Puppy Pictures, More Suggestions For Allergy Relief

Well, it's been quite a week and I must apologize for my late posting this week. Our university was closed on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so we spent a rather lazy day with the dogs and puppies inside where we were out of the really, really frigid weather Illinois has been having all week. I groomed Rafe and Walker while I watched the Inauguration festivities on CNN and MSNBC. We took the weekly puppy pictures of Mallory, Max, and Ellie—and here it is, Thursday, and I am finally getting a chance to post them.

As you see, the trio is growing and coats are getting longer and fluffier. This was a week of firsts for them and they were not quite sure what to think of it all. Maggie has decided she can only take them in small doses now. They maul her, the poor thing and she looks at me with such sad eyes that I just have to rescue her. On Monday, the puppies had their first baths. Oh my…Mallory was a trooper and did not fuss at all until the rinse. Ellie wasn't thrilled but didn't protest except for pancaking in the sink and not wanting to stand on all four legs. She disliked having her face and head washed, but that runs in the family. Both Grandpa Walker and Grandpa Connor hate that part of the bath also! Max was quite vocal in his protests (i.e., he screamed like a banshee when the water hit his head). Tuesday brought other firsts: their first car ride and trip to the vet's office for their first check ups and vaccinations. It was so cold outside that I warmed the car for 20 minutes and then covered their crate with a quilt to protect them from the cold wind! All passed their check ups with flying colors. Max was the only one who screamed when he got his vaccination. I detect a pattern here!

Ellie, 7 weeks

Max, 7 weeks

Mallory, 7 weeks

Raven's puppies

 The plan for Wednesday was to take Raven to the vet for an x-ray to see how many puppies she was carrying. You know what Robert Burns said about the "best laid plans of mice and men…". Raven had other ideas. By 8:00 Tuesday evening, it was obvious she was nesting. I got no sleep Tuesday night. Her first puppy, a black male, was born around 12:30 AM. That was it. We waited and waited and waited. Raven and her baby were cuddled up warm and content. I kept thinking, "Is that it?" I knew she was not going to have many because she was not very large, but was thinking two or three. So I sat up with her the rest of the night, checking every 15 minutes or so "just in case." About 6:30, I decided she should go out to potty and as I was carrying her to the ex-pen in the garage, I felt contractions! Puppy number 2, a gold male, was born about 7:00 AM. Everyone is doing well. She is an attentive mother who doesn't want to leave them. They are good nursers and very upset when I make her leave them to take a potty break.

I received nice email from Balika, a reader who lives in India and owns a Lhasa. She told me about her Lhasa, Rayna, and went on to say, "…Thank you for your posts. I look forward to them eagerly. Though I don't breed, I like knowing about your puppies and seeing their pictures reminds me of when Rayna was very little. I imagine your heart must tear a little each time you have to give them away. But what you do is important. The Lhasa Apso is an amazing breed and in this new wave of anti-breeder sentiment, we don't realise that we stand to lose our common heritage if we stop breeding dogs…". She also said she liked my "Life is good when you have a Lhasa to love you!" phrase. Thanks for the note Balika!

Recall that I asked a few weeks ago if readers who had experiences with Lhasas and allergies would write to let us know what worked. Vickie sent some suggestions and helpful links:
Omega 3s as a supplement in the 700-1000 mg range, 3 times a week up to daily, depending on what's going on and what the dog's response is.

• A good, cheap OTC is Chlorpheniramine (my vet recommended this for seasonal allergies) ... Treating Skin Allergies With Chlorpheniramine for Dogs - VetInfo. I buy generic at Wal-Mart, always have some on hand.
• Feeding a grain-free premium food or, if that doesn't work, going to a limited-ingredient food (4 ingredients or less) to start a food trial, i.e., what triggers are coming up.
• Avoiding treats with wheat/corn/soy.
• More frequent baths/grooming and bedding changes.
• Using a shampoo with salicylic acid ... Amazon.com: Fresh n Clean Medi-Cleen Medicated Shamp 18oz: Pet Supplies ... or an olive oil bar ... Olivella USA : Virgin Olive Oil Bar Soaps Hypoallergenic, Natural Olive Oil Soaps, Italian Olive Soaps, Antiaging Super Soap Ol.
• If an allergy episode is particularly bad, I will resort to TEMARIL-P to get it under control and then move on to the more holistic methods outlined above.

If you'll recall, other readers previously suggested Blue Buffalo dog food, the NZYMES kit, and the AllerQi supplement. Thanks to all of you for sharing your suggestions and experiences.

Today I am experimenting with the formatting of the blog post to see if I can fix the problem that readers using Internet Explorer have had with accessing the posts. If you are one of those readers who changed from IE to Chrome, Firefox, or another browser so you could read this, try going back to IE and see if you can now access the posts. Then please let me know.

Life is better when you have a Lhasa to love you!
Joyce