We ran across this gem of a tag on one of our walks.

We got this shot of Ava mid-run.  She was having so much fun, but this particular shot made her look like a madwoman… I mean, dog.

Here’s a close up of that face!

This past weekend we took a trip to Devils Lake, ND with Mike’s parents.  Devils Lake is the perch capital of the world and we wanted to try our luck ice fishing on the lake.  The area was incredibly dog-friendly, so we decided to bring Ava with us on our fishing adventure.

We arrived in Devils Lake on Friday night so that we would be able to get up early while the fish were (hopefully) biting.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express that night, where Ava quickly settled in.  In addition to their comfortable rooms, extended-hours hot tub, and early morning breakfasts, we were very thankful for their dog-friendly policies.

On our first day, Ava got to spend the entire day with us two different ice houses, which were rented from the Woodland Resort.

Ava liked to look down the holes and was especially interested in our bobbers.  In typical Ava fashion, she spent a lot of time curled up next to the heater, but we would occasionally go outside to slip and slide around on the ice.  Even with her sweater on, Ava would be ready to get back inside pretty quickly!

On the second day, we went fishing with the Perch Patrol.  They find where the fish are hanging out early in the morning and then set you up to fish in a small, two-person tent with a heater.  Since we were sitting directly on the ice, Ava spent most of the day lounging about in trucks so she wouldn’t get cold.

In the morning, during the coldest part of the day, our Perch Patrol guide let her sit in his heated truck while we fished in our tents.  When it warmed up later in the day, we moved her to Mike’s dad’s truck where she got pretty comfy in her seat-heated blanket pile.

The trip ended successfully.  We caught a “boat-load” of fish with the Perch Patrol and Ava got to experience all sorts of new places, tastes, and smells on our little family vacation.

Making purchases online has become fast, easy, and often less expensive than going to the store.  We recently used the last of Ava’s flea and tick medication (Frontline Plus), so we wanted to see if we could use the internet to save some money when we ordered her next supply.

After doing a bit of research, we learned that the FDA suggests pet owners only order  medications from online pet pharmacies that have received accreditation from a program such as Vet-VIPPS.  Ordering many pet medications online will still require a prescription from your vet, but some, like topical flea and tick medication, are available off the shelf.

We compared the prices of several Vet-VIPPS accredited pharmacies and ended up making a purchase from 1-800-PetMeds because they were having a sale on flea and tick medications.  Some of the other pharmacies had cheaper base prices, and all of the pharmacies had comparable prices overall.  We received good service from 1-800-PetMeds but we would definitely consider ordering from another pharmacy if the price was right.   But now let’s look at our savings!

1800-Pet-Meds
We bought a 12-month supply with a 10% discount for $144.99.  That’s $12.08 a month.

Veterinarian
We bought a 3-month supply and received a free dose ($20.90 value) for $65.22.  That’s $16.31 a month.

Ordering online saved us about $50 and it was delivered right to our door within a few days.  We will definitely be ordering some of Ava’s medications online in the future!

About two weeks ago, Amanda was going to bed when she noticed that Ava’s eye looked a little red.  When she woke up the next morning, Ava’s eye was all crusty and had  yellow-white gunk coming out of it.  We spent the day cleaning the eye with warm water and cotton balls hoping that it would clear up by itself.  The next day, it was time for a visit to the vet.

The vet checked her eye to make sure there were no debris lodged under her second eyelid and then diagnosed her with conjunctivitis, or pink eye.  We learned that this is a common condition seen in dogs and may be caused by a number of things.  Like pink eye in humans, it can also be highly contagious.  WebMD has lots of good information about conjunctivitis.

We were given an ointment with a neosporin-like consistency that we needed to apply to her eye three times a day for a week.

Thankfully, Ava is very tolerant of being touched all over because you have to squeeze the ointment into her open eye and then massage it all around.  Here is a really great video explaining how to do it.

We were all thankful when Ava’s eye started to clear up about a week later.  It was short-lived, though, because the infection then spread to her other eye!  After another round of treatment we are finally pink eye free!

To celebrate the exceptionally warm weather we’re having here in Iowa (40°!!!), Ava and I went on a nice, long 2.5 mile walk.

Ava is a little nervous of all the cars that drive along the road next to our apartment, so we made a relaxing detour to the our neighboring apartment complex’s dog park.  There weren’t any dogs, but Ava found a friend in a little opossum wandering by!  It was not so excited to see her, and scampered back into the woods pretty quickly.

We have been taking Ava to an obedience class at Canine Craze Performance Center for the past six weeks.  We chose Canine Craze because we like their incremental, rewards-based approach to training.  It turned out to be a great fit.  The instructors were knowledgeable, accommodating, and just plain nice.

We started Ava in their Obedience I class because we thought it would be a good experience to have before starting agility classes.  For the first five weeks we worked on six skills: Impulse Control, Sits, Downs, Go to a Place, Recall, and Loose Leash Walking.

During the final week of class she and all of the other dogs were tested over everything we learned and Ava passed with flying colors!

Today Ava started her Reactive Rovers class at Canine Craze Performance Center.  Our obedience instructor suggested that we enroll in this course because of Ava’s high state of arousal when there are barriers between her and other dogs (leashes, gates, windows, etc.).  She does great off-leash and loves to visit the dog park, but she does look pretty scary when we take her out to the bathroom and other dogs are outside!

The course is based on Pat McConnell’s book, Cautious Canines, and we work on several skills including relaxation techniques, impulse control, and four training steps: blocking, distancing, desensitization, and counterconditioning.

Our first class was pretty stressful; Ava was barking and pulling non-stop, trying to get to the other dogs.  I felt like I spent most of the class running around practicing the “blocking” technique with her.  This is where you stand between her and the distraction and walk towards her, forcing her to increase the distance between her and the other dog.  You’re feeding her the entire time, rewarding her for moving away and helping to calm her down.  Of course, we practiced lots of other things too, and this class is one heck of a work out!  I just hope that Ava and her owners will benefit from these techniques and make some improvements by the end of the class!