Help us vote for YOYO on the Modern Dog Magazine!

We're entering YOYO his first ever photo contest! Thanks Dmitry for his awesome photography work back in June. Here is our entry, please help us vote by visiting this link >> Vote for YOYO on Modern Dog Magazine. If we hit 5K in votes, I think we'll be pretty close to the top ;) So remember to vote every 12 hours. And remember, if your phone is a data network, that counts as 2 votes because it's on a different network ;) Please help us spread the word! Thanks for your participation!

Week 18 - Final Shots, Bruce Pit, Grandma's and Lemieux Island

This week was full of adventures for YOYO. To start, YOYO got his final set of shots, which included his rabies. We've been long waiting for this moment so we can begin introducing YOYO to the various dog parks around Ottawa, and to meet other dogs.

When Saturday morning came around, we brought YOYO to Bruce Pit, one of the popular dog parks around the Ottawa area.We got to Bruce Pit early, around 8AM in hopes that there weren't going to be too many dogs around. YOYO got along with all the dogs there, which was great! He also avoided all the mud puddles, so we were happy with that too. We took the trails around Bruce Pit and made it back after a good 45 minutes of walking.

Later that morning, we drove out to my grandma's place to give a "formal" introduction to YOYO and my grandma. My cousin Philip and my uncle were also there to meet him. My grandma is afraid of dogs, and initially he was quite terrified of YOYO. After a while, I felt like she was OK with him :) She still didn't touch him though, lol. Here are a few photos at their place:

YOYO chillin' on the floor

Grandma and YOYO!

Uncle holding YOYO up in a standing position

After visiting grandma, we drove out to Kemptville to visit YOYO's mom and dady (Uka and Kodak). The main purpose of our visit was to drop off the small crate we borrowed from Karyne, as well as to pick up some final documents for YOYO. They all had loads of fun in the yard. We event got a nice family photo of them three :)

Uka (mama), YOYO and Kodak (papa)

Today, Kristy, YOYO and I made our way to Lemieux Island where there's an off-leash dog area. The area is also opened to dogs to jump into the Ottawa River for a swim. Kristy was keen on bringing YOYO out for a swim right when he got his final set of shots, so we did. We've also known that YOYO didn't like the water. After giving him 2-3 baths already, he's scrambled to try and get out of the tub and away from the water. But, when we went into the water ourselves (just standing in the shallow end of the river), he soon came to join us. He paced back and forth around the rocks and avoiding the deeper ends of the water. Of course, we wanted him to experience swimming fully, so we picked him up and held him in the water, keeping his head above the water of course. He picked it up really quickly! He swam back to short, and it was just hilarious watching him when he's wet. I don't think his legs are strong enough to really keep himself up above the water just yet, especially not with all that hair! Here are some photos from today's swimming adventures:

We took a few videos on our GoPro this weekend, but haven't found the time to upload and edit them just. Will get them up as soon as we can!

Week 16 and 17

It's been a busy last couple weeks as I haven't been blogging as much as I wanted to. But here's a few things that have happened during those times:

• YOYO's learning to consistently fetch. We've been throwing his tug toy, Kong Frisbee and ball. Of course, he only started doing it after he fetched the first time and received a treat. Now, he goes off and fetches every time knowing there's a treat waiting for him. So smart! 
• We've been training YOYO to do the fun ol "bang bang". It's proving more difficult than I thought. YOYO is able to lay down on his side with no problem, but still doesn't get what we mean when we say "bang bang". Our approach is "down" and then bring his treat over his shoulder so he turns and brings his head down. By this time, he would be on his side, patiently waiting for his treat. He'll get it eventually!
• I think YOYO's lost his pee pad training knowledge. He's been peeing everywhere on the floors. Will have to train him on that again. 
• We brought YOYO into Petsmart for some pampering (light trim around the paws, nails, bath and blow dry). He looks great!! 

• YOYO is now 3.5 months (17 weeks) and weighs 21 lbs! At 9 weeks, he was only 11 lbs.
• YOYO met a new friend today, Pancake. Pancake is a mix between a Chusky and a Border Collie.
• He was suppose to attend his first puppy training class last Monday, but unfortunately his instructor was sick so we'll be starting it tomorrow!
• Tuesday will be his rabies shot day! Then, he would have all his vaccinations! Wooot!

Martha Stewart Training Dog Harness Review

PetSmart had a sale today on leashes and harnesses, where if you buy one you'll get 20% off with PetPerks. We've been shopping around for a while now to find a suitable harness for YOYO. We've both read that leashes could hurt dogs if they constantly yank and pull.

Out of all the harnesses we looked at, we felt the Martha Stewart training harness was the best choice to go with. For YOYO, we got him the medium size harness. There's two straps that go underneath his front legs, and each have a really soft cushion so it's not as hard on him. Unlike other harnesses we've noticed, there isn't a padding on his chest, so it'll let in some wind to his chest, without pressing down on his hair. The buckling was also one thing we looked at - how easy it was to strap on and strap off. Overall, we've been pretty happy with this harness. The only thing is the thickness of the strap that we buckle in with our leash is a little thin. YOYO's been turning his head and have teared a bit of it already. Hopefully that won't keep up.

Where to buy the cheapest Poop bags for dog? ($0.02 per bag)

Before we got YOYO, we bought 3 boxes of Cesar Millan's doggy waste bags at Canadian Tire for $1.99 each. When it came time to look for more poop bags, we did some research and made some purchases that we thought were fair prices at the time. We later discovered that from buying $0.05 per bag, we were able to get them for as cheap as $0.02 per bag! If you multiply that out, that's some significant savings in the long run... let me show you.

If you dog eliminates 3 times a day, then in 365 days you would have used 1,095 poop bags (wow that's a lot of poop bags!). Take that, and multiply it by the difference of $0.03 per bag, and you're left with $32.85. This means, every year, you will have saved $32.85 on just poop bags!!

This is what we found from our purchases:

• Downtown Pet Supply - 920 bags for $42.99 on Amazon ; this averages out at around $0.05
• Earth Rated Poop Bags - 300 bags for $9.99 at Winners ($15.00 regular price) ; this averages out at around $0.03
• Poops! - 400 bags for $8.99 at Costco ; this averages out at around $0.02 per bag

We found that Costco (in Canada) offers the best prices for doggy poop bags compared to all the other places we looked. Would love to hear from anyone who's been able to get them for even cheaper! If you know, please leave a comment below and tell us where and how much :)

Downtown Pet Supply (920 bags)

Costco Poop! Bags (400 bags)

Earth Rated PoopBags (300 bags)