The tail wag....

Oh my God.....it finally happened........or i finally got to see it, Kati wagged her little nub of a tail. She and Dobie were having quite a time playing on morning last week and they both came flying into the house from play and she was all happy and her little nub was just rocking back and forth just enough for everyone to notice.

She and Dobie seem to play more and more, when he is feeling good. I really need to get the new doc to check him out and see if maybe she can figure something out. He seems to be holding up his left rear leg more and more lately. However, i did notice that when i walk him he tends to keep them all on the ground as he gets tired. It does seem also seem that when he does his morning stretches he is somewhat hesitant to really get into the whole thing......like he can only move so far before he is uncomfortable. On the other hand, the geckos are coming into season and he is hot and heavy chasing them. I have seen a couple this spring and they are kind of big, if he gets a kill he will be very proud!!


And another first this week for Miss Kati.........she finally figured out the flower box wall that Dobie runs away from her on. She can't get up from the middle yet, but she certainly has figured out to go the low part where Molly gets up and can walk the whole thing now. She is a bit hesitant to jump down but does seem to be getting over that pretty darn quick. I have also "caught" her just sitting in the yard. As I like to say with the other two.....surveying their empire!! It rocks she getting comfortable enough to stop all the movement, sit and enjoy the day. Our weather is getting warm and it is just perfect out in the mornings.....they do seem to disappear for a bit and got out and just enjoy. Can hardly wait until she will lay down and nap with Molly out there.

So as I have said, she is very affectionate and cute in the mornings before getting all nervous. She rolls around on the carpet and has come to expect i will be down there to rub her back, legs, belly........just about head to toe now. And as you might expect........someone (Dobie) spends his mornings getting in between her and I and that is pretty darn cute. Good thing i have two hands or there would be a problem. He really has always been the attention hog when anyone other than him is not getting rubbed all over. Well on weekends, I tend to go back to bed after our little wake up session and so if she is not ready for all that will come try to get up on the bed. So this weekend, i picked her up and set her up there with all of us. She was nervous but was ok with it. Dobie jus kind of looked at her and sat there............Molly on the hand, if she could talk, she would have been saying.........."I know you are not serious with her being up here. This is my giant bed and there is no room for HER!!" So Kati decided to move, and as i expect was charged off the bed by Molly........it was kinda cute and pretty much what i expected. They will have to work that one out on their own, as I am sure Molly will make very clear the plan!!














And finally, princess Molly!!

I remembered the camera.....

So it was bath time again and i did remember the camera. Being a puppy mill kid, Kati did not not develop all those normal dog grooming skills right off and she is still working on some of them. For instance, when she first came to live with us.....a diggleberry did not bother her much. Now she pretty much drags her ass all over until it is off but it might take a day or two unless i can catch her and help out. So we have decided she will get a bath once a month and some grooming. That is Deb holding her after her haircut and as you can see it is not too bad. She really does not mind getting trimmed much until we get to her paws. She lets me pay with her feet ok some but sure does not like them being trimmed or toenails being cut either. At least she did not yesterday and i don't like fighting her to get it done.....so no toenails yesterday.


She really hates i would say, the bath part of it all. And i don't know if heard or read, that her cage may have been cleaned by just hosing it all down without taking her out. But either way, she does not like the whole water thing. And you can certainly tell by that picture below. The one above she is deciding that Deb might not be all that bad during the soapy, washing part. And you really can see moments during the warm water part, she might have been ok with it all.

This picture really does say it all for Kati....she is scared to death many times with something new and it is this face that probably causes me the most distress. But i do have to say, after her bath and we are back in the house........she is very happy to be clean and fresh it seems. She runs around gets all dried off, and knows she is all fresh and clean. We love Deb, she comes to the house in her truck and just kind of go through each dog. Dobie got all cleaned up and pretty yesterday.......he was starting to stink too!! They have been playing more, running around and chasing each other..........very cute, but they do get kind of smelly and with the temps warming up......well, you know.....stinky dogs!!

Molly even got her toenails done, so everyone is good to go for another month. I am thinking maybe i try the kitchen sink bath with Kati. That is how Molly gets her bath and it works just fine. However, Kati might be better off in the bathroom.....the drop/leap will be much shorter if she gets away. Anyway.........thinks are good and clean this week. Have a new resolution to walk at least one dog a day........lets see how we do!!

Mud.......

So this is Kati when she decides it is bedtime. She has finally gotten to where she will go into the bedroom on her own and go to her little bed. It is really cool now that she knows that is her bed and she can go there anytime she wants. Molly does tend to poach during the day time on the spot but Molly is all about the bed when night time arrives. Kati is not into the bed yet, but she does know that is where all the action is when Dobie is up there and in the mood to play. He jumps off and on kind of attacking her a play time. I just know she will follow him up one day. Rumor is the pet sitter "caught" her up there my last trip so i know she knows how to get up there. Not that there is room for three dogs on the bed!!

So it is pretty much spring in AZ and well that means time to have the sprinkler system checked out. And as $650 bucks would have it, there were some problems and a leak. The guys came out, rerouted a line that had busted under the patio, replaced some heads and found another leak in the year. All that work, has resulted in some mud.......and you guessed it, two of the dogs like mud. Go figure it is both of the girls. I dont think either have ever had much reason to see and get into any real mud before and of course it is not a problem for either. Dobie has held up his image a a sissy boy and will not have any part of getting his paws messy. The two girls are all into the mud. I did put some fertilizer on this weekend that is bone meal based and both the girlie dogs are eating those little grains as fast as they went down. No, not bad for them but not all that good either..........they will be fine and i think most is melted into the ground now. Funny to see them digging up to their ears looking for the little grains in the mud. And yelling to get out, only kind of works.

Kati and Molly are really enjoying the warm up. They both seem to be spending more time out in the yard just laying around and checking it all out. The minute i get there for a pic, they are both up and headed my way looking to see what i am up too. Gotta figure out a faster way to get the picture!! Headed out of town for a couple of days......Kati is not real fond of the pet sitter but she is going to have to learn to get along with some other humans........as we are not all bad.

Hello.....and she will work for food!!

Hi there......we have been away for a while but not just sitting around. Kati has met the lawn mower and the sewing machine. Yes the lawn mower in Feb.......i have been mowing up my dead grass since Jan. now. I have a huge backyard by AZ standards and i am now on my 5th giant trash can of scraped off dead grass and i am sure i will need to get to a sixth. The nice thing is that there is green coming up now too. Kati quietly goes into the house when she sees the mower and does not come out until i put it away in the garage.

On the other hand Dobie is all into mowing and likes to bark at the mower when it is running. He is certainly the noisy child and likes to be heard!! He likes to go from one side of the yard to the other dog talking to his neighbor buds. The funny thing is, he is never the initiator. We can be in the yard minding our own quiet business and he hears a barker several houses away and must respond to the call of the wild. Kati has almost figured out he is crazy and does not let his noise bother her so much anymore. She does not bolt into the house at warp speed anymore but kind of walks fast back to the door while he does his thing. Little brat!!

I am not sure if the sewing machine noise or the cords bothered her but we made it through that little venture and i got my pants shortened. Yes, i can sew......when you are short and want to wear pants it really is a necessity. Oh and we did a thunder storm the night before last. She was forced to be scared and allow me to pick her up during the loudest part and hold her. It think Molly was jealous as she has been the big storm baby in the past. She moves and can't decide what to do, i think she would have been fine with being held too, but she sat beside us. It was over pretty quick and Kati could not wait to get down. We all went back to bed and slept well.

She met her Dr. a couple of weeks ago. A doggie Dr. that comes to the house.....she is all cool and touchy feely and all into her dog patients. She changed up our flower essences and i think there is a change in her as a result. She also told me to make her work for food and she is doing her business much better outside..... So we don't go outside without treats now and if she pees or poops she come running for one. She is on to the deal and it seems to be working. And it is going to get a new fake wood floor in my office.........so i guess her bad habits have not been all in vain.....LOL. She seems to be going out more on her own and just wandering in the backyard. And that is really all it is about. Sit back relax and enjoy your big ole yard. I did cancel my April cruise, just did not think I wanted her forward progress to be damaged by me being gone for 12 nights. The last short trip i was on, did not go so well i thought and need to meet with the pet sitter again........

Anyway.......things are good and we promise not to stay away for so long. And that picture up top....Kati tries hard to follow Molly but Molly is not into sharing her space. Not sure what they were looking at but it was one of the few times they were both in sync and Kati was trying to be cool like Ms. Molly!!

The Tummy Rub!!

Guess what.....Kati has a tummy!! And i got to rub it for the very first time today!! So i have mentioned about the morning back rubs for Kati before........well today during our morning rub, she slowly turned over on her back and gave me her tummy to rub. I had never even seen it before. That was certainly off limits to the humans and never to be shared. I was not sure what she was doing until she let her head relax and her warm little belly was there for the rubbing. She let me do that for a few minutes, until the punk Dobie..........always afraid he will not get his share, busted his little head in for some loving too. It was over as quick as it stated. I think she has been watching each morning when we all wake up and I rub on Molly and Dobie. If they were all cats, i am sure there would be purring.

Bath Day!!

So Thurday was bath day and it started pretty well. Everyone got up happy and perky and Kati even managed to get busted chewing on a little blanket she pulled off the couch....it was very cute as you can see from the picture. Earlier in the day she managed to drag her ass all over the living room rug. Seems she has some leftovers from her chew bone the day before....fun clean up effort for me and another reason for that fabulous bath I knew was coming later in the day. When i did finally get her captured and it is indeed a capture event......as she does not come to me just to be coming to me like the other dogs. (Sorry about the crappy picture)

Dobie and Molly will come to me just about any time and certianly don't run from me. They know i am good people and there is no reason to run. Kati is starting to figure out that getting a back rub is not half bad and when i do manage to hold her, she does actually relax in my lap for a bit. But anyway, once captured and i got her into the bathroom......her behind was icky and there was not enough butt dragging she could have done to get cleaned up. So the agenda for bath day was going go be front and back end work!!

I screwed around and waited too long to try and start capturing her for her grooming. Once the hunt was on, she was on to me and was going to have not part of anything i had to offer. I feed her treats and tried to pin her in the office, then the bedroom........and well you can probably imagine. So in all this drama Dobie decided it was play time with a squeezy ball. And just so seems that this ball is loud and Kati does not do loud. So the loud ball sent her into the office under the desk, with Dobie and I to follow and the door was closed. Trapped at last!! and only 1/2 hour to grooming time. So i got her captured, collared and leashed and just decided to hold her for the next 1/2 hour..........and it was not all that bad!! She survived and so did Dobie, whinning at my feet to either be up there too or have her down with him!!

And of course, forgot all about the camera for bath time again. But we did get her face all cleaned up........probably a bit too short but she will grow out. And best of all, got her backside all cut up and shortened for better clean up on both our parts. Due to her puppymill upbringing, she is not into the basic cleaning that most dogs will do. She is coming around but it is no big deal for her to walk in poop or just run thru some pee from time to time. The other two.....especially Dobie, will step around in a huge way or even stop and go back.........before going near others business. He is a real snob about it all, wont drink old water either. And by old, i mean older than 12 hours. Goes up to the bowl, sniffs and walks away!!

A Much Better Week....

Welcome back to normal....sort of. Your mind wanders a lot when something like suicide hits your world...........but all i can do is better, cant go back and change what has already happened. So as I was saying, the regular pet sitter who spends the night was not available and i was convinced that the twice a day pet sitter would do fine and besides.....Kati really does better when no one is around. It is the other two that end to run rampant in the yard and bark just to hear themselves i think. So Rhonda the twice a day visit pet sitter is way into cats and not dogs for the most part, but she came over to meet Kati and said she was just like the feral cats that she finds from time to time. Needless to say they got along just great and Kati did not even spend as much time in the closet as she did when Ashley was at the house. But then she is getting much better around people in general.....well she does still pretty much run from me unless in the morning.

Mornings are our best time!! She lets me rub on her just about any where, she will some sit on the ground near me and stay there until i quite rubbing her or she decides she is done. Some days it is a very long time, others just a minute or two. This morning she did not even get out of her bed until i was totally ready for work, which was a first. But then now that i think of it, Molly who is always last got up first and Dobie and Kati were both last and dragging their feet. She just loves to potty on my rubber mat right out side the back door and now Dobie has decided he likes it as well. I have started to push it further and further away from the door but with the rain yesterday i think it really helped with them having some place to go that was not in the rain. Molly being the sweetheart that she is, will go out in the rain anytime and just hang a while. She is however, very opposed to thunder and lightning. We have not had much of that since Kati came to town, it will be interesting when the summer monsoons arrive because they can be very noisy indeed.

So we missed a week of puppy class when i was out of town last week but this week we had major breakthroughs if you ask me. So the first week she curled up in the corner and did not leave until i picked up up and class was over with. This past Saturday started out the same way but something happened halfway through class where she decided a walk around the room might not be so bad. We went around the perimeter or the room 4-5 times and walked past and around the other 4 dogs like it was no big deal. She really has no issue with other dogs and were bothered less by them than they were of her. She is the smallest dog in the class and the other most scared dog is a huge German Shepard, named Jerry. I think her and Jerry are trying to bond a bit and the other dogs she just walks around and mostly ignores them and distracts them from their training. She hates the clicker noise so there will really be no training along those lines but getting out and about does her good and she seems to really like car rides!! Now if i could just get her caught easier when i need to have her in had. She gets her second haircut this week and we will try and trim a few toenails!!