It's been a couple of weeks since I last blogged and I have missed it. I had to take a break to get ready for a craft show, it became a little crazy around here. I make and sell greeting cards and art under the name White Dog Cards. My little white furball was very patient throughout this process but she's glad that it's over for now. 

The night before the craft show I was packing up all the stuff I had to take with me and I decided to use white dog's huge plastic bin. The one where I store all her things. So I went downstairs to get a couple of boxes to put her stuff in. She heard me open her bin so she came running all ready to get some treats or a new toy to play with only to see me take her stuff out of it. Poor thing, she was curious and confused at first and then started to look so worried and sad. It nearly broke my heart. My precious furball had been abandoned/given up twice before so she must have thought I was about to do the same to her. When she started giving me that sad look I scooped her up in my arms and hugged her tight. I told her I wasn't getting rid of her and then asked her if I could borrow her bin for the weekend. I put the box in the place of her bin to show her that her stuff was staying put. 

That didn't work so great. A couple minutes later she was at the box sniffing it and trying to pilfer some treats while I had my back turned, so the box ended up in my office behind a shut door. I quickly hurried to finish packing so that I could snuggle with her on the couch for a little bit before going to bed. She seemed all right after that, but I'll never forget that look. 

I have been taking a break from blogging here for the past couple weeks, I will be back to it this week now that I'm not as busy. I'll be letting you know what I was up to. In the mean time, head over to the mentionables page to see my new post on the nail-trimming service at Mondou.

White Dog helping out with the laundry....by getting in the machine

I am so incredibly thankful that little white dog loves being outdoors. After I saw her at the SPCA, I looked her up online and in her profile it said that she loved to be outdoors. Love is actually putting it mildly. Other than looking out the window or being a snugglebug on the couch or in bed, I think her next favourite thing is being outside. 

I'm thankful I have a dog that likes being outside because I like being outdoors too. I love camping and hiking so it's looking like that will be an activity that we can enjoy together. She loves the dog park a lot but I think she likes the trees and grass more than the other dogs. 

She loves playing in the yard while I'm out working in it too...even when she gets grass stains from rolling around in it. Since we don't let her roam around the yard unsupervised, she has a pen area. Some days she asks to be let out and it takes forever to get back in. On nice days, that's not an issue but white dog doesn't mind the rain, mud or snow. She will undoubtedly come back in the house with a snout full of mud or snow, something that always bring a smile to my face. 

When socks go missing in this house....

A couple weeks ago, I decided to have some fun when I was outside and Finley was inside. We have this window at the side of the house that we never really use. When we first got Finley, she tried to look out of it, which requires getting on an end table. We closed the blinds to that window and it's like she forgot the window was there.  Until I reminded her. 

We don't really want her getting on the table so we're going to have to find a new solution to keep her from looking out that window. I got her attention by knocking on the window and having her find me . Since then she loves that end table and the window. *sigh*

She's figured out that once she can no longer the people walking by well enough from the front window, she can now use the side window. Yay more barking. Okay maybe not yay. Now there's three places to run between. 

This end table has a piece of glass on it so thankfully she's not scratching it. Poor, poor windowsills aren't as lucky. She's done more damage on those sills in the four months that we had her than my other dog did in his lifetime. Good thing those windows need replacing soon. Anyways, back to the glass-topped table. Turns out it's a good sleeping surface. She's taken up to lying down on the table when she's too hot. I wonder what I'm going to make her discover next. 

Heyo bloggers, yay it's finally keyboard time for me again *wiggles butt while doing happy dance* I heart my momma so much because she lets me snuggle in bed with her. Yups, lots of snuggle time for me and her. I loves it lots. I remember the first two nights, momma only let me snuggle on top of her while she was reading and then I had to go in the crate. BOoOoOoO. Then I keep whining instead of sleeping so momma put my bankie on the bed and I snuggle up to her and didn't move for hours. Had to show her it was better to have me in bed. Momma said she slept so much better with a real doggie snuggling up to her. 

Now I get to sleep there all the time. I even gets to snuggle under the covers and sometimes use one of Momma's pillows. She even lets me bring hippo to bed or that sock I *stole* from the clothes pile. So nice of her. I even get to take up most of the bed, guess my cute mug is irresistible. Hmmm, must explode that super power further. 

Momma sleeps weird hours. She goes to bed super late and I have to sleep on the sofa or chair in the office until she is ready to go, but then she sleeps in a little during the day so I gets enough rest and snuggle time in. Sometimes...okay most of the time, Momma is like me. We no wanna wake up and just want to sleep more. When that happens I takes momma's arm hostage and instead of getting up she goes back to sleep. Hehe. But then I want up cause there's stuff to see out the window. I might be missing something very important by sitting at the computer so toddles.

I’m starting a new series of posts called Thankful Thursdays. There are many things that Finley makes me thankful for and thought it would be a good idea to share with everyone.

When I was kid one of my favourite games to play was hide and seek. After a certain age, it no longer seems appropriate to play that game, unless you’re doing it with your kids or babysitting. And now it’s alright if you have a dog.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

I’m thankful that Finley let’s me be a kid again by playing hide and seek with me.  She’s pretty good at it, maybe not the hiding part since she doesn’t do that but the finding part. I started using it as a training trick to get her to come but I like how it provides some physical and mental stimulation for her. She gets to run around the house trying to find me or my dad so even if it’s a raining or freezing cold day, she can exercise a little bit and she a fairly smart dog so I like that she can use her mind. 

Oh and the look on her face when she finds us, priceless. 

wanted to spend with momma while I was on the computer

Recently, Finley started scratching herself, a lot to the point where her normally pale pink skin is quite pink and noticeable through the fur. No, she doesn’t have fleas. It was the first thing I checked for…obsessively. When it wasn’t getting better, the next conclusion I reached was that she was allergic to something she was eating. We had changed her food not that long ago and the scratching started soon after the change, but I had gotten a kind that was grain-free and somewhat hypoallergenic, so I couldn’t be sure. The only real difference between the two foods, other than the grains, was turkey and potatoes, instead of chicken and small amounts of corn. I had been giving her some yogurt and new peanut butter treats. So maybe she’s allergic to one of those.

We finished up that food and went back to the one she was eating at the shelter. We got a free big bag of it from the neighbour since her dog can’t eat it (allergies), so she was getting a slightly different version. They had schnauzer so it was for that breed but the ingredients varied little from the poodle version we had been giving her and I wasn’t about to pass up a $50 bag of food.

All that aside, her skin was getting a little raw from the scratching and nibbling so I wanted to get shampoo or something that would help to ease the itch. She also has a couple of spots on her back where her fur feels very dry and coarse. This happens to me in the winter, to my hair and skin that is, but I couldn’t very well slather her up with moisturizer. Or I could but that would be awfully messy.  Shampoo that moisturizers or helps with the itching is probably the best bet.

I ended up getting two kinds, something expensive and hypoallergenic – didn’t help in the least. I ended up using an oatmeal shampoo that I bought at Wal-Mart. This seemed to work rather well. Although by then I wasn’t sure if it was the food, the lack of giving her yogurt and peanut butter treats or the shampoo itself.  For a couple days, she scratched herself less and then a little bit more over the next three days. Then I gave her another bath with the shampoo.

Which had me wondering, am I bathing her too often? I had read online that bathing your dog frequently was no longer the big no-no it used to be and you can do it as often as necessary. I used a mild shampoo so I figured it was alright and it doesn’t seem to be making the situation worse. But then there are those people who think it’s a sin to do it that often. Some “helpful” store employee at the pet store thinks it’s wrong to do it more than once every three months.

Wait, I can only give them a bath every three months? I felt like asking her how insane she was.  Then I just figured if she wants to give her dog (assuming she has one) a bath only 4 times a year, it’s her choice if she wants a dirty dog.

My question is, how often to do you bathe your dog? Is it better to rarely do it or is it safe to shampoo and clean away?