Strange But True

We were in Waterton this weekend and I observed the oddest couple. The first encounter was in town, where they were walking a little dog and carrying their baby in one of those backpacks that you wear in the front (frontpack?). The next time I saw them the baby had on a pink jacket and the wife was holding her. Then the dad came around and put her in a jogging stroller. As I walked by with my 3 beasts she cooed at the baby "aww look at the big puppies!!"

Now this might not seem weird at all except their baby was a dog. Seriously. The dog was dangling in the baby pack as they walked the town. And the dog was pushed in what appeared to be a very expensive stroller, while it's owner pointed out what they seemed to classify as another species when my dogs walked by. I have to add here that I'm positive the dog can walk because when they put it in the stroller it was standing and turned a few circles before laying down.

These people really disturbed me. I think they may actually think their dog is a human baby. Especially because they have two dogs, and one walks around on a leash as it should. People are weird.

Dominance

Sometimes Sadie likes to sit on the other dogs heads.

Summer Stuff and Bad Vets

We've been doing lots of camping this summer. First in our very old boler, which we have since sold and upgraded to a 2004 aerolite. It is about the same length as the boler (16ft) but it has a little slide out, it's very cute. The dogs have been loving all the weekend get aways, some too much.

A few weekends ago we stayed at Lumbrick Falls and our campsite was right on the river. Duke could reach it on his tie out so he was swimming pretty much the entire weekend. The last day he started limping quite bad and by Monday I had him into the vets office. This was not our normal vet, not sure if we even have one at this point, but we were told he blew his ACL and needed surgery, like yesterday. The quote was over $2000. Now if I hadn't known that this vet had a history I most likely wouldn't have questioned it further. As it turns out, this is his very favorite diagnosis, without X-rays I might add. So we went off for a second and then third opinion with X-rays and both disagreed that it was a cruciate injury. Low and behold the very next day Duke was walking fine. Still concerned that it might actually be a cruciate we kept him on bed rest for 2 weeks. The follow up visit with the second opinion told us he may resume normal activity and he has, and he is fine. Now I'm imagining a very different scenario that could have occurred and it makes me furious.

No one wants to put anyone through unnecessary surgery. Its hard on the dog physically and emotionally, its hard on the owner, and its definitely hard on the budget, not that it would have stopped us, but still. I would just like to stress the importance of at least a second opinion here. Before you do anything drastic, please consider this. Not all vets, or doctors for that matter are perfect, there is always more then one solution to a problem, and usually there is more then one diagnosis. Be informed, do your research and ask questions. Do be afraid to be rude! I learned that from a wise friend, and it has saved me more then once!

Pretty Mira

Boler for Sale!!

We have a updated/upgraded Boler for sale. If you or anyone you know wants this gem, let me know! Everything is new and ready to go.

Maybe Sarah wants to upgrade to a bathroom?

Scared Poopless!

It's 8:30am on my day off and I am up. Why? Because I have a highly trained guard dog who has alerted me to an intruder in the basement.

Yesterday morning my neighbors were having a pow-wow in the cult-d-sac after a rash of break-ins the previous evening. Thankfully we were missed. Then this morning while I'm compromised in the bathroom I hear Duke barking, downstairs! And it's not a playful bark, it's a disturbing, low, alert bark. I panic, uncompromise myself and head downstairs but not before I arm myself with a kitchen knife. He's in the office barking at the closet. Fabulous. There's a burgler/murderer/possible rapist in my closet. But before I call 911 I figure if Duke has scared him to stay in his hiding place this long he isn't going anywhere and I can make sure there is something actually to call the police about.

Of course as soon as Duke sees me he runs up to me allowing the maniac to escape, but nothing. Duke now wants to run away, his job is over, he has alerted me to danger, now mom can hack him up with my paring knife. I told Duke to get his ass back in there and protect me. So he begrudgingly faced the enemy, but you could tell he was really scared, he would bark and smell and back up. I peeked into the open closet and saw......a helmet.

This was obviously the source of his contempt. He would get really low and inch over to the helmet and then do his low alert bark and back up. So I grabbed the stupid helmet and made him look at it.

I'm not sure if I'm reading into this too much, but he really hates motorbikes, he will jump and lunge at them. Maybe he had a bad experience with someone on a bike wearing a helmet? I'd like to think that, because the alternative is well, depressing.

We are going on a camping trip in the next few weeks and in attendance are most of my regular dog sitters. I heard through the local dog grapevine that I should check with Bobby and her sister as they have boarded dogs before. So I emailed Bobby and asked her to take Duke who I assured her is my very mellow and laid back guy. Then the correspondence began.

I remembered she had a bunny, and cats.

"Dear Bobby, Duke is very bad with cats he will chase and probably bite them, and don't let him eat your bunny!" No worries Bobby told me the cats can stay in a separate area with Bunny. Crisis diverted.

She then asked if he would be ok left alone in the house for a few hours. Perfect, I can redeem myself here.

"Dear Bobby, Duke is great in the house, he has never had an accident and never chews anything". That night I came home to the contents of my kitchen sink scattered across the floor and remembered that I forgot to tell her he is a counter surfer.

"Dear Bobby, Duke is a bit of a counter surfer, don't leave anything out or in the sink. Especially garbage, I would lock that up for sure"

Bobby has dealt with counter surfers and since Logan got into the garbage, she is used to labs and their nose. Crisis diverted. Then Bobby tells me she has a pond on her property. Perfect! Duke would love to swim.

"Dear Bobby, Duke would love to swim in your pond. Except if you have plans within 2 or 3 hours prior to letting him in I would reconsider. He won't come out. Actually maybe you could keep him on a long leash" Crap, the leash! I forgot Duke has some minor leash aggression, and when I say minor I mean major.

"Dear Bobby, Duke has some leash aggression, maybe we should keep him off leash with the other dogs, then he won't bug them" Crap, the other dogs! I forgot Duke likes to mount other dogs off leash.

"Dear Bobby, Duke likes to mount other dogs, feel free to beat him at will..... Hell, I'm going to call Amanda and make sure he's available for back up!"

So after Duke eats the cats, and the bunny, destroys the house, eats the garbage, mounts all the dogs, and eventually swims away, feel free to call Amanda - she will know what to do!

A Good Giggle

I love this picture of Mira. I mean really could it be anymore hideous? When I was working at the dog daycare I cut out her head in this picture and put it on the computer just for laughs. When I worked at London Drugs I put the cut out head over top of my managers head in the framed "Hi I'm the Manager" picture hanging in our department. I wanted to see how long it would take for him to notice but I kept laughing and glancing up at it and gave myself away. In good spirit he did leave it up there for a while.

So I present to you what I have come to title "Old Man Mira"

A Little Test

How to know if your Dog is at risk for Snakebite?

Do you live in a Rattlesnake area?

Do you hike, run or play in snake areas?

Do you have a dog?

If so, you are at risk.

BREEDS THAT ARE HIGH RISK* Jack Russell* Siberian Husky* Terriers* Rottweiler* German Shepherd* Blue Heeler* Labrador* Golden Retriever* Australian Shepherd* Border Collie

Sadie flushed out a rattlesnake at the local off leash park yesterday. Now as I slip my feet under the covers my heart flutters to think that the snake is in there seeking its revenge.

I have never heard a rattlesnake before, but have been told that you will just know it when you do. And that sums it up pretty well. I think the snake Sadie found had to be the grand daddy, but really I have nothing to compare it to.

I was searching for tips to avoid rattlesnakes, I mean hindsight is 20/20 right? This is the quote that popped out at me.

"Letting them run off into the tall weeds is just asking for your faithful friends to stumble upon a rattlesnake lair"

So after the ducks, a bird and the rattlesnake I have retired Sadie from off leash. What is that about fool me once shame on me fool me twice......there isn't even a fool me three times, because their not really fooling you anymore are they?

July Blues

July has been a really busy, hectic, and stressful month for us. But as I type this, I sit in a human deserted house. We have one extra dog, but I'd take that over extra people any day!

This is one of our amazing family pictures we had done on Sunday taken by a friend. As much as I could kill them sometimes, I wouldn't trade them for any other family!

Happy Belated Canada Day!

Hope everyone enjoyed themselves last night!

Better Late then Never

So a few weekends ago we got to babysit Vito. This is a rare occurrence because a certain someone (ahem, cough, Wendy) likes to hog this duty.

Babysitting Vito pretty much entails snuggling....

chilling....

and more snuggling.

A perfect weekend for me!

We Won

A while back Amanda at manymuddypaws had a caption contest and I won! Duke won actually as he got this very cool and totally appropriate collar.


You can't really see from the picture but it has a black labs with flippers on it swimming in the sea! It's so perfect and Duke loves it. Thanks Amanda!

I wrote this a while back and shared it with a few people. I received a decent response and I quite like how it turned out so I thought I might share it here.

I'm Off to See the Wizard

I'm a rescue dog. As soon as I can escape this cold dark cage I’m off to see the wizard.

You must think being a rescue dog that I need to ask the wizard for a brain.

I must be untrainable, have no manners, I must be unmanageable for someone to dump me here.

But I am very smart.

I use to memorize and perform every trick my master taught me, just to make him proud for his company.

No matter where he went I heeled at his side, he had my undivided attention at all times. So it must be courage right? Being a rescue, I must be scared and weak.

You may be worried about me around your children, or I may bite the neighbours.

But no. I am very strong. I would have defended my people to the death.

My family slept many nights peacefully knowing I was there to protect them.

And I have only gained more courage during this time; I had to, to survive this.

Well that only leaves a heart. I must be off to get a heart from the wizard then.

Even though my heart is broken it is still beating and it waits for someone else to fill it. But thats just it. My time is up in this cage.

They say that I am old, tired and no one wants me.

So I am not going to ask the wizard for anything.

I want him to take away my brain, so I don’t know what is happening when they take me into the back room to my death.

I want him to take away my courage so I do not fight the inevitable.

I want him to take away my heart so I can no longer feel the pain of abandonment and unwant.

I am a rescue dog and I’m off to see the Wizard.

All I want is for this all to go away.

Duke not sure if he can dive.



Mira trying desperately to get out of the water. She's like her momma, we bask in the sun.

Notice the tether Duke has. We take no chances anymore!

Our view

Our site

Our Campers

Vacation!

Ok I am going to forget that my dog got skunked, my boler's toilet is leaking, that it took 5 adult strength gravol to achieve Duke's silence in the truck for all of 20 minutes, or that "we" forgot the axe, trailer jacks, and water hose.  I'm going to start over. I'm on vacation!!!




On the open road

Skunk Removal Recipe

In the spirit of sharing useful information here is a very effective recipe for removing skunk spray.  I know this from personal experience!

32 oz hydrogen peroxide

1/4 cup baking soda

1 TBSP shampoo

Mix and use all, leave on for 10 minutes, rinse.

Viola! $25 plus tip later, we are on our way again!

Camping Trip

Day 1

Sadie got loose and chased a skunk. She's in town at the dog groomers who apparently has a "secret recipe" for this type of thing. I'm too mad to write more.

Vito is coming for a visit this weekend! These pictures were from his last visit:

Thanks for the bone Aunty Sandy! I love being here, I wish my mom let me come more often.



I need to hide my bone, should I go downstairs....

Or in the bedroom?

Oh I think I'll sit on that nice comfy dog bed.

Yep, this is perfect!

Dammit!! That stupid terrier is here now. She'll probably bite me, I'm surprised she hasn't already....I'm outta here.

Gotta hide my bone, gotta hide my bone......

Now that fat mixed breed is licking her chops, maybe if I don't look directly at her she'll go away.

I'm so smart I found the perfect hiding spot!

(Can you spot the Vito?)

One More Night

Mira gets her stitches out tomorrow!  Wooohooo!

Bizarro World

First off we have been tagged by Amanda at manymuddypaws.blogspot.com to tell our stories of how we came to have our dogs.  Fun right?  Except if you follow Sarah's blog digit-fetchit-herdit.blogspot.com then you've heard my stories.  Ok maybe not exactly, but it's safe to say bizarro world strikes again.

THE DOG: Sadie

THE YEAR: 2005

I wanted a little dog that I could train while I was in transition from school to the real world.  My husband said there was one, gasp, at the petstore.  When I saw her, I thought she was a Jack Russell.  I lived with a Jack Russell while going to school and it made me cringe to see her.  But the nice petstore employee told me that she was a fox terrier, and would be much calmer then her terrier cousin the jack.   Mmmmhmmm.  She was the only one left, so we didn't have a choice and we went home with her.

THE DOG: Duke

THE YEAR: 2005

I wanted a lab all my life.  I actually wanted a yellow one named Sailor.  Dustin also wanted a lab for swimming, and hiking.  He actually wanted a black lab named Duke, I guess we know who has more pull now.  We decided to visit the Calgary Humane Society just to kill some spare time.  There was a black lab named Duke, I didn't have a choice how could I say no?

THE DOG: Mira

THE YEAR: 2007

I absolutely did not want 3 dogs.  We were fostering for a rescue in Calgary and we picked up a very strange, and shy looking mixed breed dog that I actually couldn't wait to have adopted out.  Having 3 dogs was hard work!  Then we went away on holidays and I missed my dogs of course, but I also missed my little freak as well.  Now if you read Sarah's post on how she got Gyp you might think that I am making this up.  But I kid you not the moment I quit saying she had to go was when she laid her head on Dustin's lap and looked up at him with those eyes and he said "so we are keeping her right?" and yes she is Daddy's girl hands down.

(insert creepy bizzaro music here)  

*all photo's courtesy of paws on the run photography (photography.paws-on-the-run.ca)* awesome eh?

It's Pouring

Its been a rough few days to say the least. Last night Mira had what can only be described as a doggy panic attack and ripped off her cast. It lasted all night, and as soon as I calmed her down and fell asleep, I woke again to the sounds of plaster cracking. Then I slept in after my alarm choose not to go off because it knows I'm in a rush to get Mira back to the vet and off to work after a sleepless night. In my morning panic I left the pantry door open and came home not only to food partially devoured and strewn around the house, but garbage as well because that is where I keep it locked up. And this is not your run of the mill garbage, no it had to be after my mom and I cleaned and tossed a bunch of old camping gear encrusted with dirt and mud. Cleaning old gooey and licked starburst off tile is not a joyful task. My dryer also decided it no longer wanted to perform it's only function - to dry clothes. Of course after a messy weekend, complete with dirty soaking wet towels. And the list goes on, but I digress.

I found some twisted humor this evening. I was given a fish for my birthday last December, one that lives in a small bowl, that has to be cleaned every week or the fish is no longer visable. Yesterday I couldn't find his food. I searched for it at supper and decided to just buy some more today. Then Mira had a melt down and I forgot. So again at supper I realized he had no food and I would have to go out and buy some. This came shortly after I strategically planned each day around Mira's constant watch. Even going as far as having a babysitter so I could buy groceries at some point. Angry, frustrated and clearly not thinking coherently I decided I would flush him down the toilet and peacefully "drown" him because I didn't want him to starve and I couldn't leave Mira to buy his food. As I watched him struggle against the swirling current I debated saving him only to reminisce over the weekly cleaning rituals, and I let him go. Not 20 minutes later as I stared helplessly out the kitchen window I saw his food on the ledge. I giggled psychotically as I realized that fish can't drown and wondered how in fact my poor fish would meet his maker.

But if I didn't laugh I'd cry and I'm all out of tears.

Something Fun

With Mira's surgery behind us it's time for some fun stuff again. I stumbled upon this website which caters to the very posh dog owner ie. people who have too much money to spend. They have crystal collars and bowls that run in the thousands! But they also have this very cool idea - collar of the month. For $120 you receive a new collar every month! I have to say I am very tempted.

http://www.tailsandcompany.com/store/item.aspx?DepartmentId=123&ItemId=124

Surgery Pictures

Pre-Op

The alien in all it's hideous glory

Closing up

The final product. No too shabby!

Mira thinks this will be the longest 10 days of her life.

Some Good News!

Mira is home! Besides sounding like she has a peg leg on the laminate she is as good as new! Her creatine levels were normal, so no kidney problems. The surgery went well, her heart rate dropped during surgery but they were able to get it back up. I will even have some surgery photos to post because the vet tech involved is my brother's girlfriend and she took some really gross and cool pictures.

Thanks Wendy for watching Mira tonight! And thanks for every one's good thoughts and wishes. We all really appreciate such great support!

Wendy and Mira after surgery.

More Bad News

The new vet just called, they reviewed the bloodwork from Mira's last surgery. Her urea was high then, which is an indicator of kidney disease. I was never told at the time. This could be because the vet who did the last surgery didn't think it was high enough to warrant further investigation. This is where knowledge can play with your psyche.  I know that these tumors grow back in dogs with underlying issues, I know the medication I have been giving Mira for her hip dysplasia is metabolized through the kidney's causing stress on them, and I know that I'm getting the new vet to run the test again. 

Good thoughts, good thoughts........

Viral Papilloma

I'm posting this in case anyone in cyber land has to go through the same thing I have these last few weeks. I have googled and wikipedia'd this topic quite obsessively. I have read the trials, and studies and lived through it.

Mira is having a tumor (a viral papilloma) removed for the second time. These tumors usually grow in young dogs and usually occur on the face or mouth, but rarely can occur on the feet, in between the pads, as in Mira's case. In healthy dogs the tumors are self limiting and will regress in several months. Recurrence is a sign that there is an underlying autoimmune problem. In Mira's case the vet is not convinced of this as she has been otherwise healthy, shiny coat, etc. We are crossing our fingers and paws. Remember nothing is black and white there are always shades of grey.

They are surgically removing the tumor again but this time they are modifying the procedure with hopes to prevent another recurrence. She will be on a round of zithromax (an antibiotic) and possibly some antiviral cream (Aldara). If it comes back again we will try cryotherapy (freezing) or chemotherapy. There has been some evidence that surgical removal during the growth phase actually stimulates more growth and the study advised postponing surgery until the mass reached it maximum size or started to regress. I'm not sure if this thing can get bigger, but I can't wait any longer as it is impeding her walking. I also read that you can crush the tumor in small sections which stimulates cell death, but this would be very painful and not an option for a dog like Mira. There is also information on manufacturing a vaccine from a section of the tumor but it has lead to cancer in that area later on.

In the end, the chemotherapy was described to me as not a very good option, showing less then positive results. Cryotherapy is relatively obsolete in small animals and they play a guessing game with how long to freeze the area. Too long and the bone can die leading to permanent damage and future surgeries.

The best evidence is with the antibiotic zithromax which has potential to become mainstream therapy, even over surgery. I'm not sure how this works as the tumor is viral and antibiotics work on bacteria, but it was described to me that it was working by a different mechanism to kill the tumor other then antibacterial. It's cheap and non invasive so it can't hurt to try.

I hope that this information is helpful for others who are going through this.

Say good-bye to Mira's little friend

Mira's surgery is tommorow. Please send good vibes our way!

If Dogs Were our Teachers

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.
Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.
Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.
Take naps. Stretch before rising.
Run, romp, and play daily.
Thrive on attention and let people touch you.
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.
On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.
On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.
When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.
Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.
Be loyal.
Never pretend to be something you're not.
If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.
When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

Second Opinion Results

The second opinion wasn't very promising. The tumor needs to be surgically removed, but she recommended that the borders be either infused with chemotherapy or cryotherapy (freezing) to ensure that the entire tumor is eradicated. The problem? No one that I have talked to has done either on a small animal before. The vet admitted that she wouldn't know how much or how long to perform the freezing. To much and the bone can be damaged and require future surgeries, too little and the tumor can grow back. Chemo is expensive, toxic and would require Mira to be in isolation for several days to weeks. Not ideal for a sensitive, nervous dog. So now I have to decide if I should just continue with the surgery at my primary vet, or have the whole operation done at by a vet I just met and essentially let Mira be a guinea pig with highly toxic and/or necrotizing materials.

Decisions, decisions.......

Second Opinion

Due to Mira's alien growing to the size of a small melon, and an unforeseen scheduling error, I am going to have a second opinion done this morning. She was suppose to have surgery this morning and I'm not very impressed that it has been pushed back to next week. It has grown outside her pad and she walks directly on the tender tumor causing her much pain and discomfort. She is limping by the end of the day.

I am super frustrated because I asked for this to be removed over a month ago and was told it would fall off. Mother's intuition I knew this thing was thriving and would most definitely not fall off and I should have pushed for surgery then. The vet was concerned that there wasn't enough skin to close the incision from the previous surgery, now that it has tripled in size, I wonder where the skin will come from?

It was a valiant effort, but ultimately he was lost in battle.

Mother's Day Picnic

Mother's Day in the park.

Guess who feeds the dogs? Not Grampa!


You can tell Mira was getting trouble for mooching. Sadie was too but she remains unaffected.

Sadie loves her Grama

Pooped out on the way home.

The Neighbors Dogs

Several months ago I saw the neighbor's child carrying a little puppy that looked like Sadie. The child was no more then 2 and was teetering around and abruptly dropped the puppy to the ground. I guess it survived as I found this in their yard this morning.

Anyone know what kind they are? They are sure cute!

Girlie Shoot

Wendy has added photography to her business and she needed some willing demo's. The girls and I were more then up to the challenge. I'm not sure how helpful Mira and I were but Sadie was a super star!

Wendy sent me 3 CD's of photos - the uncut and the cut. I was so overwhelmed looking through the uncut that I figured Wendy knew was she was doing when she made the cut CD and just used them!

You can check out Wendy's website at http://photography.paws-on-the-run.ca/Home.html.

Here are some of my favorites.

Mira's Mass Part......I Lost Count!

It's really hard to photograph a dog who shys away from the camera to begin with, and then to attempt to manipulate a paw whilst holding and focusing a camera - well what you get is what you see.

The update is that it's growing at an alarming rate, and as alway's it's disgusting. It creeps me out really.

A New Bed

Anyone need a new dog bed? Costco has huge beds on for under $30. They are down and ceder filled, so it's even aromatic!

Belated Birthday

Sadie and my mom were both born February 3rd. My mom and dad have decided to become snow birds and they came home for the "summer" a few weeks ago. Although I guess they should have stayed south a few more weeks. Anyway since they were gone for the official day we recently had a party for them. Sadie is 4 now, which is easy for me to remember because its as long as I have been licensed.

My Next Dog.....

Ever started a sentence like this? I have collected 3 dogs and never once have I start a sentence like this, how bad is that? However, I have decided on what my next dog will be. But before I get my first official planned dog one of the current members will have to cross the "rainbow bridge". So in around 10 years I will have a retired racing greyhound!! and I am super excited about it! Recently a few friends and I went to a pet expo in Calgary and I met some really sweet retired racing greyhounds. I even made a list of why I want one!!

1. I love how they lean into you when you pet them

2. I love how big they are - but they don't drool

3. I love how lazy they are

3. I love their short coats

4. I love that one day I can give a retired racing dog a chance at a normal life being a part my family

My husband is quite easy going and is on board with our new future addition. He even changed my computer desktop picture (from a pissed off bunny ear wearing Boone) to this.....

I really like the tiger striped ones!

"Even Though They're the Same?"

I'm the first to admit that I was a fairly naive dog owner, but I find it quite ironic that common sense isn't really common at all.

Last weekend Amanda and I went for a walk around a busy lake. I purposefully took Duke as he has some fairly appalling leash aggression and I wanted Amanda to help curb it. As it turned out the lake was a decent distraction in itself. However, there is a stretch of path that I nervously anticipate. It is about 4 feet wide with chain like fencing on either side. It feels like a game of chicken upon each approach, if there is a dog coming in the other direction there is no way out. Of course as we enter the last 10 feet or so another dog enters my view. I attempt to put Duke in a sit stay and I hear the owner comment on how his dog looks like mine. I digress, but my beautiful, potentially purebred Labrador did NOT look like this black and tan long haired mutt. As Duke proceeded to strangle himself against my restraint I stated the obvious to this guy that my dog isn't friendly. Now I kid you not, and Amanda can attest that this actually occurred, the man asked sincerely "even though they are the same?" and continued to let his "lab" butt up against Duke. At this point I considered releasing Duke, who is now frothing at the mouth and eyeing up the best spot on his dog to mount. Thankfully Amanda intervened and reinforced my earlier comment that he was not friendly and to kindly move on, in not so many words.

I believe it took about 20 or 30 seconds for either one of us to actually address the incident after it took place. We must have both been too speechless to respond. Then Amanda gave her famous "are you kidding me?" and I said "but they are the same" and we laughed and finished our walk.

This was taken moments after Duke pulled me into the lake. The walk continued with a distinctive sloshing sound.....



"Run Forrest, Run!"

Team Terrior Terrors!

Sadie and I will be participating in the Purina Walk for Dog Guides on May 30, 2009 to help raise funds for the training and placement of Dog Guides for Canadians with visual, hearing and medical or physical disabilities. We need pledges!!! Please consider donating to this wonderful cause. You can visit our website at

http://www.purinawalkfordogguides.com/personalPage.cfm?ID=3737

If anyone wants to walk with us, please let me know. The walk is at Nicholas Sheran Park at 11:00m and May 30, 2009.

Sweet Ride

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30140101/

The Japanese automaker showed off a "Dog Friendly" version of the Honda Element SUV at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday. The concept features a cushioned pet bed with safety restraints in the cargo area, a spill-resistant water bowl, and even a ventilation fan to keep canines comfortable. A folding ramp gives animals an easy way to get in and out.
In the back seat, there's an integrated pet carrier and machine-washable seat covers to make it convenient and safe to carry smaller pets. The rubber floor mats feature a toy-bone pattern, and paw-print emblems on the side and back of the vehicle draw attention to its pet-friendly status.

They listed the price around 21,000. I totally want one!

Breaking Point

Duke has a very long fuse, the only one to actually reach the end of it has been Sadie, and that's after continuous abuse. 99.9% of the time he will let her have what she wants and continue on for the ride. Tonight he reached his breaking point.

Sadie had found an old piece of rawhide and Duke decided he wanted it. I heard Sadie's cries of protest and saw Duke making a beeline for the dog door with Sadie in hot pursuit. As he ran by I grabbed it out of his mouth, and by the time he realized what had happened he was already outside with Sadie. I'm assuming he thought she stole it back, all I heard was several bloodcurdling screams from Sadie. I opened the back door and he had her pinned on the porch, she had soiled herself in fear. As soon as I made my appearance Duke let her up and she limped inside. I was so stunned, speechless actually. I knew the day would come, but I always thought Sadie would deserve it and it would be good for Duke to stand up for himself, within reason of course, but Sadie really hadn't done anything this time. I scolded Duke, but not harshly. I scanned Sadie over, but didn't let her milk it.

My trainer, Amanda has told me to stand up for Duke, or one day he is really going to show her who is boss. I hope this little incident reminds her that he is bigger and stronger. However, I am reminded of when she had her ear ripped open, and that hasn't slowed her down. Oddly enough, Mira has only had to put the fear of God in Sadie once and Sadie doesn't mess with her anymore.

I would really love to get inside that terriers head and know her reasoning. Or lack thereof.

Swamp Thing

Sadie came sauntering through the house and nonchalantly sat down beside me after her romp outside. It wasn't until I got the camera out that she gave me the suspicious "what??" look.

It's Raining, It's Pouring I'm Gonna kick the Old Man's @##

I woke up this morning with what is commonly known as pink eye. The good news is that it is on the list of contagious diseases that prevent me from going to work at the hospital. I guess no one wants the girl with the red, oozing eye around their patients and their patients medications.

I also talked to my vet who in turn had talked to the pathologist who autopsied little alien. Apparently it can spontaneously recede and we are going to do some watchful waiting. Now I just have to keep her from nurturing the evil beast and prevent it from taking over our planet.

Shouldn't I be handed a light saber or something?

Alien Returns

I'm on another streak of misfortunes. Some brought on by myself, others just happened to have shown up at an inopportune time. Mira's tumor has grown back. It was helpful to have my blog as a timeline reference. It has only taken 6 months for the tentacles to re-appear. Now it's deciding if another round of surgery is worth it.

Big Bad Labrador

*disclaimer* I harbor no prejudice toward any particular breed. I am of the belief that bad owners make bad dogs.

There is a house kiddie corner to us which happens to border a small path that allows access out of the neighborhood. It is a rental house and once was home to a judge mentally impaired couple and their children. This family had a pitbull terrier eloquently named Scrappy. Scrappy had the short "fighting style" cropped ears and was built like a brick shit house. It was common to see him dragging the 9 year old son around the neighborhood. To add to this Scrappy sired a litter of puppies and he was very protective of them.

One day I was passing through the path and the side window of said house was open. Through it I heard a women shout "what the hell are you lookin' at". I didn't even consider she was directing her profanities as me and kept walking. Except named person stumbles from the back porch and looks me over with glazed eyes and says she's sorry I was not who she thought I was. Weird, but I proceeded to move on. Then from behind I heared the familiar scratching of nails on cement picking up speed. When I turned around my world slowed down. It was just enough time to know that Scrappy was coming straight for us and I had to act. So I widened my stance and accepted that I might have to boot kick this dog in the head. Just when the world resumes speed again out from behind me striked Duke just in time to jump on top of Scrappy and attack grizzly bear style. I saw a flash of white teeth and heared the deadliest sound come from Dukes throat.

In fairness to Scrappy if he wanted a fight he had an open invitation. As soon as Duke showed aggression he high tailed it out of there. The best part was on the way back I came across the women's husband and his cronies drinking in the alley. The asked me if I crapped my pants when Scrappy came at us. I asked them if Scrappy crapped his when my Lab sent him packing!

The saddest part came a few weeks later when I saw how the cycle of these losers continues. The young boy was passing us and Duke barked at him, Duke doesn't like boys 10-15yrs old, who does really? But the boy glared at Duke and told his friend that Scrappy could kill him.

Some people shouldn't breed.

The Unsolvable Equation

I am hands down a left sided brain personality. Life is scientific, explainable, black and white. If something doesn't fit, I usually dismiss it as irrelevant. I can usually fit my life's problems into equations. Ok before your eyes glaze over I'll give you an easy probability that even my dogs have solved.

< 7am + shower = low probability of a morning walk

> 9am - shower = high probability of a morning walk

Balancing equations are definitely the most difficult. I had one this weekend.

passionate people + my suggestions - communication

Now factor in

my suggestions =\= others suggestions

It's one of those that you can try until your head hurts from thinking, your heart hurts from pouring and you've banged your head against the chalkboard enough times. Eventually it's one of those equations that you have to leave on the chalkboard unsolved and walk away.

Out with the Old in with the New

If you have been following my phone drama I believe I was on replacement #4. It literally shut down and wouldn't turn on again. After words were exchanged with the lovley 17 year old telus representative. My options were to buy another phone - $300-500, or buy out my contract -$600. So I did a little sleuthing and figured out a way to get a little bit of my money back. I asked for a free phone, one of their flip models and hacked my plan down to the bare minimum - $10/month which works out to be around the buy out price at the end of my contract. This way I can fix my HTC touch crap under warranty and sell it on ebay for a few hundred. So what am I using now........




ya baby, ya.

The Biggest Loser

Feb 26/09 ..... Mar 10/09

Mira -68.7 ..... 65.2 lbs

Duke - 74.5 ..... 72.7 lbs

Sadie - 17.7 ..... 17 lbs

My dogs are fat. Obese really. I don't believe it is lack of exercise as either my husband or I take them out usually every day, if not every day then every other day for sure. When Dustin takes them they come back almost dead as he will take his baseball bat and tennis ball. It's definitely the food. They were doing really well on the calorie reduced vet food, the problem was that it costs almost $100 for a 30lb bag. So I cheaped out and bought the Costco stuff. As of the Feb 26 weigh in Mira has been back on the vet food, and the others mixed 50/50 with the Costco stuff. It seems to be helping.

Today I went out to pour more the the vet food into a smaller container and it spilled all over the garage floor. Did I mention how much this food is???? All I could see was little gold nuggets dumping out before my eyes.........Guess who is "eating out" tonight?

Oh the Horror!

Sadie is not impressed with her replacement jacket. She lost her favorite one in the river incident.

Friends

They come in all varieties. I have friends with babies, work friends, dog friends, family that are friends and my best friend, my husband. I love them, I hate them, they drive me crazy, and I go crazy without them.

Mira's friend was actually intended for Duke. Duke's trainer, Amanda, said that I needed to make training more fun for him. She showed me this toy that you put a used water bottle in. It makes this crinkling noise that brings out Duke's inner Labrador! Mira thought it was pretty cool too, but she is part flat coat so who can blame her.

Sadie's friend is the little diffuser plugged into the wall beside her. It is called the DAP - or dog appeasing pheromone, it keeps the crazy away. Ok well not entirely but I can definitely tell when it's time for a replacement.

Duke's friend is the couch.

A Ray of Sunshine?

AWOL

I've been promoted! I have the important role of blogging for the prairie dog canine rescue. So far it's been really fun, but time consuming. I've felt like I've spent more time behind the computer then in front, and as such I have no stories to tell. My poor own dogs. So I've decided since I can't keep up, I'm going to take a step back from the blog about my dogs, so I can actually spend time with them, (and my husband, but he isn't as important =)

Please visit me at http://prairiedogcaninerescue.blogspot.com/ . Wendy takes amazing pictures of the rescue dogs, and some of the stories are really inspirational!

A Hard Day at Work

Monday's are exhausting.

For Everything Else There's Mastercard

I was doing a mental inventory of Sadie's vet visits. This is on top of the regular annual visit and vaccines.

Spay and anal gland removal - $800
Worm incident - $100
Toe nail removal and subsequent antibiotics - $150
Barium enema for possible blockage - $150
Eye scan after incident with husband and elastic band - $100
Removal of fox tail from nasal cavity - $50
Re attachment of ear after foster dog incident - $750
Teeth cleaning - $400
Antibiotics for recurrent stye infection - $70
Diagnosis of mild separation anxiety and prescription of DAPP pheromone - $40 per month
Urinalysis from falling through the ice incident - $60


Then I got to thinking about Duke...........ummmm well he had an ear infection one time.

Amanda cleaning out Duke's ears while Wendy gaggs - two starbucks

Spooning with my angels at night - Priceless

Evil River Strikes Again!

The results are in, and it seems Sadie's incident at the river has left more then just emotional scars. The blood in her urine apparently has a distinctive pattern under the microscope to indicate some sort of blunt force trauma. Something like falling through ice. So it's back to the vet we go. Did I ever mention how much our vet loves us?


The scene of the crime (courtesy of Wendy photography)

Bladder Infection Anyone?

You know you have a problem when your husband emails you a picture like this at work, and tell you it's your dogs urine.

Memories

Have you ever seen that really sad commercial where the old man comes home and tells his wife he picked up the milk? The wife smiles and pats his weathered hand. Then when the old man leaves she looks all sad and opens the fridge to put the milk away, and inside the fridge there is about 4 or 5 cartons of milk. It's a commercial for a support group for the families dealing with Alzheimer's.

Well I was putting my groceries away today..............and yes it is me who does the majority of the shopping.

The God Mother's

I have a slight obsession with our untimely demise. Maybe it comes from helping with rescue and seeing dogs left homeless after their owners passing or maybe I've just watched one too many T.V. shows. Regardless, I have been determined to arrange placement for them in the event. The only problem is their placement arrangements keep changing.

Sadie was originally going to my parents, and then they adopted the devil spawned pug. Duke and Mira were going to go into our rescue and then during an adoption fair I mentioned to Amanda that Mira would have a melt down at one of these events and she said "oh ya, Mira is totally unadoptable"!! So I have decided instead to place the onus of the well being of each angel in separate God Mother's. That way they will feel tremendous pressure to either keep them or find them loving homes.

Sadie has been gifted the God Mother Amanda. And yes after the last incident I did ensure that she still in fact wanted this responsibility and she said yes! Amanda said she would probably keep Sadie, I believe she muttered something about liability issues if she adopted her out.

Mira has been gifted the God Mother Roberta. Mira has stranger, small children, and male gender issues. Roberta is perfect because she is single, lives with her sister and has no kids! She just has to remain status quo!

Duke has been gifted the God Mother Wendy. Duke loves Wendy a lot. But I suppose it would put an end to Coulee and Duke's current relationship. I believe adopted sibling love is frowned upon.

So now it's in writing ladies. That must make a binding legal contract right?

And Then Reality Sets In

So as much as I'd like to believe that I made it to the bottom of the jagged cliff in a single bound, my protesting body tells me otherwise. I struggled out of bed this morning and after surveying the damage I have found some significant bruising and lacerations. Mostly down the backs of my legs and thighs. So really I must have slid down the cliff on my butt. Not the red caped hero that I originally thought, but it worked, so I'm happy.

Then my history in drug dealing (legally!) surfaces and I'm thinking, if I could cultivate and bottle adrenaline I would be a rich women.......hmmmmmm........

In the Event of an Emergency

You have all seen or heard of those stories where someone acted in an emergency situation and they say they didn't even think about it, they just did it. I've always wondered if I had what it takes to "just do it" if the occasion presented itself. Now I have an answer. It's exactly true, you just do it. It's like your watching someone else, someone cool, calm, and collected take control and your just watching thinking holy shit their doing everything right.

Sadie fell through the ice today. It was actually quite ironic because it was immediately after Amanda said that in the event of our untimely death she would take Sadie, that I noticed her and Kort wandering over by the cliff that precedes the river. We called them, and Kort, who is still a puppy, came back and Sadie who must have caught wind of the geese who had prematurely returned, didn't even glance back. By the time I got to the cliff and saw her heading toward the partially frozen river I had let out a number of blood curdling screams and it must have looked as if I had succumbed to an untimely death to my horrified onlooking friends as I stumbled over the cliff and down the embankment.

I believe it was at the point where I saw her break thru the ice that the adrenaline kicked in and I performed feats that I could never duplicate in real life. Somehow I managed to make it from the top of a steep, icy cliff to the river bottom in under 10 seconds, in one piece. I don't even remember touching the ground. Hell even high school math resurfaced and I remembered that the greater the surface area the less mass in any one spot. So as I am laying flat on the ice, belly crawling to my struggling terrier I am thinking, I better have gotten that freakin' equation right! I pull her out and remove the ridiculous coat that I have her in, irritated that it could have weighed her down, and put my coat over her shaking body. As I make my way up I'm struggling to hold her and keep my footing on the icy incline, and by this point Mira is deeply disturbed and barreling her way down to me impeding my path.

Thank God for good friends. At the point where I could no longer make progress I see them at the top of the hill and they too are "just doing it". They tell me to put Sadie down and she makes her way to them. While Amanda makes her way to me, grabs me and hurls me to the top with strength I had yet to experience, Jolene already has her coat off and Sadie wrapped, while Wendy is herding our other 10, (yes 10) dogs.

And when you think you don't have the stamina to run with a shaking wet terrier across a park field your wrong. You only see that your next move is the car and cranking the heater full force on your way to warm blankets and a soft bed. And it's only when the last drop of adrenaline leaves your blood that your mind allows you to think what if, instead of do what. And that's when you become what you thought you would be all along, a quivering mass, curled in the fetal position, holding your precious bundle. And then you realize what you could have lost, and it's clear what your next move will be.

The Black Widow

Mira loves it when we bring home young, male, foster dogs. She has the whole routine down pack. Day one, she acts aloof and bashful. Enticing them with only the slightest of intentions. Day two, she plays slightly flirtatious, but very indirectly. She will roll over on the floor beside them and kick her feet playfully, "accidentally" giving them the lightest nudge. Day three she is a full blown bar star. I can see her in a tight mini skirt, tube top, bangles and high heels. She saunters out of the bedroom and has built up the tension so much by this point that all she has to do is glance in their direction and it's all over. There is running, rolling, nibbling, kissing, it's really disgusting actually, because I know the sad fate of this relationship. They never see it coming. But like most young beautiful women, once the thrill of the hunt is over, the novelty wears off. When Mira has had enough, game over, black widow style. This morning I missed the kill, she did it while I was still sleeping, but I heard it. And when it started security kicked in and the poor bastard got it from the terrier as well. His heart was shattered. But that's the plight of the black widow, it's about survival of the fittest.

Victim number 13-02-09

Fireside

A peaceful night was spent round the fire.

Can't Fight the Seether

Seether is neither loose nor tight,Seether is neither black nor white.
I tried to keep her on a short leash,I tried to calm her down.
I tried to ram her into the ground, yeah.

Cant fight the seether
I cant see her till Im foaming at the mouth.

Seether is neither big nor small.Seether is the center of it all.
I tried to rock her in my cradle,I tried to knock her out,
I tried to cram her back in my mouth, yeah.

Cant fight the seether
I cant see her till Im foaming at the mouth.

Keep her down, boiling water, Keep her down, what a lovely daughter.
Oh, she is not born like other girls, But I know how to conceive her.
Oh, she may not look like other girls,But shes a snarl-toothed seether, seether!

Cant fight the seether

I cant see her till Im foaming at the mouth.

Bloodsport

This is Sadies birthday present. We got it from Paws on the Run Doggy Daycare. We had to take it away shortly after she recieved it. Sadie takes balls very seriously, if you can make it out in the close up that is blood on the elastic string.

The Hair on my Chinny Chin Chin

I was reading Sarah's blog http://digit-fetchit-herdit.blogspot.com/ about Kaleb's greying chin and it got me thinking of Duke. We don't really know how old he is, but his estimated birthday was 2004, making him around 4 or 5. This last year his chin has turned grey, making me think he is older then we thought. What do you think?






I tried to get one of his teeth. Ok no comments! This was the best I got!

Happy Birthday Sadie

Sadie turned 4 years old yesterday. Happy Birthday to my angel!!!!

Closed for the Season

This has to be the worst time of year for dog owners. Don't get me wrong, I love that the weather is warming up and I can take my dogs on walks that last longer then the time it takes to bundle up for them. However, the combination of dusty wind, melting snow and 12 furry feet have made my life a nightmare! I'm reveling in my past decision when buying the house without carpet. I couldn't imagine trying to deal with this without my precious swifter wet jet. My feeble attempts to keep on top of the mud have long since dissipated, and I have decided instead to ban any visitors to my house until the snow is gone. I think that's a better plan.

Just a Picture

Ingenious or Pathetic?

I couldn't decide which title suited this post better. It's windy out again today, like 100 mile per hour wind, so the dog door must remain locked. If you missed the earlier post this month on the outcome of this, think of a terrier and a new white comforter, which actually came out surprisingly well in the wash. Anyway, I couldn't decide what to do this time. Sadie can't go to daycare because of several incidents, the last ended in an elderly wiener dog screaming bloody murder. So I fashioned a "pee pad" out of some swifter wet jet pads. I was pretty proud of myself until I thought.....I just taped 8 wet jet pads to my floor for my 4 year old terrier. I'm thinking pathetic is more appropriate.

Baby Mira

I don't have many "baby" pictures of the dogs. We didn't have a digital camera when we ahem..purchased Sadie, Duke was already 2 years old when we adopted him, and Mira was almost 1 year when we "fostered" her. The rescue that had Mira also had her 2 sisters as babies so I asked them if they had any puppy pictures of the girls. I thought this one was cute. Mira is on the left and her sister Abby is the other pup.

I like her funky white toes in this one. I wish I could have had her while she was still this small! But then again I'm not so good with the whole potty training process. Sadie still poops downstairs!

Getting Along

If he can fit in here, he can fit in anywhere!

40 Things!

Really!? I was tagged by Amanda from manymuddypaws to post 40 things about me that people may not know. This is defiantly going to be a challenge as I'm not a secret kind of gal.

1. My short term memory is non existent - you can drop off your prescription at one counter and no word of a lie I will ask you your name 5 minutes later at the pick up counter

2. I was a geek in junior high, and "popular" in high school

3. I lived alone in a one room apartment for my 2nd year of university - as in no bedroom, just one open room all of 500 sq feet, and I loved it.

4. I got 100% on my high school English final exam - I had my paper memorized before I even know what the topic was, and I just adapted it to fit.

5. My first dog was a Chinese Shar-pei (wrinkle dog) he was diagnosed with cancer while I was at university and died the night after I got home to say goodbye

6. I cry when I'm mad and that makes me angrier

7. I have 2 tattoos - not sure if anyone has even noticed them

8. I have a mild case of OCD

9. I am a slight hypochondriac

10. I can sleep anywhere, anytime, for as long as I like, even if I'm not tired

11. I hate coffee

12. I hate seafood, but crave a good tuna fish sandwich about once a month

13. I have been in a few fist fights

14. I have given an ex-boyfriend a black eye and broke another one's nose

15. I have a temper (hmmmm refer to #14)

16. I played competitive soccer for about 5 years

17. I lived in Loma Linda California and did my hospital practicum in the infectious disease rotation (see #9)

18. I have been to Italy and Paris

19. I have had my belly button and tongue pierced

20. If I can't do something 100% I usually don't do it at all

21. I knew I was going to marry Dustin the second I saw him

22. Sadie spoons with me at night

23. I spent one summer waiting and then collecting cow urine in a barn at the research center

24. I spent the same summer wet sieving cow poop and weighing the contents of each sieve

25. I have been paying my student loan for almost 3 years and I'm not even close to paying it off but I will attend Sarah's party anyway

26. I now have to pay off my husband's student loan

27. I am an evil stepmother

28. I don't know the actual color of my hair anymore

29. I chronically clear my throat and it really annoys the people who notice it

30. I'm paranoid about bad breath

31. I'm addicted to chap stick

32. I purell my hands at least 5 times in an hour (see #8)

33. I have worked at 6 different jobs since last summer

34. I have fallen asleep at work (it was on a couch with a dog at daycare on a really slow Saturday - sorry Wendy!)

35. I grew up very spoiled

36. I have two older brothers, I am the only daughter (see #35)

37. I have been the same weight since grade 8 (that was 15 years ago)

38. I'm really glad I'm almost done!

39. I use to be in modeling and was told to walk like I had a quarter stuck in between my butt cheeks, I quit shortly after my mom's friend yelled out at a soccer game that my quarter fell out

40. I'm the happiest I have ever been in life

I hope I surprised you at least once.

Ok I tag Bobbi at Crazy Dog Days and Lauren at Why Everyone Should Train Dogs

Go!!!!

I'm Vince and I'm a Good Dog

This is our new foster. He is such a sweet, wiggly guy. I don't think he will last the weekend.

Bath Mat

Like my bath mat? I have to be careful when I step out, as the bath mat likes to sneak in while I'm showering.

Insert Foot Here

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth, to say things that should really stay private thoughts, and to then feel really bad about them for longer then necessary. Today was one such day. It was staight out of a T.V. show, you know the one where the girl writes an inapriopriate email about someone and mistakenly sends it to that person. Then they are frozen in horror and try uselessly to hit the delete button, like some how that is going to reach cyber space and snatch the email back into your outbox. Yes that girl was me. And the best part was that when I got home from work I got a nice email back from said person in which my snide remark was quoted directly. Now I'm delaying stuttering through an apology that will undoubltley end in me feelling like an ass for monthes to come.
This must be why I love dogs so much, they are so uncomplicated.

Show

Ok here is a picture of the yards, you can't actually see the fence, but you can guess where is should be!

No Show

I have no pictures to share so you will be forced to believe my word on this. We live on the edge of town, and our backyard borders an open field. The city has built a fence parallel to the length of the houses. We like to walk back there because its open, quiet and the dogs can run off leash. It has snowed so immensely here that is has piled up just shy of the top of this fence on either side. Thus allowing two dogs to literally walk over the fence and out of their backyards to play with us!

I debated taking a picture of this second incident, but erred on the side of caution. Because of the fierce wind and snow I had to lock the dog door shut today. Theoretically my adult dogs should be able to hold their bowels for a minimum of 5 hours. Upon returning home I discovered that a certain terrier either couldn't hold it or decided that it was unacceptable to have to hold it. Either way she relieved herself on the spare bed. Number one and number two.

Sleep over anyone?

Happy Sunday

Here's to lazy sunday afternoons.

At Work

Doesn't this look like I work at a drive thru? Would you like fries with your meds?


Brought to you by a crappy phone on a crappy network.

WTF?

So after having numerous complications with my phone and thinking I was jinxed in some way I have discovered that they have pulled the touch diamond from the shelves! We were shopping in the mall today and it was pulled off the display, in it's place an empty cord. I asked why it was missing, and the saleswomen told me they are not selling it anymore as it had been having several issues. WTF!!! I have been to that exact store 3 times now complaining and they told me that it was the user, or the programs I downloaded. I have fought with them for 2 months now. They didn't even call to let the current users know that they pulled it either. Actually they told me that I'm still stuck with it because I bought it before they stopped selling it. So now this one little customer is announcing that Telus and their touch diamond phone are both big old pieces of crap!

And this was after the Sears' lady told me I had to go back into the freezing streets and drive back up the deadly road that is the westside hill and produce the original receipt for my refund, as apparently the gift receipt is not enough? WTF?

Then after I painstakingly conveyed some diabetic information to a mother, who is an individual that I have a hard time liking in the first place, I was told I was being rude and condescending and my help was not needed. So now I have sent an ass kissing apology email and still feel like WTF?

Infected Anal Glands

Anal glands. I mean really can you think of a more useless and foul gland? Why hasn't natural selection occurred here? I suppose it has in humans, along with the tail, and I can see why. If humans had anal glands I think reproduction would come to an abrupt halt. I mean most people I encounter at work can't even keep up with the orifices that they have, could you imagine anal glands?

If you have ever dealt with anal glands I sympathize with you. If you know that they can become infected, I pity you. Imagine intensifying the smell and reducing the consistency of the discharge and you have what has been termed infection. But with diagnoses comes resolution, hopefully, in the form of a pill. More specifically Orbax 68mg. I have never heard of this drug, because as previously mentioned, survival of the fittest has eliminated the anal gland from human medicine, but I'm placing all my sanity in it's effectiveness.

If the Orbax doesn't fulfill my expectations we will proceed to more invasive measures, injection directly into the glands. And then if all else fails we will just remove them, and add to the population of dogs who have surgically evolved past this troublesome gland.

Happy New Years!

Today was my birthday, well technically it was yesterday. I spent a great day with friends and family. It began at the dog park, and between 4 of us we had 11 dogs! It wasn't really a walk, more of following around the dogs as they chased mice and as Jolene called it "go to ground" in the field. Mira ran around like a lunatic, and got all the boys chasing her, what a hussy!

Later we had dinner at my parent's house and went to a show. Then we rang in the new year with friends and family. Over all it was a pretty good day.

Wicca looks like she got pelted in the head with a snowball.

I am Ceaser Milan (for you Amanda)

Picking up poop
I'm not sure what's weirder, Wendy noticing that I'm always holding up poop in pictures, or the fact that she has taken multiple pictures of me holding poop?

I like this one of Perkins, its kind of weird, and it looks like hs tail is broken, but isn't he shiny?

Super Perkins!

Flies over buildings in a single bound

Dog pile on Mira, literally.

Deranged lunatic warning, please pick up your children and small dogs and evacuate the area.

As commented, Sadie isn't dominant at all

The pack, I think this was everyone except Boone

Aunty Jolene carrying poor Sadie after her feet got cold, much to Korts horror. Kort tried to jump up to get Jolene's attention and he got a good bite on the snout!

Devil Spawned Pug Strikes Again.

He gave me a present on Christmas morning. It involved teeth, and an angry vocalization of sounds that only a pug could make.


And in case anyone is wondering, yes it is hard to photograph your own leg.

Snow Days!

Watch for Duke doing the slip and slide!

A Walk in the Snow

Tis' the Season

'Tis the night before Christmas and all through the town,
Every shelter is full - we are lost but not found,
Our numbers are hung on our kennels so bare,
We hope every minute that someone will care,
They'll come to adopt us and give us the call,
"Come here, Max and Sparkie - come fetch your new ball!!

But now we sit here and think of the days..
We were treated so fondly - we had cute, baby ways,
Once we were little, then we grew and we grew -
Now we're no longer young and we're no longer new.
So out the back door we were thrown like the trash,
They reacted so quickly - why were they so rash?
We "jump on the children:, "don't come when they call",
We "bark when they leave us", climb over the wall.

We should have been neutered, we should have been spayed,
Now we suffer the consequence of the errors THEY made.
If only they'd trained us, if only we knew...
We'd have done what they asked us and worshiped them, too.
We were left in the backyard, or worse -let to roam-
Now we're tired and lonely and out of a home.
They dropped us off here and they kissed us good-bye...
"Maybe someone else will give you a try."

So now here we are, all confused and alone...
In a shelter with others who long for a home.
The kind workers come through with a meal and a pat,
with so many to care for, they can't stay to chat,
They move to the next kennel, giving each of us cheer...
We know that they wonder how long we'll be here.
We lay down to sleep and sweet dreams fill our heads..
Of a home filled with love and our own cozy beds.

Remember that a pet is for life......not for Christmas.

In the Still of the Night.

Those of you with dogs know how weird it is to come home when your dogs are out. It doesn't seem like a significant change, but when your norm is 3 dogs barrelling at you every time you come home, its absence is very apparent. Sometimes it's a peaceful change, but most of the time it's lonely.

Yesterday I worked all day and then had a Christmas party to attend directly after. So the pups had a sleepover at different friends houses. I had to split them up, because its hard getting a sitter for all 3 together! My husband is gone off to work out of town as well, so I came home to complete stillness. Very odd. Even more out of place was me sleeping in a huge king sized bed.....alone. I could spread out and roll over without fear of inhaling a dog butt.

But it's highly overrated. I'll take my train wreck greeting, and hair covered bed any day.




Insert dogs here.

6th photo

We were tagged from Sara to post my 6th picture from my 6th folder. Everyone else she tagged had dog photos......Mine is rather boring and I must admit I toyed with the idea of picking a different one, but I'm going to play by the rules.

So I was selling this jacket on Ebay. That's it. It was a lululemon jacket, which I guess is kind of funny because a new store opened up in town here and I heard there was almost a 6 hour line up!

Seriously?

I think that someone is toying with me upstairs. Just playing with me to see how much I can handle before I do some serious damage! Its minus 40 today and my dog door breaks. Now I have a permanently open door right at freeze your tootsies off level. But don't fret, it's under warranty. I just have to wait for the new part to ship from California, at Christmas time!!!!

You know you've got a problem when.......

When the first question you ask the sales clerk is "would these dishes break if say, they fell from a counter onto a tiled floor?" you know you have a problem.

Then when the sales clerk looks at you like your on a pass from the hospital you think "crap I'll just by an extra set" you know you have a problem.

When your father comes over to fix your broken bathroom door and he calls to say he found a coffee mug shattered on the floor and you say "oh just one mug?" you know you have a problem.

When your yard looks like your dishwasher vomited all over it, you know you have a problem.

When it looks like you've thrown all your utensils in the garborater, you know you have a problem.

My problem has a name, and it's Duke.

Tagged!

The trio of badness was tagged on their 3 favorite things so here it goes.

Sadie
1. Patrolling the daycare aka the fun police (hey if a certain elderly wiener dog loitered around the gate too long he deserved it)
2. Grama's house - except its not so fun with the devil spawned pug there now
3. Bones - not so much eating them, but guarding them from the other dogs
4. Walks -especially if it involves the ball and biting Duke
5. Biting Duke
6. Her Momma!

Duke
1. Swimming
2.Humping other dogs (no gender preference)
3. Swimming
4. Bones
5. Swimming
6. His Momma!

Mira
1. Cuddling
2. Doing her leg stretches
3. Food!
4. Running around aimlessly while the other two chase the silly ball
5. Belly rubs
6. Her Momma!

Walk it Off

We had a great walk yesterday with our herd. Minus the incident when Roscoe decided to go all Lion vs Antelope Nation Geographic style on Mira. It was definitely a Dermax night for her dis plastic hips!

The rear view mirror view!

When it All Comes Together

I want to promise him a soft place to lay forever.

Helping with rescue is hard. It's heartbreaking, it's frustrating, and it's physically exhausting. Several of my friends foster and I see them go through the same emotions and that can make me just as sad.

Saturday we helped send many great dogs to their forever homes. Letting your foster go can be difficult. Wendy said it best on her blog (http://crazyandlittle.blogspot.com/) when she described it as feeling like your telling your foster their not good enough to stay. And even though that is not the case, you know that someone along the way has said that to them. And as I brush the coat off my foster dog, that I know grew in because of all the cold nights he spent outside, and as I rub his calloused joints that I know came from sleeping on the concrete shelter floor, and as I run my fingers over his scars that I don't want to know about, I am sad all over again.

To cheer up we went for a walk in the coulees with our little "pack". Along the way we saw a dog that looked very much like one of our former fosters. Sure enough when we approached, the couple confirms that he was in fact an old foster dog, who came from a very disturbed home. As he runs up to us tail wagging I pet his soft glossy coat and hear the smiling couple tell us how wonderful he is, I have to laugh. This comes at such an appropriate time when we are all questioning the fate of our fosters. To see him happy and confident just confirms what the rescue is doing for them.

So as I scrub the "marking" off the leg of my couch, and wipe up this evenings dinner that obviously didn't agree with my fosters stomach. I'm smiling because I know that in the end it's all worth it.

And on a high note, the second time he hit the Christmas tree, which would be confusing to even the most seasoned dog, so I think we are heading in the right direction!

More Bad Luck

I came home tonight and immediately took the dogs for a walk. While we were walking I noticed Mira's tail was hanging limp. I tried to pick it up and when I let it go it dropped as if there was no muscle tone left in it at all. After a frantic call to Kendra, we have to go in for X-rays tomorrow. My best description of it was "it looks like one of those fake tails you pin on yourself for halloween, you know it just hangs there". And of course as soon as I try to photograph her she gets all suspicious and won't cooperate. Wait until I betray her by leaving her at the vet tomorrow again! Poor Mira

Mira not wanting to sit on her broken tail
This is how it "hangs"
Back views

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

I'm also on my 3rd replacement phone. Yes that's right its the 3rd one that hasn't worked. Apparently there is a policy that you must try 4 times before they let you change models. Not give you your money back but pick another crappy windows based phone. Anyone who is wondering - get the iphone. sigh.

Worst Week

When I got a letter from my governing body in the mail this afternoon saying I failed my audit I actually laughed. It was the fluffy icing on the top of my week from hell. Suspended from practice! No job. Nice.

I think it started when I came home on Monday and discovered that I hadn't shut the door to the spare room which contained all my Christmas presents. The ones that I had so carefully chosen months before Christmas and painstakingly wrapped with love. Destroyed by viscous dogs, angry at me for being late. Amongst those gifts was a 50 piece box of Lindor chocolates. I emphasize was. I found every single foil carefully unwrapped and discarded for the contents within. They also had fun with a gift intended for Dustin's niece, a stuffed dog set. Interestingly, there were 4 dogs in the set and I only found the mauled remnants of one.

Then I got sick. Mucus plugged hacking my lungs out, staying home from work sick. Except for the 3 hours that I had to go in for as there was no coverage. I hope none of you got prescriptions from my pharmacy today from about 9-12 or you might have taken home a little more then you paid for!

Then my beautiful new phone died. After numerous attempts at contacting the "help" desk, I'm sure my file is flagged irate customer, I actually got a new one from the store. No I couldn't just go to the mall where I purchased it from, I had to go to the frigin' industrial park not once but twice because they are the only ones apparently knowledgeable to do an exchange. I mean literally taking my defective phone and handing me another one in a box. So now I'm in the processes of uploading all my info into the phone again. This requires me calling all the software companies that I downloaded from and telling them that I have switched devices and am not trying to steal their software. This is fine except today apparently is the U.S. thanksgiving and NO one is answering the phone!

Then I get home to discover that I missed garbage pick up and am stuck with an overflowing garbage bin until next Friday. So this weeks garbage will be piling up in my garage, and I'll probably never get caught up.

I also missed my doctor's appointment tonight, as the appointment info was in my defective phone that I had to give to the freaks up in the industrial park. They then told me they could schedule me in to walk in clinic tonight. So I go home and drive back 2 hours later only to be told by the Dr. that she couldn't help me in walk in and I would have to schedule an appointment with my regular dr. This was followed by me bursting into tears and demanding the prescription that I know I needed, which didn't go over so well. Needless to say I left sans prescription and an appointment for 2 weeks from now with my regular dr.

Upon returning home tonight I sank into my couch and instantly caught the distinctive whiff of vomit. Now I'm washing my couch cushions while quietly sobbing waiting for my husband to get home. Who by the way had to be coaxed home as he was avoiding his crabby wife.

I guess when you hit rock bottom, there is no where but up.................right?


The remaining mauled stuffed dog - I believe it was some sort of Maltese.

The individually unwrapped Lindor chocolates
A panned out view of the destruction - yes those are all wrappers

Hidden Gems

Their out there, lurking in the dark shadows, waiting for a labbie paw to smash them into a mashed paste. But I can't get to them, the darkness is in their favor. I have to leave them before the sun rises, and when I return the sun has set on them, leaving them to hide in the dim moonlight. What are they? They are the poos that linger in the back yard. I know their out there though, I can smell them. It has come to the sad reality of blindly sweeping the ground with a bagged hand to reach them. I'll get them. I'll get them all............

The Good Ol' Dayz

I have a new smartphone! Its very cool, it's called HTP diamond. It has been refered to as the windows version of the iphone, which is what I wanted because I can't make myself switch over to a Mac yet. Anyway I was cleaning out some old files to update my new phone and found some very cool pictures. Last year Wendy had a dog walking business and she would take pictures of their adventures. Enjoy.

By Any Other Name

Names. It seems we have picked the most common dog names in existence. Mira was the only one who got an original name and that was because we didn't name her. I really thought we were creative with Sadie, that was until I went to the kennel to pick her up and after giving her name, the lady laughed and asked which one! Apparently she had 5 Sadies that weekend. Actually for whatever reason we originally gave Sadie the name Heidi. We left her with my parents while on vacation and at some point we decided to change it. I had to call my dad and tell him to start calling her a different name half way through the week!

Some times we change the dogs names just for fun. This week we have been calling Duke Drago pronounced Dr-ahhh-go. It came from watching the T.V. show the Dragons Den. I said I wanted to call him Dragon and it was shortened to Drago.

Other times we just call them by breed. The terrier. The lab, or labbie, and the mixed breed.

Nicknames. Sadie got poop, pooper this came from obvious reasons during puppyhood. See the worms post. Mira is Mirabelle and Duke is Dukie, or Dukeman, not very original.

I think you could call any of my dogs by any name you choose and you would get the same reaction as if you had called them by their proper names, which is usually a whole lotta nothin'!!!

Ohhh Dukey!

For a dog who loves water so much, you'd think he wouldn't be so miserable in the bath.


And just what did Mr. Duke do to deserve such a harsh punishment? Well he ran inside to greet my company tonight right after he tromped through his own feces. And when I say greet I mean jumped up and made two smelly footprints on his jacket. Nice. Boy dogs suck.

It's Begining to Smell a Lot Like.....Anal Glands

Gag me. Mira is having anal "issues". She randomly dumps the contents of her glands onto whatever she is laying on. Last night it was my bed! I had to change the sheets. I have never smelled anything so putrid in my life. For those lucky enough not to know what I'm talking about think musky decaying corpse. Enough said.

We are going to see our vet to empty them. Until then she is getting some pumpkin. I'm glad I called Amanda to see how much pumpkin to give her because I bought a 5000ml can and was just going to fill up her food dish with it! Apparently you only use like 2 tablespoonful. I wonder what would have happened............

Yes, they have shut down a store!

The Prairie Dog Canine Rescue had their first annual Mircrochip Clinic today. I had the very important job of spraying the "pink stuff" between appointments. It was mostly a success, with the exception of a few no shows. However, we filled them in with a little impromptu recruiting from the neighboring pet store. Sorry Julia, she got a very manly pitbull that I sent over! To kill the time between appointments the girls and I starting telling our runaway stories. This is why it is so important to have your dog mircochipped!

I remember getting a phone call from my frantic neighbor saying that the dogs had broken out of the yard and were running amuck on Whoop-up Drive, which is a fairly busy road in our little city. She said she couldn't get them back in the yard. After attempting to call friends and family to round up the crew without success I decided I had to leave. Which in any normal profession wouldn't have been a big deal, however without my humble presence in my store, the whole store has to shut down, literally. I made several attempts to get reinforcements but after contemplating the risks I told them to shut it down and was outta there! I mean really, there are several other stores in a 10 mile radius that could perform the exact same service. Fortunately when I got home, my cousin had finally rounded up the last of the crew and they were safely home. When I got back to work my boss wasn't very understanding, he said "Sandy you can't just leave" which I promptly responded with "that's funny cause I thought I just did.................."

Morning Routine

I'm sure everyone has their own morning routine. Ours never varies. Sometime between 6am and 7am I hear the scratching of claws on laminate pacing from one side of the bed to the other, precisely 5 minutes after this commences I hear the whining. I'm sure if Mira could talk she would be chanting "feed me Momma, feed me Momma". If that doesn't get my attention she will jump on the bed and push her wet nose into my face and proceed the chant. Yes, I get up.

We go to the pantry with now all 3 jumping and wagging like I've been missing for years and I measure out the required amounts. Then I throw the measuring cup on the counter and go back to bed. Did you catch my error? Remember I have a food scavenging counter surfer.........

I always forget to close the pantry door!!! Every time. Seriously. So our routine continues. I hear a crumpling of wrapper, usually he goes for the breads, I'm not sure why. Then I hear the frantic scraping of feet and the sharp thud of a labbie head bounding through the dog door. This follows the sharp high pitched barking of the fun police who has her suspect in hot pursuit. Usually I chalk it up to a loss. I mean by now whatever prize he has claimed has been in his mouth, and drug through the land mine of our backyard. And it would require me getting up and going outside in the frigid morning air.

Today he choose pita wraps. So much for taco's tonight.

Dog Park

We had a great time at the daycare's Dog Park today. We were all enjoying the warm sunny November day until Amanda told us that we were all going to burn because of global warming!


Lacey knew who had the cookies.
Vito trying to be brave.

Sadie found the cookie pocket.

More cookie pockets.

Little Lacey.

Dustin and Mira.

The dogs didn't even get a time out today! Wooo hooo!

Who's Bad?

The dogs were soooo good last night. We kept Mira away from the door and she didn't do her frantic barking! Duke and Sadie "greeted" all the little kids and Duke didn't even knock one of them over! and Sadie loved all the attention.

I however wasn't so good. But it was pretty fun!

The Brew

A few nights ago, when I got home from work the dogs did their "OMG I haven't seen you in like 8 hours" dance and routine. This followed promptly by Duke projectile vomiting across the room. Husband is laughing trying to say he is just exciting to see me. I know better. After a quick trip to the backyard I bring back an empty margarine tub. For the remainder of the evening I am serenaded by the sounds of digestion and apparently it is a very labour intensive process. I actually wish I could record it and play the sounds for the trick or treaters tonight. They would have thought we were concocting the most evil witches brew. In actuality Duke was making his own brew, and it was more evil then any witches potion!

Happy Halloween!

I can't wait to deal with the reaction of dogs who normally don't act appropriately when people come to the door. Now we get to throw in masks and small screaming children to the mix! Maybe we should pull a Wendy and turn the lights off...............

Happy Howloween!!!

The dogs went to the second annual Paws on the Run Howloween Party yesterday! I believe the attendees doubled since the first annual meeting. Which just shows Wendy's business is booming! We had a great time, I didn't get too many pictures, as I was trying to control my 3 and help Amanda where I could. We did enter the costume judging and Sadie led the group march around the outdoor play area. We had to stop mid-march to let her pee her costume, and then while waiting for judging she pooped in it as well......nice.

As predicted Sadie won the wiener dunking paws down. We were a little disappointed her fierce competition Jane was only participating in the go-dog-go parties dunk. Sadie thinks she was scared to go up against her =).

All went well, with the exception of me jumping the gun on commencing the off leash play. This lead to a certain overly eager dog to almost eat a guest's plate of snacks. And then during play Duke received a time out for engaging in overly dominant play (ok he was caught humping!) and before his time was even done, Sadie also was banned to isolation. Although I have to say, the dog she "abused" was overreacting just a tad ; ). Mira, of course, was an angel - Amanda even praised her for initiating a greeting with a fellow human guest. Of course when he went to pet her she slunked off barking.....but.

Happy Halloween!

Friendly Neighborhood Vet

I remember when I used to call our vet and our conversations went like this -
"Hi its Sandy Macdonald, with Duke, Mira and Sadie.....".
After a few calls it went like this -
" Hi it's Sandy with Duke, Mira and Sadie.........."
Then it got to this -
"Hi its Sandy........"
Now its like this -
"Hey its me, can I talk to Kendra"

It's On

Sadie has been officially challenged. Check out Sara's blog

http://digit-fetchit-herdit.blogspot.com/ Sadie won the wiener diving contest last year (see the medal!) and Jane's mad. But we are practising and ready to defend our title!

Counter Surfer

Duke is a professional counter surfer. In the past I have tried to justify his behavior from being a pound dog, and he was just used to scavenging for his food. However, he has received a constant supply of food for the last 3 years, and I can't make excuses for him anymore. He is just bad. He has learned he is not suppose to do this, so he will wait and watch for you to move out of eyeshot and then he will go for his prize.

When we first got Duke we lived next door to my parents, and their kitchen window overlooked directly into our backyard. We would often receive phone calls from my frantic mother, saying Duke had a bag of buns, a carton of milk, or a tub of margarine etc. out in the yard as he would take his stash out the dog door. Before we were trained not to leave anything on the counter tops these calls were quite regular. He wasn't particular with food either, there were things that you wouldn't even think could fit through the 10X15 hole out in the yard. One day I came home and found I had no couch cushions. Apparently Duke wanted to lay on them outside.

The dog door dash worked both ways, and often we would come home to inappropriate items inside the house. I remember coming home to a beautiful fall day complete with brightly colored leaves scattered on the ground............ inside my living room. The best was when he decided to drag a small tree inside and proceed to use it as a chewy.

Then one day the meter man came to the front door to ask if I could let him in the back to read the meter. I locked the dogs inside and gave him the all clear through the front door. A while later I went to make sure he latched the gate properly and to my horror I saw several pairs of panties scattered throughout the yard. The poor meter man must have thought we were some kind of crazy!

Mira's Mass - Part 3

Great news! The results came back for the mass aka little alien, and there is no cancer! Our wonderful vet Kendra excised all its hideousness, and despite Mira's best efforts, the wound is healing nicely. The report indicated the mass may have been viral in nature, so we have to do some watchful waiting and hope it doesn't return.

She should be ready to go just in time for the Halloween party at Paws on the Run. Sadie is practising for the wiener dunk - watch out Jane!!!

Sadie and the Worms

I was contemplating the title of this post, and decided it sounded like the title of a fable, but then I thought, it is comparable to a fable. The definition of a fable is "a short allegorical narrative making a moral point". Well this little gem I pulled out of the past definitely makes a point.

As previously disclosed Sadie was a pet store puppy. The lack of knowledge we had going into this seems so unreal to me now. Not that I am an expert by any means, but I think I have come a long way since the naive buyer I was in the pet store. Anyway we bought her, thus contributing to the wonderful world of puppy mills, and brought her to our backyardless apartment complex. Smart move.

I thought that getting a puppy at that point in my life was perfect, as I was off work and school for 2 months. There was only the small task of preparing for the most significant test of my life. The one that I had been working towards for the last 7 years of university thereby allowing me to practise pharmacy. No biggie. Upon asking Dustin what we should name her he said "coulda been a pharmacist?"

Crating Sadie was not conducive to studying, as she would scream, kick, fling poop and urine around her cage and surrounding area. So mostly she slept on my lap, thereby allowing me to focus for a few hours at a time. This worked for the first couple of weeks, when she still was the tiny baby stolen much too early from her mother. Then she got bigger and more playful and we had to incorporate potty training into my schedule. I thought I was so smart by teaching her to ring a little bell that I hung by the front door when she had to go out. Although her definition of having to go out, was not mine and it certainly didn't schedule around potty breaks. She would ring that horrible bell every 10 minutes and I was ready to cut it off its magnificently designed string. I tried the tie out and she would tangle herself in seconds and cry. There was no allowing any sort of X-pen or run, as per the lovely people who run the condo association. I'm not sure when my breaking point hit, but at some point I just opened the door and let her run wild. Every now and then a helpful neighbor would knock on my door holding the struggling mass that was Sadie and I would politely ask them if she was bothering them. If they said no I would pluck her from their arms and release her into back into the complex and turn back inside.

Something had to have happened here, obviously Sadie is alive and well (thank goodness, I'm not sure how) but something terrible did happen and much more repulsive. We had a wedding and I brought Sadie to my parents because we didn't leave her alone when we went out. She was a little off all day, but we didn't think much. Most of the out of town guest congregated at my parents pre wedding meal. Sadie and Otis, my parents dog, were going at it in the hall and my mom decided to step in and break it up. She grabbed Sadie around the waist to pick her up and that slight amount of pressure must have been just enough to release the floodgates. A huge rush of watery diarrhea came exploding out of her and down the hall. No one, and nothing was spared. The walls, the rug, and my cousin who was in an unfortunate position were all covered.

The vet said it was the worst case of worms she had seen in a domesticated animal. Well it made sense since Sadie wasn't really domesticated at the time. It turns out the garbage at the complex had been overfilling and people were just throwing garbage on the ground outside of the bin. Sadie helped herself to the decaying compost and viola, we have the best and worst wedding story ever!!!

So what is the moral point? If your going to be a pet owner, be a responsible one! Watch your friggin' dog!

This is my Daddy

Since Mira has been out of commission, Dustin has refused to take the dogs for a walk, because he feels bad Mira can't go. At first I thought this was an excuse not to have to walk them. Today I told him I would stay home with Mira and keep her company while he walked Duke and Sadie. He again protested that Mira would be left out.

Then I see him padding and re-wrapping her foot so she could go. He has now driven over to the field to let Duke and Sadie run and is keeping Mira beside him on a leash. I guess Mira knows who her Daddy is.

Smart dog?

I think my dogs are smart. Granted I think some are smarter then others, but I don't think anyone of them are unintelligent. However, I believe we all have our "blonde moments", dogs included. Then every once in a while a blonde moment keeps repeating and you begin to doubt their intelligence level.

Case and point, we have a little electric fireplace that Sadie LOVES. She might actually be a bit obsessed with it. She knows we refuse (usually) to turn it on in the summer despite her frantic pleas. She will sit by it and pound on the handle to let us know she would like it on. Lately its been getting colder and I have allowed her to "have a fire". Smart dog right?

I decided to re-arrange the living room slightly and in the final decor the fireplace got moved. In its place sits a little end table.


Fireplace

Endtable - see the difference?

That same day I found her banging on the end table's leg. At first I thought she saw some food on the top, but she would then politely sit beside the table and look at me expectantly, like she does with her fire. The first time I laughed and put her on her bed by the fire and turned it on, thinking that was the end of it. Nope. She keeps repeating this little ritual and I keep placing her by the fire across the room. Silly girl.

Then again maybe she's smarter then I think and just telling me to put the friggin' fire back where it was! =)

Simple Love

The more I deal with people, the more I love my dogs.

Mira's Mass - Part 2

Mira must have started to miss little alien Monday afternoon. After discovering he didn't lay beneath the stretchy wrap she decided he must be hidden under the black threads.........

All things careless can be traced back to husbands, or men for that matter. Mira was under the unwatchful eye of her dad. I knew as soon as I got home what she had accomplished, as she wasn't weight bearing on that leg. I flipped over the paw and sure enough the stitches were dangling uselessly from shards of fatty tissue. I rushed her to our vet Kendra who was quite disgusted that her beautiful sewing job was in ruins. She decided not to stich it back up as too much healing had occurred. We were to keep it bandaged and start antibiotics.

So me with my bright ideas (bone-shaped pool) decided I would apply various substances to her bandage to encourage her to leave it on. I came up with bitter apple spray, pickle juice and hot sauce, and of course I got many suggestions from others - lavender, vinegar, dish soap. I decided the bitter apple spray would be the most convenient and applied it first. Mira immediately started in on it. Then I had my ahhh moment! I have yet to discover any food-like substance that Mira hasn't liked. Have you ever seen a dog eat a clove of garlic and ask for more? Ditto for pickles, onion, mushroom. The best part is that the other two think if she is eating it they must also have some. This results semi-chewed blobs of food spat out on to the carpet. Although this doesn't even deter Mira, she will happily eat the pre-digested sample. So I've decided the best thing would be to leave it plain and hope for the best. Although I may go to the hot sauce, but only as a last resort via Amanda's request.


Now I have to eat my words. After entering the blog I went to take a picture of Mira with her wrapped up foot, and this is what I saw. That green and white item on the floor is her cast! She's looking very proud of herself. Maybe I'll try the hotsauce after all.

Who's Your Daddy?

About a year ago we collected Duke's DNA and mailed it to a company in California for determination of heritage. I'm not sure what possessed me to inquire, it could have been the entourage of people with their backyard bred, tall, lanky "labs" telling me he had to be part Rottie. Either way we had it performed and the results concluded purebred Labrador Retriever.

Then came Mira. I believe it was the tedious and repetitive task of informing people I had no idea what she was. That or reducing her description to a German Shepard because we had to choose something. So we retrieved a sample of her cheek cells, sealed and mailed it away.

Flash forward - I received the most interesting voice mail on my phone. A gentlemen with an American accent told me he was from Metaphorphix DNA and he was inquiring about Mira. I called back but not wanting to release any details as to sway his results, I asked him first what the analysis concluded. He informed me indefinitely she was a mutt - she had no strong primary or even secondary DNA matches. This defines her parents as both being mutts. However there were 3 main breeds that they found in her mix. The first was black and tan coon hound, which is actually what the rescue labelled her. The next was a pleasant surprise - flat-coat retriever! Hello Kaleb! Then I inquired as to why he was so perplexed by the analysis. He told me the final breed that came up was no other then the - Chihuahua!! I was in line at the local petsmart and I let out a crowd inquiring knee- slapping, snorting howl! Well I said someone just commented on her dainty little feet!!!

So there you have it my beautiful Flat Coat Chihuahua Hound! At least I have an answer now, no matter how ridiculous.

Comfy?

Can you think of anything better to crawl into bed with?

I guess he partied too hard on his birthday!

Happy Birthday!

October is a busy birthday month for us. Mostly because we made it that way.......

Today is Dukes birthday!!! Ok well it's the day we made up to be his birthday, because nobody really knows. He is turning 4, again that is a guess - I'm starting to think he is older either that or he is just really lazy!

Mira also had a birthday, again made up - we picked October 1st and she turned 2.

Dustin's birthday was yesterday, that we didn't make up! and he turned old! =)

I would have had more pictures, as we all went to my parents for dinner and cake, but the trio had to go home after an incident. Of course there was, but I have to say it wasn't their fault (even if Amanda says other wise!). Sadie got bit by their devil spawned pug. After a frantic call to Amanda, we choose to let the dogs celebrate at home, on their own, with a chewy.

The Golf Course Incident

I have one story, which occurred quite recently so the horrid details are still fresh. Around here we have 3 off leash dog parks, 2 of which are attached to rivers (thanks Wendy!). That leaves us with access to one. Why on earth would I subject myself and my 3 terrors to off leash? Because I'm a glutton for punishment. Ok seriously because they love it, and I love to see them happy - I think this is the cause of my demise. Anyway this one is adjacent to a golf course - nothing to fear right? Wrong!!!! Dead Wrong!!!!

So we were happily traveling the paths in the coulees and I can't see Duke and Sadie anymore. I do however hear a familiar splashing sound.......I'm puzzled as there is no water body nearby??? I have seen that he has run into the bush near the golf course so I push back the over growth and up to the decrepit "fence". I have arrived just in time to see a perfect stroke from the back stretch arching down onto the 9th hole green.........and a terrier underneath.

To my horror Sadie has streaked across the green, golf ball in mouth toward her brother who is now moronically splashing circles in the golf course water hazard. I must have screamed like no other because Sadie actually dropped the ball and stopped to look at me. Wasting no time I jumped over the tangled mess of chain link, grabbed her and kept going toward the water. As I attempted to coax Duke out of the water, I remember that I have 3 dogs - as now Mira has emerged from the dog park and is running aimlessly around the green.

I don't know how I eventually got him out. I think it took close to an hour. I had to hold a psyco terrier who wanted nothing more then to chase golf balls, and a horrified Mira who is afraid of loud noises, unfamiliar people, and apparently flying golf balls. And yes I had an audience. The icing on the cake was when I was dragging all 3 across the green toward the dog run an older lady asked me if I needed help. After watching me perform a feat no less then heroic on my own, I wanted to ask her if there was a humane society crisis line because I was about to kill them all!!!!!!

I like pictures so I'll leave you with a couple of my angels.

Caught Red Pawed

I was in the bathroom this morning and I heard the distinctive clatter of dishes in the kitchen. Being the only one home, I immediately blamed Duke, the counter surfer. But the clatter continued, and it wasn't the usual loud rummaging, it was a smaller clinking noise. So I went into the kitchen and found the guilty party. Sorry Duke!

P.S. I think its funny that it only took 2 days to get a good post on how bad they are!

Mira's Mass

Mira has a nauseating "mass" on her paw. That's what my vet calls it - a mass. I however, have more appropriately named it little alien. Mira has nurtured little alien for several weeks now, and it has grown. Not uniformly, that would be less disgusting, no little alien has grown tentacle like appendages. Some of the appendages have a black tip, some are scabby and some have open sores. Little alien dies tomorrow. Mira is going in to have it lasered off. I wanted to keep it, to get a better picture of just how offensive it is, but they must send it to be analyzed, so your spared the foul details.

As you can see Mira doesn't like me to expose her little friend, she tries to protect it. I think she is going to miss little alien........

Cause their soooo bad!

Ok so my doggie friends bugged me to start a blog because my dogs are always doing things that are wild and crazy, and well just plain bad! I can't even remember all the stories I have, so I'm going to post them as they come. But I promise to fill you in on old stories as well. Welcome to MiraDukeSadie. Or bad, badder, and baddest!

First Post

Duke

Duke is badder. He is an atypical lab that we got from the Calgary Humane Society. Albeit he was a little weird when we got him, he has gotten weirder in our presence. He is obsessed with light, shiney things, moving things and water. He was actually banned from off leash dog walks after he attempted to swim to Medicine Hat via the Oldman River. I actually met one of my doggie friends after a rescue from one such incident. I was wet, muddy, crying, and missing a shoe. After running down the embankment, stumbling over a stump, I proceeded to roll down and over the cliff, through layers of thorny brush and into the icy river. As I managed to crawl back up onto shore I realized the muddy river floor claimed my croc. The good news is that Duke came over to see what all the swearing was about, that and the water washed away most of the blood.............

Sadie

Sadie is baddest. This is probably because we got her as a puppy and she has had the longest incubation period. She was (gasp!) a pet store puppy. But we were naive and the nice 13 year old employee told us she would be easy! She is a typical terrier, sassy and full of herself. Husband says she is the ringleader. He told me once he saw her on the lawn with the other dogs, and a few fosters telling them the household rules. "Ok if you can reach it by jumping, or crawling on top of something - its yours, but my cut is 50%." And "if its cold outside, for heaven sake - poop downstairs!".

Mira

Mira is Bad. That is hard to type because she is so sweet. She was sweeter, when we first fostered her. But doing hard time with Badder, and Baddest will taint you. She used to be the best daycare dog, and now, well she isn't allowed to play with the toys as she doesn't share well. But living here will teach you to get in, get what you want, get out, and fight like hell to keep it!