Infected Canine (Puppy) Acne?

Dakota and Cheyenne have both had puppy acne before - a pimple here or there but now I am concerned. Last night we started to notice blood on certain things that Cheyenne was brushing up against or putting her head on. We took a closer look and found that her puppy acne exploded and it is just getting worse!

My poor baby! This was just taken a couple of minutes ago and there is both pus and blood coming out of several areas of her giant bump of a chin. I put some hydrogen peroxide on a tissue and dabbed her chin (which she wasn't very pleased about) and otherwise it doesnt seem to be bothering her.

We think it was getting worse cause of the rubber Everlasting Treat ball that she has been going crazy on - trying to stick her whole face in there to get the treats - like a mad woman! So, we took it away last night and after playing fetch with her sister this afternoon, she rubbed against the arm of the chair and there were streaks of blood again.

We have an appointment on Saturday for routine shots and will bring this up to the vet and have asked our breeder and Lab friends for some assistance. Hopefully this will clear up in no time and our sassy girl will return to normal.

Just Too Cold!

I swear we have the ying and yang of Labrador Retrievers. Dakota loves it to be sunny an mild - around 70 degree would be perfect. On the other hand is Cheyenne - who loves when it is 10 degrees outside and snowing a blizzard! So where does that leave us? With two very depressed dogs at this moment.

Yes, it is cold and snowy out, so Cheyenne would be in heaven. However, there is a wind chill of negative 6 (-6) degrees out and just way too cold for either us humans or Dakota to put our bodies outside. Alas, Cheyenne is depressed because no one wants to go outside and play with her and Dakota is depressed cause she misses the warmer weather. (I swear, if Dakota could get any closer to the heating vents right now, she would be IN them!)

And the weather man says it is supposed to get even colder in the next few days! If we keep this up, the girls will have so much energy by spring time that they will be walking on the ceilings!

A Few Days Home

After an unfortunate health problem on Monday, I have been bound to my house until my health returns to normal. I have been blessed with the opportunity to work from home and some people think it is such a great thing. However, these are the same people that don't have Labrador Retrievers.

Dakota and Cheyenne have instantly taken to mommy being home and Cheyenne thinks I should sit on the floor with her and let her lay her head on my laptop keyboard. Dakota, on the other hand, verbalizes her enthusiasm in the form of "Mommy is home! Let's play!"

Needless to say, sometimes it is easier to work in the office. Yet again... no one at the office greets me with Cheyenne's smile or Dakota's happy butt wiggling. Although, if someone wagged their butt in the office, I am sure it would make for a good laugh. Either way, I much rather these positive influences on my life then all the negativity that exists in the office. We should really have a "Bring your dog to work day" each week. I know my Lab Brats would easily flush out all the negativity in that building!

What am I thinking??

Every once in a while, I like to check out our Lab breeder's website to see what's new. Now before you go off on me, I will fully stand up for the fact that our Lab Brats came from a breeder and were not rescues. Why? Honestly, I am allergic to come breeds of dog and you can never tell with rescues what they are mixed with. Now, pushing that conversation aside, let's get back on topic.

Upon looking at her page, I noticed that she has a black and chocolate litter due in mid-February. My heart raced at the thought of another little chocolate puppy running around our house and annoying the heck out of Cheyenne (getting her back for all that time she tormented Dakota with those sharp puppy teeth). Then my smile turned to a laugh. I have got to be joking!! The thought of heavy wagging tails that bruise my legs, having many objects in my house chewed, housebreaking every 2 hours in the freezing cold Wisconsin winter, sharp little shark teeth, and so on, came flooding back to me. Sure, we love Lab puppies and don't regret our girls one bit but we haven't been over that stage for more than 6 months and after having back-to-back puppies in our house, I think we need a break. Lab pups are not for the weak spirited and I am far from weak spirited. However, I am smart minded and will sit back and enjoy what I currently have thank-you-very-much. *laugh*

Party Labrador Style

Ever have a puppy that you think is made up of 99% energy? Every time I look at Cheyenne, I always think she is just about to burst with the amount of energy and excitement she has. Coming home from a long day at work is like entering an instant Labrador party. Dakota greets us with not only her tail wagging but the whole lower half of her wags as well. Soon, I figure, she is going to hit her rear end into her head. The weight of her tail makes you jump for clearance or else be dealt new bruises from this wagging weapon. Cheyenne, on the other hand, just can't keep her excitement bottled up. She not only greets us with a wagging tail but will jump in place and grab her fleece tug toy. No, she does not grab the tug toy to play tug with us, she shows it to us to let us know how excited she is. If we try to tug on it, she drops it instantly. You can't help but laugh because she never drops her tug. However, when the tails are in motion and the excitement is high, there is no need for party favors such as tug toys. Now if the clock would just start ticking faster so I can get home and join the Lab party!

Winter Energy

With the holidays, the last few weeks have been hectic around our home. We were able to get through the holidays without any vet visits due to Cheyenne consuming something she shouldn't, which made us extremely happy. The lack of vet visits allows us to be able to enjoy time with our two chocolate pups and give them all the love and attention they need. Of course, with the cold weather, energy levels in our house have been at all all-time high. Dakota is obsessive compulsive with their new stuffed Christmas toys. The poor duck and hedge hog stood no chance once the girls found that they quack and make a hedge hog type noise. Now, Dakota sits by the top of the staff, wanting to venture down into the rec room where we have hidden the poor creatures from her huge drooling mouth. Unfortunately, we are unable to keep her busy otherwise because it is just too cold outside to draw her attention to a ball or Frisbee. So, we have broken down and signed the brats up for doggy daycare once again for once a week. Although they are on the list and it could take some time to get them into the daycare, it is well worth the wait in order to get that Labrador energy out of them during the colder months. I just pray that our house is not, once again, flooded by kennel cough and unnecessary vaccinations. Only time will tell but at least for now we have a light at the end of the Lab energy tunnel!