First Trip to the Groomers

Here are the promised pics from her first trip to the groomers. They gave her a pretty little bow and one of the worst haircuts I have ever seen. I could not get a good photo of the haircut but the cut her hind quarters so that her hair was sticking up at three different angles. She had two big cowlicks on her rump!! I guess it is somewhat fitting, but she has not been near any cows lately... They also cut down her fur on her hind legs (I like to call them "mudflaps") more than I would have liked. It has all grown back to a reasonable state and she sure smells alot better, so all in all it was worth the trip. The girls at the groomers were delightful and as usual Kallie was the star of the show. "She is sooo cute for such a wild looking dog!!!" My wife is certain that the expressing of her anal glands has made all of the difference in the world and I would have to agree. She was stricken with a terrible case of coccidia when we adopted her and she had horrible diarhea for quite a while after she came home. I am sure that this let to some of the impacting of her anal glands. Either way she smells much better now.

We are excited that the rain has finally subsided for a few days. It has been nice been nice to have a leisurely stroll instead of a hurry up before it rains walk. We are going to brave the park tomorrow. We will see how soggy it still is. A little mud never hurt anybody anyhow...

I am extremely excited about our trip up the California coast to Oregon. We have already begun making preparations for the trip. Today I am signing up with mobile blogger so that I can chronicle the journey. Through my Pocket PC I will be able to take pictures and video and post them to the blog with commentary all the way. Kallie is going to the groomers tomorrow for a bath and a hair cut. I will post some before and after pictures. She will have her nails clipped, ears cleaned and her anal sacs emptied. For those of you who do not know, dogs have two glands just inside their anus that periodically need to be expunged. I had never heard of this until I watched an episode of Dirty Jobs where Mike Rowe worked as a dog groomer. I spoke with the groomer today and she said that they routinely squeeze the anal sacs as part of the grooming process. These are the scent glands that dogs are sniffing when they greet each other. Normally the process of defecation supplies enough pressure to cleanse these sacs. In many domestic dogs the type of food they eat does not allow for this cleansing to take place due to the consistency of the feces. I will not go into this subject any further, but if you are interested there is quite a bit of information at veterinarypartner.com. We are also looking to get Kallie a winter coat for the freezing conditions we will undoubtedly face. Most of the coats on the market are much too bulky, especially for a dog as fast and athletic as an ACD. My mother offered to design and make her a coat while we are visiting. She has made them in the past for her Italian Greyhounds and the are extremely functional as well as much better looking than those you can find in the stores. I am not talking about a Gucci jacket for my dog. I am talking about a functional piece of equipment for her while we are in the field or at the barn. The coats are really neat and they will work perfectly for Kallie on many future trips.

Kallie is crate trained. This is a decision my wife and I made before we adopted a dog. This was one of the smartest decisions we have ever made. Kallie does not love her crate. She does not dislike it either. It is a place that she goes for bedtime or when both of us leave the house. I have seen the destruction that this puppy can cause when she wakes up early from a nap on the couch with me. If she does that in five minutes I shudder at the thought of what she could do if given the run of the house. Not to mention the cats. We have two cats that have been with us longer than Kallie. The older cat tolerates her well. The younger cat hides until he hears the crate latch or the leash snap on...smart cat. More on them later. Some people find it cruel to crate train a dog. I believe that is essential to their well being as well as our sanity. I would hate to come home to find that she had hurt herself or hurt the cats. It has also been a good tool in the establishment of ourselves as alphas in the house. She knows that she is greeted last and must wait her turn patiently upon my arrival home. The crate has never been used as a punishment. It would be entirely unproductive to lock her away for misbehaving. The crate comes with us when we travel. It makes us much more tolerable house guests. People tend to mind you having your puppy at their house less when they know she will not be causing too much trouble. She rides in the backseat of the truck when we drive. We do not put her in the crate in the back because it gets too cold. She has been up and down the state of California with her crate and has a trip to the Oregon coast planned in a couple of weeks. Who knows where we will go next, this is only the beginning of her many journeys.

This vicious mutt is the newest addition to our family. This is Kallie. She is a one year old Australian Cattle Dog. What a bundle of energy she is. Why do they rip off the ears of all their new toys first? Anyone who owns an ACD will know what I am talking about...

She has been such a great addition that I felt compelled to give her a blog of her own. Maybe other ACD owners can share some tips on how they handle their dog's training and behavior and who knows, they may learn something from our experience. I would love to hear any stories and I welcome any advice on how to deal with this breeds many challenging behaviors. As we all know it pays to be creative when dealing with these extremely energetic and highly intelligent canines.