My Favorite Dog Tails

Broken dew claw

OMG, Bella broke a nail.

Her back dew claw. (And it appears she only has one so maybe she's done this before, and I never noticed.) It looks like it's pushed all the way back. It bled a little and now has stopped.  She doesn't limp or favor that paw, but she wants no one or nothing near it. I'm going to give it a few days and see what happens. Some online are saying surgery is required. That's seems a bit extreme. Heck, I broke a toe  and never had anything done. But a dew claw is more important (more like a thumb) but it's her back one which I've also read are often removed any way. Plus, she seems to have lost one before, and it certainly hasn't slowed her down!

Any thoughts or advice?  Let me know in the comments. I'd prefer not to spend $300 for a broken nail!

Attention Hound

Bella is very loving. But it comes with a price. She wants attention. Preferably all to herself. If we pet or scratch or generally show Chief some love, she comes over and wants her share ... and his share. This is especially true with me. It's like she recognizes me as the Alpha member of the family and feels insecure if she doesn't get attention. Yes, she's jealous. Chief just hangs out, knowing that I'll give attention to both. But honestly, she'll run from across the house - even if she can't see us. It's like an attention-deficit alarm goes off.  On the flip side, she is the more loving - or affectionate perhaps - of the two.

Showing a Dominant Puppy Who's Boss

Yes, that's right our sweet, little 12-week Bella wanted to be the alpha dog of the Lohmeier pack. I still think she's more of a wannabe as she seems to lack the confidence to stand her ground when she needs to against Chief.  On her first night with us, she challenged me.  The rescue had shown me how to put her on her back until she submitted. So on the first night, I tried this. She fought and bit me. Puppy teeth are sharp! So I tried a different tactic. I completely ignored her. She yipped. She nipped at my ankles. She whimpered. I held firm. Until she finally laid down and seemed a bit dejected. Then I petted and praised her. She has never challenged me since.

Kissing Frogs

My "boys" (2 sons and one husband) went frog hunting this weekend, determined to land the big one, Whopper. And they did. Poor thing spent a night hiding in water, leaves, and branches in a garbage can on our deck. One of them decided to introduce our temporary pet to the dogs. (Whopper has since been returned to the creek near our house. He and I have never been happier!) Bella, apparently truly thinks she is a princess and believes the fairy tales about kissing frogs, gave Whopper a big wet one, a big ole lick across the top of his warty head. Alas, Whopper is just a frog, not a transformed prince. That or dog princess kisses don't count. Neither my daughter were willing to give it a try! Bella happily is fine as I know some frogs can have toxins on their skin. Whopper is happy back on his muddy creek bank. And the boys will forever be able to tell their "whopper of a story"!

When Chief Met Bella

We had Bella for about 24 hours when we went to a rescue "foster" house to meet Chief.  We had seen him on a rescue site, then he "disappeared" from the site, but I contacted them about a dog. They called me back about a puppy that had just been returned from an adoption because the owner was not at home much. As good rescues will do, they said to bring our other dog. So we loaded tiny, baby Bella to meet "Cooper".

When we got there, Chief (whom they called Cooper), looked huge in comparison to Bella. She showed no interest in him.  Instead, she spotted a toy and took it. Chief followed, wanting to play. She wanted nothing to do with him. He did the classic dog position that says lets play (hind quarters in the air, front quarters on the ground, head low, goofy smile). She answered by grabbing the toy and hiding under a chair.

He then started acting goofy, jumping, yipping, barking. He once backed up right into a china hutch. Wow, did he look like the dumbest dog ever. Meanwhile, she continued her hard-to-get act. It was kind of like watching my fourth grader flirt at the school picnic. Finally, the foster mom took the dogs in the backyard. That seemed to neutralize the behavior, and they started to play. When they came back inside, they started to fight. Never having had two dogs before, I was rather surprised how vigorously they went after each other. I reassured - many times - that this was normal.

So home Chief came with us. I think Bella has forgiven us, but she can get jealous of attention paid to Chief. And while they still fight, they also play, kiss, and lick each other all the time. I think they'd be pretty lost without each other.

The Dog Who Would Eat Anything

That would be Bella.  Frankly, I'm not sure there's nothing she wouldn't eat.  My research and the vet told me to put hot sauce on our plates when we were done eating and then let Bella eat it. Well, she must be an Italian Hound by way of Mexico or Texas. She lapped that hot sauce up and asked for more. (Now, she did get quite a looong drink of water after, but it didn't stop her from licking those plates at all.)  Once she nabbed a red Chinese pepper from my Schezwan dinner. Those things are hot! She nabbed a radish once from a salad. And that's just the "I can't believe she ate that" examples.  So much for that trick!

One cautionary note:  don't let your dogs have grapes or raisins. Just a few are deathly poisonous to dogs.  Bella got a grape once too. I immediately called the emergency vet. They said one shouldn't be a problem but to watch her closely.  She was fine, but since she'll eat anything, we really need to be careful with her.

Bella, Calendar Girl

The hound rescue from which we got Bella was having a contest for the pictures of dogs to include in their fund-raising calendar. After encouraging readers from my home decorating site, My Home Redux, to vote for Bella, she won and was awarded Miss April 2007.  This was her winning entry, entitled "Bella's Bone".  She was about 12 weeks old at the time of her picture. Isn't she sweet?

Bella and Chief ... alls fair in love and food

I love this picture of Bella and Chief. Look how he has his "arm" over her. They do love each other, but they fight like crazy. Kind of like true siblings. Or a crotchety  elderly couple who would be lost without each other but bicker constantly.  Bella is very jealous of attention paid to Chief. And she bites his mouth in retaliation. He really doesn't care. When he wants attention, he'll seek it:  sit on your lap or come to you and pretty much demand it.  The rest of the time, he pretty much doesn't care - almost like a cat. He's very tolerant of her, like he thinks, "she's just that way, no biggee."  But when he does assert himself, she acquiesces pretty darn quickly. Food, not attention, is where he draws his battle lines. But despite their squabbles, they truly seem to love each other.

Bella ... All Girl

Meet Bella. She's one of our "new" dogs. We've had her two years now. We adopted her from a hound rescue as an 11 week pup.  She was fiesty. She still can be, but she has mellowed a lot. The rescue told us she is an Italian Hound or Segugio Italiano a pelo raso. This means "short haired pursuit hound". It's an ancient breed and rare outside Italy. How she and her ancestors made it to Chicago, I have no idea. The description says they are quiet. Not Bella. Although lately she has grown more quiet, but she will bark incessantly if she sees another dog. She's also a bit small for the breed which could come from poor neo-natal nutrition (the rescue said many pups at this location died from lack of food) or there could be another breed involved (I'm thinking maybe a terrier of some sort).  But she is not a dachsund although her head certainly resembles that breed. She is very leggy!

She is also all girl. Our beautiful lady is quite emotional. She loves exuberantly. She gets jealous easily.  And she snuggles frequently. She is the one of the two (the other being Chief) that tends to become hyper and excited.

All of the trainers I've met said she will be the dominant dog, but I think she's a wanne-be-alpha dog. She acts dominant, but Chief will put her in her place easily WHEN he chooses to. Personally, I think he toys with and humors her most of the time.  She is also the least stubborn and the most easily trained of our two.  Food is her favorite reward, but praise is a fairly close second.

Her fur is short, flat, and satiny. Her ears are truly smooth like glass. When she gets excited her whole back end wags. Her tail is like a whip and when she wags it, she will bang anything in its path - cabinets, walls, herself, your legs. It's funny when she hits herself and seems not to understand what it is.

She started off in sad circumstances in an overbred situation, but we're lucky to have and love her.

Meet Bella and Chief

Here's the post I made shortly after adopting our two newest dogs, Bella and Chief. They are now over two, fully trained, and a bit calmer.  They're great dogs. It's amazing how different they are from each other and from our Barney.  Some people think dogs are dogs and are all alike. Not so. They have distinct and individual personalities. Read here about when we got Bella and Chief as puppies two years ago.