Happy New Year, in 5-4-3-2--

[Goodbye, 2009!]

[2010, Still All Tangled Up]

December Wrapup

December Wrapup

Emily is relaxing and resting her head on my foot. It seems like a good moment to pound the keyboard and post a brief recap of the Emily universe.


- First 4 weeks of puppyhood. You should know that puppies generally do not have bladder control during their first 4 months, so you have to take them out to potty just about every hour. This means essentially no sleep for the humans.

- Spaying - for a month afterwards, you have to be extremely careful with the dog because she will try to lick at the surgery incision which could open up the wound again.

- Sickness - Emily became sick for a week. Small dogs are often finicky eaters so they don't have fat reserves to depend on when they get sick and aren't hungry. The Vet had to give Emily special liquid food to get her weight back up. Now we try to keep Emily a bit on the plumper side of life so she will have a bit of breathing room if she becomes sick again - not so easy because she is finicky.

- 12 weeks of dog class - we both have read the books on raising dogs, but it's good to see how fast the training should go by comparing to other dogs in the class. You also get a good idea of what can and can not be taught to a dog.

- Teaching Emily the critical commands: Sit, Potty, Come, Down, Stay, and No. The key is consistency in the command (both verbal and hand motion) and the reward - say the command in the exact same way each time and always give the dog a reward (i.e. a food treat) when she does the action. For me, Emily would do Potty #1, Sit, and Down on command. She would also stop whatever she was doing if I said No.

- Learning to walk correctly on a leash. This was quite an adventure. Small dogs often have weak necks for their first 6 months while they are growing up. So, most good books will suggest using a harnass or a Halti, which are devices which focus the control to other parts of the dog instead of the neck. The problem with using a harness is that it also teaches the dog that its OK (and even fun) to pull on the leash. Around month 8, Emily could correctly walk using an adult collar and leash nicely. I highly recommend Brian Kilcommons' book for help on the right technique for leash walking.

- One of the dreams of having a dog is to be able to walk with the dog (on a leash) down a crowded street or hall. This is much harder to do than one might initially think because a shopping street will have thousands of interesting smells and sounds and colors and people and in general things to get distracted by. A dog which can walk on a crowded shopping street or department store and behave in a calm manner is a very well trained dog. Around month 9, Emily was able to do this and we were very happy we could take her on shopping trips.

- Emily is also protective of the house. Anytime a stranger walks in, she will be a good little guard dog and bark up a storm until we show that we are OK with the stranger and she gets treats. Note that she doesn't bite, but she is a good alarm.

- Right now, Emily is very happy, playful, affectionate and fully potty and leash trained. She has a mixture of Orijin kibble and chicken for meals.

- For 2010, we will work on the other commands (i.e. Stay), see if there is a safe way for her to play with other dogs. Also, we'll replace the small (1 foot high) trashcans - Emily seems to think that anything within 1 foot from the floor is her domain.

The Great Snow of '09

Sorry for the blackout -- M. was in the US for a week, and H. had the Internet off for work and sanity. That got to be a habit.

In luddite news, H. hand-stitched Emily's new fleece underwear (to go under her coats and cover her belly and chest). So, blackout over. Because it SNOWED. Yay!

[No Secret: The EmBunny LOVES Snow]


[She Chases Other Dogs and their Mommies]


[She Chases Kids]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Scotland's answer to Gandalf?]

Also, H. got a B-day package from home (thanks, Mom& Dad!!! everything's wonderful!)

Emily's clothes were a big hit! Except with Emily, of course. She tucked her tail and hid under the coffee table.

(11/26, 10pm)

[101 reasons I love Korea: sequin trimmed faux-fur doggy clothes]

(11/27, 10 am)

[And she sulked this morning too]

[Boo! Grandma, you're related to Mommy, aren't you?]

This one is for you

I can't stop smiling!

Barkety bark bark bark

Emily barks ... a LOT. Half the day, I'm running down the stairs to shush her.

And barking at other dogs walking by is not an excuse. Sometimes she mistakes the ducks waddling along the road for dogs.

[Sure looked like dogs to me.]

Happy Birthday Bundley!!!

[A little fuzzy, a little shaggy, Emily is a whole 1 year old today!]

--
(more to follow)

Princess Crankypants

Emily, after being neglected by Mommy, runs to have quality time with Daddy:

[Yay, snuggles]

Yes, that's a 4.1kg puppy, there. Mommy laughed at how big she is now. And woke her up with the sound of the camera.

[Wah? Who? Where? Chicken?]

[Princess Crankypants]

Jailbreak Puppy

As time goes on, M. and H. are learning the vicissitudes of 'dogality' -- dog personality. Emily's a right weirdo.
Example: she likes to scratch and sniff walls. (read: lick)

[Shawshank Puppy: Behind that poster of Rita Hayworth's Fuzzy Bikini is a world made of dreams....]

So, we put cardboard up against it. Nothing doing. She'll scratch and dig at the cardboard until she reaches the wall, then scratches and digs some more.

[What? This is normal!]

I don't have the heart to tell Emily that she'll only end up in our neighbor's house.

[Sleep to dig another day]

Static Puppy!

[What do you mean they go up?]

Emily thinks every soft surface belongs to puppies. Even if they're winter curtains.

[Mommy, does my hair look funny?]

Rose Slips

After 4 months, the second rose bloomed. I don't want to malign Canon (it's more likely my defunct photo skills) but the pictures don't do this one justice:

Perfect!

Bumily's doing fine. She's static. More later. ~~

Dog Sonar

H&M are talking in the kitchen when they are interrupted by high pitched dog sonar.
So, why is the little white dog whining?

[Wah! Beary fell off the chair. Pick him up for me, Mommy!]

Energizer Puppy

First, the roses. It's been over 3 months since we planted the slips, and each cutting has two huge extra shoots and a bud each.

[any day now]

Bunily also discovered napping on Daddy:

But don't let the snoozing convince you otherwise. Emily's the Energizer Puppy. Today, after two walks of 1 hour each, morning and evening, and one mini walk of 20 minutes in between (cut short because she got gooey poo all over her bum), Emily came home for a game of Crazy Fetch:

[Jump!]

Buttnaps and Books and Bread

Mommy cut herself off from the Internet during the day to work, but Bumily's been a busy puppy.

Cute puppies can nap anywhere and get away with it. Guess what's my new pillow!

[Don't lose weight, Mommy. Cushy, tee hee]

And we can has three blankies.

[Good for hiding]

Emily hangs with Beary a lot 'cause he's cool.

[and he's into twine bondage]

Mommy hid the penis up on the top shelf 'cause of the yucko smell.

Emily took it out on the books.

This isn't a book, Mommy!

Oh, and Mommy made bread. Emily had some too by being really cute.

[Pretty tasty]

Just wait till you see how much the roses have grown!

Bulle Pezen & Emily, Savage Hunter

H. received e-mails from friends who Googled "bully sticks." Yes, they're dried bull penises, not "tendons." Aunty Fr asked if H. would still buy them.

The only change was that for a full day (and maybe longer) H. couldn't stop saying BULL PENIS at all times.

"Emily, would you like your BULL PENIS?"
"Emily, you stink like BULL PENIS!"
"Emily, behave, or I'll take away the BULL PENIS!"

(et cetera, et cetera)


[Warning: Adult Content Humor in Euphemisms]

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*
*
*

Uncle Shaggy thought it was too mean to make Emily engage in what he thought was a particular "grownup activity." H. wants him to know that if that's what he thinks it is: "DUDE, YOU'RE DOING IT WAY WRONG."

Caligula is not yer homeboy.

*
*
*

*

[/Joke Over]

The words B--- P--- are now forbidden in this household.
*kicks dirt*
Daddy's such a tyrant.

We leave you with Emily vs. the Biscuit. Watch how she teases and baits her prey (or the other way around).

The Low Down on Dog Treats

H. has found out something so disturbing and nauseating about Emily's favorite chewie treat.

Go look up what "bully sticks" are made of. H. will post the answer tomorrow, when her head stops spinning.

Three Seats in Every Room

This is Emily's chair. Sadly, it has a non-removable cover and we can't wash it, ergo, it's very very stinky.

[Like Good Stinky?]

Sometimes, M. claims it to wrangles her Nibs for eye-gunk cleaning. Otherwise, it's Emily's own place. (besides the mattress, three cushions, 2 boxy sofa cushions, her crate, a hidey box, and 2 blankies spread out around the house)

[Nappy Time]

Letter to Uncle Shaggy

Dear Uncle Shaggy,

Mommy wanted me to tell you that I poo'ed the earplugs out, so we're out of the woods.
She wanted to take a picture and name them Uncle Shaggy's Poo Plugs, in your honor, but Daddy said no. He said, you can do without that Happy.

loves loves loves,

Emily Wemily

ps,

I also chewed up her headphone+mic, just for you.

News Flash!

Emily ate H.'s earplugs again! (remember the last time?)
We're still waiting for the plug shaped poo.

Spy Dog Deluxe

Weather's getting chillier, so H. laid out the blankie for Emily's spying activities.

[Water, check, Bearie, check]

[And it's Play Time!]

[Spying is Hard Work!]

Chicken Jerky for Dogs

Homemade, too!
I used the recipe at Recipezaar, but had to tweak it.

First, pre-heat the oven to 100 C
- We started with 3 chicken breasts fresh out of the package, not frozen
- cut them into strips, parallel to the grain (makes them more chewy)
- lay them out on a baking sheet.
- I skipped the garlic powder, as it's on the toxic list for dogs in large quantities (but Emily's a teeny dog)
- the recipe says cook at 100 C for 2-2.5 hours
- but I had to keep it in the oven for 6.5 hours. It was just watery at 2 hours.
- that might be due to oven differences, as this one's electric (with a ceramic stovetop)

After 6.5 hours:

(No, all those strips didn't just disappear. I put away the rest.)

There was a lot of water, and it hit the oven door and dripped into a puddle down outside the oven. A dripping pan under the baking sheets would be a good idea.

500 grams of chicken breast yields 180 grams of jerky. Not too shabby, and no preservatives or coloring either. Yay! This should last her about 10 days.


[ETA] 2nd try was much easier.
An oven pan caught the dripping, and putting the fan on reduced cooking time to 4 hours.


(I hid one in a box that used to contain really nice Oolong tea -- a present from one of M.'s grad students from China. )

[Emily NEEDS Treaties!]

Dry Day

Aaak!
H. and Emily come back from a long walk that included:

1) huge gloppy poo that stuck to her butt
2) wet muddy paws and legs
3) and a muddy stomach from running around in a rain drenched field,

to find that CRUD, today the building's going through a routine pipe and drainage check, and water is off until 5pm. (we'd been warned a week ago, but it was in Dutch, and I forgot. Shoot)

Drat. And I'd given Emily lots of dirty romping time, thinking she'd get a half bath afterwards. I used up a dozen diaper wipes instead, and it still feels icky, all around.

Will post on homemade chicken jerky tomorrow then.

!Hijacked!

We now interrupt this Puppy Blog, to bring you sightings of THE ADVERSARY.
(tee hee. Mommy's been reading too many back-to-back issues of Fables)

H. goes running to shush Emily when she starts barking in the patio. (note: wiki says Malteses are the most dumped dog breed in Australia because of yappiness. *sads*) Usually it's other dogs, though H. is very red-facedwhen our cute puppy is barking at little kids. Sometimes it's nothing. Then again, what does Mommy know?

The tree is ten meters away from the edge of our patio. H. used the zoom lens to find out.

[Do you see what I see?]

[Nya nya, spy cats]

[That Cat's Mocking Me, Mommy!]

Honeybun and I went out to check later. No cats were left stuck in the big tree, no worries.

Rose Rustling

[The lower shoots are all new]

The slips (or cutting) are 10 weeks old now, and I transplanted them into larger pots for the fall. The new shoots are coming along nicely. (I didn't shake all the dirt off to see the roots while transplanting, but what did show was pretty stable)

[Needs to grow into the pot some more]

*

This is before I trimmed Emily's face on Saturday:[Hairy faces fit in everything]

Puppy cut, after:
[Mommy scalped me]

Of course, after she got a bath, and we realized the sheer critical extent of her matting, I ended up shaving half the fur off her left hind leg. H. really has to sit squirmy puppy down every evening and run a brush through her, no matter how bitey Emily is.

*

At the tail end of today's walk, H&M spotted some other dog's dried up poo, attracting 3 dozen flies in the corner of the parking lot. We go, "Oh Yuck, some people" and walk on, not realizing for 1 whole minute that the reason Emily's not following us, is that she's stopped and EATEN IT ALL UP.

OH YUCK.
When I washed her mouth and paws in the sink, her burp smelled like farts. heh.

Favorite Toy:

(besides Bunny, that is)
Anything Mommy Doesn't Want Me to Tear Up... today, it's... A Ball of Yarn!

Emily stole it out of the basket.

[Yikes! Mommy's spotted me! Maximum Carnage Ahoy!]

[Nyum Nyum Nyum Nyum!]

Favorite Sushi: Toilet Roll

Pretending to bark at blackbirds, Emily tricked me by turning around and running off with fallen toilet roll (used for picking up her poo in the patio).

[Nyam Nyam Nyam! My Domain!]

Wanderlust

Emily's Message to the World, Saturday Edition:

[I'm not coming out of this bag until you take me somewhere nice, not the VET]

[What? You knit a two-tone guard and then sewed it on the opening, so I couldn't jump out of the doggy-carrier, Mommy? Yum!]