Long time, no post!

Hello!

Haven't posted in a while, nothing really new here. Been figuring out more of Shadow's food allergies-possibly sweet potatoes and pork on the list. Also, wondering if Lylia has chronic pancreatitis. She did have vomiting and diarrhea for a while, finally seems better and the bloodwork we had done didn't show much. Who knows. My neighbor said it best the other day.."Having dogs like those, allergies/health problems, is like having a full-time job." No joke, some days I'm so stressed and tired from constantly trying to think about what causes this, what did you eat yesterday, etc. etc. etc. Plus, I do all of their grooming (nails, ears, brushing, combing, baths, and anything else) atleast once a week. I make sure both get plenty of outside time, play time, attention, visits with neighbors, and train every day. I LOVE it, don't get me wrong..but it'll be nice when I actually get paid to do what I love, so I can continue providing the best care for them in this failed economy. Vet bills go through the roof very quickly.
On another note, re-training with Shadow is going well. He is very smart and listens well, so it's fairly easy. He's just a pup and still has bad ADD with a nose that gets him into a lot of trouble. Been playing fetch with him on longline still, as every time he is off-lead he still remembers the house where he found beef rib bones with meat and inhaled them while in the middle of a fetch lesson. Now, he runs after the ball, takes off to the house, and drops the ball over there while sniffing around for more food. @.@ Neighbors need to stop putting garbage in the back of their truck for the crows to pick and drop. Finally feels like spring today! Going to be a high of 51, so the pups and I will spend most of today outside! =)

Everyone, enjoy your days!

Happy Birthday Lylia!

Today is Lylia's 6th birthday! She has come such a long way and next month we will have had her for 4 yrs! Can't believe it's been that long. She is wearing a lovely dress for her birthday/Valentine's Day and will be getting many special treats. =)
Happy Birthday Lylia and Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Shadow

ShadowFlatCoat's photostream on Flickr.

Why, why, WHY?

I must say that allergies have to be one of the WORST things you and/or pets can get. Whether it's allergies to food, seasonal, animals, or even air, for goodness sake. I have horrible spring & fall, sometimes even winter & summer, allergies. I usually get so messed up I feel like a child with a plague that brings it to school. People give me odd looks because they're afraid to catch it. I almost want to wear a sign that says, "Beware of ALLERGIES!" I am not the only one who suffers from the dreadful allergies..Lylia has some kind of year-round allergy and has to be on 1 zyrtec a day, 365 days a year, for life. Otherwise, she throws up almost daily (no fun for either of us) and has the itchies, shedding, sneezing, and coughing much worse every day. Along with the 2 of us, Shadow has food allergies. I can't tell you who has it worse because if he gets any little crumb of any kind of Red Meat (beef, lamb, bison, venison), or Soy, he gets horrible gas, diarrhea, drippy eyes, waxy ears (sometimes infected), and horrible itching and shedding for weeks. I've tried zyrtec and benadryl for him (even steroids), but all only help a little bit for a limited time. What kind of life is that? If we all 3 had reactions at the same time, people would think we had some kind of contagious disease. *sighs*
I'm going on about this rant because Shadow (who has no idea that red meat makes him sick) snuck some a few days ago off the floor after being told to leave it. We're both paying for it because he is losing his hair and hasn't stopped itching yet. Benadryl helps, only by making him sleep for a few hours, and it starts again. Also, every time he has the medicine, it sets us way back on training because: A. He's too tired to feel like playing B. He seems to "lose" his hearing and doesn't listen as well and C. He can't seem to stay focused. I tried a game of retrieving/training yesterday because it had been a while and, of course, we failed. He went back to old ways and ran next door to our neighbor's house to pick out some toys his dog leaves outside. He brought one back to me and I had to be the meanie and take it from him. Also, during training, he broke a Sit-Stay and laid down. He wasn't into training at all, so I called it quits. I feel awful because he's losing spots of hair on his legs from chewing and can't stop scratching. Hopefully we'll get back to training soon. Everyone have a great weekend and take care of yourselves! Enjoy the picture below, Shadow and Lylia enjoying their puzzles the other day:

Meghan and Shadow

Hello to All!

This is my new blog..new to blogging, so please be nice and give advice (if you can!) I will mostly be blogging about dogs..specifically, my Flat-Coat, Shadow. I might do lots on here, and I might not. For those who don't know, I just graduated from Penn Foster Career School as a Certified Dog Obedience Instructor & Trainer. I've always had a strong interest in dogs that seems to grow more by the day. I need a lot more experience, though, so hopefully I can find another trainer who will let me intern. I am currently trying to join the Green Mountain DockDogs with Shadow to see if he likes it. We'll see how it goes, but I have faith in him! Hang in there with me as I figure this whole thing out. For now, I must go and entertain Shadow as it's taken me way too long to set this up and he is getting bored of staring out the backdoor hoping to go out. TTFN and hope to be back here soon!

Meghan & Shadow

Enjoy this pic of Shadow from our Christmas vacation. The background image is also him. =)