Is that mud or poop??

    So something happened the other day and as funny as it is now when it happened I was far from amused. lol 

    I live on the north side of Chicago and my boyfriend lives far south. Every other weekend I spend a few days with him at his house. I bring Mica of course and she is always a joy to have around. He loves Mica as much as I do and treats her like our Baby. 

    One morning She wakes me up with the usual "I have to use It." barks and I get dressed and proceed to take her out to his giant backyard. There’s a shed Mica loves to run around so I don't say anything when I don't see her for a few seconds. 

    I saw her rolling around the grass (which she loves to do right after a bath  :/  ) but did not mind because she is just being the kid she is. lol   I walk to the entrance of the gate and call her over. I see her running over as happy as can be and she seemed to be covered in something.

   As she runs over I say to myself "Is that mud or poop?" she continued to run over to me and I noticed whatever is was, was everywhere! Her face, back, legs and chest was covered in the mystery substance. 

   When she got next to me I realized that mud does not smell the way she smelt. I put my head into my hands and realized my precious little love muffin was covered in poop.

   As a few expletives came out my mouth she continue to wag her tail and jump around, she could not understand why mommy was so upset. lol 

    I carefully grabbed her in the only spot not covered in fecal matter and brought her into the bathroom and got out her puppy shampoo. As I proceeded to scrub the poop off her face she bombarded me with kisses and tail wags and I couldn't help but smile at my mischievous bundle of joy. 

When she was all bathed, brushed and blow dried she jumped on my boyfriend and he noticed that she was freshly bathed and I explained to him what had happened. He was quite amused with what had happened. (jerk lol)

    He then said well kids will be kids. Lmao

    I laughed because he was absolutely right because puppies are just liked kids they do things you don't want them to and you have to roll with the punches.

Mica didn't know what she was doing was wrong or stinky she just knew she was playing and whatever she did mommy will fix it. lol

    So I did and I will continue to teach her right from wrong and clean up when she has an accident. Why? Because it is my responsibility to make sure she will grow up to be the best little marshmallow panda she can be. lol ( I call her my wild marshmallow panda because....well that what she looks like to me lol )

SPECIAL CONTEST HAPPENING IN SEPTEMBER, STAY TUNED!!!

Her first vet visit and my first heart attack!

Mica had been to the low cost clinic (the link is in my first blog) but that was for her first shots and to be spayed. I made the Appointnent so I knew what we were both in for. Lol she went in and come out just fine, mind you this is 5 months ago. Now at 10 months I started to notice some things that worried me.

I had started to hear very loud gurgling from her stomach. I would be across the room and I would hear it, At first I thought maybe she was just hungry. But this was before I found her wining combo food wise. All of a sudden my sweet little angel starts having epic episodes of gagging! I was in full panic! I did the worse thing you can do, I started googling her symptoms! Biggest mistake, I thought my baby had all types of things wrong with her and that she would die. It would wake us both out of our sleep and I would stay up And try to ease her discomfort. I would give her water, a little honey and even running her throat nothing was working. She would gag and gag but no throw up came out. lol so when I changed the food the gurgling pretty much stopped  and so that eased my worries for now. 

I was still worried because even though it had stopped I wanted to know for sure my baby was ok. I found a vet that offered free first exams. We went and it was such a clean and welcoming office, which was nice because I was dyeing in the inside just thinking anything could be wrong with Mica.

We went into the exam room and the nice Dr. Checked her out and then proceeded to explain about  her anal glands needing to be expelled. 

Ok first things first I have had dogs all my life and NEVER heard of a dogs anal glands needing to be expelled or whatever lol

Long story not so short anymore but Mica is healthy and doing great! He expelled her anal glands and gave her so much relief I didn't even know she needed. It goes to show you even when you think you know everything, you don't. Dogs need check ups they need special medical care that we will never know if you don't take them to the vet and just ask questions! 

Mica is my heart, I love her like my own child and would do anything for her! Making sure she is happy and healthy is my top priority! 

Stay tuned for tips, stories, adventures and a SPECIAL CONSTEST I WILL BE HAVING IN SEPTEMBER! 😊

Get in my BELLY!

       One thing I know a lot of Dog parents struggle with is.....Feeding time!

      There is two types of Dogs in my opinion, the ones who live to eat and the ones who eat to live.
The differences are the Dogs who live to eat want all the food all the time! They will eat almost anything except their own food. :/
The ones who eat to live, eat their own food when given and doesn't give their owners a hard time eating: Of course Mica lives to eat.

       I have tried all types of brands and tricks to get her to eat her dry food but nothing. She has aways gave me a hard time but I always said it was because she was a puppy. Now at 9 months she was still giving me issues with eating. She never has a problem eating a piece of fruit or a morsel falling to the floor, but her food....NOPE!!!



       Several months of trial and error a friend of mine told me about the brand, Wellness.

          I researched it and loved all the testimonials, the ingredients and the overall quality of Wellness. I bought this complete health, small breed puppy food and she actually liked it, somewhat.

I noticed she was eating but it took her such a long time to eat such a little  amount of food. So I started talking to me vet and he said try adding some wet food. i then bought the Wellness Petite wet entrees. 

Hallelujah!!!

We had finally found our combo to get Mica to eat a whole bowl of food!

I put maybe half a cup of dry food and a quarter container of the petite entrees. (I put the rest of the wet food into a tupperware to save for the next day.) I mash the wet food into the dry food to fully coat the dry food in the gravy and I let it sit for approximately 10 minutes. When I put it down she devoured the whole thing, I was so happy!

           It has been a little over a month since I started feeding her this way and things are going phenomenal! I give her this once a day and it seems to keep her satisfied and at a good weight. 

(she gets treats and snack through out the day.)

Mica is thriving and growing into such a good little girl!

Stay tuned for recipes for all natural, healthy dog treats that your dog will lick their chops over!

:)

Grooming is a must.

       As a lot of dog owners know grooming is something that needs to be done on a regular basis, especially for dogs with long hair like Maltipoo's. Mica hair is long and straight and if not brushed regularly it can become extremely knotted.
     
       When I take Mica a bath I make sure I have everything ready and laid out so I wont be running all over the place while she is cold and wet. The water should be warm, not hot or cold and to make it easier on your' pet give them a treat when they get in the bath or here ever you do their bathing at.
A puppy's bath time can be stressful if you don't start acclimating them to the water and everything else at a young age.
       
      I started bathing Mica myself at 5 months. She was so tiny i bathed her right in the bathroom sink, she was visibly nervous but really didn't fight me. I kept reassuring her it was OK and that she was being a good girl. When I saw she was calming down I praised her and gave her a treat. When bathing was done it was on to blow drying and brushing. I must have gotten lucky because the noise or the air from the blow dryer did not bother her at all, she just laid on my lap with those big, beautiful eyes. LOL

• When blow drying your' puppy make sure the air is not hot, you can easily burn your' dogs skin which would cause for a Vet visit. 

     After drying her hair i brushed her and she was a fluffy little ball of energy. One thing I noticed about Micas hair is they constant matting of her hair around her ears and belly. It was frustrating because trying to brush out the knots would hurt her and also hurt me watching her in any pain. So I started to look for solutions to her constant knotting, I found a few detainglers at local pt supply places but didn't like any of em due to many reasons. (Smell, Consistency, price...Etc.) So one day I'm looking in our pantry and i see all natural organic coconut oil. (LIGHTBULB!) I put a lil bit on to her knots rubbed it in and....Magic! The knots were much easier to come out and no more pain for either one of us. Lol

       Mica is such a diva in my eyes so one day I was looking at her mostly all white hair and said we need some color! I starting researching about how to dye her hair and found a lot of great tips. One tip that caught my eye was dying her hair with food coloring. I was skeptical at first but I tried it anyway and it came out great!

I used Regular food coloring and dog conditioner ( Human conditioner works fine too.) aluminum foil and a tooth brush.

I mixed the food coloring with the conditioner, the darker the paste the brighter the end result will be.  laid her tail over the aluminum foil and started to apply the color paste with the tooth brush to ensure even distribution. Then fold the aluminum foil around the tail and wait 5-10 minutes depending on the vibrancy you are looking for. Then rinse it off and dry normally. Coloring methods like this doesn't work on dark hair dogs.

I love having Mica colored because it give her the pop of color that matches her personality!

Thanks for reading and please share pictures of your colorful dogs! 

Mica with her famous pink tail.

Tried something new and did a purple/blue look this time (more to come)

First things first, Potty Training! :/

Mica is now a part of the family and thriving but there is just one slight problem.......She is a stuck up puppy!!! lol Now I know I am part to blame for spoiling her but how was I not supposed to want to cuddle her all day when she looks like a little marshmallow panda. lol

When she first came home to us it was November in Chicago so the snow in our backyard was about waist deep and Mica was up to my ankles if that. At first she wouldn't dare go down the stairs so after picking her up, she dove into the snow and I damn near lost her. When I got her out and she finally got the hang of this snow thing seeing as she was a Floridian lol She used the bathroom just fine and I thought to myself, this is going to be a piece of cake.
It was, if the cake peed and pooped in my front porch. :/

It was going fantastic until the snow melted and it became a muddy, wet, nasty mess in my backyard.
This little girl does not like to get dirty or wet if it is raining. She doesn't mind using the bathroom in snow but if it is raining she gives me a look as to say -
"You got to be kidding me!" 

She wont dare have an accident in her cage or in any of the bedrooms but if she is left unattended and the weather conditions are not to her liking Mica will make a pit stop where she can lol
Don't get me wrong I completely understand she's a puppy and just like kids they make mistakes. So of course I reprimanded her and when she does go outside I always praise her with treats.

Now at nine months she is doing very well, rarely has an accident but when she does I can always find her peeking around the corner because she knows she is in trouble. (she usually hides in my Dads closet when I'm done cleaning up her mess lol) She is slowly but surely getting over the whole fear of rain and dirt thing. Sometimes when it rains I run outside with her just to show her Mommy can do it too.  :)

Some tips I have for potty training a puppy is....CONSISTENCY!
Since I was working during the day and had to rely on my family it was hard for me because I take her training very seriously, she is way to smart for it be squandered on nothing. So after me taking her out every couple of hours all night and once in the morning before I left for work is was up to my family to keep it up. They did for the most part lol but that can throw a puppy off, they don't know if it is OK or not and you always have to show them that their bathroom is outside no matter what!

Dedication is key for your puppy's development and your sanity lol

For me crate training at night was best because it shows her that is her bed and she wouldn't use the bathroom in her bed.

Take the puppy out every couple hours during the night. (they will let you know if you don't lol)

Take them out the first thing in the morning.

Be aware of them eating and drinking because I know for Mica she would use the bathroom about 10-20 minutes when she was 4-7 months and now 30-45 minutes after she eats or drinks at 9 months.

And finally be consistent in discipline, good or bad. If they use the bathroom inside and not on a puppy pad (I didn't use them, personally don't like them.) Let them know they did a bad things and punish them. Thirty minutes in the crate did the trick because she loved being out and about. If they use the bathroom outside be EXCITED! Tell them your happy and they will be too and want to do it again!

This are tips and tricks that have helped me and I am just sharing how I am getting Mica to 100% potty trained. I hope these tips help and the story was enjoyable!
Thanks for reading! (Anyone :)  )

My Dad laying by her crate while she slept at 4 months.

Mica now at nine months. :)