On Saturday, my husband held our 18-year-old buff colored Chihuahua as he peacefully passed over the rainbow bridge. We are inconsolable…

I'm so sorry for the loss of your beloved family member.

Brittany has decided that her favorite toy is: a tattered bath hand mitt.

I have purchased at least a couple hundred dollars worth of mind enhancing toys, chew toys, toys for her to play alone with and toys to play with me with, and she simply does not care. She likes the 99 cent bath mitt.

She likes it so much that I didn't have the heart to take it away from her. So now it's hers.

After my husband’s little Chihuahua died, I gifted him a beautiful rat terrier puppy. Tobias, a.k.a. Toby.
My husband works midnights, and he only works three days a week. The dog has been with him for a week and last night was the first day my husband had to go to work.
This morning I woke up to my husband, sobbing and calling for the dog. Evidently he climbed on top of a chair, and this little rat terrier (a year old) lifted up the window from a 2 inch opening, and pushed out the screen, and went running through the neighborhood!
Thankfully, we have an incredible community in our little town. We had a small army, literally, of people on foot and in cars looking for him. I was on Facebook, posting him, and posting sightings of him so people could go where he was last seen.
His breeder jumped in the car with her pack of dogs that he grew up with, and drove 40 miles to help look for him. She was the one who was able to finally get her hands on him!
My husband sobbed when he was placed in his arms. My husband is at work again tonight, but this time the chairs moved away, all the windows in the house are shut, and a dog crate is ordered, and on its way!

Brittany didn't eat much today at all, just a few bites. She seems to feel fine, though, she was playful and even frisky. Maybe she sensed that there are going to be thunderstorms here all night, and didn't want to have to risk standing out in it to poop. Or maybe she's holding out for more of the roast beef that was on its last day and that I already had two sandwiches from, so I gave her treats from it. Or maybe she's watching her figure. Hell, I don't know, those sounded good anyway.

Later: My doggo better not be psychic. She is hiding in the windowless hallway and panting like crazy. I swear, if another tree falls on this house, I will move.

Brittany rode in the car with her harness on. She was actually quite well behaved. I don't usually put it on her because we only take very short trips and I don't want to fight with her. (I know, I know, I'm a bad doggy mom. I'm trying to be better about using the harness.) But she didn't fight with me about it today, it was just kind of awkward because we're not used to it. I did worry less about having her in the car, and I didn't have to extend the "mom arm" out in front of her every time we turned a corner.

ms Sasha-
 

returned from her second medical appt-
her original vet went on vacation with no back after her labs were completed-
her second visit was with another vet-
god bless them for taking her on short notice-

Anti vomiting meds. anti diarrhea/antibiotics meds : added some Advita to her food-

*wonders how the FUCK a veterinary clinic with one DMV * remains in business !

Sasha's new clinic has 24/7 staff with no one ever on vacation-

I apologize to my sweet Sasha for the last 3 days-

ks-

Brittany got a new collar today! That's not the really exciting part though - the exciting part is that she let me put it on her without a fuss!

I rubbed my bath towel all over it first so it would smell familiar to her. Then we had several sessions of me getting her to smell it, followed by a treat. Then I laid it over her neck - treat. Finally I was able to click it locked without her pulling away.

It shouldn't have been such an ordeal, but taking her old collar off was kind of traumatic for her. It was the same martingale-type collar with no buckle and no click-lock that she had gotten at the pet rescue place, and it had gotten a little too small for her. Pulling it off over her head was not fun for either one of us. Looking back, I should have cut it off with scissors.

Her new collar has a click lock - much safer and easier to remove if she gets tangled in something. Also, it is PINK. Her new name tag will arrive in a few days - it is rose gold and is engraved with a floral motif, in addition to all the important info. She will look like the pampered princess she is!

Brittany paced up and down the balcony and surveilled the front yard while I sat outside and waited for the delivery person.

I lowered the temp in the house by one degree yesterday. Brittany seemed unaffected by it until we went to bed. She usually swirls her blankets around and then lies on top of them. But last night she somehow created herself a fort out of them, with herself in the middle. After swirling, she picked the blankets up with her teeth and moved them exactly where she wanted them. Then she put her stuffies behind her. She was like a bird building a nest. She was nice and cozy by the time it was done.

Follow-up
 

Ms Sasha was sending *signs* that her world was not *right*. After trial and many errors (on my behalf): The dog food she ingested suddenly became toxic* to her gut and intestinal digestive system/s. She had been on the regular Purina Dog chow since I adopted her 2 1/2 yrs ago.

Her new Veterinary Clinic-changed her diet initially to science diet with lamb (canned) to now Purina One high protein Lamb (dry kibble). It has been 6 weeks since the change in her diet and what a difference! She is leaner, her beautiful black coat is shiny, her spirit is back and welcomed!

Bless the beasts and the children :dog: !

ks-

I'm so glad Ms. Sasha is doing better! I feed Ms Brittany Purina One High Protein Lamb, and she is doing very well on it. When I adopted Brittany I researched the available affordable dog foods and Purina One H.P. Lamb ranked very high. We have both been very happy with it. I do rarely feed her the Purina One H.P. chicken if the store is out of the lamb, and it seems to work well for Brittany also.

"Bless the beasts and the children" indeed.

My Moondoggy went to the vet yesterday. She’s now up-to-date on all of her shots, heartworm prevention, and allergy shot. I do shots at the end of the season, and every other year. We are not in high-risk areas and she’s older, so I try not to overwhelm her system. She also had her quarterly shampoo and grooming. She’s a good girl, and we love her so much!

Brittany is learning two new tricks, and she had a breakthrough today on both of them!

The first trick is to catch treats that are thrown in the air. Today she finally figured out what it is that I want her to do! Previously, she was mostly just letting the treats fall and then eating them off the ground. But we worked on it, and tonight she finally started catching them in her mouth! She needs some practice to get more accurate, but she's at least trying, and she catches them about 20% of the time.

The second trick is to get up on my bed. I'm trying to teach her to do this with a hand signal and a voice command, and I put treats on the bed where she has to go farther each time to get them. She finally put both paws on the bed! Previously, she was just stretching as far as she could, and might put one paw on the bed. But tonight, she finally figured out it is okay to put both paws up on the bed and stretch really far. No telling how long it will take me to get her to jump on the bed, but we'll keep working on it.

She's so smart!

Brittany was taking a nap today and snoring loud enough to call the cows home. I tried to take a video of her, but as soon as my camera went "beep" she woke up and looked around suspiciously.

In other news, she is improving rapidly at her tricks. She almost always catches treats thrown in the air now - we're going to start working on distance. Also, she easily puts both her paws on the bed for a treat now, and even starts to crawl up - but she hasn't quite figured out that she can get on the bed yet.

My smart Brittany!