We have been watching our new puppy be home with us and grow for over 2 months now (she is 4 months old). Pictured below, the tri-color Bernedoodle. Posey is a very active wild child. I lovingly call her the 'terrorist' as she tends to leap, jump, and play bite with me as if I was another pup. She leaves Rod alone. She loves him up, without the baby teeth. Lucky him. I'm hoping that clients are understanding that she is just a puppy, and is at the moment, in training. She'll be very excited when you come in, and at first needs to be reminded not to jump up or to immediately use you as a chew toy. Despite this frustration of puppydom that I signed up for, she is a darling girl and very smart. She house trained in no time, with very few slip ups here and there at this point, that would be more due to owner error.
Posey is a star at her new vet, Skadron Animal Hospital in St. Paul. Also, she is going there every 2-3 weeks for vaccinations because I want to only have her vaccinated for one thing at a time. Her rabies shot is tomorrow, July 30th, and after that she'll have 2 more shots to go, one for Lyme (because this is Minnesota) and one for Parvo (again, because this is the land of 10,000 lakes).
Now if we can only make it through another few months of training--less pulling at the leash, less barking, less play biting with mommy, less jumping into the waterfalls and pond--less digging through her mouth because she has something she shouldn't... we will survive.
I'd like to take you back a few months and talk about our loss of Pixel. (Portrait below Posey's pic, the red head Goldendoodle). Pixel I think was so important to not only Rod and I, but everyone that met her, and the kids that knew her are asking "where is Pixel", so a conversation about all dogs go to Heaven begins, and I believe that is truly the case.
Pixel brought the sunshine to our studio. She was the door greeter and smile-maker. He cancer was only definitely diagnosed just 4 weeks before her passing. In the meantime I did everything I could to naturally combat the disease in her body, but perhaps it was just too late. Her cancer was too fast spreading and too progressed by the time it was caught. I want to tell you about some things that I did try though, and someone out there might be helped by the information.
#1 PEMF therapy. PEMF is a magnetic wave therapy, used by veterinarians, chiropractors, and health and wellness practitioners. You won't find it in a traditional hospital setting, yet. It can be done on both animals and humans. Look up "Magna Wave" and you will find a practitioner search that you can use to find someone if you have anything that your body is trying to heal from. It helps in the recovery of sore muscles and sprain, athlete recovery time, surgery recovery--and it has been known to treat cancer. I won't pretend to know all about it, and suggest that you look it up to read the research and see what it does.
#2 Accupuncture, Laser Therapy and Chinese Herbs. My vet was able to provide these therapies for Pixel, but sadly, again, too late. Your body has to be strong enough, and have the will enough to fight, and then these are very effective at returning balance and getting rid of disease.
#3 Nutrition. I went through several tries with softer foods, and was finally turned on to Woody's Pet Food and Deli. Woody's had cooked beef, and this is where I learned about raw, cooked, 'whole proteins'. These natural pet foods are fresh, and ground with the entire animal, organs, bones, everything, just as they would be eaten in the wild. Turns out manufacturers of pet foods, just through the nature of processing the kibble, dried up chunks, or, preserving the food in a can, are forced to suck the majority of nutrients out. Some pet foods don't even contain anything left of the original 'protein' of an animal at all. They'll describe their ingredients as 'by-product'--stay away! "By-Product" is another term for rendered animals, from a rendering plant, and euthanized pets are sent to rendering plants along with other farm animals and road kill not suitable for consumption. This 'by-product' was likely processed in the same vat as the other sets of animals being rendered.
Here is a good article link that I found on some human foods that are good for dogs--it's a list of 'most used' for creating treats. There might also be some surprises on the 'do not' list. I was surprised by #4, since its a favorite food of mine.:
https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/11-human-foods-dogs-can-eat-and-5-they-shouldnt
