positive method training" business is all about I suggest you read it. It's broken down to plain english. And though I haven't went on at length about this book I did pick up his book called The Puppy Whisperer at the local PetSmart the other day (this books is very good actually) and I will be writing about that book more than I have this one.

The book does come with an Online Seminar which I haven't done yet. I plan to do it sometime while I am on vacation next week. Wish me luck.

The Newfoundland & Labrador Pet Expo 2011: An Adventure

This weekend I was working for my job on Saturday but I planned nothing for my Sunday. Why? Because it's that time of year when the Newfoundland and Labrador Pet Expo is ongoing (http://www.nlpetexpo.com/index.html for details).

It's usually quite a fun time with dog lovers galore. I got to speak with one lady in particular named Christine who owns two Cavs and had them along. We got a chance to talk about the dogs and she suggested that we meet up when I get mine.

What did I get when I went there. Well, since I've been a bit down in the last couple of weeks it's been hard to keep my emotions at float. As a result of being around loads of animals at the expo I got a little puppy happy. I also got to spend a lot of time with my other favourite breed; The Greyhounds. I can't wait until I can get my hands on one myself. Alas, the responsible owner would have a fenced yard for the natural runners to play in. It'll wait. The Cavs are the way to go right about now.

There were a ton of exhibitions. One of interest that I didn't actually get time to see much of was a Dogs Devine Salon Booth whereby they were putting feather extensions in the puppies ears. They looked very nice on the poodles. There was also a Sissor Sharpening and Sales booth (I need to figure out what to buy for cutting the fur beneath the feet on the cavs). Gobble Yums (www.gobbleyums.com) Treats and Creations had homemade yummies and selections of funny dog coats and crate pads. Meg and Ken's Pet Supplies (www.multimenu.ca) a business based out of a home where you order the products and it gets shipped to them who deliver it to you. Topsail Star Pet Centre (www.topsailstar.ca) was there promoting their behavioural training classes, Kennel, Grooming and Precise Products (www.precisepet.com). A doggy daycare lady from C.B.S. called Little Angels Doggy Daycare. The Pet Zone was there ( a local shop) where I bought a Gulpy (water bottle for doggie) and some doggie crack (Freeze Dried Liver). The Dashund society was there and all of the other rescue groups. There was also a local pet collar and leash specialist there called For Your Paws Only (www.foryourpawsonly.net) which you can buy from the Doghouse in St. John's. Finally, the Taste of the Wild people were there as well.

I've been thinking about food choices for the puppy and I'd like to have him on either the precise product or the taste of wild. Theres about a 4 % difference in the protein content and I'll want to do more research on that as I know too much protein is not good. I want to do a kibble because I think it will make life easier for me. I'm also on a budget so I'm not sure if I should just buy the Costco brand of food either. It has a pretty high ranking as well and is made by the same company as the Chicken Soup brand. I have a lot of decisions to make regarding that. It's easily accessible though so I'm not worried about getting the product. I also want to supplement fruit and veggies into the diet along with kibble. It's a lot to think about (food)!

I just can't wait to get the dog now I'm so excited but it'll be another while yet. Kiely would be at the 18 day mark in the cycle now. That's 45 days to go before birthing. A week more than a month. I think by the end of June I'll contact the breeder and ask how the pregnancy is going. I'm just so excited.

Reading Review #4: Bruce Fogle's Dog:The definitive guide for dog owners

I've just finished reading this book. At a whopping 400 pages it's well worth the $40 bucks Canadian that I spent on it at the local book store. Bruce is a fellow Canadian who currently lives in England with his wife Julia and dog LL Bean. There is a lot of information about dogs in this book.

Bruce, being an internationally renowned vet originally went to Guelph's Vet School. As a result his book is broken down by life stages in dogs. From puppyhood to senior citizen status. There are recommendations and training tidbits.

Fogle starts off his literary adventure by discussing the historical information about where pet dogs came from, how they are classified, genetics, and differences from wild dogs. Then he discussed the human relationship with dogs. Unto how to choose a dog, infancy, and beyond.

I especially liked the final chapter which discussed death and dying of our beloved pets. Being very puppy brained at the moment it is difficult to imagine not only the realities of adolesence but also death of my future pup.

This book is well worth the money but, it does take some time to read. I've been a month at it and I'm a very quick reader. My friend Hannah has also been thinking about this book for some time and I'm almost positive she'd enjoy it. I liken the book to a how-to or owners manual that one can go to throughout the life of one's dog.

UPDATE: Hannah's puppy is now born and they are doing well. I'm sure there will be more updates from her soon.

Also, I'm probably going to be babysitting a Yellow Labrador in the near future for a friend who's participating in the Annual Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Hopefully, I can write about those experiences as well.

Puppy News!

This is an update on my potential parents of the puppy.

I have emailed the breeder over the weekend as I didn't hear anything from her about the parents in quite some time. The mother, Kylee, went into her cycle early last week and was bred with the father, Will, on Thursday (May 26th). That was the same day of my convocation ceremony at the university. How special is that? Maybe I did really get a puppy for graduation! Cherie (the breeder) said that she would continue to keep me up to date on the progression of the pregnancy and the hopeful future pups. Also, if the pregnancy is successful the potential birthday of the litter will be July 28th, 2011. I did some figures and I think I'd expect my pup at the last of September (26th-28th).

So it made me think about dog pregnancy and that I know very little about the biological time frame of a dog's pregnancy. Here's what I found out:

There are three distinct stages of pregnancy in dogs.

The first stage is the most obscure. Pregnancy is very difficult to determine in the first few weeks after breeding. There are little change in the mother's nipples, appetite, or behaviour. By the third week, the embryos are multiplying and implant in the uterus. At about 26-36 days a vet can palpate and confirm the presence of puppies in the mother's tummy.

The second stage is the most vulnerable for the pups. Eyes, faces and spinal cords begin to form and by the 5th or 6th week puppies double in size (20-30 cm). The fetus' look like puppies at this stage with toes, claws, and whiskers but the eyes are closed. The bodies are developed enough to determine sex and heartbeats are heard in the mothers tummy.

The third stage is where the pups continue their development in the womb and begin to move around while the mother's body is preparing for the birthing process. The pups usually take one of two positions in the womb: Anterior (nose first in the birth canal) or Posterior (tail first). They are enclosed in two sacs, one of which will break during the birth and the second will be broken by the mother after the birth.

Reading Review # 3: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Breed Special by Dog Fancy Magazine

I bought this magazine over the Victoria Day weekend at a local PetSmart. Now I've been reading a lot over the past 6 months and I've been picking up various dog magazines in between the books I've been reading. But until now none have been basically breed specific. Needless to say, I was very excited to see this in the store. It covers various topics and spotlights different owners and their dogs. It even talks about the American CKC Spaniel Clubs and their connections or lack thereof to the American Kennel Club. I really liked the section on the use of CKC Spaniels as Therapy Dogs. It's also interesting to read about the medical conditions prone to the breed due to poor breeding among dogs.

OTHER NEWS:It's my graduation week here so I've officially got my graduate degree in hand. Family is visiting and of course I've been secretly talking about dogs around my grandmother and slightly with my mother. Unfortunately my father, who knows I want to be a dog owner, doesn't think I should be getting a dog right now. I can understand that but I also understand that I have my own head and heart constantly in battle over the proper time to become an owner. It's been difficult deciding that I am ready but I know I will be looking for more work in the future. That was why I started saving for my pup's expenses. Any responsible owner will do what he or she has to in order to be keeping up with their pet's health. I see people who are my age or younger getting animals when they have no idea about training or upkeep. They manage to do it and I feel that I would also manage to do it too. I'd love to have a steady job but most of the work I'll be doing over the next few years may be contingent on contractual positions. Regardless I will be working.

Since my breeder only breeds her dogs occasionally I think now is the time for my dog to come. It won't be until early fall before I get her anyway so I think minds may change by then. Sometimes its just difficult to mediate what others think is the best choice for you and what you think is the best choice for yourself. A dog that I can spend time training and loving will be wonderful for my quality of life. End of the argument.