Cell Phone For Dogs

[Thanks to happytrails1000 and PugsleyandOzzysmom for these links!]



A cell phone for dogs!

News article:
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/39512.htm

It goes on the collar and answers when it recognizes your #, you can sweet-talk your pooch over speaker phone and hear him back if he barks. It's also a GPS in case he gets lost, and it has a call-owner button if the dog is found lost.

The item itself:
http://www.petsmobility.com/

A similar item:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/0647655998810633/

Riley at Home Depot again

See moblog for video
http://apugslife.textamerica.com

Update 3:37pm... The video hasn't shown up yet, but sometimes video takes a while to show up on the moblog.

Update Sunday 5:11pm... The video still hasn't shown up yet. None of the images or video that I've posted to textamerica in the last 3 days (the moblogs) have shown up. I guess they are having technical problems. I'm sure they'll fix it fast, they always do.

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More Pix - Valentine's Day Shirt

Some recent pix of Riley. Please see below each photo for captions.

It's interesting to see how his coat is changing over time. (Oh, and for the record, he sheds like a bastard now! He didn't when he was younger.)

I got him an Old Navy Valentine's Day "Love Me" shirt... but I got it too big and I think I threw the package away! (and garbage night was last night)

UDATE: The dog shirts are usually in the check-out lanes. (At least at the one in my town.)

..::PHOTOS::..
(cam: Sony U30)

Note To Self

On Monday 1-24-05 Riley turned 23 weeks old.
On Monday 1-24-05 (the day he got fixed), Riley was 13.8 pounds!
On Wednesday 12-22-04 Riley weighed 10.25lbs.
We got Riley on 10-9-04, and on 10-11-04 he weighed 2.9 lbs.

Nicky Blog?

Nicky should be coming home from the vet tomorrow.

I need to convince M to set up a free blog at blogger and start a Nicky Blog!

SNORT!

OH my GAWD sometimes I swear I have a pot-bellied pig, NOT a pug! The snorting and grunting is SO pig-like!

I mean this only in the most loving way, of course.

Riley is home from the vet. He's fine.

Riley is home

[Tuesday 1-25-05, 9:53am]

So Riley is home now. When we picked him up I thought he'd be subdued. NOPE! He's bouncing, jumping, playing, biting. He's FINE.

It was so funny because when the vet tech handed Riley to me, he goes: "Everybody just fell in LOVE with him". That's so funny because everybody DOES fall in love with Riley, and that's why we got him the domain name www.EverybodyLovesRiley.com! How funny is that! :)

Nicky, the new dog, was fixed on the 19th, 2 days before we picked him up from the pound. His wound is bad: he took out all his stitches, so they put in 3 staples, and he pulled out one of them. Now he periodically smells like bad cheese. He's also coughing now. And when we were at the vet's this morning, Nicky coughed up some... phlegm. So the vet said we should keep him at the vet's for a few days, since Riley just had surgery, he may be more succeptible to getting sick.

Also, Nicky has been seeping from his wound, and I need to clean the floors and take up all the bedding/toys. Now Riley is in his nighttime crate in his cushy bed in the bedroom w/ the tv on for noise. I'm going to take up all the toys and clean the floor and sterilize the food and water bowls. Then if Riley is awake and antsy, I'll put him in his pen after I sterilize everything.

Fun.

And I also have to go all the way back to bring Nicky's antibiotic pills to the vet.

*Sigh*.

Posts out of order

***Yesterday and today, Blogger has been putting my posts out of order, putting new posts underneath older posts, which is backwards from the way it should be. This happens from time to time. I don't know why. It's not a change in my settings. It just happens and then eventually stops. So be sure, over the next few days, to scroll down to see if there are any new posts mysteriously appearing a few posts down the page.

Riley in his new Roots ski jacket going to get netuered! :(

So far so good.

[[THIS POST was posted Monday afternoon around 2 or 3pm. Blogger is putting my posts out of order!]]

The vet said Riley came thru the surgery ok and that he is fine. I get to take him home tomorrow morning.

This new dog we got at the pound, Nicky, was fixed on the 19th and he has a wound from his surgery. He keeps licking it and it's so disgusting. The day we got him (Friday), before I picked him up, he opened his wond, ate all the stitches, and they had to put 3 staples in. When we took him to the vet on Saturday and the vet said he only had 2 staples, so I guess he ate one of those too. He has a cone on his head now but he can STILL reach his wound. I dread the aftermath of Riley's getting fixed. I can't handle nasty wounds and I hate the sound of a dog licking, it grates on me like nails on a chalkboard. It might be ok cuz Riley is shaped like a watermelon and can't really BEND to touch his other end, so maybe he won't be able to bother it, and then it'll heal cleanly.

Yuk.

Riley gets fixed today! :(

Riley gets fixed today! !!! :( I am so scared he won't come thru ok, what with pugs being inclined to stop breathing afterwards, after the staff thinks they're breathing ok on their own. I'm so worried!

Riley at Home Depot

Photos, batch 4 of 4

[[Stupid blogger is putting my entries out of order!]]

Photos from Sun. 1-23-05 (today). Home Depot. Look for captions under the photos.

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(cam: Sony U30)

Photos, batch _3_ of 4

Photos from Sat. 1-22-05. Always look for captions under the photos.

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(cam: Sony U30)

Photos, batch *2* of 4

Photos from Sun. 1-16-05. At the dog park.

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(cam: Canon D60)

Photos, batch 1 of 4

Photos from Sat 1-15-05, at the dog park. Look for captions under the photos.

..::PHOTOS::..
(cam: Canon D60)

Stress, stress, and more stress.

Ok. It's been a stressful weekend. The new dog is causing much upheaval, some of it is the new dog's behavior (barking, freaking out in the crate, chasing my 17.5 year old cat, peeing on the carpet, and just now, attacking Riley!), meanwhile some of it is Riley's behavior toward the new dog (attacking the new dog... alot). We're not sure if this is even going to work out at all. At times this weekend I wanted to pack my bags and LEAVE. I'm serious. I don't need this stress. If it doesn't work out, then... something will have to be done. That's all there is to it. M and I discussed BEFOREHAND that if this dog attacked Riley, Sasha, barked alot, or was not housebroken, we would not keep him. This was discussed beforehand, so I hope we will be strong and make the right decision if this doesn't work out.

MEANWHILE, we are making the best of it, and taking tons of picures along the way.

Out n about

Oh no! Mt. Riley has been bulldozed! :(

Img(08).jpg

"Oh... We're... Gonna take a walk outside today, gonna see what we can find today, Gonna take a walk outside today, gonna see what we can find today."

Nature walk earlier today

New dog, oh lordy are we crazy or what?

Well... We got Riley a brother. Not a pug. I'd love another pug, but really I wanted a pug to take with me everywhere and so if I had two pugs it'd be harder to take two dogs everywhere I go.

M has wanted a dog for a long time, and I kind-of cut in front of him by getting Riley when I did, so when the time was right and the perfect dog came along, we got M his dog.

It's a white German Spitz or American Eskimo, we are not sure. He's from the local pound.

..::PHOTOS::..
(Camera phone: Nokia 3650)

Riley is terrorizing this poor dog. We're not sure of a name yet, but we think we'll go with "Nicky". Nicky is putting Riley in his place and not getting mad when Riley CONSTANTLY bites at his face. Nicky is kind of a meek dog, we wonder if he was abused before. But he tolerates Riley, pulls dominance on him, but never bites or huts him... so far anyway. We'll have to keep a close eye to make sure that this is going to work out. If new-dog hurts Riley or the cats, we'll have to re-think this. But so far so good.

I'll write more later on, but we are on our way out the door to take new-dog to his 1st vet appt and get Crystal her shots.

OH, and THAT'S IT! No more! One dog and one cat per person is enough. That's it, no more. Really.

Video

Video of Riley playing on his "mountain" again.


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..::VIDEO::..
(camera phone: Nokia 3650)

New Riley Pix

New photos of Riley, just goofin' around in the living room. Photos have captions.

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(cam: Sony U30)

Riley loves his "mountain"

Festive Collars

At the dog bakery / botique, they have these festive collars that are so cute, here is the one that Riley had for Christmas:


Well today I got a Valentine's Day one AND one for St. Patrick's Day. I can't wait to take photos of Riley (and the cats!) in these really cute collars.

Where's mine?

After the dog bakery, Riley seemed to be pouting when I wouldn't share my food. He'd just had treats at the dog bakery, too.

Cutie Puppie

Riley, last night, looking silly after waking up from a nap. He'd just done that all-four-legs -stretched-out-in-front thing, so cute!

Going to the dog bakery!

Weekend recap

Riley had a fun weekend.

I'm tired so I don't know if I'll remember everything.

Saturday...

Oh man, my brain is dead.

I know we went to the dog park both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday a cop came by and warned some people to lock their doors as there have been some car break-ins. I wonder if there has been more than one... there was one the weekend before when we were there.

On Saturday we went to Home Depot w/ Riley to get hot dogs (for us) before the dog park. It's amazing how much attention he gets when we go out! At the dog park he played with a Schnauzer who did NOT seem to like him.

On Sunday, before the dog park, we went to the local dog bakery and botique but found them to be closed. They used to be open on Sundays, not sure when that changed. Then we went to the dog park and after that we went to Mom's to set up her new computer. Riley hung out in his portable pen, and was such a good boy. At the dog park, there was a Bassett Hound Social Club gathering in the small dog area. Since Riley is high-strung and rude (bites) I didn't let him in with all the mellow (although BARKING) Bassett Hounds. I never heard so much barking at the dog park. When Pugs get together, you don't hear all that barking. In fact when I went to a "Pug Picnic" on the other coast a few months ago with HUNDREDS of pugs, you still heard no barking. Anyway... So we went on a walk around the dog park and then afterwards let him in the big dog off-leash area since there was another small dog in there, an Italian Greyhound. This Italian Greyhound KICKED RILEY'S *SS! He hounded my poor baby to death. I know it was just play but we eventually took him out so that he could get a breather. This was a day that Riley was not the agresssor on top of the dog pile. It's good for Riley to learn he can't always be the one on top biting.

Well, I'm tired and must get to bed. :( Photos to follow, they're still on the camera.

You know, I sent this yesterday but it never posted.

Riley at Home Depot for hot dogs (for us)

Riley got his Drivers License today ;) (county tag)

Mid-week

Wednesday. What is new? Nothing really. Riley is such a sweetie. It's amazing how meaty and muscular he's getting. He's got these rolls of skin just like his distant relatives. He's just so darn cute!

He's a real attention-hound tho'. Gotta love 'im.

I hope to take him for a long walk again today, but I've been having such terrible foot pain (plantar fasciitis) I'm not sure if I can do it or not. Yesterday I walked through the pain, but I think I caused more damage. I hurt it really bad and couldn't walk later on, it was so awful. If I can't walk, then I can bike for exercise, but I can't bring the dog. You can get attachments for bike/dogs so that they can run w/ you and not get under the wheel, but pugs have little legs and that'll never work- it'd be torture for the dog. And at over 10 pounds I'm not sure that putting him in a handlebar basket is a good idea either. So if I go biking he'll have to stay home.

I feel bad when I leave him at home. He looks at you with those big brown soupy eyes and those expressive EYEBROWS that say "Why are you leaving me again?". I'd take him to the dog park but I don't really feel safe going there alone.

Pug Meetup Photos

Ok, I should be in bed, but here are the photos from the Pug Meetup at the dog park this past Saturday (along w/ a couple extra pix):

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(cam: Sony U30)

Let's go!

It was so funny yesterday. We took Riley out to pee, then back in and left his harness on (a clue that he is going right back out), then back out to head to the dog park. As we were locking the front door he RAN down the sidewalk and around the bend TO the CAR and started BARKING AT IT! It was like "hurry up and lock the door so we can get to the dog park!" Oh, SO cute!

What is that?

Strange view of the pug.

This Weekend

Whew, what a weekend, and we are all still tired.

Saturday was the way-fun Pug Meetup. (Find one near you at pug.meetup.com!) I still have to go thru all the pictures I took. Everybody just loves Riley! That's how we came up w/ the domain name for him: EverybodyLovesRiley.com Heehee. Riley has a girlfriend! This one little girl pug who is a month older than him, every month, month after month, meetup after meetup, these two are inseperable! Play play play play play play. Those two really play with eachother more than anyone else, it's so cute! He met lots of new friends, and chased lots of old ones. He met his Dogster pals Uly and Circe! I was talking to Circe's mom and it's possible that Circe and Riley are distant cousins. Her breeder and my breeder both breed with a particular other breeder and so you never know. :) So many cute pugs came on Saturday. This was the first pug meetup (I think) where we met at a dog park where they could all be off-leash.

Then after that we took Riley home, made sammiches, and then drove 30 miles south to pick up a cat from the shelter and then turn around and drive...? + or - 3 hours to a town above Tampa to drop the kitty of w/ the lady who runs a cat rescue. We wanted to volunteer for cat rescue, they needed to get this kitty halfway to it's new home (or foster home?) in Daytona, so we did the leg to the Tampa area. It was much further than we thought it was, but that's ok, it was worth it to save a kitty. But I wish I had taken Riley w/ us. But he was such a good boy, never went potty and he was home for a long time!

Then today, after feeling so bad about leaving him alone so long yesterday, we just piddled around town but took Riley w/ us everywhere we went. Petco, a lake in a shopping center parking lot that has lots of ducks and pine cones (Riley's favorite!) (pine cones), and then to PetSmart, and then to his Nana's house to chase the cats, and then we went to dinner at the wings 'n seafood place (Pinchers) where we can bring Riley if we eat outside. Some guy offered to buy him a beer. :\ He slept on the chair next to me, so sweeeeeeeeeeet.

While at Petco I figured I'd let Riley pick out a toy. The bottom row that he can reach has tons of different kinds of toys. Long toys, dangly toys, chew toys, flying toys, you name it. He was like IN a bin of big oversized fluffy stuffed balls like he loved laying in it. I think if he had his way I'd have bought all of them and made a pile for him at home. So I laughed and said "Is THIS the toy you want?" and he tried like hell to pull it out of the bin, but he couldn't. So I pulled it out for him and he want ape-sh*t, pushing it and chasing it all around the store. He just LOVES this thing! I'd have never picked it out myself, you just never know what the little guy is going to prefer I guess.

He loves this toy, he even rests on it and uses it as a pillow.

I should be in bed, but I want to go thru the pug meetup photos.

Zonked out!

Riley at Pinchers Crab Shack :)

Someone has already offered to buy him a beer, lol.

He loves this toy/pillow!

Riley and the obscenely huge toy he picked out himself.

Out and about, probably going to Pinchers later.

Riley and friends at pug meetup today, more pix later!

Ebay

Ok, well, Riley is beginning to outgrow some stuff, so I think I'll put some things on ebay. Dog shirts, dog sweaters, his Frankenstein Halloween costume, the smaller bed (fleece liner). Idunno, I could save it all as momentos, but that's how the house gets cluttered and I do have the photos. Hmmm, sell, keep, sell, keep...?

Bed

We got Riley a new bed. He outgrew his smaller fleece one. He tries to destroy it though.

If I leave it in his pen, he rips at it and tries to tear it apart. So I take it away. And then when he wears himself out playing and lays down for a nap, I put the bed back in, but that just causes him to start playing again, this time, tearing that the bed. He turns it upside down and puts it in his water so it gets saturated. He's going to destroy the thing, silly boy.

C'mon Blogger, what's up?

Blogger is pissing me off. A few times in the last few days I have written a post and then it never showed up or disappeared later. It makes no sense!

Last night I wrote a whole post about how I took Riley for a long walk and then lost my keys so we were locked out and had to go backtrack that long walk to look for the keys. Now where is that post? Geez.

Note To Self

On Monday Jan. 3rd '05 Riley turned 20 weeks old.
On Wednesday 12-22-04 Riley weighed 10.25lbs.
We got Riley on 10-9-04, and on 10-11-04 he weighed 2.9 lbs.

Images

I had to delete the last 3 galleries of images and then re-upload them due to technical problems at fotki.com. I'm not in the mood to go back in to all of the photos and re-add the comments/explanations that I had left under the photos, because it'd suck if I had to re-RE-upload the images yet again.

Riley balances on my thigh as I sit at the computer.

Image Problems

For the last two days I've had trouble with Fotki.com, the place where I host all my photos. Please do me a favor and leave a comment or email me if you have any trouble viewing the images or image galleries.

Thank you.

Pix: Sunday Dog Park

3rd and last batch from this weekend. Sunday's trip to the dog park.

Three dogs from yesterday showed up today as well. Also, just before we got there, some people had their purses stolen right out of their cars, just feet away from the dog-run fence.

The first two photos in this batch show the beginnings of forehead wrinkles!!!!! No real folds yet, just, like, shadows. Maybe the beginning of lose skin. But the lines are there. Maybe he will get forehead wrinkles after all! :)

..::PHOTOS ::..
(Cam: Canon D60)

This trip to the dog park was gross. Riley was in the small dog area, chatting and chasing the bigger dogs along the fence in between the two off-leas areas. All at once this big Dalmation takes a monster PEE on the fence post, but it goes right through the fence and he peed ALL OVER Riley. Think that's gross? It gets worse. Maybe stop reading this now if you don't want to hear something sick.
...
...
...
Riley started drinking it mid-stream.

I shoulda stuck with cats.

Pix: Saturday Lunch

The 2nd batch of photos from this weekend, also taken w/ the D60, are from when we went to lunch at the wings 'n seafood place where you can bring your dog if you eat outside (quote: "Bring him along, we LOVE dogs!"). Riley is such a good boy when we go. He's usually tuckered out after the dog park or wherever we'd been that day, so I just put him on a chair and he lays down and goes to sleep. :) Here he is in his new Roots Canada hoodie that he got for Christmas from N.D. and family. M brought it back from Toronto last week.

..::PHOTOS::..
(cam: Canon D60)

Pix: Saturday Dog Park

I finally have a bunch of photos to post. I've been carrying my Canon D60 around this weekend and I got a lot of shots. The D60 is my digital slr, and thanks to A.D. and N.D. for the new lens to add to my arsenal, Thank You! :)

I have three batches of photos from this weekend.

The first is from Saturday's trip to the dog park:

..::PHOTOS::..
(Cam: Canon D60)

Theft at dog park

When we got to the dog park today, these 3 girls were all upset because while they were in the off-leash area, yards away from their cars, someone broke into their cars and stole their purses. The dog park was really busy today, the gall of those people to do that right in front of all those people!


(camera phone: Nokia 3650)

Tuckered out after the dog park

Riley in his new Roots Canada Hoodie

What a good boy

I was thinking about how good Riley is. :)

I've trained him to sit before getting his food (so he doesn't knock the bowl out of my hand or anything). I've even tried letting him lose in the kitchen as I prepare his food and if I say SIT, he'll sit and watch me, no barking, no fussing. Outside I say "go potty" and he stops playing and goes to his poo corner to poo. After he poos he sits so that I can bag it up without him pulling on the leash. When we come inside he goes up exactly 3 steps on the staircase so that I can take his harness off without having to bend all the way over. He knew Sit at 9 weeks old, and Down at 10 weeks old. I blogged on 11-18-04 that he conquered stairs, and let me check his age then... 13 weeks.

He's calm during baths and he lets me cut his toenails. These last two things I accomplished after learning that to dogs, excitement is excitement, so trying to sweet-talk him through a bath or toenail clipping session will simply get him excited. So I say nothing. No sweet talking, no sooth talking. Just silently pick him up and stick him in the bath or go to work his nails. Also, Riley doesn't like warm water. It has to be room temperature or barely warm or he will cry. Otherwise he's so silent and good. No shaking, not nervous. Just calm.

Now, he's not perfect, he'll break the above rules once in a while. But most of the time, and I do mean MOST of the time, he really does the above things (or I wouldn't have listed them). But man, what a good boy he is!