Big Brother Cody

There is a new puppy that lives across the hallway. Cody and Henri have played a few times and they whine to each other when they're not together. However, when they play, Cody usually just lies down and lets Henri pull and bully him. It's nice that Cody is playing so nicely with smaller, younger dogs.

Here are some pictures of Cody and Henri:

Cody and Ruby

Cody hasn't played with Ruby in awhile, but they had a little play time today. In the past, they have played in the evenings, so it was difficult to take pictures. However, they played during the day today, so I was able to take some pictures of them wrestling.

Cody's Marathon Training Breaks

As Cody and I are training for a marathon, Cody still needs to take some breaks during the runs.

Dog Obedience from Saturday Night Live

Cody's New Collar

To represent the gambler in him, he got a new collar for his birthday last month. We hadn't gotten a chance to use it until this month.












































The dogs in the "Dogs Playing Cards" picture don't even have such stylish collars...

Cody's Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.

Although he spent a large part of the weekend with his breed, he understands that the true importance is not the fur length, body size, or fur color, but the heart and passion underneath. His dream is that Vizslas, Terriers, Boxers, Poodles, Pugs, Dachshunds, Labradors, Irish Wolfhounds, Collies, Mutts, and all other breeds can play together and drink together at the same water fountain at the dog park. Right now, there is a divided fence between big dogs and little dogs, but maybe one day, everyone can all learn to get along.

At the end of this long, thoughtful, and busy weekend, Cody took the time to rest and get warm in the middle of an unusually cold Northern California day.

 

Cody's weekend

Apparently this weekend has been tied up with Cody-related events. Yesterday morning, Cody and I went running on a hiking trail with another Viszla-owner and Vizsla. Cody had a blast running around off-leash, bouncing in and out of bushes. The downside is that the trail had poison oak and some ticks. Luckily, we were able to pick off all the ticks, and he didn't have any poison oak that rubbed off on me. The crazy thing is that it was so cold that when I got back to the car at 8:30 (in the morning), the sweat on my hair was frozen in clumps. Cody didn't seem to mind the cold as he had too much fun.

In the afternoon (after Cody had slept all day from the 1.5 hour run), we met a bunch of Vizsla owners at Gunn high school. There were 11 other Vizslas and Cody had so much fun. I brought his favorite squeaky ball that he showed off to all his new friends. He was willing to share it once in awhile, but the ball always ended up back in his mouth. Even though he had seemed tired after the morning run, he had enough energy to play with everyone for another hour and a half.

Cody slept all day today, so I got the chance to run some errands. I had made a playdate for Cody with a new friend of his, Suki. Suki is just a couple of months older than Cody, and they seem to get along. Suki is much more obsessed with birds, and loves to swim after them, but they like to run together and wrestle slightly. We went to the Campbell Dog Park and the Percolation Ponds so that they can run off-leash freely. I know that I should be taking pictures, so I'll make sure I bring my camera during the next play date.

Cody's First Vizsla Play Date


The Vizsla owners in the South Bay all got together at the Campbell Dog Park and the Percolation Ponds. I've never seen so many Vizslas in one place! (there were about 15 Vizslas - including two 13 week old puppies!). It was a good thing that everyone had different collars because it was hard to tell which dog was which. It was also nice to see that other Vizslas were as bratty as Cody. Here is a picture of a few of the dogs in and around the water. Cody had tried to swim, but as this was his second time swimming, he flailed quite a bit. This didn't stop him from going in the shallow area though.

When we were first at the park, I was worried that he didn't like the other Vizslas since he was playing with other breeds. Once all the Vizsla owners took their vizslas on an off-leash walk, Cody quickly bonded with his kind. Since we got back, he has been sleeping non-stop. I'm excited when I know Cody's had so much fun that he gets tuckered out.

How I spent Saturday Morning

I woke up at 9am to make sure Cody had a run in before I had to meet my trainer at 10. If he doesn't get enough sleep, he's usually pretty lazy and I have to really convince him to get out of bed. While I was calling him to take him morning potty break, I saw him slink out of the bedroom door and just lie there. Him being him, I naturally assumed he was just being bratty and disobedient. When I tried to coax him to stand, he turned over on his back instead. I was finally able to convince him to get up and that's when I noticed that he was limping. The weird thing is, he was completely fine yesterday night before we went to bed.

This is when I decided he had a leg cramp. I didn't think that dogs would have leg cramps. Usually, I get it because I didn't consume my share of potassium. I would think that since I give him good dog food, he would have all his essential vitamins and minerals covered. Then again, he did have diarrhea for a week so he could have not absorbed what he needed to absorb. Anyways, instead of running, I ended up spending that 45 minutes massaging his leg. The problem with massaging a dog is that you don't get immediate feedback. I'm still not entirely sure exactly where the cramp was (since he never yelped ), but it's possible it was the groin area of his back left leg since he would turn his head when I was massaging that area.

All in all, I think the massage worked. By the time I left, he was only limping slightly. When I got home, he was jumping up and down on his hind legs so he must have healed. Anyways, it was a big learning for me as I never thought dogs could actually get leg cramps. Now I wonder if Cody is ever sore from long runs like I am sometimes.

(Sorry I haven't been writing much. Lots of work to catch up on, and since Cody had diarrhea for a week and only recently got better, we're both trying to catch up on sleep as well)

Ruby, not Diamond is a Cody's Best Friend

Cody loves Ruby. Unlike Molly, Ruby likes Cody too. Awhile ago, Cody and Ruby ran around the pool area of the apartment complex a few times. Now, every day, Cody will pull towards the pool area when we get home. If I bypass the pool area and go straight home, he will sit by the door and whine until I let him go out and check out the pool area to see if Ruby is there.

Ruby and her owner live on the opposite side of the complex, but they come over since the pool is close to my apartment. On the rare occasions when I pass Ruby's apartment (Cody has only been there 3 times in his whole life), Cody will pull towards the apartment and sit at her doorstep until I knock to see if Ruby can play.

It's really nice to see them both play. Ruby and Tina are very similar in that they both are pretty aggressive and wrestle a lot with Cody. Although Cody is a runner at heart, his short attention span means he likes to alternate between running, wrestling, and playing keep-away. Cody missed Ruby while he was at PlanetPooch last week, but since he still whines at the door and pulls me towards the pool area when we go home, he did not forgot her.

Cody, the Diarrhea King

I picked up Cody from PlanetPooch a couple of weeks ago. He was super skinny and was anxious to eat. I happened to start him on a new dog food (Authority Harvest from PetsMart) that same day. Since that day, he has had diarrhea. I don't think he had it at PlanetPooch since his first elimination at home was solid. For the week following, he still had diarrhea. After a few days, when I started him on bland food, he had improved, but then I found him eating a bag of the new food on the counter and his diarrhea came back. It took about a week for Cody to get over it and I'm glad that it was just a food allergy. I'm still not sure what ingredient in the food he's allergic too, but we're back on Nutro Ultra and Cody's stool is great.

Bland diet: After much research, most sites recommended trying a home remedy for awhile before taking the dog to the vet. I had scheduled an appt for 10 days after Cody's first bout. I figured it would be good to have someone check it in case it didn't get better. Here was the diet that Cody had: boiled chicken, rice, cottage cheese, and yogurt. Honestly, he loved his bland diet because it was so much more tasty than his regular food (well, at least he loved the chicken part). I used about a half cup each for all the ingredients (but a whole cup of rice). I fed him twice a day. Honestly, I think he would have gotten better at the same rate if I just switched him back to his old dog food immediately. However, in case the diarrhea was due to some other issue, it was good to have him have the bland diet just in case.

Happy New Year!

Cody's Resolutions:

1) Stop barking, even in play
2) Stop pulling on the leash
3) Stop jumping
4) Coming when called (even when there are other distractions)
5) Learning to use the treadmill
6) No begging when people are eating food
7) Fetching and COMING BACK with the ball
8) Find a treat that is so yummy that the chance to eat one outweighs any other distractions
9) Start agility class
10) Learn to write blog posts and answer emails