Tuesday Things from Rio

Rio waiting patiently for his food - lolathepitty.com

Tuesday things!

The cutest thing happened this morning. It was one of those ‘proud mama’ moments. I tend to have a few of those, along with a few face-palms (Lola eating half of a pack of gum) every week, haha.

As usual, we set Rio’s food down in front of him and tell him to “stay” or “wait” until we give him the signal by saying, “okay” for him to eat/inhale his food.

Well this morning in the hustle and bustle of everything, I set Rio’s food down…proceeded to fill the coffee pot with water, add the coffee filter and grounds, shuffle through some mail on the counter when Antonio taps me on the shoulder and signals towards Rio. Here he is, sitting. Waiting. Patiently. Head bowed, just staring at his food waiting for the magical words, “OKAY!” to come out of my mouth. What a good boy, Rio!

Rio Shaking - @lolathepittyFast forward 12 hours…here we are in the living room, we were planning on doing a little Christmas photo shoot in their sweaters that Amaya bought them.

“Mom! My sweater definitely doesn’t fit….”

Rio - outgrew his sweater! @lolathepitty

Instead, let’s just take some pictures. Or try to. Rio is not the most cooperative when taking photos. He must be a little camera shy. Lola on the other hand – easy peasy.

Here are a few outtakes of the Christmas sweater photos – sans Christmas sweater:

Rio - photo outtakes @lolathepitty

Overall, Rio is doing awesome since his leg surgery which was just five weeks ago (three more weeks of recovery to go)!  I can’t wait to see our baby RUN again – we’ll be sure to keep everyone posted and share another video of him soon!

Shine ON!

lola the pit bull

 

Let’s connect on TWITTER & Pinterest!

And don’t forget to subscribe to LolaThePitty.com so you never miss a post!

Doggy Egg Nog Recipe

I might know a spoiled dog or two… But hey, don’t leave your dog out while sipping on a cup of egg nog! Lola went crazy over this recipe! Okay, she goes crazy over a lot – but she seriously couldn’t stand watching me take the photos. It was as if she KNEW I was making something for her. Silly pup. I hope your pups enjoy this recipe!

Homemade Dog Egg Nog Recipe - www.lolathepitty.com It couldn’t be any more simple to throw together.

You can leave out the raw egg if you’re not into that…otherwise here is the recipe!

Homemade Dog Egg Nog recipe - www.lolathepitty.com

(recipe adapted from Tripawds Nutrition)

5.0 from 1 reviews
Doggy Egg Nog Recipe
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Homemade DogNog - doggy egg nog! Your pups will devour this recipe!
Author:
Serves: 3
Ingredients
  • 1 (7 oz.) container plain greek yogurt (I used Fage 2%)
  • ½ of a (4 oz.) jar baby food (I used organic sweet potato & chicken)
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 egg (free range if possible)
  • Gingerbread Buddy Biscuits (topping)
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until frothy.
  2. Top with a small dog treat such as the tiny Buddy Biscuits.
  3. Enjoy!
Notes
*Recipe can easily be doubled and kept in the fridge for a couple days or frozen!
*You can leave the raw egg out if desired.

Homemade Dog Egg Nog recipe - www.lolathepitty.com If your dogs are like mine – you won’t be able to get this ready fast enough 😉 Homemade Dog Egg Nog recipe - www.lolathepitty.com

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my RSS Feed!

You might also enjoy:

Homemade Pumpkin Biscuits

Lola's Homemade Pumpkin Dog Biscuits - @lolathepitty

7 Tips for Crate Training Your Dog or Puppy

7 Tips for Crating your dog or puppy! www.lolathepitty.com

7 Tips for Crating your dog or puppy! www.lolathepitty.com
1. Make their crate a comfortable place and create positive memories in it!

If a dog only goes into their crate when they are in trouble or for long periods of time, of course they are going to dread going into it. Also, associate their crate with comfort and safety, after all this is their own little room. We keep our dogs blankets in there and also give them a toy that is safe to play with and a treat when they are first learning to go in. If you are having issues, you can even feed your dog his or her meals in it.

*At night, we cover Rio’s crate with a large blanket – this has completely stopped his whining in the early a.m. (likely caused by the sunrise).

2. Reward your dog or puppy for going into his crate.

You can do this with a treat or what we do is prepare a peanut butter-filled Kong for your dog whenever they are going in for a long period of time (3-5 hours). Just something to entertain them. Now, our dogs run to their crates when they see the peanut butter come out!

3. Play music while your dog is crated.

We actually have a dog DVD – filled with animal noises, outdoors, etc. This was free from a rescue that we volunteer at but you can also purchase them online or at book stores for a reasonable price. Otherwise, there is Dog TV now, but I believe it is $5 a month through your cable subscriber. But simply having the TV or music playing is comforting to your dog.

4. Don’t isolate your dog’s crate.

Keep the dog crate in an area where you spend a lot of time! I wouldn’t want to sleep in a dark dungeon that is only entered when it is for punishment or sleeping either. Both of our dog’s crates are in the living room.

5. Whining does not mean your dog gets out.

If you let your dog out of the crate every time he starts to whine, he will learn very quickly that when he whines, he gets rewarded. We were very lucky with both Lola and Rio as neither of them were major whiners, but if they would initially whine when put into their crate at night, they were ignored. We did not yell at them to “shut up”, we simply ignored them. Now if you think they truly have to go to bathroom, take them outside and immediately bring them back in. On that note, we always take our dogs out immediately prior to going to bed, or “nigh-night” as they know. 😉

6. Make sure your crate is big enough.

I can’t stand a crate that is borderline too small for a dog. I like our dogs to have enough room to stand up, turn around and be able to take a few steps around inside.

7. Leave the crate door open all the time.

This allows your dog to go in and out as they please. We find ours napping in there from time to time!

Notes:

*If the dog is only in their crate for very long periods of time, try putting them in the crate and then returning after a very short period of time (10-15 minutes) then let them out and praise them for their good behavior.

-I am not a professional dog trainer, but these are just several tips that we follow and have worked fabulous for us. –

Do you crate your dog?! We have loved it and it made potty training a breeze. Lola only ever peed in her crate a couple times and Rio has NEVER. I guess I can’t blame him, I wouldn’t like to sleep in that either.

Check out our homemade dog treat recipes!

Dog Recipes

Finley – Adoptable Dog of the Week!

Meet Finley- Needs a foster (& fur-ever family)!

Just look at those eyes…they melt my heart!

Finley - Adoptable Dog of the Week! Located in MN - @lolathepitty

Finley is a 1 year old Bulldog/Pit Bull mix with Pet Project Rescue in Minnesota.

Just look at those eyes! He has been in rescue for quite a while now and is also in need of a new foster family or permanent home that has dog or breed experience and that is caring and understanding of his special needs, that will be committed to providing him continued training, proper socialization and daily exercise.

From the foster:

“Finley is just over a year old now.  He is a super smart boy and is doing great with his obedience training.  He is halfway through completing Level 1 Obedience through the Canine Coach.  He will graduate from Level 1 the end of this month!  He learns things really quickly and is very treat motivated.  He knows ‘sit’, ‘stay’, ‘come’, ‘wait’, ‘leave it’, and ‘down’ just to name a few.  He works so hard and listens really well.

Finley loves, loves, to play!  He would play all day long if he could.  Fetch and rope tug are his favorites.  He also loves chew toys, bones, and Kongs filled with peanut butter. His second favorite thing to do is to snuggle up with you on the couch or the bed.  He loves being by his people and is a big lap dog.
Finley’s doctors are not sure if he will need knee surgery or not, but they did diagnose him with a neurological disorder that is affecting his gait.  As a result, Finley is  a little off-balanced and clumsy when he walks.  But it really doesn’t slow him down at all – he gets around just fine!  Otherwise, Finley is a happy and healthy boy. (Should Finley need surgery, Pet Project Rescue is covering the cost! How great is that?!)
Finley would do best in an only dog home.  He gets very excited when playing with other dogs and not all dogs appreciate his style of play.  He also gets too excited over cats to share a home with them.  Due to his clumsiness a home with children 10 or older might be best.
He needs a foster or permanent home that has dog or breed experience, and that is caring and understanding of his special needs, and that will be committed to providing him continued training, proper socialization, and daily exercise.  Finley needs someone who will spend daily time with him on continued training, playing, and exercise!

Please share this post so that Finley can find his fur-ever home!  He’s an awesome dog that was pulled from a high-kill shelter, given a second chance at life and is learning more everyday!”

View Finley’s profile on Petfinder!

Follow Lola the pitty on bloglovin'

Rio’s Surgery

Rio-leg surgery - lolathepitty.com

We had only had Rio for about two weeks when he and Lola were wrestling as usual, but then the worst imaginable thing happened.

I received a frantic phone call at work from ‘A’ and all I could hear was a dog screaming in the background. My heart began racing…what is happening? Is it Lola or Rio? What do you think is wrong? I immediately flew out of work. Before I could even get in the car, he called me back and said he was taking Rio to the vet because it was obviously something very serious.

My heart was breaking and I had so many questions. How did this even happen? This is a nightmare. I began to ask ‘A’ a million questions. He was in the laundry room switching over a load of laundry and the next thing he knew, he heard Rio screaming. He ran up the stairs to find Rio laying on the landing. When he tried to pick Rio up, it was obvious he was in extreme pain as he was letting out intense cries. ‘A’ went and grabbed a laundry basket, lined it with blankets and carefully picked Rio up and transferred him into the basket so he could easily transport him.

I drove immediately to the vet, getting there in about 30 minutes which seemed like an eternity. I walked into our small vet office and heard shrieks, it was Rio. They had Rio in the back room and had to sedate him to get the x-rays. We waited sitting on the edge of our seats and I’m fairly certain I chewed through about 5 of my fingers. About 20 minutes later the vet called us into a private room. I knew this could not be good. Rio had a fracture that went THROUGH his joint. Our vet showed us the x-rays as we tried to absorb the reality. Our options: surgery or amputation.

I won’t go into the details of why it took so long for the surgery, but long story short, it was a holiday weekend and we needed a specialist, the surgeons at the ER were not ortho surgeons. Therefore, we had to wait until MONDAY, November 11th, 2013 (this happened the Friday prior) for the orthopedic surgeon to perform the surgery. The shitty part about it was that unless it was life or death, you will not find an ortho surgeon operating on weekends (or Friday evening past 4pm).

Therefore, I slept on the couch by Rio’s side for three nights in the case that he should try to wake up and attempt to move. My job was to keep my poor baby as comfortable as possible before the surgery was performed.

Here are some pictures of his story:

 Pre surgery, the day of the injury:

Rio-leg surgery - lolathepitty.com

This was Rio sleeping in his crate (which we took off the top so we could easily pick him up for potty breaks). TG for pain meds.

Rio's before surgery - lolathepitty.com

Post surgery – with one pin and screw

Rio's surgery - lolathepitty.com

This was the day he got home from surgery – already feeling MUCH better.

Rio's after surgery - lolathepitty.com

This was taken the 4th day after the surgery, after he had his leg unwrapped…

Rio's sutures after surgery - lolathepitty.com

As you can see from this video, which was taken about 4 weeks after surgery, Rio is doing much better!

Don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS Feed!

Tater Tot & Lola

Tator tot & Lola - lolathepitty.com

Meet Tater Tot! Tater is Lola’s boyfuriend. Yes, it’s true. Tater is also a rescued, American Pit Bull Service dog who assists his 14 year old owner, Amaya.

They are good friends of ours and we often meet up at the dog park and go to doggy events together!

tater & lola - lolathepitty.com

All of these photos were taken at local parks by Amaya!

You can follow Tater’s adventures on Facebook HERE.

tater & lola - lolathepitty.com

You will also see the other Tator Tot in this photo. Two TATER’s, what are the odds!?

You may have heard about his story

tater & lola - lolathepitty.com

Lola’s Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

Lola's Homemade Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

I love these treats! They are simple and super cute.

Lola's Homemade Pumpkin Dog Biscuits - @lolathepitty

*I used rice flour and masa (corn flour), which can be found in the Asian & Hispanic aisles of most grocery stores. You can also use whole wheat flour.

Lola's Homemade Pumpkin Dog Biscuits

*If desired, once treats are completely cooled, you can melt some Vanilla Candiquik Coating and dip or drizzle the dog biscuits! Just use portion control if you choose to do this. I dipped about 1/3 of the treats, to give as gifts and a very special treat to Lola, but then left most of them plain.

Other fun dog treat recipes: Homemade Peanut Butter Banana Dog Treats

Have fun with these! Drizzle, pipe your pup’s name on them, add little designs, etc.

Lola's Homemade Pumpkin Dog Biscuits - @lolathepitty www.lolathepitty.com

Easy as that!

4.0 from 1 reviews
Lola's Pumpkin Dog Biscuits
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 24
Ingredients
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tablespoons dry milk
  • ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon dried parsley
  • 2½ cups rice flour, corn flour, or whole wheat flour
  • •Optional: 1 package Vanilla CandiQuik Coating
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Whisk together eggs and pumpkin in a medium bowl. Stir in dry milk, sea salt, and parsley.
  3. Gradually add flour (corn or rice) to pumpkin mixture and stir until a stiff, dry mixture is formed.
  4. Roll out dough onto a smooth surface, ¼ – ½” thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutter.
  5. Bake for 40 minutes, turning biscuits over halfway through. Let cool.
  6. Optional: once completely cooled, melt Vanilla CandiQuik in tray, according to package directions. Dip dog biscuits in coating and place on wax or parchment paper to dry.
Notes
*If biscuits are sticky and hard to roll, add 1-3 tablespoons of rice or corn flour. *Please note: this is not professional advice, these biscuits are intended as a dog treat. If you have any concerns, you should always consult with a licensed veterinary professional.

 

Apple Crunch Pupcakes

Apple Crunch Pupcakes - Lolathepitty.com

These homemade pupcakes are so simple to throw together! One bowl, 50 minutes of your time and voila!

Apple Crunch Pupcakes - Lolathepitty.com

I love homemade dog treat recipes because you KNOW exactly what goes into them.

And I don’t know about you, but our dogs eat much better & cleaner than we do.

Apple Crunch Pupcakes - Lolathepitty.com

If you have a doughnut pan, you can bake these into cute doughnut (or bagel) shapes as well!

Apple Crunch Pupcakes - Lolathepitty.com

5.0 from 3 reviews
Apple Crunch Pupcakes
 
Cook time
Total time
 
A homemade cupcake for your dog, also known as a pupcake! Treat your four-legged friend to a dog-safe treat that they are sure to love!
Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 cups water
  • ¼ cups apple sauce (I used Mott’s Natural)
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 4 Tbsp honey
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1 cup chopped apples (about 1 apple)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a large bowl mix water, apple sauce, vanilla, egg, and honey together with a whisk.
  3. Combine whole wheat flour and baking powder and stir into wet ingredients.
  4. Fold in chopped apples.
  5. Spoon mixture into greased muffin tins.
  6. Bake for 35 minutes; let cool.
Notes
*these are very LARGE for a dog - I broke them up into pieces and gave over several days.
*store in an airtight container.

 

Follow Lola the pitty on bloglovin'