A Week with Mia

So Delilah and I wrapped up our house sitting with Mia last week.  We had a lot of fun.  We celebrated Mia's 12th birthday as you saw in our last post with "cake" and presents, we practiced agility, and we went hiking a couple of times.  They were both soooo good during the hikes.  Mia, loyal as ever, stayed by my side the entire time.  Delilah was EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE but always came when called.  I played a game with them when we went hiking: every so often I would stop and if there was a dog sitting by my side she would get a treat.  At first Mia was the only one there but within 15 minutes or so they caught on and both dogs were consistently sitting by my side whenever I stopped.  They both behave so much better when the other's around.  I think there might be a little competition going on between them- it's so nice having an older, well behaved dog to bring Delilah out with.

We all slept in bed together every night.

Happy Birthday Mia!

As you may know, I'm watching the fluffy collection this week, which coincides with the 12th birthday of my fluffiest friend, Mia!

To celebrate, we went for a long walk in the nice weather.

I bought her a little kong duck toy, and a birthday cake!

We ALL tried a piece of the incredibly bland cake!  The animals were crazy for it!  I thought it was gross- smelled like graham crackers, tasted like cardboard.

They wanted more.  I gave them my piece.

Happy birthday Mia!

Busy Month!

Hey, haven't posted in a while!  Things have been really busy here with work, applying to a new job, searching for a new apartment, and playing more shows with my band... oh yeah, and we just started agility training!

Training:
Delilah finished the prep school prerequisite course for agility and started beginner's agility!  So far we've practiced weave poles a lot and she's getting pretty good at them.  She catches on to clicker training and patterns quickly.  We were going to practice a jump last class but Delilah got distracted and ran away when I let her off leash to jump so instead we practiced staying still.  It's something she struggles with.  I brought her hiking today at the middle school and they have a track and athletic fields.  I practiced her off leash recall, heeling, sit-stay, set up, and left and right over a jump.  She did really, really well, even though she hasn't been outside with distractions very much since last fall.

I'm also house-sitting for my parents (and watching Mia) this week so they have a yard I'm definitely going to take advantage of.  I bought about $32 worth of PVC piping and made a jump and a set of 6 weave polls.  We practiced with those this afternoon as well and she did awesome!  She was so excited she ran out and just started circling the poles and going over the jump before I even told her to do anything (I did have some really tasty treats though)!

Health:

After a couple of disappointing visits at our first vet (long story short I got the bill for our last visit and I was charged for a couple of steroid injections that the vet hadn't discussed with me) we changed to a new one.  So far we've had a much better experience at the new practice so we're going to continue going there.  Something interesting that came up- our old vet told me Delilah might have a luxating patella in one of her legs but then during a later visit told me that it felt like it was strengthening and probably a developmental thing.  Well this new vet told us not only does she definitely have a luxating patella, but she has them in both legs.  The good news is that he told us she was so small and light weight that we could still do agility and it will probably never affect her.  So I'm really glad we ended up getting a second opinion about her knees regardless of the other reasons we switched vets.

Adventures:
We've started hiking again!  It's been awhile.  We've mostly just gone to the middle school because they have a lot of open fields for Delilah to sprint around in, as well as a few trails in the woods.  We've been having a lot of fun.  Someone posted in one of the toy fox terrier groups I'm in on facebook- asking if a toy fox terrier would be a good choice for them because they want to hike and train tricks.  A LOT of people said that they're too fragile!!!  Not true at all- Delilah can run and play and hike for hours and it doesn't put a dent in her energy.  There were a few other people that bring their dogs hiking and train them to do things and said that they're tough, awesome little dogs, but man, a lot of those people just keep them inside and let them get fat and lazy, and then call them fragile.  These guys are classified as toy dogs by the AKC, but they are most definitely terriers at heart- it's a shame people aren't letting them be dogs!

I keep her on leash when we get to the road- I don't trust her judgment.

She just loves sprinting around in open areas.

Behavior:

Lastly, we had some big progress with her stranger anxiety/reactivity.  I brought her to my Grandma's house for a family St. Patrick's day dinner.  When the family started arriving I kept her in her crate in the room I had been staying in and I let a few people peek in to see her but not bother her.  She barked a little.  A couple of hours later I took her downstairs to go out and she didn't bark at anyone!  I let her hang out inside with everyone else after that and she was fine.  She was curious about most of the people and ran around with the other dogs (Mia, my grandma's whippet Chloe, my aunt's lab Windsor).  All the other dogs were bigger than her, and scared of her!  Especially Windsor.  He hid behind my aunt and once Delilah got too close- he jumped out and barked loudly at her.  She jumped backwards and fell over, but got up, shook off, and ran back over and started yapping at him.  I quickly got her out of there, but it was really funny- definitely a terrier- trying to take on a dog over 10x her size!  So much sass.

Mia Update: Watching Your Best Friend Age

For those of you who don't know, I have another dog named Mia.  She's not technically my dog, she's my parents' dog.  But I was 11 when we got her so I grew up with her and was the one responsible for much (well, all) of her training and exercise.  She was my best friend growing up; we went on a lot of adventures together.  She's one of those dogs who's just naturally well behaved and people oriented.

She was remarkably healthy and active for the first 9 or so years of her life.  I'd take her hiking and people would be like "Ahhh, how old's your puppy?"  I'd tell them she's 9, and they'd say "9 months?"

This changed a couple years ago when she was diagnosed with kidney disease.  She became incontinent.  She got on medications and a "renal friendly" diet and seemed to be doing better.  At some point a year or so ago I became concerned with the ingredients in her prescription diet (nothing that looked like real food, just chemicals and fillers) and began doing research on diets for dogs with kidney disease.  Some of the key points were they had to have a higher percentage of calcium:phosphorus in a balanced ratio, plenty of antioxidants, and low in protein (more important in the later stages of the disease).  I looked at the brands we sold at work and examined their nutritional values and ingredients lists.  I ultimately decided on Blue Buffalo's senior formula despite the recent controversy about their ingredients.  They had a relatively low protein content, high calcium:phosphorus levels, and were full of antioxidants.  The nutritional values were actually very similar to the prescription diet, the ingredients were the main difference.  Real meats, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

Well, Mia's been on the new diet for a while now, and she recently went back to the vet, and her kidney values are perfect!  I'm so glad she's doing well on this diet, because I feel so much better about Blue Buffalo's ingredients than Hill's.

The bad news: she has heart disease now.  :( :( :(

She's on medications that should help.

It's just hard watching your best friend age.

Short Adventure to the Waterfront!

The other day it was in the 60's!  It was finally warm enough for my little southern girl to go outside.  I got out of work at 2 and we spent a couple of hours walking around town.  We went to Battery park and the Waterfront and the views were beautiful!  Delilah was excited to finally be out as well.

People watching.

You might have noticed her fancy new leash and collar.  Sam bought them for her when her old leash broke.  They're from Mutts and Mittens Handmade Collars and Leashes- they seem to be very nice quality.  They're quite soft and comfortable for me to hold and for Delilah to wear.  She actually prefers the collar to her harnesses.  And 10% of the sale was donated to an animal rescue, so that was awesome of them.  We got the smallest size- XS- which looks a little big on her but it's nice because it disperses the pressure around her neck so it's more comfortable than a thin collar.  Despite being Phish themed (Sam's a big fan), I'm really liking these.

New Training Class Update!

So Delilah and I started her new class this past Monday.  It's the last one we need before agility and it's working on a bunch of skills that she will need to be successful in agility.  During the first class we practiced stay work and recall and learned some different games and exercises to work on.  I was so worried she was going to yap the entire time but the good news is that since we do a lot of off leash work in this class the dogs are in covered crates the whole time.  She yapped a little but then settled down eventually.  And at least she didn't throw one of her tantrums when she doesn't want to be in a crate (there is a lot of screaming involved).

There are only two other students so there was a lot of one on one practice (especially compared to our last class that had 6-8 students each class).  Delilah is the only little dog though and she's the worst behaved so I am a little worried about being judged for that.  Either people thinking that I let her get away with bad behavior because she's a little dog or that all little dogs are poorly behaved.  For some reason there are a lot of "dog people" that don't actually like little dogs so that's something I sometimes worry about with her, because she is the stereotypical yappy little dog/terrier.

We've been practicing the homework almost every day and she's doing really well.  She's so smart.  And it's getting warm out so I'm able to take her outside for exercise and training (when it's below 50* F she just shakes and looks sad).  It's actually been really nice this week- in the 60s yesterday!  Not that I'm for climate change or anything but it was nice to go outside for a couple of hours with her after work.  I'll post some pictures of our adventure later (with her new leash and collar)!

Best Friends Share

I just bought a blender (Nutribullet) this past week and it's the best investment I've ever made!  I'm a horribly picky eater and not a fan of most vegetables, but now I'm getting my super foods every day in the form of creamy, fruity goodness.  This morning I made a tropical smoothie with mangos, pineapples, banana, orange juice, yogurt, broccoli, and kale.  Delilah was eager to help me finish it off.  I found some dog friendly smoothie recipes online that I'm excited for us to try together!