Tin Shed Cafe

We had to head into Portland today to redeem some of our ticket vouchers for the Portland International Film Festival.  Since we hardly head into town these days, we decided to take Quigley to the Tin Shed Cafe (http://tinshedgardencafe.com/) on NE Alberta.  I'd read that this place was dog-friendly from PortlandPooch.com.

We arrived there, and entered into their "garden" area which was a nice, cozy, and warm seating area.  We got to sit right next to the fireplace, which was a plus, especially for Kath. =)  There was another cute dog there who was older and didn't really want to play with Q.  Quigley of course was insistent on trying to get her to play, or at least to say "hi".  Eventually though, she did come around, but we think it was more because we were hand-feeding Quigley, hehe.  Overall, Q was well behaved, even though he barked a bit.

As far as dinner went, it was delicious.  I had the "Salmon & Spice" sandwich, which had a tasty, perfectly cooked salmon fillet with a tasty chipotle sauce.  Kath had the "Peter Piper Picked a Pesto", which was a tasty pasta with pesto sauce and mushrooms.  (More complete descriptions are on the restaurant website.)  Anyways, the food was great, the atmosphere was great, and being dog-friendly is a definitely a plus.  We can't wait to go back again!

First Day of School

Quigley started Puppy Training Class last night (Monday, 2/22) at PetSmart.  Q had quite a few classmates, most of whom were purebreed dogs from breeders. They were all so cute. Quigley seemed to like Ripley, an American Bulldog, as they greeted each other when we were leaving, and also while we shopped the store after class.  Naturally, Quigley was his usual loudmouth self.  Marj, the trainer, had to give him a Bully Stick to get him to stop barking.  Even though we didn't do a whole lot on the first day, that little bit seemed to help quite a bit, as we got a few great tips, and a new angle on various things that we'd read about in the past.  We really look forward to the next seven classes.  Good boy, Quigley, Good Boy.

Dog's First Day at the Beach

On Friday, Quigley had received his 3rd shot for Distemper, and also his Rabies shot.  With the great weather, and Q fully immunized, we decided to take Quigley to the beach on Saturday.  We picked up Uncle Jojo in Corvallis and then headed over towards Newport, and then up to Lincoln City.

The first stop in our itinerary was Beach Dog Cafe on the South side of town.  It's a cute little place with limited seating, but apparently it gets pretty busy, so we expected a wait.  We couldn't have arrived at a more perfect time.  We parked right in front of the place, got there just in time to beat a rush of people, and were able to seat ourselves at their only outside table so that Q could sit with us.  We had the stuffed french toast and the Coney Dog.  Mmm, mmm, good!  In all the times we've been to Lincoln City, why hadn't we discovered this place sooner? 

Another thing that brought a smile to our faces, was the cutest little boy that Sonja, one of the owners, brought out to say hi to Quigley and a pit bull who had arrived not long after. He was sooooo happy to see the dogs. You had to see the smile on his face, it was truly infectious.

You can tell that they are very dog friendly there, as the walls are decorated with pictures of their patrons' dogs.  (Picture of Quigley, pending, hehe)  They also offered Quigley a delicious treat that we found out was available at Paws On The Sand, located on the North side of town..

Naturally, our next stop became Paws On The Sand, which was a great little pet store with very friendly people.  We picked up a floating Kong on a rope, and a bag of the Darford holistic dog treats that Q had tried earlier.  The people there absolutely loved Q, and gave him some more cute little treats.

After that, we made our way towards the beach, and introduced Q to sand.  I'm not sure what he thought of it at first since he kept falling and shoving his face in it, getting covered in sand.  It was so cute.  Once he got to the harder, wet sand, walking became much easier.  We let him sorta play fetch with his new frisbee (run after it and try to pick it up), chase after us, say hi to more people and dogs.  We also did a little bit of training, doing sit-stay, come, and lie down, which he did pretty well for being in a new environment with so many new things all around.

After playing at the beach for a few hours, we drove south to Newport for dinner.  We went to the Chowder Bowl at Nye Beach.  While we waited for our food outside, Quigley met even more people, including some kids.  He did fairly well with all the new people, even the kids, though he did jump up a few times, and nipped a little when he shouldn't have.  Overall, though, he did a good job.

After dinner we finally made the long trip back to Corvallis to drop off Uncle Jojo and then bring our fun day to a close.  It was a great trip for the four of us.  Quigley seemed to have a blast exploring his new play area and meeting all the friendly people and dogs.  The coast will definitely be a destination for us when the weather is nice again. =)

A Good Puppy Is A Tired Puppy

We didn't get to take Quigley out for a run today at lunch, but luckily he ran around the inside of the house once we got him and the house all cleaned up.  Hopefully he'll have a nice long nap this afternoon.  Sweet Dreams, Quigley.

Poopy Puppy Paws

Have you ever stepped in dog poo?  It's a pretty bad feeling, even with shoes on, right?  Some of you may even remember my really bad incident in New York.  That was  pretty bad.  Well, I've got one up on even that.  Poopy Puppy Paws.

Poopy Puppy Paws are somewhat inevitable.  And they're not soo bad if you witness it, so that you can immediately clean 'em up.  But coming home to a puppy with Poopy Puppy Paws who's stepped all over the hallway, bathroom, his crate, and toys....   Ick!  Yep, that's what we had to deal with on our lunch break today.

Quigley, if somehow you're reading this, please try not to step in your poop.  We were going to take you on a nice walk and enjoy some sun today.  Maybe next time we can actually do that if you don't get another episode of Poopy Puppy Paws.

Puppy Scare

Anyone who's ever felt sick and vomited knows how bad one must feel in that situation.  Being a puppy parent and seeing my puppy vomit without knowing why is a very scary situation.  What did Q eat?  When did he eat it?  Is he going to be OK?  What did I miss that I should've caught?  Did he drink too much beer? (just kidding)  And then on top of that to see him chow down on his vomit as if he hadn't eaten in days....   Absolute horror is all that I can say to describe what I felt last night.

Q actually vomited twice last night.  Once at around 10pm, which appeared to be just a little bit (I woke up too late to really tell).  And the second time was at around 1-1:15am, which was a whole lot.  We decided to give him some plain rice to help settle and fill his stomach.  Not long after, he pooped what appeared to be normal looking poop, so we felt a little more relieved, but still worried and shaken up, nonetheless.

This morning Quigley seemed OK.  He ate breakfast like usual, and barked at everyone outside when I wanted him to just go potty.  He didn't really want to go walking, like usual, but he did play "fetch" inside the house, and then ran his usual laps around the living room, kitchen and dining room for a little bit.  We hope that whatever it was that bugged him last night is now gone, and hopefully can be easily avoided next time.  I just wish I knew what it was....

Puppy Pad Destruction, Part Deux

So I think I spoke too soon in the first edition of Puppy Pad Destruction.  Yesterday (2-16), we came home to a destroyed puppy pad, poop and pee in the bathroom, and smears of poop on the bathroom floor and part of the floor outside of the bathroom.

I have no idea when all of this happened, as my camera wasn't pointed there.  I might have to rearrange my cameras to help pinpoint the issue.

Large Litter of Lovely Little Precious Puppies

As you may have heard, Quigley came from a large litter of 12.  I just thought I'd share some pictures of his mom, and his brothers and sisters.

Carmella, the Mom:

 

 And here are all of her pups.

Addie:

Barkley:

Barney:

Benji:

Digby:

Duffy:

Holly:

Quigley:

Raven:

Saylor:

Skipper:

Zora:

All of the puppies were adopted that Saturday, except for Zora, who was another of the pups I was interested in.  I found out that she was adopted later, as well as Carmella. =)  Yay!

Escape Artist

Quigley isn't a hound, although many people think he's a beagle when they first see him.  But if he was a beagle, we may have had to give him the nickname "Houndini".  This guy is so smart, trying to figure things out, and taking to training pretty well.  But back to the "Houndini" comment...

When we first setup Quigley's area, we got a "SuperYard XT" from Babies R' Us.  It's the exact same thing as the version branded for pets and sold at PetSmart and PetCo, but at a much lower price.  It's 26" high, and has 6 sides.  We used part of it to try and keep him from going towards the garage door, and the part of it to keep him from getting into the living room while we were at work.

At first, we thought great, this'll be perfect, which it was for maybe a day.  Kath came home from lunch, only to find that he was on the other side of the fence!  We figured that he must've figured out a way to push the fence out enough so that he could squeeze between it and the wall.

Next, we tried blocking the fence with some chairs, boxes, etc.  Nope, that didn't hold him back.  One time at home, we found that he figured out how to pull the fence in towards him, and squeeze out that way!

So I rearranged the setup, zip-tying one side of fence to his crate, and sliding the other end between the refrigerator and the wall.  This way, we could still walk over the fence to get to the garage, bathroom and laundry room.  Nope, Kath came home once again to find him on the other side of the fence....and on his way down the stairs!   Freedom called him and, he went running.

After that, I took an unneeded section of fence, and attached a vertical portion to try and keep him from jumping.  Sure enough, he weaseled his way through the gaps and over the fence.  I caught him on the "Puppy Cam" that I setup to watch him while we're away.  I used my old EyeToy Cameras (PlayStation2) and www.HomeCamera.com.  I get a TON of emails now, since it sends me an image whenever it detects motion from Q, or a shift in lighting, since I have it set to super sensitive.

 

Next, I instead made the bottom section taller, using zip ties to hold the two pieces together.  I also used the last section to block him from jumping on top of his crate, just in case.  In order to make it still passable for everyone else but Quigley, I used some carabiners and a dowel as a sort of quick-release system.  Sure enough, Q found a way out of this as well!

 

This was fixed by a single binder clip that keeps him from lifting the dowel.  So far, this setup has been impervious to his attempts at escape.  I just fear the time when he's bigger and can just knock it all down.  Hopefully by then, we can just leave him in his crate while we're at work.

Gee whiz, this dog has too much time on his hands.  Get a job, Quigley. You're a working dog, right?  =)

Puppy Pad Destruction!

We came home from work yesterday (2/15) to discover that Quigley had shredded his puppy pad.  There were some big pieces, and smaller pieces, and then some teenie-weenie pieces.  Dang, dog..... that's not what it's for!  On the plus side, at least he didn't pee all over the floor, just in the bathroom, where he's supposed to.  Also, his poop was on the bathroom floor, so we were glad for that.  He could've flung it around from tearing up the pad....or worse.....eaten it again!  Yuck!

Many New Faces

On Saturday, we went to visit our friends Vince and Becky, and their daughter, Benecia at their new place next to Mt. Tabor Park.  Quigley did very well exploring the new place, and even let Benecia try and walk him for a little bit.  She did pretty well, considering how Quigley tends to pull on his leash.  =)

Another new face that we think helped Quigley have such a good time there, was his new friend, Hass.  Our friends Ryan, Lisa, and their daughter Ryli, are the humans to Hass.  He's a Husky-Lab mix, and about a year older than Q.  They had a good time playing in the yard, and then in the house where all of us were.  With the two dogs wrestling and barking, we were surprised at how calm Benecia, and even Ryli (at 2 months) were.

Vince and Becky served up a delicious polenta dish for lunch.  Mmm, mmm, good.  It really hit the spot.  Thanks for hosting our get-together and dishing up the perfect lunch! =)

After lunch, we all ventured out to Mt. Tabor Park, where they have an awesome dog park.  Hass got to play off-leash, while Quigley just hung out in my arms, since he isn't fully vaccinated quite yet.  We met a bunch of dogs who were happily playing in the big park.  Soon, Quigley will be able to enjoy the happiness of playing in a great dog park, like the one there.

You'd think that will all of this fun, Quigley would be really tired.  Nope, the day was not yet done for him.  Our friends LeAnne and Rex had also come down from the Seattle area for the day.  We've made the crazy commitment of training for multiple 10K races this year, with the goal of finishing a race without stopping.  We had a ~30min. training run that evening that consisted of 4 sets of 5-min walking and 2-min running.  It took a little while, as always, for Q to get going, but he completed the training run like a champ.  Go Quigley, Go!

Some of Squeaky Bear's Finer Moments

Squeaky Brown Bear

Today Quigley started playing with his new favorite toy. It's a squeaky toy in the shape of a brown bear. He absolutely loves it, and seems to recognize it by the name of "Squeaky Bear". Big thanks to his new friends, Hass, Ryan, Lisa and Ryli for giving it to him. We love the "music" that he makes. =)

Update:  2:38p - Not long after I posted this, he's killed the bear.  Ripped the ear right off, so it no longer squeaks.  Rest In Peace, Squeaky Bear.  Rest In Peace.