Saturday, August 27, 2011

It's Been A While...

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last blogged! It has been a very busy August so blogging kind of fell by the wayside. We just got back from a few days in New York City, but we came back ahead of Hurricane Irene. I heard that the storm downgraded to a Category One when it hit land, which is better than they expected, but it's still scary stuff so I hope everyone on the East Coast stays safe this weekend.

While we were in New York, Oscar stayed with friends of ours and he's settling back in. He's already gotten back to his old habits. We picked a cucumber from our garden this morning and left it on our counter. Oscar managed to snag it and started snacking on it before we noticed. I took it back and cut some pieces to train him with. He's allowed to have cucumber, but only on our terms!

Not sure if he gnawed through it or it broke when it fell.

Oscar isn't looking very apologetic at all!

You can have some cucumber, but only if you work for it.

The Kong Wobbler has taught him to
paw at things when he wants them.

As for his paw licking, unfortunately I don't have a good update, because his paw licking hasn't stopped. He was groomed and we made sure to ask for the hair around his paw to be cut short. We've also been taking him to the dog park and on walks. My sisters came for a visit too, so he got plenty of attention. The grooming and lack of boredom didn't keep him from licking his paw. His paw pads on that foot don't look any different from the others, and I still haven't noticed anything in his fur or skin, so I think it's just become a self-soothing habit.

On another note, we actually were quite happy with his last grooming session. I think it's the first time we've brought him to the groomer where we were completely happy with how it turned out. I could tell right from the start of that session that it was going to be better than usual, because the groomer we got asked lots of questions, and I also told her exactly what we didn't like about previous grooming sessions. He came out cleaned up, but not shaved. Perfect!

He still looks like a schnauzer - unlike the last time!

I'm going to try to catch up on all the goings-on in the pet blogosphere this weekend. Happy Saturday everybody!





12 comments:

Julie Flanders said...

Oh my gosh, Oscar is so cute!! I love how he is standing up and pawing at the cucumber, adorable! Sorry to hear about his paw licking issues.

I'm new here and visiting from the hop, it's great to meet you and I'm glad to have discovered your blog!

Kiyi Kiyi said...

Welcome back! We missed you :)

Oscar is looking good - nice haircut!

Oskar said...

Oscar you look great. I am doomed to be groomed on Tuesday, so hopefully I will come out of it looking good & not being embarassed!

Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar

Rubie and Poots (her Mum) said...

We were wondering what was going on with his paw licking. Sorry it hasn't resolved.....must be frustrating.

Yes - the grooming was a success this time - he looks beautiful!

Tail Wuggles, Rubie (and her mum)

Wyatt said...

Hi Oscar!
Nice to see you again :)
Hey, I would steal veggies too. Why work for it, when you can just take it...heehee

Wyatt

Leigh said...

Oscar you look so good - better to look like a schnauzer - they're the best :-)Great photo of you pawing for the cucumber-love from Magic x

Pamela said...

It's impressive that such a little guy was able to get up on the counter.

Kolchak Puggle said...

"The Kong Wobbler has taught him to paw at things when he wants them." - What a great observation! We have a Dogzilla 'Steggin Egg and we never connected that pawing at it = reward and we had been baffled as to why Felix has been batting at us when he wants something. Thanks!

Does Oskar wear a collar and possibly pull on the leash a little? persistent paw licking can be linked to a neck injury. I would consider using a harness(EasyWalk is a good choice) and maybe seeing a canine chiropractor for a neck adjustment. It made a huge difference for our Felix.

You can read more about it on my blog post, At the End of My Leash, if you are interested.

http://www.kolchakpuggle.com/2011/07/other-end-of-leash.html

Adien Crafts said...

Ho Oscar - we missed you!!! We can't go losing ANY Schnauzers from Blog Land now can we ;-) Mmmm cucumber, we don't think we've had that, SHE doesn't like it so she doesn't buy it, we may have to change all that. Your haircut looks great, as you know we're left with really long beards but it must be so much easier to have it trimmed a bit like yours, Dex and Lou xxx

OscarBlogger said...

It's nice to be back! I hope you've all been well!

We do use an Easy Walk harness. We discovered it months ago and loved it, but then he chewed through his first one. We didn't get another for a while, because I wanted to try to work on his loose leash walking without relying on the Easy Walk. Kol, I did read your post about pulling and how it could cause paw licking, so maybe the loose leashing walking work with the collar did more harm than good. We bought another Easy Walk right after I read that and have been using it again since. I haven't noticed a major improvement yet, but will give it a bit more time and if it doesn't get better, we'll likely bring him back to the vet. Thanks for the tip! And I'm glad to have helped connect the dots between pawing and rewards. I noticed it when Oscar would do it while playing, or when we'd stop giving him tummy rubs and he wanted us to continue.

As for Oscar's haircut, I have been seeing many pictures of schnauzers looking quite handsome with the traditional schnauzer cut, which we don't usually give Oscar. We keep his hair short out of convenience, really - he snuffles around in too much dirt to grow out the beard and the rest of his hair. It takes long enough cleaning his fur as it is! :)

Bark Collar said...

You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post. I will try to get the hang of it!

Make Your Pets Happy said...

We provide the best home collection for pets . We have some pet accessories for the home like a pet barrier, massager, claiming beds, food & water bowl, etc. at a reasonable price.

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