Catching Up

Junie hanging by mom's desk

Everyone has been sick around here.  Mom, one of the Girls, the Littlest Boy was taken to the ER the other night with something wrong with his eye.  It looked like it hurt a lot.

Tis the season mom says.

I'm healthy.

Mom says I've put on a couple of pounds.  I noticed that some of my clothes weren't fitting right.  The Velcro would completely pop open or mom couldn't get it fastened.  Mom said I weighed 6 lbs when I came to live with them and she thinks I am up to 8 or so now.  She said we'll know for sure what I weigh after my next vet visit.  She gave most of my clothes away on reuseit to another couple of dogs that wanted to stay warm in the snow.  She held on to my dresses hoping she could fix them so they'd fit me again but then decided she'd just get me new dresses.  She gave those to the chihuahua upstairs though she doesn't really look like she'd fit into them.  Her mom said she weighs 3 lbs right now and isn't going to get a lot bigger.  And I thought I was small.

With the cold weather I've been taking off to use the girls' room instead of going outside.  I know it frustrates mom but it's soooooo cold out there.  She takes me out and we stand and we stand and we stand and look at it each other.  After 10 minutes she decides I'm not going to go.  We come in, she watches me, and watches me, and watches me.  When she finally takes her eyes off of me I sneak into the girls' room.  She knows when the girls yell, MOM!  Junie pooped in our room.  Tattletales.

Mom's been taking me out every hour but man, I hate the snow.  I have a puppy pad on the porch but it's still cold.  I cannot wait until the snow melts and I can go back out on the grass again.

Other than that, it's been more of the same.  I've been spending a lot of time barking lately now that I found my voice.  Mom laughs when I actually think there's a threat and I bark from under that.  She doesn't laugh when I'm barking at midnight from the safety of my bed.  She's afraid that the neighbors will call the apartment manager or that I will wake up one of the kids but I can't help it.  When I hear something I have to let everyone know.  You never know what it could be.  Isn't that what every good dog does?

On the plus side, my ear infection seems to be gone finally.  Mom has been using Vet's Best Ear Relief Wash & Dry and giving me acidophilus.  Huge difference.  No smelly ears.  No major licking.  No tilting my head from side to side.  I feel much better.

We're going to get to work tweeting out some news stories about animals.  If you aren't following me on Twitter yet, please do.  I'm @Junie_Be.

Junie says to check out - Housetraining For Dummies

What Is This White Stuff?

Junie And The Oldest Girl

Mom says that it's snow.  I don't think I have ever stepped in snow before. (Puppy mill dog, remember?  Lived in a cage for years.)  It snowed for the first time the other day.  Real snow.  Not just the flurries that wetted down the grass and made me not want to step in it.  A whole bunch of it that covered the grass, covered the porch, covered everywhere I like to go when I go outside.  So not thrilled.

Mom shoveled a spot on the porch and put a puppy pad out there so I wouldn't have to go out into the snow to do my thing but I didn't like that either for the first few days.  I snuck off to the girls' room and did it in there.  Mom was persistent though and kept taking me out and putting me on the puppy pad.  She kept a good eye on me, saying Junie.....every time she saw me heading to the girls' room.  I can't help myself, when she says my name I have to stop what I'm doing and go to her.  It's a trick I tell you.  She says my name then she would scoop me up and put me on that puppy pad outside.  It was so cold out.  It still is.  I finally gave in and started using the puppy pad.  Then I started sneaking off behind the grill to go in the rocks on the porch.  She'd stop me by just saying my name again and I'd head back to the pad.

After a few days of this, I did start investigating that cold white stuff.

Junie investigating the snow for the first time

I'm not saying I like it but I found it it was safe to run around in for a few seconds to get a little exercise.  Then I jet towards the door and hope someone opens it quickly so I don't have to sit around in the cold and wait for them to open it.  I have found it's safe to go out in it after it's been packed down by the kids running around in it.  If I venture out into the fluffier stuff, I sink.

Sinking is not cool.  It makes my tummy cold and wet.  I don't like to be cold and wet.

I also found a new sleeping spot at night.  My bed is right beside my mom's bed, but she finally moved it after I insisted on sleeping up against this long white thing that blows out hot air in her room.  She moved my bed in front of it so I could sleep near the hot air but not against it.  She said she was worried it would be too hot for me.  She checked it multiple times and it doesn't get so hot that it burns you, but she still worries about me being right up against it.

It feels so good though.  It's enough to have my bed up next to it.  I stay warm all night long.  I'd be warmer if she'd let me sleep in her bed next to her but she says that's too dangerous.  The youngest boy sleeps in bed with mom and dad and he flails a lot at night.  She's afraid he would kick me.

We're supposed to get more of that white stuff in the next couple of days. I think I'll just lay in my bed up against that white thing and hibernate like the bears do.  Mom said she is all for it.

Junie Says To Check Out: Earth Friendly Products Ice Melt (because it's safe for dogs)

Success With The Cold

Junie - about as relaxed as a dog can get

I know I have been complaining a lot about the cold lately but I think I had a breakthrough.

All day yesterday my mom thought I was holding it because of the rain and cold.  Little did she know (well, she knew later because one of The Girls told on me) that I was sneaking off to the comfort of The Girls' warm room to do my business.

She took me to the pet store in the early afternoon to buy my food and something she calls puppy pads.

She put one of those pads on the porch and told me to Go Potty.  I sniffed at it.  Why would I potty there?  I sat on it.  It was warmer than the cement.

She kept watching me and watching me and taking me out and taking me out.  Finally to make her happy I went a little on the puppy pad.  The next time she took me out, I went on the cement under the air conditioner.  If she thought I was going to go out in that cold wet grass, she had another thought coming.

Last night I had to go.  I got all antsy because she had shut The Girls' door.  She took me out.  We stood there for 15 minutes.  Me looking at her and her looking at me.  We went back in.  She took me out again.  Same thing.  And again.  And again.  Until I finally tip toed into the grass and did what she wanted me to.  I was not happy about it.

Junie burying into her blankets to get warm after a bath.

This morning she took me out and I ran to the puppy pad and went.  I still had to do the other but it was freezing.  She took me out again and I ran to the rocks and did what I had to do.

Not so bad.  As long as I don't have to touch the grass and get my paws wet I think I'm ok with the rocks.  Mom said the landlord might not be thrilled with it, but since she follows me out with a bag, I say what they don't know what hurt any of us.

Junie again after her bath

I think, if I go really really fast when she lets me out, that I won't have to hibernate this winter.  I'd hate to miss out on all the fun with my family by sleeping it away.

Junie says to check out: Nature's Miracle Quick Results Training Pads

That's the kind my mommy got me.

It Is Official. I Am Going To Hibernate.

Junie Bee could have her belly rubbed all day

I don't think I went outside much at the puppy mill. I don't remember seeing all this cold and wet and yucky stuff outside before in my life.  I told you the other day that I wasn't crazy about the frost on the ground.  Today when my mommy opened up the sliding glass door I took one look outside and turned right around.  I hopped up in my basket and gave her a look that I thought meant, are you crazy?

Obviously she couldn't read my look.

She picked me up and took me to the porch and said, go potty Junie.

I don't see her stepping off the porch into the cold freezing rain.

I walked back to the door and sat.  Shivering.

She said, Junie, you have to go potty.

I stuck my face up to the door.

She must have gotten the hint that I was not going to go out and get wet and cold.  At least I thought she did.  She picked me up and took me inside.  Then she went out the front door.  Ok, we're good.  Still a roof over our heads.  Then she opened up the big door that leads to the outside.  She sat me down on the sidewalk and said go potty Junie.

That's how I felt about that.  There was no way I was going out in that cold wet stuff.  Nuh-uh.

A man opened the door and looked at my mom.  Then he looked at me and started grinning.  My mom smiled and said, she doesn't want to go potty because it's too cold and rainy.  They had a little laugh and he went off to work.

I don't think it's funny.

After a few moments out there, I realized she was not going to take me back in until I went.  I gingerly picked my way through the stone border in front of the bushes, taking care to stay under the edge of the roof so I wouldn't get wet, and went potty.

Happy?

Not quite.  She said she's going to keep taking me out until I do the other.  No pooping on the carpet she says.

I say pooh on her.  It's cold.

She brought me inside and gave me a good belly rub.  I love having my belly rubbed.  I live for having my belly rubbed.  Then she held me for a long time until I was nice and warm again.

She's going to take me back out.  I know it.

It's too cold out.

She's not sure whether to put one of my raincoats on me so I don't get wet or my winter coat so that I stay warm.  I say neither and we stay inside.

She said it's going to snow overnight, but it's supposed to be just a little.  I should be ok going out to potty in the morning.

Sometimes I think that woman is crazy.

But I love her.

Junie says to check out: Fashion Pet Quilted Dog Parka

Can We Fly South For The Winter?

Junie says the cold is for the birds - the birds disagree.

My mommy took me out to go potty this morning and there was this white cold stuff on the ground.  Mommy said it wasn't snow, it was frost.  I say, I don't know what snow is, but if it's worse than the frost stuff, I'm going the bear route and hibernating for the winter.

When we went out, I bounded out the door like I always do.  When I hit the grass with the frost, I stopped.  I looked at my mommy.  I don't like this.  I gingerly, yet quickly, found my favorite spot to go, went, and jumped onto the cement block border that goes in front of the bushes.  Mommy was wondering if that was all I had to do.  I sniffed around the cement, then went to the sidewalk, no frost there! My mommy said, Junie are you done?  She started laughing when I went from the sidewalk to the cement block border, to the porch, all with out touching the grass again.

She thinks it's funny.  I'd like to see her go out barefoot on the frost.  She had shoes on. I'm a Chinese Crested, I don't have much hair on my feet.  She promised me that she has new boots coming, they were shipped the other day.  The other boots she bought me were way too big and personally, I think bells are for cats.  I don't need little jingly bells following behind me when I'm trying to go.

When we came inside, I hopped up into my daytime napping spot, my basket with all the pillows and fleece blankets piled up. I sat there shivering, hoping she'd get the point.  She did.  She went and got me another fleece blanket and tucked me into my "bed".

I don't plan on going out again.  I'll hold it.

My mommy said she disagrees, I have to go out.  She said if the littlest boy didn't like to play in his own diaper if she doesn't get it off fast enough, she'd get me a puppy pad for the house when it's cold out, but she thinks he will play with that too.

Ew.  I don't even play with poo.  I don't know why he thinks it's so much fun.

Here's a few stories that I tweeted out yesterday that I felt were important:

Chicken Hatchery Hell (Graphic) - Agriculture at it's worst.  We're not vegetarians over here (obviously, I'm a dog), but I've heard my mommy tell people that she has trouble eating meat because of things like this.  She tries to buy only products that were made by companies that treat their animals without cruelty.  It's hard though unless someone is behind the scenes like this.  She's thought about going vegetarian, and she's still thinking about doing it for herself.  She doesn't think daddy would go along with it for the entire family though. This kind of story really bothers her and it bothers me too.  No animal should ever be treated like this, even if it's going to end up as food. :(

Wayne Pacelle Clears Up Misconceptions over Prop B in Missouri - I'm not quite sure how people would misunderstand the law.  It seems clear cut.  But, some people like to twist and deceive for their own good.  It's why I'm glad I'm a dog.  What is.... is.  Black - white.  No need for deception.

Woman to Stand Trial For Cruelty - Cages stacked on top of each other. Flea infested dogs.  Feces. 

Berglund-Fosdick said the paralyzed dog, which was euthanized, had thick, wrinkled and cracked skin that she compared to an elephant, and had suffered chronic fungal disease as well as a raw abdomen from urine.

Sadly, it sounds like what I grew up in.  Except I wasn't paralyzed.  Just had my jaw broken and never fixed.  I made it out.  He didn't. Some did.  They all need saved.

Ohio Teen Beats Baby Alpaca To Death - All I can say is why?  What did that little baby do to deserve that?  Same as the rest of us who were abused.  Nothing.

Burned Puppy Ready For Adoption - Go out and find your forever home little guy!  May your life be full of love and adoration. You deserve it.

More Abandoned Dogs Found Dead - I understand forgetting your pillow, maybe a box of silverware when you move, but your dog?

Animal Abuse Leads To Violent Behavior Against Humans - Really?  You just now realized that the kid who thinks it's funny to put a cat in the microwave on defrost might just grow up to be a serial killer?

Ban On Pet Sales Would Reduce Puppy Mills - Another no brainer to me.  Most pet stores get their puppies/kittens from mills.  No live animal sales in pet stores would obviously lead to a reduction in puppy mills.  Supply and demand.  No demand, no need for the supply.  I like the way the pet store here does it with cats and dogs. They are all rescued animals that need adopted.  Now if they'd stop selling the other animals....

Junie says to check out:  PAWZ Disposable Reusable Boots - 12 Pack Small in Red

(Those aren't the ones I have coming, but mommy says she's ordering me some of these too.  She's heard good things about them keeping dogs' paws dry.)

Dogs Get Stage Fright Too

Junie Enjoying The Final Warm Days Before Snow

You thought my mom was going to start showing me and that I didn't want to do it.

It's true, I have no ambition to be a show dog.  My mommy has no ambition for me to be anything but what I already am either.

No.  I'm talking about last night.  My mommy had to take the oldest boy to the ER.  His stomach was cramping up really bad and she was worried about his appendix.  You can read more about that on her blog. So you don't worry, he's ok.  He had the stomach flu.

My stage fright came in to play when the daddy tried to take me out to go to the bathroom.  Turns out I will only go to the bathroom when my mommy takes me out.  I won't go for the kids either.  My daddy took me out and said, go potty Junie just like mommy does.  I'm shy though.  I don't do my business in front of just anyone.  He stood there and stood there.  I sat there and sat there.  We went back in the house.

It was a little windy out.

He tried again.  Out the door and go potty Junie.  He stood there and stood there.  I sat there and sat there.  He finally called my mommy and said, Junie won't pee.  She said, what do you want me to do from the emergency room?  She told him just to watch for signs that I had to go.

When she (FINALLY) got home at 1 I was so excited to see her!  I jumped up, pawing at her legs, trying to tell her, I have to go!  I have to go!

She took me outside, I did my business, and we went right back in.  I was out a total of 45 seconds.

We walked in and my daddy said, did she go?  Mommy said, yep.  She just doesn't like you to watch her go to the bathroom.

:)

It's true.

This morning, I have an upset stomach.  I haven't eaten yet.  I started to feel funny.  I sat up and started smacking my lips.  My mommy looked at me and said, Junie?  Junie what's wrong?  I didn't have time to try to tell her.  I threw up over the side of my bed.

I hadn't eaten yet today.  I don't really work up an appetite until 11 or so in the morning.  It was just stomach acid.

Mommy got worried.  She cleaned it up then called my vet.  The vet said that dogs get upset tummies just like people do.  If it's only the one time just to watch me.  If it happens again, bring me in to be seen.

I hope I feel better soon.  I don't like having a tummy ache.

 Junie says to check out: Gastri-Soothe Digestive Support Formula For Dogs, 60 Chewable Tablets

Being Housetrained as an Adult Dog

Junie and one of The Girls

It's not easy trying to figure out where I can go to the bathroom in a new place.  For so long I just had to go where I was in the crate at the puppy mill.
Then my foster mommy rescued me and she said I was doing so good!  I only had one accident a week or so.
Then I moved to live with my new family and had to start over again.
My new mommy takes me out a lot, but she didn't think I was really going enough.  She didn't see any poop in the house and though, maybe that's just how tiny dogs are.
The boy in the room down the (living room) hall had been cleaning up my messes in his room without telling my mommy.  He's kind of cool like that.  He didn't want me to get in trouble.
He didn't give my mommy enough credit though.  She understands what I've been through and that change is hard.  She knew that I wouldn't automatically know where I was supposed to go at and that she would have to teach me.
One night she was talking to my daddy about me not going very much.  She was wondering if she should take me to the vet for a check up, just in case.  The boy said, mom, I know why Junie is pooping much outside.  She's been pooping in my room and she just did it again.
My mommy went in to look.  She came out and wasn't even mad.  She just went and got some paper towels and the bird cage cleaner she uses (she said it says it cleans up dog urine too) and cleaned up all the spots The Boy pointed to.  Then she shut the door and told The Boy that he needed to keep his door shut when he wasn't in it.
Since that day I've only had one accident inside.  Mommy said that was her fault.  You see, before, I would wake her up at 6.  One morning, I woke her up at 5.  She thought I just wanted up in bed.  She laid me back down in my bed and helped me go to sleep by rubbing my belly.  (There is nothing I love more than a good belly rub!)  When she got up at 7 to get the kids off to school she found a little present in The Boy's room on the floor.
Now when I wake her up at 5 she listens.  I've learned that even though I can't get up on their huge bed by myself, if I stand up with my paws on it and make really high pitch noises that she will get out of bed right away, hurry up and put a coat on me, and take me outside. Speaking of the coat, I HATE wearing clothes when I have to go potty.  I shake and shake and shake until my mommy takes it off, then I hurry up and do my business.  I know she's worried I will get cold, but how am I supposed to do what I have to do when I have clothes on?
One thing that is confusing to me is that she tells me to Go Potty when we are outside.  I'm starting to understand what Go Potty means.  But, if I'm only supposed to Go Potty outside, why do The Girls say that all the time.  I'm not sure what Mom, I have to means, but I know Go Potty.  I heard mommy telling daddy that The Girls need to say I have to go to the bathroom instead of I have to Go Potty because it might be confusing to me.  I think she's right.
Do you think those girls Go Potty too?  I never see them go outside to do it?  Hmmmm.

Junie says to check out: Iris Medium Floor Protection Tray for Pet Training Pads