Merry Christmas from the Rush's!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Squishy and Cinderley

Bigger than a dust bunny

When I was a little girl, dogs and cats were never allowed in the house. Other than the fact that my dad grew up on a farm where farm animals stay outside, I never understood the reasoning. So when I got my own dog and my own house, I had the power to make my own rules, and I did. My dog was allowed to eat, sleep, and play in my house. Then I got a second dog, and then a third dog. Then it started to make sense, could it have been a cleaning issue?
I would say, at most households, the floors are swept and vacuumed for dirt. Well, at my household, our floors are swept and vacuumed for dog hair. If you drop a piece of food on my floor, there is no ten second rule, it's just a goner. The dogs aren't allowed on furniture, so the hair doesn't get on our clothing. But if you walk in your sock on my floor, you will end up having dog hair stuck to them. Slippers are a highly favored item in this household. Once I put my socks on, I put my feet into my slippers. Then when I'm ready to leave the house I take my feet out of the slippers and put them directly into my shoes. Then when I get home, I take off my shoes and put them directly back into my slippers. I can only vouch for myself, I don't know if my husband has such a strict ritual. Also, if I'm barefoot and I'm going to bed, I brush my feet off before I get under the covers, just in case some hair got stuck to my foot. As crazy as it may sound, the joy of having my dogs in the house out weighs the troubles I have with dog hair.
In a weeks time, I have many dust bunnies, but I like to think of them as a hybrid dust bunny, for this reason. "A dust bunny are small clumps of dust that form under furniture and in corners that are not cleaned regularly. They are made of hair, lint, dead skin, spider web, dust, and sometimes light rubbish and debris, and are held together by static electricity and felt-like entanglement." First of all, I find my dust bunnies in high traffic areas, not in neglected corners. Secondly, they are cleaned up regularly. Thirdly, they are made of mostly hair because the rest of the ingredient hardly have a chance accumulate in between cleanings. So maybe mine are "Hare" bunnies, instead of dust bunnies. Regardless of what you call it, I've never seen a dust bunny as big as the ones that develop at my house.

Here's a sample of a "hare" bunny that I swept up from my bedroom. 

A silent call for help

The other day when Thor was in the house, I gave him the rest of a rawhide to chew on while my husband and I watched TV. About a half hour later Thor abruptly gets up from his bed and walks over to Travis and I, he's acting kind of funny. Travis notices that the sides of his body are sucked in and he's barely breathing, "I think he's choking!".We jump up and Travis starts to give him the Heimlich maneuver to the dog the best he could. We also pat him on the back a couple times. Sure enough, he coughed up the last bit of his rawhide that he swallowed without chewing well enough. The rest of the evening he stayed by our sides in admiration, knowing he had a near death experience and that we saved him.

Our dogs often choke on the last little bit of rawhide because they don't take the time to chew it enough to make it soft and flexible to swallow. Which has lead us to the habit of taking it from the dog before it's to the swallowing size. We never give our dogs rawhides unless they are supervised. Please take note, do not leave your dog unattended with a rawhide bone. Also, be sure you can remove this treat from your dog safely at anytime. If your dog respects you as the pack leader, you should be able to give and take away when ever you want to.

Puppies chew anything, large puppies also swallow anything

One morning Travis went to feed the dogs and noticed Cinderley's collar was missing. He glanced around the kennel and shuffled the pine shavings in the dog house, but all he could find was the buckle.Not thinking much of it, his day carried on. That evening we brought Cinderley and Squishy in the house (the dog's get to sleep inside on an alternating schedule). Cinderley was looking pretty big and bad without her pink collar on.
About two hours after I went to bed, Squishy started to make that noise when someone's about to barf, except nothing came up. So we all went back to sleep. Then at about 2 am, he started to make the noise again, except this time he puked, and then it looked like he was going to puke again. So we rushed him outside, except he only made it to the back door (still inside the house) before he up-chucked again. Then we sent him outside.
I grabbed a plastic sack and paper towels and started to clean-up the mess in the bedroom. I start to pick it up (my hand's inside the plastic bag of course), when I went to pick it up the second time I came to a realization. "This is Cinderley's collar!" Squishy had chewed up Cinderley's 24" leather collar into 2 inch uniformed lengths and swallowed them! We don't know for sure how Cinderley's collar came off, I'm pretty sure Squishy either yanked it off of her neck, or just chewed it off of her while they were resting. We had a similar problem when Squishy and Thor were kennel partners, Thor's collar ended up in pieces twice in the same week.
So lesson learned, dog's will eat anything.

Thor's luxurious pillow

So last week, after I went to bed, I ditched my pillow early on. As the story goes, my husband tells me that my pillow somehow made it down to my feet by the time he came to bed. Well then at about 4 o'clock in the morning I was sleeping lightly, I knew there was a presence of a pillow near my head, and then all of a sudden my husband, lying on this belly, took it away and grasped it in a bear hug. "He just took my pillow!" I thought to myself. I'm not much of a morning person, and I could really care less about how someone else's morning goes, I attempt to yank the pillow back into my possession. However, he now has a death grip on the thing, so I began to poke him to wake him up. "What?", he says in a half-asleep tone. "You took my pillow!" I exclaimed. "No I didn't, your pillow's on the floor". I then reached down to feel for my pillow and I feel the dogs head. "I think Thor's on it". Travis then turns on a light, and sure enough, I found Thor like this....

He was using the pillow like a human does! I don't know if he decided to use it to cushion and elevate his head because he's observed us sleeping for the past 2 years, of if he came up with it on his own. However, at this point he's had possession of my king sized pillow for the majority of the night, and I didn't care to have it back with dog hair on it. I was getting up in an hour anyways, so I let him use it for the rest of the morning.

A couple days later I decided I could be a nice owner and give him an old flat pillow that had been retired and taking up space in the spare room. So I put an old pillow case on it and placed it on the dog bed. Before I went to bed, Thor had already found the pillow and tucked himself in...

Now every night he curls up next to the pillow and places his head on it; and that's where he stays all night long. Very content might I add.

I don't think he knew he was lost

On labor day, Travis and I took a one-night camping trip to Carmen Reservoir, which is in the Willamette National Forest. We took Squishy and Cinderley with us. When we got their we did some fishing and took the dogs out on the boat with us. Neither dog had ever gone boating before, but they did great. After fishing, we set-up camp and then took a hike with the dogs to a couple of falls that are part of the McKenzie River, which flows into the reservoir. The hike was about a mile round-trip and it was along the river. Seeing as how we showed up the day everyone else was packing up to go home, by the end of the day there was only one other family camping at the campground. That night, the dogs slept in the tent with us, like they always do, and we all slept peacefully in the quite forest.

The next morning the dogs wanted to get up before we did. So we tied Squishy and Cinderley up with a cable that was attached to our pick-nick table, and we went back to sleep. We got up about 30-45 minutes later. Travis got out of the tent and then yells "Squishy's gone!" Squishy, the big lug, broke the cable (which is rated for 200 lbs). I quickly got dressed and we both went wandering around the empty campground with Cinderley, yelling squishy's name. We walked around the campground two or three times, I talked to the one other family camping there, who also had dogs, but they hadn't seen Squishy. Our search then got serious, Squishy could be found no where! We are out in the middle of the forest, on the last weekend before the campground closes for the winter, and we lost our dog. I then loaded Cinderley up in the truck and drove down to the reservoir, and Travis hiked down the hill along the creek. At the reservoir there was construction at the bridge that crosses the river, I see a construction worker and jump out of my truck, "Have you seen a big black dog with a red collar? I have lost him, he's a Rottweiler". The man responded with "Is he nice?" "Yes, he won't hurt you, if you see him let me know, we are staying up at the campground." Mean while Travis is hiking the trails that lead down to the reservoir, more than once. I then take off up the road to the upper falls that we hiked to the day before. When I get there, a car just left, I jump out and start to do a fast-walk/jog down the 1/2 mile trail leading to the campground, shouting my puppy's name. I get to the lower falls, and I cross paths with a couple of older ladies. The first thing they asked is "Did you run here?" They were the car that had left the upper falls when I pulled in, and they remembered seeing me. "No, it was more of a fast walk, I'm looking for my dog." I tell them my story but they hadn't seen Squishy either. I then took another trail that led back to the upper falls where I had to retrieve the truck with Cinderley in the back. Still no sign of Squishy, about an hour has lapsed, and there's no telling how far Squishy has traveled by now. Before driving around some more, I decided to go back to camp. When I got there, Travis and Squishy were both at camp. What a relief! Apparently Travis was on his way back to check camp and Squishy was already there. Travis startled Squishy and he started barking like a big bad dog guarding his territory, like he had never left. What a silly dog, I bet he didn't even know he was lost! Where he went, we will never know, we looked everywhere for an hour, and when he was ready, I'm sure he was able to find us in less than 5 minutes. My gut feeling told me he'd come back, but at the same time I couldn't just sit there and wait.

Why I love my rottie dogs

I love my rottie dogs because they love me back.

I love my Cinderley because she like's to cuddle with me on the couch.

I love my Thor because he's a great guard dog.

I love my Squishy because he still thinks he's 3 months old.

All Cinderley wants is to be friends with everyone, and for everyone to give her love and attention. When she was a puppy, I took her everywhere and socialized her with everyone. Now that she's grown, all she want to be is social.

Thor believes his job in life is to protect our property, at the end of the day when he comes inside, he just lays down and falls asleep, as if he had an exhausting day at work.

Squishy still acts like a little puppy, I don't think he knows he's huge. He still plays like a puppy, gets into trouble, and looks at you with innocent puppy eyes. To some he may look intimidating, to me, I just want to smother him with love.

Our visit to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

Yesterday Squishy, my sister-in-law Sara, and I went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival located east of Woodburn, Oregon. From Salem it was about 60 miles round-trip for us, and the three of us had the joy of riding in my 2-door sports coupe. Squishy did quite well in the back-seat considering his size, and Sara did quite well considering the amount of drool coming from Squishy's mouth.
The main reason for taking Squishy was to expose him to a crowded environment with a mixture of kids, adults and other dogs. He did very well. He could have cared less about all the people. The only thing that caught his eye on occasion were other dogs. However, the use of the halti (head collar) made the experience better for me because when he did pull I didn't follow. Here are some pictures of us at the Tulip Fest!

The English Mastweiler

Have you ever heard of an English Mastweiler? It is a designer breed that mixes an English Mastiff with a Rottweiler. My husband and I have thought of one day breeding Squishy with an English Mastiff and keeping a pup. Little did we know, it's a concept that has already been in the works.
 (Left: English Mastiff with fawn coloring)

The Rottweiler's temperament is calm, confident, courageous and self-confident. They have an inherent desire to protect home and family, and is an intelligent dog of extreme hardness and adaptability with a strong willingness to work, which makes them especially suited as a companion, guardian and general all-purpose dog.

 (Right: Rottweiler)

The English Mastiff's temperament is characteristically innately good natured, calm, easygoing, and surprisingly gentle for its size. It is capable of protection, if the approaching person is perceived as a threat, the Mastiff may take immediate defensive action. They are typically an extremely loyal breed, exceptionally devoted to its family and good with children.
 (Left: English Mastiff with apricot-brindle coloring)

I think the mix creates a very attractive animal with a great temperament. Here's some pictures of what an English Mastweiler may look like. Aren't they pretty?

So the story continues... last Friday on my way to work, a house in the country was having a yard sale and also had a sign that said they were selling English Mastiff pups. I very much wanted to stop and look at the pups but knew I shouldn't, I mean I already have three dogs, what would I do with four? (...make English Mastweiler puppies of course!) When I got home I told my husband all about it and being my voice of reason told me no. However, a day or two later he did admit that if I had brought one home I could have kept it. So upon agreement, once we buy our next home (in the country) we'll get another dog. Except that won't be for another 3-5 years, and then once we get a pup we have to wait until she's two or three to breed her. I can't wait 8 years for my beautiful English Mastweiler! Squishy will be an old man by then! Therefore, if you or someone you know has a female English Mastiff and is interested in breeding her to a Rottweiler in the next few years let me know.

The Dog Powered Bicycle

One day I stumbled across the concept of a dog powered scooter on the internet. I was intrigued and I wanted one! Prior to my discovery of this great invention I was taking my dogs on long walks to burn their steam off. Well, waking the dog is great, but the dog and I never want to walk the same pace, they're always faster. So I entertained the thought of reclaiming my childhood banana seat bike from the shed at my parents house, and then I could ride my bike and walk the dog at the same time. However, laziness persisted and the weather turned bad, so not only did I not get my bike back, I stopped walking the dogs. But the idea of the dog powered scooter got me excited. They could pick the pace, and I wouldn't have to do any work! Also, Rottweilers are a working dog, so giving them a "job" helps to fulfill their needs. The idea was perfect! But one thing was in the way between me and the totally awesome dog powered scooter... money. These things are affordable, but if I spent that kind of money I'd feel obligated to use it everyday, which I couldn't see happening with Oregon's unpredictable weather.
Dreams were crushed... nearly. It just so happens I'm somewhat inventive myself, and I work at a machine shop. So I decided to make a dog powered banana seat bike! And for next to nothing, I did. I restored my bicycle and made a simple "L" shaped bracket to attach to the bike seat bracket to harness the dog. In addition, I added a headlight, taillight, and speedometer. To hook the dog to the bike, the dog just needs an everyday harness. The first test run was done with my cousin's German Shepard "Sasha". After some initial getting use to, she loved it. After some adjustments, my dog Cinderley was next. She does okay, but she doesn't really have the drive to pull the bike for very long. However, Thor does great. Our top speed was 13mph! Squishy, unfortunately is too tall for the set-up.

The before shot of the vintage banana seat bicycle.

The after shot of the bicycle with the added bracket to harness the dog on the right side of the bike.

Cinderley and me riding around the middle school's track that's a block from our house.












Thor and my dad riding around the middle school track.





***In Summary***

Safety rating: 5
Top Speed: 13 mph

Happy Birthday Squishy!

Happy birthday Squishy! You're now a year old and only weigh 128 lbs! What has your mother been feeding you? Here's a recap about how the past year went...

At the end of the first week you were the biggest out of the litter of eleven pups. This is what you looked like.

As life continued, none of your siblings ever passed you in size. Here's you and the runt of the litter.

Here's you and your mom chewing on doggy treats when you were 8 weeks old.

Over the course of the summer we went on lots of camping trips to the beach. You loved to sit in the camp chair with me and fall to sleep... even when you weighed 80 lbs, thank goodness summer ended so I never had to tell you "no".

Here's us camping again.

Weren't you adorable! I remember when I could still pick you up and hold you...

But you just kept growing...

And growing...

Here's you with mom and dad in September.

You weighed in the 70's at this point.





And then you weighed as much as me!



In one years time we went through 4 collars, not because you lost them, but because you grew so much! We started with an adjustable 18", went to a 22", then a 26", and now a 30", which we just happened to find on clearance, otherwise normally no pet store stocks collars larger than 26 inches.






Your year of puppy hood was a good one and I look forward to the years ahead. Love ya Squishers!

Spay or Neuter your Dog for Less!

There is now a low-cost spay and neuter clinic in Salem, Oregon. The clinic was opened in January of 2010 by the Willamette Humane Society. They perform surgery on both dogs and cats. Neutering a dog costs $58 and spaying costs $74. They can offer these low rates because they are a non-profit organization who receive private donations and grants. You can go to this link and read more.

"Spaying and neutering is recognized as the best defense against all sources of shelter overpopulation. In areas where low-cost, high-volume spay & neuter clinics exist, euthanasia and shelter intake rates dropped by as much as 70%."

Willamette Humane Society Spay & Neuter Clinic
4246 Turner Rd. SE
Salem, OR 97317


Phone# (503) 480-SPAY

Dog toys always meet a certain death in our family

One of the greatest challenges of owning a Rottweiler is purchasing toys for them that will outlast their attention span. Since Rottweilers have a strong bite, many toys don't stand a chance.  For my dogs, their attention span usually ends once the toy has been disabled in some fashion. Which can happen rather quickly. My dogs love squeaky toys, but the life span of such a toy is unpredictable.

For example, as a puppy Cinderley got plush toys with squeakers in them. Well, for whatever reason she felt it necessary to shred the toy, to find the squeaker, in order to puncture the squeaker so it would no longer squeak. Now this whole process did keep her intently entertained, however as she grew older the amount of time it takes to destroy keeps getting shorter. Cinderley is no longer offered plush toys.

Thor has a similar "seek to destroy" mentality towards a dog toy called "Bad Cuz" which is a durable, brightly-colored, rubber squeaky ball with legs and ears. When he was first introduced to "Squeaky" he would run back and forth in the yard squeaking that ball non-stop, sometimes for a half-hour at a time. As play sessions wore on with squeaky Thor began chewing, first the legs, then the ears, and then one day he broke the plastic squeaking device. Since half the fun is squeaking the toy, I felt it necessary to purchase another one that squeaked, but this one I'd only use when I played with the dogs, to prevent damage to the toy. Thor was playing with the new squeaky for not more than 5 minutes and he had already broke the plastic part that made it squeak!

Squishy is the best with toys, he actually enjoys them and doesn't try to destroy them immediately. However, tennis balls are now off limits because he can now fit the whole thing in his mouth and crush it into pieces with his teeth. And since he's still in his puppy stages, he has to chew and swallow everything!

Therefore, in our household, dog toys are not meant to last, they are meant to briefly entertain and bring a short amount of joy to our dogs. That is until the toy meets death and end up in the garbage can.

Puppy Eyes

God created "puppy eyes" as a way to compel us to love our dogs unconditionally. It's their way of requesting immediate attention. I mean, who can say no to a dog with puppy eyes? That look just warms your heart and makes you want to hold and love them. When they give you this trademark look, regardless of what they've done, you cannot stay mad at them. This is a skill they master at youth and can perform at any age. What causes them to pose in such a way is unknown. Do they know they look sweet and innocent? Do they do it when they feel a certain emotion? Do they give you this look on purpose? What ever the reason, no one can deny the power of the puppy eyes.

Thor is Houdini

Nothing makes Thor more proud than wiggling his way out of a chain-link kennel. This has been an ongoing sport since the day we got him. The event usually only takes place when Thor is desperate to get out. The first series of escapes happen the first week we brought him home, not knowing why he was locked up in a new place lead him to his escape. After chasing him around the neighborhood on two separate occasions, Thor got the privilege of wearing his 20' cable even when placed in the chain-link kennel. Our re-enforcement consisted of looping a piece of wire through the chain-link and wrapping it around the galvanized guide rail at the base of the kennel. We did this about every foot. Please note that Thor never attempted his escapes by digging his way under the kennel. No, he had to be creative and out smart us.

The second series of escapes happened when we moved the kennel behind the garage under the newly built awning. Being the very alert guard dog Thor is, I believe he was very upset with the fact he could no longer monitor every living soul passing by on the street in front of the house. During the movement of the kennel we once again re-enforced the kennel using the before said method, however this time we did it every 6 inches. So Thor had to out smart us again, this time some how he was able to open the gate, all by himself! "What? Some how he was able to lift up on the latch! Let's use a bungy cord to strap the gate closed. That way if the latch is lifted the door won't swing open." Then the next day Thor is outside of the kennel once again. "Alright, let's padlock the door closed, that way the latch cannot be lifted at all". Once again, the next day he was out. "What the heck?! How is he doing this! We're being out smarted by a dog!" With intense investigation it was discovered he was able to jimmy the door hinge so that the gate would become slanted and would simple drop out of the latch! After this discovery we wedged a t-post between the post and the gate so that the gate could not be slanted. Well, Thor could no longer open the gate after this; however, it was not a success. Instead of opening the gate Thor simply mocked us by creating a hole in the gate! The only 12 inches of chain-link that was never re-enforced! He had himself his own personal doggy door. Well, after this we gave up, we decided it wasn't worth the fight; plus by this time we needed to use the kennel for the puppies. So Thor was on a cable doggie run (and only got loose three times) until we finished fencing our yard in September. Then it was back in the kennel while our new lawn was growing.

Then came series three. This began a week and a half ago. Cinderley was separated from Thor and Squishy while she was recovering from getting spayed. Well, after a few days disorder took place in the kennel, and without Cinderley to correct ill behavior, Thor made an effort to make his escape. Possible with the thought of searching for and finding Cinderley. This time, he was able to find weak spots in the base of the chain link and wiggle his way out. Well, to make things worse, his roommate, the 116lb "Squishy", unhappy with the turn of events, decides he has to get out as well. Now the hole is twice as big! The hole was mended, and broken, and mended. Then another hole was made behind the dog house, this one Squishy can't get out of. The hole was mended, finally Cinderley was returned. All is well. Until we took Cinderley for a day trip. We got home, and what do you know... another hole! We mended it, he broke it, and we mended it. Today I got home and no one was loose. It's a success! Oh, no... never mind, he broke out again... after I got home, and now here we are, in a battle of wits. I'm pretty sure the saga will continue tomorrow and that Thor is Houdini.