Stuck in the Basement

Rudy likes to go downstairs in the basement, especially when Ken is working down there. Periodically, however, Rudy doesn't want to come back up the basement stairs. The stairs are open and we don't know if that is the problem. Maybe they look scary to him. We have wondered if it is a problem with his joints that he doesn't want to do the steps, but that never hinders him from going from the first floor to the second floor. Sometimes he bounds up the basement with no trouble. Other times, he stands at the bottom of the stairs and whines and barks. It is nearly impossible to convince him to come back up the stairs.

We have tried calling him, offering him a treat at the top of the stairs, and just leaving the light on and the door open and waiting for him to come up. These techniques seldom work. Rudy just stays at the bottom on the stairs, whining and barking.

Two things have often worked in the past. If we say "Do you want to do for a ride?" or "Do you want to eat dinner?" Rudy will sometimes dash up the stairs. Recently we have discovered the ultimate solution. When Rudy is whining at the bottom of the stairs, refusing to come up to the first floor, all we need to do is ring the doorbell. Rudy cannot resist finding out who is at the door and he runs up the steps. Every problem has a solution. The doorbell is the solution to getting Rudy back up stairs.

The Treat Dance

Emme is so funny when she gets a treat. She has to do the "treat dance." She hops up and down and lunges at the treat. Sometimes she lies down in front of the treat and just silently stares at it. Often she will pick it up and toss it around. Only after she has extracted all the fun out of the treat does she settle down to eat it. This is truly food as play.

Her Safe Place

Emme has a "safe place" in Ken's arms. She loves to be held by him and insists on it periodically. When she gets up in his arms, Emme spends a few minutes licking Ken's fingers or reaching up to smell his face and then she settles down. When she is really settled in, she has her paws tucked into his arms just so. Ken holds her against his chest with her weight on both his arms. She would stay there forever. He holds her until one of his arms falls asleep. Emme's favorite times to cuddle in Ken's arms are right after we have finished a meal and when Ken is in his office working on the computer.

At mealtimes, she is more than content to lie quietly on the rug near one of us. After we are done eating, she seems to know. I don't know if it is because we don't rattle silverware or if we change the way we converse, but she knows that we are finished. She comes up to Ken and whines to be picked up. So up she comes and she rests in her safe place until we get up to do the dishes.

When Ken is at his computer she asks to be picked up. Ken obliges and has to figure out how to continue entering data into Quicken or play Scarab Solitaire without disturbing Emme. I think sometimes, he just gives up, turns on a video podcast and sits in front of his computer with Emme napping on his chest. Everybody needs a safe place.

Back From the Groomers

Yesterday Emme went to the groomer...again. I love having a Bichon and would choose Emme all over again if I had the chance, but there is no doubt that the Bichon Frise has a high maintenance coat. I have settled into a routine of taking Emme to the groomer once a month. That is more often than I go to the hairdresser! I go every five weeks; Emme, every four.

I have been keeping her coat cut short all over. Her body has always been cut short, but I have tried a variety of face cuts. I am happiest with her hair cut short around her eyes and mouth. I love to be able to see her dark eyes and if her hair is not cut short enough, it creeps over her eyes within weeks. I do trim Emme around her eyes in between groomer visits, but I like her face hair to start out shorter. It is also easier to keep her clean around her mouth when it is cut short there also. She gets less food caught in the fur around her mouth.

So I keep her in a "puppy cut." The benefit is that Emme looks clean and cute. The downside is she never looks like the photographs of a Bichon because those pictures are all of adult dogs in a "show coat." Their hair is much longer and is groomed to perfection. So the Bichon photos never look like my Emme. But since I know that true beauty comes from within, Emme is my beautiful Bichon.

So, Where are the Treats?

I keep treats for Emme in the closet in my sewing room. Her favorites are dried sweet potato chews. We started with a bag of "Sam's Yams Sweet Potato Dog Chewz" (frontporchpets.com) that we got from the kennel. The chews looked like slices of the sweet potato cut long ways. They were very hard and required a lot of chewing. We stopped giving them to Rudy because instead of chewing them, he broke them into large chunks and bolted the pieces down. I was afraid that he would hurt himself with the jagged pieces of hard dried sweet potatoes going through his intestines. So I moved the sweet potato chews upstairs to the closet in my sewing room and a few times a week when Rudy was downstairs I would break off a piece of a chew and give it to Emme. When she got the treat, she would do the "treat dance," play with it, pounce on it, throw it up in the air and finally chew it for a long time. She got the chews so infrequently and had such small pieces that the bag lasted two years.

We finally finished the bag and I wanted a replacement. I went back to the kennel and they had stopped carrying the dried sweet potatoes. I looked on line and found a holistic veterinary practice in North Canton that carries Sam's Yams. We stopped there a few weeks ago and instead of buying the same size treats I had purchased originally, I got a bag of "Bichon Fries Sweet Potato Dog Chewz," perfect for my Bichon Frise. They look like crinkle cut french fries but they are orange and very hard. I snap each one in half or thirds, so I think these will last a long time too.

Every time Emme comes into my sewing room she stops at the closet to remind me what is stored on the top shelf. She doesn't get a treat every day, but hope springs eternal. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Christmas Ornament as Dog Toy

Yesterday morning I spent some time taking down Christmas decorations which included taking ornaments off a small tree I have in my kitchen. I thought I had carefully put everything away but after lunch when I was washing dishes, I heard Emme playing with something. She was having such a good time, throwing something up in the air, pouncing on it, and pushing it under the table. I decided to check which toy she was playing with and found it was a NEW toy. One of my Christmas decorations, an embroidered snowflake, was being repurposed. It went from ornament to dog toy. I hated to destroy Emme's game, but I grabbed the ornament off the rug, flattened it out and put it away to let the dog spit dry. One less toy. Too sad.

Dog Walls and Speed Bumps

Emme and Rudy like to nap as close to us and possible. At breakfast, they usually choose to lie down next to one of our chairs. This causes some difficulty when we get up to refill coffee or to make breakfast. It really slows us down as we carefully climb over the canine members of the family.

Emme is smaller and we refer to her as a "speed bump." She slows us down, but we can maneuver around her. Rudy is larger and we call him a "dog wall." Sometimes it is easier to go around him than to step over him. This morning, the dog wall expanded with the addition of two lovies. This morning we had "dog wall plus."

I'll Bite Your Nose

For the most part, Emme and Rudy are extremely gentle with their stuffed toys. Occasionally a toy gets pulled apart at a seam if they play an extremely rough tug game, but for the most part, their stuffies last for years. Periodically, I take the toys in need of mending upstairs to my sewing room, mend the split seam, throw them in the washer and dryer and they are good to go for another long time.

Rudy likes to grab a stuffed toy, wrap his paws around it and mouth it, almost like he is nursing. He has never ripped up a stuffie, torn one apart, chewed an ear off, or severed a limb.

Emme also "loves up" the stuffies the same as Rudy, but she also loves to bite the noses, ears, and any tags that are sewn into a seam. So we have many stuffies that have been mended on parts that stick out. One of her favorite chew spots is the bill of the heron stuffie. I have repaired the toy by running lines of machine stitches over the end of the bill many times and it is still in service. A little used, but still good.

Where's Emme?

You would think it would be hard to loose an active, lively, white puppy. Sometimes it seems Emme is all over the place and easy to see. She usually is right next to either Ken or me at all times.

Occasionally, however, Emme decides that she is going out on her own to explore. She often chooses to do this in the evening and usually the destination is the second floor. One of us realizes that Emme is not in the immediate vicinity. We call. She doesn't respond. She never does. We search and often find her upstairs alone exploring our bedroom or my sewing room. She doesn't seem to get into any trouble. She just seems to get wanderlust and needs an adventure.

Yesterday at breakfast, we didn't see Emme. We called. We looked all the first and the second floor. Then we realized that she was tucked under the cabinet in the dining room. Right next to us. Of course. After she stuck her head out and we located her, all was well. Where's Emme? Right next to us, as always.

Always Room for Jello

For the longest time, we have given Emme and Rudy "dessert" when they finish a meal. We say "There is always room for Jello." Then we take a tiny puppy biscuit, about 3/4 inch long, snap it in half and give one piece to each of the dogs after they sit nicely in front of us.

A few days ago, I asked why we do this. When did we start and why do the dogs get "Jello?" Neither Ken nor I could remember how it got started. It just wound up being a part of the meal routine: they each get a dish of food, piece of cheese with a pill in it, and then "Jello." There is no reason for the dessert. The size of the piece of puppy biscuit they get doesn't constitute any nutritional value; it is far too small. They should be full all ready from the meal they just finished. But now, of course, getting "Jello" is part of the unchangeable routine.

So I decided to stop giving them "Jello." The dogs know that we are doing things wrong. They are incensed that the meal ends without Jello. They watch us to make sure we haven't forgotten something. They do a nice sit in front of the treat jar. They don't like change. Don't we realize that there is always room for Jello?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Emme, Rudy, Ken and Mary Lou