Who says you need a fancy dog bed?

A cardboard box with a pillow and a towel wrapped around the pillow. Also doubles as the "cat condo."

Spaying Kushi

Kushi got spayed a month ago when she turned 5 months old. Before her operation, I did research online to see what the pros/cons of spaying are and at what age to do the operation. One thing I learned is that some people can be really polarized about neutering/spaying. We wanted to spay her before her first heat, since dogs can often have their first heat starting from 6 months. Supposedly, spaying dogs before they have their first heat reduces their chances of getting mammary cancer to almost nil. Spaying also prevents uterine infection (pyometra), obviously, since the uterus is removed.

But another side effect of spaying that I actually did not know about until after the operation is that a percentage (perhaps even as high as 25%, depending on size of dog) of spayed dogs can develop estrogen-related incontinence later on in life. Supposedly, estrogen helps maintain muscle tone, and without the estrogen, the muscles controlling the bladder become weak, resulting in leaking. By the way, this can also happen to women in menopause. Oh the joys of becoming old... Learning about this after the fact disturbed me a bit, since this side effect is often not mentioned or downplayed on pro-spaying sites. To me, incontinence is not a minor side effect.

Our vet charged $400 (!!), and we debated whether to go to the local humane society, which charges less than $150. In the end, though, we decided to bite the $ bullet and hoped that throwing all that money at the vet meant that all would be well for Kushi (hah).

There was no preparation except to make sure not to feed her after 8 pm the night before. Giving her water, though, was fine. We dropped her off at 8:30 am on a Friday. Friday is a good day to schedule the operation because then you have the weekend to watch over your puppy's recovery. We got a call at around 2pm from the vet, letting us know Kushi was finished with the operation and had woken up. Kushi was kept overnight for observation and we picked her up the next morning. She was wearing an elizabethan collar (e-collar) around her neck to prevent her from licking her incision. The incision was 1.5 inches long and had dissolving sutures, so we wouldn't need to return later to the vet to get her sutures removed.

When she arrived home, she was whining, presumably from the pain. She seemed to need to go potty very frequently, sometimes going pee twice in the same session. We took her collar off and watched her during the day to make sure she didn't lick at her incision. She didn't really lick at it much so we kept her collar off. By the afternoon, she had stopped whining and had started to jump around, feeling more like herself. We did our best to keep her from being too active, so she wouldn't tear her stitches. "Tried" being the operative word. We didn't feed her till her evening meal.

Kushi with the incision on her belly

The next day on Sunday, we took her for a short walk. I carried her up and down the flights of stairs, so she wouldn't strain her stitches, but she was raring to go. It's amazing to see how rapidly she was recovering from a major surgery. Puppies seem to regenerate so quickly. I wonder what would happen if I snipped off her tail...

On Monday, we took her for her full daily walk. We skipped out on the dog parks for a week, though. We also did not bathe her for two weeks. By then, her incision had completely healed over. We're happy that everything went so well!

Humiliating Kushi with bunny ears

As usual, I couldn't resist the combination of cute bunny ears and a half-off price. Kushi is modeling a Louis Dog jumper.

Mmmm, tasty...

Zzzzz, g'nite!

Mmm, fresh warm underwear

Tigger looooves warm laundry fresh from the dryer. About as much as he loves catnip. You practically have to drag him by the tail to get him away from your laundry while you're trying to fold it. Here, my husband is tossing his underwear (clean and fresh from the dryer, I promise) onto Tigger, and Tigger's lovin' it (and wearin' it).

Tigger and Sheboo are toilet trained!

Kushi has already learned most of her basic obedience commands (still working on improving "Stay"), but Tigger and Sheboo are even more impressive: they have been trained to go on the toilet, thus relieving their human owners from the mess and stink of kitty litter! Don't believe it? Here's the proof, showing Tigger doing Number 2:


How did we do it? Let's just say it took a loooong time and a lot of patience. Tigger actually learned very quickly, but Sheboo was very stubborn and took a lot longer. Two years longer. It really depends on the individual cat. Training two cats at the same time is actually four times as hard as training just one cat. If you want to train your own cat, we used the techniques described in a cat toilet training forum.

We even installed an automatic toilet flusher, which I like. A lot. When I do my business on the other toilet that doesn't have the automatic flusher, I look at it in severe disappointment that I have to manually flush the toilet.

You can never have too many toys

Juicy Couture: Knockoffs for me, authentic for Kushi

I couldn't resist getting this "Sleep All Day, Bark All Night" Juicy hoodie for Kushi.


She gets the real thing, but I got a knockoff for myself:


I got this Juicy Couture knockoff terry dress from a website iOffer.com where you can negotiate with individuals to buy stuff. Lots of people on this website are from China selling knockoffs of different designers, including Juicy Couture. Ahh, the wonders of technology. Speaking of knockoffs, I had already bought a carrier, but otherwise, I would have been tempted to get this Coach carrier knockoff from the same website, which you can probably negotiate for under $150:
You can even get a Louis Vuitton knockoff carrier...

Kushi's new pet gate

To keep Kushi away from the cats' food, we installed a gate. The gate had to be just tall enough to keep Kushi in, but short enough for the cats to jump over and me (the shorty) to step over. I was thinking of getting a taller gate that I could open, and although Tigger is athletic and can easily jump a taller gate, pudgy (okay obese) Sheboo is not so nimble.

This gate is 21 inches high, which is tall enough since Kushi is not a climber. It has a pet gate and is nice in that it has four wall knobs that you can individually adjust to press against uneven walls or floor moldings. You can get the Richell Pet Sitter Gate at petsmart.com for $79, which is pricey, though we got it on sale. It's very solid and works as advertised, though.

Kitty camouflage

Always look before you sit...

Kushi loves bull pe--, er, bully sticks

Kushi loves chewing on her bull penises, or "bully sticks" for the euphemistically minded. They come in different lengths and variations (e.g. braided sticks), I get the 6 inch sticks for about a buck each. They're available at most pet supply stores. I give them to her to help clean her teeth and let her chew on the stick for an hour or two before taking it away. It easily lasts a week or two, before I throw them out when they get too short. Supposedly, they're very digestible, though I supervise her to make sure she doesn't get herself into trouble. She's so little and not a powerful chewer, though, it's not too much of a worry that she'll bite off more than she can chew.

She likes the use her stuffed toys as leverage to a better grip on her bully stick.

Socializing Kushi

When we first got Kushi, we quickly found that:

1. She LOVES people. All people. Big men, little babies. On our walks, she'll often do that doggie dance where she'll hop around on her hind legs, straining against the leash and whimpering in frustration that she can't run to and vigorously lick that random stranger 100 feet away.

2. She was afraid of dogs.

Apparently, she was well socialized with people, but not with dogs. In fact, before we got her at 17 weeks, she had not been taken outside yet. So, from day one, every day, we got her used to walking on a leash, climbing up and down stairs, exposed to a busy urban environment, going potty outside, riding in a car, basically showing her how to be a dog. Although uncertain at first, she quickly picked up on everything.

People comment on how much Kushi behaves like a "real dog," as if in surprise that a little dog could be friendly and not yapping/growling at them. It seems like there are many little dogs that are not well socialized, probably because it's very easy to just keep them inside all day.

Socializing her to dogs took a bit longer, though. We went to dog parks every day and even went to supervised "teen puppy" playgroups to socialize her to dogs. She would bark at the dogs, cower and try to jump up on us for reassurance. We did not give her reassurance or try to soothe her. Instead, we gave her a constant stream of treats whenever a dog would come and meet her to show her that "new dogs = it's raining treats." Over time, it worked, and now, two months later, whenever we enter a dog park, she forgets we exist and runs off to romp with her new doggie pals.

Crate training

So far, the crate training has been going well. Kushi hasn't had an accident in over a month. We got Kushi at 17 weeks, and her foster parents had been paper training her, but she would often have accidents. When we got her, we stopped the paper training, and instead put her into a plastic crate. The crate was just barely be big enough to allow her to stand and turn around, so that she would be less tempted to go potty in the far corner of a roomier crate. We also did not have any bedding inside the crate to also lessen the temptation to go pee. We found that a play pen also is an extremely helpful tool for potty training. A play pen gives your puppy room to play, but still allows you to keep an eagle eye on her. In the beginning, we took her out to her grass sod every hour, and now, she only needs to go every 2-4 hours. We would tell her "Go Potty" and as soon as she finished going, we would praise the heck out of her and give her a tasty treat. She usually poops after every meal (two meals a day), and once first thing in the morning. On average, she goes poop 3-4 times a day. She has a preference to go potty on grass, cedar chips, leaves and dirt, in that order. In the beginning, she's had a couple accidents (mostly due to my husband not paying enough attention, ahem), but after a couple weeks, she seemed to get the idea. We still don't allow her full free reign in the house, mainly because we want to take it slow, but she's well on her way there.

Kushi's raincoat

It rained for the first time in the fall season a couple weeks ago, and I took Kushi out for her daily walk (rain or shine!). Even though I tried to keep her dry under my umbrella, she would run about and get soaked, which she definitely did not enjoy. So...a perfect excuse for buying yet another item for her, this time, a red Puppia raincoat:

This reversible puppia hooded vest was half off, so I got that as well:

Cheaper poop bags

Those small compact rolls of poop bags are really convenient. They are housed in a plastic casing which attach to your leash, so you won't forget to bring the bags. A popular brand I see people carrying is called "Bags on Board," which sell for $10.99 for 120 bags at petsmart.com.

I then found this site called PetEdge where you can buy 120 bags for $3.98.

They're a different brand (Clean Go Pet), and the rolls are a smidge longer, so they probably won't fit in the Bags on Board casing, but the Clean Go Pet has their own casing. At less than half the price, it's a no brainer! The only catch is that PetEdge requires a minimum purchase or else they will tack on an extra charge. You can always use this as an excuse to buy other pet supplies from their website. For example, they have great pricing on the flea preventative Frontline Plus.

I also noticed on the PetEdge site that a lot of dog apparel I see on other websites are sold at much cheaper "wholesale" prices at this website...Yes, I know I shop around a lot!

Training treats: Natural Balance Food Rolls

Kushi just "graduated" from basic obedience class at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. The treats we give her for training are Natural Balance Food Rolls, which are rolls of semi-moist food. You cut slices off the rolls and cube it up into any size you want. They come in three flavors: lamb, turkey and beef. Kushi likes them a lot.