Turkey-ed Out

I give Charlie a wet food called Puppy Plate from Merrick along with his dry food... I think he overindulged last night on the 'Thanksgiving Platter" one... haha

ugh. stuffed puppy.

Collar, Foods, and LEAFS oh my!

Yay for the weekly socialization trip to the pet store!  I just got a plain blue collar that you cant even see under his floof because I want to order this fancy leather padded one for Christmas (shh!!)

I canz sit for 2 seconds. no posing. must. run. in. leafs.

At the pet store Charlie was first met with "the expert" a lady who constantly tells me that Charlie MUST have had a bad experience and I MUST not be socializing him enough and I MUST baby him and basically tells me I'm ruining my puppy. GR. hmpf.  She never listens when I tell her our 'routine' for strangers is no eye contact and offer a treat without reaching for him.  She tries to 'catch' him. We are not friends with the 'expert'. Thankfully "the buddy" was there. This lady has a friend who has an anxious mini aussie. She is GREAT. And this week Charlie actually sat at her feet and she got to reach down and pet his head while we were talking! He also was totally cool with eye contact and her reaching twoard him (not for him!) :) He even went with her on a mini walk around the aisle! Success!

We also got new food for Charlie! I guess because I ususally talk about his anxiety I never mention the fact that my puppy is anorexic. He eats enough to stay healthy but is starting to look skinny... and I don't want him to be skinny for his big day in 2 weeks! SO we were instructed to try wet food (work up to 3:1 wet:dry mix) which I just..ugh..not a fan of wet food. We came home with Wellness Puppy, (the same as his dry food) which is a natrual holistic brand; Halo Spot Stew which is all natural as well; and Merrick Puppy Plate, which looks like human Chunky Soup. Its my personal favorite because its actaul chuncks of meat, whole veggies, and even apple pieces & apparently its the closest brand to raw food! So we are testing all three! If nothing works we will be trying Instinct dry food, which is all natrual kibble coated in a freeze dried raw food shell... gross.. but if it makes the puppy eat and grow I'll deal with it... I just reeeally dont want to go all raw... I know I know its sooo good for them.. but I dunno if I can stomach it!

Today we spent all day in the woods! Charlie, Maddie, and my little brother George ran around like hooligans and I caught it on tape :) Crappy cell phone tape but its still cute!

 And yes. Charlie jumped in the freezing cold muddy lake after I took this... Oh Charlie!

GR.

Charlie must have seen my last post. SOMEHOW he chewed his OWN collar into 3 pieces. I'm upset...but also impressed at his inginuity. Beau cannot be completely innocent as I believe the collar initially came off during a bitey face game. He's lucky my camera is dead or I would make him take a shameful picture with his 'work'. Maybe I'll update later.

Of course it was brought to my attention that Charlie knows how much I love going to the pet store, maybe he was trying to plan a fun day for me? Darn fuzzball!

So RIP pretty collar that complimented Charlie's copper oh so nicely.

Guess he didn't think so in the end.

Dun dun dunnnnn

Me? Special Day? Fo Real???

Charlie's uh.... "special day" at the vet is scheduled for Dec 8.


I'll start being a nervous wreck now! I can guarantee he will need the cone of shame... he's a licker.














poor kid. he doesn't know whats coming....






For some good news take a look at our buddy Noah's Blog!!! He is running a "Cash for Comments" campaign! For every comment left on his post Noah's humans will donate 50 cents to their local humane society's new building!  So stop by and leave a comment for Noah and all the animals your 50 cents will help!

Wordless Wednesday

B-A-T-H

Charlie had to get a bath today.. he stunk.

Charlie is sad. He hates baths!




See how FLOOFY Charlie is getting?

See mah floof?


After the bath running and jumping is essential to drying off..

Flying is too?



Oh Charlie...

Border Collie Time

Hey Aussie Folk. Beau the Border Collie here. I have taken OVER Charlie's blog for the day. It all started with Charlie saying he was faster than me! Ha! So we made a bet to settle it! A little game of tag to settle the dispute.  I, as you can see, won a blog post of my very own! Charlie would have won a REALLY embarrassing picture of me but... well I'll show ya what went down. 

We were out playing and the little munchkin hopped in what the humans believe is alwaysss an adorable fashion...

He told me he was the fastest puppy in the world! Ha!

I told him that was SO NOT TRUE! And the bet was on...

I was hot on his tail! Well... hot on his nub! 

Oh yeahhh Oh NO! I alllmost had him this time! You aussies are quick! 

The situation was starting to look bleak. Even the flashbox can't catch him!!

"Na na na na boo boo you can't catch me!"  He taunted me. But he was getting over confident...

I saw my oppertunity when he was busy being all cute and windswept!

TAG!! GOTCHA!!

Victory is sweet. And the puppy is tired! 

Now you may all gaze at my BEAUtiful-ness.

Get it? BEAU...its mah name...and im B-E-A-U-tiful. hehe.

oh man I crack myself up. 

Well enough of this literary stuff. Off to chase a cow... or a Charlie!! 

High Five!!

Border Collie.... Signing off.

Fall Fun!

Well aren't we lazy! Two weeks after Halloween here are Charlie's pictures... his costume was a bit of a let down I'm not going to lie. But I don't really care because he actually stood at the door with me... quietly...calmly...off leash... and watched (and by watched I mean no running, barking, backflips in terror etc) the kids (who of course were in COSTUME) while I handed out candy. Go Rescue Remedy :) I gave it to him about 2 hours before the kids were supposed to come and other than a few barking incidents that I would consider almost normal the first couple times the door bell rang he was...relaxed! There was no crying barking or growling (ok one growl)! The best part was that he didn't seem loopy or out of it either, in between groups of kids he was playing and acting completely normal. I like that it seems to relax him without sedating him.

Madison - Santa Paws

Charlie didn't make much of an effort to get into the spirit..

I used Rescue Remedy again when someone came to work on the house later that week. There was some initial barking but Charlie calmed down and sat ignored the man after a few minutes. I'm thinking it needs a while to set in, the second time I used it I only had about 15 minutes before the "scary" man arrived.

I think I'm going to plan a trip to our "favorite" pet store and give him a half dose to see if he can relax in public. They have come to know us well at this store and when they're not busy will work with us just walking by him or talking to me without acknowledging him.

Other than discovering Rescue Remedy we have just been enjoying the fall weather! I'm still going everywhere I can and accept every invitation to neighbor's houses for socialization. I really like RR but I feel that its a band-aid and temporary crutch... training and patience will hopefully unlock Charlie!

LEAFS!

Gettin the leafs!!!!

The leaves are really dropping off the trees and AHH it snowed a little in Ithaca this week! Charlie is getting really fluffy, but those ears are still undecided on their position :)