Catching Up!
Last week of the Spring 2 term for school and I am excited to take 8 weeks off! Between school, work, and professional studies with the normal life stuff sprinkled in, it has been a busy 2012 so far. How are our dogs? Glad you asked! 
They are doing fine and living the life. We had a scare with Chloe last month though. I had taken a sick day and was napping on the couch when I woke to see Chloe not able to get on her back feet. She was laying down on the floor and trying to get up, but couldn’t. She is, of course, 13 now and moving a little slower when she first gets up. But this wasn’t normal at all. She was panting and shaking and I thought for sure something serious was wrong with her. I tried to help her to her feet and she just collapsed. I helped her up again and she went to the bathroom and I knew something was wrong. Off to the vet we go! I stopped at one close to my house that i hadn’t been to before, just because I wasnt exactly sure what was wrong with her. Doc did a blood test and everything looked normal except her blood count was low. He concluded that this was pain in her hips that could have caused all this. So off to home we went with pain medication and iron to get her blood count up. a week later, when that medicine was gone, I took her to Dr. Powell and we did another blood test and the numbers were right. However, he was concerned with why she had a low blood count and discussed the possibility of a ruptured spleen. Next was the Ultrasound and the worrisome news that they saw spots on her spleen and suggested exploratory surgery. After thinking about that for, oh zero seconds, and deciding to go ahead with it, we had a week of studying up on Hemangiosarcomas. Ever heard of it? After reading up on it, the realization that if this was in fact a Hemangiosarcoma, Chloe wouldn’t have much longer to go. In fact, most things I had read only gave the dog about 4 months after discovery of the tumor. Several days of worrying about the surgery and if she would make it through that at her age and then waiting for the news from Dr. Powell was a lot. Yeah I know she is just a dog in some people’s eyes, and I am not an over the top dog owner that treats her like a person all the time. But she is my dog and we have been together for 12 years now. So just the thought of not coming home to her or her being in some sort of prolonged pain from cancer was a lot to deal with. When Dr. Powell called, we were ready for the worst. Of course, Chloe is one strong dog. The surgery went fine and Dr. Powell didn’t see anything in the way of tumors on any organs at all and no sign of internal bleeding, past or present. A clean bill of health. What else should I have expected I guess. When I rushed her into the emergency vet with a twisted stomach several years ago, I was thinking the worst then too. The next morning, after a successful surgery, she practically pulled me, dangling on the leash, out of the vet to the car like nothing happened. This dog is amazing! Bottom line? Good thing I had just got my bonus and a tax return! And I am so happy that Chloe is doing fine and hasn’t had an episode like that since. She is on pain pills each day, but she is 13 1/2 years old and still loves to wrestle with Chanel and run around the back yard.
Some Alone Time Please
It wasn’t that long ago that it was just Chloe and I. She had the run of the house and was pretty much spoiled by me. Ok! I said it! She stretched out and rested her head wherever she wished. Then one day Emilio joined the family. And from then on, Chloe couldn’t find a peaceful moment to just relax. She tried napping in the bed with her Dad and this is what happened!
She thought for sure she could find solitude on her dog bed, but look at this!
Off to the couch to where she could nap while her Dad watches his favorite show. Before this cat, she could always count on comfort and snuggle up there! Not anymore…
Her only retreat was to head outside. Maybe there, in the warm sun of the afternoon, she could enjoy and little outside air and dream of chasing rabbits! But she forgot one thing. We got another dog now and Chanel wasn’t about to let her enjoy this lazy afternoon. We should have asked Chloe first if she wanted a sister!
Great! Now there is another pet that will not let her sleep. And this one thinks Chloe is her personal foot stool.
Chloe thought for sure she could rest on the ride to Key West. Plenty of room in the back seat for her to spread her paws and enjoy the ride. Not this time!
But she loved Chanel and just decided that it was for the best. Chanel follows her everywhere and she got used to it. They make a good team with cool names!
With Emilio and Chanel around, what is an old dog to do? She needs her afternoon naps. She is turning 13 in January. She knows she can always rely on her Dad to help her find a safe place to nap! Even on vacation, when naps are the best. See for yourself…
Loyal Love
It is often said that dogs are always so happy to see you no matter what. And there is nothing better than seeing your pets for the first time after a vacation or business trip. They are always so happy and uncontrollably excited! One of the cool things that Chanel does when we get home is do this loud howl yawn. It is too funny. So I decided to record us getting home from a recent vacation to see if I could catch her in the act. While she didn’t want to perform her great yawn rendition this time, the video is still worth a look. Chloe is always sleepy with her eyes half-open and her legs barely able to stand. And Chanel is the crazy one sneezing all over the place. Funny!
Back from Vacation!
It is Monday and the post cruise naps have been taken, unpacking completed and the dog walk executed flawlessly through a neighborhood full of ghosts and transformer costumes. We got back today from our cruise and the reshuffled itinerary thanks to Hurricane Rina. Instead of making it down to Cozumel, Mexico we were diverted over to the Bahamas after our visit to Key West. Oh yeah, speaking of Key West. We survived our fantasy feast weekend stop there by avoiding most of Duval street. Although, we did get stuck behind an elderly woman wearing only stockings, g-string, garter belt and pasties. We quickly ducked back over to Whitehead, regrouped and cleared our brain with thoughts of puppies and kittens, and then carried on. We did make our regular stop at cat and dog store at Clinton Square Market near the port to get our pets a surprise. The cruise was great! We met some great people as always and had a blast. Four nights fly by when you are having fun. We had a great time in Nassau with Tim and Kelly on our day at Atlantis. Tim found a great post on Cruisecritic.com with info on a deal to get us into Atlantis for a lot cheaper than the shore excursion price. And we had a blast there. We would recommend it to any of you visiting Nassau! The water park there was a lot of fun and the weather cooperated for the most part. I survived the Leap of Faith slide and Alisha and I acted like kids on The Current. We topped it off with a limo ride back to the ship and slipped out before the Bahamian police almost beat down the driver for illegally parking. All in all, it was a great time and we are happy to be home again with our pets. Here are some pictures for ya!
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What a Cool Story!
Pet and animal stories always catch my eye. A lot of times they are the bad ones that I don’t even want to read. But there are also those great stories that are so awesome, I want to share. This is one of those, as I said before, that just amaze me at how genius dogs are and how well they adapt to humans. Service dogs always rock, especially when they alert their owners to stuff that is about to happen that the human may not even know. How cool is that! Check out this story from a couple of days ago here.
I just found this one too on the front page of MSN. Dogs can sniff out cancer! Oh yeah! Check it out here.
Tiger’s New Caddie!
If you are a golf fan, you are in the know about the trials and tribulations of Tiger Woods. He is currently working with a temporary caddie, his old friend from childhood. But he needs a professional caddie and I can only think of one candidate for the job!
I love golf!!
This Week’s “WITW” Story
I came across this story today when I was searching for some dog news. While this is a great story because of the ending, it also is great in helping us realize that there are many awesome people out there in the World! And, it is a stark reminder that there are those that do not have the same emotional attachment to dogs that others do. Check out the story here and let me know what you think. I would love to here your thoughts. It made me think of my last dog, Dutchess, and the great memories I have of her.
Day Trip to Downtown Lakeland
I have read so much about downtown Lakeland and how cool it is. So we decided to spend a day down there and enjoy Lake Mirror. It was about a 45 minute ride from our place and we parked close to Munn Park. Finding a place to park was a breeze. It was a beautiful day and the downtown area was pretty cool with lots of tree-shaded parks and benches throughout. People were out walking around and the many local restaurants were packed. The dogs loved it! I would recommend it to anyone local here in Florida. Here are some pictures from our trip! I’ll share some more about it next time. It’s the weekend!!
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Share your thoughts on this picture
What do you think about this situation? I was driving home from work a couple weeks ago and took a couple snaps. Let me know what you think.
- Not sure this is the best idea
Something Serious and Something Fun!
Well, maybe not too serious. Tropical Storm Emily is out in the Caribbean and Florida is in the “cone of uncertainty.” So far, it looks like the experts are saying this storm will not be much more than a tropical storm and should curve back out to the east, just missing Florida. This is a good time as ever to make sure you have prepared and made plans incase a storm or other disaster hits. I just checked on Weather Underground for the latest blog info and the 5 PM EDT forecast has a shift to the east, which will be good for us.
Check out this picture sent in from a friend who subscribed from Charlotte. This dog looks like he is having a blast!
Onward driver!!
It sure has been hot out, but Chanel and Chloe have been keeping me honest on the dog walks. We cut it back one hour each day now, only getting in three miles. We wait until just before the sun goes down around 8PM and it is still 85 degrees with 85 percent humidity. The dogs come straight back into the house and spread out on the cool tile with their legs sprawled everywhere.
More to come tomorrow. I will fill you in on our Lakeland trip and share some pictures of the dogs enjoying their day trip!
