Today is for the Dogs

What a day! It is upward 95 degreeze here in Southern California. The dogs, with an interior body temperature of 102 are relaxing like it's going out of style!

Isabella is sprawled out on the bed, Eduardo is stretched out on the cold tile, and David is by the door curled up in a ball.

These pooches are so spoiled I put ice in their waterbowl and favs them a refrigerated bone-- now can someone go get me an icecream?? Lol!

We will try to enjoy the fall if summer would bud out! Hope where you are is cool and if not you are taking time and refuge away from the heat and finding an oasis of cool at the mall, in your home, or poolside! Enjoy this beautiful Sunday!

Erin & the dogs ;)

Dogs on a car ride

So today I took both of the poodles on a drive. We were on the road for about an hour, pretty much a straight shot of a drive for the pups. Before I knew what was coming, a stench filled the car. Oh my! Not only did one of the poodles vomit in the back seat, but now he was eating his regurgitated feast. Yuck! Of course as the responsible driver I am, I kept on driving. There was no where to pull over, timing is always great when things like this happen. What does one do? Keep driving until home. With five miles to home came five miles of smelly stench of warm dog puke.

Poor dog. David, our poodle, is such a sweet guy. He never meant to vomit on my car seat. David is not to blame, he was being a dog, I am to blame. Now don't get me wrong, I am usually very in tune to the dogs feeding schedule and car rides. I have always made sure to keep the dogs in exposed situations where they are used to all different circumstances and environments. This helps the dogs to stay connected, interactive with the family; at the same time they will be comfortable everywhere they go. How could this happen? Then I remembered! There was about a cup of dog food left in the bowl when I came downstairs when we woke up this morning. That was it, I forgot to take up the food last night.

I could have hit myself over the head. Instead I will be more careful. David must have scarfed the food down quickly right after waking up this morning. You may be wondering why David got dog food but not the other poodle? Well, David is the dominant of the two. Edward, our other poodle probably had no sneak attack planned to go over David's head to get to the prized morning snack. This was a good thing for Edward today.

So that was our morning. The exciting part started when I was privileged with clean up duty of white leather interior of the poodles car. :)

Today was a great day for the pooches!

We had a great day today despite the warmth in San Diego, CA. There are three dogs in our house; two Standard Poodles and an Italian Greyhound.

For the Greyhound the warm weather is easy on her because she has very short hair and minimal body fat. For the two BIG Poodles, the story is much different. One poodle, David, has trimmed fur 1" in length. The other, Edward, has a show cut which is in some areas upward 12" long! Both poodles have extremely dense hair which adds to the body heat. Another factor is that a dog's normal body temperature is approximately 102 degrees. We humans think it is hot in the summer and our body temperature is only a meek 98.6 degrees on average! Poor pooches.

A few things that help with keeping the big dogs cool are ice cubes in their filtered water, instead of their raw diet thawed I prefer to feed it to them frozen, and also I make sure to give them an area in the house which has a fan with air conditioning. In the winter and fall I take the dogs to the park or on walks in the morning and afternoon. This is not practical during the summer and spring months for the poodles. If I am unable to go to the park early enough in the morning I will make a point to go on a walk around the block or to the local lighted dog park at dusk or later. This allows for the weather to be bearable for the boys to play and not get exhausted. Despite going later in the day I still make sure to bring my own water with ice cubes. This keeps the boys cool and hydrated... and not to mention happy pooches!

If you have any tips or information on ways to keep summer fun for the dogs please let me know!

Pooches got in the trash can again!

Anyone who has had a puppy or dog knows just how curious they can be. Trash cans are the best fun, next to unrolling and shredding toilet paper that is! Don't get me wrong, we have dog proofed the home. Also, we do supervise the dogs. They are however extremely creative and have impeccable timing. We have tried everything you could imagine:

• Standard Can- every type imaginable...now we get pricey...
  
• Step Trash Can- this one was easy to figure out, just knock it over!
• Flip Lid Trash Can- easier now that our dog figured out how to knock over the step can
• Button Lever Flip Trash can with locking lid- this took 3 months, then the dogs learned how to push the button!

Now what? So after spending a small fortune on trash cans, for now, I turned the can around so the dogs cant reach the lever. It has been 4 weeks and all the trash has stayed in the can. What happens when those mischievous dogs learn how to take the trash can and turn it and push the lever? Perhaps DUCK TAPE? Quite possibly.

Really, there has to be someone out there that knows the secret trick to keeping the trash in the can! A miracle can? Voice activated? Pin Code? Finger or retina scanner? I think it is amazing how our dogs can be so creative. I am almost certain the dogs are thinking always about the newest way to get into the beloved trash can. I say this because not once have I ever, not ever, seen my dogs trying to get in the can! Nor have I heard them pawing at it. My pooches are calculating by the moment, pondering when they will sneak in the next attempt.

After two years of battling the trash can blues with the dogs I think I have finally concurred the frustration and ranting. Perhaps I am going nuts, or is laughing the only thing I can do to try and pacify the dreaded search for the perfect trash can. You decide, because I give up. If you have any information that can help or advise our family, including the puzzle solving pooches, would like to know!!!!

Dogs, dogs, dogs

Ever just wanted to go to one place to connect with everything DOG? You are here!

I have always struggled to find information and services for those four legged family members in our home. With your help and input we can do it, our dogs are counting on us!

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Our dogs will love you for it.