i heart golden retrievers
Brad made it very clear to the pups that they are not allowed up on the bed. However, I’m a little bit more lenient.. and Roxy knows it! Every time Brad’s not around, she hops up into bed with me – it’s pretty darn cute. It has become our little morning ritual: alarm goes off, Brad gets in the shower, and as soon as he turns the corner she hops up on my lap. In the winter it’s SO hard to get up when there’s a warm pup snuggled up against me.
Today’s Wednesday Friendsday features Bentley Guffey – the pup of my best friend (since kindergarten!) Jenny and her husband Bryant. Jenny grew up having Goldens, I can remember when we were little girls getting to pick out her first Golden puppy Barkley at a breeder’s farm. One of many amazing memories with Jenny Benz! Her new pup Bentley was born October 28th, 2010 so he is just a little guy! The Guffeys live in Ithaca, NY so Bentley has beautiful forests, gorges and a lot of snow to play in! He has lots of toys, but his favorite things to chew are the sticks in the woods behind Jenny and Bryant’s home. Bentley eats Science Diet Puppy Formula.
Doesn’t this shot look like it should be in a Golden Calendar for the month of March? I love seeing pics of Bentley up on Facebook, I just wish he was closer so Jenny and I could have puppy play dates! We miss the Guffey fam a lot, but always love catching up over the phone and comparing Golden stories 🙂
Nobody loves a car ride more than Quincey and Roxy! Every time they hear my keys jingle their tails go a-waggin. It’s hard to resist not bringing them along with me when I need to make a quick errand – so they’ve become quite popular with some of my company’s customers, our local distributor, and the drive through pharmacist. Roxy likes to stick her head out the window, so it’s fun to look in my side mirrors when driving and see a puppy dog smiling from ear to ear. It makes all of the dog hair in my Honda worth it 🙂 Unfortunately it’s getting reeeeeaaaaally hot outside so their car rides have been more limited – but it’s always a pleasure to have two beautiful Goldens in my back seat!
Quincey had a check up this morning at the vet, and we were a little disappointed when he stepped on the scale.. in the last 6 months he has gained 10 pounds! The vet gave Quincey a goal to lose 5 pounds by his next check up in 2 months, so we are going to be starting a little “Biggest Loser – Doggie Edition” at our house. Keep your fingers crossed for an awesome weigh-in this August!
Quincey gets plenty of exercise, but I think we can easily cut back on the treats. The vet suggested replacing his treats with baby carrots and green beans. Not a bad idea, maybe I should start doing the same with my “treats” 🙂 It’s so hard to say no to this face though, whatever Q-man wants.. he gets!!
PS – She was amazed when she heard how well bananas have helped Quincey’s seizures. She told me that the medicine they put epileptic dogs on contains potassium bromide, and that bromide is usually what helps it – but maybe the potassium isn’t getting as much credit as it deserves!
About the third or fourth month after we adopted Quincey, he had his first seizure. We did not know at the time he was epileptic, so needless to say when he had his first episode it scared us to death! After doing quite a bit of research, we learned that is is somewhat common with Golden Retrievers. How do you know when your dog is having a seizure? You’ll definitely notice. When Quincey has an episode, his entire body goes stiff (arms and legs straight out), he does not blink his eyes, and his jaw is locked down tight causing him to drool profusely. It is so sad, but the best thing to do is just pet them and keep them calm. When they come out of it they will be confused, so the more calm and peaceful you can keep them the better.
We immediately took Quincey into our vet, and he suggested that before we put him on medication (since it is so hard on their liver), to document and track his seizures. If they happened more than once a month, medication would be needed. For the next several months, Quincey averaged about one seizure every 4 to 6 weeks. Sometimes they would only last a minute, but he had a couple of really bad ones that lasted about 5 minutes. One time he even got really sick after having one, it was so sad.
Brad had a pet photographer suggest bananas to us to help with seizures. She said her dog used to have seizures all of the time and ever since she started feeding it bananas they had stopped. I was a little skeptical, but we decided to give it a try. We have been feeding Quincey 1/2 a banana in his food every morning for the last 5 months, and he hasn’t had a seizure since! Bananas are the miracle fruit for our family. We buy big packs at Costco, peel and freeze them since fresh bananas never last that long. Quincey is a happy boy 🙂
Does your dog get seizures? We really want to see if this works as well for others as it does for us. Here are some great resources on learning more about canine epilepsy:
Our pups are angels.. most of the time. Like any dog they have had their slip ups – but today was probably the worst. I came home to a torn up sofa with stuffing all over the living room. This was the first time they have ever touched the furniture. Yes, they have chewed up newspaper and magazines before (photo below), but never this extreme! I’m not sure why now all of a sudden it started, but I think it may have to do with me traveling and being gone so much lately. Plus they have been getting their walks in the evenings instead of the morning because it is too darn hot outside – so their schedule has been thrown off quite a bit. Nonetheless, they (or I should say Roxy since I’m 110% sure she’s the guilty one) were very bad dogs today.
I went to Michaels and bought needles and thread and sewed the hole in our couch back together. It’s not perfect, but it will have to do for a while. Sorry I don’t have any pictures of our poor couch – I’m trying to erase any evidence that it ever happened so I’ll forget about it!
Now, what to do with Roxy?? Brad and I both agreed that it is time she goes back into her kennel when we are not home. Perhaps we gave her freedom of the house just a little bit too early. Wishful thinking on our part..
What is the worst thing your dog has ever chewed up? My friend Matt Goodman has a hilarious site Things My Dog Ate. The site is so popular that they created a television show about it!
While the pups love this blog about them, they wanted to share some photos and fun facts about their friends. Our first Wednesday Friendsday post features our friend Cooper! Cooper and his awesome pet-parents, Sarah & Paul Gavigan, live just about a mile north of us. Cooper (AKA “Coop”) is 10 years old and absolutely obsessed with his toys. This lucky pooch has 4 toy baskets (like the one featured below), and every day he likes to pick them out of the basket, transfer them all over the house and yard, and cuddle with them when he sleeps. Coop loves his toys so much that he treats them like his little babies, never chewing them up or destroying them. Coop has never met a human he didn’t love, and as long as you pet him he will never leave your side. This lover is also a registered service dog!! Isn’t Coop such a sweetheart? We love the Gavigans!
My husband works for PetSmart as a package and graphic designer, so it is really neat walking into our local store and seeing so many items that he designed! Our personal favorite – the new KONG collars. They come in a lot of fun colors, have really cool reflective stitching, and are extremely durable. The pups feel so special that the their daddy designed the collars they wear every day 🙂 They are also available in a leash and harness – check them out next time you’re at PetSmart!
Every time I leave the house, I get “the look” from the dogs – that puppy dog look where they bat their big brown eyes at me begging me not leave. It breaks my heart! Lately I have had to travel quite a bit for work so I’ve gotten “that look” quite a bit. It’s gotten to a point where Roxy even gets depressed when she sees me get the red suitcase out, she knows I’m going to leave. Tonight I’m in Denver, and I miss my husband and pups so much! Brad always sends me cute photos to make me smile. Here’s a photo he sent tonight.
