Lexie Grey's Ear Tale

Sandra, Lexie Grey & Ivy

When Ivy and I decided to get an American Pitbull Terrier puppy, we already considered a lot of things that came with owning a dog of such breed. We know that it's going to be another large and powerful breed that we are adding to our pack, we are ready to answer people's misconceptions and myths surround the breed, we're already good on the time and training that we'll spend on another puppy, and among them all, we've decided to have the pitbull's ears cropped when the time comes.

Lexie & Mum

Last May 31, 2009, we brought Lexie (now 12 weeks old) to Dr. Bong Sepulveda's clinic to have her ears cropped. It was about an hour long procedure and Lexie was asleep the whole time and was given general anesthesia for the operation. The wounds will heal in about 7 days and she's taking antibiotics for it. She's going back on the 5th day to have her ears checked. 

asleep on the operating table

ears getting taped

She also had her ears braced and taped to take proper form, for around 3 weeks at the most. I had to put on an Elizabeth Collar on Lexie to prevent her from scratching her ears as it's going to itch like crazy for a few days.

just woke up at home, still groggy

donning her elizabeth collar

Lexie

It was painful for us to see her go through with it. We aren't proud about it, but it's something we've considered long before we got Lexie and we're just following through with our decision. If you ask me if I'm happy about Lexie's ear crop? Let me just say that I'm happy that it's over with and that she's back to her normal playful self. 

Don't Bite Back

Most new puppy owners have a single similar question about the new member of their family, "why do puppies love to bite?" 

One of the puppy's most important social activity is play-biting. That's why it is essential not to take a puppy away from its litter at less than 8 weeks old as the puppy will develop most of its social traits within that span of time and the litter is a lot of help. Play-biting allows the puppy to gauge how hard it can bite without actually hurting someone else. Puppies will bite each other until one squeals in pain and stops playing their biting game, which would tell the other puppy that the bite did hurt and if that pup continues on like that, nobody will play with him anymore. This is essential as the pup will carry this learned lesson to adulthood, having gauged on how hard his jaw can bite to hurt or not to hurt someone else is a very good thing for the dog, other dogs and their humans.

Lexie and Nala are at it again

Play-biting may also be the reason why a puppy will bite on your table legs, chairs and most of your furniture, especially if the pup doesn't have someone else to play with. If your puppy starts to play-bite with you, don't push him or her off, just react in a productive way whenever his bite becomes painful by turning away from the pup and giving a high pitched squeal to indicate pain and make the pup learn its lesson. Taking your finger away and giving affection at the same time would only make them think you weren't hurt at all and that the bite the pup just gave was okay. 

these pups are full of energy and could play the whole day

If you have a dog in the house, introducing a new puppy could actually initiate play-biting between the two (which is good). Don't try to stop them even if it gets a little rough, that is ofcourse you have complete confidence that your dog will not hurt the puppy. Remember, settle the issue with you and your dog/pup by yourself, be dominant -- but let the other dogs settle their issues by themselves, this will create for a natural hierarchy in your pack without any confusion.

Chuck gets in the fray, pinning Nala to the count of 3

I read a story about this very docile adult dog who's never shown any aggression in all his life, but one day while this child was playing with the dog, he was accidentally hurt and bit the child as a reaction. The puncture wounds would indicate that the dog didn't actually know how to control his jaws and that could probably indicate the dog's lack of play-biting when he was still a puppy.

Remember that playful pups, play-biting or no biting at all, does not lead to aggressive dogs. It always depends on the owner.

Winter Nose

Most puppies are born with pink noses. At the norm, their nose should be pigmented from as early as 4 weeks to about 8 weeks. Although some puppies take more time for their nose to be fully pigmented, others really don't get pigmented at all, they spend their lives having a pink nose or a winter nose.

Nov. 18, 2008 photo

Our Chuck Bass and Lexie Grey have partially pigmented noses as of now. Lexie is still 10 weeks old and you can practically see the growth progression of the black pigment on her nose, no worries there. Interestingly, Chuck still has a partially pigmented nose and he's already 1 year and 3 months old. When we got him at 6 months old, we initially thought his partially-pink nose would be completely covered in liver color after while. But after 6 more months without a solid liver-colored nose, we've already accepted his partially pigmented nose as permanent and that it may stay that way for life... or so we thought. Last night, Ivy and I compared Chuck's nose photos at 6 months and his recent nose photos (yes, Chuck has a lot of nose photos in our archive. A liver colored nose also indicates that Chuck is a Red dog and will have no black pigmentation in his body at all). It was fascinating to find out that Chuck's nose has a slow but progressive growth of pigmentation. 

May 14, 2009 photo

That's really good news for us all! Not only because of aesthetic reasons but mainly because pigmentation is crucial for dogs, as their nose, if without pigmentation, are very susceptible to sunburn and skin cancer. 

So if your dog has a winter nose, make sure you put a little sunblock on that cute nose before getting him or her under the sun for long periods of time. Be responsible!

A Cold and Rainy Night

Some dogs huddle, other dogs cuddle.

It was cold and rainy last night. Thank goodness for the fairly tiring activities they had the whole day, the dogs decided to call it a night a little bit earlier than usual. 

Lexie and Nala sleeps outside the house. And though it breaks our hearts to leave them outside as they are too cute not to stay indoors with us, we know giving them boundaries will make it easier for us when the pups grow up. Though Ivy's potted plants do get most of the early-morning-puppy-energy-discharge, it seems like one plant disappears every morning, i do admire my wife's patience on the pups as i know how important the plants are to her. Nala usually sleeps on the cold (and damp, if available) concrete floor and Lexie always looks for the comforts of her soft bed. But the cold made them huddle and cuddle together last night, a very different gesture from the all-day play-biting sessions of the two.

Even our two indoor dogs didn't escape the mood of the night. Rarely do Chuck and Beka share the bed as Chuck prefers to sleep by his lonesome, he always leaves the bed to Beka as soon as she takes her space on it. But not last night. Last night was a cold and rainy night. Last night, the two beagles huddled and cuddled. 

Our dogs huddle, our dogs cuddle.

Home Coming

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We arrived home yesterday afternoon from Cavite City. Coming home with us are Lexie and Nala. Lexie Grey is a two-month old female American Pitbull Terrier, while Nala is a three-month old female yellow Labrador Retriever. Nala will be staying with us until June just to make sure she gets her necessary vaccines and rabies shots before she leaves and stays with our mother for good. 

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Nala was shy at first (the whole afternoon actually). She wasn't mingling with the others that much and she was obviously nervous (infact, she didn't eat that night). She was just beside Ivy most of the time, sitting down by her feet or getting herself wet, just like her daddy.

(click photo to enlarge)

(click photo to enlarge)

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Lexie became a member of the pack right from the moment she walked out of the vari-kennel to greet the other dogs. She is what we would call a people-person, or in their case, a dog-dog. She didn't hesitate to start play-biting (being the pup that she is) with Chuck and Beka -- even Lucas.  She was running, jumping and playing non stop.

(click photo to enlarge)

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The dogs were great together, we didn't have a lot of trouble except for maybe Nala's wound on her tongue and Chuck's hormones. hahaha! It's going to be fun!

(click photo to enlarge)

The Anticipation of Lexie Grey

This month of April is an eventful month for me and Ivy. It's the first time we've been away from each other for so long and also this month we are taking in three puppies (though one, Lucas' puppy female yellow lab, will only stay with us until she gets her complete vaccines and then she's off to mama in the Wildberry Gardens in Lorega). You've already met one of the three pups, the five month old female beagle named Beka, in our earlier post.

Our much anticipated (and planned) adoption is this cute and wonderful female blue APBT. Yup, that's the American Pit Bull Terrier to you. She was born on February 28, 2009 and will be joining our family on the 27th of April. The breeder was thoughtful enough to make this short video clip of the puppy for us and we'd like to share it with you. Please don't get confused about the name at the start of the video -- ladies and gentlemen, it's our pleasure to introduce to you, Lexie Grey.

Another clip of Lexie and her siblings from the litter of Maxium X Blinq.