Adoptiversaries

These couple of weeks must be something special, because I adopted all three of the browns during this time of year. Wrigley's adoptaversary was yesterday, Probert's today, and Maizy's is in just a couple of weeks. So, I figured it was time to do some comparison photos. Then and now(ish - the now photos are from the past few months).

Probert was adopted 6 years ago at about 11 months old from a rescue in Columbus, OH called Measle's Animal Haven. He was a scrawny little pup who had been abused, rescued, and then contracted a mild case of parvo (mild due to being an older puppy) and been bitten by another dog in rescue. Now he's a little snugglebutt who still has issues from his past, but over just the past couple of years is really learning to be a DOG. Finally.

Wrigley was adopted 7 years ago at about 5 months old. He was a direct rescue from people who didn't want him. They said they were watching him for someone who went out of town and never returned to pick him up. Wrigley was living life underneath a trailer at the end of a tow chain and had never even been given a name. The people who had him did doxie rescue and had about 9 rescue dogs in their house, but never thought to bring Wrigley indoors because of his breed. To their credit, they did make some effort to rehome him and I was happy to invite him into my pack! Now he is a wiggly goofball. Definitely the most challenging of my dogs due to his guard barking, but he makes up for it by being one of the most genuinely sweet souls I've ever encountered.

 

Maizy was adopted 8 years ago at about 9 months old. She was a scrawny 27 lbs and smelled like mildew, probably due to the workers at Philadelphia Animal Care and Control hosing out her kennel with her still in it. She was shy and sometimes stubborn, but always a wonderful, personable dog. She grew up quickly, gaining tens of pounds in just a few months after her adoption. She is my most faithful companion and is definitely the pack leader. I have been so fortunate to have her to teach the boys the ins and outs of being a dog, as I see they have often studied her behavior and followed her example.

So, there it is. Happy Adoptaversaries to all of my babies. My life would simply NOT be the same without you. I love you all so so much.

Tooth Hole

Probert, the million-dollar dog, struck again last week when he broke his second canine tooth. While the first one, broken just before his knee surgery, was broken pretty mildly, this one was broken vertically reaching up into the gum (ouch!). So, a dental was scheduled (and then pushed up as his gum started to turn color). When I dropped him off, the vet was not happy with him for having broken such a difficult-to-extract tooth. In the end, they were able to save his one canine, but the other one had to come out. Let me tell you, the root on that thing was HUGE.

So, he had surgery and was doing pretty well on his intense regimen of pain killers and antibiotics. Until!!! His stitches came out and the giant hole in his jaw from the root removal was exposed!! The vet said at that point it would either heal up on its own, or his body would create a mouth/nose fistula that would require specialty surgery to repair. Fortunately, at his follow up visit a week later, the gum had grown back together and he is in the clear. Hopefully, we can avoid vet visits for him for a while!

In super cute news, when I was picking him up from the vet after his procedure, he was super groggy and walked right into a glass door. Poor guy! He's doing much much better now, though. Stay healthy, please, Little Guy.

More DogKnee Surgery

Probert had knee surgery a few weeks ago to repair a torn ACL. He actually tore it a few months ago while racing around the yard in jubilation for getting to go for a car ride. Where were we headed? To the vet's new office's grand opening party, of course. She had to take a break from the party to diagnose his injury and prescribe pain medication. So embarrassing. Probert waited a while to have surgery as I was traveling pretty extensively and needed to be home for his rehab (and because the vet said he would be fine to wait). So, a couple of weeks ago, it was done. We went to a different doctor than for Wrigley's surgery a couple of years ago and I was so happy with his care. They gave him a cute cast and even sent him home with a little shoe for going outside. He's off stairs for 6 weeks, so I've been doing a lot of dog-carrying. Here's a photo of he and I. His cast was on for a week and staples came out after two weeks. It's been another two weeks and now there's only two left until he's given the all-clear to return to normal activity. Can't wait!

Cat Bite!

About a month ago we brought a new couch (it had previously occupied our office at work, but didn't work in our new building) home. I was really excited, but Hannibal the cat was REALLY angry about the new couch when it was first moved in. She was hissing and running and generally acting pretty nutty. In an effort to calm her down, I went to pick her up to put her in a bedroom for a while and she freaked! She ended up biting my hand, which ended up getting infected, which ended up requiring TWO emergency room visits. The first visit resulted in a tetanus shot (OW!) and a prescription for big-ass antibiotic pills. The second visit resulted the following day from a HUGELY swollen hand that required IV antibiotics. At that visit I learned that it takes about 30 minutes to receive a course of IV antibiotics, which was very fortunate since we were having a party that evening with 20+ of our friends due over.

So, the moral of this story is don't get bit by a cat! My 3 pit bull dogs and 1 shep have never come close to causing a hospital visit!

Little Guy's New Crate

I have been extremely neglectful about posting! Probert turned 6 on Halloween and everyone else is doing great! Here's a picture of Probert in his new crate that Dan magically found in the garbage on the exact same day that I was going to buy Probert a new crate! Look how much he loves it! :)

Slumbertongue

Greta, sound asleep (despite all of her enthusiastic barking, she does indeed rest at times).

Bark Bark Bark

The browns remain stoic and unaffected in the face of an enthusiastic barkeroni.

Really, Little Guy???

Was that necessary!?

Guts

Over the past year or so, Greta has grown particularly picky about eating. The biggest problem with this is that when she doesn't eat, she gets sick. Out both ends. And there's sometimes blood. This is unpleasant enough for Dan and I, but has to be even worse for her. The problem could usually be solved just by making absolutely sure that she ate her meals, but I recently took her to the vet to see if there was another problem.

Come to find out that GSDs often have digestive issues and now we are in the middle of trying to diagnose hers. It could be as simple as a parasite (though none shows up in the tests) or as complicated as IBD. For now, she is taking some antibiotics and just finished her first course of dewormer, so we'll see where things go from there. I'm happy to report that she's been eating well, at least, and hasn't had any issues.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm told it's very very common in GSDs, especially!

Upsidedown Dogs

At the beginning of June Probert and I taught Doga as a fundraiser for One Tail at a Time rescue in Chicago. We had an awesome time with a full class and the Fido to Go dog food truck even showed up at the end of class so the Dogis could get  treat!

Here are some pictures:

Woofs

I had a wonderful (Dog)Mother's Day with my browns and my lovely step-woof, Greta! Here's a picture of us.

It has since then suddenly become summer in Chicago, with temperatures into the 90s! Probert has been protesting this shock to his system by exploring the cooling properties of different areas of the yard. Yesterday, he tested things out by flopping in an old wooden storage box in the corner of the yard. He is such a weirdo.

A funny thing about this is that I think this is the first time I've ever seen him actually lay down outdoors. Someone is finally becoming a dog after all this time!!

Introducing the Ladies

This may sound funny, but in the nearly 1.5 years that Dan and I have been dating, we have yet to fully integrate our dog packs. Well, mostly we have avoided fully introducing Maizy and Greta, our two bossy ladies.

I had a gift certificate for some dog training and we recently used it to meet with a trainer and work on the relationship between those two and I have to say, it was very promising!

So, now we are taking them for walks and letting them in the yard together (with Maizy on a leash still) and things are going great. Greta is getting confident enough that Maizy is not annoyed and Maizy is realizing that she cannot be the boss of everyone.

What a great spring it's going to be!

Happy 6th Birthday, Wrigs!

Today Wrigley turned 6 years old! I can't believe he's lived with me for over 5.5 years. He's such a wonderful, joyful pup. Happy birthday, Wrigley Beans.

Home Sweet Home

Well! I have really neglected to update since the last time I posted, I was headed off to Japan! As it turned out, our flight landed in Japan exactly one minute before the earthquake occurred. We were taxi-ing along the runway when the plane began to rock severely. The long and the short of the whole story is that Narita Airport was closed so they couldn't get us through customs and after a 14 hour flight from the US they then kept us on the plane for about another 10 hours on the ground before we could file into the airport where we then spent the night sleeping on the floor among thousands of others. After a long ordeal, we finally made it to our hotel and were able to see some of Tokyo, but the city was not itself. We really loved Japan, though, and I hope we can go back again sometime!

During all of that, the dogs were well taken care of back at home! They loved staying at Canine Crews in Chicago and made these paw paintings for St Patrick's Day.

They were thrilled with life when I picked them up and spent the next 24 hours sleeping like logs. I can tell that they were having a great time! They already have another appointment to stay at Canine Crews in a week when I am in LA (where I will hopefully not encounter any earthquakes).

Vacation!

Well, in just a few short days I am off to Japan on what I think is a very well-deserved vacation! The dogs will be on vacation, too, on their first ever trip to a boarding facility. I put a lot of care into choosing a place for them and I am optimistic that everything will work out well in my absence. Nervous, but optimistic. It will be really good for all of us, I think, since I have never boarded them and need to lighten up and it will be a good "out in the world" experience for the browns. Cutting the cord... I will report back on how everyone does.

Last week at Doga Maizy was such a pill that this week I put in an untested rookie. Probert was up to the challenge and made a LOVELY Doga companion. He taught a wonderful class and he just might be my new Doga co-teacher.

My boyfriend brought over this poster for Probert this weekend and hung it above his crate. Probert came in from playing outside to see it for the first time, walked straight into his crate and stood there staring at it. I think he likes it!

Last week was my friend Flo's birthday and we surprised her with this photo (which was a huge pain in the butt, let me tell you!). ;)

SnOMG!

We woke up this morning to a drift of snow taller than all three browns, including Maizy, which is really something! Fortunately, Wrigley was there to plow ahead and lead the other dogs in a single line around the yard until they found a place where the snow was low enough to do their business.

Later in the day, we went out again to try to shovel our way to the garage. It was no easy feat as most of the snow had drifted to that side of the yard, but I finally got the walkway shoveled out.

Maizy and Wrigley helped by eating what snow they could. Probert helped by getting a ton of snow stuck inside his new hat (which may not be the answer for snowy weather).

Judging by the huge pile of snow at the end of our alley, which has been either plowed from the street or deposited by those neighbors digging out their cars, I will not be getting out of here anytime soon. We'll see what tomorrow holds!

Snowpocalypse!

We are in the middle of a THUNDERSNOW here in Chicago and it is windy and snowy as all get out. I am about to take the dogs out for their final potty of the night and hope that none of us blow away. Earlier, about 40 minutes into our blizzard watch, we went outside and I took these photos. It now sounds much worse outside than it was when these were taken!

Check out Probert's new JAFCO flexible vinyl "hat." We've only had it two days, so we'll keep using it before reporting back on it's functionality.

Probert's "Hat"

I have neglected to post about my decision to start muzzling Probert when he is with "the pack" because so many people react so negatively to it, but I'm ready so here it is. I have posted a few photos of Probert in his "hat" (we don't use the "m" word) on my personal Facebook page and have gotten some very mixed reactions. I understand that it is sometimes difficult to see a dog in a muzzle because it makes them "look mean" or for any other reason. For the first month after I bought Probert's muzzle, I couldn't even put it on him for any amount of time, but I finally dove in and now I am very used to seeing it on him and know that underneath, he is still my sweet little guy.

Probert has a history of redirecting in stressful situations (in the yard, something outside the fence usually) and biting Wrigley. He has done Wrigley some serious damage and in the interest of preventing that from happening (on the occasion when it does happen) and also in not isolating Probert from the pack, I bought him a muzzle. Since buying it several months ago, there have been two incidents when it has prevented him from doing any damage when attempting to bite Wrigley and the rest of the time, it allows him to interact with the pack like a normal dog and without my worrying about what "could" happen - so it's doing its job.

So, despite the "scary" exterior appearance of the muzzle, I have to say that it's one of the better decisions I have made for the health and happiness of all of my dogs. In the interest of looking a little less "scary" (and preventing further wall-gouging and painful leg-bashing from the heavy metal one) I just ordered Probert a new JAFCO clear flexi vinyl muzzle, so we'll see how that one works when it gets here. If anyone is interested, I will be happy to report back! In the meantime, please don't be too quick to judge a dog (or his person) by his hat!

The Old Lady Gains A Year

The matriarch of the brown dog pack got another year older on Saturday! Maizy Anne is now seven years old! Even with an arthritic hind end, she is LOVING our Chicago weather and is showing up the younger dogs racing around the backyard like she's got springs in her paws!

Visitors

Her daddy is out of town this week, so Miss Addison Mae is back in brown dog land! Unfortunately, the browns were not too excited at all to see her and Wrigley even HID! She is doing great, though, and I was happy to see her after a month of her being away. The first night I couldn't remember how I did everything with so many dogs, but now I'm back in the swing of things and everything is going smoothly. She leaves again on Friday, so I am enjoying our time together while it lasts.

In other news, my neighbor is also a yoga student of mine and heard me talking about Maizy's work at the library (which she hasn't been doing since her tail amputation several months ago because it took her so long to heal from that surgery) and asked if she could stop by with her kids someday. I said sure and yesterday she stopped over with the kids who read to Maizy, petted Hannibal the cat, and were licked by Probert (who is crated in the living room until Addison's departure because they stress each other out). Maizy was ecstatic to have visitors who were paying attention to her and after only a half-hour visit, she spent the rest of the day in recovery sleeping. Some "nanny dog"! Hehe. Probert was less enthusiastic, but was very tolerant and observant. He is not so used to children, but I thought he did great. Only one growl when the kids were getting too crazy by his crate, but he is entitled to give warnings if he doesn't like something. Wrigley did not come visit because he would have steamrolled those poor children with his boisterous enthusiasm for all things. :D

In closing, here is an updated photo of all three browns. Do you know who is who?