Schooled

Brutus' leg was bothering him too much to attend class again last night. Instead of just missing a class that I paid for - with Trainer Guys approval - I decided that Bella would substitute for him at last night's obedience class. She hasnt been to a class in about a year and I wanted to see how she would do.

She actually did very well.Her heeling was a little rusty but once we were warmed up she was consistantly giving me automatic sits. She schooled most of those beginner dogs! The only one doing better than Bella was a German Shepherd who was also an "advanced dog" repeating the beginners class. She still needs work on her socialization around people, but she is making progress. She almost even did a perfect 'stand for exam' at the last minute she tried to drop her butt into a sit, but at least she let Trainer Guy pet her without trying to flee.

I forgot how much fun it was to take classes with her, she is so easy. I am hoping that when Trainer Guy starts the next round in Januray, I will have the money to put her through again and give her a refresher.

There still might be hope that one day she can be my trial dog.

Guess I Spoke too Soon

Two days ago Bella began itching at her armpits and once again opened up some nasty irritated looking sores. I'm treating them with the usual aquaphor ointment, at least they look better already.

But this time she has a new symptom of small bumps all over her entire body. I'm not sure if it's related or not. I suppose it's possible that it was just a coincidence and that she could have been laying on an ant hill or been bitten by some other sort of insect.

Either way I guess we are still not out of the woods. After this bottle of Stimmune is gone there is one more holistic supplement that I plan to try. If that doesn't work I guess we'd better start saving up for the allergy testing/injection treatment.

Skin Update

Finally, after several vet visits, allergy medications, home treatments and herbal supplements, we have Bella's skin allergies under control! Her bald spots have completely filled in and it's been about a month since she has had any raw sores under her arm pits.

She has been on a homeopathic herbal supplement called NHV Stimmune, for about two months now, that combined with an added fish oil supplement in her diet, and regular baths with a tea tree oil medicated shampoo I am hopeful that we have found the winning combination and that her allergies will be a thing of the past.

Fingers crossed!

Now if only her little brother will stop beating her up leaving little scabs all over her, she will be my beautiful little girl again!

Pooped Pups

We had a good walk at the park yesterday :)

Walk with the Animals

This past weekend Bella and I participated in the annual Mary S Roberts Pet Adoption Center Walk with the Animals.




Bella proved that her social skills are slowly but surely improving, especially when compared to last year's walk; this year, she actually even approached a few strangers asking for attention on her own! She sat quietly and accepted the attention that people were giving her and she even got several compliments on her "I'm a Lover not a Fighter" t-shirt! (Better that, than getting dirty looks for her bald spots on her sides from her itching/allergies). She did get a bit spooked by a life-sized stuffed dog that was displaying a doggie-jacket in one of the vendor booths, but I made her sit next to it for a few minutes so she could see that it wasn't anything to be afraid of; then there were also the scary flags that lined the barriers at the starting gate of the dog walk, but again after spending a few minutes walking back and forth past them she settled down nicely. I'm quite pleased with her progress overall and am looking forward to an even better time next year!


Bella also made a new canine friend at the event, a little chocolate colored Pit Bull named Keelie. Keelie and her owner were part of our dog pack (team). I had met Keelie before and knew she was a sweet girl, granted she has lots of energy, but I had a feeling that, if Bella could get past that they would probably hit it off; they did, after some nose to nose sniffing, Keelie rolled over on her back and they became instant friends. I'd love to get them together one day where they can run around off leash I think they would have a blast together.





We had a great time, got some good socialization and exercise and our team, Dogs R Us, raised almost $600 to benefit the no kill shelter! The forecast called for rain but fortunately we didn't have anything more than a few sprinkles. All in all it was an awesome day!

The things dogs eat...

Bella was doing so well about being trustworthy in the house. I've been giving her more freedom without having to be leashed to one place. Normally she has just been going in my bedroom and snoozing on my the bed; that is until yesterday when she decided that my TV remote control would make a tasty pre-dinner appetizer.

Poor little remote didnt stand a chance...

The list of things that she has eaten now includes:

• TV Remote
• 12 Pack of Dr. Pepper (cans and all)
• pieces of a glass bottle
• some sort of blue plastic (still havent figured out where it came from)
• pillow
• dog bed
• blanket
• shoes/laces
• book that was left on the coffee table

Itchy & Scratchy!

For the past few weeks now, poor Bella has been scratching herself raw. She's always been a bit itchy ever since I have had her but only on one other occasion has she made herself bleed. I never figured out what caused it the first time, we hadn't made any food changes or anything so I assumed it was some kind of outside allergy. This time though I'm thinking it may be related to the grass seed DH spread in the back yard because from what I recall the itching intensified right about the same time the seed was put down. Great. I hope it's not the actual grass she's allergic to!

I want to give her a bath with the oatmeal shampoo that I have, it usually helps to alleviate some of the irritation, but it's been WAY too cold here for that. And apparently tomorrow we are in for record breaking cold temperatures for our area (literally, they are calling for 6 degrees colder than the record set in the 60's). I don't have central heating so I cant exactly give her a bath if it's 50 degrees (or colder) in my house! And I really cant afford paying $50 for someone else to bathe her.

I've been researching on the web and it looks like several people have had success with Gold Bond Medicated Powder, I guess as long as I can keep her from licking at it...I also read that for the long-term fish oil supplements proved to help with similar skin irritations. I've been using the vetrycin spray and it does help heal the open sores that she has created. I am also thinking about finding an old T-shirt for her to wear around the house to see if it helps keep her from scratching herself raw. Other than that I don't quite know what else to do for her. I feel bad because she looks so miserable sitting there itching and scratching away at herself!