Wasn’t she a cute dog?  She was with us for 16 1/2 years…until February of this year. I love this picture of her with her ears flying as she turned her head real fast. Her picture was even in a Swiffer review I did for this site. We miss her! (This isn’t exactly wordless. She was too sweet a dog not to say something.)

This is an easy, effective, and cheap way to clean your dog’s ears.  No need to buy anything from the pet store.  Just mix equal parts of white vinegar & rubbing alcohol together.  I would start with a tablespoon of each.  Use a cotton round (the kind used to take off make-up), saturate it with the mixture, squeeze it out, and then gently clean the inside of your dog’s ears.  Do not use a cotton swab because there is a tendency to go too deep into the ears. 

We used this method with our dog, and it worked great to take away that ear wax smell that dog’s tend to get.

See what I received this week?  It’s my new Swiffer Sweeper, 2 in 1 Starter Kit.  I have been sick this week, and so I was thrilled to be able to sweep and mop my kitchen floor in five minutes!  It looks so shiny and smells so good.

I have an old Swiffer, but I must admit this  new one works much better.   After I put the new Swiffer together (which is a “snap”…all you have to do is literally snap the pieces together which takes half a minute), then our cute little dog checked out what I was getting ready to do.  I put her outside, then I proceded to use the dry sweeping cloth which surprised me by picking up all sorts of dust, crumbs, pet hair, etc., and it held on to them.  Then I used the wet mopping cloth and was able to reach deep into corners under the overhang on our cabinets.

What I like about the new Swiffer is that it is stronger.  That’s one thing I didn’t like about the old one.  I felt like the old one wasn’t strong enough to scrub on tough spots.   But the new Swiffer is definitely stronger and easier to use!

Any of you with pets know how important it is to take care of your pet. Pet Care includes so much more than just giving your pet food and water. Just as with humans, there are all sorts of disorders that dogs and cats can have such as problems with their joints and muscles or maybe with their eyes.  There is a whole list of things that can afflict animals.  And they need treatment just like we do.

Petwave.com is the first online site that has a complete pet health library using today’s veterinary health care standards plus community and pet health management tools. This means a lot to people who have pets who are like part of the family.

Pet care also involves training your pet so that it will not take over and rule the house.  When company comes over, the pet should be well behaved so that company is not intimidated by the animal.  (That’s where we have a problem with our dog.)  Teaching a dog to stay and not jump on guests would help. Another problem people have is dogs begging for food at the table.  Some people have problems with their dog digging in the yard.  Petwave.com has strategies to use with pets to help eliminate these problems.

I enjoy true stories of amazing people, animals or events.  Here’s one about a pig, rescued when he was one day old, that grew up and just started herding cattle all on his own without anyone teaching him.  And what does Squeeky get after herding the cows?   Pepperoni pizza and Dr. Pepper which are his favorite!  Click here to watch the true story on video of Squeeky, the cow-herding pig.

I just saw some of the cutest things for little dogs at Small Dog Stuff. We have a medium sized Dachshund, and our daughter and s-i-l have an even smaller one. I don’t dress our dog, but our daughter will dress “Josie” from time to time. I have to admit that Josie looks absolutely adorable when she’s dressed up, and I think she knows it, too. lol

If you are wanting a neat Christmas gift for someone who is crazy about their dog or cat, then check out pet supplies online.  They have Monopoly Cat Lover’s Edition and Monopoly Dog Lover’s Edition as well as a great selection of Christmas items.  And they also have discount supplies for the day-to-day needs of pets.  The Jeffers family has been providing discount supplies and vaccines for pet and livestock owners since 1975.  Through their online service, they are also dedicated to providing the best selection, the best discount, and the best customer service available anywhere.

Well, I was wrong.  It was not the flaxseed that caused our dog to smell bad every time she went potty.  Excuse the explanation, but turns out she needed to have her anal glands expressed.  She smells so much better now.  The only thing is that her allergies are still very bad, and the Benadryl and baths with dog oatmeal shampoo seem to help very little.  I’ve been reading online and I think she really does need omega-3 fatty acids…so back to the ground flaxseed.  I’m going to put that on her dog food every day and see how that helps.  Supposedly, it doesn’t help immediately but takes a little time to stop the itching.  So we’ll just have to wait and see.  Until then, she’ll still be a “conehead doggie.”  I’m thankful for doggie cones or otherwise she would have infected sores all over her body from chewing on herself.  I’ll let you know how the flaxseed works.

Our poor little dachshund has terrible grass allergies.  We give her Benadryl and that’s always helped in the past.  She has such bad allergies this year, though, that she chews on herself to the point of bleeding.  She has to wear a cone a lot of the time so she can’t chew on herself when we’re gone or at night when we can’t watch her.  I read online where one vet recommended putting flaxseed on the dogfood and that would eventually eliminate the need for Benedryl.  Well….let me warn you!  I gave it to our dog for two days.  We noticed that everytime she would go outside to go potty, she would stink so badly when she came in.  It was almost a fishy smell.  And I’m not talking about smelling it when you were close to her.  I’m talking about a horrible smell that you noticed when you were several feet away from her.  It was really bad!  I finally made the connection and realized that the flaxseed affected the smell of her urine.  So, NO MORE flaxseed.  She’ll just have to be a “conehead” for a while longer until the grass pollen gets better.

This is one clever squirrel.   Go to the link below and watch the video:

http://www.chilloutzone.de:80/files/07080606.html