Happy Birthday Coco!

Today is Coco's 5th birthday. We decided that we would give her pizza instead of a cake. But when I tried to take the picture, the pizza was gone! She ate it before I could record it for prosperity. Hee hee...

Happy Birthday, Coco, and many more!

Here's a picture of her half asleep in her favorite chair. Who could ask for anything more?

Coco goes to the vet

Last week I took Coco to the vet. In order to cause the least amount of stress for her (and me!), I booked the last appointment of the day, 7:40 PM. Coco got her walk and her dinner, and a little rescue remedy before we headed out to see her doctor. I got together an armory: a treat bag, her hedge hog, and her football. I wasn't going to be defeated by the vet, this time!

So, we walked in and had a few dog confrontations. Coco started barking, but with treats, asking her for tricks, and squeaks from hedgehog, I was able to stop her from reaching "level 10: the red eye". She charmed everyone there, by the way, from the receptionists to the vet techs, to her doctor who called her, "the best part" of her day! Coco's vet was amazing; she gave her lots of treats and told me that it didn't matter that Coco hated other dogs. She said that French Bulldogs weren't typically social with other dogs and that Coco was such a sweetie that I should stop worrying about it. Well, you can imagine how happy that made me. A stranger seeing Coco the way that I do, as wonderful!

Coco got shots and weighed and such. She's in good health. Apparently, she has contact dermatitis on her paws! She's been licking them like crazy since the spring, but I guess she is allergic to grass and not licking because she is being naughty. The vet prescribed an oatmeal shampoo and lotion for her paws which doesn't really help but doesn't hurt either. The lotion is Resicort and the shampoo is Epi-soothe. Needless to say, my dog's hair routine now costs more than mine.

In other news, Miguel and I went shopping for my birthday! It was wicked fun, and part of my present was to get Coco a present. I ordered her a Puppia harness from the French Bulldog Rescue Network. Here is a picture of two Frenchies from the Resuce network in their Puppia harnesses; I can only imagine it will be fun to see if it works! Coco is a big puller, but she's been pretty calm, lately, so maybe this is her chance to shine. Her other harness that we got for her Rowdy Rover class never did fit too well. I use it occassionally for vet trips since it's easier to deal with in the car then her usual lead. I'm hoping that since FBRN endorses this produce that it will stay on better than a traditional harness.

Dog product review!

It's that time of year again, the time where it's getting too hot to take your frenchie outside! I've bought some new treats/toys to make passing the summer afternoons a little more palatable. Here they are:

Canine hardware chuckit! plush boomerang gets 5 out of 5 stars.

First off, Coco adores it. So much so that it's been a few weeks and there is no hole in it.

It seems to be made of a nylon like material

that resists chewing and is perfect for games of tug. We FINALLY have a toy we can play tug with that I'm not worried will break off her teeth or that she can't get a grip on it. So, it's not the cutest toy in the world, but as in many cases, Coco makes a toy cute just by being herself. And, dun dun dun, I bought it at the grocery store! So it was easy to find, buy, and was around 6 bucks.

Nylabone Healthy Edibles gets 2 out of 5 stars. Ok, so what are these supposed to do? You would think it would be like a regular nylabone that would be able to dissolve easier or something like that. At first, Coco just licked it and it looked like it would do just that. Then, she began to chew. And taking off these massive chunks and chomping them up and then grabbing another massive chunk. So, it's got the durability of the biscuit. And if I want a dog biscuit, I'll buy some organic dog biscuit for a $1.50 and not have to worry about chunks of stuff getting stuck in my dogs intestine. So, it's a great product for dogs who probably don't like to chew. At all. Which defeats the purpose if you ask me.

Finally, we have Zuke's mini naturals. These are little treat bites that were recommended by Ogdog. Coco is pretty mad for them. They are convenient to just grab about 7 or 2 whatever and you can keep them in your hand as opposed to breaking up larger treats and making a mess on the floor. Every morning I play fetch with Coco, and the only way to get her to drop her ball, is by giving her a treat. These are pretty much perfect. They are pretty stinky and look a little rubbery, but I am looking forward to trying a different flavor. I have the chicken flavor right now, and I am looking forward to peanut butter. These seem to be very popular because my local dog store was pretty much out of all other flavors for months. I can't give them five stars because they are hard to find and smell pretty bad. But, I'll give them 4.75 stars. :)

Hooray June! It's Coco's birthday this month. She'll be 5 years old! It's also my birthday this month. I wonder if they make cakes that dog and owner can share?

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UPDATE: June 9th

Coco must have heard me typing this and ran off to read it when I wasn't looking because she tore a hole in the boomerang later that day. :)