The nose will find trouble (err...treasure?)

A while back we headed over to Orlando for a little R&R and stayed in one of the hotel resorts.  Each night we would take Riggs for a nice long walk around the hotel complex.  He was in heaven running around everywhere, sniffing all the smells, sensory overload basically.  Anyhoo, one night as we were walking along the sidewalk Riggs in his typical pattern is falling way behind OCDing about something he smells in the grass.  I figured he found another spot of pee or pile of poo or some dead worm.  I turn around to see what it is that he found this time and what do I happen to see...Riggs standing there with an entire Hot Dog in his mouth.

As many of you are well aware if you have been following Riggs blog for any time, he is allergic to just about everything.  So I start walking over to him and that little stinker is trying to consume (more like swallow the thing whole) the hot dog as fast as he can before I can get to him and take it away.

He got about half of it down by the time I got to him and luckily did not have some major allergic reaction.  He must have been so excited when he got a whiff of the hot dog jackpot.

I think he is a robot

I am not really sure if Riggs is as much a dog as he is a robot.  Riggs is all about routine and schedule and never deviates from it.  Nothing ever changes.  His internal clock goes off at various times of the day or after certain order of events.

Riggs Schedule (Weekday)

• Wake up at 6:15 am and begin pestering Dada (aka lick lick lick lick) to wake up and feed me.  Proceed to do this for the next 45min to an hour till Dada cannot take it any longer and gets out of bed.
• Run downstairs as fast as I can and run around in circles as I wait impatiently for Dada to get my food ready.
• Stand there and whine and jump on Dada because he is taking way too long to get my food ready.
• Inhale my food as fast as I can, licking every last morsel from in the bowl and all around the bowl.
• Run back upstairs and grab a stuffed animal ready to play.  Begin whining if no one will pay attention and play with me.
• Go for a walk outside around the neighborhood, sniff all the light poles, bushes and as many grass piles as I can get away with dragging Dada to.
• Pee 3 – 4 times.
• Poo twice.
• Wait for Dada to give me a treat back at home.
• Lay down and begin sad pouty face to make Dada feel guilty for leaving me home as he leaves for work.
• Stand at door waiting for Mama to enter coming home from work.
• Run over and grab Angry Face or Pink Eye stuffed animal ready to play.
• Go outside and pee but then stand around and not poo.  I want to eat!!!
• Stand there and whine and jump on Mama because she is taking way too long to get my food ready.
• Inhale my food as fast as I can, licking every last morsel from in the bowl and all around the bowl.
• Run back upstairs and grab a stuffed animal ready to play.  Begin whining if no one will pay attention and play with me.
• Lay down next to Mama.
• Run to door when I hear garage door open and stand there waiting for Dada to enter coming home from work.
• Run over and grab Angry Face or Pink Eye stuffed animal ready to play.
• Go outside and finally poo and pee again.
• Stand under the table and lick lick lick lick Dada’s legs as he eats dinner.
• At 7:30pm, begin sitting or standing and staring at Mama and Dada waiting for one of them to get up and go get me a carrot out of the frig.  FINALLY at 8pm I get my carrot.
• Make a complete mess breaking my carrot up into tiny pieces and then eat it.
• Grab a stuffed animal and stand at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Mama to go upstairs to crawl into bed.
• Lay in bed and suck on Paris Hilton’s nose.
• Chew on my Nylabone.
• Play tug-a-war with one of my stuffed animals with Mama.
• Fall asleep.
• Act like dead weight and pretend I am sleeping when Dada comes to bed and wants to take me outside one last time.
• Pee once.
• Go over to Dada when he crawls into bed and begin lick lick lick licking him.
• After getting pushed away 4-5 times I finally give up and fall back asleep waiting for 6:15am to arrive to start it all over again.

Dog food over treats?

When I leave for work I give Riggs a treat.  Today Riggs had no interest in his treat so I just laid it on top of his bowl of dog food so he can eat it later.  When I got home tonight I noticed something strange with his food bowl.  He ate all his dog food but left the treat in there.  Apparently it is time to find some new treats.  Riggs appears to be burnt out on the pumpkin animal cracker treats.

So dang picky

We have been trying to find a different all natural vegetarian based treat that we can give Riggs so he does not have to always have carrots as treats.  We have tried a couple of different things, but he is so dang picky he just sniffs it and shows no interest.

We finally came across something he likes.  They look just like animal crackers and they are made out of pumpkin.  They are all natural and humans can eat them as well.  They smell really good but I will just take the store owners word that humans can eat them as well.  Riggs seems to love them though so that is good.  A different treat for a change.

More meds, more attempts

Riggs' itching continues.  We have special shampoo and conditioner, hypoallergenic treats, wipes for his face and now he will be on Benadryl twice a day.  So far the food does not seem to be making a difference.  Poor guy, I cannot imagine being itchy all day every day.  At least he is not scratching himself so hard that he is making his skin raw.

I didn't know we owned a rabbit

So with Riggs into his food trial now, we needed to figure out something we could give to him as a treat.  Most of the treats we found at the pet store were off limits.  The vet suggested carrots.  We got a bag of carrots and sure enough he likes them.  I am now just waiting for Riggs to grow some long pointy ears and a bushy tail.

Yogurt yummy

It was suggested that a little bit of yogurt is good to give to your dog to help keep yeast infections in the ears under control.  We figured what the heck, we will see if Riggs likes it or not.  We placed one tablespoon of plain yogurt on a plate and placed it on the floor for him.  Sure enough Riggs likes it.  He lapped it on up and had it all over his lower muzzle when he was done.