Re-introductions continued...

Well, I was going to do this from youngest to oldest BUT the pictures loaded up backwards and it's really hard to fix that. So now we're going from oldest to youngest. :D

Next up...

Pepper:

Pepper is now almost 14. Yes, she's my old lady for sure!! She's actually in great health, so far nothing has gone seriously wrong with her. Sure, she's got a touch of arthritis, her hearing/eyesight aren't as great, and she tends to be a bit cranky. Overall, not bad for an oldie like her. :) The one thing we're having to adjust to is the deterioration of her mind. She used to be very smart and obedient, now she tends to do strange things (like being unable to figure out how to go around a stick on our path...poor girl! Took her a few tries to realize that she could just step over it.) and doesn't seem to remember commands as well. She also is starting to wander off, so we have to keep a close eye on her when we take walks or if she's outside. All in all though, I love her to death and I hope she's around for at least another year or two. :) She's an absolute sweetheart, no one can resist her smile, and I'll be very sad to lose that.

Last but not least, we have my mom's naughty little (big, lol...he's 23 lbs!) Lhasa Apso, Dusty. He's now 2 and a half, and very very cute. To us at least. :D If you can get him to accept you (he's afraid of strangers, as well as some dogs.) you'll find that he's not only hilarious, but very personable. He "talks", huffing at you when he's mad for some reason and sneezing/grunting when he's happy. He'll make little yips and barks, too. Like I said though, he IS a bit naughty...always trying to tell us what to do, and bossing the other dogs around. We constantly have to tell him to quit giving Trev a hard time about wanting to play. He's getting better. :D His main drawback are his fears: strangers and some dogs. Part of that is that we didn't socialize him as well as we should have, and I also believe some of it is a genetic blip. A lot of puppy-mill dogs have issues like his. He tends to "guard bark" a lot too. Anytime someone he doesn't recognize right away walks in, or if a strange dog is on the property. Other than that, he's such a quirky, awesome little pup. :)

In these pics, you can see how much my grooming has improved, lol. :D

That wraps up my dogs....hopefully I'll get around to the bird and cat news later. :) God bless!

Re-introductions

Hello again everyone! I suddenly realized it's been over a year since the blogging world has heard from me, and decided that now would be a good time to re-introduce myself and my furry/scaly/feathered family members. So let me begin!

My name is Edith, animal lover and dog groomer, or professional petstylist, whichever you prefer. :D I have a total of 10 pets, not including fish. (4 aquariums total, with a few betta bowls

for good measure. :)) To further break down those 10 pets: 4 dogs, 5 birds, and one cat. Mostly, I will focus on the dogs, as they are my true (animal) passion. I'll go from youngest to oldest as I introduce them.

Trevvor:

In the last post here, I introduced you to my new p

uppy, Trev (that's his nickname, and the one he knows best) the mini poodle. As you might of guessed, he's now a mature (haha!) 15 months. Of all my dogs, Trev is the most happy-go-lucky and my true doggie love. He's so loyal and gregarious, always bouncing around with a grin (literally) on his face and not allowing me to get more than a few feet away. To all you poodle-haters out there: until you can love life and family the way a poodle does, I don't want to hear about it!! Seriously, poodles are nothing like the stereotype (whatever is, right?!). I used to hate 'em too...never again. Oh, and let's not forget the brain....poodles aren't second on the "most intelligent breeds" list for nothing. And Trev easily lives up to that good reputation. He's easily, by far, my smartest pup. Nothing escapes his attention...he watches everything I or the other dogs do. At one point, we taught our other dog, Dusty, how to "dance"..basically he just gets up on his hind legs and twirls around. So Trev was watching Dusty dance one day, then suddenly I decided to ask him to dance. He promptly got up on his hind legs and twirled around. I didn't even have to show him, he'd learned by watching!

Without further ado, here is my handsome boy. :) And yes, for those of you who might wonder,

he WAS destined to be a show dog, and I could show him if I hadn't neutered him. I'm still considering showing him UKC...but that will come later, if at all.

Next up....

Sammie:

As you may remember, I found Ms. Sammie (Samantha, if you must know.) on the side of the road in our neighborhood in 2010. She was about 8 or 9 mo then, and is now about 2 and a 1\2. I believe she's 100% Blue Lacey; if she has something else in there, it doesn't add up to much. She is probably the sweetest, most obliging dog I've ever known...her one fault? Her pea sized brain (I say it in love. :D). I'm serious, it's taken me almost two years to teach her 3 simple commands: Sit, Down, and Come.It took her 6 months alone to learn sit. We're working on heel and stay, stay is coming along nicely. Jumping is another fault of hers, she simply cannot contain her happiness!! Lol, oh well. I tell her she's lucky she's cute! Anyways, she has many good, redeeming qualities as well: if she understands what you want, she will always, almost without fail, do it. She's very very loyal and protective of us, but at the same time friendly and playful. She has muscles that even my brother envies...I'll show you some pics, she's absolutely busting at the seams! She's a hunter with a high prey drive too, we have to watch her with the cat. A couple weeks ago, she cornered a deer and killed it. Yikes....

To be continued...

Our New Addition!!

Earlier this month, I was finally able to locate a poodle puppy I would want! So, my newest pet Trevvor came to live with me last week on Monday. He is a black miniature, 11 wks old, and absolutely adorable! I love him a lot already. So far, the only problems we've had with him are a) he has Giardia and b) he barks when he's in his crate at night. The Giardia is easily remedied...he's on medication and after just two days is back to normal, maybe even better. :D The yapping is going to take time and patience. Eventually he will get it. :) Anyway, here are some pictures of him:

Big update...

Wow, it's been a long time since I wrote on here!! There is so much to tell....

Forgive me if this post sounds choppy...the pics loaded up weird, and I'm afraid I'll lose everything if I try to fix it!! ;) So bear with me.


Today I gavea couple new hair cuts...this is Pepper's first ever shave down!! don't laugh....you'll embarrass her. :D We've all made a point to tell her how beautiful she is. So far she believes us.

Here is the second haircut. Doesn't he look handsome?! His ears are getting nice and long...so pretty!! This time I really concentrated on making his legs look straight; I think it worked pretty well.


















If I look at him from the front, I can see where I missed a few "bumps", but overall it turned out well. :)

Sadly, Devin did not work out for us. :( I had to send him back to the lady that gave him to me. Here is a pic in his memory:



And now we come to his replacement. :D About a month ago, I was driving to work and picked this cutie up off the side of the road. Don't ask me what she is! We have no idea. The vet said she's about 1...maybe a little younger. My brother named her Samantha (aka Sam or Sammie). So far, she's been a great dog: loves the kids, gets along with the dogs, doesn't wander off outside, etc. Her only problems are a lack of training (easily remedied; we're starting to work on it!) and way too much energy!! None of the dogs can keep up with her, and she's never tired!! She can always go some more. :P Oh well....what can I say? She's young...in a few yrs she'll settle down. :D



























































Most of my bettas have died, and I decided not to replace them....I did set up a tank for my female bettas though, and they are all living together now. I have one male betta left....a red and blue crowntail. Maybe in the future I will try to start breeding them again; right now work has me too busy! (as you can tell...it's been ages since I was on here!!)

So I've mentioned all my dogs except one: Patsy. Actually I requested prayer for her on my other blog. She has a large tumor on her belly that continues to grow, and she's now slowed down sooo much. She can barely make it through even 1/2-1 mile walks; this is the dog that used to do 5 miles easy. She sleeps most of the time, and has started to have potty training problems. The only thing that hasn't changed is her appetite, which is a good sign. :) The day that changes is the day she needs to be put down. ;) I've never known her to turn down food! So please just pray for us...we likely only have a few more months left to be with her.

As you all know, my older parakeet Pal died...after she passed, Pippen started demonstrating strange behaviors such as latching onto the side of his cage and flipping his head between his legs. He was also starting to sit in one corner and chew at the cage. So I got him a mate; now he's normal again. :) I named the new one Locket. I don't have picks of him yet....perhaps at some point in the future. :D He's a cute bird though....yellow with different colors sprinkled over him.

I think those are the main landmarks in our "pet life". If I remember more I'll post them. :D

~E

P.S. Sorry about the weirdness going on with this post...I simply could not fix it! :P

Pics of Dusty's haircut...

These are before and after pics of Dusty and his new style...enjoy! :D

After...

Before...

Sorry, the pics uploaded backwards and the 'net is being stupid so I don't want to risk doing it again!!

~E

Dental news...

Devin went in for his teeth cleaning today! I was so happy...now I don't have to endure his breath. :D It was less then sweet, that is for sure!! He did great....I took him in at about 7:15 and picked him up at 5:45. The vet said his teeth cleaned up beautifully...she was afraid we were going to have to remove some teeth. Yeah, his teeth were ugly! I was so hoping they would be fine...after all, you really don't want a young dog to have to endure missing teeth. ;) But God was good to us and Devin and he was just fine under all the tartar. Right now, he's resting in his crate. The poor guy is so out of it from the anesthesia. When the vet tech brought him out to me he did his best to give me an excited greeting, but he just couldn't. So instead of jumping around and licking me he opted for pressing against me very hard and trying to lick me. :)

Oh, it looks like sis just let him out of his crate and he's doing much better...he actually jumped around for her. :) So he's recovering quickly. Hopefully he will be pretty much normal tomorrow.

So, there is my news for today about the pets! Until next time....

~E

Sad news :(

On Friday night at 11:30, my 9 yo parakeet, Pal, died. :'( Poor girl....I was laying in bed and suddenly heard her thrashing around in her cage. I suddenly realized I'd forgotten to give them food that morning! Yikes...well, needless to say, it was too late. She died. It wasn't completely my fault though...she was old and had been sick; and also Pippen, her mate, was fine without the food. So I know that something else was wrong with her; not having food certainly didn't help though.

I take comfort in knowing that she lived a long, happy, fairly healthy life. :) She always had lots of toys. treats, a mate...everything a 'keet loves. :D I guess it was just time for her to go. :-\ Still, it was very sad....I miss her now. I did love her an awful lot!

You can see pics of her to the left. :) She's the yellow one...

~E