Living in San Francisco

Phoenix with the Sutro Tower in the background

It has been a while since my last post, life happens and you find yourself with a long list of to dos, wanna dos and should dos.

In the meantime we did manage to get take Phoenix lure coursing and to conformation, and he quickly got his championship. Victor was very proud of him, as he completed his majors and points in around 4 months! Of course we always knew he is a beautiful Pharaoh!


I do have to say that he did best when he was handled by more experienced handlers!
We have not accomplished much progress with training our dogs, even with the guaranteed program from Bark Busters, which was well recommended to me. That was really a experience I will write in my blog next.


In the meantime, hello everyone, am back blogging!

Phoenix, the mythological creature

It has been quite a few months since I last wrote. Victor and Phoenix are finally in the US and we feel like a family again. Since they both arrive, KanLoo seems to be happier, he really missed Phoenix!
Unfortunately now we live in an apartment and the boys do not have all the space they had before, but we make sure to take them for walks, and to Fort Funston during the weekend!
Yesterday, as I was in the shower I saw a silouhette through the sliding door and when I opened it, it was PhoePhoe! he was just checking on me, on what I was doing. Immediately, I cupped my hands and filled them with water, but he just went away. That broke my heart because Nazca would always come to me when I was showering and drink some water from my cupped hands.
And this little thing Phoenix did, confirms to me that he in fact is the bird of legend, he is Nazca reborn! Phoenix does so many things that Nazca did, that KanLoo doesn't do, that you can not say it is just something all dogs do!
Phoenix, my little fire bird, you are just the perfect puppy!

Xmas in Puerto Vallarta part 2

So it tooks us 3 days to come back, not so bad! We had to spend the night in Culiacan, but was not so bad at all. I have found that MOTELS are more accepting of dogs than regular hotels and that all the motels that took my dog in where quite clean and because they were in the edges of town, were pretty safeguarded, The parking lots had a security guard all day long.
Though driving up and down was very long and a time sucker, every second of driving was worth it, as both dogs enjoyed each other's company! And they also played with Nahala, Phoenix's girlfriend.

The days were fast gone, we woke up to walk them for 2 hours in the morning and walked them also 1 hour in the evening. We couldn't go too often to the beach, as KanLoo got a nasty cut chasing birds at the beach, and they both got a nasty skin irritation/infection given the bacteria in the water.

With that, we were seeing the veterinarian almost every 3 days!

The leg chewing was still there, but it was also done this time by Phoenix to KanLoo, so overall, KanLoo found that his student had learn from him wonderfully!

We had a great time together, even the fireworks and fire crackers for New Year were not so bad as in other places, though we stayed home making sure that KanLoo was not going to be so scared, panicking!

Now we are home, just waiting for Phoenix and Victor to finally move here! 

Xmas in Puerto Vallarta

So as planned, we spent Xmas together in Puerto Vallarta. KanLoo and Phoenix had been apart since end of July and their reacquaintance was something interesting to experience. When we arrive in Puerto Vallarta a day later, on Dec 20th, it was a great and happy event for Phoenix. My mom, KanLoo and I came in the house and he was so happy to greet us all, he, as usual, pee from being so happy. Poor puppy!

KanLoo and Phoenix had to get to know each other again, and they immediately started sniffing and remembering each other. The reunion was a mix of emotions for both dogs, KanLoo surprised to see Phoenix, Phoenix happy to see KanLoo! But now that Phoenix is a much bigger dog (11 months), KanLoo had to show him who was the alpha-male, so it was a game of dominance all over again, and it lasted thru the whole time we were there. So here we have KanLoo pinning Phoenix down!!

The trip was long, we arrived in Puerto Vallarta last Saturday morning, after driving 4 days from Los Gatos, CA.  

Unfortunately, KanLoo's fear of firecrackers and loud noises is getting worse and worse. The other day we were walking by a restaurant and someone open a soda can, the noise put him over the edge and he was dragging me back home. The problem with his panicking is that he goes quickly into fear, which leads to aggression. He has not done anything radical yet, but I have noticed that when he is stressed he has very little patience with Phoenix and tries to put him in his place much more aggressively. Yesterday morning we had to separate them as the playful test of dominance became a full flesh fight! Poor Phoenix got really scared of KanLoo, something we really do not want happening. It is enough to have a fearful dog!
It is all a combination of his fear of noises and his memory of being attacked by the 2 huskies in the dog park.
I have done some research and there is really very little I can do to "re-train" him, all I can do is start him in medication like vallium. We went to the vet here, a reputable one within the expat community here and he prescribed a new medication, that contains L-Theamine, a natural ingredient, and seems to be working.
So we are spending Xmas as a little family, KanLoo, Phoenix, Victor, me and my mom!