Growth Comparison Charts Between Phoenix and Cody

Phoenix's owner decided to plot Phoenix's growth chart. Since I've been recording various data points for Cody's weight as well, she took those data points and compared the growth curve with Phoenix's. It's fun to see that they have the same growth pattern, even though they are not related at all. Cody was the smaller of his brothers and he was part of a large litter (11) but I'm surprised that he is hitting the average 50-60lb mark (He weighed in at 51.3 lbs when he was at the vet yesterday). I think (*hope*) that Cody's weight has stabilized, but it'll be interesting to see how Phoenix compares in the coming months.

Cody and I are hoping to give Phoenix and his parents a visit in November so that they can play and meet for the first time. Cody hasn't played with another Vizsla puppy since he left his dog family so it'll be a fun time for all. I wonder which dog will tire out first (and how long that'll take given the Vizsla energy levels).

Sympathy Bronchitis

Cody and I both seem to have developed a form of bronchitis independently from each other.

Apparently Cody has developed a mild form of the "Kennel Cough" which has led to his hacking/coughing fits. The vet said it should go away in a few weeks and should be getting better. Cody didn't interact with many dogs except for his stays at PetsMart last week or PlanetPooch. I still feel as if the rules at PetsMart are more lax and the employees don't notice problems like coughing as much, so I'd much rather blame PetsMart for Cody's illness. Since I don't know for sure, I won't complain too much.

Cody received his Bordatella shots in April (if you board your pet, they recommend Bordatella shots every 6 months. In fact, I had already scheduled him to get another vaccination this Sunday before he got this cough). Apparently, a shot just diffuses the severity if the dogs come into contact with other dogs with kennel cough. Cody shouldn't interact with other dogs until his cough goes away (which should be in the next week), otherwise the other dogs have the danger of contracting the cough as well.

After talking to other dog owners, I realized it was a rarity that I keep Cody up to date on his shots and prevention medication (like heartworm and ticks), well-groomed, exercise and training, socialization, and general well-being (like brushing his teeth and consistently washing bowls). In general, I'm glad to have the routine of making sure that he's healthy. When he's older, I'd like to know that I did everything I could to prevent illness and to keep him healthy.

My Little Bulimic

In the last couple of days, Cody has been hacking a bit (and not from choking, motion sickness, or anything in particular that I can tell).

When he was playing last week, he hurt one of his legs and it's still healing. Since another person took care of him over the weekend, I put antiseptic and some first aid on his wound Sunday night when I returned from my weekend trip. Since it was late and he was sleepy, I placed a bandaid thinking he would not lick or remove the bandaid (he was leaving it alone after I put it on him). However, in the morning, the bandaid was gone. It is possible that Cody took off the bandaid, walked to the next room and threw it away in the trash can, but it's more probably that he swallowed it. It may also be that the medicine he licked is not agreeing with him as well. Since it can be a million things that he may have ingested, it's hard to tell what's causing him to vomit. He is still drinking and eating normally, so I'm not too worried.

(We're still going to the vet tomorrow just to make sure since he's hacking more today than previous days)

Kicked Out

Cody was being a bit cranky on the bed (growling) and as I don't tolerate that (and he wouldn't stop), I took him to the backyard. Of course, after he stopped being mad and started whining/feeling remorseful, I let him into the living room and locked him out of my bedroom. It was the first time that I kicked him out of the bedroom for the whole night (partially because he likes to scratch one section of the carpet in the living room). In the morning, he had forgotten the incident and was happy to see me when I woke him up.

Teddy "Ears"

Cody loves his pig ears. But not to eat or chew (he actually finishes one about once a month). Instead, his pig ears act like a baby blanket or teddy bear. He isn't attached to one particular pig ear (thank goodness), but when we're at home, he must carry a pig ear to go eliminate in the backyard or to bed with him when he sleeps. He's not happy if you try to remove the pig ear, but he nestles it against the crook of his arm or leaves it close to his head. In our morning runs, he even attempts to carry the pig ear with him (I make him leave it at home because he will usually lose interest in carrying the pig ear as our run continues and that just means I'm left carrying the pig ear until the run is done).

I'm hoping he outgrows this, but it is a pretty cute "human" trait that he has.

Cody's First Swim

Remember Cody's friend Tina and their jaunt into the muddy creek behind the offices? Well, it happened again today. This time, we followed Tina and her owner to a large pond/fountain at the end of the street. There, Cody followed Tina into the pond. He was a bit hesitant at first, but since he is a water dog, he got used to it immediately. Then, he jumped in to the "deep section" without realizing it. He tried to climb out, but he couldn't, so he doggy paddled across the pond (about 10 yards). My baby is all grown up! Swimming even without a life vest or inflatables!

I was starting to feel guilty that he hasn't had real experience with water and the summer is ending, but now we can enjoy the last few days of summer in that pond and look forward to a fun summer next year!

Day care and Potty Training..At odds?

The problem with day care is that most day cares just allow the dogs to eliminate in the play room (or a corner of the play room). This means that the puppy may have gotten used to it being ok to eliminate indoors outside of day care.

I've noticed this problem after Cody spent 11 days at PlanetPooch and after his occasional visits to PetsMart. PetsMart's actually the worst because they have no outdoor area. They encourage dogs to eliminate indoors. In fact, their "outdoor area" is just an indoor section with the ceiling painted blue and a potted plant in the corner. I had an offsite yesterday evening so I left Cody at PetsMart. The employee there had confirmed that they just let the dogs eliminate wherever they want since they can't really monitor if each dog needs to use the restroom in the "outdoor area".

In the PlanetPooch Webcams, I've seen dogs go more freely indoors and outdoors, but due to the large number of dogs, punishing the dog our reminding the dog to eliminate outside is impossible to do.

I balance this problem with my belief that Cody should be socialized in this setting. I think by allowing Cody to go to daycare every week (as well as visit the dog park often), he can encounter other dog behaviors (both good and bad) and learn from them. He's not naturally a shy dog, but now he won't be. Of course, he may want to be a little shy if he has accidents in front of his friends, but he doesn't really seem phased by that.

Mind or Matter?

I had always wondered if the Gentle Leader worked because the design makes it more difficult to pull physically, or if it restrains Cody enough (or reminds him of his muzzle) to decide to obey and heel. (See my previous blog post about his experience with these different collars)

During our walk, I tested this out. After he was pulling with his regular nylon collar, I decided to put on his Gentle Leader. This time, however, I did not switch the leash to the Gentle Leader, but left it on his regular collar. Amazingly, he immediately started obeying. He obeyed the same amount that he obeyed as the times when I had his leash attached to the Gentle Leader. This would indicate to me that it is 100% psychological. He did pull about 1% of the time, so he did know that the leash was attached from his neck rather than his muzzle area. I originally had thought that the actual design of the Gentle Leader to make it difficult to pull at least contributed to part of his obedience, but I guess for Cody, this is not the case. I imagine other dogs may not see the same results since Cody had experience with muzzles and becomes pretty submissive when I put it on him.

Cody Heart Molly

Remember Christian's dog, Molly? Well, she's still playing hard to get. Like humans, instead of ignoring her and moving on, Cody is WILD about her. He freaks out and tries to play with her whenever she is in the office. Of course, Molly avoids him, which makes him even more eager to try to play with her. He apparently does not understand that snarling or growling means "Go away!".

The flip side is that when Molly and Cody go to the park, Molly lets down her guard and sometimes allows Cody to play with her. Sometimes.

Anyways, last week, Molly came to the office and Cody got excited (as expected). When Christian left with Molly to go to an office down the hall, Cody pushed against the door gate until it was slightly ajar, and wiggled his way through to escape (all done before I had a chance to stop him). I have never seen him act with such determination. He ran all around our floor, went down the stairs and ran all around the first floor, came back up, and kept on circling and going to every office and cubicle. After getting help from 3 others, we finally cornered him.

The moral of the story is (besides that playing hard to get works with canines as well) is that Cody would be a horrible hunter. Even though he is from a hunting breed, the fact that Cody can't trail Molly when she was only about 10 yards away means that he's really really really bad at tracking.

Runaway Cody

I did a really stupid thing yesterday during our run. Let me just tell the story.

Cody and I had just run/walked 5 miles on the trail, and entered a business street that didn't have any traffic. This was our first long outing since I came back from vacation, so I had him on a pretty strict heel (with the Gentle Leader) the whole way. He was really antsy, so I thought he should exert some "free" energy. I took him off the trail onto the business area so we can get to the dog park.

I thought he should be sufficiently tired, so I thought it would be a good time to test Cody being "off-leash" (beginning of really bad idea). I left his leash on (so I can grab him quickly - or so I thought), but dropped my grab of it. He pretty much went wild (as I should have predicted given his antsy-ness at that time), and took off. Mind you, we were close to a large park and pretty much a big area where he could have run anywhere. In the beginning, he would run and turn around to make sure he kept sight of me. I moved out of his line of sight to see if he would return. (Bad idea #2). Of course, this meant I lost sight of him (which is really bad since he didn't seem to return).

This is when I mildly started freaking out/thought about making promises to God. I had mentioned "dog park" to him earlier and we were close enough that he should have recognized the path to the dog park. I went to the dog park (which was about half a mile away) and he wasn't there. Begin big panic time. This is when I started actually making promises to God and feeling really stupid about what I had done.

Oh, let me point out a couple of things:
1) I was 5 miles away from home with no mode of transportation other than my running shoes
2) I left my cell phone at home
3) Cody's tag had my cell phone number on it
4) All the people I could call for help required me having my cell phone with their numbers in it.

I went back to the intersection where the road to the dog park and the business road intersected and basically asked anyone I saw if they saw a roaming dog. Of course, I felt ashamed of what I had done so I left out the part where I dropped his leash and just said that "he ran away from me" (which is true).

My office was about half a mile away so I had thought about going there as my base, but since I was alone, I would miss it if Cody reappeared nearby. There was a small chance Cody went to the office, but I thought it was unlikely since the dog park would probably entice him more. I went back to the dog park and asked if anyone had seen Cody and if they can look out for him. I went back to the intersection. My other thought was to go over the trail to see if Cody went that way, but it was half a mile away from the intersection and I wanted to be between the trail and the dog park in case he showed up.

Luckily (this is the good part as you can tell), a few cyclists were come down the business road from the trail and I asked them if they saw Cody. I didn't actually expect them to respond positively since 1) I had been yelling for Cody and had the cyclists seen him, they probably would have told me so proactively and 2) I had been yelling for Cody for half an hour. The area was very wide and my voice can carry. Cody should have been in hearing range and should have come when I called (This is my assumption that he would hear the distress in my voice and come. Also, I had his squeaky toy which I was squeezing so even if he didn't want to be obedient, he should have at least wanted to play with his favorite toy).

Well, anyways, when I asked the first cyclist if he's seen a dog roaming around, he said "Absolutely". I didn't really believe it so I asked him "a brown dog"?. He said "yes". And then I asked him where (though I think any normal person would have figured out where I was going with the first question - or even just by me calling Cody's name- that he could've just told me where Cody was. It was fairly obvious that I was looking for a missing dog). Anyways, he said that the brown dog was about 200 yards up the road, towards the trail.

I ran up, thinking he was still roaming around and being a brat. Instead, he was just lying lazily in the shade, exactly in the spot where he last saw me. The whole situation was pretty ridiculous, but at least Cody realized that there was a problem because he started running towards me when I got closer. I'm not sure why he didn't come when I called (the brat!) but he was very excited to see me as I was coming closer. I was in tears and very very grateful that he was found. In hindsight, it's also good to know that he wouldn't just roam off too far without me and that he at least went back to where he thought I was.

Needless to say, we aren't going to try an off-leash experiment like this one again. And it looks like I'm indebted to go to church for a long time to come.

Ice Ice Baby

Cody tried ice for the first time today (my leftovers from a iced latte). In the beginning, he just drank from the cup to get the little bits of coffee taste that was leftover. Later, he was more intrigued with the ice than anything else. Once he got a cube on the ground, he tried to pick it up, after awhile, he realized he can bite on it. He hasn't gotten to the point of chewing the ice cube yet, but I'm sure he'll warm (or cool in this case) up to it.

I should mention that during the heat wave in July, I did try to put ice cubes in his water bowl. He was so suspicious he chose not to drink water at all. Since he didn't actually try ice that time, I figured this time counted as his official "first try".

Motion Maladies

Here is yet another way that Cody and I are alike or have grown more similar.

Remember how Cody drools in the car? Well, one of my friends (the owner of Phoenix) had suggested that Cody was getting motion sickness. After a couple of days of errand-running with Cody (and how he vomited all afternoon after one of these errand days), I was more and more convinced that she was right. However, there's not much I can do about it (though I had read somewhere that you can give Bonine/Meclizine to your dog to help this problem with vet approval).

I have always had some motion sickness problems. For example, I can never read in the car, and I need to take motion sickness medicine if I have to drive on curvy roads. Dramamine never worked that well with me (I was known to vomit with only Dramamine in my stomach), so last year I switched to Dramamine II/Bonine/Meclizine. It worked very well last year and I was able to go on dive boats with no problems (even on crossing rough channels). This year, nothing worked. I doubled the dosage that I was taking, chewed on ginger pieces, had solid foods before I left the dock (and limited the water/liquid amount) and I was still sick. This may be karma getting back to me as I should have stopped taking Cody on errands in my car ages ago. Hopefully, I'm even now so when I go on a dive boat next time, I might be able to enjoy something other than the horizon. (And I'll also try getting a prescription for that patch option).

Cody's Back!

Cody and I slept for 6 hours during the day as he was recovering from all the energy he spent while at day care for the last 11 days. (I was recovering from a red-eye flight).

He seems to remember all his commands and is a bit mellow since he's still tired.

One worrisome item is that he had some pretty deep scratches and wounds while he was at daycare. In the past, I've allowed Cody to get scratches while I'm gone since he tends to play rough and get scratches normally. However, the bleeding and wounds he has now are a bit extreme for normal play. They are as if he was pushed into a nail or bitten. The people at PlanetPooch said that they didn't know how he got it, but that alone makes me worried. He wouldn't have gotten these on his own and it seems he would yelp when it happened. His biggest wound happened on Saturday supposedly, and it's still bleeding off and on when he licks it. I've always trusted PlanetPooch in the past (they did apply antibiotics so the wound is not infected), but maybe they're too overstaffed to be able to prevent real dangers. As I had my own bad experiences in Hawaii with life threatening diving situations (Kona Honu Divers were not equipped for emergencies or problems), I think that it's critical to be prepared for accidents even if they don't happen that often. Just once is enough.

And now, a random list of things dogs would say if they could speak. (Don't worry - Phoebe will be back soon.)


Please stop dressing me up like a bee. I may sniff rumps, but I have more dignity than that.


I don't have the heart to tell her this: I'm Jewish.


If you don't stop biting your nails, am I allowed to put a cone around your head?


It took 15 minutes of sniffing to find the perfect spot. It took you 15 seconds to throw it all away.


I look like a f*cking mop.

Greetings all,

The Pheebinator is still in Hawaii working on her tan and diving with the manta rays, so I will be making a few special appearances for her while she's gone. I too was in Hawaii with her for a few days but made the lame decision of coming back early. Boohoo!

With that, I'd like to introduce you all to my little guy-- Nickey the pug. As you can see, he's built quite a portfolio and is well on his way to becoming a doggie supermodel:



Photo for a greeting card company



Happily featured in a page for Google Notebook

Additionally, Nickey was featured on the Google Blog-- read about his adventures at Google!

Prepping for Agility Classes

Here are some pictures of Cody playing in the playground. We're doing some early preparations for agility classes.

Thirsty Cody after Playing in the Tennis Courts

Cody's favorite toy (on the tennis courts)

It's a squeaky ball that has some nice sponge qualities. I got it at Safeway's (a grocery store). He loves it more than any of the treats he eats.

Cody on Vacation

Hi all, Cody will be at PlanetPooch until September 12. He's taking a much-needed break since all this obedience training and visits to work is a bit exhausting. While Cody is having a break, I'll be in Hawaii. I have created some posts for Christian to post on my behalf, so there will still be new posts while we're gone. If you miss Cody (as I definitely will), remember that you can find him every day (except weekends) on the PlanetPooch webcams.

If it's hot and sunny, he'll probably be in the purple/intergalactic room. If it's cooler (or in the mornings) he might be outside.