Thursday, February 19, 2009

Stiff Competition

There’s a new puppy in town, and he’s fierce competition for Jetty in the cuteness department. Cody is a fourteen-week-old Great Dane and he’s is so unbelievably cute, he resembles a cartoon character. He’s all legs and feet, with soft, velvety fur; it was all I could do not to scoop him up and bring him home. However, he’s going to be HUGE; at his tender age he’s already as tall as Jet. The poor nanny who was walking him looked most alarmed when I kept going on about how big he’s going to be; she’s just a little bit of a thing and has her hands full now. Anyway, welcome to the neighbourhood Cody, Jet would appreciate it if could you please try to look just a little less cute.

We had a great Family Day. We spent it in the country at Wheatley Water Dogs. Jetty played with his Mummy Sailor, sisters Ivory and Ruby (who looks freakishly like Jet), and Bronson, the German Sheppard. They had a ball getting reacquainted and romping in the snow. And when Jet had to do his business, his eyes grew wide with excitement. Cheryl has trained the dogs to go in one particular spot (the Duty Den) so that spring clean up is easier. However, with that many dogs, you can imagine that the Duty Den currently resembles a buffet for puppies who like to eat poop (see previous post). Jetty thought he’d died and gone to the land of plenty. At that point we beat a hasty retreat back to the city.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Poopsicles

Ok, a little background for those of you who don’t know me that well. I’m not really a dog person. I’m a little uptight, and I like things to be just-so, which isn’t the ideal personality for a dog owner. However, over the past 11 months Jetty has wormed his way into my heart, and it’s safe to say that I love him to pieces. This means I’ve been able to overlook some of the attendant grossness that comes with having a dog. You know – the poopy patrols in the garden, the muddy paw prints in the bed, the nose prints on the French doors, etc. Until now...

I can’t believe that I’m even writing this sentence, but here goes – Jetty has begun to eat his own poop. No, sadly that is not a misprint. You heard me correctly. Yikes! I bet Obama would rethink his doggy decision if he knew this little puppy quirk. Anyway, apparently it’s more common than you would think. It even has a name – copro-phagia. At our house, we call it holyfreakingcrapthatisdisgustingdon’tyoudarekissme-phagia.

According to the vet, it doesn’t harm them. But I suppose I looked so horrified by the whole thing that she took pity on me and gave me some medicine to sprinkle on his food. It doesn’t taste bad going down, but apparently it does once it’s been processed, if you catch my drift. Once they try to eat the medicated poop, they lose a taste for it. I was trying to explain this to Gillian, and she just stared at me. With the wisdom of a ten-year-old, she said “Uh, Mummy, he eats poo. How can they make it taste any worse?” She’s got a great point. It’s a pretty steep downward spiral from poop.

Anyway, Happy Valentine’s Day. And, just to be safe, no kisses please.