Pet Grooming 101

If you are cheap like me and love your domestic dog(s),  you would personally provide grooming service to them.

If you don't groom them, dogs actually know how to groom themselves so I actually don't groom them often because none of them wants to be groomed by me.

Summer is easy,  turn on the automatic lawn waterer and done!  Exception to this rule,  your dog fears water!   Also prep work of removing loose fur first...

Winter!  Let your dog roll in ice or snow by themselves!

Anyways, that is definitely not up to the standards of many very clean dog owners.   Hence paid service! Grooming involves trimming fur off of your dog too and I have also done that before and my dogs looked so ugly afterwards  lol!!! I'm no barber.

The equipments you see in this photo are deceiving! I purchased 23% of the shown equipments the rest are hand me downs or reused packaging!  

The begging strip bag is my no food bait to lure the dog over simply with mouth watering smell! When you open the bag,  it's actually discarded fur I have combed out!  I like using all combs shown in this picture,  they all serve different functions and prevent injuries from happening. 

When I first got my first dogs I was sold many dog grooming products,  I even got dog perfume (don't get it)! Remember to water down the shampoo too because you have to wash it out of your dog afterwards anyways! 

If your dog is smart and trained,  probably  a female,  she would actually dry herself off on a towel you have left flat on the ground for her.   All you have to do is help her straighten up the towel every time it rolls up too much from her drying action!

Shoes makers and mountaineers love dogs

A while ago I bought two pairs of vibram five fingers footwear.  I've always wanted to try them.  The people selling them showed me how to properly wear them.   They even gave me a dog toy which I decided to try with two puppies.

I'm guessing a lot of their customers had dogs and one complaint was that their vibram wear gets chew on so maybe they decided to make the sole of the shoes as toys for dogs.

While watching Duke play with it, I thought maybe I can put toothpaste to the toy so Duke brushes his own teeth during playtime.

Anyways,  that basically sums up my afternoon :) (a few days ago)!

Dog Sitting

If you have two well behaved big dogs,  baby sitting two small size puppies should be no problem at all.

If one of or both small puppies misbehave (ie. barking directly into the big dog's ear continously without pause), simply put them in a box, place said box on piano and perform a few songs.

Once they have settled down, you can  leash them to your big dog so you don't have to be scared that the puppies may walk themselves to danger.

Your big dog will prevent the small puppies from venturing into forbidden areas simply by sitting still.  The small puppies can bark, pull and jump but rest assured their efforts will be useless and you are guranteed a good night's rest.

Dog Patting

Any dog owner should get into the habit of patting their beloved domestic dog often.   There are many benefits to this simple action:

1. Your dog enjoys it (provided that you are patting with the correct technique -  do not pat like a child or toddler)

2.  You can tell the state of your dog's health by the smoothness, oilyness and softness of its fur.

3.  You can warm up your freezing hand

4.  You can teach your dog when you are using your hand for play and when you are using your hand for pat

5.  Cheap and easy way to bond with your pet while watching tv.  Yes,  you can multitask.

Capturing your dog's smile on camera

It is very difficult to capture your dog's naturally smiling face on camera unless you have a team of skillful "paparazzi"s!
I am extremely happy whenever I manage to get a snap shot of my pet smiling because it's rare.   You see, I don't constantly hold on to a camera device and my pets stop smiling as soon as they notice a camera device pointing at them.   That's why when I do manage to capture their happy expression on camera I'm happy because I can look back and remember that moment or the moments before and after.

This is a photo of Okee after her diathalon training (walking and swimming).

So you think your dog is classical

Dogs have sharp hearing, they don't like bad singing.

If you happen to be practicing music, whether it is piano, vocal, etc., your beloved domestic dog's reaction is a good indication of how well you are playing or singing.

If your dogs are playing, ie. play fighting, it means you are playing very happily.

If your dog walks far far far away from you or starts scratching the door. Well, keep practicing.

If your dog is sitting or sleeping peacefully beside/underneath you or the piano, well it loves listening to your music or your performance of someone else's music.  Don't freak out if your dog wakes up because you made a mistake, it happens.

Creative Pet Things!

Your Dog's First Toy

It has been a week and I have not been contacted by the service provider to assist me in retreiving my lost blog post so I am re-posting the same topic.

By the time, you get your dog its first toy, he/she has already chosen a toy or many toys somewhere in your household.  Okee loved a small block of wood meant to hold a door open, it was her teething toy.  Q, on the other hand, loved playing with the shadow of a fly.  If you have a dog like Q, it is more important to have good floors so he can jump on the shadow of the fly many times.

If you purchased a toy that is easily breakable and it's in one piece for at least 2 months after constant play, you have made a good purchase.

Anyhow, the photo to this blog post is Okee sleeping with her favourite limited 100th edition hand-me-down literally soft ball (do not confuse with softball).

How your dog should look like after a leisurely walk

Read title and see picture.

Choosing the "PERfect" dog leash!

Q broke many dog leash(es). Sometimes, he does not walk well on leash.  Therefore, it is important to have a perfect dog leash for your beloved domestic dog.

Q broke a hand me down dog leash that we used for at least a decade for our small collie, Jai Jai :(.  The handle broke off one day as Q was yelling at another dog through a fence.  Comment below if you want to see the broken dog leash.  It still functions prefectly but without the handle.

Anyways I digress.

There is at least one prerequisite when choosing a dog leash.   You need the perfect collar or harness.  Q used to escape from his harness,  it was too big for him.   We recommend getting a leather collar.

Once you have your prefect collar, harness or whatever then you can choose a dog leash.   Personally,  I prefer the extandable really long leash that roll in an out of the leash feeder.   Other dog owners like walking with very tight leash and have their dog walking straight and looking up the whole time.  

When I was younger,  I wanted to run with Okee that is why we have a tie yourself to your dog dog leash.  (Sidenote: Q broke this leash too so I have to make slight modifications to it. It still works).  Anyways,  all options of leash available at pet stores are all probably great choices!

So go walk your dog!

Dog Beds

After a day of whatever, it is important that your beloved domestic pet dog get a good night's rest.   I have purchased many variations of dog beds for Okee & Q.

Don't let this collage of photos fool you,  their preferred beds are our sofas and human beds which they have been banned from since forever ago.

They also swamp beds all the time.   I am showing you their preferred doggie beds for the time being.

Some of these beds have been advertised to serve many functions, I have not tested all functions yet but so far my dogs enjoy sleeping on them.

An added bonus to all of these beds is that they serve as a spring for rolling your dog out of bed so that they can go pee and/or poop before their long slumber.

Protective gear for you dog

Yesterday, I blogged about toys for dogs.  I have accidentally deleted that post and asked for help.  If you are reading today's post today or in the future and don't see yesterday's post, it means that I couldn't get help, we are still resolving the issue or that post is gone forever!

Anyhow, I love winter.  It is snowing snowflakes today!  Not icy rain, not little ice, but it is actually snowing.  You know, snowflakes that would actually melt in your mouth.

I thought why not blog about shoes for your dogs!  Shoes is always a popular topic! The photo to this blog post is the only set of winter boots for dogs I can find in my dog closet.  I used to have two sets of this, one for Okee and one for Q.  Eventually, I realized that maybe Okee don't need them.  You can see lots of wear and tear with these booties.  It's always a challenge putting them on.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself, when buying, making or choosing "shoes" for your dogs:

1.  What are you buying it for?

Protection for their feet? If so, against what?

A Party?  What is the theme of the Party?

Replacement?  Then you know exactly what you need or you are so happy that you can finally buy replacements because you hated the existing one so much.

2.  Will my dog like wearing this?

Yes. (or so you think)

No.  Then you definitely don't want to buy this because it's going to be lost, ripped apart or broken really soon.

Maybe, then take some risk.

3.  How long will it take me to put this thing on my beloved dog?

Too long, then you might need to do lots of practice and your dog will be grumpy everytime you break out the shoes until they realize, ohhh we are going for a walk.

Not long at all but I will most likely not put it on the right way and it might come off during the walk.

4.  How will my dog walk with these shoes?

You will have to test it out.  No refund. See Picture.

5.  If you are an accountant, you might ask yourself, how do you calculate depreciation on this item.

I do not have the answer to this question. I am not an accountant; however, if you start pondering about questions such as questions #5, you probably made the right choice because you have time to think about something that is of no relevance to the topic.

Please excuse me, I have to go out with my mouth wide open and start eating snowflakes now. Chao!

End of Abouts for the month

Hopefully, this is the end of "About"s for this blog, if not, this quarter, this year... but at a minimum, no more "About"s this month.

Summary of our "About"s so far:

On Monday,  January 2, 2016, Candy started Okeencandy.  In her first blog entry to Okeencandy, she wrote "About this blog." which primarily sets out the what and why of Okeencandy.

On Tuesday, January 3, 2016, Candy wrote "About Okee" which introduced Okee.

On Wednesday, January 4, 2016, Candy wrote "About N" which clarified the meaning of N in Okeencandy.

On Thursday, January 5, 2016, Candy wrote "About Candy" in third person perspective.

Today, Friday, January 6, 2016, Candy summarized what she wrote about so far.

And that's all she wrote...

About Candy

Candy is the author of this blog. She goes by many different pen names, she sets her passwords so difficult sometimes that she loses her accounts all the time, then she goes to the extremes and sets her passwords so easy that it becomes difficult.  Now she is having trouble remembering all of the different usernames, passwords and accounts she has compiled.

Anyhow, that's why she is writing and saving and not saving and saving. Please wait.. autosaving... who knows what is going on...

This image is Candy's favourite illustration of her favourite character wearing her casual gears.  To learn more about this character, please comment below.  To learn more about Candy, simply follow this blog.

About N

N could be name for a pet.  I have never named any of my pets N.

I once bought a book from scholastic about choosing pet names, I have donated that book.  I never actually read the entire book, I wish I kept that copy, it was a very long pocket paperback book.

Would N be a good pet name?  It might not be, because it is hard to loudly pronounce N and if you have more then one command, you say "and, N, and, &...".

N might respond with confusion.

okeencandy stands for Okee and Candy.  It is a made up term, a coined word.

About Okee

Name:  Okee
Breed:  Siberian Husky (most likely)
Age:     11 (approximately)

Please pardon my language but Okee is a feminine bitch.  She is a she. A female. Playful, intelligent, gentle and kind.  Destructive to precious things in her youthful days, as illustrated by the image to this blog post.  Still a great, quick scavenger for snacks and other goodies and baddies but has learned to identify baddies baddies from rotten baddies.  If you want a sleepless night, simply leave a gigantic bar of chocolate lying around; she will destroy the original packaging for you and finish the whole bar in one sitting.  She will then proceed to pace around the entire evening.

This photo was taken at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009, Tracker, one of the original Ty Beanie Buddies was one of the many stuff animals she destroyed.  Tracker, must have been one of her most favourite because it lasted for a while.

If Okee was never adopted, Tracker would still be in mint condition today but without the plastic protector and the tag.  To learn more about this Tracker, please comment below.  To learn more about Okee, simply follow this blog.

About this blog.

OkeeNCandy - the blog - 101

This blog post is not about the author, Candy.
It is about OkeeNCandy, the blog, also known as okeencandy.blogspot.ca.

OkeeNCandy is a blog generally about having pets but primarily about having two dogs in the house.

OkeeNCandy the blog started because:

1) Candy enjoys stories about domestic dogs and has listened, read and watched (many) stories about this subject.

2) Candy finds that pets and their funny behaviours naturally bring a genuine smile to anyone's face.

3) Candy wants to be able to look back at her personal happy and sad pet memories from time to time.

4) Candy remembers old habits, training methods and scare tactics.

5) Candy usually starts something of significance to her around the new year.

6) Candy is unemployed and not in school.

7) Okee is Candy's lucky charm.

In case you are wondering, this is a photograph of Okee and Candy in 2009, both are still alive and well (not sure if this is a mirror mirror image or whatever, it is a selfie for sure, see the extended arm action, taken by a camera camera and not a phone camera).