On our way up to bed Madison had a stroke at the top of the stairs. She was able to get up and walk to her bed in our room but then she could not get up after that. We spend a restless night with her. We checked on her often and she seemed to be ok. This morning we got her up with a little assistance from a sling and helped her walk to the end of the hallway. She was then able to make it down the stairs on her steam and outside to pee. She is resting now. We shot this video of her this morning as we realized we did not have any of her doing her trademark singing and leading everyone in the Thomas Family Canine Tabernacle Choir. Enjoy!

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.

I have started a new blog about my attempts to become vegetarian. You can read it here: becoming vegetarian. I am doing this mainly because meat contributes to inflammation which is not good for colitis. So, if you have any helpful hints head on over to the new blog. I hope to update it daily.

We have a new foster dog and his name his Tucker. Tucker has lived all of his 15 years in a pen. His senior owners could no longer care for him and he was brought to SAINTS by the couple’s daughters. Apparently Tucker was no longer content to remain in his pen and had started to actively try and dig his way out. It was also suspected that the aged parents were not remembering to feed him everyday.

As I have said before fostering senior dogs is a joy. They don’t ask for much and they are a pleasure to have around. Tucker is a totally different story. Fostering a dog who has never known the comfort of a soft dog bed, the smell of pizza, the taste of peanut butter or liver brownies is enough to bring tears to your eyes. He was also never socialized with other dogs and tended to meet new dogs by humping them. Not the best social skills to use when meeting a new pack. Tucker is desperate to please. He learns quickly and he no longer humps everyone - after less than a week. He is learning his name and to take treats with a soft mouth. He is figuring out that there is always lots of food here. Tucker is a very good dog.
Tucker asleep on a bed:

If you have room in your heart consider fostering or adopting a senior dog.

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.

Deb and I just came back from visiting my mother, sister and brother-in-law in Calgary (and Radium, BC). It always surprises me how food is such a mine field with my family. Growing up I was placed on diets beginning at the age of 8 years old. I remember going to Weight Watchers meeting with my mother who lost the same 57 pounds over and over again. Food was cast into the realm of good and bad. You either deserved food or you did not. If you didn’t work hard and ‘earn’ it then you couldn’t eat it. But if you had done something particularly strenuous that day then you ‘deserved’ a little something extra. This attitude became completely entrenched in my family when my mother married her second husband. He managed his weight meticulously. He backpacked and cross-country skied several hundred kilometres per year. In fact, we spent many summers backpacking for weeks at a time walking well over 200 km with very heavy packs. He was very concerned about food and how much we ate (or didn’t as the case was). Despite his influence my mother remained overweight the entire time they were married.

Once he passed away from leukemia (which was a shock to all of us given his very healthy lifestyle) my mother ceased to have interest in food. Currently she is about 5 feet 9 inches and weighs about 130 pounds. For the first time in her life she is thin and she loves it. The other morning after I got up I was sitting with my mother and sister (who were smoking their faces off) and my mother starts talking about how she can eat anything she wants now. She said: “If I want ice cream, I have ice cream, if I want potato chips, I have potato chips and I don’t have to feel guilty about it.” My internal dialog was screaming about how silly this was and how food should not have this amount of power in our lives. But I know better than to get into this kind of a discussion with them. So I sat there biting my tongue and wishing it would just stop.

Later that day my mother insisted on watching The Biggest Loser - Australia because she enjoyed the ‘personalities’. I couldn’t stand it. It was so contrived. My mother likes this kind of thing because it makes her feel superior just like being around me makes her feel like she has won because I am fat and she is not. She was so excited that I had lost weight (about 50 pounds). The only reason I lost it was because I was so sick for so long but that does not matter to her. She keeps thinking that I am going to suddenly lose all the weight and morph into an entirely different person. I have news for her - it is not going to happen.

Usually these visits take a huge toll on my self-esteem. Not this time though. I look at my mother and sister (who are like one person as Deb says) and I know I am so different from them (I am adopted). I also know that I will never have her approval unless I weigh 125 pounds. I have long given up on this ever happening. Instead I do other things for her. I am her personal computer support department. On this last trip I picked out a new computer for her and set it up in Radium including installing all of her programs and configuring it just the way she likes it. Deb spent her time cooking and filling her freezer with easy to heat up meals so that she might eat. We are also a little concerned as she is having a lot of trouble breathing. Just plugging something in caused her to breathe audibly for 10 minutes. She complains of having no energy, being tired and generally feeling unwell. I am concerned that she is in the beginning stages of COPD. She has smoked for probably for 50 years and now she is likely smoking more than a pack a day. I hope that she sees a doctor soon about getting a physical and a chest x-ray. I doubt she will ever quit smoking.

Other lowlights from the trip: our flight into Calgary was horrible. There was much turbulence and the landing was very hard. Then we went to get our car from Budget and the call centre had messed up our reservation and we could not the same rate I had been quoted ($43 per day). Apparently, they were sold out but they would give us a car for $170 per day if we wanted. So the question was are they sold out or are they not?? I could not get anywhere with them. So we rented from Enterprise who had excellent customer service and gave us a car for $109 per day. We were very impressed with them. Our flight back to Abbotsford (I cannot say enough good stuff about the Abbotsford International Airport - we will never fly out of Vancouver again!!!) was ok with just a bit of turbulence. We were both completely exhausted by the time we got home and slept until noon the next day. Thankfully, the yearly trip is now over barring any family emergencies.

Deb and I are off to Calgary (and Radium) for the next couple of days. We will be back on Friday.

A quick update on Mabel - she seems to have returned to her normal, demanding self. We are so pleased to hear her barking and demanding food again! She ate 3 times yesterday. It appears her lack of appetite for a couple of days had to do with the medication she was on.

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:

So I used to work for the province of BC. I quit in Feb of 2007 to take another job. A couple of months later I received a letter in the mail advising me that I had been overpaid by $212 and they wanted me to repay this money. Now, the province has a very elaborate computerized payroll system. Everything is entered, in real time, by the employee and signed off by a supervisor every pay period. They withhold one week of pay so there is always time to play catch up if they needed. Anyway, I argued with them and demanded proof. They sent me a bunch of stuff but they still did not convince that I owed them any money so I ignored it.

Fast forward to March of 2008. I received a new letter from someone else demanding that I pay this $212 or they would report it to the credit bureau. I tried to email this woman but it never went through. So, finally, I phoned. The first person I talked to had no idea how to collect a debt from a former employee. Finally, they transferred me to someone who did. I paid the $212 on my credit card. I told her I was doing this under duress as I did not believe I owed them any money. She took the payment anyway.

Yesterday I get a message on facebook from one of my former co-workers. She tells me that they have a cheque there for me from the Ministry of Finance. She said they had accidentally opened it and what did I want them to do with it. I gave her my address and asked how much it was for. And, you guessed it, it was for $212 minus some deductions!!!

Now, here is what I do not understand. First of all they make me pay money I don’t owe. When they are trying to find me to tell me I owe this money they have no problem locating my address and mailing me a letter. Then when they then decide I don’t owe them any money they send it to an office I have not worked at since at least 2005! I had been at different offices before I quit. I am stymied. I will update once I see the deductions.

So Mabel has not really been eating much since she went on Baytril for her leg infection and metacam to reduce the inflammation. We are not really sure why she does not want to eat. It could be that her stomach is upset from the medication. She does not want to take anything from us as she thinks it has a pill in it. She did bark last night to be let out and for some food. She ate about a third of it. I hope her appetite is improving as she cannot afford to lose any weight.

Edited to add: she just ate 2 pieces of bacon!!! She actually took it from me and did not seem to worried about there being a pill in it.