Meet Sophie, our precious English Cocker Spaniel. Our sweet girl is almost eight years old and is probably healthier now than she has been at any other time of her life. When I refer to her as our Diva Dog, know I am telling the truth. She is my baby, my design mascot, my comfort, by buddy, my bacon begging-chicken nugget thief and my feet warmer. She’s that and more to all of us.
I was chatting with a girlfriend this morning and she asked quite a few questions about what we do to keep our house from smelling like “dog” and how we care for our baby girl. I know I’ve mentioned that our girl is a Diva Dog…well, let me tell you about her.
Baby Sophie’s Story
Oh my goodness, when I look at this picture of my sweet baby, I am cast back to the time we bought her. I had visited her over and over at the pet store where she was for sale and kept telling store management that she was sick. They assured me she was being treated and honestly, I will never know more than what I was told. I just knew she had kennel cough and wasn’t thriving. Who falls in love with a sick animal? This gal. SMH
Fast forward to a dinner date with my daughters whom were begging to go buy her…two martini’s later, we were checking out with one very sick puppy.
I will never forget that first couple days we had her home with us. My hunky hubby wouldn’t let me check on her in the mornings because we were so fearful that she would die overnight. (I have one amazing husband.)
She declined so badly that she had to be hospitalized and treated for pneumonia and something diarrhea related. (The pet store paid for all of the medical bills after I marched her in there on a pillow gasping for air…announcing to anyone interested about how they let her decline to this point…I’m a bull in a china shop when it comes to her.) I know. Eeeeek.
The vet tried multiple times to persuade us to give her back, to take our money and run. We couldn’t do it. She was ours and we would save her if it was possible. We built her an enclosed chamber from a plastic tote to do breathing treatments at home and steadily, with the help of our vet, we got her healthy. Now our vet raves about how we saved her. Saving her wasn’t easy but it was a labor of love.
Healthy & Happy Sophie
Food:
Right out of the gate with our sweet girl, we knew we wanted to give her the best chance at being healthy and that meant giving her good nutritious food. What I didn’t realize until much later is how much less potty training intervention was needed because we chose a better food up front.
Royal Canin. I cannot say enough good things about this line of dog food. I can say that when my own kids gave me grand dogs, they were given Royal Canin as welcome home gifts. They too only eat Royal Canin and now their friends only give their pets the same. It’s a game changer.
She’s never had anything different. Even when she became allergic to her cocker spaniel blend, we switched her to the sensitive skin formula.
Here is a link, if you are interested: https://www.petsmart.com/dog/food/dry-food/royal-canin-size-health-nutritionandtrade-sensitive-skin-care-medium-adult-dog-food-47756.html
Training with Treats:
Honest to goodness, training with treats saved our sanity when it came to training Sophie for anything….but it took finding a treat she was willing to do back flips for to really motivate her.
- When we want her to potty, we offer treats.
- When we want her to hurry…we offer treats. She likes her walkabouts as long as its dry outside. Otherwise she looks at you like you’ve lost your mind.
- When we want her to walk by our side and not stray, we offer treats. (The trick here is to carry the treat so she knows it’s coming if she follows along.)
- When she alerts us to strangers, we offer treats.
- When she greets strangers courteously….as long as they aren’t UPS or FedEx….we offer treats. Sorry to both of those entities, she’s terrified of the boxes coming at her door.
- When she takes a bath, we offer treats.
- When she was good with the grand babies, we offered treats. She still thinks she is entitled to said treats when they visit nowadays and we give them to her.
You can see that treat training for her has helped create the behavior we wanted. She’s seriously happy and so are we in turn.
YOU CAN GIVE YOUR DOG TOO MANY TREATS.
For a long time, we bought and served Milo’s Kitchen chicken treats and pieced them up for her. Read the back of the bag for instructions and warnings on usage. Unfortunately for Sophie, she became allergic to those treats as well so we had to switch her up. I researched quite a bit about treats that are sensitive skin friendly and found P.S.
P.S. is actually a grain free dog food. Sophie loves the lamb recipe and since her base food is the Royal Canin..I never have to worry about her nutrition or if it is too many treats since P.S. is actually food. A small nugget or two and she’s a happy baby.
Here is a link if you are interested: https://www.amazon.com/Dogs-100-Hypoallergenic-Dog-Food/dp/B01EAPKKF0/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=P.S.+for+dogs+lamb+recipe&qid=1606933124&sr=8-2
Hygiene:
Ok. This is a big one for me because I am very allergic to dogs. I know, right??? How bad does that suck? I love my girl, so we do what we must to cohabitate.
She gets a bath once a week using a medicated sensitive skin cleanser…and if she’s really stinky from some adventure, she will have two baths. Keeping her ears clean is just as important as her gut health since cocker spaniels are prone to ear infections. It’s win/win for us both to keep her nice and clean.
Here is a link if you are interested: https://www.amazon.com/Arava-Natural-Medicated-Shampoo-Antibacterial/dp/B01LMICAAG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1A00G00DS45R1&dchild=1&keywords=arava+natural+medicated+dog+shampoo&qid=1606933813&sprefix=arava+nat%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-1
Sleeping Arrangements:
When my friend reached out this morning to ask how we keep our house from smelling like dog, I realized that outside of her healthy gut and ears, we are meticulous about her cleanliness as well as where she can sleep. Listen, boundaries are not a bad thing for everyone. She is allowed on two pieces of furniture in our house….well, three if you count my sons bed.
She’s allowed on the sofa in the living room, a chair at the table (I know, don’t judge…) and Zack’s bed. Plus she has her own bed in the room with me at all times as well. It’s a tufted fabulous pink concoction that I found at Home Goods. It makes me wayyyy happier than it does her.
Limiting her contact with the furniture keeps down odor as well as wear and tear…it also saves my allergies.
Hygiene for us also means house cleaning and air cleaners. Y’all, my Dyson air purifiers save my lungs! If you have any allergies at all, you need them. QVC has the best prices by far and easy pay. Easy pay is how I bought mine!
Here is a link in case you are interested: https://www.qvc.com/Dyson-TP02-Pure-Cool-Link-Air-Purifier-%26-Cooling-Fan-w-Extra-Filter.product.V35487.html?sc=NAVLIST
Well, I must go. Sophie smells bacon cooking and is prancing. She keeps me smiling…you know, pets have the ability to lower blood pressure as well as reduce anxiety…maybe you need a Sophie too.
I hope you’ll check back here often and get to hear many more stories about our sweet girl. She’s precious.
xo, Becky
Designer, Blogger & DIY Lifestyle Curator 