A Little Vocal

Morningstar was a little bit vocal Sunday night. This is better than the last video I posted of her talking as she talks more and you don't hear me so much for once. Enjoy!

This is how she wakes me up in the morning since she can't jump up on the bed. This is also her trying to convey something except I don't speak her language any more than she seems to understand mine.

She's Back!

It was a brief moment of separation but Morningstar is back once again to stay. She's an odd little thing. She has quite the sweet life at mom's house and yet one of those days I visited mom at lunch she made a mad dash for my car. Silly puppy. She doesn't get the treats, she has fights, and she doesn't get to sleep with us in the bed and yet she is running to be with us. I don't get it.

I have some upcoming medical stuff that I get to do next week. I'm not looking forward to them at all--especially since there may be pain involved. But I guess I'll have to do it to get better.

Speaking of medical...this little girl is Angel. She is my mom's dog and she is 21 pounds!!!

I don't know. I find it kind of crazy that she weighs more than Freya. Freya is around 19 pounds--sigh. The vet told my mom that Angel is at least 8 pounds over weight if you go by the two breeds she is mixed with (Chihuahua/Pug like Morningstar.) I think he may be wrong. I think she needs to be a bit heavier as she is taller and is built differently than Morningstar is (they had different dads--or moms...I can't remember.) Currently, Morningstar kind of reminds me of a bulldog and Angel is a bit like a pug in height (at least I think so--never had a true Pug so I may be wrong.)

But don't worry folks! As soon as I get Morningstar at a weight that I feel is suitable for her, I'm going to dognap Angel and start with her. I am worried about Angel though. She is kind of...a weird dog. My mom didn't interact with her nearly as much as she did with Morningstar when she was a baby. I'm not saying that Angel is dumb--it just seems to me that she doesn't really understand English so much. She acts more like a dog though compared to Morningstar. She seems submissive, which is a good thing for our house, but at the same time she freaked out when I tried to put a leash and harness on her. So I worry she may spazz a lot in the beginning. And I'm sure it didn't help that I wasn't living at home when she came around. Initially, Angel was supposed to be my dog but I grew impatient and really wanted a corgi so I got Freya instead and mom got Angel from her friend.

Hopefully, it will all work out. I have agreed to bring Morningstar for Christmas but she isn't staying--just you know, getting presents. :D

Oh side note: We went back to Blue Buffalo (and didn't do the proper switching of food thing--sigh) cause boyfriend didn't want to drive 20 minutes out of his way for Canidae. Oh well, it cost him more for it too. The dogs really like Blue Buffalo (they also liked Canidae) but it didn't seem to work with Cloud that great which is why I wanted to switch. But oh well, I guess we'll deal with it until it's my turn to buy dog food.

Wordless Wednesday

An Early Ending

I haven't been well enough to focus on Morningstar as much as I wanted to this month. As a result, she's going home a little earlier than I intended for two reasons: I'm going to have two procedures and having to worry about all the dogs getting along isn't going to help me and the second is Morningstar bit my boyfriend. She didn't break the skin (this time--the last time was during the epic Freya/Morningstar fight) but managed to red mark him a bit.

It is my decision to take her back home and she has a Vet appointment that following Monday so it's easier this way. I just think it's bad timing. I think at the beginning of the year I'm going to try fat camp with Angel. I hope I will have more success with her. Eventually, I'll get Morningstar again.

Honestly, I haven't figured out how people can have more than two dogs. I haven't figured out how to balance three dog's needs let alone two of them.

Morningstar

Ok, I weighed Morningstar last night and she came in around 17.6 pounds. I didn't realize just how over weight she is until I saw that she couldn't jump anymore. Wow! I'm so glad that I grabbed her.

My mom gave her pork last night before I got her. She said she gave her a little bit. Well, I hope she enjoyed it as that was the only thing she ate last night as she snubbed the Blue Buffalo I gave her.

Last night was interesting. I can count 2 fights between Morningstar and Freya. One fight with Cloud and Morningstar. A bunch of barking and growling. And one bruise knee (apparently Freya wasn't happy with this and decided to nip at my knee.) A whole bunch of whining last night as we made everyone hang out in a quarantined area until this morning.

Freya is afraid of Morningstar and Morningstar is afraid of Cloud. Oh well, I'll give it a few more days for them to acclimate once again. Last time we brought Morningstar home it took until day 3 before she was semi comfortable with Cloud.

We walked a little bit last night. She couldn't keep up with us. I had Freya running ahead of me and Morningstar trailing behind. I hope the rain clears up so we can do some more walking. I can't hold an umbrella and two dogs.

I have to say that I'm glad that Freya isn't fat. She's never really been fat as I always worried about it. Cloud was the first dog that I've seen that was actually a healthy weight. It's bizarre and BF get's annoyed that people are constantly telling him that Cloud is too skinny--when it's really the opposite, everyone is used to seeing fat dogs.

On a side note, I found a place 20 minutes away from me that carries an assortment of food that I could normally get from Petco (if there was one nearby--sigh). Any thoughts on Innova, Natural Balance, Orijen, Merrick, Royal Canin, Blackwood & Canidae? I had considered switching the dogs to something which will hopefully be cheaper than Blue Buffalo and of a better quality if that is even possible. If not--back to BB, the dogs really like it. I'm kind of worried that it isn't agreeing with Cloud (or something isn't) cause he had some righteous gas lately and worse than normal. Maybe I should invest in a gas mask? Lol

November Puppy Fever

I got puppy fever really badly last November. I know I always had it but last year was a hard time as I was still adjusting to life. My mom has Chugs and I had it in me that I was going to take Morningstar to fat camp. The bad thing about my mom is that she feeds her dogs like they are human--I mean they eat rib eye steaks and fried chicken pretty much every day! Plus, she feeds them all kinds of things that they shouldn't eat too. For example, onions--no amount of me telling her to stop or the vet doesn't stop the woman. I love my mom but she's stubborn. She loves her dogs a bit too much and uses them as a substitute as her children--it's bad.

As a result, her dogs are quite obese. Actually, they are heavier than Freya--which is a bad example as Freya is about 18 pounds and significantly small for her breed. It's quite bad.

So I had Morningstar for a week. She didn't get any scrap food from me, just dog food--that's it. We walked a lot and got her to lose 4 pounds or so. It was really good. She felt a lot better, moved around better...and gained all that and more after being at my mom's house. Sigh.

Currently, I miss my little buddy and want to have her for a month this time. I'm just a bit worried about how Freya will take it. Don't get me wrong, Freya has played with Morningstar and her sister Angel for a while now and though she gets on better with Angel, Morningstar is a bit different when away from my mom's house so it may work. Morningstar is a great dog. She walks really well on the leash for never doing it when growing up. She also lets me bathe her and clip her nails no problem. However, clipping of the nails doesn't go as smoothly with mom for some reason. I lull that girl to sleep with belly rubs! I wish I could do the same with Freya. Freya has somewhere she wants to be and do--she's a busy girl.

Here is Morningstar.

She is the reason I was seriously considering getting a pug for a long time. However, after much research I decided that with our current living situation it wouldn't suit a pug very well. (We don't have central heating or air and I would just worry more so with a pug, boston, or Frenchie because I know how temperature sensitive the breeds are.) One day, I would like to get a Pug or a Frenchie-- I must admit that I have fallen in love with their cute little faces and snorts, but hopefully I will be better off financially too so that I can better handle the possible medical issues the breeds can have.

So after I ruled out those breeds--I looked at dachshunds and corgis. I was initially thinking of a dachshund because I remember one of the good trips we had at the dog park and how much Cloud had fun with one running with her. But Cloud being a Weim, I knew that a hardier dog would be better and so I started to look up corgi breeders. I fell a bit short and ended up with a back yard breeder (I know, I know bad!!) as I wasn't sure how an adopted dog would fair with Cloud with his burgeoning male aggression. I can see a difference between a better developed corgi and my own but it is mainly to do with size. Freya is about the same size as Morningstar or a regular sized Pug for you pug folks.

I know for the next time I ever get a puppy, I'm going to go to a more reputable breeder and hopefully get papers. I may even go for a different kind of Corgi next time...a Cardigan. It really doesn't matter though so long as they are healthy and thriving. Either way, both Corgis and Pugs (Weims too) love to eat! So I'll always have to be on top of that and always will as I don't want my dogs to be so uncomfortable in life.

And now for the main point...I'm thinking about doing another fat camp with Morningstar. Thoughts anyone?