First Day at the Shutzhund club

I didnt take pics as some one broke my camera.. Wasn't sure what to expect though..
I was pleasantly surprised. We were there for 4 hours. We met 6 other members (we put our application in to become a shutzhund member. We worked on sit and here (and combo ) and then we crated her for a bit and watched the other dogs work as trials are next weekend. It was very fun to see...and to see how we want Zyah to be was very helpful! They start with obedience, then tracking and lastly shutzhund. So we started some very basic obedience.. and after she was crated for a but we started playing with her as a berlow (snake..lol) she started playing with it and she carried it so well... nothing negative all positive! So they have trials next weekend and then we will go back...

The new vet

I decided to switch vets for Zyah and the cats tooo. I wasn't happy how our vet was treating Zyah's diaherrea and yeat infection..which the yeast infection came back.

So I called asked for references and such and made a appt today and Zyah went to the new place... OMG what a huge huge difference!! Zyah now weighs 34 pounds at 3.5 months of age. The diaherrea has subsided (new vet thinks it could be a reaction from the antibiotics) and she looked at and yes smelled Zyah's armpit...lol She was much more thothrough than our last vet has ever been. So we started her on a atopical on her, also I asked when we should start her on heart worm and flea preventative...she kindly said now...lol so she is on both of those now which is great. She goes back next week for her shots and the 27th she gets spayed.

Tomorrow she starts her obedience classes at the schutzhund club.. we have 5 - 4 hour lessons and then we should be voted in for the schutzhund club where first she will get her obedience down pat (once she succeeds in that, we will move to tracking, and perhaps shutzhund) It all depends on how she does. She is coming with some issues (her fear of other dogs and she needs to gain some confidence) We have seen some very strange behaviors...

till next time...

Spay and Nueter your pet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are so many "oops" or I wanted one litter... Please don't make more unwanted puppies.. If you think you cant afford to get it done, search the web make phone calls,
We were gonna get Zyah spayed at the vets (funds are tight as hubby is on shut down for 3 weeks blech!!!)
I was about to pay $250 for a spay for Zyah... I did alot of searching for low cost spays/nueters on line..and most of them went by the poverty level.. so we did not qualify.
Operation S.A.F.E. gave me APL in Springfield IL. SO I looked at their website and Zyah is getting spayed with them for $55. on Oct 27th and she'll come home on the 28th. We have given Zyah a birthdate of 6/27/08, we do not know her date but it does coorelate to the week that she was born.
So if funds are the issue...dont use that excuse... look look look and ask ask ask...
If anyone is in a 90 mile radius of springfield, IL look at this site href="http://www.apl-shelter.org/dotnetnuke/SpayNeuterClinic/tabid/54/Default.aspx"

Another great website also is friends of animals.. they also do not go by income levels.. they have a certificate of spay or nueter which you can purchase on-line and they mail it to you. Here is their information:
You punch in your zip code and it populates vets that accept the program and you simply call a vet or your vet and ask if they partcipate in the program...Never anything wrong with double checking..



If anyone has other websites please email me and I'll put them on my list. If it can help someone afford it than its so worth it...

I paid $94 dollars at Petsmart yesterday for 1 month of cat litter, cat food, corgulated scratch-board, dog food, and a couple of toys for Zyah (3 balls, and 2 tug ropes). (I saved a whole $2 at petsmart with my card)

Another quick vet visit

I am telling ya... this girl has a crush on our vet...lol

Since we moved she has had diarherrea(sp) for 5 days..tried the usual taking all food/ water away for 12 hours (since she is a puppy).. We thought it was stress or her teething... took her in and they tested her for parvo which came up Negative Thank goodness!! She has a few pills to take and is on some special food to help... we just got home and it was a soft solid...woohoooo!!!!

Think she is feeling better also!

Another update

Well we have moved. How traumatic...lol
We did move far, we are still on the same street. We have a lot more dogs around us now and Zyah has greatly improved on her barking of other dogs. When we see another dog usually I will put her into a "sit" and let her watch the other dog... sometimes the other dog can come up and sniff (this is when it is another puppy).. and if she does bark it might only be one or 2 barks and I tell her "no bark" and its actually working. She is teething right now so she wants to chew chew chew.... she has her appropriate chew toys and every now and then she will think a hand, arm is an approved chew toy...when we say Owe! she stops and then kisses... She lost her last front tooth last night and a new tooth bud has laready popped through.

We get alot of compliments on her. Asking where we got her, if she is full blood, who her breeder is, etc.... SO when we hear these we tell them that she came from animal control and that they should search on petfinder.com We believe, vet believes that she is full blooded...but in all we really do not care if she is or is not... She is perfect for us. She knows how to steal extra hugs and kisses..
When hubby and kids are wrestling around she tries to get in between them to protect them... She still barks when the kids "have gone to far" She is such a joy!

She has her appointment to be spayed in a couple weeks (waiting for her yeast infection to completely heal for her to be in the healthiest state). She is never left alone with any dogs and is always constantly with us (except when we go grocery shopping then she is crated) She picks up the kids with us, drops them off, etc...

She is meeting with her groomer in a few days to get all prettied up, and use to the grooming process, which is bath, dry, nails, ears, etc...

We are toying around with the idea of getting another shepherd after she is spayed and secure in her training (she's gonna go to beginner plus classes) She will do anything for a treat...

I would post some pics as I said I would last time...but some little 4 legged princes, with big ole ears that get HBO...anyhoo...she saw a cord dangling off the counter and yanked it down... attached ont he other side was my camera charger with my camera... both busted when they came crashing down on the ceramic tile.. SO no pics... unless i use my camera phone which isnt that great...

but I have a feeling maybe Tom the turkey will bring me a camera before the holidays... Just got a hunch...

Hope all is well,

Mitch, Kym, Cameron, Alyssa
our fur babies in the kitty section:
Bunkee and Ory
in our puppy section:
Zyah..

Zyah had an unexpected vet...

Today we had to go back to the vets... she is now 18 pounds. She had an irriation under her armpit and looked scabby...first thing that came to mind was mange....bleck!
After a skin scrape it turns out to be a yeast infection.. she is now on antibiotics and a medicated bath 2x a week...(can't wait for that)

Zyah is doing really good... She almost is housebroken completely... less than an accident a day...woohooooooo!!!!!!!! She has had 2 private lessons with mr Roy and he even mentions how independent she is...lol But she is doing great... the only issue we are kinda having is her fear of other dogs.... We think she was attacked by another dog... each dog she sees she barks at like a yappy yorkie.. we can be a block away and don't even have to pass her by another dog...if she spots another pooch....then she'll bark...

Last week we took her to marigold Festival and she did wonderful with all the people that came by to see her... let alone it took forever to walk....with awe is that a puppy... is that a miniature husky (huh?) is that a terrior (ummmm?) stay away thats a wolf (really?) some guess she was a german shepherd....

We are working on socializing her more with other dogs...even if its just to pass by on the other side of the road...

She is very protective of the kids... if they go to far she will bark and bark till they came back especially my 4 yr old... I must admit I do enjoy that...lol

I will post some more pix later tonight...

Zyah

We had been talking about getting another dog and was searching petfinder.com and didn't find any that we even wanted to look at.
Then Wednesday night a man at 10pm came knocking on my door.. I said yes... he wanted me to open the door....ummm yeah... he had been BANGING on the door... and then he went across the hallway from me and knocked on my neighbors.... I was home alone with 2 small kids... Kinda made me worried...and made me miss Nikita even more...
I told hubby and that night I found a new posting for a Shep/Collie/Corgi mix (named Daphne plz see comments from the onderful lady that lead us to Zyah)... I said lets go look at it... so hubby was on board...and we left central Illinois and went north to chicago...stopped at moms and dads... they werent home ....lol went to Indiana to look at this puppy... She was sooo cute but she had dom. personality (not good for us) and the rescue worker said up the road was a GSD she thought was full blooded...and so we went another hour down the road... and found this beautiful lil girl.. Her name was Foxy... She has since been renamed Zyah. She needed a special name.. Hubby has slept with her nights...lol its kind funny.... But hey I get the whole bed to myself...lol
yesterday was funny... I took her out to potty and a neighbor was asking hat type she was I said a German Shep and her friend asked why is she so small...lol ummmm yeah she is a puppy...lol

Nikita RIP my baby princess...

We have been wanting and looking for another Shepherd mix since Nikita was put to sleep in December 2007. Nikita was from Animal Control and about 10 weeks old when I went in there with a pink tag on her cage as they were gonna euthanize her that next morning. She was just this lil black fur ball. DH had NO idea that i went there to look for an animal let alone a chow/shep mix. So when he got home I greeted him and he saw the black dust bunny with the purple tongue... So I told him she was ours.. he wasnt tooo keen on the idea... but we were apartment living and he worked swings and I wanted a dog to keep me company and protect me.. That she did.. So I asked him if he wanted to go to petsmart with me..to get her cleaned up (she stunk to high heaven) so we went and they cleaned her up for no charge. She was not the same puppy we took in there, She was an auburn color and the only black she had was the edging of her ears and a lil on her tail and some on her back...She was that FILTHY...
So next she was fixed...and from their she went to private obedience class with John Weiss. This class changed her for the better....it was the best monies we had ever spent on her.

She was very proective of me especially. If Mitch (aka DH) and I were wrestling around and would get between us and usually hold his arm in her teeth and growl. It was great...except maybe during "marital moments" She could sense my moods and boy did I have alot of Moods.. for the first 5 years of our life we went through infertility treatments... OMG MY MOODS!! She was the first one to tell me when I was expecting.. She jumped up and gave my belly a hug 2x once for my son and once for my daughter... Mitch always said she took on my personality...which maybe why we got along so well....lol She was preotective of the kids and of my self...
For instance, one night 2am in the morning my son was just 10 months old and she started barking at his window.. not usual for her plus her hair on her back was standing straight up... So Mitch got up and peeked through the blinds (we had a ranch home) and Mitch and this other guy came face to face... There was a MAN in my BABIES WINDOW at 2am!! Nothing good could ever come of that... So Mitch ran outside and this man ran to the corner (one house away) and he had a friend on a bike waiting for him.. we called the police....nothing ever came of it..
So the very next 7 hours... I called some security people...and got estimates... Mitch and one security guy went out and walked around the house and the security man came in first...not to bright... well Niki, as we called her ran and ended up biting his wallet in his back pocket...lol
She was protecting us... as she always had...
A few yrs later... she had gotten a goopy eye... took her to the vet and the vet assummed that someone hit her with something... I do not think sooo SHE WAS our baby! I was mad when I left there.. and still nothing solved... so the next day (MY FAV vet worked) so I called him and told him what had transpired... he asked if I wanted a housecall.... ummm yeah...lol So he came over and looked at her eye took the pressure of it...and her eye was 24 (normal for dogs is under 18) he suggested a opt for Nikita so we had to go to Downers Grove, IL a short drive, but its closer to Chicago..and more traffic...lol We went to her appt and the doc suggested removing her eye...she had no vision in it and her eye drainage tubes were blocked (likely hereditary they though) took her eye pressure it was 32 so it had gone up... her other eye was not much better...
During all of this she never once snapped, or acting fowl to anyone... We ended up calling our vet asking how much they would charge for the surgery...as the opt wanted $890...not exactly in my price range....at that time.. So then the reg vet who would do the same exact procedure was much less at $350 dollars... so I asked them to schedule it...
She had her eye enucculated.. Eye pressure at surgery was 54!!! That HAD to be painful! Never did act like it was.. picked her up... and went home...
At the same time we were closing on our house (so everything was different at home) and then DH lost his job and SURPRISE we are moving 2 hours from HOME... So first I asked my mom and dad if they would watch Nikita...while we moved and got settled....of course they did... Mom never did like dogs but she LOVED my Nikita! That kinda tell you alot about Niki doesn't it...
So Nikita was with them for about a year... she had another eye surgery as part of her eye wasnt healed correctly...and we didnt want to move her until she was 100%
I use to call my mom to hear Niki bark ...lol I missed her always at my feet... SO we moved from our temporary house to a more homey home... so guess what Niki was coming home!!!! OMG what a great feeling!
Nikita was doing great and we kept a eye on her only eye she had left. She was happy and wonderful acting great....
Then one day I caught her snapping at Alyssa my 4 yr old (3 at the time) she had just walked into the living room.. nothing done to provoke niki but, it was strange as I wasnt expecting her to do that..and then she was becoming MORE aggressive with the kids. I was sooooo afraid as she started to doing it to me as well... Not my NIKI...
She started having major behavior issues... It was just so out of the blue...
Talked to the vet and they thought it was due to age...as they knew her to be the gentle soul that we all did... So then with tears in my eyes asked about putting her down... Scheduled it... canceled it...scheduled again.....canceled it again.... OMG just could not choose... She was bad with the kids and sometimes us... So in the interest of the kids... we made one more appt. and we took her in and the vet did it all very fast and quickly... I was bawling.. my heart out.. As she was my baby of 12 years.. I felt empty and sick inside....
I know it was the right descision for us and more importantly for her. I miss her everyday... I miss when it storms and we have a 48 pound dog jump over hubby and go under the blankets and snuggle to me as she pushed hubby with 4 paws...lol This was the ONLY time she was ever in our bed.. I miss her kissing....I miss her happy jumps after Laura shaved her for her summer look...lol I miss her cuddling Even my mom has said she misses her....I miss her barking when someone was around... I miss her getting in between DH and I when we wrestled around....I miss her laying at my feet when I am at the desk, or couch or laying next to our bed on the floor...I miss her fringe on her ears... i miss my Princess Nikita.... I am so thankful we have her memories.... Here is a pic of her in my parents basement when we were visiting... Note: paneling isnt mine and that bedspread was *IN* during the time...it was taken.....