Self Medicating

With the holiday season upon us, I thought I would share some common household medications that can be used for dogs as well.  As always, you should contact your vet before giving any medication to your dog long-term but these are pretty safe to use in situations where getting to your vet right away is not an option.

Product	Common Use	Canine Dosage
Buffered Aspirin	Pain relief, anti-inflammatory	18-12 mg per lb every 12 hours.
Benadryl	Treats allergies, itching, etc.	½ mg per lb every 8 hours. Max dose 2 mg per lb.
Hydrogen Peroxide 3%	Used to induce vomiting after accidental ingestion of toxic items.	1-3 tsp by mouth every 15 minutes until vomiting occurs.  DO NOT induce vomiting if it has been more than 2 hours since ingestion.
Dramamine	Reduces motion sickness.	Up to 50 mg every 8 hours.
Pepto Bismol	For diarrhea, vomiting and anti-gas.	1 tsp per 5 lbs every 6 hours.

Hopefully, you won't have to use any of these this holiday season.  Also, as The Chronicles of Cardigan pointed out, pureed pumpkin is also an excellent way to treat diarrhea and/or constipation but typically works a little slower.

Bogey's Tips for the Upcoming Holidays

If you're looking a little shaggy...

Make an appointment with the groomer.  Tell her to take a little off the sides...

And top, and bottom.....

If you'll be dining with family, it never hurts to dress up a little.

But be sure to bring along your favorite fan wear to change into for the big game.

New Picture

Monday afternoon we had stunning weather.  Moira was lying in the front window, soaking up the sun when I took this picture.  She has grown into such a lovely girl.  She reminds me a lot of her mother.

Power Twins - Activate!

At the 2010 National in Pennsylvania, we met Becky Dean and Drew.  Drew and Moira are half sisters - their mom is Honey.  The girls seem to share more than a mom though.  They are very similar in personality and physicality too.  At that National, Becky and I agreed that we would have to get together again to run both girls at an agility trial.  We were supposed to visit Becky & Drew in Ohio this spring but the work situation got the best of us.  Instead, they were able to make the trip here last weekend to run Pairs at the Madco trial with us.  What a great time we had!

The run resulted in a Q and a first place!  And the girls, once again, got along famously.  More trials are in our future.

Fabulous Fall Weekend

This weekend Moira and I ran in the annual Madco Agility fall trial at Misty Mountain Campground in Crozet, VA.  This was our first USDAA trial last year and we've come a long way since then.  The night before the trial I watched this video of our Jumpers run last year:


Not pretty, really not pretty.

This spring, we ran in another Madco trial and here was our Jumpers run at that trial:


Better but still not great.

Saturday morning was frosty and COLD!  Just the kind of weather that makes little red dogs act crazy.  However, Pu Head must finally be growing up because we had a great run and we Qd!  Unfortunately, there were technical difficulties with the video so I don't have footage of the run.  What I do have footage of is our Sunday afternoon Jumpers run.  A few bobbles and a knocked bar but it is such a vast improvement over last fall and even this spring that I am just thrilled.


Having video of our runs is a wonderful thing.  I only have one or two videos of Sam's agility career and, while they can be painful to watch, I love having them.  Unfortunately, there are so few that I can't really see a progression in our partnership and training.  With these videos of Moira, I can see how we are progressing and improving and what we need to work on too.

For Spring, the goal is to be able to enter Standard and a few other classes.  Next post - Power Twins, Activate!