We Said Goodbye to our Beloved Yorkie

This blog has, for the most part, been written from Aspen, a Yorkshire Terrier's point of view.  Today, I, her owner, am broken hearted as we have finally had to say goodbye to her sweet self.

Aspen, as you know if you have followed this blog, had Cruciate Ligament Tear in both her hind legs, but got around quite well for a year with pain medicine and a Glucosamine product.  She also was going blind and had dry eye syndrome, so her eyes were tended to with cleaning and drops daily.

We have watched her declining bit by bit, and told ourselves (my husband and I) that we would keep her alive as long as she was happy and not suffering.  Yesterday she had a difficult day, and today, she was unable to do anything, just lay trembling.

So we made the painful decision to take her and have her put to rest.  I have cried almost continuously since.  We brought her home and buried her with her favorite toy, the only one that she would play with for the 14 years of her life.

And now I grieve.  She was a precious and sweet dog that brought us nothing but joy during her life.  Her portrait picture is in the header of this blog, and there are other pictures of her on this blog.  In time, the blog will go on, just as she would have wanted.

Yorkie aka Yorkshire Terrier Clubs

We were browsing online looking for Yorkshire Terrier sites and found two different Yorkshire Terrier clubs that you might be interested in.

One is a beautiful site, called The Yorkshire Terrier Club of America.  I am sure you are going to want to visit this site as it has many helpful resources for the Yorkie owner, or someone who is thinking of owning a Yorkie.

The other site was The Yorkshire Terrier Club of Ethical Hobby Breeders.  These days you can't be too careful when you are choosing a place to purchase a Yorkie with all of the sad stories about Puppy Mills that you hear about on the news today.

I hope that you will enjoy these sites as much as we do, and we wish you a great day!

Greyhounds Need Our Help

There are several animals of different kinds that are looked at as a source of income by people that are so inclined.  Among those animals are the gentle Greyhounds.  For many many years they have been used for dog races, and provide a source of income much like race horses do, through viewing the races and betting.  It's sad what many of these dogs experience, but there are also people doing good things to help animals that many feel are abused this way.

We have people in our Town who adopt rescued Greyhounds.  I met a couple of very nice Greyhounds when I was at an appointment at our local veterinarians office. They very fine featured dogs with very strong hind-quarter muscles which is why they are fast, and used for racing.  They are so gentle that it's sad to think that they are used this way.  Let's get the following sad video over with, then we can move on to the good things people are doing:



Greyhounds, or dogs that look like them have been found as part of the artwork on Egyptian tombs over 2000 BC (before Christ). They were developed for hunting in more recent history. They make wonderful, gentle, loving house pets.

If you think you'd like to learn more about how to help Greyhounds, or would like to adopt one, there are many websites that help, Adopt a Greyhoud is just one that will lead to other helpful sites.  You will also find many sites if you simply insert "Adopt a Greyhound" into your Google search engine.

Updated 2/27/17

Yorkie Good Hair Day vs Bad Hair Day

Yorkshire Terriers are a breed of dog that need regular grooming, as do all dogs who have hair that grows like human hair.  I used to take Aspen to the groomer when she was younger, but later started to groom her myself to save money.

I do a pretty good job, but it's never quite as clean as the groomer.  Here's an example...morning hair needs combing in this picture:

If you look at Aspen's picture up at the top of this blog in the header, you will see what she looked like when first home from the groomer where she got her summer puppy cut.  This picture was taken quite a few years ago, when she still had more of a rusty color to her hair...with age that faded a bit, but she still looked beautiful.

If you want to learn how to groom at home, there are tutorials at popular video sites like YouTube.

Related Posts and Pages:

Cleaning a Dogs Teeth
Clipping a Dogs Nails
How My Owner Groomed Me

Updated 2/27/17
 

Is Your Dog Afraid of July 4th Fireworks or Thunder?

Every year on July 4th, my owners sit outside on the deck watching all the fireworks that are set off around the lake.   It's also the time of the year when we have thunderstorms.  Though many dogs are afraid of fireworks and thunder, I'm not one of them.  I just bark to protect one of my owners who is more afraid of the noise than I am.

But I know some of my dog friends are very afraid of thunder and fireworks.  Maybe if it is hot where you are, you can close the windows and put on the air conditioning and play some classical music, it is supposed to be soothing to us dogs.  I'm not promising it will work, but it might help depending upon how sensitive your dog is.

Another thing you can do is try a natural remedy that calms nerves.  We have a Bach Flower Remedy around the house that is similar to one called Rescue Remedy. People have used Rescue Remedy for years, but now there is one specifically designed for pets. 

To give your pet the remedy, follow the instructions on the bottle, which means putting a certain number of drops in your pet's mouth or perhaps in our water.  We like putting it directly in the mouth as it starts working right away, and when you are afraid, you aren't really thinking much about eating or drinking.

We hope that this will help you a bit in dealing with a pet that is afraid of thunder and fireworks.