Tags
A boy and his dog who rests on his back while he does his math in mom’s big bed.
Pictures might be mediocre but the moment was pure sweetness.
01 Tuesday Nov 2011
Posted Dogs, Family, Goldendoodle, Pets
inTags
A boy and his dog who rests on his back while he does his math in mom’s big bed.
Pictures might be mediocre but the moment was pure sweetness.
28 Friday Oct 2011
Posted Dog Accessories, Dogs, Goldendoodle
inTags
Can I just say how much I LOVE Lands End? I mean, they are simply the best and they even rock it in doggie department. Last week I posted the Deal of the Day and I’m so glad I made this purchase.
I ordered Emma and Remy the Pet Hoodie Jackets on Friday and we received our package on Wednesday – hooray for their awesome free shipping deals. I promptly put Emma and Remy in their new hoodie jackets. I was a little concerned that they might not take to the over-the-head style but they didn’t mind a bit! The jackets are loose-fitting with the perfect amount of stretch for putting them without it being restrictive to my pups. I LOVE these hoodies. I was talking them up to my mom yesterday and she right away ordered one for her dog as well.
Emma and Remy wore them all afternoon and then I had to leave for a few hours for a meeting and to take the boys to Awana. I forgot to take the sweaters off of them and I realized it when I was too late to turn around and run home. I had a sick feeling about them chewing on them while I was away. I was so relieved when we got home hours later to find that both Emma and Remy were happy and hadn’t done any damage to their new jackets.
Seriously folks, a quality dog sweater for $12 is a steal! I know they’re going to do a great job keeping my pups warm this fall and winter.
23 Sunday Oct 2011
Posted Dog Accessories, Dogs, Family, Goldendoodle
inTags
I like cute clothes and I like to be warm and cozy in the blustery cold weather during our Michigan fall/winter seasons. I’m pretty sure my dogs feel the chill too and I want to keep them comfortable. Emma has a short coat and Remy has a lot of hair but it’s mostly fluff – he doesn’t have the benefit of an undercoat to keep him warm. I’ve been looking for sweaters and jackets for my pups. I’ve also got my eye out for a good pair of shoes as well. I know shoes sound kind of silly but many people put ice on their sidewalks that is harmful to dogs. I’ll blog more about that topic in November because there are pet friendly ways to treat the ice on sidewalks and it’s just a good way to be neighborly.
This week I was looking for a good dog sweater and I came across one I’d really like to buy but it is pricey and I can’t just splurge on a couple of those without a little planning. While hunting around for the perfect sweater I found a cute dog hoodie for a fantastic price at Lands End.
The Lands End Pet Hoodie is on sale for $11.99 and is available in a wide variety of sizes. You can order one here. To sweeten the deal, Lands End is offering 30% off ALL regularly priced items plus FREE SHIPPING on orders of $50 or more through midnight 10/24. I love Lands End!
Promotion Code: EXTRA30
PIN: 7632
I’m looking forward to trying out Emma and Remy’s new hoodies this week. I’ll be sure to blog about how they work out. In reading through the online reviews I think these will work out great. Some reviewers make the point that the hoodies would be easier to get on and off if they had velcro closure as opposed to being an over-the-head style. I’m hopeful that won’t be an issue with my dogs and that the belly coverage will be a benefit.
*** This is not a sponsored post and none of my links are affiliate links. Lands End and West Paw Design don’t know me or my sweet pups.
18 Tuesday Oct 2011
Posted Dog Accessories, Dog Grooming, Dogs, Goldendoodle
inI’ve been wanting to make Remy and Emma cute accessories like bow ties and flowers. I love bow ties and I’ve been thinking about making Remy a stash of them. I will make Emma flowers so she can be extra pretty too.
I’ve never actually made a bow tie so today I pulled out some scrap fabric and promptly ruined my last scrap of a pricey cotton because I didn’t have a pattern. I made some changes and used a less valuable scrap and turned out a decent bow tie. It is far from perfect but I get the basic concept.
I need to pick up a few notions from the fabric store and a handful of great fabrics because all of my best stuff is girly. I’ll share pictures as soon as I finally get a good design figured out.
17 Monday Oct 2011
Posted Dogs, Goldendoodle, Pets
inWe purchased Remy from Kim at Goldendaydoodles in Grand Rapids, MI. She’s got the sweetest, cutest little doodles and right now she has puppies available here.
If money grew on trees and if I had one of those trees I would absolutely snatch up one or more of her adorable mini goldendoodles. I swoon. Harry wants to come and live with us.
16 Sunday Oct 2011
Posted Dog Grooming, Dogs, Goldendoodle, Pets
inRemy and Emma like to wrestle and it is seriously one of the cutest things to see them play so wild. Emma is doing so well nearly 14 months after we brought her home. She still gets anxious around strangers and other dogs but it is better and we are so thankful she has such a good friend in Remy. They really love each other.
Emma is at a significant size disadvantage when they wrestle but we still haven’t seen one of them take the place of the Alpha Dog yet. They each win some and lose some. When they wrestle they like to chew on each other. If Emma is lucky she gets a hold of Remy’s ear and chews on it for a while. As a result Remy has started getting little mats in his ears for the first time ever.
He doesn’t seem to mind me combing mats out of his hair, except his thin belly skin, but I wouldn’t be inclined to try to comb them out of his ears because I’m sure that would hurt. I was intrigued last week when I stopped into The Chow Hound to pick up a new comb for Remy. The comb I had previously used worked great but it hurt my hand all the time.
Previous comb (smaller one pictured) – Top Paw $10
New Comb – what a difference a handle makes! – Safari Comb $7.50 here.
While looking for a new comb with a handle I came across a kind of funny looking comb and it piqued my curiosity. I asked the sales associate and she said she didn’t know much about that comb specifically but she did say they sold a lot of them. The comb is the Safari Dematting Comb and I was intrigued. She said I could return it if I wasn’t happy with it and all Safari products were 25% off so I brought it home. That night when I gave Remy a bath I started grooming him and came across a good size mat on his ear. I’m pretty careful with his ears so this was a good place to try the effectiveness of this new comb.
Basically you work the teeth into the bottom of the mat and it slides right through the mat breaking it up. A few passes through the mat and the big mat is many little mats and they comb right out with a fine tooth comb. This entire mat would have been out of Remy’s ear, painlessly, in about 30 seconds had I not cut my finger. I don’t know what I was thinking other than I instinctively went to comb away the clumps of hair on the top of the comb and the razor edges got my thumb. I really loved the way this combed right through every mat I came across. The only issue I have with the comb is it would be nice if it had a self-cleaning guard of some sort because when it gets clogged up it is a hassle to brush it out from the back side, in my opinion. There are a few pieces of fur still left hanging on those blades that I just didn’t feel like messing with.
These are the remnants of the mat above after just a few swipes with the de-matting comb and the fine tooth comb. See my band aid. 😦
Those teeth are razor-sharp but it does come with a snap on vinyl cover to help protect the blades. I’m keeping it up high and in the original packaging just to be extra careful.
I love this comb and with a retail price of $12.29 it was totally worth it. Amazon sells it for $9.99 here.
Affiliate links included in this post. Emma and Remy appreciate your using our affiliate links so they can try new things and chew more ropes instead of shoes.
15 Saturday Oct 2011
Posted Dog Grooming, Dogs, Goldendoodle
inSo, the short story is that the groomer ruined my dog.
The long story is that Remy was a bit of a mess after our camping trip and there were too many mats in his long fur for me to cut them or comb them all out. His belly and body needed to be shaved and my clippers were not working. We made an appointment for Remy at The Posh Pet Salon and I prepared myself for the inevitable loss of his cute curls.
I had been into The Posh Pet Salon before and the owner had told me all about the services they provide. She detailed to me how they pluck the ears on doodles, among other things. I blogged about that here.
I talked to my cousin about grooming when we got Remy and she warned me that groomers tend to just want to shave everything because it is easiest so I have resisted professional grooming thus far. I am willing to spend the time to groom my dog well. However, after camping I knew it would be helpful to have his body shaved.
I showed up early with Remy and specifically consulted with the woman who would be grooming him. I explained in detail what I wanted and didn’t want. I had just seen a doodle groomed in such a way that I felt like I could still keep some of his hair while getting rid of the biggest problem areas.
The list of DOs:
*Shave his body – done
*Clean and Pluck his ears – Not done at all
*Trim his beard as short as possible – His entire face was shaved much shorter than I liked but his beard was scissor cut and much longer than the rest of his face. It was as if what I wanted was done in reverse.
*Trim his face, specifically around his eyes – done
*Trim his feet, nails and between his pads – done
*Shave his belly – done
The list of DON’Ts::
* Don’t cut the hair on the top of his head. It wasn’t matted and I like it long. They cut it to about 1 inch.
* Don’t touch his tail. It’s easy for me to groom his tail and I like it fluffy. They shaved all but the tip of his tail and it looked absurd.
* ONLY cut his legs a little bit. I like trunk-like poodle legs and I had mostly scissored them that way but they needed a little fine tuning. His legs were scissored down to nearly the length the rest of his body and they were not at all trunk-like as I requested.
*NOT to cut anything off of the exterior of his ears. Remy’s ears were cut short (almost squared) along the bottom.
So, 4 hours later when I went to pick up my pup and he came to me bald and hideous I really lost my testimony. I was furious and they knew it. Everyone knew it.
There was absolutely no responsibility taken for the fact that they butchered my dog and the fact that they ignored everything I said to the groomer. They just kept saying he was matted and they needed to shave him because it was better for him. BUT, I specifically gave instructions that were disregarded. At no time did the groomer call me and say she felt like x, y or z would be best and could she do it? Further, I explained to her that I could handle any mats on his legs and tail, of which there were not many. They assumed I would believe my dog was matted head to toe but I knew better. I knew the condition of Remy’s hair because I evaluated him prior to making the appointment and I groom him regularly and I knew how and where his fur was matted.
I was livid because they were lazy and ignored my directions. No woman would ever tolerate going in for a bob and coming out with a buzz. It would never, ever ever be acceptable and this wasn’t either. I ranted and raved and I went home and called my husband.
Ultimately, I got 100% of my money back and they got an apology for my inappropriate behavior but that wasn’t satisfactory for either of us, I suspect. Remy was embarrassed because he went and hid as soon as he got home and Emma growled at him when she saw him later on. He was funky for the rest of the day.
I found out that evening that the groomer didn’t even touch his ears and they desperately needed a plucking. Steve and I did it ourselves. The groomer did every single thing I told her not to do and not what I asked them to do. I was so upset and it took all summer for his hair to start looking normal again.
My cousin was right, groomers just want to shave everything and I’m not paying someone to ignore me.
I have since found a fabulous way to manage those mats (blog post about this coming soon) and I’m hopeful we won’t ever have to go through that again. If I do bring Remy in for grooming – somewhere besides The Posh Pet Salon – I’ll be giving written instructions to the groomer.
In the meantime, I am very interested in taking grooming lessons. I plan to be a lifelong goldendoodle owner so I’m pretty sure they would be a worthwhile investment.
Though I have written a scathing review of my experience with Remy at The Posh Pet Salon, I had a pretty good experience there when I had taken Emma in for a bath in the past. They are generally a well regarded salon in our area and overall they have a great reputation. Ultimately they failed to even deliver on what they call a “Full Grooming” as stated here. Their Full Grooming includes: Haircut, Bath and Blowdry, Ears Cleaned and Plucked, and Nails Trimmed. They didn’t touch Remy’s ears even though that was fully expected and clearly relayed to the woman who groomed Remy.
04 Tuesday Oct 2011
Posted Dog Grooming, Dogs, Goldendoodle, Pets, Vacation with dogs
inThis is cute Remy.
Take a good look because these were the last photos taken of him before he was stripped of his dignity.
That camping trip I posted about was such a great time for him but his fur was terribly matted after playing in the water and rolling in the dirt and sand for a week.
I am training myself how to groom Remy – goldendoodles are high maintainance dogs and it takes me hours to groom him. I would like to take dog grooming classes someday so I can do an even better, hopefully quicker job. This summer I was defeated by his mats – I couldn’t keep up with them and I couldn’t cut them all out. He needed professional help.
To be continued…
04 Tuesday Oct 2011
Posted Dogs, Goldendoodle, Traveling with Pets, Vacation with dogs
inTags
I took the summer off from blogging and we went camping. And we played. And we watched too much tv. And we relaxed. And it was nice.
But, it is time to get back to school, routines and blogging. I’m going to do a handful of blog posts to catch up on what I missed blogging about this summer… like when I took Remy to the groomers and I freaked out about how much they butchered his hair. It was just awful.
Here are some pictures from Remy’s 1st camping trip and Emma’s 3rd camping trip.
We spent a week on Lake Michigan. It was glorious because we were pretty much the only people there. Every day we sat on the beach, with the kids and the dogs, enjoying having it all to ourselves. Yeah, dogs aren’t allowed on the beach but we were diligent about cleaning up after them and they were not disturbing anyone. They loved running as fast as they could up and down the beach, chasing toys and digging in the sand.
Emma is quite the water dog. She dives right in, swimming out to get her ball and loving it. Remy was a little afraid of the water but a few times he ran in after Emma. By the end of the summer he was much less afraid of the big lake.
Emma slept in her crate in Nick’s tent. Remy slept with the little boys. The dogs were pretty obnoxious when people, other dogs, or squirrels would pass our campsite. Remy has a big, intimidating bark but he really is sweet as pie. We found if we brought Emma’s crate outside she would run for it and hang out in there for hours. In her crate she didn’t care who or what walked by our campsite. At first I felt badly for her but it obviously helped her feel secure. She likes her crate and I sometimes need to remember she had a hard life before we got her. She’s only been with us for a year and we need to help her continue to adjust and help her feel secure.
She and Remy are doing great, they are best friends and I’ll be posting more updates soon.
12 Tuesday Apr 2011
Posted Cats, Dogs, Goldendoodle, Pets
inOr at least it feels like it. Everything is busy in our lives and I haven’t had time to catch up here. I have so many posts I need to get up and I’m really hopeful for lots of time to write this weekend. We homeschool and we started using new curriculum and school eats up a lot of our day. We have had sick kids. We have been working on house stuff – out with the old, in with the new and getting all of our ducks in a row for a bathroom remodel in just over 2 weeks. I’ve also been busy helping a friend pack up her house and Spring has arrived and we’re just extra busy.
We got new leather furniture recently and Clover had to be declawed. I had really mixed feelings about doing that but he was tearing up our sofa and I couldn’t chance it with the new furniture. A blog post is coming.
Remy’s hair is changing and I’ve been at my wits end trying to manage him. He’s currently sporting some pretty significant bald spots as I’ve tried to battle horrible knots that spring up daily. I so resist shaving him but I can’t keep up. A blog post is coming.
Remy is a clod. He is still clumsy and he is big and he jumps on people and I’m really having a hard time training him to relax. We’re making some progress but it is slow. A blog post is coming.
He is getting so big and so strong. And it is finally nice enough to go for walks. He is terrible on a leash. We’ll be busy leash training this spring. A blog post is coming.
We found a great new toy that so far Emma and Remy have failed to harm. A blog post is coming.
We purchased a ridiculous amount of smoked bones. They made Remy quite sick to his stomach. A blog post is coming.
We want Emma and Remy to be Air Dogs. A blog post is coming.
Remy is extremely food motivated. As in, food might be the only thing he ever thinks about. A blog post is coming.
I’ll be back, blogging asap.
This last picture is so funny to me. Remy was visiting my mom and my sister snapped this picture with her cell phone. Remy looks so ferocious but he and Lucy, my mom’s dog, love to play with each other. They chew on each other and make a lot of noise but they are buddies.