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…..

I have no idea why, but I was SO nervous. Kona is great at the dog park, but he doesn’t do well with other dogs when he’s on the leash.

We drove over to Golden Paw the next afternoon. As soon as I walked through the doors I immediately felt a sense of calm wash over me. The facility was beautiful! It looked like one of those luxury spas and was decorated with dozens of pictures of the kennel’s regulars.

Best of all, it had a HUGE playroom right in the middle of the building. As soon as Kona saw it, he jumped up onto the observation window to check it out. Talk about doggie heaven! The room was full of fun doggy toys, a couple of slides and even couches for them to rest on. There were about a half dozen dogs running around inside and they were all having the time of their lives.

One of the staff members came out to take us on our tour, while another one took Kona back to the play room to start his evaluation. The facility was amazing. They had luxury suites for the big dogs, which had beds and TVs in them. They also had a potty room for the dogs to do their business in and a salon so that they could get groomed while you’re away. We politely declined their offer to give Kona a blueberry facial (He’d end up eating it anyways).

At the end of the tour, we walked back to the observation window to watch Kona interact with the other dogs. The girl came back out and told us that he passed with flying colors. After faxing the kennel a copy of Kona’s vaccination records, we were able to set his appointment for the following weekend.

Needless to say, Kona had a fabulous time at Golden Paw. We signed him up for four days of all-day play, so he got to run around with his little friends everyday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. By the time we brought him home, he was the most tired I have ever seen him. He literally slept for three days straight.

Every now and then, he would get up to eat or poop and then he would slump right back into bed.

This never became much of an issue until June, when we had to drive out to Las Vegas for a graduation. My brother originally offered to watch Kona while we were gone, but he works on weekends so we didn’t want the bear to be stuck in his crate all day. So we decided to look for a boarding place.

A while back, one of the guys we met at the dog park recommended that we try this new dog camp near the freeway. We went to go check it out one day and from the SECOND I walked through the door I knew there was no way in hell that I was going to bring my puppy there.

It was really stuffy and smelled like pee (which is to be expected, but still). When the caretaker came out to greet us he was covered in sweat and looked really stressed out. We took at tour of the facility and it was disgusting. All of the dogs were cramped into one big, dirty room and had no place to sleep. The concrete floors were covered with a layer of dirt and there was pee everywhere. We tried asking the guy a couple of simple questions, but he didn’t know the answer to any of them. And above all, he actually seemed a little scared of the dogs when they started barking at him. I don’t know much about pet care, but how does someone who is afraid of dogs get a job as a pet sitter?

Needless to say, we walked out of that place and never looked back.

Frustrated, we decided to check out another place that a different person at the dog park had recommended. Upon first glance, the kennel seemed great. It wasn’t as clean as I had hoped but it was a vast improvement from the last one. The lady who gave us the tour was really nice and loved boxers.

The kennels were decent but the play area seemed a little small. They told us that the dogs usually play all afternoon, then go back inside for dinner and a movie (ha!) before they go to sleep. Comparing this new place to the other camp we had been to made it seem like an obvious choice, so we made an appointment for Kona to stay there the following week.

A few days went by and I started having second thoughts. I had mixed feelings about the place we had selected. It seemed fairly decent but I wasn’t completely happy with how it was run. Something felt off. The paranoid side of me finally compelled me to call one of my co-workers who was also a vet tech.

As soon as I told her the name of the place we were taking Kona to, she completely freaked out. She said that her office has been treating dogs who have stayed at that kennel since it’s opened. When I asked her what kind of injuries they were being treated for, she said most of them were chemical burns from the cleaner the staff uses in the play area. She also said that they had also called the kennel to tell them what was happening and were completely ignored.

My friend also asked me if the kennel had done an evaluation of Kona or asked for his vaccination record. I told her they never even mentioned any of those things. She said that was another sign that this was NOT the place for us. That settled it for me. There was no way I was going to leave Kona with them. I asked her if she knew of any good boarding places in San Diego and she suggested a kennel that she used to work with called Golden Paw…

Will Golden Paw save the day? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

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!