Just chattin'
 

It cool here in Florida this morning (39). Since we're from Maine, that's not really cold, y'know. Higgins sends greetings to Toto waaaaay out there in the Colorado snow......

Was reading a post about trimming around the face and wanted to pass along a tip I got from the groomer here: When I told her that Higgins wouldn't let me do ANYTHING to his face, like washing it, she said: "God gave Yorkies a gift just for us: Their beards! Just get a handful of that beard and you have complete control over their head to do what needs to be done." She can still do it waaaaaaay better than me, but I'm getting the hang of it. It doesn't hurt them at all, just gives you a little control.

I talked to my daughter-in-law on the phone yesterday and she told me that Princess the Chihuahua and my son got in BIG trouble with the vet a couple of days ago. Princess was at the vet's for booster shots and her checkup and had gained weight. Chubby. And guess who feeds her all the little fattening goodies? My son. They both got a BIG lecture on the dangers of overweight for little dogs. Can cause liver problems and arthritis. (As a very overweight human, it sure wreaks havoc with my arthritis.) Said to NOT feed them little table goodies. And of course, we DO give Higgins those little table treats. I think the only reason he isn't overweight is that he RUNS all day long and burns it off. At any rate, when we took care of Princess in September while they were on their honeymoon, she had arrived fat and by the time they came back in two weeks, she was svelte and trim from running around the yard with Higgins. They live in an apartment, so she doesn't get as much exercise. My 13 year old grandaughter's comment was "Princess needs to go back to Grandma's Fat Camp!"

Higgins will be one year old on December 28th. Hard to believe -- where does the time go??? He has been eating Natural Choice Puppy kibble, and I'm wondering when he should go to eating "adult" food. The puppy food has more fat.....does he need it now? I can get Royal Canin here (can't find it in Maine) and I think I may try that......I'll keep ya posted.

That's our morning thoughts this lazy Sunday. Got all my Christmas shopping done, wrapped, and ready to mail: Gift Cards from Barnes & Noble for everyone! Easy when we're on the road, and the grandkids LOVE 'em.

Hope you and your dear little furbabies are all fine and dandy today!

Mary Ellen

The royal canin adult Yorkie bag says for 10 mo and over.

Gee....39 is COLD for FL!! I'm in NM at almost 6000ft and it is only 43 this morning. Bundle up! Bet Higgins is glad you can make him sweaters!!

I will have to try the beard trick because Bradley won't let us trim his face at all. It's 32 in Michigan today. Snowed last night and now we have a weather warning for 2-3 inches. I really don't like the cold or snow lol.

Glad you're enjoying Florida!! I'll have to look up my converter to see what the temps are in degrees celcius!! Well I know but it's been a while now since I used degrees fahrenheit - our temperature here today was 11 degrees and what I don't know is how to compare that to yours! OMG I'm rambling ...!!
That was funny about the beards!! I'll try that one!! Are you touring or in one place? Really interesting to hear about your adventures! Love, Ana xx

We took 16 days to get down to Florida from Maine and enjoyed the touring and visiting with kids and grandkids along the way. But now we are all set up in a lovely RV park we stayed in last year, with lots of good friends who have also come back this season. As soon as I can get Don organized enough to send some pics to my computer, I'll post some of our campsite. And the HEATED pool......yummmmm......but I can't find my bathing suit......waaaaaaahhhhhh........and when I went bathing suit shopping the other day, I just wanted to dive off the nearest bridge.......I hate being fat......waaaaaaaaahhhh.......That's my whine for today.

its cold her not sure of the degrees anyway i dont even bother triming brownies beard he dont let me at all its prob a yorkie thing weird oh i feed brownie hes 2 years old and kayko hes 7 months nutro max for puppies cause brownie so hyper it help him keep weight on and hes very picky like every yorkie and he loves it so much . have fun in your heated pool:( my friend mite be getting a hottub :)

Thanks for the beard trick, Higgin's Mom! :) I've got to remember that one next time we trim his facial hair. I hope it doesn't hurt him or anything, I would think not.

Doesn't hurt 'em a bit. Just grab those little whiskers and turn his head any way you want it. Getting HOLD of the whiskers has proved to be tricky for me -- that little devil KNOWS what I'm aiming to do and he wriggles that chin faster and faster so those whiskers are hard to get hold of........

lol tried it last night...he acted like he knew what we were gonna do, he ran and wouldnt let us lol

I swear some of 'em are mind readers! LOL

It is very cold for florida and i don;t like it at all...Mojo seems to love it tho...hehehe I will try that beard trick, but i got to say, Mojo is very good to me at grooming time.

As per the time to change the food, it kinda varies from brand to brand, but it shouldn't be done before they're 10 months old. I only changed when Mojo turned a year, as per explained by my vet, small breed dogs do most of the growing before 6 months but their little body still developing until they are 1 year old. Also, i heard giving puppy food for adult dogs can make them overweight because of the extra fat, and also they might be short on other supplements.

lilsarahboo21, your puppy is so funny. We do the beard thing... as least I do. Our breeder showed us. It does not hurt them at all . All you do it hold the chin here close so you have control. Do not hold the ends of the hair only the base, after a while they will know to stay still when you groom them... I have no issue with chelsey or chester. when it come to triming... the beeder also showed me tick to riming around the eye. Make sure the sissors go staight up diaginal pointing in the air across the upper nose. So that if they move while your are triming the hair near the eye you will never hurt them. it's hard to discribe but easier if you see it. You actually get a closer trim that way as well

Also what i do for tooth brushing is ... put the chicken toothpaste on the brush and tell them open while they enjoy brushing. Now if they need to take medication... I just use my finger like a brus and say open...and they open there mouth... no biting my fingers and no struggles. The vet was also impress to she chester open his moth for medicine... now if i could just get him to stop barking. :(

Higgins ,Enjoy Florida, it snowing here in toronto

ygeorge the little pic next to your name is that a white puppy ? if so what is it ?

Does that trick work for nail trimming? That's my nemisis right now. She tolerates teeth brushing and hair combing etc. But nail cutting or sissors cutting and I have a wild cat on my hands. Will certainly try it when I cut around her face. Although at the moment, I thought I would let it grow and see what she looks like in full coat. Besides I live in Butte, Mt. and it gets 20 to 40 below in the winter. It has been mild so far this winter, so am hoping we will have a good winter. Poor dog will probably freeze to death to go out and go potty!
Pat

Oh! By the way, don't beat yourself up on the weight. As an overweight grandmother. I know how you feel! My husband always wants to go swimming with me. I wouldn't let him see me in a swimming suit if he gave me a million dollars! I'm sure you have tried a million diets as I have, and nothing seems to work. I have arthritis so bad that one can't really do much, then the weight is harder to control. I've had back surgery and just say no to any other surgery. Too scared. So enjoy your Florida winter and your dog and your life!

Hi browniesmom622,

yes chester is the yorkie on the left. I know he is hard to see but I can not get the picture bigger. Chelsey is on the right. She is a Maltese.. 12 weeks in that picture and day two in our home. They got along right away as you can tell they were just sitting there beside each other so I snaped the picture.
Mind you they are not always sitting still anymore.. they have to much fun together. This may be a better picture of them attached.

mybirdys2003 for nail cutting all I can say is keep playing with there paws. chelsey hated it when I cut her nails at first. I play with her paws everytime I pick her up.. she still does not like it but she does not strugel anymore. I always clip her nails after her bath it is softer then. I think it is more of the sound of the clipers that bug them then the nail cliping.

Aw they are so cute. My mom had a little Maltese and it was her constant companion. She only weighed 2 # so was a tiny one. We all loved Lucy and when she died last year, it was a great loss, as she was the last thing we had left of mother.
I do play with her paws as does my husband. Last week was the first time I toweled her to clip them, and don't think I will do that again. She went bananas! It just shouldn't be like that. So, every morning after her grooming, I pick up her foot and a clippers and just touch them to the nail...That's all....Maybe she will get use to it a little bit by doing that, I don't know. They can be tigers, though, can't they?
Pat

yeah, I think it is more the noise then anything. Do you use regular clipers for the once for dogs. the one where you can put a small part of the nail inside i find that to be better then the normal clipers. Also when Chester all we can do is judge it as all his nails are black except for one. so I only take of a very small amount to make sure no acidents will happen.

Chester and Chelsey were both groomed by there beeders so that might have helped too. I know chelsey does not like the sound of the clipers. Other then that she is really good. Maybe try to give her some treats too while your doing it to distract her.

We tried to do Bradley's nails the other day and all we did was pick him up and had the clippers next to him and he went nuts crying. He sounded like we were gonna kill him or something. He is such a BIG baby!!!! I will just have to take him to my friends sister's again to get trimed and all the other stuff, she has 6 yorkies so she knows what she is doing. She was a big help to me when we first got Bradley.

Yeah, I take treats and break them up smaller so I can give her more. She can''t be bribed! Dang! I started using the clippers because I couldn't seem to see good enough with the sissors type. Was afraid I would take too much off. Her nails are also all black so can't see the vein. I just take the tips off tooo, I try to do it twice a month. But what a chore! When she had her stitches out after being spayed, the girl came out sweating. I said hard, huh? She said my god! It took three of us to do it. That can't be good either. Just hoping I can get her to let me do it without too much of a fuss. One thing I noticed about Yorkies is, they don't bluff. I think you could probably try to scare the heck out of them and they would just think Yea! You don't scare me! Ha! Pat

Oh yeah , you can't fool a yorkie they are way to smart for that.
I sware somtimes Chester is just laughing at us. Sometimes he plays dumb.. but we figured out he knows just what we mean. I mean the other day I let both chester and Chelsey out to play in the back. I said come, and inside.. chester came in but not chelsey.. she hates coming back in.. and it was snowing...and me in my PJ's refuse to go out and get her.. I said chester go get chelsey... he ran down the stairs an up the stairs to go get her but she would not follow. So I said darn, went to go get my long coat. when i turned around I saw chester coming throw the back door with chelsey following him.. he had run in to get the stuffy they play with to trick her and it worked. He is so smart. She saw that toy and followed him up the stairs... Oh he got lots of treats... but I tell yeah he does what he wants when he feels like it.. if it had noting to do with chelsey forget it. Any mybirdys2003 do you think maybe he had a bad experience before you got him with the cliping of the nails. Because if you clip to low once they will never let you do it again. They will always rember. Mybe try talking nice in very low voice and stoking his back and then wrap him in a towel so he can not move to much and then take one paw and talk to him again and stoke his paw. Don't clip them that day. Try that for like two to three days and then clip one nail and give a treat. Do it again the next day and clip an other nail and so on. lets cross or fingers.

Will try that! I"ve been wondering myself if she didn't have a bad experience. Of course the vet's office doesn't help either when I bring her in. I can hear her yelling when they clip her nails on routine visits. She is a power house of 3#, let me tell you. However, I must say she wouldn't let me brush her teeth, and now we do it every day. Same with brushing the hair etc. It's just mostly the nails. Don't know if I will ever get her to cooperate or not.
That was a GREAT STORY about your two dogs! Boy they are smart afn't they? If mine won't come in, I just come in and close the door and she runs right up to be let in. She won't let me out of her sight! Unless ,of course, it's nail clipping time. Ha! Ha! Pat

closing the door works for chester the yorkie but not Chelsey . I tried that before. She will just keep runing around even without chester. She does not mind the cold at all or even the snow or rain. She should be a post girl .
I can't even bribe her with treats.. only chester can get her inside.. she is something... Well i wish you luck with the nails. Maybe keep trying by yourself... if she is screming at the vet.. she will always be afraid of the vet when you take her in. I guess you have to gain her trust that you won't hurt her. maybe brus her teeth first and then try the nails..One day at a time... I'm sure it will work out.

Let's hope! I am touching the clippers to her nail after her teeth every morning. What a struggle! But am hopeful she will get use to it! Please!!!!!! Pat