Little Dog in a Big World

Archive for the ‘Misha’ Category

Last night, Misha came home after being spayed.  I really didn’t expect to have many problems as she is a fairly good natured dog.  Was I ever wrong!

Misha woke up in the play pen instead of her crate which seemed to put her into instantaneous panic mood.  I could picture her thinking “What the frig is this thing around my neck and why were is my favorite blanket???”

She ate just fine, but giving her the medication was a nightmare.  She took the pill with alot of peanut butter.  The syringe filled with Metacam?  No way!  She freaked out, growled, snarled, tried to flee.  It wasn’t a very good start.  I ended up squirting it into my hand and letting her lap it up.

After an hour or so more of whining, I called the Vets.  The prescribed a sedative since she seemed to be going through anxiety of some sort.

The next day was so much easier.  The sedative calmed her down alot.  She wasn’t as afraid of the hood.  And forget squirting the syringe into her mouth.  I did it into my hand and she licked it up like soda.

I was happy to finally see her calm.  It was going to be a rough recovery if she was freaked out the entire time.

Between October and November, Misha mellowed out into a wonderful puppy.  Then something happened.  Her fangs decided to fall out.

One cheery Sunday, she became the puppy from hell.  She beat up on everyone she could.  Every time she went outside she attack the grass as if it were her mortal enemy.  She chewed up so much grass that I was bracing myself for cleaning up puke at 2 am.

She was just plain old mean.  I brought her in at 3:30 from yet another trip to the grass.  She had this wild look in her eyes.  I played with her trying to burn off some of the meanness.

I noticed red spots on some of the toys and realized she was bleeding.  When I looked it her mouth, her lower right fang was gone.

She seems so happy after that.  She relaxed and lost her meanness.

It was short lived.  For the next week and a half, she was onery, feisty, mean.  The lower left fang and upper right fang were loose at the same time.  They bent at odd angles for 2 or 3 days and then fell out.  Then we waited for the last one.   She chewed on everything.  Her plastic crate has no corners, the grass has been beheaded beyond regeneration, five of her toys had to go in the garbage because they were beyond needle and thread.

Finally, after almost two weeks, the last fang fell out.  When she lost her upper teeth, almost all at once, she did a little more chewing but her personality only changed mildly.  The fangs were a nightmare!  I guess her gums were so painful that she decided to take it out on everyone.

She’s feeling alot better a week later.  She’s still doing alot of chewing.  But the mean behavior has subsided.  Soon this phase will be over and she’s be the sweet puppy again…I hope…

Misha was so tiny when I got her.  From her first visit to the Vet in July to her last shot in September she only gained 3 lbs.  It seems she was destined to live up to the name the breeder gave her, “Peanut”.

Something happened around 5 1/2 months old.  She stretched out.  I don’t think she is much taller, but she is definitely longer, which makes up for things.  By 6 months, she became muscular and you didn’t see her puppy feet pajama paws anymore.  Luckily, I bought the longer travel crate.  Otherwise, she’d be all scrunched up with her head in the door.

She has still gained only 2 lbs since September.  She now weighs 7.2 lbs.  I seriously doubt she will ever make 10 lbs unless she has an amazing growth spurt or I over feed her.  I’m counting on my ability to not to the latter and I seriously doubt the former.

This dog cracks me up!  I’ve never had a burrowing dog and it’s hilarious to watch her play with her blanket. I wonder if all Jack Russell’s are so creative and ambitious with their sleeping arrangements.

Here are a few of my favorites…

Each puppy has their own personality and problems.   I was told that until 4 months a puppy can go roughly 3 hours without going to the bathroom.  I was very fortunate from the start that Misha slept all night without any accidents.  But, during the day she the potty queen.

I soon realized that Misha could be near a full bowl of water.  It didn’t matter how much water I put it in.  Her goal in life was to drain it.

One day, it was close to 100F.  Misha was running around and very thirsty.  She drank and drank and drank.  I soon realized the extent of our folly.  She became a pee fest.  Her poor little tummy ached, she whined and cried, and she peed everywhere–every 5 to 10 minutes.

Thankfully, after 3-4 hours she cleared herself out.  I learned a lesson.  From that point on, I rationed her water.  I put in enough to satisfy her and refilled it at certains times during the day.  I never deprived her of water on a hot day or over long periods of time, but I made sure that she waited an hour or two before having another go at it.  It made a difference.  She no longer had multiple accidents.

She was checked out by her Vet.  It was decided that since there were no other symptoms it was a puppy thing that she would hopefully grow out of.

I’ve notice over the last couple of weeks she has gotten out of water gorging.  She can now take a few laps of water and leave the rest.  I’m hoping that very soon I can fill the bowl the whole way and not have to worry that she will gorge on it.

The Veterinarian was concerned about the initial bruising Misha suffered from her first shot, so she decided to do her puppy shots over 4 visits.  On September 14th, she finally got her rabies shot.  Misha became legal

I had been walking Misha on leash in the backyard.  I also kept her on leash in the house to assist with dog training and potty breaks.  So, Misha was fairly comfortbable with the leash.

I had been walking her out front while carrying her since day one.  She was getting more and more used to the happenings out front and wasn’t as skittish.

Walking on leash out front was a whole new ball game.  It took Misha awhile to learn heel.  Then she had a funny way of going about out walks.  She would walk behind me, sometimes being dragged when we walked away from the house.  But when we started heading home, she did the last few houses on two legs as if we were in a marathon and needed to sprint to the finish line.

It took a couple of weeks of stop and turn and pulsing the leash to get her to go in the same direction as me.  We’re still working on it.

It’s been an adjustment for me.  I am used to a 75 lb dog whose head is near my hand.  Any time I needed to get her attention I just needed to tap her.  She also understood my moves.  She’d untangle herself from poles, walk around gunk on the ground, and do other things with simple commands.  I understood Sierra’s different moves.  I knew when she found food on the ground or when a cat was close by.

It took me awhile to get it into my head that Misha was not Sierra.  I could not expect a 4 month old puppy to know the things that a 13 year old dog knew.  We’re getting there.  It’s taking time, but we’re starting to understand each other.

Perfect form for a pure bred Jack Russell Terrier is ears tipped.  When I got Misha, her ears were perfectly tipped.

Then a curious thing started to happen.  Her ears began to outgrow her head…

Then only one ear was tipped…

And, finally, Misha’s ears sproinged up.  Now she is somewhat batlike.  From anywhere in the house all you need to look for is the humongous ears poking out over the furniture.

Everyone laughs at her ears, but I love ‘em.  Misha is a goofball and she’s got goofy ears to match.

When I set up Misha’s play pen, I made sure she had toys to play with and blankets to lay on.  This was going to be her safe area since we didn’t have a place in the house to block off for her.  Little did I know that she’d get more entertainment from the blanket than the toys.

One day at about 12 weeks old, I put her in the play pen and sat on the couch.  She began wrestling with her toys.  Then she began throwing the blankets in the air and scurrying underneath.  She rolled, growled, and barked at her foe.

After a few minutes, she poked out to see who was watching her…

From that day forward, Misha spends part of her time rearranging the blankets became part of Misha’s routine.  She throws them all over the place until she gets the shape she likes.  Then she crawls underneath into the Misha cave, where she chews on toys or takes a nap.

It seems that small dogs like to burrow.  My brother’s Mini-Pinscher will crawl down to the end of the bed and sleep under the covers.  Misha prefers to be under her blankets as well, but she doesn’t just crawl under.  Each time she has to rustle them about until she gets it right.  Often she gets angry as it the blanket isn’t obeying her orders.  LOL  Finally, it’s the way she wants it and crawls in.

Before Misha came to live with us, she had been with her litter mates.  She hadn’t even been out to explore the yard.  So, coming to our house was a big adventure and kind of scary.

As she adapted to her new life, she found a friend.  Here she is bonding with Sierra’s old squirrel stuffed animal.

At the time, the squirrel was larger than Misha.  She’d drag him around by any part of his body she could get ahold of.  But mostly, she liked sleeping with him.

What better friend could a puppy ask for?

Misha went for her first Vet visit at 10 weeks and she did very well.  Everyone laughed at how tiny she was.  You weighed in at 2.3 lbs.  She was so small that her shoulder was sore and bruised after her shot.  The poor thing cried out each time I tried to pick her up.

By that time, we had gotten an old playpen for her.  It seemed must easier than looking for this tiny puppy all over the house.  After the Vets, she layed down by her animal friends and there she slept for a good 3 hours.  It was a tiring day for a puppy.