Playtime with Cayman

Cayman's Weekly Horoscope

Aries (March 21 - April 20) You exude aura of happiness. You might be going for a ride or on a short trip. Wait and see - it might be the park. Don't break too many hearts.

Get Yours At http://www.doghoroscopes.com

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.My and My Dog's Compatibility Me= Aquarious Cayman= Aries How true is this????!!!!	.
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A very compatible relationship. These two share a common approach to life, even though Aries is self-centered and needs all the attention. Aquarius is just the opposite. Aquarius will just laugh off Aries' attempt to dominate by barking and jumping.	.
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Cayman Gets Featured!

Cayman got featured in another blog and I nearly fell out of my chair with laughter when I saw what they captioned my little beach buddy with....

Say hello to my little wiener...

EXPLICIT WIENER PICS!
Sponsored by "Wiener Takes All: A Dogumentary"

-click on pic for full size-
Cayman does his famous Scarface impression.

Got an impressive wiener? Then email
a pic to showus@wienertakesall.com.

Take the Poll PLEASE!!!

Cayman is almost 6 months old which means I can finally register him with the AKC's PAL/ILP so that he may compete in obedience trails and Rally-O but he has to have a registered name. So I have created the same poll that is posted on the Dachshund Haven forums (http://www.thedachshundhaven.com) and his Myspace page to see what others think as well. I just can't decide and NEED others opinions! Please direct others to my blog to vote for their favorite as well. I will be leaving the poll up till 11/1/08 so please, please, please vote today!

One Fang Left!

I contacted the vet this afternoon for a price quote for a extraction of the extra set of canine teeth. A whole whopping $146 before insurance! Eek! Well, perhaps Cayman could sense my stress level, or maybe nature was just taking its course, but Cayman lost a canine tooth! One fang left! He was kissing me and kept licking his chops funny so I opened his mouth, expecting him to have something in his mouth- the usual remainders of whatever he decided to chew up at the moment and instead found his canine tooth! What a relief!

Two Sets of Fangs on Cayman!

Cayman looks as though he needs to see a dentist. The little guy has two sets of canines! The decidous or baby teeth, remain only for three to seven months of age. By 5 months of age, a puppy should have all his adult incisors. The adult canines, premolars and molars come in between 4 and 7 months of age, thus by 7 to 8 months of age, a puppy should have all their adult teeth. Cayman has what is referred to as "retained baby teeth". Normally the roots of the puppy teeth are reabsorbed as the adult teeth take their place. When this fails to happen, you can get what appears as a double set of teeth. Toy breeds tend to retain baby teeth more commonly. When a dog retains the decidous teeth, the erupting adult teeth are then pushed out of line,producing a malocclusion or bad bite which can lead to gum injury, inferences with the ability to grasp, hold and chew food, and even dental decay as well as being a conformation default in the breed standard.
From members of the Dachshund Haven Forums, I have been suggested to have these retained teeth removed as soon as possible to avoid any of these issues. I think I will give Cayman to age 7 months to see if they will be shed on their own before putting him under to have them removed by the vet. In the meantime, I will keep an eye on them to make sure they stay clean.

Recipe- Sweet Potato Chews

Thoroughly wash sweet potatoes. Cut down the middle lengthwise. Cut long lengthwise slices about 1/3 of an inch wide and place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven at 250 degrees for about 3 hours. This will leave them with a chewy texture. For crunchier treats, bake longer until they are the desired consistency.

I found this recipe online after being somewhat disgusted with the price of those all natural sweet potato chews found in stores (sometimes up to $6 for a little 5 oz package). So I went to the grocery store and bought two HUGE sweet potatoes (2 lbs to be exact) at $0.99 a pound, sliced them up and threw them on the food dehydrator for a little over 24 hours, although you could easily do them in the oven for about 3 hours (I felt it was safer to leave the dehydrator on unattended than the oven). And they came out really well! Some were still kinda sponge-y and chewy like those apple rings you can buy in health food stores and the thinner sliced ones were like apple chips, nice and crunchy. I love cooking for my dogs and they seem to really love when I do too!

Does anyone else have any healthy dog treat recipes they would like to share?