Puppy Flies His Own Flag.

Finnegan has been known to walk to the beat of his own drum. He is an independent little golden retriever, so it's only fitting he needs a flag. With the recent trip up north, to the beach, and around L.A, using the California flag as a basis just makes sense.

Destroying Dog Toys

Finnegan doesn't just play with toys. He DESTROYS them. Finn has about 20 toys, ranging from Kong balls and basic tennis balls to stuffed baby duckies and AKC training ferrets. This little guy doesn't like just playing with his toys, carrying them around and playing fetch. No, he is not satisfied until he has completely ripped apart and destroyed his toy. Does it have eyes or a nose, those are a good place to start. Or possibly a tail, it doesn't matter where he begins chewing and despite the canine lack of opposable thumbs he's getting pretty good and holding toys against the floor while he lets his incisors do the "playing". It's not that he is a particularly violent pooch, he just enjoys taking things a part. Because he was young and so irresistibly cute, I kept buying him new ones, hoping that he wouldn't be able to destory it. However, my breaking point was last sunday when we bought finn a squeaky plastic hot dog. Within 3 minutes (literally) of receiving the gift, Finnegan held the hotdog down with his two front paws, took one bite of the end of the bun and yanked it right off.

It wouldn't be such a problem if it weren't for the fact that most toys have some sort of stuffing. This, by the way, is the stupidest design and manufacturing of any product I have encountered. Dog toys in general really need some more thought put into them, you know so that they are as consumable as they are now. From now on Finn will get rawhides and tennis balls only!

Cute Dog Pictures

Here's Finn's Close up.

Also, Found a picture of an adorable Labrador puppy, thought you may enjoy (check out some of these others dog pictures too.)

Birthday, Grooming and the Dog Park

It's been a while since I've posted. The list of excuses is long but boils down to just not making it a priority. In the time since the last post a lot has happened in Finnegan's life. He turned one on March 18th. We threw him a mini party including a dog cake made just for him (okay cake is not exactly the right term, more like wheat bran muffins with cottage cheese toppings)
As you may be able to tell from the pictures Finn also got a haircut. We took him down to Sparky's which took great care of him, trimmed him up and made him smell all fresh. Like any guy it took a week or so for his new haircut to start looking great but it did and soon he was back to being the king of the castle.
The other major development is that we finally started taking Finnegan to the dog park. In the past his madre has been worried that he would get hurt (his hip dysplasia), that others dog would take advantage of him and all that. Turns out Finn plays great with other dogs.
His favorite spot is Laurel Canyon Dog park. This place is GREAT. At close to 20 acres it is the largest off-leash dog park in Los Angeles (at least according to the two guide books I own). If you live in the area you have to go. Tons of tennis balls are just lying around and most patrons are more than happy to pet a friendly dog. Water is also available so no need to worry about bringing anything other than your dog and a willingness to huck a tennis ball for an hour.
Thanks to all the folks who posted comments in the past two months. Hopefully I'll get better about posting more often. Take care.

Walking a dog in Santa Monica

The last week we've had great weather, and Finn has helped me take advantage of it. The Palisades Park in Santa Monica, overlooking the bluffs and ocean, is an awesome place to walk a dog when the weather is nice. For Finnegan going to the park means a world of excitement. There are squirrels, birds, and loads of other walking dogs.

We're always looking for new places to travel with the puppy, to expose him to things and make sure he knows, but if we never find anywhere else, Santa Monica offers everything. There is the Palisades park, third street promenade (complete with dancing monkey), the Santa Monica pier, the beach, the bluffs and lots of other things that are only interesting to a dog so I don't know what they are. Like I said there are hundreds of dogs out there and they are welcome everywhere except on the beach (legally speaking but ya know...). Finn's coming along well, and if nothing else the trips to the bluffs means his ego gets stroked. His shiny fur and still a baby golden retriever looks caused a slew of compliments. All the excitement and attention meant Bear was too busy to let me take a picture, what I could get is posted.

The New Look

As the few people who return here from time to time should be able to tell I'm switching things up a bit with the layout of the blog. I found a number of fun things I would like to add to make things a little crisper and let people find there way around, but don't worry if you're here to see pictures of a cute golden retriever...
we'll still have that.

Also I've noticed what some of the more popular posts have been. Lots of people came to see Finn's Dogbook page. Although he didn't get too many friends out of it, but if you would like you can add him on your facebook. I'm still a fan of Dogbook but because I am not a big Facebooker myself his profile isn't the central focus of my day.

The other post people seemed to like was the 1-800 Pet Meds review. This is understandable, the first thing I did before making my purchase was run a quick search looking for first hand reviews of the service. As a recap: they did a good job and I liked all the dog products we got from them although the order was slowed because I got Revolution which is a controlled substance thanks to heartworm portion of it. So remember, if you dog starts sucking down the heartworm meds, you may need to seek help.

If there is anything else you like on blogs in general, or if you have suggestions for things you would like to see here let me know via e-mail or the comments.

Oh... and it's a work in progress so if this all gets jumbled tomorrow, my bad.
More to come soon....

New Years Resolutions

They may be cheesy, and a majority of folks don't keep them, but New Year's resolutions are fun. I'll be making some for myself, work, life, etc. But I wanted to take a second to write down a few pertaining to Finnegan. Putting them in print makes it easier to keep them, or at least easier to remember a few months from now.

The list of my Finnegan-centric resolutions is as follows:

1. Go on more walks.
Right now we go on about 4 a week, including hikes. Part of this low number is worrying about his hips, and of course we don't want to overdo them, but I'm sure he can handle one a day (with possibly a day off depending whether or not he shows any signs of pain).

2. Teach more tricks
As a golden retriever Finnegan is more then capable of learning literally hundreds of commands, right now he knows; Sit, Down, Shake, Roll-over, Drop it, Fetch, Stay (sort of), Up (on a bed/couch), Off
That's 9 commands, and none are perfect. Three times as much would be good but we'll make it a nice round number of 30 and call that a resolution.

3. Groom more
Finn usually gets a bath once a week, but from time to time we miss one. As far as numbers go we'll say at least 54 showers, ear cleanings, and brushing of the teeth will be resolution #3.

4. Continue to smile
I already do this one enough, but I'm fallible and sometimes I do get frustrated with Finnegan so I plan to keep the good times in mind. The resolution will be to smile about something Finn has done at least twice daily, like I said, I do this already but it's fun to make a resolution you KNOW you can keep.

List to Santa

It's been a while since I've posted. In that time Finn spent a week at Cage Free K9's, and got to see his first rainy day (Los Angeles doesn't get a lot of them). To celebrate he did what feels right during ugly weather... he slept.

Other than that we have been preparing for the holdiays. Finn got his own stocking this year, as a gift from a family member, and is eagerly awaiting his chance to tear open a gift. I Came across a touching letter to Santa from Johann The Dog and thought I would make one for Finn. He is still a puppy so his compassion is not that of a more mature dog, but his list is as follows .

1.) A massive quantity of leftover Filet Mignon

2.) Something to chase other than a cat or a cricket; the former is getting boring the latter is losing it's tastiness

3.) That toy...no that toy....no maybe this toy, is that a toy!?!

4.) 16 hours a day to sleep (Isn't this on everyone's list?)

5.) More rocks in the yard to dig up and chew on

6.) A trip to the beach

7.) Not to be dressed up anymore

The list isn't the only way the dog is getting in the Christmas spirit. Here is Finn getting dressed up for the Holidays. He got a lot of cool clothes this year, the bee costume, his shalom pup, some gear from our alma mater, duck themed pajamas, and this great hat and shirt. The shirt, by the way, says "Dear Santa, The Cat Did It." This isn't exactly true, coming from a guy who has torn apart a roll of paper towels, pooped in the garage, given me a bloddy nose by jumping into bed while I was sleeping, and stolen my seat on the couch 1000 times. It's alright though, cause he's so darn cute. Overall he is still on the nice list, and we'll make sure he gets something more than just a lump of coal (although he would probably love a lump of coal).

Like I said, not being dressed up is on his list. Here is the picture of him showing his displeasure with his hat. The more appropriate place is in the mouth, and as such that hat is now his new favorite toy. It's too bad too he's not a costume fan, cause I think he would make an great Rudolph.

Dog Phsychology: Does Reading a book help.

We've tried to do everything we could to be prepared for the responsibilities of dog ownership. I've done more research on vaccinations, socialization , training techniques and general dog psychology then I did for most of my college courses. It seems that some of this work has started to pay off, or we are just very lucky, Finn is very well behaved.

The "research" of course consists of a number of mediums. I devored everything given to us by the breeder, which got us through the first week. Then I plowed through a number of online articles about raising a dog, health issues, and quick tips. After that I moved onto the massive packet of instructions provided by our dog trainer. Once I got through all of that I reorganized my RSS reader with about 45 dog blogs (and counting... let me know if you have one I should add).

Now I've taken to reading dog related books for all of my pleasure reading. There are a few guidebooks for dogs in Los Angeles, a pretty solid book of tricks (it helped teach Finn fetch and roll-over) and most recently I finished my first novel length reading; The Other End of The Leash, by Patricia B McConnell. TOEOTL (because I like acronymns) contained a broad scope of information with a chapter on translating primate to canine to how to deal with the loss of a pet. Although there were no earth shattering secrets, like a certain frequency of wistle that causes a dog to immediatly drop what it has in it's mouth and come sit by its master, the underlying message of the book helped me to better understand what Finn really thinks about me. I always knew dogs were preceptive but I didn't even think about all the extra "cues" I am giving him when I say commands; the angle of my head, what I'm wearing, or the fact that even saying a command may be confusing ,because dogs are such visual creatures.

Overall mcConnell does a great job of showing that she really is knowledagble about pets. The Ph.D is for her studies in applied animal behavior. Her own dogs are sheep dogs and help her take care of a flock as well as protect her farm. In my eyes a person who can train a dog to care for and protect a bunch of animals instead of trying to play with them (ie Finn) must know what they are doing. I have a stack of other books I will be getting to at some point, but if you are looking for one that will help you better relate to your own pet you may want to check out TOEOTL.

Hopefully I'll be able to suggest a bunch of other books next week. We are going on a cruise tomorrow. Finn is going back to Cage Free K9's, where he'll be get as dirty as he did during LosAngeles huge rainstorm the other day, but at least he'll meet some friends.

If anyone knows some good material (blogs, novels, magazines) let me know in the comments.

Can I Eat It? What a dog thinks

As many pet owners know there are only about 3 questions a dog ever thinks about.

1.) Is it time to sleep?
2.) Can I poop here? (I'll spare you this picture)

3.) Can I eat that?
Of course the answer to all of these questions is an unequivocal, YES!. The above picture is what used to be a perfectly good door mat. In 4 months Finn has never bothered to even give it a second sniff, but starting yesterday he decided it was his new chew toy. This is especially bad because the mat is rather old and crumbles easily, which has led to a blanketing of small black pellets all over the lawn. It's my own fault, I'm sure, as I guess Finn is getting bored. He had been limping recently so we cut back on the walks, but clearly he is getting antsy. I'm afraid now I have to throw the mat away. We've got some "keep pets off" spray I will try first, but I'm not sure how well it works. It smells like a pile of poop , which I'm afraid may attack the dog more then it will repel him. Oh well, I guess it's good he went the chewing route on this one. It sure would be obnoxious if he answered question number 2 on the doormat.

Thanksgiving with the family. How does your dog fit into traditions?

For our Thanksgiving Finn joined us as we traveled to my parents. The day was a huge success and everyone loved having Finn join in the festivities. In the morning a small group of us (9.5 people) went out to the Lafayette Resovoir for a 2.75 mile turkey trot. Leash laws were in effect and there were tons of other dogs around so my pace was established by Bear, who did well the first 2 miles but died down the stretch.

After the run we returned home where Finn joined us in watching some football and even got into the action a bit, playing fetch with his cool football toy. A baby gate was needed to keep him out of the kitchen (not that he was in the way, but everyone gets kicked out of the kitchen on thanksgiving unless they are making something). When we finally sat down to dinner Bear really showed his manners. I told everyone he would not beg for scraps or be a bother, but only if we ignored him. Everyone did and no less than 2 minutes later I had to ask the question "Where's the dog". The answer, he was under the table, asleep. He stayed there for 3 hours until we finished dinner and moved to the couches for the tryptophan coma/sleep.

The whole experience was a great success, and when we left my madre even montioned "It's nice to have a dog around the house". I don't know if it was nice enough for them to get another dog, but it made me realize how big a part of my life the little Bear has become. It is fitting that Thanksgiving was the first holiday Finn could be a part of, because he is one of the things I am so thankful for. Now that he has been integrated into our world it would make sense that we start to develop traditions that Finn can be a part of.

Should we dress him up as a turkey for thanksgiving? Make sure he gets a stocking at Christmas? Teach him to bark out the chorus of Auld Lang Syne? Or make sure that he eats soda bread and corned beef on the eve of his birhtday (St. Patrick's day)?

What fun traditions does everyone out there have with their pets, leave a comment.

Car Rides

Today we are taking Finn on his first big car ride. In the past he has been great about going in the car. We don't let him stick his whole head out the window, that's unsafe along with riding in the bed of a pickup, but he loves poking his nose out the window. Until now the longest ride he has been on was about 30 minutes. Those rides were 1) when we first took him home; and 2) When I took him to Will Rogers to go hiking.Yes this picture has nothing to do with the car ride, but I like it so it's here.

Today's trip is going to be around 5 hours, assuming the traffic isn't terrible (big assumption). Typically when I do this drive it is a non-stop event unless I get some drive thru food along the way. Today, however, we know we will need to make a stop to let the kid relieve his bladder. He may be able to make it but we don't want to test that theory. We've got his bag all packed (treats, food, stain cleaner and he is ready to go.

To help I've collected a few articles with tips on making a car trip with a pet a positive experience. I do not anticipate any problems, but you never know. At least at the end of the trip Finn will get loads of love and attention from my family and tomorrow will be filled with turkey scraps and a nice long walk (to work off the turkey scraps). Happy Thanksgivning to everyone.


Help my Dog is afraid of the car.

Medical information on pet car sickness and stress

General tips on making a car ride less stressful

First time car trip tips (this doesn't apply but any first time tips should apply to subsequent trips as well)

Remember to aclimate your dog to the car. It shakes and bumps and is probably very confusing for someone who poops on the lawn.

What NOT to do when traveling with a pet. Espically if you plan to run for president, PETA does not like this sort of stuff.

Online Review: 1-800 Pet Meds

So I finally got to try out 1-800 Pet Meds. I've seen commercials for years and it always sounded like such a great deal. Turns out they do have a nice little operation going, even if it isn't that great of a deal. I got Finn's flea medication, this time for big dogs, and a stretchy frog toy just for fun. The medication was not overly expensive but it was about the same price as I paid at the Value Vet clinic at our local pet shop, so there was no real advantage (espically since there is no wait and the Value Vet is less than a mile away). The frog was just an after thought and I got it because it was only 6 bucks, but I am unimpressed by the selection of toys. Sure I should have seen that coming, seeing as how the name is PetMeds and not PetToys (which is a google arbitrage style site) . My only other complaint is that it took a while to get cleared by vet to get flea medication. It's flea medication, does that really need to be a controlled substance? Anyways After about a week, the order did finally go through, and a few days later the shipment arrived. All in all I like the site and I will be using it again.

Cats and Dogs

Finn has finally started to get along with the kittens. One of them still plays with him sometimes but generally speaking they don't bother each other. It was another step though that it was possible to take this picture.

Also, to everyone, happy thanksgiving. This will be the first time Finn joins us on a trip. We will be going to my parents house for turkey and cranberry sauce, and Finn will get some good eats too. Not too sure how he'll handle a 5 hour drive but I guess we will see how this goes.

Hollywood Pooch

Bear had his first Hollywood moment months ago when he met Sly Stallone on a walk. He was on his morning run (with his madre) Rocky stopped and commented on how cute he was. Too bad he doesn't have any new movies coming out, but if I hear Rocky IX is in production you better believe I am submitting Finn's head shot to someone.

His second big screen moment came more recently.
We decided one night to take a long walk into Westwood village and bring Finn along. We didn't realize there was a premiere, all that we wanted was some Mr. Noodle.

As we neared Mr. Noodle we realized there was a lot more foot traffic then there normally is, but the real giveaway was the massive red carpet, closed down road and paparazzi.




After ordering we sat outside, trying to catch a view of some stars . Unfortunately we were a bit early, so there were no star sightings, but one of the photographers did snap a picture of Finnegan. If you see pictures from the premiere of Gone Baby Gone, and there is one of a really cute golden retriever, you know who it is.

Dog Thief

Although the title may suggest that someone stole a dog, that is not the case. Rather, it appears Finnegan may have stolen something.
The toy seen here is NOT something we bought for Finn, and we have no idea where it came from. It's possible that the neighbor dog Ozzie brought it over during a playdate, but I can't remember him every bringing anything more then energy (he's got a lot of it). Other than that the only theory is that one of the gardeners found it around the yard and assumed it was Finn's.

I'm sure it is no big deal, the toy is pretty beat up already, but I don't want Sir Finnegan to be the cause of some neighborhood drama. Luckily for us there will be no evidence of this "crime" within a few days thanks to Finn's new "big bear" teeth. He can chew through anything now, and he does. It is a daily occurrence to see him out on the lawn with a circle of toy stuffing around him.

HALOWEEN!!!

Even though he already had his bee costume, "we" got Finn another costume for Haloween. There was no trick or treating for him, because Haloween is such a scary time for pups, but he did run around the back yard dressed like this.
Can't guess what he is. He is Shalom Pup. At least the thing only cost $13.00.
That picture is just another view, but it has a lot more of the Haloween feel thanks to the "ghost" (better known as someone moving quickly, trying to control a puppy who really does not like his new hat).

How to play fetch

So it turns out not even golden retrievers automatically know how to fetch. They need to be taught how to play. Thinking about it now that seems obvious but before I had a dog capable of fetching I did not think about this. I've been reading some good books about training, and one of the best ones 101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge , and Bond with Your Dog has a great suggestion for fetch. It is so simple it's almost insulting.

First take a standard tennis ball and cut a slit into it. I used an exacto knife to split open the ball about 2 inches.

Next squeeze the ball and slip a few treats inside. Using something smelly is best (Natural Balance Dog food rolls seem to work well).

Now toss the ball a few feet away. Finn noticed that it smelled right away and after pushing the ball around for a few seconds grasped it in his mouth and brought it back to me.

Get the dog to drop the ball, either he'll do it natuarally, he knows drop, or you can bribe him. Once he does squeeze the ball to release a treat.

Finn picked up on this trick very easily, as he normally does when we take the time to teach him correctly. The hardest part of training is being consistent. Luckily Finn is willing to put up with human mistakes, and although he may be confused or frustrated, he sticks with it.

Also because I have the picture and it is a Sunday, here is Finn supporting his favorite team. Who Dat! Geaux Saints!

Growing up Bear

Finnegan recovered from his surgery really well. We were able to take him out of his cool hat so he could meet my 2 year old cousin and then we took the hat off for good after day 6. He doesn't seem to interested in his stitches anymore so that is good. As far as the dysplasia goes we are forgoing the surgery. Our thinking (and backed by the Vet) is that there is no reason to do surgery on a dog that shows no signs of problems. Except for the X-Rays there is nothing to suggest that Finn has bad hips. We'll make sure to monitor his activity and read up on all the proper treatment (more on that in a later post) but he is a growing puppy and we just don't want to immobilize him for a month while he is still developing. We just want to make sure he enjoys his life and I just can't rationlize a preventive surgery that does not guarantee a fix.

The pumpkin above is only the start of Finn's October character. He already has two Haloween costumes (in addition to the Bee Costume). Below is a picture of his oversized rawhide bone, he deserved it after all he went through last week.


In other news we will be going on vacation soon, unfortunatly Finn will not be joining us. We are going to board him. We've looked around and we're pretty sure we found a place he will like. He is there right now. We took him this morning for an "interview" and decided to leave him for the day to make sure he will be able to handle it in a few weeks. It is stressful to leave the Bear with folks we don't really know but hopefully he will be okay. He seemed happy waltzing around sniffing all the other puppies, so long as he comes home free and clear of any markings it looks like a hit.

No Longer a Puppy.... Neutering

Today was the big day for Finn. Bob Barker would be proud. Everything went well, he had no adverse reaction to the anesthesia and he even got a cool microchip. The one bummer came with the news that the x-ray's they took showed signs of some bad hip dysplasia. We knew this was a possibility even though his parents had no problems. This is not really a sickness but it still does cause some concern. More to come on this subject in later posts.

In other news our dog trainer Caryl Wolff of Doggie Manners is a candidate for MyFox L.A.'s award for Best Dog trainer. I already gave her a vote, she helped make Finn who he is. That is a very good thing. If any one sees this and wants to throw her a vote please do, she has my recommendation.

Good thing we have trained Finn, it keeps his mind sharp so he can figur things out. Like how to walk around with a cone on his head. Here are the requisite pictures of Finn and his cool neck accessory.
There have been no problems post-op so far. He walked form the car to the back yard, ate some food (hand fed of course) and chewed a bone for a little while. The cone does confuse him a bit and I think I caught him sleeping standing up a few times.

I'll check on him a few times tonight, but from what people have said he should be fine. Still, I worry.