It’s been a rough couple of weeks in our house.  As you know, I had my seizures.  Thankfully I haven’t had another – and I SEEM fine – but my human has only been half-sleeping because they happened in the night – and she’s still worried they could happen again.

And now, someone very close to my human is in the hospital.   And you know, we dogs KNOW when our humans are stressed and worried.  We can just tell.  We have a sense about such things.  And because we have that sense, we have all been behaving rather well the past few days.  I haven’t run off.  I haven’t grumbled at Jaws.  Frodo hasn’t attempted to steal food from the food bin.  Oh wait.  He did yesterday.  But just once.  Elroy isn’t biting.  As much.  We are all trying our best – to make our human feel better.  

I can’t go into too much detail here – but I know that I have readers from all around the globe – and I am hoping that you might take a minute today to say a little prayer for a special person in Nova Scotia.  It would be appreciated more than you will ever know. 

Thank you…and I hope you have a stress-free waggy-tailed kind of day.

The other day, Jaws  went for his last puppy shot.  He wasn’t overly excited with the Vet – probably because the last time he was there, the Vet trimmed his nails.  NOT a pleasant experience for anyone.  So now my human is OBSESSED with teaching him that it’s OK to have his nails cut and she is doing it gradually.  VERY gradually.  Frodo and I watched the process the other day with great interest.  We were on the other side of a baby gate – because it would NOT have worked if we were in the room.  My human has given up trying to do his nails on the grooming table.  It just didn’t work.  So.  She sat on the floor – and smeared a tablespoon of peanut butter in his dog food bowl.  Then she added some of his kibble.  She THOUGHT he would be so interested in licking the peanut butter, she could do his nails.  Bwahahahahahahaha.  She didn’t find this approach on the internet – it was her own wild idea and it clearly failed!  As soon as she touched his feet while he was eating, he said “I don’t care HOW tasty this stuff is – I’m out.”  

So then my human had to back it up – and take a different more conventional conditioned behavior approach.  Jaws was lying on the floor – and if he let her even TOUCH his foot without pulling it away, he got a kibble with peanut butter.  Then she held his foot a LITTLE longer.  If he stayed still, he got a kibble.  If he pulled away, no kibble.  After 276 tries, she then touched his nail with the clipper.  So you can see what she was trying to do.  After a few minutes she was able to do a TINY trim on three nails before they stopped for the day.  Frodo and I do not love having our nails done – but we do it without too much protesting.  I don’t remember going through the gradual process – but I guess we must have.  Getting all those treats make it worth it – in fact we STILL get treats when having our nails done.

Jaws hasn’t been introduced to the blow dryer yet.  He doesn’t mind the vacuum cleaner – he tries to attack it.   So the blow dryer should be interesting.  He’s actually a pretty bold guy.

So the saga continues.  We don’t know why I am having these seizures – but honestly, they are much worse for my human than they are for me.  This last one lasted less than a minute again, and within 15 minutes I was completely back to my wild self.  I LOOKED rather disheveled – but I felt fine.  My Vet who saw me on Tuesday was not working yesterday – but my human had a consult with another Vet who she quite likes.  The doctor said that she thinks it could be Epilepsy.   But she didn’t want to give me medication just yet – given that the seizures were short and I rebounded so quickly.  She said if I have ONE more – they will then consider putting me on something.  She said my blood work was good – and even though my liver enzymes were a bit elevated – it was not at a significant level.

My human asked what to do IF I have another one today – as the Vet is closed and it would mean a visit to the Emergency Clinic.  The Vet said I did not need to go – UNLESS the seizure lasted longer – or I had seizures occurring VERY frequently – like every hour.  And no medication for me yet.  I just wanted to know if she could give my HUMAN some medication to reduce HER stress.  

I’ve received so many good wishes and positive thoughts – I KNOW things will work out.  Thank you for thinking of me.  There are lots of theories as to why these may be happening.  It doesn’t SEEM that it was related to the antibiotic medication – as we had initially thought.  But who knows?  Time will tell.

On a brighter note – Jaws has been introduced to the DFZ by way of Velcro dog.  As you may recall, the DFZ (Dog-Free Zone) status had changed in recent months as Frodo and I knew how to behave in there.  But with the arrival of Jaws – the status has been reintroduced.  There are WAY too many cool things in there to chew on – so it’s off limits to puppy teeth.  But yesterday, while my human was helping me to look a bit less disheveled by brushing me, Velcro dog opened the gate to the DFZ and went in with his sidekick.  My human nearly passed out when she found them in there.  Jaws was just wandering around and checking things out – he wasn’t in there long enough to sample the rugs or furniture.  Next time…

Paws crossed I have a good day – AND a sleep-filled night like I did yesterday.  Ditto for my human…

And I hope YOU have a good one too!

Well Mr. Elroy has been getting out lately.  He had a Puppy Socialization class on Wednesday night.  Velcro dog was relieved he was gone for an hour – those two CANNOT stop playing with each other.  Excuse my graphic description, but Frodo tries to hump Elroy and then Elroy tries to hump Frodo.  Then they chew each other’s ears.  Then they bounce up and Elroy rips some of Frodo’s tail hair off.  It’s really quite a sight.  My human has to break it up when it gets too raucous.  I’m still not sure about it all – so I just watch.  

My human THINKS she is smart.  But clearly not as smart as us canines.

Jaws loves to be outside.  Our property is not fully fenced – it’s a couple of acres.  There is a large dog run on the side of our house – but we never use it – we prefer to be with our human!  We also have a large covered X-pen – which we never use either. It was actually WITHIN the run.  Don’t ask me why – it doesn’t make sense to me either.  Bottom line – we don’t use either enclosure.  But since Jaws likes it outside, my human thought that while she was doing work in the garden, she could put Jaws in the X-pen – on a grassy area next to the driveway.  Before the Hulk left, he helped my human carry the 10,000 lb pen (OK, maybe it’s not THAT heavy – but it helped to move it with two people) to the decided location.  Grassy.  Shaded.  Perfect.  Or so she thought.

So yesterday, while she was mowing the lawn and pulling weeds out of the garden beds, she put Jaws in the pen.  She could keep an eye on him – and knew he was safe.  Velcro dog and I were out on the deck.

My human mowed and every little while, looked over to see that he was OK.  He appeared to be playing with one of his chew toys. 

She finished her gardening and went to get the little fella – who is now taller than Velcro dog – and he was quietly working.  He was digging a hole.  About a foot wide.  He had covered his chew toys and his feet were dark brown.  His nose had mud on it.  And he appeared quiet happy with his work.  Yesterday was the day he was introduced to the tub in the “grooming” room. 
   
So I question the intelligence of my human.  We know the guy likes to dig.  But if that wasn’t bad enough, my human later went to take the garbage cans up to the road.  She figured it would ONLY take her two minutes – so she could again leave Jaws in the pen.  I can’t believe I am actually telling this part of the story.  Really?  Where are your brains woman?  Sure it was only SUPPOSED to be a few minutes.  But then you really shouldn’t have chatted with the neighbor who happened to be walking by – should you?  So you guessed it  Digger was at it again.

So now the pen will have to be moved – as it has been almost fully excavated.  There is no grass left.  So much for the great location.  And moving it will be fun – as the Hulk is gone.  This should be interesting…

Who said humans are smarter than canines?

I had a seizure.  No joke.  No beating around the bush on this topic.  And my human was beyond stressed…

It happened at 2:40AM Monday morning.  My human was asleep and she heard me making a strange chewing sound.  She quickly got up and the next thing you know, I was having a seizure.  I don’t remember much about it.  It lasted less than 30 seconds – but for my human it felt like 30 minutes.  Afterward, I was confused and I barked and growled at the Hulk – like I had never seen him before.  But within minutes, I was OK.  That didn’t stop my human from getting dressed and rushing me to the Animal Emergency Clinic – while the Hulk stayed home with Frodo and Elroy.

By the time I got to the Clinic, it was like nothing had happened.  I bounced in, happy and sniffing all the weird smells.

The Vet checked me over and of course, I was well behaved and totally back to being me.  I didn’t have any abnormal outward symptoms of anything – my heart sounded fine, I had no temperature, my eyes responded to light, I was breathing normally.  If my human didn’t report what had just happened, I looked like a perfectly healthy dog.  The Vet said to watch me for any other incidents.  She suggested I have some bloodwork done at our regular Vet – so of course my human immediately made an appointment as soon as our Vet opened Monday morning.  She likes all the Vets at our Clinic – but there is one she has known for many years – so I went to see him yesterday.  

My human had made her own diagnosis (with her honorary internet Veterinary degree) about why it may have happened.  And after the bloodwork, our Vet pretty much agreed.

We had an eventful day yesterday – starting at 2:40 AM.  I will write all about it tomorrow – once I can tell the whole story.  The whole story will include my own visit to the Vet today… Paws crossed it all works out well.

In the meantime, my human has found an inexpensive way to entertain Jaws.  We know how one of his favorite forms of entertainment is to put his feet in the water bowl.  And splash it everywhere.  Well.  Yesterday my human put some ice cubes in the bowl.  WHAT a spectacle THAT was.  Ever hear of Bobbing for Apples at Halloween?  This was Bobbing for Cubes.  Picard style.  And was he EVER good.  He could grab those cubes and then he would happily take his treasure under the dining room table.  He must have repeated this 6 times.  He would dip his nose right in the water to grab those frosty squares.  Frodo and I looked at him with fascination.  You would NEVER catch one of us playing in water that way.  EVER.  He made quite the mess in the process. But since it kept Mr. Busy quiet for a few minutes,  my human didn’t mind one bit.  

The Hulk returned to far off lands yesterday but my human is still off work.  She took Jaws out every time he went to door – which was about 296 times.  Sometimes he doesn’t even NEED to go out.  Velcro dog and I each had our own walks (several of them) and thankfully no grooming.  We’ll see what today holds.  I vote for lots of games of fetch…LOTS. And maybe Jaws can bob for cubes.  Just another day in paradise.  Oh.  And then there is that visit to the Vet…Stay tuned.

So my human read this flawed research study on the internet.  At least I think it is flawed.  According to the study, a neuroscientist at Emory University wanted to see what we dogs prefer for a reward – a verbal “Well done” or a treat.  They selected dogs who would lie still in an MRI for 30 minutes.  Dogs were shown a hairbush,  a toy car or  a toy horse.  When they selected one of the objects, they would get a food reward, if they selected another they would receive verbal praise, and with the last object they would receive nothing.  The results of the brain scans showed that the dogs’ brains were stimulated by praise as much as, if not more than, the treat.  They did some other studies and came to the same conclusion – the dogs in their experiments were happy with social rewards and praise – and food did not matter as much. 

So here’s the flaw in my opinion.  They explained that “high-energy” canines were not included in the study.  Hello?  So all of us working, herding, ratting dogs who are NOT couch potatoes were the dogs being tested?!  That’s a LOT of dogs who were excluded!  Not all of us like to lounge around all day reading.  Well.  Maybe Frodo does – but that certainly does NOT include me.  Or Jaws.  Treats make the world go round for us.  Mind you – as we know even the intellectual among us – Frodo – is still driven by food.  Now some of us are also motivated by toys and play – I’m a perfect example of that.  I MIGHT even choose my fetch toys over a treat.  But a verbal “That was brilliant” is all “bla bla bla” to me.

There isn’t a pocket in any attire owned by my human that does not have treat crumbs in it.  Not a pocket.  And my human has learned if you want to get Jaws to move somewhere, you had better have treats on your person.  At ALL times.  When he flops down somewhere and doesn’t want to move, he is like a sack of potatoes.  And that sack is getting heavier and heavier to move. 

So I think those scientists need to look at this further.  And this time – make SURE you include some PONs and Picards!  I’ll volunteer.  If treats are included!

We have a gnawing problem here.  Literally and figuratively.  It seems that there are two kinds of chew toys.  Puppy toys and adult dog toys.  And while Jaws is happy to chew on ANYTHING – there are certain puppy toys that Velcro dog and I are NOT supposed to chew.  But of course, we are OBSESSED about getting our teeth on them.  And if left alone with them for more than 1.6 minutes, we will totally annihilate them.  Case in point: a brand new non-toxic, chew toy for Jaws in the shape of a …hmmmmm….dog that looks like a cross between a bull terrier and a dachshund.   My human took the cardboard info off the little fella – gave it to Jaws, whose attention is .36 seconds and within 1.6 minutes, Velcro dog had somehow already chewed the tail off the critter.  And the top on the hard rubber carrot that is supposed to be perfect for puppies – well – adult dogs can rip those apart too.  

It’s truly a dilemma.  If left out for Jaws, we destroy them.  And if not left out, Jaws destroys non-chewable things.  Like carpet.  And give us something that is soft enough for puppies – and hard enough for adult dogs – and nobody likes them.  Tsk. Tsk.

Tomorrow the Hulk returns to his home in the United States.  I’m sure he’ll be back – especially if Trump is elected.  But now who will we beg for treats?  397 times a day.  I think I have put on 10lbs since he came to visit.  Good thing my human is still off this week – she can take us on LOTS of walks so we can work off this treat belly.  She could do with some walking herself – but don’t say I mentioned it.

I must say, we were all VERY well behaved for my human’s birthday.  I even let her groom me – without protesting.  Much.  She was a bit overwhelmed with all the birthday greetings she received from around the globe.  She sure has “met” some great people because of this crazy blog!  Thanks to all to read who about our adventures.  And you know, it was just the other day that she was thinking we never seem to run out of material.   This blog is like an accident on the highway – you don’t REALLY want to look for fear that something awful has happened – but at the same time – who can resist?  Plus you get to say “Better them than me!”

Have a great day!!!  You KNOW I will!  And thanks again for stopping by!