Yeah! I know...we all want to think our dogs are posh dogs. We want to wash them in shampoos that smell of berries, put shiny collars on them and think that our dogs love the good things in life. Yes, they do love the good things in life. But their idea of good things and our idea of good things are perhaps a tad different.
All said and done, dogs adore half dead or fully dead rodent. Yeah...squeal all you want. But that's what it is. So, it does not take much to figure out that a toy that looks and feels like a half dead rodent is going to be popular with them.
Check out those eyes!
One toy that I found that comes very close to this is Skineez. These are squeaky toys, have little beady eyes, are limpid like half dead rodents. There are a few others who make squeaky toys with this structure. But what I like about these specific toys is that they have no stuffing! Yep. They are stuffing free.
Tigger is my true hunter dog! She likes to not just have a kill but actually dismember the kill! So she goes after all her toys and pulls all the stuffing out. Not that she likes eating it, but she loves pulling everything out. In the process, I fear that she might accidentally eat some. So a toy that does not have stuffing that she could eat is always very attractive to me.
Note the "No Stuffing" sticker. I like that a lot
Nishi is my gentle girl. She picks up the toy in her mouth, prances around the home, shaking her head side to side, swinging the toy. Again something dogs love to do with half dead animals rodents - playing with them till they die. So the toy is fun for her to play by herself. In addition, it is a good toy to play fetch with. I have also seen the girls play tug with the toy quite frequently.
So a tug, fetch, engaging toy that the girls can use to play with us, play with each other and play by themselves and not destroy it in the process or harm themselves by ingesting stuffing - That's why it's my pick of the day today.
Skineez makes this toy in 2 sizes, shaped like a few different rodents - squirrel, raccoon, skunk or meercat or something like that. I don't know. Not that I care much, neither do the girls. They have also introduced something called Crazy Critters. We have not used it. So this review does not apply to that toy yet.
Pros: No stuffing, squeaky, good fetch toy and tug toy, dead rodent like structure makes it very interesting for dogs to play with it by themselves.
Cons: Is a furry texture. So can get dirty and might be hard to clean. Not indestructible
Not sure if this is a pro or a con. You decide: It looks so much like a dead rodent that Uttam once saw it in the garden and jumped back thinking it was indeed a critter from our garden that had met an untimely death on our vegetable patch! :)
Where to buy:Dogspot, Paws (CALL:+91 80 41317297), Glenands Koramangala, Most leading pet stores
We are just back from a wonderful vacation. When we go on vacations, we insist on taking Nishi. Now that we have Tigger with us, it was a cozy family of 4 that headed out. Over the years we have picked up some useful tips & tricks along the way that make vacations that much easier. I thought this would be a good time to share those, while it's fresh in my memory.
Preparations
There are no dearth of dog-friendly resorts these days. But there is a dearth of resorts that actually know what dog friendly means. It's a good idea to get a first hand recommendation and then call and confirm that they are still dog friendly and will be ok with your dog. One of the resorts we went to a few years ago has suddenly turned non-dog friendly. The owner of the resort was never really a dog-person. I guess that was bound to happen. Another 5-star chain suddenly changed it's policy to accommodate only dogs under 5kgs. What is that? A dog-cat? In any case...first hand recommendation and verification saves us from possible disappointment.
The second part of the preparation, and this should have started much sooner than the expected vacation dates itself - preparing the dog for car rides. With Nishi, we never had trouble. She was born for road trips and just loves it. But Tigger is different. She gets very car sick and starts vomiting in the car. When she came to us, understandably, she was also terrified of cars. We took 2 months to get her used to the car. We took her to places that she might like - parks, pet shops, to houses of friends who have dogs...generally convincing her that car rides are good. Today she jumps into the car herself or asks politely to be picked up and put in. Nice! Meanwhile we figured out how to deal with her vomiting. We just don't feed her for a few hours before the drive and try to drive steady and smooth.
On the day of the vacation, it's a really good idea to stick to your daily routine till the doggies have finished their morning business. We learned this the hard way. On Nishi's first vacation, we were so excited that when we got up I started packing. She immediately sensed that something was up, got excited and did not poop. And...the whole drive was...traumatic! She kept farting, but would not poop at any of the stops because the whole thing was too exciting for her. What was supposed to be a 7hr drive became a 9hr drive :) Nowadays we wake up, try our best to pretend everything is normal, she goes out for a walk, she poops and THEN all the excitement starts.
Dogs will need their own little bag packed. Let me try to create a nice little check list below.
Medicines
First come the standard generic medicines - pain killers, anti allergic and antacid. Pet vacations are usually amidst wilderness. One needs to be prepared for dust, stings, bites, thorns, ticks etc...I pack some eye drops, tweezers, cotton and NS (saline solution). We discovered that most of these places don't have vets or pet pharmas and even if they do the focus is on big farm animals. No one has a clue what to do with a dog. As a precaution, we always have our vet on speed dial and also let him know that we are going on vacation. We often squeeze in a health check up before we leave, get any prescription medicine needed, describe to him the place we are heading to and get last minute advice from him, if any. Sometimes we try preventive tick and flea medicine. But we have now given up on that. One of my friends gave a brilliant recipie to fix the issue when we return and I think that works just fine for me. Here is the recipe. Thanks Chinthana :)
1/2 bottle Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 bottle water
1 tbsp neem oil
Few drops of detergent
Shake well - spray on dog or massage in - brush after dry
Bedding
We let Nishi & Tigger on our bed. However, not all hotel & resort owners are ok with that. We found that carrying her bed was comforting to resort staff. When we went on our first vacation, we stuffed a soft donut bed in the back seat and Nishi managed to sleep on it during the drive. When we got off, the resort owner saw the bed and I think I saw a look of relief on his face.
Nishi's first donut bed that went with her on her first vacation
Donut bed or no bed, our dogs politely request to get on the bed and I just can't say no. But resorts insist on white sheets, not exactly ideal for snuggling with a furry creature on. In order to ensure our vacation is perfect in every way, we first get rid of any resort fleece & quilt as soon as we go, cover the entire bed with our own spread, that we carry from home and take back any vacation paw prints our dogs bring in for us, as momento from our vacation :) It's our dogs mess and we keep it.
Now, back to our first vacation, where we were not as wise. We did not carry a bedspread. It was during Diwali & the crackers scared Nishi. Come morning, to our horror, we discovered Nishi curled up near our feet, on the bed, looking happy to be there and the bed linen looked...well like a wet muddy dog and rolled in it. What can I say? Well...we went up to the resort owner and told him that our dog had stepped on the bedsheet and that we would be happy to pick up the cost of replacing the bedsheet. After all, we don't want to be the idiots who got pets kicked out of there, making the option unavailable for all of you. Plus, we ourselves would want to go back again.
Leashes, Tethers, Collars & Harnesses
This is critical. Pet vacations tend to be in wilderness where there IS a risk of elephants, boars, bison, leopards & people. Erm...what I mean is...there is also the added dimension of other guests who do not like dogs. Keeping our pet out of the way of all of these "creatures" while still ensuring a good time for our pets is important if we have to have a pleasant vacation and be allowed to go back.
We carry 1 retractable leash for Nishi, that is with us at ALL times. Retractables give us the flexibility
of how much we want to restrict her movement depending on the situation. On one vacation, we tuned a bend and saw bison! Yup! We had to quietly pull Nishi back, put her on the leash and move back. On another occasion a horse decided to chase her. Things happen! Yes, vacation with pets are definitely quite adventurous.
A leash is no use without something to strap it to. We have Nishi on a body-belt or breast-belt or harness at ALL times! We never take it off. But trouble is that Nishi just loves to swim. At the sight of any water body, she plonks herself in it. And we end up with a soaking, muddy harness. We cannot rule out rain either. Having an additional one can be handy.
Ground peg and 15mtr long tether
We also carry a 15mtr long tether. We put this down in the dining area where we tend to spend several hours during our vacation. Not all guests will appreciate a dog roaming around. To avoid unpleasant situations, when other guests trickle in and are eating, we keep the dogstethered. It's also useful to keep her in sight after sun down. We don't want her becoming a meal to some wild animal. We were told, on our first vacation that leopards found dogs particularly enticing and the locals had named them "Naayi Chirate", meaning "Dog Cheetah". Our routine when on vacation: we wake up when the sun is up, get as much of time in the sunlight. After sundown, she is put on a long tether till we finish dinner and drinks and we retire to the room.
I have seen a shorter version of this at Paws. The long one, with the peg is available at Shreenidhi Vet Pharma, No. 49, Opposite to Veterinary College, Bellary Road, Ganganagar, Bangalore - 24. Ph: 23533238
Short Tether
A short tether is a nice to have, for road-site stops during the drive. Often we stop to get coffee or breakfast. We pick places with outdoor seating, where we can get the dogs out and tether them close by. But given these are highway eateries, a 15mtr tether will give her room to run on to the highway. A shorter tether is more convenient for these stops. But it's not that hard to manage without it as well. The retractable will work too.
Most resorts that are pet friendly and have dogs of their own have been more than happy to feed our dogs too. But we still carry our own kibble, for a few reasons:
Not all resorts oblige and we don't want to be caught stealing food for our dog
On several vacations, Nishi has been so excited that she has been unable to eat and just crashes at night. She then wakes up in the middle of the night and asks for food. We just leave a bowl of kibble in the room, with "Laksman Rekha" around it, for Nishi's midnight repast.
The food the resort serves might not always agree with our dog
We also carry a few additional bowls for water. One in our room and one kept near the dining area, where we spend a lot of time. It also reinforces in our dogs that this is the place to come back to when you are tired and done romping around.
Miscellaneous
Towels: As I mentioned, Nishi loves to swim. On one vacation, she came back with a fungal growth
from these swims. Now, as a precaution, at the end of each day, she gets a fresh water bath. No soaps and chemicals. Just fresh water to get rid of the mud and anything else on her, and get her ready to climb into bed with us without covering us in slush. NO resort, however dog-friendly, will provide a towel for a dog, even in case of rain. Consequently we carry our own. The Furminator towel is a bit expensive but well worth it's money. It's so good that I went and bought one for myself to use at the gym. But now I cannot tell what is their towel and what is mine. I have given up using Furminator on myself. Paws & Dogspot sell the product online, while Glenands & Paws have it in store, in Bangalore.
Furminator Towel available at leading pet stores
Poop Scoop: Some resorts are in complete wilderness and have several dogs, cattle etc of their own. In such places, we have not found it necessary to clean up after her. But some others are more...how do I put this...upscale! In such places, we always clean up if our dogs poop. Afterall, we don't want to be the ones who got the resort to change their pet policy :)
Etiquette: We have found that not all pet-friendly resorts are similar. Their level of comfort with dogs vary widely. Those that have dogs of their own tend to be more tolerent, but don't count on it. Hence, we follow some ground rules. Even if they are pet-friendly, we don't want guests to complain and get the resort management in trouble. Guests tend to be sensitive about dogs in dining areas. As a courtesy to such guests, when they are eating, dogs always go on leashes. If there are kids around, the dogs are kept on a leash and released ONLY if the parents tell us we can do so. Other than our own room, the dogs do not get into any other building without confirming that it's ok. This goes for dining areas and common rooms as well. If those places are not dog-friendly, then we eat outside the area, where our dogs are allowed. Our room is kept as clean as possible - no paw prints on bedsheets, fleece, walls etc...No poop left on lawns, pathways, flooring etc...You get the drift...We are super cautious and sensitive to possible objections others might have. Even if we think it's not justified, we are not in a majority and we don't want to push our luck.
Off Leash Play: One of the main reasons we go on vacation is so that we can take the dogs off leash and let them run around like mad puppies. But off-leash play comes with it's element of risk and we find it our responsibility to evaluate the risk and mitigate it. On Nishi's first vacation, we tried it for short periods, taking her off the leash in bright day light, after having excersized her sufficiently, ensuring that she is not bursting with energy. Whenever she disappeared out of site, we would call her and and walk in the opposite direction, teaching her that she needs to check on us regularly if she needs to know where we intend to go. We also have a conversation with the resort management about the size of the perimeter, wild animals if any, safe timings and possible electric fence timings. Last thing we want is for our dog to get electrocuted right. We ask the hosts if there is a large open space or maidan where we can take the mutts and let them off leash to run around. If the resort has dogs of it's own, that Nishi manages to befriend, that is a good thing. We take that dog along on our walks. The host-dog knows it's way around well and will usually guide Nishi back to the resort even if she gets lost. We also found that Nishi had a tendency to follow any human who decided to take a walk. Not all humans know how to handle Nishi. To avoid such situations, when we are in the room, Nishi is required to stay in the room with us. But if she runs around enough in the maidan, she is happy to relax in the room when we are relaxing. We have gradually built confidence to give her more freedom on these trips and she has proven to be a good wise girl, guiding her little sister as well.
Swimming:All dogs can swim. But most don't know they can. Dogs don't need to be taught to swim. They just need to be given confidence that they can. Once they gain the confidence they can enjoy it a lot. Our situation compelled us to teach Nishi that, as she needed it for physiotherapy. Vacations are good times to do that, but forcing a dog into water can be very traumatic for a dog and definitely not their idea of vacation. While Nishi jumps into water like she was born to swim, Tigger is currently not there yet. But I will be teaching her soon. Once I do, I'll video it and write another blog on how I did it. Subscribe to my blog and watch this space for that how-to.
And Finally
Nishi never stops on vacations
Don't bother with photos. I mean it! I tried very hard on our first vacation and failed miserably. Vacations are so exciting for Nishi that the only times I manage to get a picture is when she is passed out. Not much of a picture right? Now, we only shoot videos. It's the only thing that manages to caputre the sheer energy and joy of a family vacation with pets. But a word of caution. The camera can be quite distracting. I pull it out only when I know that we are fully in the clear - no guests around, no cows & horses around, no main road in the vicinity etc...Then out comes the camera and I end up with hours of footage of pure madness and sheer joy. I can watch those videos a million times and each time it lifts my spirits and fills my heart with pristine. It's all worth it and I recommend pet-vacations to everyone. Just do it!
Check out our vacation video and visit Nishi's YouTube Channel for more vacation videos
Do you remember watching on cartoons that dogs find bones buried in gardens or that they take bones from their meals and bury them in gardens? Well, let me assure you that I have no idea if that is true or not. But one thing I can vouch for is that they dig for something. Could be a treasure. I don't know. All I care about is that their digging makes them the gardener's arch enemy.
I find gardeners very polite people with a very sarcastic sense of humor. I don't know why that is. When I was a kid, my parents had employed a gardener. He used to point at the destroyed garden and say, in a very sweet tone, smiling all along, "ಪರವಾಗಿಲ್ಲ ಅಮ್ಮ , ಡೆನ್ನಿ ನನಗೆ ಸವಾಲು ಹಾಕ್ತಾನೆ " ("It's alright madam. Denny seems to be challenging me"). I see a similar relationship between Nishi and Arasu (our current gardener. I should write about his name. It's so interesting. But that's for another time). Arasu seems to look at Nishi with a veiled disinterest that freaks me out. It seems that polite-interest in her, which tries to mask his feigned disinterest, might actual be masking something far more sinister. So I decided that I had to either make Nishi a garden friendly dog or make my garden Nishi friendly. I opted for the latter.
Sand and Soil clearly demarcated
First things first. As I mentioned in my previous post, the garden design I went in for is "Container Gardening". The main part of the garden has been covered in 3" of sand. There is a line of soil exposed along the edges and there are plants growing there. I did not have the heart to uproot the plants. So I retained them and separated soil and sand with a line of bricks. Duh! Most obvious thing to do, you might say. True. But one thing we realized is that the bricks, coupled with the colour and textural difference between sand and soil makes it easy for us to define boundaries for Nishi. And when boundaries are well defined, it's easy for Nishi to respect them.
Nishi is a slow learner, but she is an obedient girl. She respects rules. So she is slowly learning to stay away from the soil. But her ball is a bit out of control and happily rolls over into the soil, destroying saplings. So a nifty little idea I picked up is to put in a "Sapling Guard". It is a simple thing, cut out of plastic pet bottles. I just cut out 3" rings, slit the ring open, wrap it around the sapling and press it into the wet soil. I figured out that Gatorade bottles are the best thing for this. These bottles are tough. The next best thing is coke/pepsi (any aerated drink) pet bottles. Kinley and other water bottles are not good for this project. The bottles are flimsy and don't do much guarding. Now I just got to see how the saplings hold up. So far, they seem to be doing fine.
Upcycled pet bottles as sapling guards
And last but not the least - lawn. I could not completely do away with the lawn. But lawn takes time to grow and if it has to stand a chance, Nishi cannot set foot anywhere near it. So the lawn area has been segregated by a picket. But keeping with my theme of using natural and upcycled items, I decided to stick to a rather rustic idea of weaved coconut leaves. Not the most genius of ideas. Our villages are a treasure trove of eco-friendly effective ideas. One simple youtube video later, I was able to weave my own garden gate.
Weaved coconut leaves for garden gate
But my fingers were chaffed in the process. Then my dad told me of a simple trick and I was wondering why it did not occur to me. Soak the leaves in water for 2 days before weaving! Duh. So the next one will be soaked. But where? I am trying to find someone who has a bath tub. Coconut leaves are surprisingly easy to find in Bangalore. I have my own personal source - the neighbours tree. Their leaves keep falling into our garden. But as soon as our gardener saw what I was up to, he managed to find several of them in minutes. Pays to be nice to Arasu I guess. So, for now, the quest for the bathtub continues and below is the tutorial on weaving coconut leaves. I used dried leaves.
Meanwhile I spend send several happy hours watching Nishi prancing in our garden. I love it. Making the garden dog friendly is so much fun. Adds a whole new dimension to the garden and makes spending time in the garden that much more entertaining. For those with a garden, I would strongly recommend thinking along these lines. It's worth it.
We recently moved into our new home. It was not really our choice to move out of our old apartment, nor was the current choice of apartment something that thrilled us to bits. I want to say, we did not have much choice in the whole matter. But I refuse to say that and there is a truck load of ranting that will unload if I decide to discuss this. I'm guessing no one reading this blog would care for that truck load. So let's just move on...
Anyways, our current apartment is half the size of the old one and clearly anyone would wonder if we have suffered attack on our coffers. Steering clear of the coffers issue, let me assure you that the real reason we moved into this house lies hidden outside the house. Yup...you heard me, we moved in for what was out - the garden.
I figured that I am out of the house for 12 hours a day. Uttam will perhaps do the same. So the only person who will be at home most of the time is Nishi. Oh yeah, I did call her a person. Anyone surprised by that? If you have read any of my previous blogs, then I guess not. So back to this "person", who spends most of her time at home, I figured, that a house that works best for her would work best for our family. The garden space here is twice that of indoor space and so far, this arrangement has worked great for us.
Now that we are here, with such a massive garden, we got to think of gardening right? So I have been doing intense research on dog friendly gardens. I think my name should be Binary. My erstwhile bosses have mentioned and my sister often teases me that if I take up something it is with all gusto else I don't give two hoots about it - All or Nothing :) So in my gardening "all", I have picked up several tips that I think might be very useful for pet owners. I am going to combine that with the infrastructural availability in India to present what best we can do in India for our doggies.
Dog-Friendly Garden Tip #1: "Go for Container Gardening". Meaning: take off everything from the floor and put them in containers of different kinds. This tip was repeated in almost all resources I referred. There are far too many ways in which dogs can destroy lawns - they can just charge up and down the lawn, dig it up furiously looking for God knows what, crap on it (and then you have to spend hours inspecting every sq centimeter of your lawn). Plus, the way Nishi bolts in and out of the garden, she brings in half the garden into the house. While I love the concept of living outdoors, I think Nishi and I have different notions of bringing the outdoors indoors. So, a filler like wood chips, gravel, tiles, sand etc are highly recommended.
I'll briefly visit why I rejected most of the suggestions and settled on sand. Anything permanent like tiles or mosiac was out, as this is a rented house. I don't intend to stay that long. So making something permanent sounded absurd to me. Wood chips could be dangerous because some dogs tend to chew on it. Nishi herself might not. But I frequently have other dogs over and I cannot risk them choking on splinters. Uttam was quite partial to pea gravel, but for me it was a big no no. Given Nishi's poor hind legs, I was keen on providing her a soft surface. Plus, when there is a dog "pawrty", some dogs get too excited and poop on the party...or during the party...whatever. Cleaning it up from gravel when I am in pencil heels is not an option for me. So, sand was eventual choice. As I write this blog, sand is being packed into the garden. Let's see how that works out. If it does not, do follow this blog and you will be duly notified :)
Now we come to the containers - the most exciting part. Containers don't have to be boring pots. Any area with barriers will work. We started building out our first "container" yesterday - A spiral garden. I bought 200kgs of rocks from the nursery close to home and it took Uttam, Nishi and I a few hours to build this last night. I don't know about Uttam, but Nishi and I had a blast. Nishi kept trying to add her toys into the spiral garden. She would come, inspect, sigh disapproval and then leave only to return with a toy and chuck it in. After the whole thing I played a few rounds of fetch with her and we wrapped up nice and muddy. Just the way we all like it. Wonder how long this vacation period will last. But for now, we are having fun. I will post more tips as I "unearth" them :)
The Beginning of a Spiral Garden - Part of Container Gardening
So a tug, fetch, engaging toy that the girls can use to play with us, play with each other and play by themselves and not destroy it in the process or harm themselves by ingesting stuffing - That's why it's my pick of the day today. 
So a tug, fetch, engaging toy that the girls can use to play with us, play with each other and play by themselves and not destroy it in the process or harm themselves by ingesting stuffing - That's why it's my pick of the day today. 
