Just a quick post. I haven't done much with this blog in a while. Going to start updating on a regular basis again...

Tiffany and Patrick Jones

Tiffany Doll and Patrick Jones were married on July 10th, 2011. These are my unprofessional pics I took there.

Tiffany & Patricks Wedding

Puppy time!

Not two weeks after the Boo incident, and we received a phone call from a friend telling us that a couple had 11 Airedale Terrier puppies that needed a home now! We immediately drove down to Orting and met the owner, an older farmer that just wanted the puppies to have a good home. For $20 we could have had the papers, but we opted not to, since we will have him neutered anyways. We brought him home, and boy did he fit in just right! All our other dogs are female, so they immediately accepted him with minimal aggression! It has now been two weeks, and he is coming along quite well. About 90% potty trained, and on his way to being crate trained. Bella has taken to him quite closely and they have become fast friends!

Boo update - the meeting happened!

Well, today I called Janet, and asked if she could bring Boo by tomorrow. She said she would come by tonight. She showed up! Well, the meeting did not go so well. It appears that Janet really did know what was best for Boo. The first meet was with Sable, our chocolate lab. It went fair, with our lab being much more aggressive than we expected, and Boo snapped at her. Next came Bella, she, being young, ran directly up to Boo, and caused a lot of aggression to come out in Boo. I guess Janet knew what she was talking about. Boo is a one person dog. She assured me that the kennel is a nice place, and Boo would have a home there until she finds a perfect match.

In retrospect, I think a lot of the emotion I had with this situation stems from the fact that I could not save our dog Mouse. I tried all I could to help her, but it was to no avail. I was hoping I could save a troubled dog like Boo. Being a man, I like to think I can fix things and make them right, but I guess sometimes that is just not the way it was meant to be.

I recieved some other sad news today. My aunt Virgie passed away today. May she rest in peace.

Boo

So last Monday I get a call from a friend about a dog that needs a home. I call the people, who coincidentally live right near where I was working, and stop by at lunch to meet her. She is a sweet shephard/lab mix with short legs. I immediately bonded with her, which made the nice couple that had to give her away happy. All was well, and I told them I would pick her up after work on the way home. This is where the story takes a turn for the worse. They decided to call the shelter that they adopted her from, to tell them that they found a good home for her. This is where the shelter told them that they were in a legal contract with them, and she had to go back to the shelter instead of another home. They then quickly came out and took Boo away.

I called the shelter, explained my situation, then they said they would have to do a house inspection, before she could go with us. I agreed wholeheartedly and said they could come by that afternoon if they want. They said they would not be able to come by until Wednesday at 4pm. I agree. Wednesday 4pm comes...5pm...6pm...7pm. Then I call the number given which was busy !????! After twenty minutes, I finally get through, and the woman that answers (Janet) says that it was way too stormy to go out tonight, so she decided not to (without calling!). I ask when she can come by. Janet says the shelter is having a dog adoption day at Petsmart on Saturday, so I can go out then and bring my dogs to introduce them to Boo. Of course, this will not change the fact that there still has to be a home inspection done. We will try on Saturday morning at 10am, but I'm losing patience with this shelter. Boo will have spent 5 days in a cold kennel alone for no reason at this point, and who knows how long after that....

A new year

I see I havnt blogged here since losing Mouse last xmas. It was quite a shock to the system, and kinda killed my desire to blog. But its spring now, and we have other souls in our care. Bella is grown up now and has become quite the character. She can open the back door, and has become a pro at catching the ball! Sable is still the faithful and true soul she has always been. She is quite a helper around the house - fetching anything we ask of her - and is very intuitive and seems to know exactly what we need.

Mouse is disabled

To make it easier to update everyone on Mouses status, I will update this blog weekly on her progress. For those that dont know, last week Mouse injured her back (slipped disc), and over the next day slowly became paralyzed from the waist down. Seeing that she was getting worse, we took her to the vet. Dr Krueger (seriously) took xrays and a blood test. Blood test came back good, and the xrays showed slipped cartilage in the mid-back area. We were devastated, and thought that she may not be able to live without pain. What the doctor told us, however, gave us a lot of hope. Apparently a large percentage of dachshunds that have this injury fully recover from it and walk again!

With this knowledge, she prescribed pain meds, and showed us how to express her urine (she cannot go on her own). At first I was nervous about doing this, but after the first time, we found it is quite simple - basically squeeze her belly and you can feel the bladder, and it starts automatically. We bought diapers for her at Petsmart, but it seems that the leakage is pretty well under control now.

She also has to be kept confined for 6 weeks. Luckily, she was already kennel trained, so this is a piece of cake. For the first two days, she would not eat, which is understandable for someone who is used to being on the go constantly, and now cannot move. Now, though she has a healthy appetite, and no longer whines. I think a kind of acceptance of her circumstances has settled in with her.

Whenever I am at home, she sits on my lap and seems content. Of course, in the event that she does not recover, we are already looking into doggie wheelchairs (the back wheels you see dogs with). I think this would improve her even more if she could skate around and play again.