Gracie Loves Houseguests!

We had a house full of out-of-town guests recently and Gracie loved it. She's especially good with children and very patient with them. Here's a photo of Gracie lining up with the kids for a play activity:

Baby Wipes For Clean Ears

Homemade meals are one way to keep a dog healthy. However, good Doggie Chefs know keeping a dog reasonably clean and well groomed is important too.

The first year I had Gracie her ears smelled pretty bad for several months. The vet said she had an ear infection and recommended I clean Gracie's ears with a liquid solution made to swish into a dog's ear with a squeeze-bottle. Well, Gracie would have none of that and I couldn't blame her. Who wants chilly liquid squeezed into their ears?

I bought some doggie ear pad wipes but they were saturated with liquid and unpleasant to use. I started carefully wiping out Gracie's ears with cotton balls dampened with witch hazel. Then I used tissues dampened with witch hazel, which helped me to do a better job.

One evening when I was removing eye make-up from my face with a baby wipe I realized baby wipes would be great for cleaning a dog's ears!

I buy the unscented, gentle kind of baby wipe and use one for each ear (sometimes two if Gracie has a lot of ear wax). I clean Gracie's ears thoroughly about once a week. I wrap the wipe around my finger and clean her outer ear and the outer part of her inner ear (if that makes sense). I try not to clean too deeply into her ear canal but I think it is important to clean out much of the excess wax. I know ear wax serves a function but clean ears smell a lot nicer. On other days of the week when I'm brushing Gracie I'll sometimes quickly clean just her outer ear, under her ear flap.

Egg Whites & Rice Dinner 4-14-09

Egg whites cooked in corn oil

Rice

Whole wheat bread

Cooked sweet potato

Cooked peas

Bone meal powder

Canned Salmon Breakfast 4-7-09

Canned salmon (Rinsed briefly in water to remove excess salt. Most of the skin removed. The bones are safe, as they're very soft)

Oatmeal cooked in milk

Whole wheat bread

Egg noodles

Cooked carrots

Yogurt

Ground Beef Dinner 4-1-09

Ground beef cooked in corn oil

Oatmeal cooked in milk

Homemade wheat bread

Cooked carrots

Plain yogurt