Barley's First Christmas

Ok, so it technically wasn't Barley's first Christmas, but it was her first one with us (this time last year, she was with some evil person who I'm assuming did not get her a stocking).

Anywho, I think Barley truly enjoyed her first Christmas. She got her very own stocking filled with treats and toys. She also got a new toy from her cousin Petunia that she loves a lot. Check out our girl enjoying her gifts on Christmas Day (sorry for the quality of the pictures - we were using our phones)!

Barley and her stocking

Piggy

Leo the Leopard

Dog Tales

Snoopy Named Top Dog in Pop Culture 

msnbc.com


My nephew loves Snoopy so I was glad to see him top the list. Also glad (and pleasantly surprised) that Brian from Family Guy made an appearance as well.

Not a Fan of Santa: Bo Obama's Barks Upstage Michelle, Malia and Sasha at Holiday Event

latimes.com

Rescued Stray Becomes a Therapist (video)

time.com

Christmas Miracle for Dog Who Swallowed Toy Fairy Wand the Length of Its Body

dailymail.co.uk

Barley's First Trip to the Tree Farm

We started a Cheaudry family tradition by visiting Ben's Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our tree this year. Check it out...

Hello, Big Dog.

SB sawing down the tree.

Barley helping SB string the lights.

Dog Tales

Found a couple of interesting dog-related stories online today:

Photo: Jim Damaske, St. Petersberg Times

Health Department says Cody, the store Labrador, must go

tampabay.com

New Puppy Life

nytimes.com, part of The Puppy Diaries series

Cousin Lexie Girl

Barley spent Thanksgiving at her favorite place (other than home) - DoGone Fun - while we went to Pittsburgh to spend time with my family. In addition to having tons of fun with all of the people there, we also spent some quality time with Barley's super sweet cousin Lexie. She's such a nice and well-behaved dog. Even my mom loves her!

I'm not sure how much Lexie would like Barley because Lexie is so much calmer, and Barley is well...Barley, but they do have one thing in common - they're the cutest dogs ever!

This Doggy Loves Her Pappy...

...about as much as Barley loves hers...

1 Year Stats

This weekend was officially named Barley's Birfday Weekend. On Saturday, we went to a dog park in Wicker Park where Barley played with a bunch of new dogs. Then today, we took her to an agility demonstration at the Anti-Cruelty Society. She was very excited to be there and was even more excited to get all of the new and interesting treats they had (cheese, hot dogs, etc.).

Barley has come a long way since we first brought her home and took her to train with Jim -- so far in fact that when it came time for us to try the agility course by ourselves AND off-leash, she listened fairly well. We had a few hiccups here and there, but she made it all the way through. It seemed like something that she could be really good at and would probably burn off a lot of that energy she has.

Now, before I get into Barley's 1 year stats, I should say that in addition to all of the fun activities, Barley got two meat cakes today made from leftover flank steak trimmings and rice from Friday's stir fry, topped with shredded carrots and chopped peanuts (see pic in post below). With all the meat cakes and treats, she may have gained a few extra pounds so don't hold it against her...

Length 41"

Height 22.5"

Weight 67 lbs

Our girl has certainly grown since we first brought her home last March. We can't wait to see what she looks like this time next year!

Happy Birthday to You!

Dear Barley,

Happy 1st birthday! We've only had you for about 8 months, but it's hard to imagine life without hearing your paws on our hardwood floors as you run around chasing your tennis ball, your whine every time you hear your buddy Jax go out for a walk, and your bony elbows crushing our feet as you lie down on us while we watch TV on the couch.

You make us laugh, you try to protect us, and most important, you give us the best doggy love and kisses a couple of yuppy puppy parents could ask for -- we just hope you're having as much fun as we are.

To another year of fun, laughter and meat cakes...

Love,

Mammy and Pappy

They Love on Each Other All the Time

As you know, Barley has been going to day care at DoGone Fun about twice a week for a few months now. At first she was a bit hesitant every time sb dropped her off, but now she pulls toward the gate once we get out of the car.

She has made a lot of friends, and according to the daily report cards the staff gives us, her favorites are Nemo, a very large Burnese Mountain dog, and Prince. We never knew which dog Prince was until yesterday.

So yesterday, I checked in on my girl through the day care's handy dandy Web cam, and she was wandering around this pretty golden retriever. All of a sudden, she jumps on the goldie's back and starts humping him. Now, I've seen other dogs hump Barley (which she does NOT like), but I've never seen her be the humper. The staff quickly separated the two, but not long after that, Barley was chasing after the goldie again. The poor dog finally jumped onto the slide to hide from Barley.

SB was trying really hard to pretend like it was some other black dog, but when we picked her up, we got confirmation. We asked one of the staffers who Prince was because he's always listed as one of her doggy friends on her report card. The staffer said, "Oh, Prince is a golden retriever with a reddish coat." Scott and I looked at each other and realized that Prince was the one who Barley was chasing around and humping all day. And then, the staffer added, "Yeah, Prince is the owner's dog. Barley and Prince are great friends. They love on each other all the time."

Of course. Of course my dog would hump the day care owner's dog. Of all the dogs at day care, my dog chooses the owner's dog to violate.

Sigh. We're really hoping that she stops doing this because we have a feeling that some day, we're going to pick her up, and her report card is just going to have a big EXPELLED stamp on it.

roper and doper

Mr. Doper

Mr. Roper

Barley chews. A lot. We've been trying to find toys that will last longer than a week or two, and the best thing we've found are these stuffed squeak toys that have braided and knotted ropes as arms and legs. The first one we got her was a monkey that we named Mr. Roper (we name them to try and teach her the difference between toys so that we can ask her to bring them...I swear we're not freaks). All was going well until after about two weeks, she managed to chew through its leg and unravel the knot and braids. From there, it just turned into a mess.

But she liked Mr. Roper so much, we went back to PetSmart and got her a new one - a frog named Mr. Doper (his eyes look like he's high as a kite). Let's just hope she didn't learn so much from Mr. Roper that she tears through Mr. Doper in less than a week.

10 months come and go quickly

Yes, Barley's 10 month birthday came and went. No meat cake, no hoopla, no measuring. We do know that she weighs 65 pounds, we're not sure how long or tall she is. She's still afraid of tape measures, plastic bags, aluminum foil, bicycles, hangers, shadows, the wind, cardboard boxes, treadmills, vacuums, etcetera.

On a side note, we did get her some new toys tonight. A new monkey toy, Mr. Roper, because Mister Monkeypants is pretty torn up now. Also a new Nylabone, which despite being chicken flavored does not actually taste like chicken. Before you say "ewwwwww, you chewed on her Nylabone" I'd like to point out that it was brand new, never been chewed on. So yes, I tried her Nylabone....it did not thrill me like it does her.

Day care day......uhhhhhh

Barley has been a regular at day care lately; going every Tuesday and Thursday. She even went this past Saturday while we were competing in City Chase. Frankly I think it is really starting to get to her.

On today's report card it said "Barley spent the afternoon wrestling with her pals and resting next to many more." Yeah, she actually rested while at day care. So, even though she passes out when she gets home (as evidenced by the picture above, taken by tc), she apparently even needs a break during the day. So, while she rests, I get a break too. The master plan is working.

9 month birthday

Today is Barley's 9 month birthday (or so we are told). In honor of her birthday she got special treats. See, tc made dinner and during the process she had to trim up some flank steak. Well, all the trimmings went into Barley's food bowl. She wandered around for a minute, not sure why she was smelling meat but aware that something smelled good. Eventually she noticed the meat, and promptly devoured it. Chewing is not her strong point, she's more of a hoover when it comes to food.

Well, continuing that theme, tc fed her (to aid in bonding) and made her a birthday "meat cake". That's the picture, a meat cake, with oats and kibble for dinner.

Her 9 month stats are:

Length: 36"

Height: 24"

Weight:58lbs

New Friends

Barley survived another day of day care at DoGone Fun and seems to have even made some new friends. According to her daily report card (pics above), Charles says she made doggy friends with Molly, Ginger and Shayne, and it looks like she's even taken a liking to him, Doug and Jeremy, too.

Thanks to the report card and their handy Web cam, we know she played fetch, romped in the pool and basically ran around non-stop all day long.

And now, here she is at home napping with her old friend Mr. Monkey Pants after a full day of fun...

Daycare day 1

It's official, we are yuppy puppy parents. Today we sent Barley off to doggy daycare. I had the displeasure of putting her in the car at 7AM, and rolling on down to Dog Gone Fun. The part that was the worst had nothing to do with the drive, or getting up that early. It was the look she gave me when I handed her over to a staff member. She looked so confused, and a little terrified. I know she's only a dog, but I wondered if she was thinking that I was dropping her off at a shelter. I decided that was my own little mental issue, and that she was just intimidated by the new surroundings and dogs. I explained to the staff member that it was her first day, and he was kind enough to keep her separated from the other dogs for a while, until they all calmed down.

I checked in on her throughout the day via webcam, and saw that she was always running around with her tail held high (it curls into a really cute "C" when she's happy). She was a bit too bully-ish when she was in the small dog area, so they moved her over to the large dog side of the play lot; she did much better there. She was a little intimidated by the larger dogs, so she was less overbearing.

At the end of the day we picked her up, and we got a little daily report card, the highlight of which stated that she socialized well today.

The picture with this post is of her waiting for dinner, notice how focused she can be. Of course, she is currently asleep at my feet as I write this.

Firsts

Barley placing on a fence during training

And Barley's first visit to Mondog Beach! Turns out our girl loves the water...

8 month update - The Pee and Poop Post

Sigh. And we had our first health issue on her 8 month birthday...

So we've had our girl for 4 months now, and she's been so great - especially with potty training. However, last weekend, she managed to have two accidents in the house, one only 45 minutes after I had taken her out to pee. We thought she was mad at us or bored...that is until I talked to our pal CoCo who said we might have a doggy UTI on our hands.

It never even occurred to me, and then I started thinking about it. In addition to the two accidents, Scott said that when she went to pee the other day, she would squat, jump up, and then lick herself. She repeated this once more and then finally was able to go. On top of that, she's been drinking a lot more than usual.

So we made an appointment with her vet - they took a urine sample and did an ultrasound. The ultrasound was clear, but the initial test on her urine showed that there was a little blood and protein present, which are signs of a UTI. Today, we got the full results, and they said her urine was diluted, which is yet another symptom of UTI because dogs tend to drink more than they need to when they have the infection.

Barley's now on a twice-a-day dose of clavamox, a general antibiotic for doggies, so all should be well. Good thing her Auntie CoCo was looking out for her.

Another interesting thing we learned at the vet was that Barley isn't as regular as she should be - not in terms of frequency but of consistency. (Warning: If you're eating, you might want to stop reading now.)

For as long as we've had her, Barley's poop has always been the same - one or two hard nuggets and then a bunch of poo that is the consistency of pudding. We decided this might be a good time to ask the vet why that is. She said Barley needs more fiber in her diet and that we could achieve that through a heaping spoonful of either canned pumpkin or oats in each meal. After much research by her loving pappy, we decided on the oats because of its nutritional value and its ease of storage (now if only sb and I could take care of ourselves as well as we take care of our dog). She ate her first batch tonight and seemed to love it - though I don't think there's much our girl won't eat.

Anyway, while we were at the vet, we managed to get her weight so we thought we'd do another update since her 8 month birthday was just yesterday.

Length 36"

Height 22.5"

Weight 53 lbs

It's been an eventful 4 months, and hopefully that'll be the last health scare we'll have for a very long time.

A beautiful night

Barley joined TC and I for a little walk around our old 'hood. We hopped in the car and headed up north to Lakeview. We managed to park really close to our old place, and walked along the lakeshore path for a good 45 minutes. Along the way we saw a beautiful sunset, lazy waves, and birds a-plenty. Barley seemed somewhat interested in the birds, more so in the seagulls flying high above Lake Michigan than the ducks meandering through the harbor waters. Apparently she prefers a challenge. We got a good shot of her placing on a tree stump, but what you don't see if the fact that her nose was in overdrive...so many smells, so wonderful to sniff, must smell, and that one, ooh that too, is that new?...oh my here's one...dog?...person?...is that a treat?

Yeah, that was our woobie, her nose looked like it was about to pop off her snout. Luckily, it didn't, and she's cute as ever.

Walking the Ledge

Our Barley girl walking a ledge during training on Saturday morning.

7.5 month update

We missed the 7 month update, so we figured better late than never. And, um, yeah - recognize that these measurements are SO not accurate. We just found out tonight that Barley is afraid of measuring tapes so trying to get the proper length and height was damn near impossible (we'll be working on stopping that in the future).

Anyway, here's our girl at 7.5 months:

Length 35"

Height 21.75"

Weight 50 lbs

Barley has made some more progress, but she did regress a bit about a month ago. Her trainer Jim said that she became a teenager and basically threw up a big middle finger at us and at the choke chain so we decided to move up to the prong collar. That, in addition to using treats as a way to keep her attention on us, has worked wonders during walks.

Of course, she's still getting spoiled beyond belief. She's still on her hoity-toity all natural raw diet and the aforementioned treats are freeze-dried duck hearts. And we stumbled upon a fun pet store in the city where we found great supplies of her food and a new pal monkey.

We're still going to training at least once a week at Chicago Canine Academy because while Barley has improved a lot, she isn't quite where we'd like her to be yet. She's got "place," "sit," and "stay," about 90 percent of the time, and she's even getting really good at recalls. However, "down," her attention span and her nervousness (read: barkiness) around new dogs need a lot of work.

Overall, we're proud of how well she's doing. And, well, she also just keeps getting cuter everyday.

She done well

This past weekend was quite the test for our Barley girl. TCs family visited and in doing so they passively tested her ability to keep her cool in stressful situations.

She's not used to all sorts of people being around (normally it's just me 'n TC), so having six new people here, two of them sleeping over, was challenging for her. She did really well though, actually better than I expected. She even placed on the back of a 11 year old girl. 

We also tested her ability to be separated from us. We constantly were coming and going every few hours for four days straight. Again, she coped well. 

Basically what I am saying is: she done well. Our little Barley girl is starting to mature and we are seeing the positive effects of months of training. That picture is of her after everyone left. She looks tired doesn't she?

Moo Cow

When I was little, my family moved a lot. To cope with not having any friends for a while in a new town, I would play with my stuffed animals. They had names and would play cards and board games with me (yes, it sounds pathetic, but it worked, ok?). Anyway, apparently, our girl might have a similar coping strategy.

You see that white thing underneath Barley's neck in this picture? That's Moo Cow, her best friend in the world - well, aside from Scott and me, of course.

The day we brought Barley home, we stopped at PETCO across the street from PAWS (quality location for PETCO, eh?). We bought everything that we needed for our new addition - a crate, a leash, food, and some toys. One of those toys was Moo Cow. As we were shopping, I picked up a few soft toys and showed them to her. She ignored all of them except for Moo Cow. She sniffed and tried to put it in her mouth, so I figured that was a good sign.

Turns out, she loves that Moo Cow. Barley chews all of her other toys until we have to take them away from her so that she doesn't ingest a bunch of synthetic materials. However, with Moo Cow, she merely mouths him. She'll carry him around, nibble on him, and use him as a pillow. Sometimes she'll just hold him between her paws. It's strange and adorable. 

Moo Cow gets pretty gross so we have to wash him pretty frequently. We're just hoping that we can find another one that looks and smells just like him in case one day we just can't wash the gross off of him.

6 Month Update

Sorry it's been a while, but we've been pretty busy with Barley, work, school, and the condo. So I decided this post will just be an overall update about our little crazy pants (one of my many nicknames for her).

Anyway, it's hard to believe that we've only had Barley girl for just over two months now. She's already such a huge part of our lives that it seems like we've had her for much longer.

First off, she's been doing great with her training. She loves trainer Jim (who in her head is her boyfriend), and she really loves her favorite exercise "place," as seen in the pic here.

Barley has even gotten to know a lot of dogs in the neighborhood and is rarely barking when she meets new pups. She has a bunch of friends - Jax, Missy, Mulder, Scully, Charlie, Okie - the list is pretty long. There's a fenced-in makeshift dog park (we'll take pictures and post about this later) just down the street where she's allowed to go off leash and play with all of her buddies. She's still pretty rough and tumble and likes to box and paw with other dogs, but she also uses her animal instincts to know when to leave an alpha dog alone.

She's getting bigger every day, probably thanks to the raw/organic diet we have her on (again, another post for the future). Here are her latest stats:

Height: 20"

Length: 34"

Weight: 44 lbs

A pretty substantial difference from 2 months ago, don't you think?

I'm about to finish school in less than a month so that along with summer ahead will allow for many more posts in the future about her favorite toy Moo Cow, her love of all things rawhide, and what I'm sure will be a hilarious story about our first trip to a dog beach in the city we've been reading all about.

They grow up so fast

Tonight we took Barley to the vet for a check-up and her final shot. She was so well behaved during the visit. Part of it I am sure was because of her training, and part because the vet's office only had one other patient...so she didn't get overwhelmed with stimuli.

She also treated the doctor a lot better this time. No biting, and only a slight growl. They became fast friends as Barley learned to trust her; eventually letting her do whatever was needed. We even managed to get that last shot without any real issues. Of course despite most things going well, when the doc wanted to see her teeth Barley wasn't having it. So I stepped in, and opened her mouth, pulling her jowls out of the way so the vet could see what she needed to see. It's true, Barley will let me do just about anything to her, she trusts her pappy, a lot.

Speaking of teeth, Barley lost a puppy tooth last night. El Googeley tells us it's normal, but at first it was just shocking. Really, if you saw that sharp of an object laying on your bedroom floor, you'd be shocked too.

Tomorrow is more group training with Jim. Amen, she needs more socialization still.

Place

Barley's home!

Today, we took Barley home after two weeks of in-kennel training with Jim at Chicago Canine Academy. She's come such a long way in those 14 days. We're extremely proud of her and very grateful to Jim and his team for helping us put our girl on the way to becoming a confident, strong and happy pup.

We're going to keep up with all the lessons Jim taught us, and we'll also be taking her for weekly updates at the Academy. 

Here's our girl doing her favorite training exercise - place. According to Jim, this teaches her that she needs to sit and stay in that exact spot when we tell her to do so. That way, whenever visitors come or if an emergency occurs, when we give her the command to "place," she'll stay put - no matter who enters the room or how chaotic the environment is. 

Puppy Love

Sure, he's cute.

Sure, he's cuddly.

But, dammit, so am I!

Sigh. Ok, look, I get it. Scott's the one who wakes up at 3 a.m. every day with our girl Barley to take her out to potty. And he's the one who can come home during lunch to walk and feed her during the week. And he's usually the first one home after work and is with her by himself two nights a week while I'm in class. I get it. She's got the puppy love for Scott because he sure does take good care of her.

But, man, a gal's ego can really get blown when her boyfriend leaves the room and the puppy starts to pout. Seriously. Barley straight up pouts when he leaves the room. She'll plop herself on her belly, put her head on her paws and whine. The first time she did this, I tried petting her to keep her from getting so upset that she peed, but instead of feeling like she had a nice substitute, she was annoyed. She even scooted her body away from me so that she could pout 

in peace. Harsh, right?

Now, Barley's in her last few days of in-kennel training at Chicago Canine Academy, and tonight we worked with her for about two hours. Even though she's been away from us, specifically Scott, for more than a week, she still can't get enough of him. If Scott's in the room, she's staring at him. If he moves, her eyes follow. Don't get me wrong - Barley likes it when I'm around. She's very affectionate with me, but, really, her heart belongs to Scott.

Scott says it'll take some time, but eventually she'll love us both equally. Kinda sounds like when parents say, "I love you all equally, just in different ways." 

I call bullshit. You know there's a favorite. But because she's the cutest little puppy ever, I guess I can live happily being second best. After all, my sorry butt is soooo not waking up at 3 a.m. to take her out.

Button pushing

We saw our Barley girl today for the first time in a week. Let me back up a bit here and say why it's been so long. See, once our little furry angel of a puppy got comfortable in the house, she also got a little out of hand. She also pulled like crazy when I tried to walk her, which meant shorter walks...which meant more energy left over after the walk. Add the extra energy to the added level of comfort and it equals one out of control lab/shepherd. She was really starting to push my buttons and we knew she needed some obedience training; training I was not qualified to give.

About a week ago we took her to Chicago Canine Academy.  The plan was simple, we wanted to check them out, and they wanted to make sure we'd be OK too. So we attended a group training session on a sunny Saturday morning. In the hour or so we were there, Barley made amazing strides and was so much easier to handle on a leash. After the group lesson the decision was simple, we left her with Jim the trainer for two weeks of in-kennel puppy training. 

So yes, we saw her tonight after a very long week. She was smelly and dirty (she clearly is getting her exercise with the other dogs), and very excited to see us as well. She had some basics down pretty well, but was easily distracted by the presence of her people. We worked her for about 40 minutes, and quietly bid her farewell. We'll be back there tomorrow to work with her more.

No, that isn't Barley in the pic, but I can imagine that's how she got so smelly.

The vet visit

As outlined in our adoption agreement we had our Barley girl checked out by a vet within five days. I should point out that the only real issue that surfaced during her initial intake was that she was very "vocal" and bothered by the vet's examination of her. The note was vague but seemed to indicate it was just likely because she was frightened. 

Well, this time she wasn't frightened (much). The biggest problem she had, and really who can blame her, is when the vet tech put a thermometer up her butt. Since I'd react with howling and whimpering too, I couldn't really fault her. I could fault her for when she tried to nip at the vet's hand. There she was, up on the exam table, leaning into me when the nice vet lady reached out to see how polite Barley was. We quickly found out Barley lacks all manners; at least when it comes to me. The vet figured it was just Barley being protective of me since she isn't normally aggressive. The options were, examination in a room away from me, or muzzle. We opted for exam in a different room.  After that everything went fine. 

She is now up to date on her shots and her last one in three weeks. We left some poop with the vet (yeah I know how that sounds but there's really no other way to say I was carrying around a bag of dog crap) and it turns out that testing of the poop showed Barley has coccidiosis. It's a relatively common and minor bacterial infection in the digestive tract; it's easily treated with medication, which she is currently taking.

Our Girl

Don't ask me how this happened, but in addition to a brand new condo, Scott and I now have a brand new puppy. We adopted her from PAWS Chicago on March 7, 2009 (my nephew Andrew's birthday!). 

Here's the story. Scott has been wanting a dog for such a long time. So we decided to go to PAWS and check out the puppies on Friday night. We saw some very cute dogs, but one in particular stood out. She was this pretty little 

black labrador retriever-shepherd mix, and her collar said her 

name was Adrianna. She was in a room with another dog who was, let's just say, rambunctious. But little Adrianna was so well-behaved. She let us pet her and didn't jump or bark. And while we were playing with her, she suddenly rolled on her back and looked up at us and basically said, "Love me." And we did.

So the next day we decided to go back to make the final decision. Prior to arriving, I think we were about 95% sure that we wanted to take her home. But the moment we saw her again, the last 5% just came barreling at us. And that was it. We completed the adoption counseling with a wonderful volunteer named Melissa and signed all the paper work. 

UnfortunatelyQWEAwz2111111 (whoa, sorry - that was the puppy - she wanted to type hi). Anyway, unfortunately we found out that the couple who saw her earlier that morning had wanted to adopt her, too. We felt horribly bad, but there wasn't really anything we could do. Hopefully they'll find another wonderful puppy at PAWS soon. 

And now, here we are on day two with the newest addition to our household. Everyone, we'd like to formally introduce you to our girl 

- Barley Adrianna Cheaudry. Barley, her first name, is of course for all the home brewing Scott does. Adrianna, her middle name, is so that we don't forget the name the nice people at PAWS gave her. And Cheaudry, her last name, is a hybrid of our two last names. She's about 15 weeks old (born Nov. 15, 2008).

We tried our best to take her stats this morning, and here are our unscientific results:

3/8/09:

Height: 17"

Length: 26"

Weight: 30 lbs

Our next tasks as new puppy parents is to take her to the vet this week. Our adoption counselor Melissa told us that her first visit to the vet was full of anxiety and fear. We'll let you know how visit #2 goes.