Why People Suck…

So, we had a huge thunder and lightening storm last night. Mackenzie, one of our dogs, is deathly afraid of loud noises, espeically thunder and fireworks. She once had a seizure she was so afraid. After that happened we got her some acevet which is a tranquilizer. It works fairly well as long as you get it into her quickly enough. Well last night the storm started at around 3 am and she was already too upset. Deb gave her 2 acevet anyway and put a tight t-shirt on her. Tight t-shirts help afraid dogs feel more secure. You might wonder why she is like this and this is where the title comes in. Kenzie was left outside, on a rope, with a prong digging into her neck for the first 4 months of her life. She was outside for the storms, the fireworks and whatever else went on. She was kicked to make her aggressive. While she has come a long way we do think there is something wrong with her brain. She is very aggressive towards new dogs. We used to think it was something that happened when she snapped except now she is starting to go out of her way to nail dogs. She has to be kept separate from other dogs for everyone’s safety.

The other reason people suck is that they starve dogs. Kenzie was definitely starved. Tucker has also been starved - he is quite skinny and is always looking for food. Clio was also starved as was Mabel. A starved dog never forgets what it was like to be hungry. They are always looking for food. It is a fine balance to make sure they get what they need to eat without making themselves sick. Meals are scheduled here and there are lots and lots of treats the rest of the time.

One thing we guarantee every dog who comes here - they will never again know hunger, abuse or lonliness. They will have a soft bed to sleep on and they will be well looked after. We ask for nor needing anything from them.

We are ecstatic!

We just checked Mabel’s leg and it is looking so much better! It is not a goopy mess anymore. The fur seems to be growing in around it and it is not bleeding any more. The lump is still there and she is still 17 years old but we will take any progress we can get. Oh and she ate 3 times between 11 am and 7 pm! Way to go Miss Mabel.

The interesting thing about having senior dogs around is that every day is a gift. You don’t take them for granted because you don’t know how long they are going to be with you. Dogs like Mabel, who have not known much kindness in their lives, seem to know and appreciate a soft touch. Deb was combing her today and her eyes were closing she was enjoying it so much. Mabel is not a dog who asks for much besides going outside and eating. When she asks for these things there is no doubt about what she wants and she makes it clear she isn’t going to wait. I am so happy that she feeling better after the scare we had at the beginning of the month that it is joyful when she barks and I seeing what she needs is a pleasure. In these moments she is so full of life and herself.

If you have room in your home and your heart think about adopting a senior dog. Yes, there can be issues (like incontinence) or giving meds or going to the vets and yes they may not live all that long but it is so worth it! I can tell you that they will live much longer in your home than they will in an animal shelter. The rewards are too many to list. Just know that you will be helping an animal finish out its days in comfort and peace and you will reap the rewards. check out SAINTS or your local shelter for a senior animal who needs you today.

Extreme begging and other dog stories

So, with 9 dogs in our household we have become experts at the beg. They all have it down to a science. The sound of cutlery on china gets everyone’s attention and they all gather around. Sometimes it is a bit overwhelming for the claustrophobics among us. Other times I half expect to hear the theme music to Jaws start to play. We have become accustomed to taking more food than we want simply so we can share with the dogs. Now, everyone here has a different way of doling out the treats. Sometimes it is done by age, or rank in the pack but usually it is by favourites. Yes, we are not perfect, we have favourites. Some dogs, like Mabel, do not have to gather around her treats are brought to her while she lays in her bed covered up by fleece.

Now, on to extreme begging. Mabel also has this down to a science. When she wants food, she stands in the kitchen, barks, opens her mouth, barks, opens her mouth until someone puts something in it. It is very effective:

Having had success, here is Mabel eating her chicken:

Different dogs employ different strategies. Piper relies on her big brown eyes to get what she wants. She uses all of her pug wiles all the time to get her share:

Clio has a little bit of a challenge because she is blind. She can smell the food she just has a hard time finding it sometimes.

Not to be outdone, Sienna has to get in there too:

Now on to some random pictures of the crew. This is Madison laying with Clio and Mollie. Madison is one of the most photogenic dogs we have:

This is MacKenzie at the dikes:

Kiefer at the dikes:

Here is Piper in the classic ‘pug slouch:’

Not to be left out - here is where I found Bella this morning:

Things I can post about…

Well, there is lots going on in my life right now but I can’t post about it - at least not yet.

So, what is there to talk about? Well, music for one thing. I have discovered some really good new music - much by accident. I was listening to the CBC yesterday on my way home from the grocery store because there was nothing to eat in this house (even though the cupboards are overflowing…but that is another story) and Stephen Quinn played a song by Dustin Bentall. I thought I would hate it…but I loved it! He played Crash Hard. I had to buy it from iTunes immediately. I don’t know about the rest of the CD but if this is the kind of music he is putting out at 22 he has a bright, bright future ahead of him. I also downloaded Mercy by Duffy. This song has been going through my head since I saw her on Ellen. (Yes, I have to admit it, since I have been off sick I have been watching Ellen and much to the chagrin of Deb and Angelina she has exposed me to music they would prefer I did not listen too…but that is for another blog). You can see Duffy’s video for Mercy here.

What else - how about some dog updates. Piper seems to have calmed down and she is no longer playing ‘bowling for blind dogs.’ Keifer has discovered the garbage can again - which sucks. However he has been doing really well learning to ‘come’ at the park when there are distractions around. He really is quite smart and learns quickly. Much to Deb’s surprise he showed some interest in fetching a ball the other day. Mabel’s leg is looking much better with the antibiotics. She is being a very good girl and keeping it clean while not overdoing it. However she is way too smart for us. We are having to give her antibiotics and she is spitting them out and pulling them out of everything we put them in. Thankfully we only have 4 more days.

We are going to visit my mother for a couple of days next week. I am going to be installing a new computer for her at Radium. She is still running a Win 98SE machine and it is not meeting her needs anymore. I always think these will go relatively easy. I hope that is the case. My worst fear is dealing with setting up her internet connection with Telus. They have assured me that we do not need a new disk for Vista but I remain skeptical.

Oh, I caught the tail end of the Scripps Spelling Bee yesterday. All I can say is holy shit those kids are smart. I have an excellent vocabulary and a Masters degree and I had not heard of 98% of the words those kids were spelling. Totally blew me away. Congratulations to Sameer Mishra!!!

Mabel update

As some of you know Mabel has a cancerous tumor on her leg. It is open and icky. This follows the cancerous mass we had removed when she had a dental last fall. We had been trying to come up with things to do to help Mabel feel a bit better. (some ideas were a bit better than others and we got a lesson in ‘palliative care’ from Carol at SAINTS - where we adopted Mabel from). We took Mabel to vet on Thursday to get more tramadol and metacam to help with the pain and inflammation. We also got antibiotics as her leg is infected again. We will no longer be covering her leg or keeping a cone on her head to stop her from licking it. Hopefully, she will be able to keep it clean.

By yesterday she had finally recovered from being at the vet (it was just a short visit and a ride in the car) and was her usual barking self. I took a roast out of the oven and she was barking at me for some. I told her she had to wait so she went over and barked at the roast. Too funny. Her spirit and her will to live (and eat - the dog eats 3-4 times per day) is inspiring. She has gained a pound since the last time she was at the vets. We don’t know how long she has - we hope for a long time.

Adopting senior dogs was one of the best things we ever did. It has been incredibly rewarding. We have learned so much from Mabel and Mollie.

Bowling for blind dogs…

Piper has a new game. She spys Cliio down the hall and then runs into her full bore. In short, the pug is an asshole. Poor Clio is blind and can’t see her coming so it is really not fair. I am not sure why the pug is doing this to her except maybe jealousy. Of course, all that happens is Clio then gets more attention and Piper gets in trouble. She likes to harass Mabel too but at least Mabel has the ability to sort of see it coming (Mabel is a little blind and a little deaf). Piper leaves Mollie alone because I think she is not sure what Mollie will do to her. Mollie has this fierce shark attack routine she does where she jumps out of her bed and barks and growls like a demon. What the rest of them don’t know is that Mollie has no teeth. it is really kind of funny. They all think she is crazy and they give her a wide berth. Mollie’s favourite creature to shark attack is the cat. Mollie weighs 7 pounds and the cat about 27 pounds. It is really quite hysterical.

Life with 9 dogs can be very interesting. Sometimes, no most of the time, I feel like a slave. It is like this house is run for the sole convenience of the pets. It is not far from the truth. They go in and out as they would like, they eat when they demand it. Well, Mabel anyway. She barks and we have a Pavlovian response to go and look for chicken. I guess when you are 17 years old and you have a cancerous tumour on your leg you pretty much get what you want. Here is a great pic of Mabel doing her thing:

Mabel really enjoys going out on patrol in the yard. Even if she goes all the way to the back of the yard she seems to find her way back into the house. For a dog who was quite ill when she came here a year ago she is doing just great now. She is bright and alert and doing well on tramadol to manage her pain. She is still very engaged in life (when she is awake) and makes her needs known.

There is never a dull moment when you live with 9 dogs.

The Stench!

Ok, I am now convinced that I live with a woman who has gone over the edge. Deb loves her dogs, we all know that. But the question is: How much does Deb love her dogs? She decided that they needed homemade, dehydrated liver treats. This involved boiling liver and then drying it in the oven all night. I got up this morning and was retching from the smell! I am not sure how Angelina slept all night through the stench. Even our most powerful incense has not been enough to kill the smell.

One might ask why Deb is making these treats. And somehow I get factored into the reasoning. She claims to be doing it so that Piper will stop fence-fighting with the new neighbours dogs. So, there it is now all my fault that the house smells so bad.

Crawling out from under…

Well, it has been a while. As many of you know I have been quite ill with a colitis attack from hell that landed me in the hospital for 12 days. Well, it would appear that was only the beginning. I have spent the last two months weaning myself off the various drugs they started me on in the hospital to try and get this under control. I have been making good progress. I am down from an all time high of 290 mg of slow acting morphine twice a day to 30 mg twice a day and the prednisone is down from 80 mg to 20. It has been very slow going. I am now at the point where I am able to get out and get some exercise and try to rebuild some strength after basically spending 2 months sleeping. The good news is that all colitis symptoms seem to be gone. I am sure this is a result of the imuran (which is an immuno-suppressant). It is thought that colitis is an auto-immune disease whereby the immune system attacks some part of the body (in this case the colon) and toning it down leads to a reduction in symptoms. The large doses of prednisone also do this but I was still having symptoms at 40mg so I am thinking it is the imuran. Let’s hope. I intend to write a whole lot more about this ordeal - most likely in an open letter to the doctor who set this course of action in motion but that is it for now.

Other updates. We have new neighbours who are more worried about us reporting on their barking dogs (and trust me they bark alot) than we are about them. They are also over the limit so we actually feel some security for a change. All the dogs are doing fairly well. Mabel has a cancerous tumour on her leg so we have to keep it covered and give her pain killers. She is now palliative. She has done really well especially given the fact that she was coming here to die a year ago as she was peeing blood and they thought she had bladder cancer. Madison is still struggling with her leg. She has a torn cruciate ligament and you can’t do surgery on a 14 year old dog for a torn cruciate so she is on meds and anti-inflammatory and a pain killer. Kirby is great. The punk (AKA Piper) lost her toilet training for a brief bit of time but that seems to be over now. Molly is great still doing her stretches. Clio still does not know she is a dog but that is ok. Keifer is a big pain in the ass. Mackenzie has been making Deb crazy getting her up in the middle of the night to pee and not coming in. Sienna has singlehandedly convinced 4 home care nurses that pitbulls are the best dogs in the whole world. She is a great breed ambassador. I sure hope I have not forgotten anyone!

This last several months have been rough for us. I have been sick since November. We also found out that Deb has MS. She may also have rheumatoid arthritis. It never fails to amaze me that no matter what confronts us we deal with it and come out stronger the other side. After almost 10 years together we have discovered cuddling. We cuddled before but not like now. It is a daily thing and we go to bed early just so we can cuddle and talk. It seems we fall more deeply in love with each other everyday. I feel very blessed.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to our SAINTS

Happy New Year everyone. Our SAINTS, Mabel and Mollie are now one year older - 16 and 18 respectively. Both are continuing to do very well. Mabel sleeps a lot but she wakes up whenever someone goes into the laundry room because they could be delivering a treat. She gets lots of treats delivered to her and she loves it. For some reason she prefers to lay in the laundry room. A couple of times a day she will troop out and lay on another bed. I think she likes the laundry room as it is quiet and out from underfoot of all the other dogs. And never doubt that an old dog can learn new tricks. Mabel has figured out that everytime she goes outside and comes back in she gets a treat. So sometimes she asks to go out, goes out on the deck and comes back in and looks up at you with her deep brown eyes and mouth wide open. Mabel tries so hard to be continent. She lets us know when she needs to go out by trotting around the kitchen quickly. We have to be fast because she doesn’t have much staying power but what more can you expect at 16!

Mollie is still a going concern. She is like the energizer bunny spinning around our house. Because of her strokes Mollie tends to go in circles and she kind of does everything to the right. She has enhanced her pilates moves with some yoga now. She regularly does downward dog and a new move I have called the frog as she sticks her back legs flat against the bed and twirls around on her front legs. If she thinks no one is paying attention to her she starts to do speed pilates which is absolutely hilarious. We are hoping to get it on video one of these days. Mollie has also learned that the best treats are given out in the living room at dinner time. This has meant that she has had to conquer her fear of our new laminate. She enjoyed salmon last night.

Welcoming Mabel and Mollie into our home has been a gift. Everyday they add something to our lives. If you have ever thought about giving a senior a home I encourage you to do it. They are different from younger dogs. They give so much in exchange for so little.

PS - it is also Kirby’s birthday today. Happy birthday brown puppy, we love you.

My life with an almost 2 year old Pug

So, it would appear that Piper has hit the terrible twos. She officially turns two at the end of November. She appears to be taking the terrible twos to a new level. Lately, she has been horrible. She would rather eat grass than pee in the morning. Now, when it is not raining this is annoying enough but in the rain it is almost intolerable. I am not sure why she thinks she needs to be a cow but last time I checked pugs don’t graze. I have had to put her back in her crate twice in the last couple of days as she just won’t cooperate. One does not want to let her roam the house until she has gone outside. It seems like this sets her behaviour for the day.

So, once she pees and is given freedom in the house and then the asshole behaviours start. She harrasses Molly (17 year old pom). I guess she enjoys the shark attack. Then she is on to Mabel - who she likes to chase around the house. Sometimes Mabel will play with her but I don’t think she is to into it right now given that she just lost 11 teeth and had a mass removed. Then there is poor Clio. Piper has dragged Clio around by her tail since she was 6 weeks old. Clio is blind and brain-damaged and it is truly unfair. We came up with a strategy that basically involves put the pug into a time out. I have done that the last couple of days. I really, really, really hope this behaviour passes soon!!!

Other dog updates - Mabel came through her dental and mass removal with flying colours. She was eating chicken and most importantly barking for chicken within 2 days. She is totally back to herself now, bright-eyed when she is awake, sleeping hard and going for her walks in the yard. Molly is well and is stretching more for us now. She is hysterical - she will go into a whole stretching routine when she wants attention. Everybody else is doing really well too.