Casper and Pom and been scratching themselves a lot lately. It’s not from fleas or anything like that–we treat them with Frontline every month and I do routine flea checks on them out of sheer paranoia.

I’ve noticed the scratching seems to take place any time the seasons are changing. I’m guessing that the changes in climate either dry out or irritate their skin, which leads to mad fits of scratching–99% of the time it happens RIGHT after we fall asleep, or RIGHT before it’s time to wake up…I’m pretty sure that last thing isn’t any sort of official symptom, but I just felt the need to mention how much it sucks to hear your dog’s obsessive scratching when you’re seconds away from dreamland.

To help deal with the aftermath of little dark red patches of  skin from all that scratching, we’ve been using medicated “hotspot” spray we picked up Petsmart. It stops the scratching for the short-term, but the dogs fear that bottle the same way I fear cough syrup and Sandra Bullock movies.

I know there has to be something out there that would help Casper and Pom have less itchy, irritated skin, without subjecting them to the stinging that comes from those medicated sprays.

Anyone have any tips, advice or recommendations for dealing with two scratchy mutts?

The dogs’ job duties included trying on new clothes, walking around the 5th Street Market, and enticing as many interested spectators into meeting them as possible so that their mom could tell these people about the huge sale that was going on at the store.  Yes, hard work, I tell ya.

There were not as many guests at the wine tasting event as we had anticipated, so their 3-hour gig got cut down to 1…probably for the best seeing as how I am in the midst of battling strep throat.  Nonetheless, Pom Pom and Casper performed their jobs dutifully, allowing Dustin and I to prance them around in circles in tight (and adorable!) outfits in hot and humid weather as we wandered through sought-after crowds of strangers.

The “fashion show” drew in customers, so their mission was successful.  The best part for me, though, would have to be when we tried on different outfits.

I would have to say that Pom Pom’s pink stripes tee with denim skirt and Casper’s awesomely awesome printed green polo were among the cutest things to ever touch their furry bodies.  And they look so good in them too!

Casper, though, seemed to have more fun today than usual.  Perhaps it was because he made a new friend today…a customer with a 2-year-old boy came in, and Casper immediately took to the boy.  They were running around the store chasing each other, and Casper was having so much fun that he was literally hopping around the store!

It was so ridiculously cute seeing him with a little baby like that, it almost made me want to have a baby just so Casper can play with her or him…yeah, I said ALMOST.  Sorry Casper, looks like you will still have to wait a few more years before you’ll have a kid in your own family to play with!

Casper and Pom Pom went to the vet yesterday for their annual checkup.  Other than the usual exam and blood work to make sure they’re okay, they also got their regular dose of required vaccinations.  After spending way too many hours at the vet’s office, they finally got to come home and Dustin and I were given paperwork on certain side effects of said vaccinations.

Generally, I glance at the info and keep in the back of my mind - Pom rarely has reactions to things like vaccinations and Casper, being a healthy young man of 4 years, would hardly be subject to these effects.

Boy, was I wrong.

Casper spent the night quite uncomfortably stirring on the ground, and when I woke up this morning, he was asleep but his breathing was labored and his little body was heaving up and down so fast I picked him up as fast as I could to put him on the bed. He spent the rest of the day BARELY moving an inch, and looking at us with his sad eyes with dark circles underneath. What’s worse, he refused to eat or drink, and his body felt so hot to the touch I wanted to put a fan in front of his face!

Naturally I called the vet to ask for advice…everything Casper was experiencing was on their list of side effects, but I thought maybe they could give me some advice on how to make a do with a fever, body aches, and general “uncomfiness” feel better.  Their answer?  Nothing.  Well, I say nothing because all they asked me was whether or not I received my “sheet” of info.

No advice, not even words of comfort that this happens to many dogs…just a “this happens” kind of response that really made me unhappy about going back.  After all, this is the same vet office that kept our dogs for 7 hours at the office for a general annual exam, tried to upsell on their health plan packages, and didn’t book us an appointment with the doctor I specifically requested when I was making the appointment on the phone.

This is just so frustrating.  As if it wasn’t bad enough that we have to look for a new vet now that we’re in Oregon, but to think that every time Casper has to go through this miserable suffering after returning from a vaccination just breaks my heart.  I really can’t stand to see him so sad and in pain like this!  And to think, he has an appointment in 3 weeks for a booster…..

Microchips are pretty great: Your dog gets lost, somebody (hopefully) finds your dog and takes them to the shelter or a vet to get scanned to see if they have a microchip. If they do, they can quickly locate the dog’s owners.

Cue the happy ending.

However, if you’ve moved from San Diego to Eugene, Oregon recently (ahem), and you’ve yet to send your new information to the microchip company, then you’re slacking bigtime, and you risk losing your dog forever.

Hopefully that little scare tactic worked.

So get on it!

Just trying on some clothes and collars to make sure the other dogs will like them…yeah, the other dogs…that’s it.

 If I don’t test out this $400 bed for quality control purposes, who else will?

For me, one of the most frustrating things about walking the dogs is getting that almighty poop to make an appearance.

There’s a nice giant area of grass in our back yard, and getting the dogs to poop back there was never a problem at first. But over the past few months, that particular grass patch has become a pee-only zone.

I’ve made the mistake of thinking the dogs just didn’t have to poop–thing is, if Casper decides he has to poop in the middle of the night, he’ll sneak downstairs and just go (finding a mound of poop and cussing under my breath while flushing dog poop is a neat, neat way to start the day).

After walking around with the dogs, hoping and dreaming for that one-of-a-kind squat that means it’s “go-time,” I found that they always poop along this really narrow stretch of grass right in front of our apartment complex.

The magic of the particular grass is quite amazing: Back when we lived in San Diego, there were occasions where Pom Pom would go a full day without pooping.

On one of the days I took the dogs to the magical poop grass spot, Pom pooped all three times we went to the spot that day.

I don’t think even David Copperfield can replicate THAT kind of magic.

I’m short - yes, I am.  While I’m generally happy about my height, which includes certain perks (such as getting a helping hand with my luggage on the airplane overhead console), there are times when I wish I was just a few inches taller.  One of those times would be when I’m being greeted by dogs.

Meeting dogs is part of my job duty at LexiDog. Unfortunately for me, many dogs who come into the store are tall - and I’m short, so my booty is often level with the dogs’ noses.  And we all know how dogs meet strangers, whether dog, cat, or human…it makes for quite an uncomfortable meeting!

It’s not all bad being short though…I’m so close to the ground, I don’t have to go far to pick up the stuff I’m always dropping!

I have these random moments where I walk into a room and forget why I went in there in the first place, or I’ll be right in the middle of a sentence and completely lose my train of thought.

I know all of us have these absent-minded moments occasionally, but when I started seeing one of my shoes or socks laying in the middle of the living room floor, while the other shoe and sock were upstairs, I thought I officially lost it.

Yes, I have been working longer hours the past couple weeks, but I am really so tired that I’d only bring one shoe and one sock upstairs?

All questions of sanity were immediately cleared up today after Cindy and I got back from a trip to Costco. Sitting between one of my flip-flops and one of Cindy’s house slippers was that little white dog that lives with us.

Apparently, Casper has developed “Linus syndrome.”

Whenever Cindy and I leave the house more more than a few minutes, he runs upstairs and grabs something with our scent on it–thinking back to the last couple weeks, we’ve realized Casper has taken shirts, socks, and even a pair of my boxers once (how he’s managed to survive such close proximity to my dirty boxers and socks is a true testament to this little dude’s immune system).

So basically our clothing works as a security blanket for Casper, just like it did for Linus in the Peanuts cartoons.

Here are a few of our favorites from the trip:

Thanks to Pom and Casper peeing every few inches as we walked, this is about as close as we ever got to the water.

 Casper enthusiatically poses in front of the Looking Glass Hotel sign in our room.

Pom Pom generously takes a break from begging for my pulled pork sandwich to pose for a picture.

The pooches in the back seat of the Prius on the way back home. Notice how we cover EVERY surface with a white sheet.