Eating: All the Cool Kids are Doing it!

So, I have some great news: Orianna ate dry kibble today with no sauce, gravy, or whatnot mixed in with it! I know that seems like it wouldn't be a huge deal, but trust me, it's a major breakthrough! She is eating about 2 1/2 cups a day, which still isn't a whole lot, but is getting better considering that's definitely up from 1! She hasn't been a big eater since she got here, but it does seem like over time her appetite is slowly picking up. We had our next vet visit today and Orianna weighed in at 21.9 pounds, which the vet said is not AS much weight as she should be gaining, but she is in good body condition and there is no problem, so she's doing well for now so we're going to keep doing what we're doing. If all goes well, hopefully her appetite will continue to pick up and she'll get up to a full 3 cups soon. Well, I think that's all we've got for now!

Tooth Fairy Circling the Neighborhood

Hey Gang, it's Sawyer- mom will be here in a minute, but I want to warn you, this post is not for the squeamish! Only the lion-hearted like me! But breaking news: Orianna has lost a front tooth, and we actually FOUND it! (Cheers from all as Mom plastic baggies it for her scrapbook...picture at right, although you can barely see the darned tooth. Back to my nap, this is less exciting than I thought it would be...look at the size of that thing--eeny meeny!)

I see NOTHING to cheer about...that is absolutely repulsive! UGH! Blood, teeth, little bits of skin...makes me want to vomit!Oh. go cough up a hairball Roxie! I, who is Boo, am excited that she's losing her baby teeth because it means she's growing up! Whoa, wait...that may not be a good thing...she might get BIGGER than me and then I won't be able to boss her around...YIKES!

Quiet Down guys! It's me, Brian, and the picture to the side is Orianna being excited when Georgia won the football game in overtime on Saurday! Whoohoo!

So, apparently my impatient household has already told you the news, that we found a baby tooth. We were so excited just because we knew she was losing teeth, but we hadn't found one yet and I've always tried to find and save one of each of my pup's baby teeth for their scrapbook. Corny, maybe, but I love 'em!

Orianna is having a good week so far, although I think that she may have been Tigger in another life..."their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs! She bouncy, flouncy, pouncy, trouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!" She likes to HOP...hope when I say "here", Hop OVER the baby gate, hop when she's playing...my oh my! We're working on it is all I can say!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's Super Anna! Yeah, I know, I am NOT supposed to jump over the baby gate/knock down the baby gate (Orianna, DON'T!!!!). But it's just, well, I see it standing there, and I think, hey, maybe I could make it over. And mom is turned around...so, I go for it! Whoops, I didn't clear it, but the force of me hitting it knocks it over. Yes! I've escaped. I'm running like the wind through the apartment, running to where Kekah's bowl is, because maybe there is leftover water (I can't have water after 7:00 pm because I still can't hold it all night if I do...) I hear mom on my heels...MUST....RUN...FASTER! I feel hands scoop under me! She's caught me! Oh well, I'm so glad I'm getting picked up that I forgot what I was doing in the first palce. I give Mom a big,w et kiss on the lips (I'm not supposed to do that either, but I can always tell it's harder for Mom to correct me for this...she does, but I know she still secretly wants my kisses anyway!) Mom puts me back into the baby gate, and I do a sit and a down for her, showing her I really CAN be a good girl...if I want to be, heehee....

E.T. Phone Home

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Orianna's blog! Orianna is doing super this week. We're working on Let's Go, which she is doing well with but has only been working on it a short time. We're alos working on here, which she does well with except for the fact that she HOPS to you like a cricket instead of walks to you, so we're working on, um, not being QUITE so enthusiastic on our Here! Well, some of the other family members have, well, demanded that they be allowed to post tonight (and also that pictures of them be included beside their posts), so without further ado, I'll let Sawyer go first since he's oldest.

Thanks, Mom! Well, as you all know, as resident Garfield of the house, I don't really get off my bum a whole terrible lot, but occassionally I do sneak a peek at what Orianna is doing, you know, during that time when I'm rolling over and peer out to make sure the world is still turning between my naps. Thing is, she actually wakes me up from my naps sometimes with her crazy GRUNTS! We have all talked about how she grunts louder than Kekah, but we've finally come to a consensus on what she sounds like: E.T.!!! Turning it on over to Kekah, now, who I sometimes sit outside the babygate with (see pic below) to watch Orianna's training sessions...

I, who am Kekah-Boo, am a little upset about the fact that I didn't get to go first...I know I'm not the oldest, but I was here first, and as the only former CCI pup in this house (the only other PUP in this house besides Anna, period!) I think I know more about dog things. She's doing really well. She's getting better about not chewing things she not supposed to, so all those Don'ts are finally sinking in. She had a little bit of a tummy issue earlier in this week (diarrhea, ugh), but that seems cleared up now. Roxie?

Well, let me say that I resent that I am going last, but you know what they say about saving the BEST...Anyhow, a BIT of a tummy issue? That MONGREL was using the bathroom on the FLOOR! Doesn't she at least know to make it to the box if you have to go? I, of course, know that her giving up chewing on furniture is a sign of weakness, a sign that she has resigned herself to life as a subordinate. Oh, well, there was never much hope for her anyway- she's not a cat.

Um, thanks Roxie. Well, that's about it from our end. We've had a nice Saturday and it's past Anna's bedtime! Nighty night!

She was a Splishin' and a Splashin'

Hey Everybody, it's Brian. I thought I'd get on and write a little bit about our morning since Colby's too tired to right now, and I don't blame her! Orianna was up this morning around 5 having bouts of diarrhea, so Colb got up and cleaned her crate and we gave her a bath. Colb had the vet look at her and the vet put her on antibiotics for a bacterial infection, so hopefully that'll knock it out. If not, we'll get a poop sample next week to send off to the lab to test for someother things, Colby says.

So, it's been a long day. We closed Orianna in our bathroom why we had to be away today instead of the crate, just because her tummy had been upset and that way if she did have an accident she could get out of it and not get disgusting. We had been sure we hadn't left anything that she could get to in that bathroom...we overlooked something. Well, Colby came home from practice (she's helping the high school' drama production) and Orianna had gloriously strewn toilet paper around the room. Oh, well, at least she didn't have any more diarrhea!

The Finer Things in Life

One thing I, Orianna, LOVE is peanut butter. I don't get to have some very often, but BOY when I do, that's some good stuff. The hard part, though, is they tuck it down in this red rubber tunnel and hide it in there so you have to dig it out. Why not just put it in the bowl like the other food? It'd make it a lot easier, for crying out loud!! (And yes, I know I have peanut butter on my nose in one or two of the pictures..so what?!)

My mom has started walking me on nothing but my nosinator (she calls is gentle leader, but I prefer to think of it as the Nosinator). I am not pleased with this development, although I tolerate it because if I'm good while it's on I can usually get a treat out of it. I am really good at walk on a loosh leash, and am starting to be expected to be by mom's left knee...I think if I have to get any closer to that knee she might start tying us together...I don't know what she means by it...but the words "Let's Go" get said a lot, so maybe I'll figure it out.

I've heard my brothers and sisters have been having tummy aches, so my heart goes out to you. I hope you feel better! Thankfully, my tummy has been okay for the most part. Mom is finally serving up a yummier dish, which is still that boring old kibble, but now it's covered with some kind of sauce that makes it at least decent.

Well, I better go...it's my bedtime (past it, now that I think about it!) Love, Orianna AKA Annabelle~

The Gravy Train

Hi, everyone! Welcome back to Orianna's blog.

She is doing really great--her command work is going well. She now knows SIT, doing the implied stay until release, which is HUGE!!! She is now doing DOWN without help, but still needs luring, and right now she won't do the down if I'm standing up above her, so that's something we'll be working on, one step at a time. She's working on wait, still with a hand cue at the moment. The newest thing we've added to our arsenal this week is SHAKE...I was so proud of her because I started her on it one day and she had it down pat in the same day, and now she will do a shake when asked without even having a treat. Awesome!

She had stopped eating again, which is tough because we've been checked out by the vet and there's no tummy problem or teeth problem: the problem simply seems to be that she gets sick of the food. How I figured this is out it because she'll eat a new food for a few days like she loves it, and then BAM! She'll start only picking at it. So, rather than change foods constantly, we've taken to using Vita-gravy, this really nasty sauce-like stuff you can buy that gives the food different flavors so I can change it up for her...in the morning we'll have beef sauce, in the evening we'll have bacon or chicken. Anyway, this is something we'll wean her off of gradually, but for now, the main concern is for her to eat and to eat "dry" kibble, even if we do have to entice her a little bit. If she doesn't eat she won't be doing anyone any good, including herself! So for now, Vita-gravy it is.

She got a new stuffed cow toy the other day (Kekah got a moose of the same variety) and now she tends to carry it everywhere she goes. Her legs are shooting up a little more and I can tell she's getting taller even though she's still a tiny little thing.

Well, that's it for now--hope everyone has a lovely Labor Day!