November 2009 – “Happy Thanksgiving”

Well here we are again in upstate NY, waiting for our first snow flakes to arrive. Not that we are in a hurry! But it is that time of the year for us. Actually, it has been pretty mild. In the 50’s and sometimes in the 60’s. That is warm for us in November. Thanksgiving is next week, and we’d like to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. It isn’t quite Thanksgiving yet and I have started my Christmas Shopping. The sales are great and there is no snow on the ground. Not to mention that our family is very large, so there are many to buy for. Christmas is, by far, my most favorite time of the year! I feel like I’m a kid again. (and that was decades ago)

Well on to Miss Greta. She is still a sweetie. And I have some pictures that I took tonight to show you. This first one is Miss Greta laying on the rug by our bed:

This next picture of Miss Greta, is her ON the bed:

And lastly is a picture of Ren, our 14 year old chihuahua, who is almost all white/grey now from old age:

Mr. Ren is thankfully still with us. He can hardly hear and can’t walk too well on his left back leg. He sleeps most of the time, but gets spurts of energy once in a while. They only last about 5 minutes. Mr. Ren is still smiling and seems to be adapting to his old age. We still keep him and Miss Greta apart.

We feed Mr. Ren Eagle Pak for senior dogs. And we don’t feed him anywhere near what we use to. We find that if he eats too much, he gets sick. Miss Greta on the other hand, still gets her Eagle Pak twice a day. In the morning it is mixed with a scrambled egg. In the evening it is mixed with cooked ground hamburg and cut up cheese.

Miss Greta is still VERY active. She still loves being outside. She’s been out quite a bit these last few weeks, as we were outside raking leaves. Miss Greta still lacks the social graces when visitors come to the house. Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve, she will have to stay in her crate. We will be having family over for dinner and presents, which will be about 20-25 people. And we always have Santa pop in unexpectedly for the little ones. Can you imagine what Miss Greta would do if she saw SANTA! 🙂

Well, until next time, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And if I’m not back before December 25th, have a happy and blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

A Miss Greta Update

Well, here we are in upstate New York and just waiting for Spring to arrive. There is still little snow on the ground. But due to the rain, it is very muddy to say the least. This makes for a messy outdoor run with Miss Greta. There are only certain parts of our back yard that is yet solidly saturated with mud. So we try to pick the areas she can romp on. And that is a difficult task.

Greta is still Greta. She is still just one big puppy with a lot of energy and lovable personality.  Here she is with a “new” toy. It is a squeeky fish that is also made out of that canvas like material. One of the only ones she can’t chew threw.

We also use to have two bowls for her. One for her water and one for her food. They were both kept on the kitchen floor. We found that it was becoming difficult for her to eat as she grew larger. She would actually pick the food up with her mouth and then lift her head to chew and swallow. So we ordered this from Foster and Smith which has made a great difference in her eating. Both bowls are made of a heavy ceramic which is much easier to clean. She is much more comfortable eating now.

Now even though we have both a food bowl and a water bowl for her, she still prefers the good old toilet for fresh cold water!

Now isn’t that a sight? 🙂

Miss Greta is still very playful and still just loves her toys. She would play fetch ALL DAY if only we had the stamina to do it.

Miss Greta still sleeps in her crate at night and loves it. We are sure that she would be fine out of the crate at night while we sleep. But she prefers her crate. We still feed her Eagle Pack with gound cooked meat and 2 scrambled eggs. We continue to mix a teaspoon of Shed-X in her food which keeps her coat beautiful and cuts down on her shedding.  Anyone who owns an animal can certainly relate to that! When they start shedding, my vacuum cleaner is never put away.

My husband continues to take her for walks which she totally enjoys. But one thing we find is that she NEVER gets tired.

She is still a maniac when people come over. She cries, whines, barks and jumps all over everyone. We are still waiting for that to get better. IF EVER! Miss Greta still loves to chase the birds at our bird feeders and chase the squirles and rabits. She never catches them and we don’t know if it is because she is just not fast enough, which we find hard to believe. Or if she just does it for the fun of the chase.

We still don’t put her and Ren, the chahuahua together. I know I have said before that I would take some pictures of Ren and post them. But Ren isn’t quite as animated as Miss Greta is. Pictures of Ren would mostly be of him sleeping. That’s about all the poor guy does. He does engage in some playtime, but it only lasts about 2 minutes. Then Ren is back to his little bed or on your lap for a rest.

Well that is my update for now. We will be back………..