It is the middle of April in upstate NY. The days are reaching the mid 70’s and there is plenty of sunshine. The trees are starting to bud and the spring bulbs are peaking through the heated ground. Everyone is busy raking and getting flower and vegetable gardens ready for our “breath of freshair”. After being in our homes for almost 1/2 year it is truly like a re-birth.
So with that said, I will start my Greta update with her counterpart, Mr. Ren the Chihuahua! Here are some pictures of Ren while he has his short burst of energy:
Ren does get bursts of play time ‘maybe’ once a day. It lasts only for about 5 minutes…then he’s off to the water dish for a drink and back to sleep. He’s old now with a little arthritis in his back legs and a bit hard of hearing. But all in all…he’s a trooper. He weighs about 9lbs, which is actually larger than most chihuahuas. This particular breed has been mixed with a terrier blood line for disposition. Ren is very obedient and an all around good dog. ONLY PROBLEM…Ya just can’t potty train them. If we take him outside, he will do his duty. But if WE don’t take him out, he goes on the bathroom floor. So it is really US that is trained.
Due to their short hair, they don’t tolerate cold very well. So if you see people with a chihuahua with a sweater on and it’s cold out…the sweater is a must. They also burrough under blankets and even my clothes that I am wearing to get warm. Sometimes you will also notice them sleeping with their nose between their 2 front paws. That is so their warm breath is felt on their face. They obviously love the heat and it is very well tolerated during our summer months.
Now Miss. Greta on the other hand does excellent in the winter months. She tolerates the cold very well. The summer’s are killers for her. It is only springtime here and only in the mid 70’s and Greta is panting continuously. Today we had to take her pool out so she could cool down. Here are some pictures of her from today while we were outside ‘putting winter away and taking summer out’! 🙂
Miss. Greta just loves it outside. She has her favorite outside toys. Miss Greta is relentless when it comes to her toys. She is truly obsessive compulsive. We hardly get any work done outside. She is at us continuously to throw her toys so she can run after them. But when we notice her panting too hard, we just have to ignore her and stop playing with her. It doesn’t stop her from pestering us, but we do not interact with her.
We still love the invisable fence. It is truly a God sent. We put Greta’s collar on her everytime we go outside. It gives us a piece of mind. She knows the boundries and does NOT go but a few inches before she reaches them. We have had people with dogs walk by our home and she will sit there and bark but NEVER crosses that line.
Miss. Greta is really shedding pretty good right now. She isn’t actually blowing coat, but there is hair everywhere. We brush her just about every other day but the fur just keeps coming. And it’s not even really HOT here.
We still feed her Eagle Pack with cooked ground meat and eggs twice/day. She still sleeps in her crate at night and also if we are not home. Miss. Greta is still relentless when people come to visit. We’ve given in to the fact that she will always be that way. I guess we just aren’t very good ‘parents’.
Miss Greta’s new thing is when I take a shower. We have sliding glass shower doors on our bathtub. So when I get in the shower in the morning, she nicely slides these doors open, with her nose, just enough to get one of her toys through and drops them into the shower. Then I have to get it and throw it out through the shower doors and out the bathroom door so she can try to catch it. I can’t help but laugh at her during this entire process. So what use to be a 10 minute shower, turns into a 30 minute one.
Well, that’s what’s new with Miss. Greta and Ren for now. I will be back with new updates………..
"Greta Girl"...Our German Shepherd Dog 