I was incredibly nervous the first time we took Finley to the dog park. I wasn’t sure how she was going to react to other dogs or if I’d be able to get her to come to me when it was time to leave. I know that if she didn’t come I was going to have to resort to bribing her because running after her wouldn’t accomplish anything other than making me tired. She’s just way to fast to catch. She had come across other dogs at the pet store and on walks and seemed to be interested in them, so I figured it would go alright at the dog park.

When we got to the park, we went in and let her off the leash while my dad and I walked around the perimeter to check it. She sniffed around the benches near the door and then seemed to follow us closely. Fin wasn’t too happy about the other dogs though, she didn’t go near any of them and when they came near her she acted afraid. Her tail would curl up under her and she looked at us like “Help there’s a dog near me”.  This wasn’t too encouraging. Although when the other dogs left her alone, she seemed very happy to sniff around and even get to run around like crazy.

One guy showed up with his two beagles that are about the same size as Finley and they wanted to play her. She wasn’t having any of it; she had no interest in playing with any of those dogs. I’m not sure she was ever taught how to play with other dogs or socialized with them. I let it play out for a little bit though because I didn’t want to coddle her even though she was afraid because it would only make the situation worse. Basically, what ended up happening was she got chased by the beagles around the park. She’s fast so they had trouble keeping up to her but she was afraid and would come to hide behind my dad or I. I didn’t appreciate that the beagles’ daddy was encouraging his dogs to chase after Finley either, especially since it was clear she didn’t like it.

We didn’t stay long after that because I didn’t want this to be negative experience for her. I think it’s important for dogs to be able to run off leash and since Finley has some running away issues the only place she can do that is in a fenced-in area. While her first experience wasn’t the best, I was reluctant to take her back to a dog park but I did, to a different park and during the day when I suspected it wouldn’t be as busy.  More to come on those experiences in future posts. 

So a couple weeks ago Finley was feeling a little under the weather as I mentioned previously in the Pepto Bismol post. We never did find out what was wrong with her since we didn’t take her to the vet to get checked out. I’m not sure when she starting feeling off, but on the Saturday, we had played in the leaves and she likely ate pieces of them and possibly something else because she threw up when we came inside. I wasn’t too worried about this because it had happened before when she ate something a couple hours before running around and then drinking lots of water a little too quickly afterwards.

The next day, we went to the dog park while I was waiting for the pumpkins to warm up so I could work on them. She ate some pieces of pumpkin that night. Suddenly around 1:30am she begs to be let outside, which is not like her at all. She immediately runs to poop. Since I like keeping her pen area clean, I went to pick it up and noticed that it was very usual and it smelled. Yes I realize poop smells but I normally can’t smell it from 25 feet away and it only got worse as I got closer. I was gagging as I picked it up. I didn’t think too much of it since this does happen every once in a while to everyone, dogs and humans alike.

Well over the next 2-3 days she wasn’t getting any better, poop wise that is, the rest of time she was acting normal. I was starting to get quite worried. So I looked up stuff online. I should know better by now that Google does not bring you peace of mind in cases like that though I did find some useful information. I read that when a dog does have diarrhea, you can fast them for a meal or two and then give them some boiled chicken and white rice. Since I had never done that, we called the vet and check if this would alright.

The vet technician there told us to skip one feeding, give her some Pepto Bismol (which lead to the pink disaster) and then give her a tablespoon of boiled hamburger meat and white rice at her next normal feeding time. We slowly had to re-introduce food, one tablespoon per hour. They gave us an appointment for the next evening to get her checked out anyways. We were told that the Pepto Bismol coats their stomach and intestines and gives them some relief with what is happening inside.

Let me tell you people, if you have never boiled hamburger meat before, it’s not the prettiest thing looking during the cooking process, but it looked and tasted alright once it was mixed with the rice although I will admit it tasted really bland. I think cardboard might be tastier. Finley LOVED this concoction so much I would find her sitting in the kitchen looking at the fridge hoping for more.

It was pretty funny at first when we would give her one tablespoon of the rice mix. I could see it in her eyes “Come on Mommy (or Daddy) only one tablespoon?? but I’m sooo hungry” she must have been saying. We called the vet back the next day and talked to the technician again because she hadn’t gone potty yet that day since we only started feeding her in the early afternoon. She said to start feeding her more for 12 hours and then mix it in with her dry food for another day or so and call them if it didn’t get better. We cancelled the appointment we had for that night to see if time was all that was needed.

It took a couple of days from the time we initially called the vet for her to go back to totally normal and I was (almost) ecstatic when she starting pooping normal again. I could tell Finley was getting better too, she had a little bit more energy after whatever it was stopped bugging her. It was such a relief for me as well, I tend to worry like crazy and this was the first real time she was sick with us, even though she had an ear infection when we got her. I remember those with my last dog and knew it was nothing to worry about.

I realize it’s the middle of November but I didn’t have the blog set up a month ago I’m a few days late on the Halloween post. I love Halloween because I get to carve pumpkins and hand out candy since I’m way too old to get away with trick or treating now. It sucks though that we only get a small number of kids, as in maybe 1 or 2 a year if that, but I still carve those pumpkins (see them here), I can’t help it. I wasn’t sure how it would go this year with a dog around. When carving the pumpkins it’s not uncommon for lots of pieces to end up on the floor. I made sure pumpkin was safe for dogs first, it is (and canned pumpkin is good for some health issues by the way). I just forgot to thoroughly wash all four pumpkins in case Miss Fin got into them and it may have been what her system didn’t agree with that week.

I don’t think Finley ever went more than 5 feet away from the kitchen table the whole time I was carving cause every time a little piece would fall so would run to gobble it up. I did three pumpkins the night before Halloween and Finley was curled up on her sleeping bag waiting for me to finish so I could pay her attention, we usually snuggle in front of the TV at night .  I finished the last one on Halloween and they turned out great. I brought Finley outside with me while I lighted them and had tied to the door handle while I did. She kept trying to get to the pumpkin closest to her. I bet she wanted to turn it into a new giant chew toy.

I brought a pumpkin in because the candle kept dying and I was hoping to get a picture of her and me with it, you to commemorate her first Halloween with us. Well it took many tries because she wouldn’t leave the pumpkin alone. She was drawn it, love at first sight it seems...okay maybe not, she wanted to eat it.  I got quite a few pictures of her chewing on the pumpkin or wriggling to get at it instead. Even after I hid the pumpkin in the hall closest she was trying to get at it and kept sniffing at the door but I wouldn’t let her. She still had a great Halloween though and even greeted the one trick or treater that came by at the door. 

Dog parks, do you like them or hate them? Personally, I’m a fan of certain ones and others really not. When I first got Fin, I waited a few weeks before taking her to one, after all she had to respond to her name and come when called first. I knew of two dog parks in my area and so one day I stopped by the first one. It’s this really nice dog park in St-Lambert that looks well fenced and is separated in two areas, one for small dogs and one for big dogs, and has two sets of doors for access so dogs can’t run out while you are trying to get in and out. I had seen this particular dog park while driving on the highway and when I went to see the La Ronde fireworks from the St-Lambert Seaway Park I had gotten a better view.

Sounds perfect, right? Yes, quite but not so much. Turns out that a couple years ago, the city revamped its dog park and now you need to swipe a card to get access. This card is free to citizens of St-Lambert but if you live outside the city it costs $115 a year. I love my dog but I’m not about to pay that much considering I have to drive 20 minutes to get there so I find this price a little steep. I can understand the reasoning behind it, they invested quite a bit of money to make it nice and safe for dogs and apparently it was getting overcrowded because of its popularity and dogs where getting injured because of aggressive play from some dogs -but $115 a year? Now when I drive by the park I rarely see dogs there unless it’s a Saturday or Sunday, quite sad. By the way, when walking through the Seaway Park I noticed an unlocked gate on the side of the big dog area, so much for the needing a swipe card.

Obviously, we didn’t go to that park. I had seen another one in Brossard, on boulevard Rome near Quartier Dix30. My dad and I ended up at this one instead. I have to say, I will likely never go back to this dog park. It’s an alright park, better than nothing I guess. First off, it’s not totally fenced in, the two sections, where the arrows are, show where the city failed to put fencing. I do hope they fix this before a serious injury (or worse) occurs.

Now, I get that most dogs will probably not jump down seeing as it would be a drop of a few feet, but when they are playing and running around it’s quite likely that they could fall off by accident – Fin did come close. This is, likely, the biggest reason I wouldn’t go back. I didn’t like that there are quite a few areas where the fencing doesn’t quite reach the ground and if you have a small dog, they could easily slip under if they wanted to get out. The day I was there the park was far from clean and you couldn’t take more than 3 steps without having to move to avoid stepping in poop. I was not impressed. Needless to say, it seems reasonable why I never want to go back. Although I would be willing to give it a second try at some point...possibly.

When I got home, I looked up other dog parks in the area hoping to find one that wasn’t too far away, turns there was one in the next town over. I have to say that I enjoy going to the Candiac dog park. It’s a fair size and has some trees and one picnic table but no benches. Save for the last time I was there, the poop bag dispenser always had bags and most owners do pick up after their dog, although there are some that haven’t. I think the city also cleans the park up once a week since the messes aren’t multiplying and taking over. I also appreciate that the city (or someone) has gone to the trouble of adding plastic fencing or chicken wire in the areas where the chain link fencing doesn’t reach the ground – especially since the park is right beside the busy highway.  I also like that there is a doggie water fountain for when dogs get thirst from running around. Overall, this has been my favourite park to go to and I’ve gone back a couple times a week since finding it. 

The other week, Finley’s tummy wasn’t in a good mood. She was acting normal, her usual happy self, except when it came to potty time. At times it’s the only way you’ll know that something is wrong and in this case her poop definitely wasn’t normal. I became somewhat of a poop aficionado that week, too bad that’s not something I can put on my resume during this job hunt, although I’m sure it would get a chuckle out of someone along the line.

After a couple days, she wasn’t getting much better so we called the vet’s office for their help. At first, I had thought that maybe it was the leaves that she played in and accidently ate a few or she got into something and I didn’t notice and that it was just working its way through her system but after two days, I was worried. The suggestion we got from the veterinary technician was to skip one of the meals (since she’s small) and give her some Pepto Bismol. Next time I’m going to suggest she come over to do it herself - who would have thunk that dogs don’t like Pepto.  We were supposed to give her a little over a tablespoon up to three times in a day. I gave up after the second time and I don’t wish to repeat that anytime soon.

I had never tasted Pepto, so after going to the store to get some, I tried it. Tastes pretty much like those pink mint things that I loved as a kid, I’m not so sure I’d like them today cause that Pepto was gross. I put some on my finger to see if Finley would lick it. She sniffed it and took a small lick and then stuck her nose up at it. It was then I knew this was not going to be easy.

I was able to force her mouth open and get a tablespoon of it down...or most of it. Some of it ended up in the fur around her mouth. Overall, I’d call it a success. We had called the vet in the evening, so the second dose would fall at bedtime since Fin and I go to bed late, around 2-3am.

Trust me, 2am forced Pepto feedings don’t go well, especially when the dog wises up.  So I go about getting it measured out and put it in this little cup thing I had used previously, the results weren’t so bad so I figured I’d just do the same thing again. Oh how wrong I was.

I sit down with her in my lap and I have the Pepto all ready to go on the counter next to me. She knows what’s going on now, so getting and keeping her mouth open nearly causes me to lose a finger. After fighting her, I start pouring it down her gullet. I think I’m having some success and that’s when I notice the pink nightmare.  She started twisting and flaying while I was pouring and it ended up all over her. I didn’t get much on me but it was on her snout fur, a little on her chest but most of it ended up on her back. Yes, her back.

Now anyone who thinks cleanup would be quick is sadly mistaken. Getting Pepto Bismol out of dog fur is darn near impossible and made worse by the late hour. Using a wet paper towel doesn’t work and neither does dumping water over the spot in hopes that it will wash out. Scrubbing the fur with shampoo, not once but twice, was the only way to get it out. This results in a very unhappy doggie that almost attacked the hair dryer when I attempted to dry her since we were going to bed. I ended up letting her go to bed wet, it was 3:00 in the morning by that time and I just didn’t care anymore, if my sheets and blankets got wet.

By the way, I did end up feeding her another tablespoon before cleaning her up. Next time maybe I’ll use a needleless syringe for this endeavour.

Fall has arrived here and I have a few trees on my property which translate into a trillion leaves everywhere. Finley LOVES leaves. Quite a few have ended up on the back porch and in her pen and I don’t think there’s a time where she hasn’t ended up with a leaf stuck to her shin when she goes outside, she always had to pick up one or two, it’s impossible for her to resist it seems.  I don’t know why she picks them up but it’s pretty funny to watch and I don’t worry about it too much since she never really tries to eat them.  

The other weekend, I took her outside with the sole purpose of making a leaf pile and seeing what she would do. She didn’t try and “help” undo the pile as I was making it, thankfully. The first time I threw a bunch up in the air she watched them fall down and wanted to play with them.  She did run through the pile a little bit and when I got my dad to bury me in leaves she had fun finding me. She did swallow a few leaf pieces, which made her throw up when we came inside though so it wasn’t all that bad. Her fur is quite curly so she when she plays in the leaves small pieces end up stuck to her fur, while whole leaves find a new home in her tail.

It was getting pretty hard to see where she did her business in her penned area, so we raked the leaves and swept the porch there too. Poor Finley, she was so confused and wondering why we were getting rid of her playmates. The leaves got thrown right on the other side of the fencing and when she went out in her yard, she tried to get some of the leaves back into her pen. She reached her paw through the fence and was trying to bring back leaves in...she didn’t succeed but it was cute to see.