A note about Poppy

It's been over three months since Poppy joined our household and here are some interesting facts about her.

• When Poppy came to live with us, her coat was very coarse compared to Jinx.  I just chalked it up to her genetics.  Today her coat is much, much softer.  It's amazing what a good diet and regular grooming will do to a dogs coat.
• She loves to sleep with one of her back legs sticking out underneath her.  It's really cute.
• Just recently she started lying on her back. Jinx always did that but not Poppy.  The other day I reached down to pet her belly and she rolled on to her back as she wagged her tail.  She's learning to trust us.  
• She doesn't always jump on furniture, she sometimes climbs on it.  Also a very funny thing to witness.
• Her bark is not as mean sounding as Jinx's.  It's a funny little bark.  I will try to capture her barking one day (not that we encourage that behaviour).
• Poppy is scared of thunder.  We had a bad thunderstorm a little while ago and when the thunder struck she went running to Shawn and was like velcro until the storm passed.
• She loves to give little puppy kisses. 
• Poppy still has some food aggression issues but we are working with her on it.  We've been told it could be a while before we show any progress.  She needs to learn that she will always be fed and that will take time.
• Poppy is fast.  She leaves Jinx in the dust when it comes to chasing a ball.  She becomes so fixated on it and nothing else matters except getting the ball.
• That being said, when she's had enough she just lies down once she's done.
• Poppy doesn't whine.  At all.
• Below is a picture of Poppy, lying in the muddy water, after chasing the ball because she's had enough.

Failures

We are foster dog failures.  This weekend Shawn took Sparky to a local adopt a thon held at one of the local doggy daycares.  Several animal rescues were there with dogs and cats in need of a furever home.  I decided to stay home with Jinx since it was the entire day.  

Needless to say Sparky attracted a lot of attention.  She's such a pretty dog and has such a sweet demeanor, it wasn't long before there were several applications to adopt her.  Well, as soon as I heard that it was like someone threw cold water on me.  I realized how much I don't want her to go anywhere.

When Shawn got home he told me how difficult it was to see other people want to take her home.  Then I started crying because I couldn't imgaine how we could give her away.  In a few short weeks she has  become part of our family. So we have decided...to keep her, hence we are foster dog failures.

So now I would like to introduce you to Poppy, the dog formally known as Sparky.  We had to choose a  name that is similar to Sparky since she responds to that name fairly quickly.

Our little family is starting to grow again.

Bad Dog

What evil could this face do?

Take a look...

This was a brand new container I bought to take to work. We don't have bottled water anymore and the container they gave us doesn't work for me.  The opening is too big, I've almost drowned a couple of times taking a drink. I didn't even get a chance to take it in before Jinx got her paws on it.  I guess it's my own fault for leaving it lying around.

Post Op

Jinx has had her surgery and she's home resting now. Poor thing. She just goes from one bed to another. I feel horrible for wishing she was calmer. I would like for her to be calmer but not like this. The vet also put a chip in her so if she ever gets lost she will be returned to us. We have painkillers for her, I just hope we're on the ball and are able to figure she needs them so she won't be in too much pain.

Did I mention I feel horrible? Who knew the guilt could be so powerful.

Here are some pictures of my girl we took this afternoon.

I am a SUCK

I am a suck. Yes, you read that right, I am a BIG suck. Today we went to Pet Smart to enroll Jinx in puppy school. We also had to get her a new harness because the one we originally bought is already too small. The dog trainer we spoke to recommended that we get a type of leash called a Gentle Leader. It's not a muzzle, I would never do that to her. It's a leash that goes around her snout and her head with the lead attached at the bottom of her chin. It's suppose to help us with corrective behaviour including her pulling when we go on walks. Jinx is going to be a big dog so the last thing we need is her pulling us along. As you can see from the picture above, the dog is able to open it's mouth entirely.

Well, our Jinx does NOT like it in the least. Shawn and the dog trainer were trying to get her to walk and she was trying to get it off. She kept her head low to the ground and whined the whole time. My heart just broke. I went to her, sat on the floor and pulled Jinx onto my lap and cuddled with her right in the middle of the pet store. We both got up after a while and she was still crying and trying to get it off. Jinx then just lowered herself and wouldn't move. I started crying in the middle of the pet store. At this point I'm not sure who was having a harder time with it, me or her. Even the store manager came over and explained how in the long run it will help her be a better behaved dog. All I kept saying was that we broke our dog. She went from being a loving, puppy kissing dog to one that just sat and wouldn't move.

As soon as we took it off, she was back to herself again. I felt so guilty about putting her through that so I bought her a new toy and new treats. I know she will be a better dog for it in the long run and we'll be better owners for it as well, but it's still hard seeing her like that.

Now I have to wonder, if I have such a hard time doing this to my dog, how am I going to be with a child? This will make things easier, right???

The newest member of the family

Introducing...Jinx! I'm not sure what we've gotten ourselves into...