Cody at Work

One of my clients had mentioned that I didn't have any pictures of Cody at work, so here is a
picture of Cody working hard at answering my emails, and one of him...uh...not working so hard.

Today was a huge rain day in Northern California. Cody HATED it. Mostly because it was windy and cold. He would cower by the doorway and only go as far as he needed to eliminate. It's supposed to rain all week, so we'll see if he takes to it better as the week progresses.

Tip of the day: You can be more efficient at work once you train your puppy to start answering your emails :)

Hallelujah!

He slept for 8 hours straight! (Either that or I was too exhausted to hear his whining)

Making the Most of Grooming Time

The lack of sleep (due to Cody's bladder infection) is keeping me from writing anything interesting today. However, I'm getting better at grooming time so this whole post will be a tip.

• Showers - Well, Cody (and vizslas in general), loves water. The hardest part of bathing Cody is to keep him from wanting to bathe every day or to keep him from drinking the water. He really loves drinking from the bathtub faucet.
• The next three I've learned to do while he's napping. I perform them in the following order:
  
• Clipping toenails - He's asleep when I start clipping his toenails (the dremel tool as well as the crate that I mentioned in the previous post is coming on Tuesday), and the worst that can happen is that he'll be half-awake when I finish his nails. He's still when he's napping and there's less danger in cutting his quick.
  
• Brushing his coat - Gets him back to sleep before I stick my finger in his mouth for the next task.
  
• Brushing teeth - For vizslas, it's recommended to be done daily, which is a little difficult for a puppy that can't stand still. He'll wake up a little bit, but not after getting a couple of sweeps in there.
  
• I haven't started cleaning his ears yet (the cleaning stuff is coming on Tuesday as well), but I imagine it will fall somewhere within the "napping" time.
  

Oh, and an update on potty training. He's now peeing on the potty training pads that are inside as well as peeing outside. I'm a little concerned that he'll start getting used to peeing inside. I'm glad it's on the pads rather than the carpet, but still... Well, I'm sure it'll be easy for him to consistently pee outdoors once I move his potty pads outside too when he's 100% better (I think he's 80% there now) .

How quickly they grow up!

I ordered a new crate for Cody yesterday as he has already outgrown his current one. Also, I caught him chewing gum AND trying to smoke a cigarette (well, it was in his mouth). I guess if I can't kick him of both habits, I can just give him the Nicorette gum and it would at least solve the smoking problem. The next thing I know, he'll be driving, sneaking in late at night, and binge drinking.

Tip of the day: I started using the Kong (forgot I had them in the massive amount of toys/puppy items I purchased). It's keeping Cody entertained for hours trying to get the treat out of the Kong. Should help him kick the chewing gum and smoking habit.

*Disclaimer: For animal rights activists out there, I'm just kidding. I would never give him Nicorette. I heard the patch works much better.

Command me!

An update on the training: so far, training (well, except for potty training due to the infection) is going well. He definitely knows "crate" since I started giving him treats after he goes in. Now I just suggest "crate" and he'll look all over until he can find the crate.

Sit is the second best command he has learned. I can give him the command remotely. I started teaching "lay" until I realized I'm using the wrong verb. I'll switch to "down" tomorrow (but I'm also combining the verbal commands with hand commands so it should be relatively easy to switch). He also is working on "heel," "wait," and "come", but being a puppy with a short attention span and eager to check out different things, he's not so great on those commands.

Of course, "Go potty" and "Go poopie" is troublesome lately since he's always needing to go out.

By the way, I think he's getting better (with the help of the antibiotics). He slept for 4 hours straight last night which I appreciated.

Tip of the day: Buy a portable radio and tune it in to a talk radio show. It'll help the puppy feel better if you're away (especially if you cover the crate so he can't really see if you're there or not.)

Barking Cody

Cody has been whining and barking lately (since he thinks he needs to pee and wants to be taken outside. However, he unfortunately needs to pee all the time with his bladder infection). Since he's been disruptive, I had to move him from the office to the car. The weather is really mild so it'll be fine for him, but I really hope the antibiotics kick in soon so he will want to relieve his bladder less frequently. At night, he's needed to be taken out every hour and if I can't get a full REM cycle in, I'm useless during the day! (I think a REM cycle is around an hour and a half, but that's something I think I learned in college which was quite awhile ago)

Also, to prevent peeing on the carpet, I set up a pen at home with potty training pads. He has mastered climbing it, as you can see in the picture.

Tip of the day: Get taller pens if your dog thinks he's a monkey or a cat.

Tribute to Caleb

Caleb was my ex-roommate's vizsla. I lived with Caleb (and that roommate) for 3 years and he was the main reason why I wanted a vizsla. In fact, I was looking forward to bringing Cody to visit Caleb in March since Caleb (and his mom and dad) are in the Boston area. However, yesterday, Caleb passed away unexpectedly. He was loving and wonderful, and it breaks my heart that I can never see Caleb again. Here is the last picture I took of Caleb a couple of years ago (October 2004).

Back from the vet (Cherry Chase Pet Hospital since it is right next door)

He has a bacterial infection and has to take antibiotics for the next 2 weeks (but it hopefully will get better in the next couple of days). I'm glad it's nothing too serious, but it does hinder potty training. I've set him up in a pen at home, and placed potty training pads within the pen.

I learned a trick yesterday - placing a blanket over his crate after I've put him there. He still whimpers a bit, but he quiets down pretty quickly. I'll try that tonight since I'm leaving his crate in his pen with him in the living room (he normally sleeps in his crate in the bedroom).

I have a pen at work, so I'll do the same thing at work, but hopefully, he'll be a bit better tomorrow too.

The vet visit was good timing since he needed his second set of shots. We're following up in 3 weeks for them to analyze the urine again and to get his third set of shots. Luckily, the puppy training class starts in about 4 weeks, so I'll have time to get those shots before it starts (though only 2 sets of shots are required to attend).

By the way, he's 15.5 lbs today.

Here are some tips from the vet:
Heartgard for heartworms and intestinal worms. I asked about "Revolution" which is a topical that supposedly handles fleas as well, but I'll hear back from her.
K9 Advantage for fleas.
No need for dietary supplements if he's eating the right foods.

My tip: A blanket over the crate seems to help calm Cody down when I leave him alone in there.

Cody's first crisis

I am freaked out. The first medical emergency for me, but it's not that bad (or I hope not). Last night, Cody woke me up at 11, 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 to go pee. He even pooped a few of those times. After I officially got up at 7 with him, I noticed that he was starting to pee on the carpet. I was about to scold him until I realized that the droplets were red. It was hard to see when he started peeing blood, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't until the 7:00 time (but it is hard to tell when he's peeing on the dirt at night).

I called a vet immediately (the one that is next door) and they were able to give me an appointment at 10:30. I just took him out for a long walk, and he's napping now, so I hope he's ok until then. Except for the frequent urination (and the blood in his urine), he seems like his normal self (doesn't seem to be in pain), so I'm mildly freaked out, but at least Cody's not hurt.

I looked online and it may be bladder or kidney stones, but really, all issues with bloody urine indicated that he should at least be in pain, so I really don't know what the issue is. I'm positive he's not in major pain since he was still frolicking through the grass during our walk and still wanted to play.

He's sleeping now (which is good) so I'll update the blog again after I come back from the vet.

Cody's first crisis

I am freaked out. The first medical emergency for me, but it's not that bad (or I hope not). Last night, Cody woke me up at 11, 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 to go pee. He even pooped a few of those times. After I officially got up at 7 with him, I noticed that he was starting to pee on the carpet. I was about to scold him until I realized that the droplets were red. It was hard to see when he started peeing blood, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't until the 7:00 time (but it is hard to tell when he's peeing on the dirt at night).

I called a vet immediately (the one that is next door) and they were able to give me an appointment at 10:30. I just took him out for a long walk, and he's napping now, so I hope he's ok until then. Except for the frequent urination (and the blood in his urine), he seems like his normal self (doesn't seem to be in pain), so I'm mildly freaked out, but at least Cody's not hurt.

I looked online and it may be bladder or kidney stones, but really, all issues with bloody urine indicated that he should at least be in pain, so I really don't know what the issue is. I'm positive he's not in major pain since he was still frolicking through the grass during our walk and still wanted to play.

He's sleeping now (which is good) so I'll update the blog again after I come back from the vet.

What's in a name?

I was going to start off this post with a "day(s) since last accident" since I was so proud that yesterday was Cody's first accident-free day. However, this morning he peed on the carpet (my fault for not taking him out as soon as he drank water this morning), so I'll start the count some other day (hopefully soon!)

I've been teaching him some commands these last few days. He has "Sit" down, and I'm teaching him "Lay" and "Come". However, I'm not entirely sure he even knows his name. He probably hears "No", "Go Potty", and "Good Boy" more often than he hears "Cody".

My tip of the day: On weekends, nap when the puppy naps. It's not ideal, but it helps reduce the total sleep deprivation during the week a little better.

Just uploaded some pictures.

One with Nickey (the pug), and a couple with my cousin's shirt (Cody was shivering a bit so my aunt wanted to give him some sort of protection against the wind when we were playing in the backyard). Don't worry - vizslas always have sad faces - it doesn't mean he didn't like the shirt :P

So much for sleeping in on weekends. Long holiday weekends. Maybe I'll train Cody how to sleep in on weekends later, but it's doubtful until I teach him how to understand a Julian calendar. And then holidays would be even harder to teach.

I did a bunch of grooming with Cody last night to see how he would take it. It also rained yesterday, so it was good to see he is not afraid of water (or a stream of water from a faucet). He was more interested in lapping up all the water in the bathtub than the shampoo I was lathering on him.

He wasn't really great about letting me open up his jaw to brush his teeth until he realized the toothpaste was chicken flavored. Once he realized that, so much for brushing his teeth since he was trying to lick the toothpaste off.

The most challenging task was trimming his toe nails. First of all, there's 16 nails to clip. I had the guillotine tool and it was my first time, so it took me a little longer to get adjusted. I was also super nervous that I would cut his quick (which is a bit hard to see on a vizsla), so it just took forever. Plus, vizslas tend not to like to stand still for a half hour while you're doing strange things with their paws. I distracted him with a rawhide to chew on, but he still fidgeted a bit.

All in all, it was not as bad as I expected, I just need more practice to cut the time a little shorter.

Tip of the morning: Buy a dremel tool - it'll be much faster and easier to trim your dog's nails.

Training the human

There's nothing new to add really, but Cody's training me much better. I am beginning to learn his schedule and what he likes to do and when. For example, he's always freezing in the morning so he hates to go outside. He'll run back inside once he's "done his business" which makes it very time efficient :)

Tip of the day: I pick Cody up when he wakes up and carries him outside. I've noticed this reduces accidents since he won't pee on me, but he may pee on the carpet on the way to the patio/backyard. This isn't a long term solution, but hopefully he'll get the hint that he needs to eliminate outdoors soon so I can stop carrying him. I think my carpet loves me for starting this new trick.

Crate or Pet Bed?

I haven't figured out what Cody likes. At home, he CLIMBED over the 26" play pen to escape because he hated it so much. In the office, he loved the play pen and chooses to go in there when he wants a break. At home, he HATES the crate. He will scramble anytime I put him anywhere near it. However, when we're going in the car, he gladly jumps into the crate and has a hard time leaving it when I arrive at my destination. Of course, he may feel safer in the crate given my more aggressive driving behavior.

Things are going ok and I think I have his schedule down. He's warming up to other dogs and he's had some fun with some of them. And I'm working on teaching him how to sit. It's a bit hard to train him since he doesn't like eating so he's not motivated by treats. Praise works pretty well though. It may also be the treats I'm trying. I'll keep on trying different ones.

Here are some other random tidbits that I haven't mentioned yet:

1) He hiccups all the time
2) He snores when he sleeps
3) Cody LOVES tummy rubs.
4) I'm allergic to Cody. (It's weird because I lived with another Vizsla for 3 years and had no problems)

Tip of the day:
Allergy medicine is a gift from God.

Cody's first time in the office!

First, I want to celebrate the fact that he slept from 10pm to 4:30am nonstop last night! I think the key was to limit his naps yesterday. However, since my last post, he threw up and peed 3 times on the carpet. That's more of what I was expecting, but I was crossing my fingers for a abnormally genius/psychic dog that could read my thoughts and wishes. Guess I've been watching too much TV.

He met co-workers and met dogs of other breeds for the first time today. He was scared of almost every dog he met, but he seemed to get along with Tina, a 4-month old golden lab. My next goal is to teach him that it's ok to be left alone since he tends to whine right now. I wore him out a bit socializing him and walking him to the other buildings at work, so here are a couple of pictures of him sleeping in his pet bed at work.

Tip of the day: Fewer the naps during the day = longer sleep time at night!

Let's see... I woke up at midnight, 2, 5, and 6:30 for Cody to take him out to pee. So far, no eliminating inside the apartment which is GREAT. I think my neighbors will soon hate me for all the whining they'll be hearing this week though.

I bought 2 plastic play pens from Toys R Us today (recommended by other pet owners since it works well and is generally cheaper. I got the "Superyard XT" which was SO easily to assemble. Also, you can make it straight or in a square or hexagon really easily so I use the extra parts to make barriers (Cody has discovered that he could fit under my bed).

He seems super smart and he's been really good at learning "Go potty" and what NOT to chew on (though we still have disagreements regarding if my flip-flops are considered "chew toys").

Wow. it's only 1 pm and it's felt like a week today. I can't wait until his naptime...

Tip of the day (half-day) : Sleep is overrated. If you happen to like sleep, a puppy's not for you.

Saturday's recap:
I picked up/out Cody on Satuday with my brother and a friend.

Cody was so quiet and calm on the ride from Alpine to San Diego when we dropped off my brother. However, he threw up towards the end. All in all, on the trip pack to Orange County, he threw up 3 times. First time in a car for him and I really wish I had some sort of Dramamine for dogs.

As expected, I didn't sleep at all as a new mommy, but it was a good day/night either way :)

Saturday's Tip of the Day: Bring lots of towels to handle the vomit that will definitely occur if you are driving the puppy away.

Sunday's recap:
Hard to figure out where Saturday ended and Sunday began, but Cody ate like a pig Sunday morning since he had thrown up anything that was in his stomach the day before.

I left Cody with my mom for a few hours in the morning and he pooped inside the house, on area rugs, twice and peed three times. The whole time I had him, he had only eliminated outside, so the tip of the day is to give more direction or enclose him when someone else is puppy-sitting.

The drive back to the Bay Area was great. Cody slept the whole way and I gave him breaks every 2 hours to eliminate if he needed to. He's had an exhausting past couple of days, so he's sleeping now. Above are some pictures from his first weekend in his new home (he's blinking in the last one - his eyes are normally much wider).

On Saturday, I will pick up Cody, my new Vizsla puppy from the San Diego area.

The breeder was flexible and allowed me to pick him up when he's 9 weeks old (rather than 8 weeks) and I can't wait any longer.

I've bought about 2 sets of everything (in case Cody won't like it) and I already think I'll spoil him considering that his bin of dog treats is bigger than his bin of toys and dog grooming stuff combined.

Lately, I've been both excited and anxious about upcoming "mommyhood". After all, it's a commitment for over a decade and my life will be much different in 12-14 years than it is now. Should be a wonderful 12-14 years regardless :)

Pictures to come once I pick him up....