Winter Wonderland!

Tula experienced her first snow this week. We got about 10 inches of the glorious white stuff. She loves it, she can't get enough. My new task now is to see if she can pull me on a sled. I think she is strong enough, that is for sure. So keep an eye out for some video footage of that, and possibly one of them prancing around at the dog park. We have a new video camera, YAY!

In other news, Tula got some new American Kennel Club toys, they are supposed to be stronger. Tula is the destroyer of all toys we buy her. But last night she was so excited to play with her toys that she kept whining all night. It drove us NUTS.

Just Checking In

Wanted to send an update-Everyone is doing fine. We had an incident where a crazy old hag (and this is meant to be rude b/c she was not a very pleasant old woman) tried to shoo Josie away with her garbage bags, when she was pooping on the sidewalk, and nowhere near her "lawn". I understand that people have requests, but dog owners are not brute people, when asked, we actually can be reasoned with and talked to! Tula came to the rescue, and jumped up on the old woman, to which she responded with "oooo, I'm gonna call someone". I decided to wait for her to do that. On a side note, whenever I get the chance to get back to that woman's sidewalk, we do so and Josie pees.

Dogpark Fun

Yesterday, I took the dogs to the dogpark. We were the only ones there. Something bizarro happened. As we got there, Tula was all interested in playing fetch. Josie is doing what she normally does, which is try to poop about 5 times, and then run around and sniff everything. Tula and I, playing away....Josie pooping everywhere. Then, Josie must have gotten jealous, because out of nowhere, she found her very own tennis ball. But she wasn't letting it go, nor was she about to give it to Tula. But the STRANGE thing about this, was that as Josie was running, she was not moving her head, nor her back, as she ran. Only her feet. And she was running diagonally across the dog park. Tula became interested in this, and ignored me. She tried to get this new tennis ball from Josie, and she succeeded. And now, this is the STRANGER part...Tula started running with the tennis ball in her mouth. In the same diagonally strange way! Dogs, they are strange.

Mouth Gaurd?

So...Anthony was watching the pups, I was not at home. Anthony went to the bathroom, leaving Tula unattended on the bed in the bedroom. On the dresser, I seemed to have left my very sexy mouthgaurd (I GRIND, OK???). Anthony came out of the closed door bathroom, to a very innocent looking Tula on the family room rug. With my mouthguard, perfectly placed in her mouth, as a mouth gaurd, with a priceless look on her face to say "what mouthgaurd?". Too bad the camera was not nearby.

It's currently being bleached, burned over open flame, sanitized, dishwashed, autoclaved, boiled, steamed and disinfected before going back in my mouth.

She eats poop, people.

Camping and stuff

We've had more camping exposure with Tula and we finally managed to get her swimming in the water on 2 occassions. One such occassion was not of her will....she seemed to have been catapulted out of the raft when we did our annual Delaware River rafting trip. She managed to chew herself free from her life vest about 10 minutes prior to this event (which made her look like a beetle) and she surprisingly swam to shore, although she kept looking back at us to make sure we knew she was out of the raft, and NOT being taken downstream. The second time was at Lake Dennison in Winchendon, MA where she found a 3 foot long stick and was determined to carry it everywhere, even to the point where when it was lobbed into the lake, she went out and swam to get it. Very brave!

Here is a video of her trying to walk Josie....to tie you over until next time.

Spay Update

It's been a week now that Tula had her surgery, and we've had the E collar on her for a few days. It helps a bit with her licking herself, but every now and then, I will catch Josie licking the incision for her. Not good! I swear, if it's not one dog, it's the other one that will drive me to the looney bin. So, we took her in to see the vet, so they can take a look at it, since she's pulled 3 stitches out herself, and the vet said it actually looked great, and she was a quick healer. Excellent news, since I'm paranoid. I hate waiting for open wounds to heal, brings me back to when Josie was attacked and she had this tube that looked like a little rigatoni (there is that food reference again) sticking out of her, and draining the pus and blood. I am so happy that we have hardwood floor, on so many levels. A day or 2 goes by, and now one of the stitches is puffy and hard. So we decided to take her in this morning. The vet actually pulled the rest of the stitches out (the stitches looked nasty, more so than the actual incision). Now the whole area looks a ton better already. She is on some antibiotics, but we've given her benedryl, which is supposed to make them a bit drowsy. Nope, not this puppy. She's on some tranquilizers now. What did she do? She ran laps around the condo halls. Unbelievable! But she is the best nighttime cuddler in the world, and she takes her turn with cuddling with either me or Anthony. It reminds us why we are so happy to have her around. We'd cuddle with Josie, but she prefers to sleep on her own. Oh well.

Queen Tula II

We awoke this morning to Tula minus 3 stitches. At some point during the night, she pulled 3 out. So, we put the Elizabethean collar on her right away. It took awhile for her to adjust to it. She stayed still for a little while, then she proceeded to walk backwards throughout the condo for about an hour. Here are 2 shots, one taken last night with me cuddling with her on the bed, and her the following morning, with the collar. Looking very, very pathetic. :(

Bob Barker will be proud

Today, we dropped off Tula for her spaying. I wanted to know a bit more about the entire procedure, so I googled it. Here is a site with step by step photos on spaying, which was a lot more than what I wanted to know, but it did answer my question. It also answers the question on why I couldn't be a vet b/c the little ovary looks like an uncooked dumpling to me. I remember as a child, we would go to the library at the College of Dupage (COD) in Illinois, and there was a section on dog anatomy that had a real dog intestine inside this glass box. As cool as it was, it also tainted Arby beef sandwhiches for me for life. It's not that I relate dog anatomy to food, it's just that I can not see it as a biological mass with real functions. This is why I could not be a surgeon for animals, or people. I even have a hard time sussing out what the hell I am looking at with those body slices at Body Worlds, as well. Anyway, the vet said she's doing really well and she's entertaining everyone at the office. We will call them tomorrow morning to see when we can take her home (with her Elizabethan collar!). Josie looks really, really lonely, however I think she's enjoying the little break in a way.
Here are some photos I have managed to snap on my camera phone. The first one is Anthony sitting with Tula, waiting for Shrek the Third to start at the Wellfleet Drive In Movie, the second one is Tula at her training class at PetFart (Petsmart). The third one is of Tula snuggling in the back seat of the jeep with Josie, and the fourth is Tula trying to snuggle with Anthony, but he ended up throwing the cover over here (which she likes) but the duvet was just a bit too heavy for her so I pulled it off her head.

excessive barking-do you hear it?

So Ant and I were gone for a lot of 4th of July, had to leave the pups for a few hours in the crate. And on July 5th, we also had to leave for about 3 hours. Upon our return, we found an anonymous note from one of our neighbors. It was typed up and printed out on 3 hole paper. It read:

"Dear Neighbors,
Although we understand you added a new dog to your family, the incessant barking that has resulted has become unreasonable. Yesturday, on our day off, your dog started barking at 8AM, and although we left the condo for a couple of hours in the afternoon, upon our return at about 2:30PM, your dog was barking again and did not stop for hours. Today, I am working from home...and your dog is barking again. I don't know what to suggest, but it is just unreasonable for me, as your neighbor, to have my day constantly interrupted by this barking."

After much calming down, and the realization of the childish note left at the door, as well as the impersonal nature of calling us "neighbors" instead of by our names b/c we know everyone in the building...we decided to try to make them look foolish by responding back to them on the condo message board. First of all, we were most angry that it was anonymous b/c we can not apologize. Nor can we come to some sort of resolution with the unhappy neihbors. Therefore, this was our kind reply. Hopefully the residents will not be embarrassed to respond to us next time, as we are not scary people, and we actually do sympathize with the barking.

"Hi everyone. It's been brought up that we have a problem with Tula's
barking (and probably Josie's too, it's a chain reaction). Both
Janetta and myself want to sincerely apologize for any disruption or
disturbance her barking may have caused. We want you to know that
we're working very hard on her training to break her of the habit
(including professional training), and are looking into other methods
of dealing with it, including putting a crate in our storage unit and
keeping her down there during the day. To help us with this end, if
anyone is in need of some peace and quiet at specific times, let us
know and we'll do whatever we can to make sure that those are quiet
times for you (as we already try to do as much as possible before 8am
and after 10pm anyway, but if you need anything in the daytime, just
tell us)

In our defence, we've just been through the toughest time of year for
dogs, and as such they've both been nervous wrecks for most of this
week. In all honesty, as I know there's more fireworks displays
planned for the weekend, they both will probably continue with the
panic and anxiety, and therefore the barking. And in my defence
personally, although I spend a good 95% of my week in our unit and
keeping things under control, even I have to head out and leave them
from time to time.

Also, Tula gets spayed next week, so that should help with calming
her down and keeping her quiet. If anyone has other suggestions to
help is keep things quiet, please feel free to let us know, although
we do draw the line at shock collars to restrain barking. We want to
work with you, and make this a comfortable and relaxed place to live,
and we'll gladly take any advice or support anyone wants to offer.

As we said in our first mail, if anyone has any problems at all,
please do let us know, and we'll do anything we can to resolve any
problems that come up, as soon as we possibly can. And we want to
thank you all for your patience to date, and hopefully in the future,
and also for the lots of positive feedback we've had so far.

We would have handled this matter personally, and given our apology
in person, rather than a group mail like this, if only the note that
was left by our door had some name or contact information on it,
rather than being left anonymously.

If anyone does have problems in the future, please do come to us
about it and talk to us about it. If you need to get hold of us, our
home number is xxx, my cell is xxx, and Janetta's
is xxx. Even if we need to come back from wherever we are to
quiet the dogs, we'll try our best to do it.

Janetta & Anthony"

Our Little GIrl is Becoming a Woman

We've not been posting, mostly because we've been busy doing things like camping and visiting family. Tula and Josie are getting closer and closer. Tula has gained quite a bit of weight, she's nearly double in size. She has lost at least 1 or 2 of her back molar teeth (kinda like her daddy, he he he----minus the infection, of course). We've been taking her for jogs with Josie. Josie seems to enjoy the jog as she gets to use her "shepherding" to guide Tula on the jog. It looks like she was born to do that. We took them to the local dog park around here (it has VERY high fences!) and Josie got into a little "tiff" with another dog and they sorted it out themselves, which I am very proud of. Josie is understanding how to deal with obnoxious dogs, as she gets so much practice. Tula is still attending her puppy classes and she is doing very well with her commands and clicker training. She has mastered "take it". She takes things very gently from you. She also gets along well with my 15 month old neice, Finnley. Finnley was crying and Tula was licking her feet, trying to help her get to sleep. It's amazing. I still can not do yoga at home, though, as she thinks my downward dog is my "play initiator" pose. I get tons of puppy licks for about 30 minutes after I do a downward dog! I don't mind. It's too cute. More next time....with photos, maybe a video!

A nice little casual conversation with a random Bostonian...

Random Bostonian: You should have a muzzle on THAT.
Ant: Excuse me, what did you say?
RB: THAT. That pitbull needs to have a muzzle.
Ant: This puppy is not a pitbull. She's a Plott Hound, and I have the papers to prove that.
RB: No it's not, that is a pitbull.
Ant: No, she's a Plott Hound.
RB: Well it looks like a pitbull, it should be locked up.
Ant: You look like you could be a pedophile, should I keep my kids away from you?
RB: I've never been so insulted in my life!
Ant: Then you have been very lucky then!

All about Josie...

I know this blog is Tula's but this is also about her big sister Josie, too. She is our biggest helper in raising Tula. She is incredibly tolerant with her (we always said she had a mothering personality) and she teaches her what is acceptable doggy behavior. She won't allow Tula to misbehave, sometimes lets her win in Tug-o-War, but never let's her eat her food or drink her water until she's had her fill (leader of the pack!). Most people buy fish tanks to calm them down by watching them swim all day long. I can watch these two play all day long and my stress is reduced tremendously. Josie is our first girl and she always has that connection with us. As soon as we can, Josie and I will go out for a nice jog together by the beach! (now that she is feeling better from her cold).

They Grow Up So Fast, Don't They?

Tula had her first vet visit this evening, and we found out that Tula is actually 1 month older than we thought she was! Apparently, puppies lose their teeth like clockwork at 16 weeks, and we already found a tooth on the bed. It's very cute. She got her first rabies shot, so we are monitoring her carefully for any abnormal reactions to the vaccines. She's absolutely exhausted and just laying in her bed right now. She is such an angel when she's not biting everything like a little crocodile!

Smart Ass

So we got Tula a halti (the Gentle leader). It's based on the principle that it gives you more control during the walks without pulling, and does not hurt. They use it for horses. It basically goes around the mouth and clips behind the ears, so they can only pull with their necks, which isn't as strong as the rest of the body. It works really well for Josie and she doesn't pull. In the beginning, we've had to wrestle her to the ground and pin her down and take about 20 minutes of fighting to get it on her. She's worked out NOW that if we try to put it on her, all she has to do is open her mouth nice and open wide! Little cheeky monkey, she is!

Tula Video

Full of loveable sweetness!

One Tough Cookie

So, we took Josie and Tula down to the park for a walk. There was another guy walking his 2 dogs, one was an old retriever and the other a pit. Josie has a lot more confidence with Tula-belle around, so she went up to the retriever to sniff some noses. The retriever goes for her (what is it with old dogs attacking Josie???). What does a tiny little Tula bear do? She goes for the retriever herself. Then the pit. She is going to be one loyal pup.

Purrrrrrrrr

It's official, we have a purring dog.

And by request (soon!), we will have more photos on this site tomorrow or so!

Tug-O-War

I'm trying to watch Heroes, enjoying a cup of tea....when all of a sudden these 2 dogs come running over with the same squeeky toy playing tug of war, both growling at each other and neither one letting up. Josie always wins....

Then Anthony claps his hands and they break up, lay down, and play with their own squeeky toy. I feel bad for my neighbors right now!

One of the Pack

This weekend was very eventful. Tula learned just how wonderful the belly rub actually is. She is like a little crocodile, always nipping at things....so to see her stop doing that for a second to enjoy a little belly rub is a real treat. Ok, so more for her obviously. But it's fun to see the wheels turn in her head of "must nip, must chew.....oooooo". She also resembles a little bat when she goes upside down and her ears flop out like bat ears.

She gets to start out sleeping on the bed with the rest of the pack but then she gets put back in the crate and she curls up in the back and sleeps. She had another bath to remove all the peanut butter that she got all over her fur from her Kong treat (she was left for an hour or so we could go grocery shopping-she needs to learn to be on her own eventually!) We also found that she gets cranky when she needs a nap. Just like a toddler.

However, she has given her nasty West Virginia kennel cold to Josie! She does what the vet calls an "inverted sneeze", where dogs try to clear the mucous from their throat. Her stomach gets all big and she looks like she is going to throw up. Her little heart races like mad. So the vet put her on antibiotics. And we also found out that she is a little stressball and has a touch bit of colitis, so she is now on some anti-inflammatory for her intestines. With her pancreatitus, we are trying to guess what the next "itus" will be. Hopefully NO MORE! She is feeling a lot better now, as we can see she tolerates Tula a lot more. So much so, that they cuddled and she allowed Tula to take a nap in her bed. Awwww.

And today, I was greeted at the door with 2 wet noses, when I came back from work! Anthony and Josie were really happy to see me. Wey-hey! Ok, just joking, it was Tula and Josie.

Rough night

Tula decided to wake up at 3AM this morning....and she wanted out of the crate (however she peed in it so we figured taking her out was no longer urgent!). We removed the towel, gave her a fresh one, and she thought it was play time. She was so riled up with energy that she wanted nothing to do with the crate, but wanted to play with Josie. This was not the time. I am sure our neighbors did not appreciate the whine and bark at 3AM! We allowed her to calm down a bit on the bed (mom was sleeping slightly and felt this bounce of a little 11 pound puppy everywhere on the bed) before putting her back in the crate, which she then went back to sleep until 7AM. Thankfully she has been holding her number 2's! No hoobybooboos number 2 in the house, fingers crossed it stays that way!

First Bath!

We had a urine in the crate issue and felt it was time to get her back to the new puppy smell by giving her first bath. Daddy decided to do it, with mommy videotaping. She had no idea what was going on, but was too small to jump out of the tub so she had to put up with it. And she did! I wouldn't say she enjoyed it, but she certainly tolerated it. She did enjoy the drying off part, playing tug of war with the bath towel! Stay tuned for the video on You Tube!

Meeting the neighborhood

After a few days of walking Tula several times a day (potty training is very hard work, but it's keeping us in shape!), we found it quite difficult to get down the street without everyone stopping to ask how old and what kind. And Tula is extremely excited to meet everyone, wagging her tail and being very excited. I thought I was just special when I come home after work to see her tail wagging at me....but no, she does that to any stranger she sees walking down the street. She loves meeting other dogs, and even met the rotty down the street. She even helps out Josie with her anxiety of meeting other dogs (possibly using her as a test decoy???). The neighborhood kids adore her, and have gatherings outside just for the glimpse of seeing her walking down the street with her own leash in her mouth. A few kids at the corner even stopped their water gun fight "Is that not the cutest puppy you ever saw? For godsakes, hold your fire!". She gets all the kids respect!

First Few Days at the New Home!

Welcome to my blogpage! This site is dedicated to the ins and outs of anything and everything Tula. She is our new hound mix, brought to us from West Virginia through Save A Dog from a lovely woman named Shirley. On May 3, we took our unnamed pooch to her new home to meet her new older sister Josie. She had very minimal contact with Josie, as she wondered who this little black thing was! It took a day to finally come up with a name for her, and we rather liked the Jim Henson muppet theme however we felt that nothing Fraggle Rock related really fit her, so we named her Tula. Tula is one character of the Hoobs, a UK children's show done by Jim Henson's Productions. We thought this discription fit her extremely well as she is quite independent for a young little puppy! However her older sister is quite the alpha female, and her first interaction with Josie, she was on her back and asking for acceptance. A very good start to the new family. Mommy can't stop smelling her, she has the new puppy smell! We have our hands very full with potty training and keeping her entertained and under control!