Mochi's Weigh In

When Mochi came to us she was plenty chubby which is unhealthy for a lot of reasons but especially not good for an active young girl since it puts extra wear and tear on joints.

At the shelter and possibly before coming to the shelter she was free fed - given a large bowl of food that is always accessible. This is never a good way to feed dogs and often switching over to carefully measured portions is all it takes to get the weight off.

I've been giving Mochi a 1/2 cup portion of kibble twice daily along with assorted small bits of all meat treats. The result?  Today at the vet on the same scale I weighed her on a month ago she was down  3 pounds! Her weight when she arrived was 38.7 and today she was 35.8.

Showing a nice sit while she is getting weighed

She still has some chub to lose and muscle to gain but her legs are muscling up nicely and she now has a waist - something all Rat Terriers at a healthy weight should have. That small waist is not a sign of being too thin - it's a sign of being healthy! It's just so common for dogs to be fat now that people are starting to think it's the norm.

Mochi is a food motivated girl and loves to work for these tiny bits of freeze dried pork

I'm happy that she'll be starting off her life in a new family at a healthier weight.

Four Stages of a Mochi Car Trip

Mochi is a great traveler and I have found most car rides go as follows:

The "what are we doing" stage

The "this is boring" stage

The "might as well lie down because I'm tethered" stage

And finally the sleep stage

Some dogs are not so great in the car so it is always nice to have an easy going travel companion.

More Rigby and Mochi Fun

Rigby and Mochi have continued to play and it has become a regular thing for them to have an after breakfast playtime.

In the 2nd video you will see towards the end that Rigby has had enough and he shakes off and then stands very still. In the past Mochi would have ignored this and pushed for more playtime but this time she respected that he was done playing and off she went to find a toy to keep herself busy.

Good girl! I love seeing foster dogs start to mature thanks to lessons from the older dogs.

Ah, Sunshine

Most people like sunshine but here in the Pacific Northwest after a long, dark, gray fall and winter, we obsess about it. And when the clouds start to break and we get a few days of sunshine we make the most of it, and that includes the dogs.

Salinas and Rigby

Chima, Salinas and Rigby

On Memorial Day we had beautiful weather and while I did some chores the dogs enjoyed time in the sun - first inside and then outside.

Chima and Rigby enjoying the sun warmed bark

Rigby

Mochi thought sun sleeping was boring but she managed to enjoy herself and followed me around since I was apparently more interesting than the sleeping dogs. 

Frodo sniffing around and Salinas taking a snooze

While I was able to get a lot of outdoor chores completed I think the dogs enjoyed their sunny day more than I did.

Food Fun

While Mochi eats at a fairly normal pace, I still like to use puzzles and slo-bowls for my fosters to keep things interesting.

Rigby and Ellie's family gave us a puzzle that Rigby wasn't a fan of and Mochi was the first to try it out. She did great! And because she's not a picky eater I was able to just sprinkle the probiotic powder and dental powder that I give foster dogs right over the kibble.

We have a lot of puzzles so we will have to try more of them out on Mochi to keep things interesting.

Good Boy Rigby

It has finally happened. After weeks of attempting to get one of the other dogs to play with her, Mochi finally convinced Rigby to join her in a wrestling match.

Mochi tries to convince Chima to play with her

Because I wanted there to be future wrestling between them I stepped in after a bit because I could tell Mochi was getting more excited and I didn't want her to overwhelm Rigby. I distracted her with some squeaky toys and Rigby beelined it back to the couch for a snooze.

Honestly, I thought Rigby would be the last dog to want to play with her. He had spent most of the day growling at her if she even moved in his direction. He was not a fan. But for some reason when Mochi was playing by herself, flipping a toy around, he decided to join in and initiate play.

My hope is we will get more wrestling matches going before Rigby goes home in a week.

Mochi Learning to Listen

Mochi wants to play so badly that she doesn't really "listen" to what the older dogs are telling her with their body language (and growls and snaps if I don't step in.) At this point they are pretty much telling her 100% of the time that they want her to move away. But a  growl would cause her to move in closer hoping that maybe a lick on their face would change their mind. Of course that doesn't go over too well. So I've been working on reinforcing her when she chooses to play on her own.

Chima is the most patient with her and while she still won't play, she waits Mochi out and pointedly looks away until I step in and get Mochi interested in something else. Which is pretty easy to do. I just throw a toy and she immediately forgets Chima and wants to play with me.

Mochi is bored with her squeaky stick so she wants Chima to play

Chima tries to be as clear as possible with Mochi that there is no way she'sgoing to play

Each day she gets better at respecting the oldsters. Today I was happy to see her lying on the floor with an assortment of chew toys she was working on. I've been rewarding her for playing by herself like this with games of fetch and slowly but surely she's starting to choose to keep herself entertained rather than bugging the other dogs.

Playing with the squeaky stick

Good girl Mochi!  And good job to the rest of the dogs who are doing their best to be patient.

Chewing on the Nylabone dinosaur