Dog Diapers

For many of you this post is going to seem ridiculous, and for others, you're going to completely understand.  Our Wheaten Terrier is in heat at the moment, well the end of it, luckily.  We have full intentions of getting her spayed but here in The Netherlands they make you wait until the dog has gone through its first cycle to make sure it reached full hormonal development.  The States feel different, they encourage you to get your dog fixed before the first cycle in order to prevent certain diseases.  We aren't thrilled to have to deal with a doggy cycle.  Even though we also find it cruel to deprive her the chance of ever having puppies we know it's something we just couldn't deal with, we're barely getting through this.  I have a toddler, so obviously we survived all of her bodily functions, including diapers.  But dog diapers are completely different (I'm gagging right now).  It's a brilliant idea, as long as you're not the one dealing with it.  My husband took the easy road, because I'm a woman I supposedly have more understand around cycles and I have to deal with the diapers, thanks!  I had no idea what to expect, I checked online and apparently this can last 1-1.5 weeks, that's a lot more doggy diapers than I bought.  The dog absolutely hates the diapers, understandably.  The first day she stood for around 2 hours because she didn't want to sit or lie down wearing the diaper.  Over the past week she's grown more accustom to them, even though we haven't.  I'm not sure if I bought the wrong size or not, but these expensive diapers kept breaking and before I knew it I was almost through the pack.  Then it came to me, I had an unopened pack of diapers left over from my daughters potting training days.  I compared the sizes and it was a perfect match, all I needed to do was cut the hole out for the tail.  Last night we tried the Pampers on her, and she is much happier with them.  The Pampers are more flexible and give around the legs, they're obviously meant for active toddlers.  The dog has much more freedom now, it shows in how she lays and plays.  I wished we had used baby diapers from the beginning instead of torturing her through the stiff dog diapers.  I would say next round we'll use them again, but there will be no next round, we'll be making an appointment at the vet soon to get her fixed.  But I thought I'd at least pass the tip on to other dog owners suffering through heat. 
It wouldn't be a usual post if I didn't include pictures.  The first picture is when Maggie is bathed, brushed, and with long hair.  The other picture is when she is trimmed and stuck in a miserable dog diaper, poor dog!

If you're interested here are a couple other posts about our puppy, and there will definitely be more to come:

Dog Debate

Puppy Maggie
Puppy Class

Freebies (aka Monsters)

Freebies!!!  Who doesn't love getting a free sample of something???  In Dutch freebies or samples are called "monsters".  Sounds funny to an American, but so what, I love "monsters"!
 

Every once in a while I go in search of freebies online.  I wouldn't say they're as common here as in The States but you can still find them.  One website I use is ProefMonsters.nl  (I pulled it up to get the link for you and they had an offer for dog Dentastix, great!  Signed up and invited friends too!)  Now if you're not in The Netherlands this site will be of little use to you, but I am sure you can find one of your own.  My last round on this website has delivered at least 2 freebies so far:
 

I'm really happy with this one, it arrived a week or so ago!  It's a lid for cottage cheese.  Sounds so simple yet I didn't have it.  We often open a container of cottage cheese, eat half, and then leave it poorly sealed in the fridge.  Usually it gets tossed out because we don't trust our sealing capabilities (if we bothered at all).  Now, thanks to Danone's nifty little lid, we can rest assure that the cottage cheese will be good the next day and if we happen to tip it over (happened before) there will not be unwanted cottage cheese juice all over the fridge!  Thanks Danone!
 

My other freebie arrived today in the mail, it's a small mixed sample pack of labels/stickers from Avery.  Since I no longer have an office job I almost never print things out on stickers.  Even though I do occasionally feel like getting organized I can't bring myself to buy a pack of expensive labels at the store.  Again, through the freebie website I only had to give my address, wait a couple weeks, and voila, I now have stickers for my printer.  I'm just curious how long it will take me to get the hankering to actually get labels printed out and stuck on whatever the project of the month might be.  I do have some storage boxes in the shed that could use labels!!!
 

Hope you all find a website of your own and start signing up for freebies.  They're extra rewarding because they take so long to arrive that you tend to forget about them!

Autumn Walk

Adding a dog to the family has changed the activities we participate in the weekends.  In the past we just looked for something entertaining for our toddler but nowadays we look for something that suits the entire family, dog included.  There are a lot of great places in and around Eindhoven to let your dog off the leash so they can run free and enjoy life outside of the bustling city center.  One of which happens to be near the golf course my husband belongs to.  We noticed the park we usually take the family walk in has been a little too busy lately so we headed the other direction.  Sure we crossed paths with a few people, but for the most part it was quiet and we could take in nature as it was intended.  Our toddler loved climbing up and down the small hills, shaking trees, and collecting pine cones.  And our Wheaten Terrier was over the moon running about, playing in the mud, and sniffing out rabbit & fox holes.  My husband claims to have seen deer, but the rest of us missed them somehow.  Days like this remind me to be thankful for these moments together, watching our family grow and bond... for the fresh air and beauty of nature... for the smile on my tots face as Dad saves the soccer ball from the tree... for the smiles on our faces when our daughter giggles with excitement... for the pleasure our dog gets from exploring and leaping... and for the invention of cameras so that we can capture these times and cherish them for as long as we can. 

Dog Debate

The dog debate between my husband & I has gone on for years now... mostly because of me, if he had his way we would have bought a dog a long time ago.  I like dogs, I do, and I'm running out of excuses.  Before we had a child the responsibility seemed too big (I knew I would end up doing most of the work).  First & last walks seemed dreadful, plus I had a full time job and there would be no one home with the dog.  Now that I'm a full time mother, I'm up most days before 7AM and I decide my schedule (for the most part).  Like I said, I'm running out of excuses.  One excuse reason, the biggest one of all, I'm allergic to dogs, even a lot of the ones people claim to be hypo-allergenic.  But the look on my husbands face when he plays with a dog or hears me shoot the idea down again is starting to mess with my head.  Now he's involved our daughter, who is also a dog lover... he points out how much entertainment she would get, his childhood experiences with dogs, and the fact we're not ready for a 2nd child.  So, I started looking, just looking.  I pulled out all the stops, I explained hypo-allergenic pure-breed dogs cost a fortune here in the Netherlands, I said we'd probably have to skip a vacation this year, I stooped low enough to say it will be harder to sell our apartment if we have a dog, but nothing deterred him.  Between my allergies and the small amount of breeders here, the list of dogs was short.  I showed him a few pics, knowing if I choose A he'll choose B, and what did he do... he picked the only dog on the entire list that I liked!  Damn!  I then started contacting breeders, running the risk we could end up with a puppy within a couple months.  But I had no luck, almost a year has gone by since I started contacting breeders.  Part of me was content, there was no dog to rush home to before it peed everywhere and the endless costs of dog food and vet bills didn't exist.  But part of me started wanting a dog, ahh!  I wouldn't say my past experiences with dogs pushed me, it was more my imagination (and my husband of course).  Then the other day one of the breeders contacted me; she recently bred her Irish Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier and hopes to have puppies by August.  For those of you unfamiliar with this breed here are a couple pics I found, and kind of how I imagine it to be (puppy playing out back / having his own seat in the car) :

 

In the Netherlands, the breeders like to meet with you before agreeing to sell you a dog (might also be the same in The States).  So I spoke with her for a while, explaining our situation, listening to her explain the breed, and promising to set a date to drive up to meet her and her dogs.  After all was said and done my husband tells me he isn't sure if this is the dog he wants, WHAT!!!  No matter what I am going to force the three of us to take a 2hr round trip to go see the breeder.  You never know, I might be allergic, they might scare our daughter, or my husband might not like them at all... and the dog debate goes on.  (Just in case these pics didn't sell you, check out the last pic on an old post - Dog Sitting.  It's what sold me!)