Uses for Cody's Tail

1) Metronome (only for fast songs)
2) Flyswatter (not great for accuracy)
3) Power generator
4) Shiatsu Massage
5) Fan
6) Hypnosis
7) Poker tell (assuming Cody learns what good hands are first)
8) Meat tenderizer (not all that sanitary though)
9) Egg beater (" ")
10) Outboard Motor

Any other ideas? Post a comment and submit your idea!

Is Cody REALLY at Planet Pooch?

So the thing is, I send Cody off on a little shuttle at 7:15 on Thursdays and I pick him up around 6:15 at the dog park down the street. The question is, what happens between 7:15 and 6:15? Every Thursday, I would go through all the cameras at Planet Pooch and try to find Cody. He *should* be in the gray room (Canis Major) but the webcam clarity isn't that great so it's hard to tell. The problem is, I know he's not one of the white or black or spotted dogs. And I know he's not one of the fluffy or tiny dogs. And the thing is, I just can't find him. However, I know he doesn't have super powers so he's not invisible. I challenge any of you to actually try to find him. Last week, I thought he was sitting on the chair (since he likes to sit on chairs), but today, a girl was sitting on the chair so unless she was sitting on Cody, it is unlikely Cody was on the chair as well. So where the heck is he?

Where's that dog?

I've thought about leaving Cody for the day in the backyard and today is the first day we're trying this out. These are the reasons:

• Miya is getting spayed today
• Cody and I ran 10 miles yesterday and another few miles this morning. He *should* be sufficiently tired today
• I have a million meetings and it would be hard for him to see me come in and out without spending time with him. Also, I might have to find a substitute to take Cody out for potty breaks and leaving him in the backyard is easier.
• It's decent weather (somewhat warm but not too hot) so he should be able to enjoy the outdoors a little.
  

Hannibal Lechter

Cody was growling and attempted to bite me yesterday this morning so I had to put his muzzle on. There is a theory that he was slightly sick because he was more lethargic than normal. However, by the end of the day, he was back to his normal self. It was weird that he actually tried to bite me (he was unsuccessful either because he has lost his sharp puppy teeth or because he didn't bite hard enough). I have not tried to put on his muzzle in months (since April when he had his ear infection) so the whole situation was odd. He was fine today so all is good and I can put away his muzzle.

Introducing Phoenix!

Last weekend, Caleb's owners picked up their new Vizsla puppy. Here are some super cute pictures that they had taken. I noticed that Phoenix and Cody like to sleep in the same positions...

Lesser Known Family Branch

Hello assorted citizens. This is Christian with another off-topic guest post.

Today, class, I will be lecturing on dog genetics. As you may know, our canine friends our descended from wolves. How did wolves turn into dogs? Humans messed with their DNA. Dogs are wolf mutants.

What can we learn from this? The more your dog looks like a wolf, the closer your dog is to nature. The wimpier your dog is, the more your dog is a man-made freak. I know this is harsh, but it is the truth.

You homework assignment is to use the visual scale below to rank your dog’s wolf-freak level.

Pronged Collar

I first considered this contraption back in April when I was visiting a friend in New York (remember Addie, the Australian Shepherd?) Addie also has a problem with pulling and during one of our walks, we passed by a pet store and Addie's owner decided to try this pronged collar.

The metal link choke collar I had been using has not been entirely effective. In fact, I've started developing pains in my knee that I attribute to the sudden pressures I have to put on it when Cody unexpectedly pulls hard to chase a bike or a bird.

Yesterday, I decided to purchase and try the pronged collar. It's a bit intimidating, but it's actually supposed to be less harmful for the dog than a choke collar. I tried it out on my arm and it wasn't that bad. (My colleague was skeptical and after she tried it, she agreed that it didn't hurt.) Trying to figure out how to detach and reattach the links were a pain. Especially since my collar didn't come with instructions. Apparently, you can also buy additional links in case it's too small, but right now, it'll fit Cody fine (and I can take out links too). You have to push really hard on the pronged end of a link to reattach it, and then there are too loops that I can attach the leash. Which one I use is beyond me. They look different and I feel like if the attachments look different, they should be for different purposes. But given no instructions, I just use either. They both should functionally work the same anyways (upon tightening, the collar will pinch).

I took Cody on a short walk and he stopped pulling. There may have been a slight attempt at pulling, but not enough to really feel the tug on your arms unless your paying attention, and definitely not enough pressure to hurt my knee.

I'm grateful that I decided to use this collar and it will certainly save my knee. Cody's at day care again (it's Thursday) so I'll try the collar in the next couple of days when we do our next run. (It may be tomorrow, but he is usually wiped out on Fridays since he plays so much on Thursday)

Get out on the highway ... looking for adventure!


One of my readers sent me this picture after reading about how Cody liked sticking his neck out the window. I think I'll need to invest in doggles soon!

Cody and Molly in the office

Cody notices a new girl in town:





















Cody tries to say hello, but Molly plays hard to get
















Cody is depressed from getting rejected by Molly

Status Check

Cody's a little over 6 months and he weighs 44.5 lbs this morning. I prevented him from drinking my coffee this morning since I thought he was too young to drink it. Then again, my co-worker had made a comment that coffee would be bad since it would stunt Cody's growth. Hmm...maybe I should re-think disallowing Cody to enjoy the fine taste of coffee...

My friend, Alexis (who was Caleb's owner) is picking up her new Vizsla puppy tomorrow! Hopefully she'll allow us to share some of her pictures. I would love to remember the days when Cody was a third his current size...(and when he was crawling under beds rather sleeping on them).

Here are some latest on-the-bed pictures. I have either started to sleep more deeply or Cody is getting stealthier when he's jumping on the bed.

Set Thursdays at Planet Pooch

Where's Cody on Thursdays? He's at Planet Pooch! Since he had such a good time there last week, I decided it was good to have him have a little fun every Thursday. I bought a 20 visit pack for $495 (you have to use it within 90 days), so he's going every Thursday so I can have meetings at work and not worry about him being unhappy or lonely. If you want to see how he is, here's the link to the web cam of the room where he should be in : http://www.planetpooch.com/webcams/rwc.php?cam=major

Actually, now that the weather's nice, I may actually try to leave him home (in the backyard) a day a week. He's still a little growly at times and I'm concerned that I'm the one waking him up in the mornings. I just want to see if he'll sleep more if he's left home and if that will make him less cranky sometimes. Besides, on weekends when I want to sleep in sometimes, he actually tries to get me to leave him in the backyard and when I wake up, he refuses to come back in.

Rollerblading with Shannon

Today, Cody's made a new best friend (and if I'm not careful, a new owner). A colleague of mine, Shannon, took Cody for his first rollerblading experience.

Normally, when Cody and I run to work, he would attempt to chase all the bikers, rollerbladers, and even the fast runners. Instead of being able to run at his full speed, he has to settle for slow-paced me.

However, Shannon took him on a little run/roll (what's the right term here?) and he was able to run for a long distance at his own pace. Granted, he was still on a leash, but this was the first time he's ever been able to run his little heart out as far as he did. The dog park is fenced so he is limited in space at how far he can run.

When Shannon was leaving, Cody tried to go with him. Maybe I'll need to consider getting a bike or rollerblades (and then learn how to rollerblade) if I want to keep his love.

Wistful for outside playtime...


Feel free to leave a comment if you want to caption this picture :)

Sticking Your Neck Out

Cody has discovered a new passion. He discovered these things called "air" and "wind". Yeah, I know...novel ideas. For some reason, a few days ago, he tried sticking his head out the window (and the moonroof) and he found that he actually enjoyed it. Of course, it's a bit of a problem when he starts trying to put his paws out the window too to get more breeze or air. He'll do this if we're in a standstill or driving on the freeway. I don't let him put more than his head out (I have him on a leash), but it doesn't mean he doesn't try to really stick his whole body out there. Of course, his nostrils go on sensory overload since he's trying to sniff everything on the 101 freeway.

I'll try to get a picture (a bit difficult to get a moving picture especially when I'm driving), but you can take my word that it's just awfully cute. His ears flapping in the wind while his head rests the window.

Sleepovers at Planet Pooch

Now that Cody's been home a couple of days, I can give a better review of how he did at Planet Pooch and sleepovers.

Planet Pooch's sleepovers work like this:

On the day of the sleepover, the dog must attend doggy day care at Planet Pooch (I assume this is to tire him out). I leave bags marked with the amount and the date/time Cody should be fed (this is hard since I free-feed Cody and there aren't set times that he's used to eating. However, I did leave him 2 cups for an AM feeding and 2 cups for an evening feeding). Planet Pooch itself is closed overnight and on weekends. The sleepovers are actually sleepovers with one of the staff members of Planet Pooch. They make sure that they are consistent with how you are raising the dog (Pee commands and if that dog is allowed on the furniture).

On weekday mornings, Cody is brought back to Planet Pooch to have play time with his friends again. All in all, I think it's a great way to board a dog. It's not as traumatic since he actually goes to someone's home. I also know that they took great care of him because he's come back tired, happy, and still remembers all the commands he used to know (didn't develop any bad habits). In fact, he's even barking less (without the bark collar)!

For more information on the sleepovers at Planet Pooch, visit http://www.planetpooch.com/sleepovers/index.php.

At this time, a sleepover (by itself) is $15 per night, made payable to the dog sitter (Planet Pooch staff). Also, it's $30 per weekend day for the dog sitter (since Planet Pooch isn't open on weekends). They also have holiday surcharges of $25 for each holiday day, but I didn't have to pay that since he stayed during normal days.

The above is in addition to the Doggy day care rates which is $35/day (or $495 for a 20 pack which is what I got or $295 for a 10 pack).

So it turns out to be about $40-$50 for a weekday/night and $45 for a weekend day/night.

I also paid $35 to get him groomed (I normally groom him on weekends but since I was away I thought it would be nice to get him professionally groomed this time. Once in 4 months isn't bad just to see if he needs any trimming on his short coat). They have different prices for different breeds (different grooming needs), but it's definitely nice. He still smells great and his coat is really soft. The toe nails look really nice (better than when I do it). My only complaint is that Cody's right ear had some black gunk. I hope that doesn't mean it's getting infected again, but it doesn't look that bad yet. It probably was from visits to their pool, but I wish they had done some cleaning on it since it had black gunk the night I picked him up.

All in all, really good. Expensive, but at least you know your dog is well taken care of and really, who can put a price on that?

Luckily, Cody did not get eaten by Godzilla. But he lost a ton of weight (not that he had much weight to lose). I think playing around with other dogs for 5 days straight gave him a ton of exercise. And he didn't have his regular Greenies/pig ears/treats, etc...

Cody is mellow and has actually been obeying most of my commands. A co-worker had asked earlier if Cody was going to "boot camp" and I said it was more like "summer camp". Now that he's a mellow, obedient dog, maybe it was "boot camp". Can't wait to send him again if they can get him to obey like that. (Now, only one "No" will actually get him to stop. Can't wait to see how long that will last)

Hello everyone. I'm filling in for Phoebe while she's hustling the high roller poker tables at the Bellagio. This is my dog, Molly.



Molly is probably a Golden Retriever / Border Collie mix. Some people have suggested that she may have some 'Nova Scotian Duck Tolling Retriever' in her, but she has yet to toll a duck.

Oh, I'm sorry. That first picture was Godzilla. My mistake.

Godzilla is a giant radioactive lizard, not a medium sized non-radioactive dog. However, Molly and Godzilla both enjoy chasing bees. At least, I believe Godzilla fought a mutant bee-man once.

As you can see, Molly has been visiting the office and taking care of Cody's toys in his absence. Where is Cody anyway? I really hope he didn't get eaten by Godzilla. That would be very sad. Very unlikely, but still very sad.

Thanks for reading about my dog Molly. Normal blog posts will return soon. I promise!

-Christian

Taking a Break!

Cody is going on a little vacation to Doggie Day Care for the next 6 days. To see how he's doing on weekdays, check out the webcams at PlanetPooch. He should be well taken care of as one of the staff members takes Cody home and gives him tender loving care. I just hope he remembers me when I get back. This is his little treat for his 6 month birthday which is on Tuesday. I've asked a colleague to be a guest poster since Cody may be sharing his work office with his dog (Molly) soon.

See you all back on Thursday!