He slept well the first night – we all did after the “exciting” day.  Yesterday morning she took us out and everyone did their thing – except yours truly.  I wanted more attention.  Instead I got a smaller breakfast.  That plan backfired.

Einstein decided to milk this surgery thing and stared at my human while she was in the DFZ reading the paper.  So get this – she let him in!! This was just going too far.

He has to keep those stitches in for 2 weeks.  TWO WEEKS.  Oh and then he’ll be all dramatic about having them removed!  I think I need to do some rabbit chasing – just to work off some steam….

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 8

Well Einstein had his lumpectomy yesterday.  The worst part of the day was breakfast.  As you may recall, he could not have breakfast.    My human had to figure out how to feed me and the FG, without Einstein watching.  So she had a plan…

She walked the FG first.  Which is the normal routine.   But she left no treats for me and Einstein – which was a bit odd.  Then she took me – by myself for a walk.  Finally she took Einstein out.  She walked out the door and told him to wait.  She ran back in and gave me and the FG our breakfasts.  Like she thought Einstein wouldn’t know.  She thought she was extremely clever – I was in my usual spot in the kitchen and the FG was in his usual spot in the front hall.  She then took Einstein for a short walk.  She told him to wait when they came back so she could go in and pick up the FG’s dish before Einstein could get it.  Because he often leaves SOMETHING in his bowl.  A brilliant plan.  Or so she thought. 

She walks in the door before Einstein, and grabs the dish. Only one BIG mistake.  She leaves the front door partly open.  She turns around to see the FG going out.  And of course, he KNOWS he is FREEEEEEE.  She steps to the door and does the cutesy futile “come here Baby,” voice.  He turns on a dime and is off.  She puts Einstein in the house, grabs her cars keys and hits and garage door opener.  In the meantime she is already calling Pig Pen’s human on the phone to warn her that the escapee is probably headed her way.  She is not even through leaving a message, when she spots the wily coyote running up the neighbor’s driveway toward her car which is now on the road.  She slams the brakes and jumps out before he is on the road.  Now.  How to catch him without him taking off again.  Luckily he came to her when she opened the hatch on the car.  And in he went.  With my human huffing and puffing.  Disaster quickly averted.

We hung out in the afternoon waiting for news on Einstein. When my human first went in to the vet, she wondered if the lump was smaller.  I think she was just nervous about the whole surgery thing – and wanted to be sure it was necessary.  The vet said it was the same size – and although she wasn’t concerned about it – it probably would not go away on its own – and would just make my human wonder.  So my human handed off Einstein to very good hands. 

She decided to do some retail therapy to keep her mind off Einstein.  She went to the grocery store and wasn’t gone an hour when her phone rang.  Uh-oh she thought.  Einstein’s surgery was DONE.  They didn’t have to do a general anesthetic – so he was good to go.

She rushed over to pick him up.  The vet said it WAS just a cyst.  So that was fantastic news.  My human was SO relieved – thank you for all your positive thoughts, good wishes and prayers!   They WORKED!!!!

The vet did add that she thought she heard a bit of a heart murmur, which has never been detected before.  She told my human that we would just keep an eye on it- checking him every couple of months to be sure it does not get worse.  At this point, she said there was no reason for serious concern.

Although he didn’t have a general anesthetic, he was given something to make him a bit drowsy.  When he came in the house he looked a little disheveled – and he was NOT in the mood for us sniffing his butt.  Or anything else.  My human put his Gortex coat on – so neither he nor we could poke at his incision.   His stitches come out in two weeks. 

Pig Pen is recovering from his surgery too.   The vet felt that she was able to get clear margins and there were no signs of Mast Cells in his lymph nodes.   So another great bit of news.

Hopefully the infirmary can be closed down now for a while.  The nurse needs a bit of a break.  She’ll get that at work.

Thanks again for all your support!!

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 7

If you are like my human, and you want to learn more about your dog’s health, you may be interested in the VetVine webinars.  I may have mentioned this is the past – but no harm in repeating it.  Go to this website- and register- it is FREE.  

The topics are broad – everything from cancer to fleas and ticks, orthopedic issues , behavior and allergies.  You can listen to previous sessions or listen live as they occur.  We have signed up for the session April 10 on CBD oil. 

These sessions are not to replace visits to your vet – but they give you better knowledge about your dog’s health issues.  And it allows you to be more informed when you have conversations with your vet.

Today Einstein goes in for his lump removal.  Meanwhile- our old buddy Pig Pen had to undergo surgery yesterday for removal of a Mast Cell Tumor on his ear!!!   He has joined the infirmary.  

We had a great walk with him yesterday morning- before his humans got the news that he needed surgery.   Well – some of us had a great walk… Humpty Picard had to be put on leash during HIS walk because he was finding Pig Pen a tad too attractive.  We PONs didn’t care – mind you I was still on a leash.  Lumpy-Limpy was loose as he appears to have recovered from his limp. And he didn’t attempt to hump Pig Pen.  I think the Spring air has really affected the Picard.  He doesn’t attempt that behavior with us – because, well… we’re not as compliant as Pig Pen…

So here’s hoping Einstein does well – and that Pig Pen’s surgery was successful – and he is going to be OK.

We should be offering our own webinar…

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 6

Yesterday, a loyal blog reader aptly named us Limpy, Lumpy and Torn.  I, of course am Limpy, Einstein is Lumpy and the FG is Torn – for his dew claw injury on the play battlefield the day before yesterday.

My human doesn’t have kids, but she has often heard friends talk about the paranoia and obsession humans have with their first child.  They rush them in to the doctor with the littlest sniffle or papercut.  By the time child three comes along,  the kid has to be either comatose or the limb is falling off before the parents get worried.  And the same is true with dogs.

Once upon a time, my human would have freaked out at the blood on the FG’s leg.  She would have gone right home, put him in Ludwig, and driven right to the closest animal emergency clinic.  But given that he is her 9th dog, she no longer freaks out.  Sure – if we are SERIOUSLY in need of care, she would take us in.  But it didn’t appear that he was about to lose his leg, so she cleaned him up, bandaged the leg, and that was that.

So that injury appears to be fine.  Still – she didn’t want to see him tear it again while it is healing, so when Pig Pen’s human texted yesterday morning to again go for a walk, we PONs got to go.

I started off not too badly – not too limpy – so she made the mistake of letting me loose.  The limping reappeared- so no more off leash – not matter how much I beg – for at least a week.  Meanwhile, Lumpy was having a grand time.  He would find the last patches of snow, as he did last week, and throw himself down.  Pig Pen doesn’t quite know what to make of him when he does this. 

We had a great walk, but as we were heading for home, my human noticed Lumpy was now limping.  Front leg.  Just like me.  So we have Limpy, Lumpy-Limpy and Cranky – because the FG was annoyed he only got to go for a walk with my human- and no off leash running with Pig Pen.

We survived the winter ice- only to injure ourselves at the first signs of Spring.  It’s probably a good thing my human has to work next week- it will give us a chance to recuperate!

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up!

Seizure free days: 5

First it was my seizure the other day.  Got through that.  

Unfortunately though, as we know, I can be a bit uncoordinated with the effects of my meds.  But, that doesn’t slow me down one bit.  My human watches and winces as I roll and throw myself around.  It was inevitable that I would do something to myself.  So sure enough- for the last two days I have been limping on my front leg.  It comes and goes – so I have been on restricted leash walking.

Then we have Lumpy.  Who goes under the knife on Friday.

And lastly we have the healthy Picard.  Who was fine.  Until yesterday…

Pig Pen’s human texted in the morning to see if anyone wanted to go for a walk/run.  My human didn’t want to take me – because of my limping and she knew if she took Einstein, I would scream bloody murder.  So she decided to take the wily coyote.  Who hasn’t seen Pig Pen or been off leash in weeks.

The FG saw Pig Pen and his brain exploded.  Completely.  It was all my human could do to hold  onto him.  They got to the golf course and she let him GO. He jumped. He raced.  He tugged on toys with Pig Pen.  He humped Pig Pen (a new, less-than-desirable behavior given that Pig Pen just stands there) until my human broke them up.  They were racing around on the frozen ground like two year olds in a playground after eating birthday cake.  And candy.  

And all was right with the world until my human looked at the FG’s leg and saw blood.  Oh.  And his other foot was bleeding too.  Seems he caught his dew claw on something and a toenail also was bleeding.  Great. Pig Pen’s human had a tissue which was quickly  spotted in blood.  She wondered if he should be carried home.  She even offered to carry his back end while my human would carry his front end, but my human knew that this idea would likely end up in a human injury.  So my human slowly walked the FG home- while he was still raring to pull and play with Pig Pen.

Because we always have an ample supply of vet wrap, she was able to bandage the FG’s leg.  The bleeding had slowed down – he thankfully didn’t completely tear off the dew claw.   Meanwhile, I went for my OWN walk with Pig Pen.  The FG’s toenail was fine, so after being sure that he wasn’t going to bleed to death, my human raced out with Einstein to meet up with me and  Pig Pen.  I had been the PERFECT walker.  I didn’t even care when my human and Einstein arrived.  Pig Pen’s human had liver treats.

So right now, our house is being dubbed the infirmary. One waiting for surgery.  One limping.  And one bandaged.  Oh and for some reason, the human is on head ache medication.  

Never a dull moment.

Have a good one. Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 4

My human fluffed and puffed him before he went.  Mind you, he had been groomed the day before – but she always likes us to look our best when we go out.  Anywhere.  So she made him all coiffed and even put a barrette in his hair so you could see his eyes.  She thought he looked great but as they go to walk into the vet a couple is walking out – and the woman takes one look at Einstein and says “somebody must be going to be groomed.” ( There is a groomer at our vet’s office.).  My human just sighed and said “no, I’m afraid this is as good as it gets,” and she walked in the door.

She had Einstein sitting on the bench with her.  She doesn’t want us sniffing and licking the floor – who KNOWS who was there before us.  How do you spell paranoid?  I’m surprised we don’t wear hazmat suits.

Einstein was fine sitting on the bench and playing “watch me” games with my human.  He was being plied with treats for good behavior. People were in the waiting room and he was fine.  And then a zombie arrived – walking in with her female Golden.  Now I am SURE the Golden was friendly and if Einstein met her outdoors, he would be fine with her.  But the zombie woman marched in and let Goldie go wherever she wanted.   Einstein let out a low “I’m on this bench with my human and I currently own this waiting room growl,” and my human had to tell the zombie to move back from Cujo.  Then they asked zombie to weigh Goldie.  Well Goldie did NOT want to step on that scale.  Zombie cajoled and begged.  But Goldie was having nothing of it. My human was ready to go over and pick up the dog and put her one the scale.   I don’t think they ever DID get her weight.

Einstein was very good for the vet.  She poked and prodded his lump and took a sample to look at under the microscope.   My human felt like the vet was gone for an hour – but it was probably closer to 5 minutes.  The result?  She doesn’t know.  She said she is 92% certain it is nothing – like a little cyst. But given the 8% possibility it COULD be something else, she figured it best that it be removed.  So he is going under the knife on Friday.

In the meantime,  the FG and I were on guard duty.  The only problem is that without our ring leader, we are not very loud guards.  We were very happy to see Einstein and my human when they got home.  I forgot to mention he went to the PET STORE on the way home and got MORE treats.  

My human doesn’t want to rush the week – but she does want this thing removed.  But there is another hurdle first.  The regular drill is no food or water after midnight on the day of the surgery. But he isn’t scheduled for surgery until 1 PM.  Friday morning is going to be a nightmare. Imagine Einstein not being fed while the FG and I are gobbling down breakfast.  Well – I’m gobbling – the FG is staring at his.  Fun and games…

So keep Einstein in your thoughts – and send healing wishes (and maybe even a prayer) that this IS just a cyst.  We are thinking positively…

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days : 3

He wasn’t the biggest dog in the class – a lovely female Leonberger was there.  But after her came the FG and the next biggest dog was an Aussie puppy.  So he still stands out.

Yesterday there was a brand new puppy there – a Finnish Lapphund named Coco.  And was she ever cute.  And SO well behaved.  She is not even 4 months old and she strutted around the ring like she knew the drill.  She put her little feet in the right place, and waited patiently for her treats. The FG just stared at her in amazement.  And so did my human.

She’s probably the only Finnish Lapphund in these parts.  They are a sturdy, mid-sized Spitz-type breed.  And they were bred for hunting and for herding reindeer!  They apparently come in different colors.  Coco is a tri-color.  Like a Bernese Mountain dog – black, brown and white.  

Here’s a short video with some facts about Lappies:

It was so nice to meet her- until my human realized the little spitfire will be in the herding group.  More competition for the coyote.  Great.

We all had a good grooming yesterday.  Well – good in my human’s eyes – we would have been happy to skip the whole thing.   And everything was going great – until my human found a lump on Einstein.   I have a couple of cyst-like lumps that the vet has seen, but was not concerned about them.  But this one on Einstein looks a bit different.   So you KNOW my human spent all kinds of time surfing the net and reading about dog lumps.  She has herself suitably concerned.  If she looked at that lump once, she must have looked at it 50 times.  It is on his back.  She’ll be making a vet appointment for this week.  One of the vets we go to is apparently on a vacation that we paid for.  Just joking. Sort of.

No work for my human this week-  but rumor has it she is going back next week for a week.  So it means double time for walks THIS week. And the weather forecast is looking good – perfect mud conditions!  We can’t wait.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 2

March 24.  And today is the birthday of Joseph Barbera.  Don’t recognize the name?  Joseph Barbera, and his colleague William Hanna are called, by some, the architects of Saturday morning TV cartoon shows. They were famous animators who for over 30 years, produced some of the most well known characters and series on television.  And of course, many of their characters were dogs!!!

So let’s do a little cartoon quiz – and see if you can remember some of their famous canine characters.

Here are the dogs:

A.  Scooby doo

B.  Astro

C.  Huckleberry Hound

D.  Chopper

E.   Augie Doggie

F.    Muttley

Now match them to their description:

1.  This multi-breed Dog was the partner of Dick Dastardly.  He had a characteristic snicker and wheezy laugh.

2.  The dog on the Jetsons!  One of his humans was named Elroy.

3.  A bulldog who protects Yakky Doodle from Fibber Fox.

4.  This Great Dane character had his own series.

5.  A sweet little hound-like dog who referred to his father as “dear old Dad..”

6.  This easy going blue dog speaks with a Southern accent.

Let’s see how you did – here are the answers: 

1.  F

2.  B

3.  D

4.  A

5.  E

6.  C

There were actually lots of other Hanna-Barbera dogs- we were quite surprised to see them all.  

I think my human could write a cartoon strip about us.  Mind you, no one would believe our antics.  Some might THINK that we use artistic license in telling our bad dog tales.  Sorry.  They are all true. 

Well -I made it through the dreaded 24 hour period post-seizure without another one.  My human was very happy about that.  So in the words of another Hanna-Barbera character- YABBA DABBA DOO!!!

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 1

Now dogs do need to be careful on elevators if they are on a leash.  There was a horrible case where a dog’s leash was caught in the door, almost strangling poor Fido.  I’ll skip the video – but suffice to say, you DO need to be careful.

I found some very interesting videos about DOG elevators.  They are designed for canines with mobility issues.   Here is what appears to be a homemade version:

And if you want to build one yourself- here is a site that discusses construction:

Alternatively, you may want to consider this stair lift.  

I can understand elevators for old dogs, or dogs with injuries or orthopedic problems.  But it drives me crazy that one company that is marketing them says that elevators are good for obese dogs.  Really?!   How about taking Fido for a walk- or feeding him the right food?!  Get him an elevator instead?!  Some humans are downright not right.  Clearly their elevator does not go to the top!

By now you have probably scrolled to the bottom of my blog post. I guess I wasn’t happy about my human going to work yesterday.  She got home mid afternoon and saw that someone had peed in the house.  She had a sinking feeling. So she went to look at the video recording on Big Brother.  Yup.  I had had a seizure.  Back to square one. To say we are disappointed is an understatement.  Now we just hope I don’t have any more in the next 24 hours. 

In the meantime, we stay happy that I had 40 good days.  And we hope this was just a glitch…and we ride up from here. Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days: 0

But I digress.  We are bummed out because my human is going to WORK this morning.  She is “filling in” for someone who is away.  So that means we won’t get our 34 walks today.  Or all the extra treats that are doled out throughout the day.  

My human is very much enjoying retirement- but she was looking forward to a relaxing morning at the office.  She continues to argue that we are more work than work some days.  OK. Almost every day. Alright-  EVERY DAY.  

She has decided that we need to change our daily agenda.  Currently, she takes the FG for his walk first in the morning.  But it is problematic for two reasons.  First off, Einstein barks pretty much non-stop while they are gone.  His rant goes something like this: “Hurry up.  I’m hungry.  We finished the treats you left.  Did you hear me?  We finished the treats.  I want my breakfast.  I need to pee too you know. I’m hungry.  Viktor ate the last treat.  I am going to countersuurf.  Really I am.  Here I go…. Hurry up.  I’m hungry.  How far are you walking him? I hope nothing has happened to you.  Because when will I get my breakfast if anything happened.  I’m hungry.  Surely you didn’t let him off leash did you?  Are you walking with Pig Pen?  I’m hungry.  We finished the treats.  Did you hear me? We’re all done.  You can come back now.  Hurry up.”  

And so it goes.  Every day.  That is the first problem.  Then we have the FG.  He goes for a nice walk.  Probably around 45 minutes.  While the PON rant is going on.  He comes back and sees us going for our walk.  And of course he wants to go again.  My human explains that it is our turn to go.  Well.  It is like you just took away his best toy.  He sulks.  Really. He sulks.  My human has never had a dog who was such a sulker.  If there is such a word.  She puts treats on the floor and 9 days out of 10, he refuses to touch them.  And the worst part- he is STILL sulking when we come back.  

Of course, when we come back we are RARING to get in the door because we KNOW those treats that the FG didn’t eat are on the floor. We have to sit and wait while my human opens the door.  When she says “free” we explode in the door like we haven’t eaten in an hour.  We are PONs.  It is who we are.

Meanwhile the FG is pouting.  He is so temperamental.  He keeps the pout on for at least a half hour after we return. 

To stop the rant and the extended pout face, my human is thinking about switching things so we PONs go first on the walk.  I have NO idea if this will change anything- but we’ll let her think she is making a brilliant decision.  

Rumor has it that she will actually be working FULL TIME for a few weeks in April and May.  After that, she is done done with work.  The ONLY reason we are allowing her this current stint is because she promised extra special treats.  Seriously.  She did.

Well, back to sleep – er….I mean guard duty.  She’ll be home before we know it – and then we can take her for her walks.

Have a good one.  Peace and paws up.

Seizure free days:  40!