Apollo

So, Apollo has gathered an impressive collection of leashes and collars for a single dog.  1 30′ leash, 1 6′ leash, and 1 4′ leash, plus his prong collar which also needs to be stored between outdoors occasions and his spare collar for just in case.  So I went looking for a leash holder, or rack of some kind.  I knew they made them.  I wasn’t prepared for the prices on them.  $30 and up, usually very fancy, or with cute decorative carvings.  Totally not what I was looking for.

So today I went down to my local Lowes, and spent just under $19 in supplies, and then spent about an hour total between a single coat of stain on the wood (not counting dry time), and putting it all together and hanging it.

Gotta dig out the 6’leash and spare collar from wherever they wandered too, but I think I’m prepared now!

(couple of the hooks ended up not quite straight, and the whole thing ended up just a hair off level on the wall.  We’ll see how much it bugs me before I’ll bother to pull it down and fix it.)

In rut (since Tibetan Mastiffs only have one breeding season.  Techinically he’s fertile any time of the year, but breeding season is better). So far we’ve not had TO much trouble with the local bitches (though the psychotic GSD female almost got a visit the other day…..), but I HAVE noticed he’s smelling ALOT stronger than usual this past month.  As in, he got a bath early cause I couldn’t stand it any more.  It COULD just be the antibiotics he’s been on, or maybe he rolled in something extra pungent, but could it be the rut season too?  I tried Google, but since most domesticated dogs don’t have a true “breeding season” no one appeared to have an answer.  I suppose I could ask his breeder…..

Poor pup is suffering through his 2nd set of antibiotics after the UTI made a comeback.  Course, since it came back (or its sibling did anyway, different bacteria this time), the antibiotic this time is a stronger one.  We’re a bit worried by the fact that it came back, males (human or animal) are MUCH less prone to UTIs in the first place due to body structure (if you don’t get it go Google it, I’m not explaining the birds and the bees to you), and neither his line or his breed have a predisposition to them.  One happens, twice is worrysome.

Anyway, the new antibiotic is screwing with his system.  Both drying him out, and at the same time making him not hungry, and possibly mildly nauseous, so he’s drinking alot but barely eating.  Since he’s still a growing pup not eating much is extra not cool, so today I headed down to Petco and picked up a can of Puppy Gold.  His breeder recommended it to us when we first picked him up, but he’s been weaned off it for months and months now.  But he LOVED it, and it can be given as a liquid.  Picked up a package of raw boneless chicken breasts too.  Came home, chopped up a raw chicken breast into bite sizes, mixed it with a serving of Puppy Gold…..and he licked his bowl clean.  Just gave him a 2nd serving and he licked that bowl clean too.  Sweet.

Note: for anyone looking to buy Puppy Gold, unless you only need a little bit (such as we do right now) its MUCH cheaper to buy it in bulk, we got a huge bag from Amazon for something like half the price it would have been to buy that much by the 1lb can.

Disclaimer: I did not get paid, reimbursed, or even asked, to do this post, so the .GOV can go screw itself.

….cause otherwise I’d have had a really horrid (last) Friday afternoon instead of a less than great one.  And it would have been totally my fault for not paying attention.

He really does like kids too, he gets upset if they’re yelling and screeching (those guardian instincts kicking in, he thinks they’re in danger), but he honestly LIKES kids.

Friday afternoon was a slightly rushed trip to the vet after it occurred to me that morning that the oddball symptoms I’d been seeing for the last couple days were probably the result of him having a UTI.  In my rush to get out to door, catch a urine sample to bring, and make sure I had everything I forgot to grab the credit card to pay for the visit with.  I’m not normally that scatterbrained, but it was Friday, and I was tired.  I realized about halfway through talking to the vet that I’d left the card at home.  Dammit.  So I get to the counter, and explain to the lady that I was an idiot, but I had $60 in my purse I could give her now and I could call her when I got home with the credit card number?  (Or alternatively I could leave Apollo with them as hostage while I ran home for the card, I was informed that option was really tempting, but I might not get him back in that case)  She said that was fine.  During all this Apollo is doing his absolute best to drag me out the door so he could go pee (again, typical UTI symptom).  While we’re talking a mom & son move up to the desk on the other side of me.  They were polite, they didn’t approach my dog, and stayed on the far side of me from him, so I basically ignored them as I apologized to the lady at the desk.

As she hands me the paperwork, and the receipt for the cash I gave her, I realize that Apollo is no longer attempting to drag me out the door.  I turn around and instead of attempting to open the door himself Apollo is sitting on the feet of the boy (who was MAX 10yrs old, and probably younger), leaning up against the kid, all the while stretching up to try to lick his chin without breaking his sit.  All the while with the biggest doggy grin on his face.  The kid in turn has his arms wrapped around Apollo’s neck, hands buried in his ruff, and is asking his mother “can we get a dog like THIS??”

I had to laugh at my goofball puppy, I really did, but inside I had to shake a bit, best I can tell Apollo approached the kid rather than the other way around, but still.  Thank god he LIKES kids!

(his UTI is responding to the antibiotic and it looks like he’s going to be fine)

First up, Apollo loves to dig…….

And my goofy puppy:

at 90lbs even.  At 9.5 months thats about where he should be no problems.  One of his litter mates seriously won the genetic lottery though….Aslan just weighed in at 129lbs and measured a shoulder height of 30″.  Thats one big dog, and he’s not done growing yet!

Last night, Husband and I were watching Mythbusters, when Apollo asked to go out.  Not unusual.  Paused the show (LOVE my DVR), took him out, and when we came back in he bounced up onto the couch, plopped his butt into Husband’s lap, and flopped.  Husband leaned over to cuddle the big puppy in his lap, and I grabbed my phone to take a picture of the cute scene.

None of which is usual.  But then I looked at the photo…..and discovered the horrifiying truth about my puppy….

Click to go below the fold to find out what!

My Puppy’s an evil robot!!!

   I promise the only photoshop involved was to black out Husband’s face.  Cool huh?