Went to buy additional supplement like Vitamin C with Zinc and sulphur soap for Bolt. Hopefully it will improve his skin condition.

Yesterday we fed him one banana for treat and he loved it. But i noticed this morning his poop is abit soft and sticky but still firm.

His appetite has also went back to normal thought we are feeding him twice a day now but same quantity of food.

Yesterday we decided to take Bolt for a car ride to a nearby park. This is to expose him to riding in a car and to visit new places. He was very hesitant when we tried to bring him into the car. We had to carry him since he can't jump into it yet. But the reward for getting into the car was a visit to the park. Hope this will leave a good impression for him that car ride = fun in the park.

Yesterday we met an 8 year old beagle named Spanky who is very friendly and balanced. He belongs to a neighbour who lives a block away. At first we thought he was vicious as he barks everytime we passed by his front gate. But yesterday when he walked and actually met Bolt face to face, he didn't bark but both started to wanting to play. So i invited Spanky inside to our garden (with fence) to play. All the time I was tense and afraid that fights might erupt cos Bolt has not been really socialise with other dogs this close and their play was very rough like mounting on each other (some dogs might get aggresive and bite with puppy when they misbehave). Luckily, Spanky was a gentleman.

Here's some photos of their play. Sorry my photos are blur because my camera phone can't capture fast moving action.

We noticed that Bolt has rashes spreading around which causes him to itch and scratch. Thus are figuring out what are the causes. From our research, we found the information provided by a holistic vet, Dr Karen Becker very very useful and helpful. She uses the holistic approach instead of the conventional way of over usage of antibiotics, cortisone steriod or vaccination. Anyway,

1). Food. Currently he is being fed Royal Canin (RC) Maxi Jr which the vet said is a very good quality kibble. But we noticed lately that if we did not add the virgin coconut oil to his kibble, he is not too excited about them. Plus i was thinking perhapd ot's the grain in RC that makes him itch? So am researching to change his diet into a grain free type kibble like Orijen or Go Natural. At first i wanted the Go Natural Sensitive+Shine grain free but unfortunately they do not carry the product here. So i thought of trying Orijen 6 Fish but it was out of stock. So in the end we decided to try Orijen for large puppies. I heard that Puppies fed on Orijen food produced more foul poop. But i am going to give it a try to see if it will improve Bolt's skin rashes problem.

I hope it will work in ridding the rashes or else we might have to consider raw fed diet.

2). Weak or overactive immune system? Am still looking for herbs which is suited to dogs to prop up his immune system. Tumeric, garlic?

3). Can it be the 5-1 vaccination taken almost two weeks ago wreaking havoc to his immune system? This is the 2nd vaccination (and he has a schedule this week) but will be the last 5-1 i will be giving him. The next will be the conpulsory anti rabbies which i will wait till he turns 6 months. (Will write another topic about my view of vaccination).

4). Environment allergy (to grass or pesticides, fertiliser, chemicals)? For this, starting just yesterday, we follow Dr Karen's simple method of treating the rashed and infection caused by the environennt, by soaking his paws in betadine after every walk to wash away the irritant. And bathing him ever other day (as opposed to what my ex vet said is a no no to bath animals that often) to prevent infection on his rashes. I totally agree with Dr Karen's way because i experienced and went to a serious bout of skin eczema for many many years which many doctor told me it's not cureable! But i manage to cure it.


I think when it comes to health, both human and animals are the same!

Today I decided to bring Bolt to a park near our house for him to satisfy his urge to dig. And he was happy!!

Yesterday the first thing since Bolt's arrival was the wood accent around our house. This was due to our fault as we left him alone with supervision and proper chew toys. The last time i bought big bone marrow for him to chew on but read that it's not good for dog's teeth. In fact, it was a teeth destroyer, so i threw that away and bought a hide for him to chew. He loves it but unfortunately i didn't expect him to finish the whole hide in a week's time that i had not time to buy a new one. So currently, it's back to him trusty old Kong which i believe it's not as tasty as the hide. Hopefully there will be no more casualty (especially the shoes which digs are FAMOUS for chewing). Now I applied some red hot chili at ALL the wood corners of our house to deter him from chewing. Gotta go get some more hide for him to chew on.

By the way, a week back my report that Bolt has no appetite to eat unless we drop some coconut oil into his food. Now I am happy to report that his appetite has returned even without us adding coconut oil to his food. So my guess is there will be a period where dogs will loose their appetite especially during summer time (it's still summer here but not as hot as the few weeks back).

Through research i have been reading about the health benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar which has anti bacterial and anti fungus property. For you information, i used to drink water with Apple Cider Vinegar when i had skin problem too. So i decided to try it on Bolt to cleanse his system which is causing him to itch and scratch.

I bought the Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar yesterday and initially i just put a drop in Bolt's water (to get him gradually used to the smell and taste) and will gradually increase the dosage to 1 cap. I must say the smell of a drop is quite intense for me already and bet Bolt's sense of smell will be much more sensitive than humans. But it's not very sour tasting. So far he drank it without a fuss. I am also starting to helpmyself to the good dose of ACV in my water every morning for the health benefits.

Hopefully both Bolt and i will gain a better health through it. Will update of his progress in a month's time.

As Cesar Millan say, exercising your dog is VERY VERY important and it's one of the main ingredient of raising a balanced dog.

Many people thought that having a big back yard for a dog to run is sufficient but from what I read, it is in fact very different from actually bringing your dog out for a walk so that they can experience different smell, sights and sound.

So when I got Bolt, I try to walk/exercise WITH him once in the morning (15 mins) and once in the evening (30 mins). But lately it seems like a challenge to Bolt and I since the weather is not cooperating and wet season is just around the corner.

And I have been researching about ways to bond with him during the wet season. From looking for a dog rain coat to thread mill (which is just a dream). I am not sure what harm to just bring the dog out for a walk in the rain. I am sure Bolt will love it. But after reading about dogs getting hot spot and etc. I am being extra careful as his puppy immune system hasn't been built up yet and currently he has skin rashes and itch that won't go away. So now, we just have to time when Mother Nature decides to take a break from crying, and we will quickly bring Bolt out for his stretch of legs.

Would definitely love to hear some opinions on how you walk/exercise your dog during wet season.

I never thought I would study the stool of a dog!! Well, it helps as it will tell you about the health of your dog. And on the photos you can see the different stool texture of Bolt when he came to us.

When he came from the breeder, he was on a lower quality kibble. So i changed it immediately to a higher quality kibble and loose diarrhae like stool happened!!

Later i found out that food changes had to be made gradually over 2 weeks. For example, the first 2 days, one should mix only 1/8 of new kibble together with the old food. Then gradually increase to 1/4 of the new to the old and so on. This is due to the fact that the digestive systems of young pup is still immature. Thus less tolorent of sudden food changes. As you can see from my below photos, Bolt's stool has definitely improve through the weeks. It tool him almost 3 weeks (from the new food changes) to get back to the firm stool texture.