Pet Q&A Part III

 

Rosie isn't allowed on the couch unless she's invited and we keep her brushed a few times a week since the dander can be a big contributing factor to smelly dogs.  We run our Roomba daily and so far it hasn't been an issue.

We just kept redirecting and redirecting again until she lost her puppy teeth and then the nipping really stopped on it's own.

This is the one we have and love.  I can't attest to how it works compared to others since it's the only one we use but we run it daily and have no complaints.

She does! We keep her brushed and that really helps but she does shed.

Jelly Bean is fairly "independent" with everyone :)  She chooses when you're allowed to pet her, snuggle with her, etc and she is the same way with Rosie.  She FOR SURE isn't scared of Rosie and doesn't hesitate to hiss/swat if she feels Rosie is getting too nosey.  Jack tolerates her :)

She loves playing with Mason but she sleeps with Luke every night.  She loves snuggling with Griffin when they're on the couch and follows me everywhere around the house. But Dave is for sure the boss and if we're all together she goes to him first for pats. 

Jelly Bean gets to decide where she goes and when :)  Typically she'll spend the night inside the house and then in the morning when we're getting ready for school she'll go outside and she makes it pretty clear whether she wants to stay inside (she'll go out, feel the air and then run back inside) or spend the day outdoors (she'll go out, feel the air and then take off running to explore).  If we're gone during the day and she's outside we crack the garage door so she can come in and out as she pleases and she has a kitty tower/house, litter box and water out there as well as a big bin of jackets that she's known to sleep in as well.  If she decides to stay inside she has a litter box, food/water and kitty bed inside although when we get home we typically find her snuggled up on one of the kids beds.

In the past Jack Bauer has gone to my parents house and we've left Jelly Bean inside our house and someone has come by to give her food, water and some attention (if she wants it - ha!).  Gary Patterson's lights are on a timer that work automatically and she typically only eats once (MAYBE twice) a week so she's generally fine on her own.  Now that we have Rosie we'll probably board her when we go out of town unless my parents decide they really want a mini horse in their house :) hahaha

Oh, gosh!!! We don't have plans to add any other animals to our crew but Griffin is most definitely asking for a kitten for her birthday and I'm tempted because Rosie REALLY wants a friend.

So here's the deal - Gary will only poop in a bath.  We got her as an adult but you can actually train baby dragons to do this and it's pretty amazing because her enclosure never has waste in it and therefore it never smells.  We bathe her once a week and every single time she poos.  Bearded dragons don't have liquid urine... it's a solid "urate" that is actually expelled as part of the poop.  We scoop it out, flush it down the toilet and then clean the sink.  It was weird to me at first but I'd much rather do that than have dragon poop in the enclosure all the time. 

Rosie goes in her crate around 9 in the morning and generally gets let out around 4:30.  She goes in willingly every morning and will hang out in there on her own accord on the weekend when we're all home so I think it's safe to say she doesn't mind it.  She has a bed/blanket in there along with a couple of chew toys that are safe (things that we don't feel like she can break a piece off of while we're not there) and has never had an accident during the day (we started leaving her in there when she was about 5 months old and at that point one of us would run home in the early afternoon to let her out but we stopped when she only wanted belly rubs and not a bathroom break).  She does get walked every morning before she goes in the crate and we walk her every day when we get home. 

Dave had outdoor animals... dogs, cats, horses, etc. and so indoor pets were new to him when we got our first dog.  I grew up with dogs and a cat and had a variety of other pets... we had hamsters and gerbils, beta fish, hermit crabs and at one point I had two parakeets who lived in my room.  As a parent I can now really appreciate the experiences my parents enabled us to have when it came to taking care of animals and it's something that we feel is valuable for our kids as well.  Do I really want to have mealworms in my fridge and have a bearded dragon wrapped up in a "good" hand towel - no.  But I love that our kids are comfortable around reptiles and area learning a lot about how to care for them.  

I had a TON more questions so I'll wrap those up in one more post next month.  If you have any additional questions feel free to leave them in the comments!