Louie got his Jammies in! 11.30.09

Louie got them in today. This dog loves his pictures taken. He jumped on the couch after playing a bit outside and just stayed there for me to take pictures of him. He is a hoot! Oh and to all those nail freaks out there, I've been working very diligently on his nails. They look a lot better, before I got my dremel he was going to the groomer every 2 weeks. Now, I am dremeling his nails every couple days now, and they look so much better.

Arbor Hills w/ backpack 11.22.09

So, Louie and I went to the nature preserve again. I decided to test out his new Ruffwear Aproach backpack I got on Thursday before he got sick. He loves it,  I love it. It is waterproof, which is awesome.  Since he isn't quite old enough to put any real weight in there I just put two little waters which didn't even amount to one regular bottle water, poop bags, and my keys and cell phone (which I put into a plastic zip lock back just in case it wasn't really waterproof.) First thing he did was jump in the water, go figure, my awesome water doberman. As soon as he got out of the water I checked to see anything was wet, nope everything is still dry!! woo hoo! So we walked for a good hour and twenty minutes, mostly on pavement because it recently rained and the unpaved trails were muddy.

Several couples asked why he was wearing it? I simply told them, I was trying to build up muscle on his legs but he wasn't old enough for weight so it's pretty much empty right now, but come January 28th he'll get more duties. :)

Passed the CGC test 11.21.09

I wasn't going to take him since he hasn't been feeling well. But after he pooped (If your lost, look at our previous thread) he was ready to go and was back to hiself. We went for a hike for an hour and half or so, and he was doing well the entire hike, so I thought we'd atleast try for the CGC. I didn't think he'd pass since he hadn't been feeling good, even though he is now, and I was forsure thinking he was going to pass the distraction test (because it's a noise distraction) and wimper and totally melt down when I left the room.

HE DID GREAT, so good, they used him for the other dog's test. The noise distraction was a suprise. The evaluator threw several ice trays (no ice) behind him and infront of him and he stayed in a sit and just looked at them, didn't cowar (sp?) or anything. Leaving him was suprising. I'll say he cried during the enture 9 steps previous to this, he is the BIGGEST talker. He talks in the car, when were hiking, walking, in the house. Well when I left out the room, yes he whined a little bit at first but wasn't his abnormal self.

I'm so suprised and proud of him :)

He is now Louie CGC

I still need a ILP name.....

Gas. 11.20.09

Thursday evening I fed him his normal chicken quarters. I let him out of the kennel, and shortly after I let him out he was trying to swallow something. I thought something was lodged in his throat, so I looked, nothing was there. I just let him be, and by midnight was crying more than his normal self, pacing, and drooling. Worried of bloat or something caught deeper than I could see Chris and I rushed him to the emergency vet.

When we got to the vet they did xrays, and nothing was lodged. They said that if he starts acting worse bring him back and if wasn't back to his normal 100% self by the morning take him to the regular vet.

Morning rolled by and he was still not acting himself, so I took him to the vet. Spent several hours there did bloodwork and barium xrays. Nothing was concluded, there was no rip, tear or scratch anywhere, nothing was lodged. He had a lot of gas, that's it. They sent us home with two meds, and my mom took him home. She said he whined and paced all day and didn't poop. Thinking about it, he didn't poop Thursday either.

When I picked him up he was acting abnormally, but the Dr. assured me to give it time. I gave Louie melatonin hoping for it to make him fall asleep, and it did, he slept all night until the morning.

I talked to the Dr. today and told me that tackin his stomach is probably the best choice to prevent this from happening and even worseing.

Jack Carter Park 11.15.09

We went to the park today, usually we go straight in the dog park but it was such a nice warm day outside and Lou loves water. It is odd the amount he likes water. I remember when he was a baby he wouldn't touch it unless he had his life jacket on, even when it didn't touch his ankles. I guess Lou Man is really becoming an adult because his maturity has increased so much. Don't get me wrong, he still has ZOOMIES like no other.

So we started on this winding paved trail that paralleled the creek. When we got to where there was a clean entrance to the creek Louie knew exactly what to do. He plummeted into the water, running around like a mad Doberman. Then he was out and on to the next part of the creek.

Boy, were we in a suprise when we saw about 30 ducks perching on the bank of this large creek and some floating on the water. Well, not for long. Louie went flying into the water then out, then back in until the ducks were on the other side of this creek staring at Lou. He had so much fun.

On our way back I thought we'd stop at the dog park. I've noticed the last few months Louie rather be with just me and not any other dogs. As soon as we got into the dog park he was a different dog, a very serious dog. Perhaps fatigue, or perhaps he just didn't want to be there. We stayed maybe ten minutes and went home. He's been asleep ever since.

I bought a Dremel yesterday 11.14.09

I LOVE IT! It's ten speeds. Louie did awesome, he trust me so he was easy. He even let me grind down his callus/nail that grows out his pad. This morning I did a nail touch up, and he knew what was going on because he put his paws in my lap like "Okay mom, I'm ready"

Perhaps I should have taken a before and after picture? I think were going to get that entire nail removed. It turns into his other digit and runs it raw, then the nail grows out the bottom of his pad. It's a mess. I was cutting it out because he has no feeling in it. The scissors were small (tiny) and wasn't strong enough to cut a nail. The dremel did in just a minute of so. It didn't got hot or anything!!! But, after speaking with the forum, http://www.dobermantalk.com/ they advised we shouldn't use the stone but instead the sand attachment. I used that this morning and it worked much easier than the stone.

Scooby was a different story. I had to turn the dremel on low and pet him. Then I finally was able to get to his nails. His nails were horrible looking. I just got them dremeled by a groomer 2 weeks ago. They were all split and cracked. I was able to turn it on setting two and slowly work up. I did his front two paws in 5 minutes or so.

My dogs nails grow really fast and now that I have a good dremel I can do it MUCH more often.I got this at walmart for 50 bucks or so. It's a Dremel 300 series and I got 2 extra attachments.It's small enough my hands don't cramp, and like I said it's ten speeds.

Here are some sites that were recommended to me:

http://www.freewebs.com/lhartlep/whyidremel.htm
http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html

Our trip to Arbor Hills 11.14.09

So Louie and I headed out about 9AM to thee Arbor Hills Nature Preserve here in our home city. It is is a 200 acre park with tons of off pavement + paved trails. Several creeks run through with many different wild animals. We had a blast got home around 1230 or so. Louie is sleeping right now.

I want to recommend this park to everyone in the DFW area it is DEFINANTLY worth the trip: http://plano.gov/Departments/parksandrecreation/Parks/Pages/default.aspx

My dog still amazes me how smart he is. In the first creek we found we walked along the bank, I accidentally dropped the compact flexi lead, and the entire thing went swimming under water. All I said was "Ah crap." As soon as I said that, Louie stuck his head in the water, retrieved the compact/handle part of the flexi from the bottom of the creek (maybe 1.5 feet deep) and brought the handle to me. I was in shock, my guy is so stinkin' smart.

About 1/3 through our trip we saw a dog from Dee's Dobe Den (http://www.deesdobermans.com/) . The dog was really sweet, only about 3 months older than Louie. He was way over sized (132 lbs towering over my guy) but I was happy to see the owner out and about with a good temperament Doberman.Anyways, I took over 52 pictures. Um, erm, and I'm SHARING THEM ALL!