Beowulf the Basset
Happy Anniversary to Us!
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 | Beowulf, Dogs, Indigo, Ozzy | 25 Comments
That’s right, it’s Swiss Lick Swissies’ anniversary! I’ve been blogging, along with assistance from dogs and a few guest posters, for two whole years!
Calm down. I’m worried you’ll throw your back out or something…
Now, I know you’re happy for me and all, but you really should be more happy for yourselves. Because if you remember from last year, anniversary time means FREE STUFF for you!
What is this free stuff, you ask? Well, it’s a 2 Hounds Design collar*! They are without a doubt my favorite place to get fabric collars. Indy has a couple and Gryffin did too – I imagine his will fit Ozzy one day, but I think he’ll probably need his own too. They are well made, and as a company, they do a fair bit to support rescue organizations and donate to osteosarcoma research at OSU.
And, yes. I know Gryffin had hemangiosarcoma, not osteo…but cancer research is cancer research. And cancer sucks.
So, here’s what you do. You need to comment on my blog posts. Any comment made on blog posts from today through 5pm central time on Thursday, 9/9/10, are eligible to win! You can comment multiple times, although the comments must actually have some sort of content to be valid. If all six of you go absolutely nuts and there are freakish amounts of comments, I will give away more than one collar.
So, start looking at 2 Hounds today. There’s plenty of time to get that nice, fall collar (see Ozzy’s pic from yesterday). Or maybe you want an every-day martingale. There are some really cool collars available!
If I had to pick one, I think Indy might get the Freesia-Copper-Floral collar.
Or maybe Ozzy would get the gorgeous Arabesque-Sapphire collar.
Start commenting today!
*Collar must be valued at $50 or less.
Ozzy updates
Friday, August 13th, 2010 | Alex, Beowulf, Dogs, Gryffindor, Indigo, Ozzy | No Comments
You know, it occurred to me that I’ve been posting lots of pictures lately, but I haven’t given too much detail about life with Ozzy. I’m sure you all love the pics, but I think I’ll just talk about him and how he’s doing. It may come out as one giant stream of consciousness…my apologies in advance if it comes out as goo.
Ozzy is a fantastic dog. To be honest, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. He’s a well-mannered (well, usually), happy dog. He has a fantastic appetite, hasn’t chewed on stuff he shouldn’t (unless Indy counts) yet, and has been very easy with house training.
Actually, I jokingly mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I should rename the blog to “The Daily Swizzle” because on average, that’s all we get. We’ve had a few multiple-accident days, but he will go for four or more days without having any at all. He knows he’s supposed to go outside, and he has very good control for a Swissy. He just hasn’t figured out how to tell us he needs to go. We are pretty good at watching his signals, but we don’t always get him out in time. Of course, it happens during or post play, right when we are trying to usher him to the door. He’ll get there soon, I think. (Or is it I hope?)
Ozzy is doing very well in our household in general. I do believe I’ve mentioned before that Indy loves him, but it’s important to note that I believe Beowulf, the old curmudgeon, actually enjoys his company. I have caught them cuddling and – gasp – playing just a little bit.
His socialization is going quite well. We have completed four weeks of Puppy K, and I believe he is the star of the class. Perhaps that’s what happens when you actually work with your dog on the basics before class starts, and when you work with him daily when it’s going. I could be wrong.
There is one thing about him that worries me. While Gryffin was a great dog for obedience because he WANTED to please us, Ozzy is just plain smart. The obedience comes quickly, and he enjoys it. But I have a feeling he’s doing it because he wants to and he likes it, not because it makes us happy at all. The reason this is worrying is because this is how Alex was-extremely smart, frequently extremely obedient, but cunning beyond belief. While I say I’m worried partially in jest, it’s not all funny-although I don’t believe this is the end of the world. Put Alex’s mad skillz into a dog that will likely end up near 140lbs and tall enough to graze counter tops, and you can see why we might have issues. I guess this means training, training, and more training.
In other news, the small puppy (we brought him home at eight weeks and around 13lbs) is no longer small. He’s around three and a half months old, and weighs in at 37lbs. Our vet met him this week and believes he’s around a quarter of his eventual size. We initially thought it was possible that Ozzy may end up on the smaller side, but we have since revised our opinion. Please send help.
That’s all for now. I hope all three of my readers have a fantastic weekend! Stay cool!
Red Moon Pet Food
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 | Beowulf, Indigo, Ozzy | 1 Comment
While trolling around on the Swissy forum last month, I heard of a new(ish) company out there (well, new to me) that manufactured and shipped custom pet foods. I contacted the company, Red Moon Custom Pet Food, about getting a trial for our three dogs. I received a prompt reply from someone who was happy to help out. Go figure – she was a Swissy person that I met two months prior at the National event in May. Now I was even more interested in getting my hands on some of this food.
Navigating through the site is pretty simple. You pick your pet type (dog or cat), and it has a process that you follow to pick your base formula, then add-ins. You have six options for your base:
High Protein: Lamb and Potato Fusion or Chicken and Yellow Pea Medley
Moderate Protein: Lamb and Potato Fusion or Chicken and Yellow Pea Medley
Low Protein: Lamb and Potato Fusion or Chicken and Potato Medley
All options are grain, soy and gluten free. You basically need to determine what formula is right for your dog given their breed, age and activity level. As you mouse over the options on page, it gives you assistance. For example – I chose the low protein chicken option because I have a Swissy puppy. If I was unsure, they can provide me assistance, but the mouse over told me this:
Low protein chicken and potato medley is formulated to be ideal for large and giant breed dogs and puppies, or for any dog that has a low activity level. The formula contains no grain, no gluten, no corn, no wheat, no rice and no soy.
After I determined the correct base formula, I chose an energy level. There were three options, and I actually did two separate bags and used two of the three options. You can pick Senior or Weight Management, Normal Activity and Weight, or High Energy or Puppy.
Next, you pick your bag size, and it also gives you a base price. Don’t be freaked out by these prices – it’s a premium food (meaning you won’t be feeding as much as you would with Iams or Science Diet), and the shipping is free. (Or at least it was at the time of this review.)
After the bag size is picked, you have the option to add in up to six supplements – two are free. I picked Digest-Aid and High Gloss Skin and Coat Makeover. You can also chose Antioxidant Immune Booster, Perfect Pant Oral Health Support, Spring Step Joint Reviver, or Spring Step Joint Reviver Plus.
Next you finalize your order, and you can save your custom food formula with a name that gets printed on the bag.
I ordered on a Tuesday and had my bags on a Thursday. I was amazed! I opened the bags up immediately and let all three dogs try a small amount. The smell of the food was fantastic – even grouchy Beowulf was super interested. I’m not exaggerating when I say that they were all clawing at my hand to get a taste of the food. They really, really wanted it. I let each of them try a little, and we used it mixed in with treats for a few days since we were traveling and didn’t want to do a food change out of town…
The following Monday, we started feeding them all the Red Moon food for one meal per day. Again, they were very, very excited about the food. I don’t think it was only because it was a different food – it was a nice, substantial kibble and it had a very, very good smell. Mister Picky Eater (again, Beowulf) ate his food in record time.
We experienced the same things you would expect during a food change – a little gas and funky poop. Seeing that we didn’t go through a full food trial (I would consider a full trial to be 4 weeks), it’s difficult to tell you whether or not my three would have resolved their issues or not. I have a feeling they would have. I am considering purchasing a full month supply for Beowulf, partially because he was so very enthused about this food. I love to see the old guy interested if food again.
So, initial review is definitely a thumbs up with a possibility of more info to follow. It’s definitely worth a try.
Playtime for everyone!
Monday, August 2nd, 2010 | Beowulf, Dogs, Indigo, Litter Mates and Swissy Friends, Ozzy | No Comments
While someone was playing around in Vegas this weekend, I took the opportunity to socialize the dogs and introduce them to new situations. Are you at all convinced that I was super glad to be at home for 4 days with a puppy that doesn’t like to sleep past 5:15am? I should probably work on my delivery.
Despite my sarcasm, I did actually have a nice time at home with the dogs. As you already saw, Ozzy and I spent some time with puppies on Thursday. On Friday, we went over to Indy’s sister’s house for some play time.
Vasey and Ozzy had some fun first.
Vasey trampled her human’s plants.
She was kind enough to show Ozzy how to do it.
Indy and Vasey had some “adult Swissy” play time, which included running around like crazy dogs.
Indy rolled around while Ozzy cuddled.
Vasey thought that looked like fun, so she tried it too.
Why is it all Swissies love to roll around on their backs? There was no raccoon poop or anything…
After we did that for a couple of hours, we went home to recharge for Saturday. That was the big day, as it included our first ever trip to a house with a pool! I was hopeful that after Indy’s introduction to water in May (Lake Michigan at Bark in the Park) that she might be someone who enjoys swimming. So we tried to lure her into the pool. (All Saturday pictures courtesy of Jodi and Clare May.) It’s setup for dock dog diving, and has a nice ramp.
(Please ignore the lady in the bathing suit.)
She went in very slowly her first time, but was completely willing.
Although once her feet were off that ramp, she was not too pleased. She enjoys water, but likes her feet to be on solid ground right now.
See?
But I didn’t keep her in long. She was able to get out on her own, and wasn’t too upset.
She actually came back on her own a second time and went most of the way into the pool with a float coat on. She was most of the way down the ramp on the third try, but then changed her mind. I’m not sure if she was distracted or what, but I was very happy with her.
I did bring Ozzy into the pool for a “swim,” but I did not let go of him at all. He wasn’t entirely pleased, but wasn’t entirely upset either.
(Again, please ignore the funny looking person.)
We also met Toby the Swissy (who won our pack giveaway last year!) and his humans, in addition to our hosts Leonbergers, cute mutt Huntley, and new ESRA foster, Sierra.
None of the host dogs are worried about the water at all, as you can tell by the lovely and damp Cleo.
Thanks for looking!
Country Fun
Monday, July 26th, 2010 | Beowulf, Indigo, Ozzy | No Comments
We braved the torrential downpours and headed out to beautiful Galena, Illinois this weekend. It was time to introduce Ozzy to the country and horses. You should realize just how much Ozzy is adored by his grandpa that he is allowed out to the cabin and he’s not completely house trained yet… Granted, the only one of our dogs that had an accident was Beowulf, but I think it was more marking his territory.
We were told that a new dog run area was added out to the yard by the house, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was very happy when we got there, as it was a very nicely sized area off of the screened porch that included a tree for shade. We still had to get the dogs from the house to it, but it is a wonderful addition to the property, and we are extremely grateful that it’s there. The in-laws have a couple of little dogs, and it is wonderful for all of us!
There were bad storms all Friday night, which means Beowulf had to be tranquilized. We thought at first he might be ok because he was sleeping in the room with us, but he was not. He didn’t whine continuously, but he paced around and around, which included several laps around the bed, many of which had him stepping on my head, hair, legs, etc. He was much more relaxed after the pills kicked in. Go figure.
Saturday was still a bit rainy in the morning (and a little in the afternoon), but we were able to squeeze in a visit to the horses (Ozzy’s first time!) and Indy and I were able to get a nice hike in. I would be very sad if she was unable to run around on the back hill/pasture area that she loves so much.
OK, picture time!
Ozzy “meeting” one of the minis. He was a little nervous at first and not really sure what to make of them.
Although the horses and Indy were definitely interested!
This was about as close as Ozzy got.
Then we moved on to the standard horses. Indy and Apache are good friends. She has never shown any hesitation with them, although she was about a year old when she first met them.
Hmmm, you’re a lot bigger than those other horses…
But within a couple of minutes, Ozzy was pretty much over Apache.
This is a very stoned (and happy) Basset Hound.
Because of his “condition” we could not take him around the property until late Saturday. His rear legs always have issues working, and the inner lid covers his eyes so much, he cannot see very well at all.
Hanging out on the screened porch – not sure if he’s going to play yet…
Teddy and Stella.
Stella is a Pomerian Poodle rescue, and is quite a cutie. Indy is almost obsessed with her, and they play quite well. Ozzy also enjoys playing with her.
Rawr! (OK, it’s a yawn…)
Passed out puppy.
Pink pads.
Teddy…
Although Stella and Indy played, Stella did seem a little more interested in Ozzy, likely because of his size. I wonder what she’ll think the next time she meets him.
As I mentioned, Indy and I got in a decent hike. I cannot deny her the opportunity to make crop circles.
And that long grass is quite tasty.
Recharging.
Come on! You are way too slow!
What a pretty girl dog.
Back at the cabin…
I love this shot of the sleepy boy.
Stella is totally fierce.
Sunday weather was gorgeous, of course…so we took a walk in the morning, and Ozzy totally pounced on Indy. I’m surprised I got anything on camera because it happened so fast.
Everyone got their zoomies out before we left for home.
They were all a little soggy and tired.
Even Indy.
It was a very nice weekend-a good time was had by all. And the return trip was so peaceful with a truck full of passed out dogs!
Well, that was different.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 | Beowulf, Indigo, Ozzy | No Comments
I woke up with the alarm clock this morning at 5:15am. Dan and I had a very quick mumbled discussion and determined that neither of us had to let Ozzy out over night, so we were very pleased.
Until I got to the door of the bedroom, that is. Then I realized why.
Ozzy was waiting at the baby gate in front of the door. He looked sleepy and felt all nice and warm. Yup, he was free and roaming our house for who knows how long.
I was up around 2am (the time he normally wakes up) and swear I heard him shift in his crate and sigh, but I could be manufacturing that memory or something. So, we don’t really know how long he was out. There was a small swizzle in the hall (I guess he only got the O of Ozzy out) and another pee spot that was likely his, but that was it.
We are not really sure what happened. It’s possible that the crate wasn’t completely closed when we went to bed. It’s also possible that Ozzy opened the crate because we didn’t lock it. The other possibility is that Beowulf let him out, as he is well versed in opening that specific crate when it’s not locked. (It used to be his crate…and he would regularly open it with a well placed shovel nose.)
It’s not something we want to have happen again, but it was the best night of sleep I’ve had in a while.
Fun for the whole family!
Monday, July 12th, 2010 | Beowulf, Indigo, Litter Mates and Swissy Friends, Ozzy | No Comments
Yup, we had that much fun!
We decided to have a few friends over with dogs (all healthy and immunized, of course) on Saturday to help with Ozzy’s socialization and just to have fun. The house seemed very crowded, but there weren’t that many people. I think it was the Leos, Saint Bernards and Swissies that made it seem crowded. Of course, when it cooled off a bit outside and the yard was all shaded, it was even better!
I think you’d prefer pictures to reading my diatribe…
Ozzy having sleepy time around the time they started arriving.
My pretty girl, Indy.
Ozzy attacking his new BFF, Cash.
Ozzy and Rufus, the puppy addict.
Leos and Swissies!
Juli, part of Juli’s human, and Cash. Juli has a blog too.
Indy was nice to Vasey’s human despite the fact that they did not bring Vasey.
Remember our good friend Reggie? He’s another blue-eyed boy.
Juli in “jail.” Sticking the face through there must be a Swissy thing. No other dog breed visiting our house (our living there) has ever done it.
Pretty Leo girl!
Recharging.
Is my puppy! Back off!
Beowulf got love too. And he tolerated Ozzy. Probably because he had Cash to torment, though.
More recharging.
I don’t know why, but I love taking pictures of Swissies from this angle. Cash was more than happy to oblige.
I think Cash needs a Swissy puppy of his own to play with, although he technically is a puppy himself.
Ozzy likes to climb on dogs when he plays with them. Most of them are ok with it, including Cash.
Cash and Huntley got in some good play time too.
See?
And then all dogs (except for Huntley) got tired and crashed.
Then humans continued on for a while, but I don’t think I’ll post any of those pics…
Ozzy’s Home!
Sunday, June 27th, 2010 | Beowulf, Indigo, Ozzy | No Comments
Yup, he’s here. All 15 pounds of fur, teeth and love.
We drove down to a cute river town in Missouri, Louisiana, on Thursday night, then drove the final hour to the breeder on Friday morning. But of course, we did stay and take advantage of the really awesome bistro breakfast at the Inn first. I must share that I had a fantastic breakfast skillet with sausage gravy on top. Yum. And yes, I know it has nothing to do with dogs.
Maybe I’ll stop yapping now and just give you the pics.
We were greeted by some barking Swissies – go figure – including Ozzy’s adoptive mom, Delphine. Soon after meeting and cuddling our little (damp) guy, he decided to get a meal.
Delphine is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. She was very insistent that both Dan and I give her lots of love while there.
This is Robert, Ozzy’s dad.
Robert seems to have a similar view of the puppies as Beowulf. He doesn’t mind them, but he doesn’t like it when they bite him. I wonder how Robert would feel if he knew I was comparing him to an antique Basset hound.
Ozzy’s two half sisters were still there. I’m actually not sure if the breeder is keeping one or not. They were very cute and very forward. And hungry.
Ozzy and Dan.
After about an hour, it was time to start the drive home. Ozzy was very good in the car and on the road in general. He got lots of love at the gas stop. After about 6 hours (we hit bad construction traffic – grr), it was time to introduce him to Indy and Beowulf. This, of course, involves sniffing.
And more sniffing.
And still more sniffing.
Indy play bowed in under 5 minutes.
Trying to help her learn to play gently with the puppy was tiring for all.
Then it was outside time. Can you tell Indy is enamored?
RAWR!
Ozzy is already adapting to the camera in his face.
Indy’s happy dance!
Probably one of my favorite pics. Ozzy meeting Grandma.
That’s it for now! Check back soon for more pics and stories.
Sleep Deprivation
Monday, June 21st, 2010 | Beowulf | No Comments
Sleep deprivation is something I have grown to expect with puppies until they are at least 6 months old. Between the periodic crying, the need to go out a few times a night, and their general inability to sleep past 6am, we are not counting on getting too much sleep for a while.
Sadly, I believe that Beowulf is trying to get us used to a constant sleep deprived state before the puppy arrives. I’m not sure why it is necessary. Not only is he keeping us awake at night with storms (we don’t always get the tranquilizers in him in time, plus I’m not a huge fan of the day-long hangover), but he is continuing with the trend of sitting outside the bedroom door at night while crying. All night. At first, we’d close the bedroom doors and he’d get the hint. Then he just decided it was easier to continue crying.
I’m not sure what’s up with him. Maybe he’s lonely, maybe he’s hungry or thirsty. Or maybe he’s not feeling well even though the vet says he’s doing well during a checkup. I don’t want to drug him to sleep. That is just not a good life for him. Now, if I could find something that would get me to sleep while he’s whining (Dan can sleep through it), that won’t get me addicted to it, I’d consider it. But I really wish he could talk.
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