Sweet Potatoes

Emme got a bath yesterday morning and she really needed on. She looks better, feels better, and smells better. We had to wait 10 to 14 days after her surgery to bathe her and yesterday was it. We are using an oatmeal shampoo instead of the puppy shampoo. The oatmeal shampoo is supposed to be especially soothing and she scratches a lot. Hopefully the oatmeal shampoo will make a difference.

This morning, for the first time, Emme came upstairs with me when I took my shower. Usually I just put her in her crate but today I tried leaving her loose. I brought her sweet potato chew upstairs with her and she had a ball. Last week at the puppy class, the trainer gave each of us a piece of sliced dried sweet potato which he recommends instead of rawhide. He said that dogs often swallow a large piece of rawhide and it does not digest quickly enough and they need surgery to remove the rawhide. He has found a chew treat made entirely of dehydrated sliced sweet potatoes. He passed one out to each puppy in class and they met with a mixed reaction. Jim said that about 20 percent of dogs will have nothing to do with the sweet potato chews and the others like them. That is what happened in class. One puppy sniffed it and immediately turned away. Others were mildly interested and others like Emme thought they were heaven. She chewed her potato slice a little in class and then I put it into the refrigerator. I didn’t want to give it back to Emme because I had nothing special to give to Rudy while she chewed her potato.

This morning Ken went to Canton to the dentist and took Rudy along for the ride. Since Emme and I were alone in the house, I got out the sweet potato chew. She was delighted. She chewed, pounced, pushed, growled, and generally had a grand time. When it was time to leave for People to People this morning, I took the chew away from Emme, it still is a large piece of potato, and it is back in the refrigerator. I think I am going to buy a bag of the chews Thursday night at puppy class. We’ll see what Rudy thinks of them.