Boarded Charlie for the first time

Our first time boarding Charlie was on Memorial Day weekend. It was the families first time staying at my parents shore house overnight. My parents said we could bring the dog but I wanted more time making sure the dog was use to the shore on day visits before he slept there overnight. This would avoid him waking up the family in the middle of the night.

Last weekend I finally took him to the shore for his first overnight. He did wake up once (which he doesn't normally do at home) but I think it was because he drank a lot of water to stay hydrated in the heat. So potty time was needed at 1 am.

Overall, back to boarding Charlie. He was happy to come home. In a little shock, but no behavior problems or stomach upset.

I used a kennel that I used to use for my old dog. I have two kennel places that I used for Stoney and those are the only ones I will consider for Charlie. Kennel choosing is like choosing a pre-school or summer camp program for your child. You need to get the full tour while the business is in operation to see the real goings on. Any kennel that does not allow you to see the dogs kenneled and will only allow drop off at the check-in counter is not where you want to board your dog. I expect full revelation of facilities.

I know that when I check myself into a hotel I require to see the facilities before I sign my name and give a credit card. A nice front desk with a sweet face at the counter doesn't mean a clean, bug free room. Do the same for your pet. He/she is a family member. Save yourself aggravation and start looking for a kennel before you need one. Also find out what shots/immunizations are required for that particular kennel. There is a new shot out required by some kennels. It is called the Influenza Vaccine which is a 2 shot series. The old vaccine Bordetella is also still required. Most places seem to take just the Bordetella but make sure. You don't want to find out at the last minute that you didn't have all of the required ones.

update on DE usage

Monday was the first day I gave Charlie the full 1 teaspoon dose of DE in his breakfast. This did not work well for him. He had numerous stools of all shapes, sizes and consistencies and tiny spots of blood. I fed him his regular (no DE) dinner later than usual in the evening. The next morning I gave him a late breakfast to monitor his potty breaks and then would feed him if everything seemed fine. It did, so I returned to the 1/2 teaspoon of diatomaceous earth(DE) and he is fine. Stools returned back to normal.

Diatomaceous Earth

After using worming medicines, I decided to prevent any possible problems from happening with this puppy who eats everything inside and outside. I am continuing the usual heartworm medicines and the flea tick drops, but now the new addition is the use of an organic treatment of diatomaceous earth. This DE is supposed to be a preventer of any internal parasites from staying in gut of the dog (or human or farm animal for that matter). The DE is scratchy and doesn't make the dogs insides a comfortable place to live so it evacuates with the poop. The other benefit of the dog eating DE is his poops will be less tasty to flies and to the dog. Thankfully I haven't had the dog eating his feces.

This is his first partial week. I obtained the 50 pound bag of food grade DE from a garden center near Lambertville, NJ for 22.50. This is enough DE for the dogs life so I stored it in airtight containers.

I will keep an eye on his poops and see if anything seems to change.

By the way I did run this idea that I came across to use the DE with a vet. She seems very interested in my trial even though many people on different websites seem to claim this DE is great.

I started with 1/2 teaspoons - once per day for 4 days and saw that Charlie would eat it mixed with his food so I increased the dose to 1 teaspoon - once per day. That is the maximum dosage for small dogs.

not yet 7 months old

At 15 pounds he is holding on to the happy go lucky puppy stage. We noticed that since he hit the six month mark his sense of smell really kicked in and now he finds those crumbs on the floor under the kitchen table and seeks out the wild animals that roam the yard. Also his eyesight is more in tune to seeing birds squirrels and the desire to take off after them has definitely kicked in.

Another trait that has kicked in is his desire to take over our couches and jump up on our kitchen chairs that are not stored back under the table and help himself to whatever crumbs may be left behind. This is driving me nuts. I am constantly trying to keep him from the table or from pulling the corner of a placemat off the table to obtain the leftover crumbs from my toddler. I can laugh about it but it is also disgusting to me to have a dog found at my table. I can verify the claims on many cockapoo sites that these dogs are problem solvers. He figures out every plot I attempt to stop him. Fun yes but annoying at the same time. My kids just keep laughing.

Today the dog was penned up on our very large upper and lower deck while I did some gardening. He decided to over look his kingdom by climbing up onto my picnic table on the second story deck (upper). Like the deck wasn't high enough already for him to see all.

Stitches

One month after Charlie was neutered he had his stitches taken out. They were supposed to be absorbable but there was too much excess tail on the ties so they needed to be removed.

Neutered today

Charlie had his surgery today to be neutered. We used the local Animal Shelter AWA clinic which was very efficient and a third of the price of our vet which saved 200 dollars.

He is supposed to wear the e-collar 24/7 but he can't get his mouth in his bowl to eat or drink and he refuses to walk with it. I am limiting the use to when I just can't watch him. I leashed him in the house and one of us constantly sits next to him so we can monitor his contact with his stitches.

Charlie at 12-13 weeks just brought home for first photos