We Miss You!

And we hope you miss us, too :)

Sorry I have fallen off the face of the Earth lately. I try to update Sadie's Facebook page sometimes, at least...

Apparently lack of time for a blog is what happens when you work full-time, go to graduate school part-time, and are in a long-term relationship (it's almost our one year anniversary!!). I apologize for our lack of posting/updating. I just haven't had much time.

2012 has already been quite hectic, to say the least. The year started with a trip to Florida, so my boyfriend could meet my mom, and then my boyfriend and I could go on a short cruise. However, it turned into a bit of a disaster thanks to a full-body rash and a diagnosis of mono for me on our first day there! Ugh. Definitely not what I planned. I basically wasn't able to drink, wear a bathing suit, or be in the sun on our cruise haha. But we made the most of it. And it showed me what a good guy I have.

Other than that, I've just been busy and on the mend. But last week Sadie had some tummy issues -- possibly colitis? I won't get into too much detail, but her poop was not pretty. And it had mucus in it. So I freaked out and brought her to the vet. Put her on a rice/chicken diet and she is on antibiotics. She seems to be doing better. I just re-introduced some kibble with the rice, and she is doing ok. The most interesting thing? Ever since she's been on the rice/chicken diet and the antibiotics, her breath is not rancid!!! What does everything think that means?! Is it the meds, or the diet? I don't know...But I would like her breath to stay like this haha.

I'm thinking of putting Sadie on enzymes (and maybe probiotics) once she is off of the meds. Any suggestions?

Anyway, that's the basic update for now :) We hope you're all doing well! I haven't been on here in so long, so I have no idea what's going on unless you also post on Facebook! Haha.

Not sure when I'll get back to posting but I wanted to say hi!

Picture Vote

I'm having a super hard time picking my top three favorite photos of Sadie for the Corgi Butts 2012 Calendar!!! That's where you come in...I want to have a quick picture vote to see what pictures you like best! So please pick your three favorite pictures from the ones below:

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In Need of Help/Advice

First, hello! I am back from Florida. The reunion was kind of weird, but we had fun. There was a lot of alcohol involved lol. I missed Sadie terribly, but it was great coming home to her wiggly little butt!! She was very excited. And so was I. I cuddled with her all night.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I think Sadie has some kind of PTSD. I thought she had gotten better after this last incident, but I noticed Sadie was still acting weird in the mornings. Every morning when I wake up, she is the same as usual: excited to go outside. She runs to the front door, we go for a walk, and everything seems fine. Then when we get back into the house, I get her breakfast ready, and she just starts acting funny. She hides under the table and looks petrified again. And here's what's really bothering me...she won't come eat her breakfast! Sadie ALWAYS eats. But she won't even come over to the food. She just looks around the kitchen with her ears back and her eyes wide. It's like she sees or hears something and is afraid of it.

I have been bringing her food into my room, and she sometimes will eat in there. But this morning, it took a long time for her to calm down enough to eat. Besides the not eating, she is refusing to drink water in the morning, too. I got her to lick some ice cubes this morning, and I left water for her, but that still really worries me.

The only thing I can think of is that this other incident happened in the morning last week, and she was in the kitchen when she heard it. So maybe she is still having some kind of PTSD episode? My uncle mentioned that when my aunt went to go pick me up at the airport on Monday, Sadie was trying to get out of the house, pushing her nose up against the glass door constantly and crying. Something is scaring her. But what can it be??

It's starting to really upset me. And I really am afraid to leave her every day now. Does anyone have any suggestions? What would you do? Should I bring her to the vet? Help, please!

Doggie Breath

Now, I know dogs have bad breath. But Sadie's is pretty nasty. I brush her teeth, but I don't know if I do it often enough. And it seriously only helps for a little bit. I know sometimes she gets into the cat's litter box and eats their poop (gross, I know). She had stopped this for awhile, but I have discovered her doing it again. Obviously that would make her breath smell disgusting, but even when she doesn't do that, it's rancid!! The vet says her teeth are good; she has a little bit of tartar on her back teeth, but nothing crazy. The vet suggested a cleaning before it gets a lot worse. (I'm also scared about getting her teeth cleaned, since they have to put them under anesthesia. I'm paranoid.) Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions to help with her stinky breath! Is this a corgi thing? Or just a dog thing in general? I've seen breath freshener liquids at the pet store that you add to their water, but not sure if that is good for them, or if it even would help. Any suggestions would help!

Attitude Adjustment

I need some advice!

When Sadie and I lived in Boston, she would sometimes bark at certain dogs during our walks. One in particular she really hated. (All the dogs in the neighborhood barked at him though.) Usually she would just bark at them if they were across the street. If they were on our side of the street, she would cry and want to say hello. I got her to stop barking for the most part by making her sit down when she started freaking out.

Since moving to NY, this has gotten worse. Especially after she was attacked at the dog park. Now, she barks at pretty much EVERY dog in our neighborhood. And she doesn’t just bark, she freaks out. She sounds REALLY vicious, too. I think most people assume she is mean and wants to attack their dog (which I really don’t think she ever would do). Her bark is truly bigger than her bite. One time she actually got loose and ran up to one dog, but didn’t do anything. She just ran around the poor dog, barking at him haha. There are still a few dogs she that she doesn’t bark at; she’ll just cry, which means she wants to say hello. I just don’t get it.

I have a few theories. She is maybe just traumatized from the attack. And just extra defensive now. She’s not aggressive at the dog park. I keep her in the small dog area now, though. So that might be why. She tends to only bark at bigger dogs. I’m not quite sure what she would do on the big dog side anymore, and I don’t want to find out.

Or, she feels like she needs to protect more people now, as we live with my aunt and uncle. Before it was just Sadie and me...so maybe now that she has more humans to protect, she’s just doing her job?? We also live in a house now, as opposed to an apartment building. So that might have something to do with it??

I don’t know...but if you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to make her stop barking like this, I would appreciate it!