Too little.

This is probably the latest I've stayed up in a very long time. I've been sharing daily habits with old ladies and quite enjoyed it. It just hit me today that we'll be in the new house in three weeks (!!!) ! And then I realized, wait...I'm working forty hours a week. With that, when am I supposed to get two households packed up and Berry up to date on her vaccines? So of course, logic dictates I stay up until ungodly hours packing to make up for the hours I am sleeping, or working, or showering, or walking dogs. This special night bonding session with the pups has led me to some odd observations. Berry gets tired very early, as a baby should. But as a toddler does, she fights her sleep and gets grumpy. She takes it out on Wrigley, who is old enough to stay up later without visible signs of exhaustion. She becomes "dominant" and tries to get him to calm down, when all he's doing is quietly chewing on his 20 oz. plastic bottle (his new favorite toy). Thank god Wrigley's new favorite past-time, chewing plastic bottles, is cheap and a good way of home recycling. At least this way, before they go in the trash, they get some use. I tend to have multiple unfinished water bottles laying all around. Usually the leftover water goes to the plants, and now Wrigley gets the bottles until he completely destroys them. He usually has a bottle for about a half hour. They are both getting used to the crate. Finally. Berry will often go in to lay down when she's had enough. Wrigley is used to it as "chill time". I often walk back out to find them laying down and relaxing in there. My last observation for the evening: Wrigley is too small for all of his love and loyalty. He will walk in on Berry and I having mommy-sweet pea time and jump in to take over. But he doesn't just give kisses. He gives kisses so forcefully he shoves his entire face into mine, as though jabbing his snout into my cheek is going to prove he somehow loves me more. So forcefully, I nearly topple over. I think he's trying to tell me he loves me more. The pups are still getting used to all of the boxes, but they're adapting. I'm nervous, but so excited, to see how they do with the new house. I know they'll love having a yard they can run around freely...I just hope they don't destroy the place completely our first day there. Hopefully they'll get used to it sooner rather than later. And hopefully, Berry won't be able to hear the trash trucks from the basement apartment. I don't know if she can handle the anxiety they gave her.

Training update!

Both Berry and Wrigley now know: Sit Lay down Down Shake We are in the process of learning: Not to jump up on people (they get to greet on all fours) Heeling (Wrigley-specific at the moment) Sit and hold it. When I give them treats they have to sit and stay that way. No jumping up when the treat gets close. To sit before we go through any doorway. To sit before we enter/cross a street. We're also learning to ring a bell when we have to go out :) Berry usually just whines, though.

Side note

The pups got a much-needed bath last night, and we finished up with a nail trim. Berry did excellent, sat like an old champ, and while Wrigley still needed some motivation (read "treats") throughout, he is definitely getting better about it. He even let me clip his dew claws! We've finally gotten to a good point where the dogs are going to sleep in their crate on their own, without me prodding them like cattle. The door stays open most of the time, and they're both resting peacefully right now. Such cute little babes. As moving day looms in the distant-but-not-too-far horizon, we're all in a bit of a bustle. Between work and spending my off days with them, I have zero motivation to get any more packing done. I'm content with stacks of boxes and piles of crap around me. I'm just feeling too lazy to do much more. I know eventually I'll have to get over that, but I'm also prioritizing getting the dogs out as much as I can when I'm not working. We're headed to the park this evening, to get out as much energy as we can; hopefully it stays cool.

New news.

The good news is, after such a long time, I have finally found a job. I am working full-time at Half Price Books, which is great; but the hours keep me away from Berry and Wrigley more than I would like. I should mention, that while unemployed, Berry's shots have become less of a concern than feeding the two of them. She received her first DPPV shot of the sequence, and that is it. She got the worming medicine when her and Wrigley were both "sick," from neuter post-op and worms. But I just didn't have the funding to get her the rest of her shots right away. I am happy to report she is well and as soon as I get my first paycheck, she'll be going in for the second of the sequence and her rabies. Little baby girl will be all up to date, finally! They are both doing great. We are finally mastering potty training, Wrigley for the second time around. He's put on a lot of weight these past couple months, so we are up to two brisk walks around the block (one before I go to work and one before bedtime), and he is eating either two small meals or one regular meal daily. Berry is hardly keeping weight on she is so active. She runs around in circles nearly all day long, and it's nice because it eventually wears her out (thank god). They have both mastered down, sit, lay down, and shake. They are learning not to jump on either mama or guests, or the table. They have completely demolished my favorite orange chair, so we are starting to learn toy rules. BUT NOW, FOR THE BEST NEWS OF ALL!!! The first week of August, all of the pups (PJ included), my mother, her cat, and myself, will be moving into a lovely new-ish house out closer to the country, tucked right in between a little podunk town and suburbia. There's a lovely fenced yard for everyone to romp around in. I cannot wait for this. The house is essentially two separate apartments: the upstairs, where my mother will reside; and the basement, which the people completely finished, and has two bedrooms, a full bath, a kitchenette and a laundry room. The best part of all? The basement has a separate walk-out to the backyard. The pups can go out whenever they want, without disturbing PJ's peace upstairs. There are several hiking trails around the neighborhood, a pond, and a pool right down the street. They'll be getting more than enough exercise :) I'll be posting pics of the house for days after we move in, I'm sure. I still have a lot of painting to get done down there before it's "mine," but definitely super excited. On a sidenote: I'm sure there are already a million people doing this and I'm behind ten years, but I've started recycling bread bags for poo duty. When I can't get out to pick up more Bags on Board, they come in super handy. I also eat a ton of bread though.. What household stuff do you repurpose for your four-legged friends? -E

Long time, no see.

It's been a while since my last post, and I apologize. A lot has been going on in our little family. The last time we spoke my mom had just had surgery; she recovered well. The week after, Wrigley had his neuter operation, which went off perfectly, his stitches healed up and he's doing great. That same day, I discovered Berry had worms. She finished off her medication and is doing great, finally keeping some weight on. I had my 21st birthday last Monday and still haven't really gotten to celebrate :(
The other day Wrigley and Berry were outside playing, and I suppose Wrigley forgot he had big boy teeth and got a little rough with Berry, but she's alright.
The pups have been bringing me puppy teeth, I think I have four or five now? Odd gifts, and the tooth fairy apparently doesn't give dogs money, she gives them treats!! Berry's loving it.

Wrigley has started using a choke chain because it's the only thing that keeps him even remotely in control. Hopefully it won't become a permanent thing :/
Wrigley, Berry, and PJ all went to a training session Monday night and it went over quite smoothly. Mom and I are looking for houses and if we find one, all three dogs will be living together, so we'd rather they didn't try to kill each other. The Petsmart trainers up in Mason get an A+ on my report card; Hannah was wonderful and very patient with us and the dogs.
We should be going to look at a couple houses this week, I found a lovely one in West Chester that has everything we need!
The pups have both grown immensely, both physically and mentally. Berry's still a fierce little howler, though. Wrigley's gotta be over 20 pounds and Berry is around ten. She's almost as tall as him now, and really is tall enough to reach my dining room table when standing on his hind legs.
They've both learned sit, down, and shake perfectly, but they're still working on their sibling rivalry issues. Wrigley's gotten louder and I'm not a fan of it. But his bark is nice and manly. Berry howls constantly, and it's cute every now and then, but heavens! When she does, she does it so loudly and strongly it literally knocks her over.

Until next time (and I promise to be more regular), toodle-loo!

Missed a day, and lacking creativity, too. (BAGS ON BOARD)

So yesterday time managed to get away from me and I ended up missing a post. I spent the better part of the day traveling from doctors' offices to emergency rooms to picking up prescriptions. I had what I thought was an irritated mosquito bite on my face, but when it became swollen to the point of extreme discomfort, I thought I'd get it checked out. The doctor I saw in the morning told me it was MRSA, a form of staph infection, gave me some directions and an antibiotic to treat it and told me if it got worse to head to the ER. By that afternoon, there was no change but the pain was so unbearable we went to the ER anyway. That doctor informed me that the previous one was basically incompetent and that it was just an infection that had turned into an abscess.
Funny how things work out like that.

Today the pups and I have spent lounging around, registering for my summer classes and watching TV, in a futile attempt to make up for them being stuck at home alone pretty much all day yesterday.

This post is running much later than usual, only because I've had trouble finding any sort of topic to write about. I finally decided a little product review would be the best way to go for today's post.

I can honestly say that Bags On Board is a personal savior. Our apartment building has two Mutt Mitt boxes on the premises but they're never stocked and the management ignores the maintenance requests to take care of it (nice thought though). I tried using plastic baggies like my mother does, but Ziplocs are a little on the expensive side, and not easy to remember constantly.
Frequent trips to the park, puppies leaving their mark consistently, only to find I'd forgotten bags, left me feeling guilty- and then I found Bags On Board.
They're wallet-friendly, easy and convenient - with a way to attach them to your dog's leash, and the dispenser comes in a couple different options; you can even design your own. I got the standard bone-shaped one, but as far as I know, each dispenser comes with two rolls of bags (15 bags a roll).
Refill bags in a pack of eight rolls sell on Amazon for about four dollars!
In addition to the plain blue bags, you can even get pretty rainbow ones for a little variety!
Like I said, having these is great because I never have to deal with feeling bad about leaving nuggets behind just because I left unprepared.

I'm doing my part to leave Cincinnati's parks a little bit better, or at least in the same condition we entered them in.

LINKS:
http://www.bagsonboard.com/

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=bag+on+board

Over the river and through the woods...

To grandmother's house we go.

I have left one tiny detail out in previous posts. I have another dog! PJ (Princess Jane) is a ten year old Shih-poo mix, and is the first dog I ever got. Unfortunately, she's very poorly socialized and will eat anything that comes near her, breathing or not. Wrigley was originally intended as a companion for her and when that didn't work, little boy needed a friend that would play with him - enter Berry.

Now that we're up to speed on the rest of the pack, I can write my actual post.
I agreed to come help take care of PJ and my mother's cat while she recovered from an operation to repair an umbilical hernia. Of course, I know Wrigley and PJ don't get along, but that didn't really cross my mind when I agreed to stay here for two days.
In my attempt to make this stay as easy and peaceful as possible, the pups and I packed every toy and bone I could find, and then we swung by our local Petsmart to pick up a tie-out and two cables (all Top Paw products- a spiral stake, a fifteen-ft and a ten-ft tie-out cord - for less than $30*!). This way, I thought, they could still have their treasured outdoor time, and PJ could still get her walks.

After some experimenting with that, I staked Berry at one end and Wrigley at the other. Wrigley's cord ran five feet longer, so I managed to create a sort of Venn diagram where they could be together but also separate if playtime got too rough.

While I was here, I dug out the large crate that had originally been intended for PJ. The pups have been using it and it's going home with us later today! Both of their beds fit perfectly in it and there's just enough room for them to still be friendly.

If nothing else, they're loving having extra room to run around in. We have two couches here, a flight of stairs (Wrigley has been burning off puppy fat all morning, and Berry's just practicing), and a semi-backyard. They can't be off-leash because there's a park out back where dogs aren't allowed, but the tie-out has compensated for that.

In spite of all this, between Berry's whining and PJ's shrieking, I still didn't get an ounce of sleep last night. Even that wasn't too bad though; being a sole Netflix customer, having access to basic cable gave me time to catch up on my favorite TV shows!
The pups wanted to play all night so we had to alternate in-and-out time, which worked perfectly. PJ has been confined upstairs with my mother for most of the stay. I think she's enjoying that - it seems like a nice change of pace from being confined to a kitchen all day.
After an eventful two days, the laundry is getting done, the pups are calming down, and we are going home. I got a few great pics too!


Links:
www.petsmart.com
Check out their New Puppy Package as well - Wrigley got one! He's sharing it with Berry.

Home Alone 1

As I mentioned, we live in a (albeit decent-sized) small one bedroom apartment not terribly far from the heart of Cincinnati.
Part of the reason for this blog is to create my own sane haven from the trials and tribulations of this setup. Reasonably it's not too small at all, and you'd think that adding two pups who don't even weigh twenty pounds apiece would make a difference, but dog-owners know better.

Since acquiring the two pups, my possessions have probably doubled (including two large bigger-than-Wrigley sticks and a rock that he decided he wanted on his outings…) but the space to store it all in has remained the same.
Where I once had an empty floor, I have two dog beds and a small kennel. I was once able to shut my hall closet and pantry's doors, but hooks now hang storing puppy backpacks (for adventures) and recyclable grocery bags. I once had a nifty drawer all of my cords and cables were in, and now it holds destroyed dog toy rags, and toys neither one is playing with.

I have an entire selection of artwork under my futon and already, at least two pieces I've come to find shredded by Wrigley.

On this note, I will say that Wrigley has never been penned a day in his life, except while it's nap time. He has always slept in the human bed, or on the futon; and when he's left alone, he's always had free roam. A lot of people are probably going to criticize me for that, but I don't necessarily believe that penning or crating is the way to go. I have an older dog as well who lives with my mother, who has been confined to the kitchen during home-alone time every day of her life, and still has trouble understanding the concept of a "training" pad. Wrigley has pretty much had it down from the start. So…no problem. He's an angel.
Berry, as far as potty-training goes, isn't too different. She almost always pees on the pad, but we're still working on pooing on it.
They get along alright; she's very assertive for her size, but Wrigley is an enabler; he rolls right over for her. The only problem is they get loud when they play. I have no problem with that, but my neighbors do. Hence, my concern in leaving them alone.

As you can imagine, my first thought was to separate them when I went out. I wasn't planning on leaving for long, just going out to lunch with my mom on Mother's Day, right down the street. I walked everyone before I left, and I thought that giving Wrigley the living room and putting Berry in the bathroom (that's where she slept the night she came home) would be alright.
I was, regrettably, mistaken. I came home to a typical living room scene when leaving Wrigley in it, but the disaster that awaited me in the bathroom was unforeseen. I opened the door to a poop-covered washroom. Covered. Poop paw prints all over the floor, somehow on the door, on the training pad I'd left her. Luckily, she remained clean. I immediately mopped and wiped down the door so any further smell was avoided (and now my bathroom floor was an unrealistic clean.
But what was I going to do next time?

In an effort to figure this out, they have both been getting used to crate time; or at least, Berry has. Wrigley frequently stays in his crate when we're at my mother's but out running errands or whatever. They've been doing great with it. But I still can't bear confining them for long- Berry was in there for two hours earlier but only because we're sort of using it as a nap haven. She knows if she goes in there she gets a MilkBone and a totally interruption-free nap (her favorite). When she wakes up, she whimpers and we let her out.
So I still feel bad using it for extended hours.

But yesterday, the time came. Paychecks needed to be picked up and deposited, we were nearly out of puppy pads and were out of bagels- heaven forbid. And almost out of tea! The time came to try our hand.
I'm fairly certain our biggest issue was separating them. I think Berry just had a major freak out being alone for the first time, completely. No mama, no brother. Just her bed, blanket, a bone and a pad. I still feel bad about that.
So when this errand run came up yesterday, I took a wild shot in the dark, and we left them out. Together. Free. And unsupervised. I had mixed feelings to say the least; I left feeling confident, and towards the end of our outing, became fearful of returning to blood stains and puppy hides everywhere. In addition, I was certain there would at least be a nasty note from the neighbors or an eviction notice on my door.
It turns out that my gut was correct. There were no nasty notes, and when the door opened, two perfect little puppies ran out to greet our return.

Sometimes things work out alright, even in a small apartment with two puppies.

(straw)Berry fields.

Yes, she really sleeps like this.

French Park will be the topic of today's post; this is easy because it's right down the street from us; it's actually the first public park that Wrigley or Berry went to, as well.
There are lots of open hills and fields, several parking lots (the park is really a giant hill, and there's a lot at every level of it so you don't have to climb up and down- although, walking to the top is a great leg building exercise). There's more than enough room to play fetch, even to pull out a Chuck-it.

Lots of regulars (dogs and humans) come out here for a good run on the trail. The site will say it takes two hours walking, but I don't think it took anywhere near that, unless we didn't go all the way to the top. This is a distinct possibility, as Wrigley was still quite young and was having trouble grasping the concept of creek-crossing. We did, however, come out at the top of the visible park.
The trail is great for dog-lovers; the park does have a leash rule, but dog-free runners hardly ever go back in the trail, so pups almost always run free. If you're a first-timer or have a young pup that still needs to be socialized, keep the pup on the leash until you know how both of you will do. All of the people running back there are extremely nice, and love meeting new dogs at their own stomping grounds; you'll probably come out with a play date or running buddy! Every dog we've met back there has been more than sweet to Wrigley, and Berry still has some time before her first full hike.

I couldn't find any great pictures of the fields or trails, so the pups and I went out to get a few. They needed to get out and run before the rain tomorrow anyway.
Wrigley showed amazing progress - he ran through the creek and streams without a second glance; his first time we carried him most of the way and he refused to go near the water. Berry even walked a lot of the trail, following big brother. And they met a Greyhound…I'm not sure Wrigley even knew it was a dog like him.

All in all, it was a pretty successful trip and now both of the kids are out like babies.

Links:
http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/parks/080300_frenchpark.html

The beginning.

Welcome to The Good Woof. I'm starting this with the intention of telling a story; a story about how life goes when you're raising two Beagle puppies in a small apartment in Cincinnati, while going to school, looking for a steady income, and trying to find yourself before you move yourself and the aforementioned pups three and a half hours away.

This will not only be a story, but also a review, and sometimes, a creative outlet. When it becomes a review, it will analyze Cincinnati from a dog's point of view. We'll take a look at trails in the local area, dog parks, rescue organizations, volunteer opportunities, dog-friendly businesses, and the city on an overall dog-friendly basis.
The pups and I will also do product reviews of different toys, leashes, collars, accessories, training pads, and maybe the occasional sock.

As for a creative outlet, I aspire to do some sort of freelance writing, eventually journalism. This is a way of getting myself back into it. So, sometimes, there might be silly little creative challenges I do. If so, I will list a link to them when they're posted. Sometimes, there might be free writes, or dream logs. Feel free to ignore them. I'll post a paw print in the doggish articles.

I'm aspiring to write something every day. I probably won't succeed, but I'm going to try.

Now, I suppose you should meet the pups! As I said before, there are two. One is a full Beagle, and one is a Beagle/ (what we think might be Boston) terrier mix. Pictures of them were posted earlier.
Wrigley is my baby boy and the mix. I can't say enough good things about him. He's almost seventeen weeks old, and plain old black and white. He's a complete gentleman. Never barks, even when little sis attacks him. He is coming along very good in his training: he never misses the pad, knows what to do when we go out (and only ever poops along the fence line), does not run away when he is off-leash, is very friendly with other dogs (did I mention we want playmates?), and always sits when we put his leash on or before we cross the street! Poor guy doesn't know neuter plans are in the near future.
Berry is my little girl. She is six weeks old, and an absolute darling brat of a pup. She is the exact opposite of Wrigley in every way, except they both love to sleep and eat and gnaw on bones. This little girl never stops whining. Ever. When she's on the bed she whines to get off, and vice versa. She doesn't go on a leash when we walk, because she whines; but she whines when she forgets we're walking, not sitting. Her bones aren't fully formed yet, they're still straightening out in her back legs. Being as small as she is, she can hold her own, and has beat big brother in a good game of tug quite a few times. She also has cute little spots all over her legs and tummy.

I think this was a good starting point :)

Àbientôt!

Photos of Berry and Wrigley (7 wks and 17 wks respectively)

In order:
The boy who poses with a black mask is Wrigley.
The girl with brown (being held twice, once by myself, once by Mama K) is Berry.