Yeah! The Olate Dogs Win America's Got Talent!

We are SOOO happy that the Olate Dogs won America's Got Talent! Congratulations! We think we remember the father and son team saying that the dogs are former shelter dogs, but don't quote us on that until you check and make sure. You can visit their site at the link above and go to the Olate Dogs Facebook page and like to keep up with these wonderful and special dogs.

Here they are during one of their shows on America's Got Talent:

What do you get when you mix a Dachshund with a Yorkie?

I'm not sure whether you would call this a designer dog or not, because a Dachshund and a Yorkie mix is called a "Dorkie". My owner's kids used to call each other "dorks" when they were growing up so I'm not sure whether that is a flattering name, but they are very cute dogs.


Dorkie puppies are not common, they are not purebred, but a mix of a Dachshund and a Yorkshire Terrier.  Below is a video of a few adorable Dorkie Puppies, they look very much like a Yorkie puppy.



Do you have a Dorkie dog or puppy picture, or any other dog or cute puppy picture that we can share on our site? If you do, let us know in a comment...we won't post it unless you want us to as they are all moderated.  We can post it here for you, or if it is possible to add a picture to a comment, feel free to do so.

Cruciate Ligament Tear in Two Legs

It's been about a month and a half since the Veterinarian diagnosed Aspen with a cruciate ligament tear in one of her hind legs.  In spite of all of our attentiveness and care, a little over a week ago, the other leg sustained the same injury.  She is watched over almost constantly, and this happened during a moment when she simply tried to go up a small step, it didn't take much.

Now that a week has passed, she is still limited, but moving about more than she did again due to some measure of healing, and again needs to be watched carefully so that she keeps on healing.

Thankfully, she is a dog with a good nature, and being older, tends to rest a lot anyway, but she misses the very thing she should never have been doing at her age, jumping up and down from the couch, and is learning to be content with her bed on the floor and occasional times up next to us on the couch or chair when we lift her and take her down.

We have a special harness for her now that supports her body from front to back with the hook that the leash attaches to toward the back rather than the neck are.  This helps to take some of the weight off of her back legs when walking...she it taking her time getting used to this.  Though she has hobbled about just a bit when she needs to go out and take care of business, this week we are trying to do just a little more controlled walking...nothing too active...to build and maintain her leg muscles and mobility.

She is on a anti-inflammatory pain medicine for dogs right now, but soon we hope to switch over to a Glucosamine/Chondroiton product in order to preserve what is left of the cartilage in the joints that will now rub together un-naturally due to her injury.

We will keep you updated on her progress and if you can learn anything from our experience, when your Yorkie reaches a certain age, don't allow them to jump up and down.

 

Yorkies and Torn Cruciate Ligament

If your dog is limping or not walking on one leg, he or she may have a torn cruciate ligament.  It may not be that, there are other injuries that cause this in the leg and on the feet, but it could be.

Aspen the Yorkie is an elder dog, 13 this month, but it is hard to keep her from jumping up on and off of the couch because she has done this all of her life. Two weeks ago she jumped down from the couch, not really a far jump, but far enough I guess, because she started limping and not walking on the back right leg. Thinking it may be something that would work it's way out, we waited a day and went to the vet on Friday.

When the vet examined her, an X-ray wasn't even necessary, they knew right away by how the joint in the "knee" slid back and forth that she had torn the cruciate ligament. The vet said this is very painful, though Aspen didn't act much like she was suffering. She was and for the most part still is her cheerful self.  The cruciate ligament is one of 2 opposing ligaments between the joints from what I saw when searching the internet...in her case her back "knee" I believe.  This site has a good picture that shows the joint and cruciate ligament...I am not promoting this service, just found the image when searching on Google.

The vet prescribed Rimadyl appropriate to her small size for pain and inflammation. She had been given a little baby aspirin the day before, but that had to be stopped right away as the two together are toxic for the dog.

Surgery is possible with this type of injury, but Aspen is an elder dog, and we decided it would be better to let nature take it's course. The recovery is just as long one way or the other, and the ligament will heal with rest (as much as we can get her to rest), but will be prone to arthritis.

So she isn't jumping anymore, in fact she "calls" for help when going up a step. She sleeps in her bed on the floor instead of on the couch. It is suggested that dogs be crated and rest most of the time with this injury. Since someone is always home, we just keep good watch over her, she rests all the time anyway, and we carry her outside where she takes care of business and walks about a bit, and then we carry her back in. The only time Aspen gets lively is during the evening, she walks around a little bit then, but we don't worry about it too much because it can't be healthy to be lying around all the time.

It's been two weeks now, we will update you in the weeks to come on how her recovery from her cruciate ligament tear is. Here's a picture of her resting on the couch...we were keeping close watch and put something in place so she won't jump off.

Android and iPhone App to Manage Pet Care

Managing the health needs of a dog or cat can be challenging, but a new App that we just learned about will help to make this so much easier. It's called the Purina Pet Health App. This app is available for those with Android and iPhone operating systems on their phone or device.

Are your pet's medical records nothing more than a bundle of receipts and papers? You can enter and store important medical information for each of your pets and keep it handy for future veterinary visits and easy reference. Are you so busy that you often forget to set up, or get to, appointments for your pet? You can use the App to set up reminders for your groomer or veterinary appointments.

Do you travel with your pet? Have you ever thought about what you would do if you had an emergency on the road and wanted to locate the nearest animal hospital or veterinarian? This app will find the closest facility should an emergency arise while you are on the road with your pet. Here is an image of the first "page" of the app. It will give you only a small idea of the power of this tool:



If this pet care App sounds like something that would make life easier for you and your pet, you can click and download here. My owner has Android on her tablet...it's not a phone, so we're off to see if there is an Android version of the Purina Pet Health App that is compatible with her device...it's a lot of work keeping up with the health and wellness of an aging Yorkie.

11/7/13 Update - We had to say a very tearful goodbye to Aspen in August of this year.  She is missed more than words can express, and her blog will continue as a tribute to her sweet life and the joy she brought to us for 14+ years.  I was with her the moment she was born, and with her the moment we said farewell.

This post contains both personal and sponsored information written by me on behalf of Triad Retail Media. 
All opinions are 100% mine.

Collapsed Trachea in Small Dogs

A collapsing or collapsed trachea in a small dog is caused by a weakening in the rings of cartilage that hold the trachea open so that your dog can breath.  Some dogs are born with this weakened condition, others develop the condition with age. While the condition is not limited to small dogs, it is most common in small dogs.

The trachea in dogs, humans and most other mammals is the "tube" that runs from the nose and throat that carries air to and from the lungs...it can also be called the windpipe.  When it is collapsing or collapsed, dogs make an unusual sound caused by what some call backwards coughing...a sound like a honk.

Many dogs have this condition occasionally or chronically and live normal healthy lives.  If your dog is "honking" often and over an extended period of time, please do see your veterinarian as he or she will teach you how to manage the condition and perhaps suggest medications that will open up the breathing.  Surgery is not often needed.

If the characteristic cough is just occasional, your dog should be fine, this is up to you to determine.

Here are a couple of things we do:

When I (Aspen) cough like this, my owner gently lifts my head and strokes under my neck...she didn't read about doing this anywhere, it's just something she did one day, and it helped.  Maybe it helped me relax, maybe it helped open the trachea, we don't know, it just worked...but it's just a gentle lift and very gentle stroking, nothing more.

DO NOT walk a dog using  a regular collar with this condition, use a harness.  In fact, do this anyway with a small dog as a collar could contribute to causing the problem.

Do more research on the condition online, there is quite a bit of information out there, and thank you for visiting, we hope we helped you learn a bit more about tracheal collapse and hope you find help with your dogs collapsed trachea.

Saving Favorite Animal and Pet Sites Online

I've discovered a new place to save all of my favorite pet and animal sites. The site is called Clipix and as the name would indicate, it is a "visual" way of saving places that you want to revisit in an organized way.

I joined clipix about a week ago, and have set up files on my favorite topics. To get started, you open an account which just takes a few minutes, then go to your "clipboard". On the clipboard you will find boxes with titles of some popular categories. You can change the titles to anything you like. You can also add more boxes to the clipboard as you discover sites that interest you on different subjects. And if things get really busy on your clipboard, you can set up "multiboards" and put similar clipboards within them to further organize things.

Since I am new, I've set up some basic boards on some of my favorite things, including animals, books I'd like to read, health and nutrition, recipes, gift ideas...and I'm sure I'll be adding many more.

When you go to your main page, you can click on the title of any one of your clipboards, which will open up a page so that you can see all files in that folder. As I said, I've just started, but here is a picture of the folder I started on animals and pets:



Here is how to save your information to a clipboard. When you join, you "drag" a little "clip" button up into your toolbar if you are using Firefox, or you save it to your toolbar as instructed if you are using Internet Explorer. Then when you are on a page that you like and want to save, you simply click on the clip button in the toolbar, a window will open, you choose a picture that will remind you of the site, label it if you like, and save it into a file that you choose from a drop-down menu. So simple!

I am "happynutritionist" on clipix, when you join, look for me, or tell us in a comment who you are so we can all find you...tell us how you are using Clipix.

 

Promoted Post

Fleas in the Winter?

In the northeast, we are having one of the warmest winters that we've had in a long time. It's nice to have such mild weather, but one thing that my owner didn't think about was the fact that the fleas and ticks are living longer than they usually do. In fact, we stopped doing my flea treatments, and now we are trying to get rid of fleas that are in the house.

This is not fun for any of us. But it's a good reminder that just because the calendar says it's winter in the northern states, it doesn't mean that the fleas are gone unless you have really had a good prolonged hard freeze which we have not. It's a lesson learned the hard way.

Wish us well in ridding ourselves of the fleas naturally. We will be back to let you know what works, and our progress.

How to Clean Eyes on a Small Dog

Cleaning a dogs eyes can be challenging depending upon the disposition of the dog and how used to having the eyes cleaned your dog is.  We liked the video below because it talked about small dogs and why their eyes are more prone to discharge and getting "crusty" dry material around them.

One thing that my owner has not done is to give me a little treat after she is done with my eye cleanings..something that was suggested in the video.  I get nervous during the eye cleaning...and squirm a lot, so she has to hold me gently by the "scruff" of my neck...like a mother dog holds her puppy...to keep me in place while she cleans my eyes.

It is important to keep your dogs eyes clean, and if there is any hair around the eye long enough to get in the eye to cause irritation, it is wise to carefully cut that hair away....or better yet, have a groomer do that for you if you aren't sure you can do it without harming your dogs eyes.

As for solution to use in the eyes, our vet suggested using a simple saline solution for sensitives eyes that people use for their contacts, so we have been using Bausch & Lomb Sensitive Eyes Plus Saline Solution, a 12 oz. bottle of this lasts for a long time. In fact, the whole family uses it as eye drops for dry eyes, so much less expensive than buying those tiny bottles of eye drops.

Here's the video on how to clean a dogs eyes: