AIKO IS IN "HEAT"!

If you remember, the smallest dog that we have is Aiko. She is a shih tzu/pug mixed dog and though she looks like a puppy, she is now more than a year-old.

Four days ago, I noticed some blood droplets on the floor while I was cleaning. I thought it was either Yuki ( our female pit) or Sasha (our female labrador retriever) having a menstrual period. But when I checked, it's Aiko.

So the past two days, my son, Jason and I scouted around for a possible mate. Due to her size, we can only hope for a pure or mixed pug or shih tzu. There are a lot of pure pugs or shih tzus offering stud services, but because of their papers, they are reluctant to have their pure-blooded pets mate our Aiko. Though it is rather difficult, we finally found someone with a pure pug who is kind enough to offer his stud. And so, a week from now, we will be bringing Aiko to their place for their "mating" session.

I do hope she will be healthy enough to give us a litter. Yuki wasn't so fortunate, she lost her two pups in a premature delivery. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Heroic Pit Bull: Dog Finds Help For Injured Neighbor

Today, I'm sharing this story about a heroic pit bull, with the aim to tell my readers that this breed has been misjudged unfairly. Pits are really good pets, and they make good house guards.

Move over Lassie. A pit bull terrier has shown Auburn's Jim Roach that heroic dog deeds don't just happen in the movies or on TV.

Roach fell from a 12-foot-high ladder while picking peaches last month on his rural Mount Vernon Road property. Dazed and unable to move because of his injuries, he soon found renter Jeanne Davis' two-year-old pit bull Gabby hovering over him and
barking.

"I was unconscious pretty much," Roach said Tuesday. "I remember a dog licking the side of my face and standing by me and barking and barking and barking."

But nobody came. That's when Gabby did the heroically unexpected and went for help.

About 100 yards away and not able to see or hear Roach, Davis heard Gabby furiously barking and thought perhaps someone had entered the property. But Roach's dog, also nearby, wasn't barking.

Soon after she first noticed the barking, Gabby emerged.

"She's barking and then she looks at me and runs back," Davis said. "It's kind of like something Lassie would do."

So Davis followed Gabby. She found her landlord injured and moaning in pain near the pruning ladder.

"I walked over to where he was and Gabby stopped barking," Davis said.

With Roach immobilized on the ground, a California Highway Patrol helicopter was dispatched to transport the seriously injured college instructor to Roseville Medical Center's trauma unit for emergency treatment.

Roach, a College of San Mateo instructor, said doctors diagnosed multiple injuries from the fall, including a fractured clavicle, four broken ribs, two cracked vertebrae, and bleeding on the brain.

A towel wrapped around his head, Jason Williams-style, probably saved his life when his head hit the ground, Roach said.

Roach said he spent a week in hospital. One of the first visitors after discharge was Gabby. He said the two now seem to have formed a strong bond as a result of the rescue.

A psychology instructor, Roach said that the incident is a good example of the more endearing side of pit bulls that doesn't receive media attention.

"I've never felt they've been given a fair shake," he said. "They're just a terrier."

Davis said Gabby was abused before she adopted her. She's been training the dog to become less apprehensive around people.

"A lot of people said to put her down, that she's going to do something bad," Davis said. "I'm so proud of my dog."

(By Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer)

From Dogs at Risk USA web site

No Appetite

The past few days, my dogs seem to lose their appetite. We feed them twice a day with dog food but they seemed to lose appetite. So we tried feeding them with table food, and they ate a lot. To give them nutrition, we sort of give them alternate diet, dog food and table food. Now they got tired of the diet again!

Can anyone give me a suggestion on what to give them? They like bread but I know it's not nutritious to just feed them on bread alone. What is the most effective vitamins to give them, ours do not seem to work.

Any suggestions please?

She's Okay Now!

Sasha is okay, the swelling is gone and she already opens her eyes. I guess an insect bit the area near her eye because there are some rashes there. Thankfully, she is up and running again. The antibiotics helped and I think the hot and cold compress also stopped the swelling.

Sasha is sick!

Yesterday, we noticed that Sasha was always sleeping, which is not normal because she is a very hyperactive labrador. We thought she was just tired of fooling around with the rest of our dogs. Then last night, we noticed that she could barely open her right eye, and the top of her head was swollen too. So we applied an alternate hot and cold compress on her.

When I woke up this morning and checked on her, the right part of her face is already swollen and she could no longer open her eye. We made her take an antibiotic and if the swelling continues, we will be bringing her to the vet this afternoon. I really hope that this is not a major problem and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Dogs here...Dogs There... Dogs Everywhere!

We went to my sister's place yesterday, to greet her a very Happy Mother's Day, and we were greeted by her ten (10) cute dogs, but my son was only able to take pictures of the two of them, a mixed poodle and a japanese spitz. There were minipins, terrier, and dachhunds. You see. love of dogs really runs in my family!

Sasha

This is Sasha, our two-year-old labrador retriever. She is so sweet and good-natured, but she bit the niece of our helper who came inside our gate without our knowledge. She always lies down whenever you caress her.