Puppy Update!

Holy puppy!  This has been the craziest week and a half ever.  Gosh that ball of cuteness sure is quick to piddle and chew.  Ok.  So let’s be honest, pictures of the puppy are far more exciting than me talking about the puppy.  So I’ll make this brief 😉

Yesterday I showed our summer fashion shoot, aka luau party.  I certainly had fun with that.  My dad thought it was hysterical that Leroy just stayed like an angel while I tortured him with sunglasses and accessories.  If only I had some arm floaties… Hmm.  Since Marshmallow’s arrival, Leroy has grown to accept and love her, as he does with every foster pup.  Here are some of their “bonding” pictures. 🙂

 

 

It’s been a whirlwind experience having a foster puppy!  We have our third meet and greet today.  Yikes!  And then I am going to make a very hard decision.  Stay tuned for more puppy excitement and pictures 🙂

Puppy Time!

The puppy is here!  After a long journey from Tennessee, two baths to remove the filth, a long collar-buying excursion, an even longer naming-the-puppy adventure; I’m finally here with pictures 🙂

Get ready for cuteness overload.

First of all, we named her Marshmallow, or Mel for short.  Something about her white squishy face just called out, “Marshmallow!” 🙂 When she is a lady, perhaps she’ll go by Mel.  To be professional, of course.  But for now, Marshmallow is settling in and doing wonderfully.  She already got to meet the whole human family, Blueberry, Leroy, and Major the cat.  Positive socialization is starting off  strong!

Marshmallow is 10 weeks old.  She is spayed and will be up to date on her shots.  We will be working on crate training, socialization, house training, and basic obedience.  Mel is curious about the world around her.  She is slightly cautious, but ready to play and explore.  She is loving all the human attention, and desperately trying to woo the adult dogs in the house into some wrestling and play time.  She will need a committed, life long, adopter who is willing to  make her the best dog that she can be.  And I will need an adopter who will fall head over heals in love with her- not just as a puppy, but as she goes through the challenging teen years, the frustrating adolescence, the slowing in adulthood, and the tender years of old age.

oh hai. iz a marshmalloz.

More exciting puppy-ness to come as she settles in!

If you have questions about Marshmallow or the adoption process, email me (Casey) at LeroyandCompany@gmail.com!         

Brother John & Blueberry

I apologize in advance for the blurry pictures.  These boys were having so much fun, I couldn’t even ask them to pose or stay still.  🙂

So here is the last brother in the family, John!  And with John, comes the family dog, Blueberry.  John and Blueberry are a very special pair; bonded and in love.  I got my hair cut just today and my stylist/neighbor remarked, “They are the type of pair that we make movies about.”  Blueberry is a special pup that struggles with extreme separation anxiety.  She is lucky enough to be employed- she is my parent’s office dog!  And trust me, the place would fall apart without her there to provide some stress relief 😉 When Blueberry isn’t busy working, she’s looking for John.  She loves him and protects him.  She needs him.  They are the best of friends. 🙂

Blueberry

John and Leroy also are good buddies.  Their favorite past time is playing tug-of-war.  This was happening during my “photo shoot” of them.  Both boys were having a blast and enjoying the game so much.  I decided that I was going to deal with the blurry pictures for this one.  John does the rough housing that gets Leroy all exciting and in tail-chasing bliss.  Here they are in action:

John is an animal lover.  He’s my youngest brother checking in at 18 and 6 foot something.  Affectionately called, Baby Brother or Little John.  I am a proud older sister.  I have been blessed with a wonderful family 🙂

Stay tuned for posts about my parents, or Leroy’s Grandma and Grandpa 🙂  And the PUPPPYYYYY ❤

Happy Fourth!

Leroy wants to make sure that everyone stays safe today!  Here are some great tips from our vet, Dr. Reisner.  We are sharing some Do’s as well as Don’ts 🙂

1. Don’t assume your dog will be fine, especially if he has shown signs of fear — trembling, panting, pacing and restlessness — of booming noises in the past. Pay attention to the fear by redirecting activities, food and muffling outside noises. Reassure to your heart’s content – the Fourth can be a scary day for your dog!

2. Don’t scold or reprimand your dog for behaviors based in fear. Panicked dogs may dig, chew and scratch at barriers (whether trying to go out or to come in), urinate and defecate, or relentlessly solicit attention.

3. Don’t leave your dog outside unleashed and unattended. Frightened dogs are very adept at jumping, digging and escaping.

4. Don’t take your dog to the community party – July 4th picnics are followed by fireworks, and your dog should be nowhere near the fireworks.

5. Don’t give your dog medications without a veterinary prescription or at least a conversation; human sedatives can increase agitation in dogs, and acepromazine (a commonly used dog tranquilizer) might increase sensitivity to noise. Yes, some medications can be helpful, but they also have side effects and interactions. Please talk to your veterinarian first.

6. Unless your dog is deeply in love with his crate and goes there on his own when stressed or frightened, do not leave your dog alone in a crate during fireworks. Frightened dogs, especially those unaccustomed to being crated (or shut into a room), can severely injure themselves – or worse – trying to escape.

Five tips to Finesse Fireworks Fear: 

1. Turn on every background noise device in your home including TV, radio, fans, and sound machines. Download a free ambient sounds app such as “White Noise Lite”. Shut the windows and turn on the AC if you have it.

2. For your dog’s sake, stay home on the Fourth. Since you’ll be home anyway, watch a Harry Potter marathon (see #1).

3. Before the fireworks start, cook up an irresistible food such as chicken breast, special meat cookies, popcorn. Cut meat into tiny pieces and stock a treat bag. Feed one piece at a time to your dog throughout the fireworks to countercondition and distract. If your dog is willing, make a game of it and ask her sit, down, shake hands and other distracting cues. Freeze a Kong with kibble mixed with baby food. Feed dinner through the toy.

4. If your dog likes to nest in a corner, closet, under a table when frightened, prepare her favorite spot with blankets and make it into an inviting sanctuary.

5. If your dog is nervous, go ahead and reassure him. He is frightened – he will not feel rewarded for being terrified. He will feel reassured.

 

And we also found this cute graphic from our friends at OP Barks with some statistics on missing pets.  Are your dogs chipped and wearing their ID tags?!  Safety first.  We hope you have a great day and that all your pets are in their favorite spots in the house with lots of fans on.  Enjoy! 🙂

 

 

Wordless Wednesday- Watching Piper

Brother Robert

Introducing, Brother Robert! Robert is the middle brother, in his prime college years.  He is the type of guy who can use the phrase, “lovin’ life”, and mean it to the full extent. 🙂  He is certainly animal friendly and always gives the dogs a nice pat on the head before he is out the door.  He will cuddle on occasion or nap with Blueberry.  But he has assigned the family cat, Lucky, as his animal.  (Though somehow I am the one that took Lucky to the vet for his yearly…)  Regardless, Robert is a good sport and is excited for the puppy.  He also came out and ran the LCPO 5k with Steven.

 

“Nice to meet you” with Robert

Robert is a great brother who does his best to participate in the dog-crazy that is our home.  He tries to help out when he can and he likes hanging with the big Lee.  I am especially excited to bring the puppy home, because I know Robert is excited and will love that puppy to pieces 🙂

Thanks Brother Robert, for being part of this crazy family!

 

Club Pit

I am lucky enough to volunteer with an amazing pit bull organization.  If you are remotely near PA, you should volunteer with us too.  We have a program called Club Pit.  From the website:

“Looking for a way to meet other pit bull owners or socialize your dog responsibly? New adopter from a shelter or rescue looking for support? Have a pit bull and want in on the fun? Check out LCPO’s Club Pit! It is our mission to have responsible pit bull owners in our communities. Club Pit is a way for us to lend pit bull owners the support they often need through information, socialization and a low cost spay & neuter program.”

Wow.  Is that awesome, or what?  Well I am a pit bull owner and I need support!  So yesterday I join Club Pit for their first weekly training walk.  It is a controlled environment that we can work on training, where I am supported and understood by fellow dog owners.  Less judgement; more nodding and compassionate smiles.  I love it, obviously.  Anyone who knows Leroy by now, knows he was bound to throw a few fits.  My friend and rescue champion Christine remarked, “Is that all he does?  That’s not so bad.  I’ve seen worse.”  She was perhaps being nice, or slightly delusional 😉  However, her unwavering support means a lot.  And Leroy adores her.  I did not remind her that, yes, this is all he does after two years of training and 20mg of Prozac!  But all in all, he was slightly improved from his pre-Prozac, pre-Reactive Rover days.  He was vocal.. he really loves to let everyone know how stressed out he is.  And I was a neglectful mom and couldn’t find his Halti, so he pulled like a demon.  But otherwise, he did just fine.

Watch Me!

Please ignore how attractive I am. It was a great hair day.

 

Leroy was trying to woo Sage, who was training for her Therapy Dog test

 

Despite how well I know Leroy and how I am always preaching about standing up for your dogs, I found myself climbing up a slippery mountain to get away from a ditsy, inconsiderate  normal dog owner who thought it was funny that her two dogs totaling 35 pounds were pulling her towards our pack.  Instead of just yelling out, “Stop, he needs his space!”, I decided to run off the path, risking my life  twisting an ankle to get out of her reach.  I need to start taking my own advice!  So in case you haven’t read it yet, or if you need a pep talk like I did, check out this blog.      

 

Leroy and I prepared for the walk by decorating ourselves with yellow ribbon.  Of course, not all dog owners know what this means.  So I’m here to tell you! 🙂  It means Leroy needs his space.  Here is the website for the Yellow Dog Project.  Check it out and if you see a dog sporting yellow, (or an owner running up a mountain) give them some space!

Wordless Wednesday- Nap time

Nap time with my brother, John.  🙂

What To Do This Summer

So for the foreseeable future, I have taken up residents with my parents in Scranton, PA.  I am job hunting and looking to move back to Philadelphia around August.  Until then, I’m having a training dilemma.  I’ll start by saying that I am only open to using force free trainers.  Anything other than that is out of the question.  So anyone I will mention is going to fall under that category.  I am hoping that I can get some advice or suggestions.  Keep in mind that I would like to be less broke with a better trained dog 😉 Here are my options while I’m here:

I can choose to travel approximately 1 hour & 15 minutes to a reputable, force free trainer.  I can do private sessions or wait for a potential weekday Reactive training class to start up.  

I can travel 1 hour & 45 minutes to a reputable, trusted, and force free trainer.  I can do private sessions or group lessons.

I can use a local trainer who is less experienced but force free.  I can do a private session where she will evaluate Leroy and see if he can be placed in any of her group training class (which I suspect he can’t).  Or I can continue to do private sessions with her.

I can work by myself on practicing what I know in controlled and respectful environments.  I can do “pack walks” with trusted friends.

I have been struggling with this decision and am looking for some help.  I may give the local trainer a try.  But I don’t want to waste my time and money when I have heard she may not be the best for my situation.  I also can’t afford to be driving all summer, paying tolls, and racking up more debt… Leroy doesn’t even have a job 😉  (and I am barely employed!)  But I also want to keep working with him and seeing progress.  With the lack of bicycles in my neighborhood, Leroy has decided to recently lunge after two cars, actively trying to attack them.  This type of “unexpected” behavior is what brought me crying into Dr. Reisner’s office in the first place.  We must not regress!  Ok, I’m trying not to fall apart completely.  I understand I changed his environment.  But common Leroy, you’ve already been beaten by a car once.  Let’s be logical here.  Your mom can only handle so much crazy out of you!

Until Leroy understands my English; help, suggestions, opinions, local trainer recommendations, advice??  It’s all much appreciated!

More Happy Tail Updates!

Adele, my very first foster dog, has been in her forever home for almost two years now!  She found a wonderful forever mom who adores her and puts up with all her crazy issues!  Adele has also gone on to be a foster sister to other puppies in need.  She has grown into a beautiful dog.  I love seeing how much she’s beefed up since I pulled her out of ACCT, a scrawny mess of a dog.  So here she is, Adelle-