Two Years

For 10 1/2 years, we were lucky to have her.

Pyromania

A song by Def Leppard, or our dogs’ new hobby?

I was running errands, and Tim was downstairs. When he came upstairs, he was greeted with several matchsticks strewn across the living room floor, with the dogs wrestling over the box. Luckily, no harm was done and Tim was able to separate the dogs from their new toy and clean up their mess. Then we had a little chat with the dogs regarding the dangers of playing with matches.

My mistake was leaving the box within their reach. We have a bookshelf full of Vegas souvenirs (slot cards, shot glasses, swizzle sticks, and matchbooks). I must have carelessly tossed the matches onto a low shelf while unpacking after our October trip. They remained undisturbed until a few days ago.

This does not help their petition to roam freely throughout the house when we’re gone.

At least the shot glasses are on a high shelf, and I’m hoping we don’t have to have that talk with them anytime soon.

Today in Dogs

A couple weeks ago, I ordered new kennel pads. These were thicker and more comfortable, especially for Otis and his sensitive joints.

Today, I arrived home to discover that Zoe had chewed the zipper to expose the padding within, and tiny bits of foam padding were scattered all over her kennel, along with the safety tag. This creates a serious setback to the “let the dogs roam the house freely” plan. Luckily, I don’t think she swallowed any of it, but we’ll find out in a few days.

Update: Zoe woke me at 2:30 this morning with the heaving sounds dog owners know all too well. Happy New Year! Luckily, she had no problems eating her breakfast and she’s her usual active self.

Otis just tried to take one of their Christmas toys outside as I yelled, “That’s an inside toy!” to no avail. He played canine soccer with it on the deck and I grabbed it as he got it near the door, and pretended to throw it. Confused, they looked out in the yard for several minutes while I laughed inside.

Here are the Christmas toys, which are still intact, to my great surprise.

Zoe with her new toy:

Otis with his new toy:

Both dogs with their new toys:

Then, of course, they had to switch:

Time for sleep:

Snowpocalypse 2009

We are having what the local newscasters like to call a “weather event.” It means snow, and a lot of it.

Tim has shoveled the driveway twice, and that’s just today. He’ll probably shovel at least once more tonight.

We’ve received  about 5 inches already, and we might get a total of 16 to 21 inches. I’ve never been so happy to be able to work from home.

We’re pretty lucky we’re not traveling. Tim’s brother arrived from Nebraska on Tuesday, and we only have to go a couple miles to his parents’ house.

Here are a few pictures of the fun we’re having (and by we, I mean the dogs).

• Otis likes to help Tim shovel, by biting the shovel and barking at it.
• Tim shoveled a path for the dogs, but Zoe decided to race around the yard in other spots.
• They did a lot of wrestling with each other.
• As with leaves in the fall, they like to pick one particular chunk of ice or snow and pretend it’s the only one in the yard worth fighting over.

Argh.

So my excuse for not posting lately is this really annoying back/shoulder pain that’s been hounding me for two weeks. I’m trying to limit my time on the computer outside of work, because that’s what tends to aggravate it, with sitting still and peering into a monitor and moving the mouse and all.

I’m hoping to have a few new posts in the next week or so, including the dogs destroying their latest Christmas toy, along with a review (with pictures) of some chewy things we’ve been giving them lately.

We got some sad news from Zoe’s foster family. One of their dogs had developed cancer over the summer, and they had to take him to the vet one last time. I know what they’re going through and I had flashbacks all night. I was rattled by how it all came back so quickly. I’m hoping the holidays serve as a distraction and not a painful memory, even though they still have to grieve.

On a happier note, Otis and Zoe are still doing well. Last night, Zoe was growling in her sleep and she got so riled up that the fur on her back stood up from her neck to her tail. I would love to know what she was dreaming about.

Zoe’s Day of Freedom

On Friday, I pulled into the driveway and I saw Zoe peeking out from the living room window. I thought my husband must have come home early, even though he was scheduled to work for another hour. When I went to the door, it was still locked. After I got inside, Zoe bounded over to me. I looked for Otis, and he was still in his kennel, probably upset with the events of the day. I’m sure Zoe was taunting him.

I glanced around the house, and there were no surprises in the form of bodily fluids or inappropriately chewed things. Zoe had helped herself to plenty of water and was ready to go outside. One of her toys was by the window, so I suspect that she spent most of the day looking out the window, observing the neighborhood and waiting for one of us to come home.

We think that one of us (that would be Tim) forgot to completely latch her kennel door, and she discovered the security breach and sprang to freedom. We’ve been checking the latch carefully ever since.

At some point, when Zoe mellows out a little more, we’ll probably leave them out for longer periods of time. But given their tendencies to wrestle, and Zoe’s interest in the trash and recycling, we’ll wait a while for everyone’s safety and our sanity.

Since You’ve Been Gone

The past few days have been too eventful.

Wednesday, October 21st

We returned home from our Vegas/Phoenix trip. We picked up the dogs at the vet and they tell us that Zoe has been vomiting. This was strange, because Zoe has an iron stomach and I don’t think she’s vomited once in the year and a half she’s lived with us. With Otis, we’d totally expect this because he throws up about once a week. They said to keep an eye on her and to give her small servings of water throughout the evening.

Zoe seemed nervous and wasn’t her usual self. As soon as we got the dogs home, Zoe vomited in the yard. We gave her some water later, and she promptly threw that up as well. She woke me at 1:00 in the morning and I noticed red streaks in the bile, and this freaked me out. Zoe had breakfast, but I woke to the sounds of her throwing it up and then eating it again.

Thursday, October 22nd

I took her to the vet and told them about the blood in her vomit and that she couldn’t keep anything down. They gave her some liquid Pepcid and injected her with some fluids to keep her from getting dehydrated. They ran some blood tests and took X-rays. They said they could see some things in her stomach, but that might have been her breakfast, so they said to keep watching her for signs of an obstruction just in case the objects on the X-ray weren’t chunks of food. She’d been at the vet for a week, and she hadn’t gotten into anything after she got home, so the likelihood of her swallowing something she shouldn’t have was pretty slim, but we wanted to be cautious.

Zoe came home that afternoon, a little bloated on her sides from the injections, but otherwise fine. We had been instructed not to give her any food for the rest of the day and to give her water in small doses again. We stealthily fed Otis while she was outside.

Instead of dinner, Zoe got a syringe full of water and crushed Carafete (also known as Sucralfate). We knew it and the Pepcid from the Abby days, remembering it well but not fondly. Zoe made the worst face when we gave her the mixture, and we vowed to make it easier on her the next day by putting it in her food instead. The reason for the syringe mixture, we found out later, was that the pills were so large they could be regarded as a choking hazard (especially in cats and small dogs). We made sure to cut up the pills into small pieces just in case, even though Zoe is a large dog.

She managed to keep everything down for the rest of the day, although she woke us twice during the night so she could go outside to relieve herself.

Friday, October 23rd

I woke up feeling like someone had sandpapered the back of my throat, and every time I swallowed it felt like I was trying to swallow razor blades. I was supposed to travel to Texas, but after a few phone calls I was able to cancel my hotel room (thank you, Expedia.com!) and rental car, and I was able to get a credit for my flight (thank you, Sun Country!). Tim went to work while I curled up in a little ball with the dogs.

We almost had to make a chart for Zoe’s medications (again, reminiscent of what we had to do with Abby). One Carafete in the morning and 1 1/2 Pepcid pills with her morning meal, then one Carafete in the afternoon with her afternoon meal. That would have been fine by itself, but Otis gets 1/2 Glycoflex, 1/2 Rimadyl, and 1 Thyrozine pill with his morning and evening meals, so we had to make sure we were giving the right pills to each dog. We switched Zoe to ID food because it was easier on her stomach.

At noon, I gave Zoe another cup of food and I gave Otis a biscuit, which he promptly regurgitated. Otis decided to continue participating in the spew-fest by throwing up his dinner too. After he vomited a third time that afternoon, we gave Otis a Pepcid to calm his stomach.

Saturday, October 24th

So far, so good. We’ve been feeding both dogs with the ID food, and continuing with their regular medications (Zoe only has to take hers for 5 days, I hope). We gave Otis another Pepcid this evening, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Now if we could just get them to sleep through the night before we both have to go back to work on Monday…

One last thing: Remember a few posts ago when I was mildly contemplating other boarding options? After this ordeal, I don’t think I could consider boarding the dogs anywhere else. They’re at home at the vet’s office, and they get such great and immediate treatment. They fit Zoe in on Thursday even though our doctor was completely booked, and the staff is so caring. I feel bad even considering taking them anywhere else.

Boxer Walk 2009

After last year’s experience with Otis trying to lunge at every dog he encountered, I thought it would be best to go on a solo mission with Zoe to this year’s Boxer Walk for Minnesota Boxer Rescue. Although Otis has made some improvements, the walk would have been far too overwhelming for him (and us).

It was a beautiful day– blue skies with a few fluffy white clouds, and slightly humid. I had been slightly concerned that it would rain (even though we need it), but it cleared that morning.

I saw Tori, who had been instrumental in Zoe’s rescue, and we chatted for a while. She has a dog who, like Otis, sticks her tongue out when she sleeps. We compared phone photos of our sleeping dogs and marveled how we ever got any sleep ourselves (she has twice as many dogs as I do, so her bed is much more crowded).

We met Cullen, a white boxer who is available for adoption. He and Zoe sniffed each other amicably. I didn’t realize until after the walk that he had dog aggression issues. I never would have guessed.

We walked around the block for the official walk, and then Zoe laid down in the cool dirt in the shade to rest. She behaved incredibly well, sniffing other dogs and doing lots of play bows when she encountered a particularly frisky dog. Zoe loves everybody. She loved a couple puppies a little too much, not realizing that they were about as big as her head. But no harm was done and she had a good day. I was glad that I brought her, because the socialization was good for her.

I met three different people who had lost dogs to cancer. Two of them were foster families who had lost foster dogs to lymphoma, but it still hit them pretty hard. On the way back to the parking lot, Zoe and I walked with a man and his dog. His previous dog had also succumbed to lymphoma. By the time they diagnosed the disease, the dog’s kidneys had failed and it had died two days later. He said that dog had spoiled him for all other dogs, and I knew exactly how he felt. He had owned other breeds before, but he realized he couldn’t have anything other than a Boxer from then on, and I could relate. He seemed very happy with his new dog, although he said it had taken some time for them to bond. It amazed me how many other people had gone through what we had.

If you’re interested in seeing pictures from the Boxer Walk, I posted some on my Flickr page.

Fireworks

I view the coming of the State Fair with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Anticipation for the baconlicious culinary delights that await me, but dread for the fireworks that will inevitably scare the crap out of the dogs (namely Otis).

Otis is pretty traumatized by loud popping noises. He gets jittery when we go for walks and we pass by roofers or people hammering random things.

So far, it’s been OK. We didn’t even hear the fireworks until last night (Sunday), and the dogs were both settled in for the night on the bed. We heard a few pops, but neither of them moved. There was even a weird moment where we thought the fireworks were over for the night, but they resumed a few minutes later. Neither of them budged. I’m hoping this trend continues.

Ninja Otis

We’ve been playing this game with the dogs involving the laser pointer. We watch them chase it across the floor and up the wall. They both try to snap at the red dot as if they can eat it.

Little did we know we’d been training them for a higher mission. A few nights ago, there was a fly buzzing around the bedroom. Tim grabbed the flyswatter, but every time he got close, the fly disappeared. It flew out of the room and we just let it go, hoping it wouldn’t disturb us as we slept.

Otis was in the office next to the bedroom, and we heard the sound of jowls smacking loudly together and paws hitting the floor after a jump. Tim got up to investigate, and he found the offending insect lying in a motionless heap on the bathroom floor. I was especially impressed that Otis took the fly out, yet managed to not swallow it. His stomach is a delicate ecosystem, and the slightest thing can upset that balance.

For more of Otis’s recent exploits, go here.