Ask the Ao4 - IV - Furminators, Small Guys, Digging and Grazing

Hi everypuppy, it's me - Amber! Stormy said I could answer some of the Ask the Ao4 questions today - I hope you like my answers!

Jazz and Dixie, our very special Beagle friends in Japan, wrote, "What do you think of the Furminator?? Mum has one that she used once towards the end of autumn last year. It seemed to take out a lot of our downy undercoat and mum was worried that we would need that for winter to keep warm here in the cold Tokyo winter. So she put it away. However things are warming up over here and of course we are both shedding like crazy. So she has dug it out and used it again. Its not coming up with the longer hairs that are falling out all over the floor but the undercoat. Please advise AO4!" I do believe I'm the right member of the Ao4 to field this one, and it's a low soft-ball, right over the plate. Let me refer you to Dave's Haik-woo #17, and the post at that hyperlink. The simple answer is, "Brushes are evil, Jazz & Dixie! EVIL! And the Furminator is perhaps the most evil of all!" Oh, sure, our mom thinks the Furminator is great - like you two said, it gets our undercoat out. She thinks that it's great to remove the old part of the undercoat (which is what the evil Furminator gets), and that come Fall we just "know" to grow it back in - so we'll be plenty warm come winter. Our mom has another torture device called a "comb" that she uses to get the guard hairs out. (She used to use a softer bristle brush on her Beagles to get those longer hairs.) I love my mom VERY much, but I think she is way off base here. Brushes are EVIL and it's MY fur! I want it! I wish she'd stop taking it! I hope that helps.

Bruin, a very sweet Boston Terrier, wanted to know if I "like smaller guys???" Ha rooo! Oh, Bruin, you're so sweet! Yes, I like almost EVERYpuppy I meet! Probably the smallest puppies I made friends with were two Yorkies who came to visit us. There is a picture of all of us at that link... and here is one of just me and the boy Yorkie, at right. There was some concern about me playing too rough with him, so there was no rough-housing allowed. There was also some concern about me stepping on him, so I tried not to do that, either. He and his sister were carried when we went on walkies together ...

... so we actually didn't get to do too much, but he was a nice little guy. Are you as little as a Yorkie?

Ruby Bleu, another sweet Boston Terrier friend, sent us this question, "When I'm at the doggie park, my mom insists that I shouldn't dig in the mud or eat grass. Is there a good way I can convince her it's ok for me to do that?" I ran my answer past Storm and she gave me the green light to post. First, the digging issue! Ruby? Your mom knows that you're a Boston Terrier, right!?!? Isn't digging part of what you do for a living? I'm sure she knows that. So you have to wonder why she doesn't want you to dig in the mud at the park. The obvious answer there is that she wants you to dig in your own yard! Maybe that's a good compromise! Some bipeds have set up special designated "digging areas" in their yards for pups who like to dig; perhaps your mom is waiting for you to choose where in your yard you'd like one! Then you won't dig at the park. :) As per eating grass, Stormy said that we are canines and the world is our salad bar. (She can be very profound sometimes!) We members of the Ao4 eat grass sporadically - sometimes if our tummies are upset or sometimes because we just feel like it. Storm said perhaps our diet is lacking in veggies. Siberianly speaking, I love fresh baby spinach (at left) and can't get enough of it. How is your veggie intake, Ruby? Maybe your mom needs to check with your vet about what green veggies you can have and give you a little supplement! Or again... maybe she wants you to eat the grass at home and not at the park. Hee hee hee.

Thank roo for the great questions! We'll answer some more tomorrow!

Love to everypuppy,
Amber