Pet Q & A Part 1

 I thought it would be fun to do a Pet Q&A and did not expect nearly as many questions as what I received!  Today I'm going to answer the first batch and will have at least one more post to answer the rest mainly because this post was shaping up to be 7 hours long otherwise :) 

Quarantine made us do it! hahaha

The kids had been asking for a big dog for months and months and we figured that there was no better time than the present considering we weren't going anywhere for what felt like ever.  The timing really couldn't have been more perfect!  

We really wanted our kids to have a great "dog experience" growing up and while Jack is so cute and (sometimes) sweet there are just some behavioral issues (that are a result of his rough start to life and no fault of his own) that are unique and not ideal for kids.  We wanted our kids to grow up having a dog that they could introduce to their friends, bring to ball games and feed themselves.  I think that having a dog like Jack Bauer has taught them a lot of great things as well (respecting boundaries, understanding a little bit more about dog behavior, being able to read dog "body language", etc.) but we didn't want that to be their only experience with a dog at home.

Gary eats a couple of times a week.  We got her as an adult and so she wasn't eating nearly as often as a baby beardie.  She HATES greens and fruit and really sticks mainly to super worms and meal worms so a couple of big meals a week suit her fine.  The family we got her from included her entire "set up" which included the enclosure and lights and we just changed out the substrate and left her in the space she was used to. 

Jack Bauer sleeps in his dog bed in our room, Rosie sleeps in her crate in the office (or sometimes in our room), Jelly Bean typically sleeps in someones bed (mostly by Dave, but sometimes in one of the kids beds) and Gary sleeps in her enclosure :)

They do!  Part of why we jumped on getting Rosie when we did was so that she would be old enough to "hold it" while we were gone by the time we started back to school.  Dave leaves around 9:00 and we're home around 4:30 and we're yet to have an accident (well, except for a tummy trouble problem once). 

We don't.  We looked into it but decided it wasn't for us.

We did!  She had surgery last week and handled it like a total champ!  She was REALLY puny the first night we got her home (super nauseous from the anesthesia) but after that it's been no problem.  She HATED the cone and so we bought her a "suitical" to wear and it has been awesome!  We never once saw her mess with her stitches, but since we were going to be leaving her all day and obviously can't watch her all night it made the most sense to keep her suture sight inaccessible and keep her comfortable.

Look how SAD she was in the cone!!!

and feeling GOOD in her little suit :) hahaha  It snapped on hiney area around her legs... essentially a onesie for dogs... and that kept everything covered and we just unsnapped it when we took her outside to potty.

The suitical really was a lifesaver and worked so much better for her than the cone.  She's in the XXL and still has a little bit of room in it just in case we ever need it again.  I washed and dried it pretty much every evening and it still looks great.  Well worth it for a comfortable dog!

We're over the hump on that (THANK THE LORD) but I talked a lot about it in  this post.  The key for us was using the crate and bells.

There has been no cuddling but Rosie is learning to give Jack some space and Jack is tolerating her a bit better :)  

YES!!!   Back when I thought 3 kids, a house, a job, etc. was enough on my plate :) hahaha  

Remember when Jack Bauer was smaller than my Starbucks???

It really depends on her mood and the weather :)  Sometimes she'll lounge around inside for 3 days without wanting to go out and then other times she'll be gone 23 hours a day 5 days in a row and just come home for a meal before crying to go out again.

We let her pretty much tell us when she's ready to go out or come in and it works just fine.

We honestly just use grocery store brand.  We scoop it morning and night and then change the litter completely when things start to get a little funk but it's never been a big issue.  She has a litter box in the garage as well as in our laundry room and I think just keeping it as clean as possible has helped with the odor.

Yes!  Gary has never once hissed or snapped or bitten anyone and has never objected to being picked up or handled.  The person we bought her from had handled her from super early on and so she was used to that.

We introduced them outside and kept their interaction minimal for the first little bit until everyone kind of got used to each other.

HOW on earth was this only 4 months ago?!?!?!

We walk them both every day... Rosie gets walked more often so you may "see" her on more walks on my IG stories but she and Jack walk together pretty much every evening.  Rosie is super social and loves to go on walks so she waits by the door and begs to go out while we have to force Jack every day to come with us :) 

Last week at the vet she weighed in right at 100 lbs!  It's INSANE to me that she's gained 85 lbs since we got her at the end of April.  She'll continue to grow for the next year or so, but hopefully just not at the 20lb/month rate she's been growing at up until this point.  She'll more than likely end up somewhere around 150 lbs but it could be more - we'll just have to wait and see!