Goodbye to a dear friend

Maja has grown quite a bit recently and she has totally outgrown her bed. When she sleeps in it, her head sticks out on one side and her hind legs on the other. Weird.. When she came here just a little less than three months ago, she could curl up in one corner of the bed.. But that bed was a trusted friend. The day we got Maja we also had tickets for a theater play. We picked her up in a neighbor town, drove for two hours, had exactly time enough to drop by a pet store to buy her some toys and a bed, and then we left her in the car - a new, strange car - for three hours. Shame on us.

But - she "adopted" her bed from the first second. That was where she curled up to feel safe, where she collected all her toys and goodies and where she - of course - slept at night. She love to come in to our bed in the morning, but she much prefers to sleep in her own bed at night :)

But, today it was packed down. We were almost a bit nervous to do it.. We went to a dogs exhibition to get a new one - thought it would be a fast deal, but we spent two hours searching, pondering and choosing. In the end we ended up with a black, furry, flat "mattress" bed.

And again - she took it as an of course that it was her property, fell in love with it at once, and is sleeping so softly on it now - fully stretched out, and both head and toes rest on the bed :)

Besides: a white dog on a black bed looks really nice :)

Today's favorite toys

1 - Maja in playing mood :) With flash on the camera, she looks like a small devil :)

2) An air cleaner for cameras. She has other chewing toys also, but this is by far her favorite one - she can chew on that  ferociously for ages. I wonder why exactly that one..

3) A rake. Seen as a wild, dangerous animal that should be hunted down and killed at once. Almost as funny as the the mop for cleaning the floor :)

4) "The bad chair".. I discovered this one by accident.. I grab the chair by its feet and push the seat towards Maja - she runs around me in circles, barks as h*** and tries to get to me while avoiding the chair..

Maja getting well :)

One and a half week or so since last health status..

On the good side, Maja's stomach seems to be ok, healthy and happy. That is a great relief to us, as the period with antibiotics shots was quite tough. Poo is a bit weird topic for a blog, but whatever: suffice to say that it is quite normal, but she poos much less now than before; two or three times a day compared to five or six. So, rice is doing it's magic.

On the bad side: she'd rather stay hungry than go back to dry food:) We went for the best and bought Tast of the Wild.. She gets BISON, for pete's sake.. But njeh... She sniffs, takes one or two, walks around in the house a bit and comes back for one and two more. Well, compared to fresh turkey breast, maybe dry food is not the very best:)

Being a dog owner is a blessing, but sometimes also frustrating, at least for me. It's really about time that we take her to courses! Maja is behaving really nicely, she sits for her food and in front of doors, doesn't beg by the table. Miracledog :) But going for a walk with her in the neighbourhood is still a test for my patience sometimes. Four steps and stop. Four steps and stop. Sometimes I really have to concentrate not to let my frustration shine through - she is still quite new to the neighbourhood and there are so many things around, so I really should be patient with her. Now I try to concentrate on that: we go for a walk not to go fast somewhere and come back, but it's her time to look around. The last walk we had we came to some sort of compromise: I decided where to go and we do NOT go back. Maja got full time to sniff and get more familiar with all the smells around.

Besides from that, I have been working quite a bit on the house outdoors lately, and she likes to stay outside with me. I am working on isolation - she is just goofing around, sniffing, digging a bit, running a bit, now and then running to the neighbours lawn - which she perfectly knows that she is not allowed to :)

She is getting more furry and is starting to look like a miniature "real" grown up doggie - I love her as a small puppy, but can't wait to see what she will look like when she grows up and becomes a full size dog :)

A Study in Sleep

Maja and Barack Obama

I had the weirdest dream last night: I was somehow working as assistent for Barack Obama, and of course Maja was with me all the time :) She was a bit younger, smaller and "puppy-ish" than what she already is.. At some point, Barack Obama held a huge press conference at a lawn somewhere. I was late for it, so I came running with Maja. She was not on a leash (bummer at a presidential press conference, I know!), so she ran away from me, in front of the audience and almost up to the Presiden (elect). I really had to shout to make her come back - again not the smartest thing at a press conference.The security guys of course went nuts and yelled at the poor dog - I had a long and serious talk with one of them afterwards, telling them to yell at her idiotic owner - me! - and not at the dog..

Now, WHERE ON EARTH do dreams like that come from :)

ILL

It has been a hard day again for dog and owners. 

The last days has been a bit strange. Maja has peed inside twice while being alone, which she normally never does, she needs to go out a lot, and when outside, she loves to lie in a pile of old leaves. Maybe it cools her down? The vet says that her peeing habits probably has nothing to do with mediaction, but we are really not sure.

The day started not bad - we went for a long walk in the neighborhood, and she is really starting to feel comfortable around here. That is a big step for a small dog, and it will make it so much easier for us. 

Then, a new visit to the vet. On the good side, this was the last round of shots. That is GOOD, because with her reaction today, we are not sure we would let her go through this again. It was very painful for her to walk, she has been lying on the floor crying the whole evening, for a long time not able to sleep. Also, she seems to be really warm, because she is panting with her tongue out, which we have never seen before, and with a very shallow and fast breath. Then, she peed on the floor with both of us inside, without warning, and that is something that has never happened before.  We carried her out so she could finish, praised her a lot and carried her in again, where she laid down totally depressed in her bed. Poor little. Now she sleeps.. Hope that will continue and that we will see a dog in normal bright morning mood tomorrow...

Another evening in bed.. And another day with antibiotics at the vet. She is not trying to run away or escape, she just hides her head in my armpit and takes it.. Poor little! And it is going to be three times more. It's a wonder why she hasn't started to dislike us already :) I would like to think that she knows that we do it for her own best, but I guess that would be too much projecting human thoughts on her?

We got her new food today.. After checking a little bit here and there, we ended up with Tast of the Wild (expensive as hell her in Lithuania..). It has no grain or corn ingrediences, lots of (named) meat, vegetables and fruit. Let's give it a try! Well.. after a while. We bought it, and then found out that Maja has to stay for rice and chicken diet for another two weeks.. Some cooking to do, then :)

Days are filled with small, strange things.. She is loosing her baby teeth (ample evidenve to the left). I haven't got a picture of it, but her canine teeth refuse to fall out while the new ones are coming, so she has double sets of canine teeth.. It looks a bit funny..

She was chewing on her favorite toy Paja (see picture of the buddies) yesterday when she lost one tooth. She bled quite a bit on Pajas head, and the whole thing looked spooky - like she really had killed the prey and was preparing to eat it.

Big, bad dog... ;)

Today's small victory was a walk around the neighborhood. But jumping and running and playing I cheated her to go much further than she actually dares to. She didn't understand where we were until a huge neighbor-dog (German shepherd) BOOOOFFFFED! She got much more curious than scared, actually, which bodes well for further walks! A whole new world is opening up! And for us it will be a relief not to have to drive for ten minutes to find a good place whenever we want to have a long walk !

Repost - joyful mornings

My owner posted this on his own blog some days ago.. I really liked it, so I asked him to post it here, too :)

My alarm goes off at 0630 in the morning.That is the time for Maja to come to bed :)

Up until then she has been sleeping in her own bed, quietly all night. She does not try to come into our bed in the evening and not during the night. But at 0630 she stands ready. 
She jumps in, takes her place between my girlfriend an me and almost howls for joy for a minute or two, then she streaches a bit, makes strange sounds like a small pig, and then falls happily asleep.
At 0700 me and Maja get up to go for a small walk and to get our breakfast.

With a walk and food coming up, it is always a fantastic day. It doesn't matter what the weather is or what I have dreamt. It is a new day, full of possibilities, new things to sniff, food, nice company, a little scratching behind the ear, maybe a goodie or two. Maja is wagging not only her tail, but her whole back part.

Stretch.... Yawn... Scratch... Wagwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwagwag.. No need to be sad or thoughtful about anything. It's a beautiful day. Let's go :)

Angels on the web

I have already found so much good advice, so much goodness and so many helpful persons on the Golden Retriever forum.

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/

I will use them (you) a LOT :) Thank you for the help, advice and patience you give to me and all others.

Tough visit at the vet

4 MONTHS and 27 days - 12.9 KILO

Maja is asleep, so I guess I have to do the writing today..

It has been a tough day for both owners and dog. The day started with a really bad walk. She so loves to run around in the forests and to meet other dogs, but here in the neighborhod she is scares and really doesn't want to walk anywhere. It's hard to find a balance - she needs to get to know the area, and at the same time I don't want to force her. Poor little, she sits down and tries to get into my lap. She just wants to get home as fast as possible.
So - bad stomach has lasted for some days (and this is not the first round..) She has been on a rice/chicken diet for three days, together with Canikur and Fermactive, but she has just gotten worse. This morning the pooh was just like brown water. It is bit scary, and we feel so sorry for her. So, a new trip to the vet. She is so patient there: shots and vaccinations.. Even when they came with the huge syringe for the identification chip, she just wagged her tail. But today she got three anitiotics shots, one in the neck and one in each leg, and my girlfriend said that today it really hurt. When I came home from work, she was really crying.. Ouch.. Few things are so heartbreaking as when a dog is crying for real. Sometimes they do it - I guess - to get attention. But sometimes it is for real - it really hurts, and I really don't feel well. I think I need a huge hug!

So, we just cross our fingers and hope that the shots do their work..
Ooooopss.. Sound like she is having a small nightmare.... Ssssshhhh.....

"Update": "Sick dog spending the day in bed":

Introducing myself

Hi :)

My name is Maja. I am a soon five months old golden retriever. I live in Vilnius in Lithuania with Stein and Jurgita, my owners. This is my blog :)
I came to my new owners a little more than two months ago. When they met me first time, I was a terribly scared, little hair of ball in the trunk of the sellers car.

Morning walk.. And throwing up..

Today I got up at half past six and was dragged out by Stein to to for a walk. I don't completely understand why he suddenly has got this idea that I should walk in the morning. All I want to do is to do my things, get back in, get my morning breakfast - mmmmmm - and jump into the big bed with Jurgita, my female owner. It's warm and nice there :)
But ok, as long as he wants to go for a walk, I can be a nice dog and give him company. We walked a bit in the neighbourhood today. I still don't feel completely sure there, there are so many dogs around and so many smells and the whole thing scares me a bit. Stein goes in front, I follow a bit, then stop.. Then he tells me to go on, I follow a bit. Still scary, but I hope I get used to it. I should, because it is actually really nice to walk around in the snow :)
Then in to a huge dish of rice and chicken. I have a bad stomach, so I'm on diet. Think I ate a bit too fast, because I threw up everything on the carpet the minute afterwards.. Sorry.. The second time I ate it (Stein finds that quite yucky..) I was a bit more careful. I should be - whatever it takes to avoid going back to that hated vet one more time..

Way to start a new dog-blog, huh? ;)