where's the mute button?

plug your ears people cause you about to get "specked"

super fuzz

this video cracks me up for two reasons: (1) watson & jewel are the two slowest moving dogs we have and when they play it looks like it's in slow motion (it can actually be sleep inducing) and (2) because everyone else was outside it seems like jewel decided to use this alone time with watson to work on some new moves, although she remains true to the good ole "grab a back leg" move. 

and you think you had a bad day

i had a game when i was a kid* called medical monopoly (you can probably guess how cool i was just from that sentence alone).  basically you got a card with symptoms and had to correctly diagnose the condition to move ahead...i know, totally awesome, right?  so today i’m offering up a little twist – are you ready to play veterinary monopoly?  here’s your symptoms: 

• large amount of arterial blood from penis
• no visible marks
• several hours post-seizure  

because zander presented with these symptoms he got to take a little trip to our vet today and the diagnosis pretty much surprised all who were present.  this xray is the last hint before i reveal the diagnosis:

diagnosis:  fractured penis

poor zanny broke his penis.  we’ve had several dogs with seizure disorders and for all intents and purposes zander’s are fairly standard with the exception of how violently he thrashes about.  unfortunately his seizures usually happen in the middle of the night when he’s asleep on the couch and by the time we’re awakened he’s already flung himself to the ground.  that is exactly the scenario that happened early this morning and at some point in the midst of the seizure the infraction (ha, i kill me) occurred.  i can’t believe zan broke his penis …and seems unphased by it to boot. 

*in the interest of honesty i should note that the game remains in my possession (i’ve only suckered dave into playing once)

welcoming committee

if i were so inclined i could write a blog entitled “what carly did wrong” and literally have enough material to post daily.  i’d use this photo as the banner…

having said that i feel i should also tell you that i adore the bejinkles out of her…as bad as she is she is exactly equally as fantastic.  among her two most redeeming qualities are she’s about the sweetest thing going on four legs and she is the most amazing welcome wagon president our family could have.  this is some footage of slater’s first day here, and while everyone else wasn’t sure of him (and vice versa), carly got right in there to make him feel right at home (which meant we had to give her a pardon on the bad shit she did that day).

happy dance

i’m so, so happy to announce that violet has officially been adopted. her trainers, nathan & bridget from k9 logics, have been amazingly kind enough to foster her over the last year and she’s been having a ball playing with all the dogs that come to their daycare.  being the amazing little lady that she is she helped a very timid pit bull daycamper come out of her shell and that dog’s owner decided that violet was a keeper.  violet now gets to spend her days with her new sister and her fantastic new life includes spending weekdays at daycare while her family is at work.  we are so thrilled that violet is getting her chance at the life she deserves.  i know she was happy during her time here and that she loved being with nathan & bridget but i needed her to be settled in her forever home to really feel okay…and quite honestly all that projecting my feelings onto her was getting tiresome. 

so it seems that sometimes you have to free some energy for things to move foreward.  we’ve been in a holding pattern since violet left.  i specifically have had a hard time with her not working here and probably didn’t feel right about moving on until violet was able to move on.  that all changed the week before christmas when we were at an adoption event put on by emmylou harris’ rescue, bonaparte’s retreat, (note that we were going for the music…not to adopt).  this dog passed by us that i missed but dave was very taken by (seriously he kept telling me i needed to see him).  later the girl walking that dog came right up to a group of us and started a sales pitch for said dog…which we fell for hook, line & sinker.  the dog, slater, was a handsome, about 1-year-old mix who had been returned to the nashville humane society on two different occasions.  the end of the story and start of a new story so to speak is that slater is now a colella.  he’s a sweet, lovable doofus of a dog who is dave’s new shadow.  i am pleased to present slater for your viewing pleasure: 

so far 2012 is looking much better than 2011 did…hope you all are having a great start to the new year!

the wrath of grapes

tuesday was not a good day and it turned into an even worse 48 hours.  i did a moronic thing and left some just washed grapes in the sink to dry…and let the dogs in and forgot about the grapes.  cue doom music, enter carly.  i came into the kitchen a short time later to find carly standing over some little tell-tale water marks on the floor, saw a few chewed stems and at first thought “oh carly” and then “oooh carly” (which doesn’t look  that much different but believe me it is).

i decided to do a quick internet search and i really believed because she weighs 110 lbs that i would find the amount she ate wasn’t an issue (similar to chocolate) but after reading for a few minutes it was clear there is really very little known about the toxicity of grapes.  i called the aspca poison control center and got some direction for inducing vomiting at home but after calculating the amount of grapes she ate and a comical first attempt at trying to make carly a vomitee we decided an er visit was the safest bet.

at the er they were able to induce vomiting quickly and, guess what guys, they even let me count the grapes!  that was fun! because there is so little known about grape toxicity the vets at the er always call poison control to get the latest treatment protocol.  because of her size and the likelihood that we got all the grapes (most whole with stems still attached), i had the choice of taking her home, watching her for 48 hours and checking kidney function at that time or being more conservative and diuresing her for 24 hours.  i chose the conservative approach and off we went. 

it has been a very long 48 hours but i’m elated to report that carly’s kidney functions were perfect this morning and she’s totally in the clear.  here’s my hard-earned advice:  (a) keep grapes away from your dogs and if you fail at (a) then call the aspca poison control hotline immediately for the most up to date treatment.  unfortunately i bought a very expensive bag of grapes but thankfully it was a bag of grapes i can forgive myself for.

aspca animal poison control center  888.426.4435

i've got some other good news (that doesn't start with bad news) but that will have to wait until later...it's a cliffhanger!

the post i've been dreading

yesterday dave & i helped murray along to his next journey.  i'm so thankful he's no longer in pain and feel very fortunate to have had him in my life.  if you read this blog then you know what murray meant to me and will understand that i can't really say anything more right now.  when i took this picture years ago i titled it "heaven sent murray" so it seems very fitting now... 

sneak peek

we were lucky enough to be photographed by fantastic local photographer adrian hitt last week and she's put a sneak peek on her blog...check it out if you're so inclined.  i can't wait to see the rest of her shots!  if you're local to nashville and want some amazing photos taken of you and your dogs don't hesitate to contact her. 

milestones

when we lost kody seven years ago (how has it been that long ago) he was two days shy of his 15^th birthday and since then we have not had a dog live long enough to celebrate that milestone.  although i do not want to disparage him, there’s a slight possibility that kody put a spell on us to ensure no one outlives his lifespan.   i have no doubt this spell was not malicious, however, it has caused me quite a bit of pain and worry and i’ve been ready to find some eye of newt to whip up a potion and dispel the spell. 

as of yesterday i can forget the eye of newt because murray singlehandedly kicked that spell’s ass as we celebrated his 15^th birthday.  this dog…oh this dog!  murray has been much lauded on this blog and i'm sorry to say more is to follow.  please indugle me as i'm celebrating him today...i’ll try to make it quick (if this isn’t enough for you i would suggest reading this or just click on “murray” on the right hand column and read it all). 

it has always been my contention that murray has more spirit than the dallas cowboy cheerleaders but he’s actually blown them out of the water (and i’m a product of the seventies so i mean the real dallas cowboy cheerleaders).  in 2008 after a very bad back diagnosis our vet told us we probably wouldn’t have too long with him but with acupuncture and chiropractic along with his steel iron will that was proven wrong.  in 2009 he suffered a bout of “old dog” disease and we were told his condition might not improve or if it did he would likely get it again yet his strong like bull strength struck again and he was fine.  in the last few months he had been slowing down and it seemed like what i have been dreading the most was imminent.  add to that some growths we’ve been following for years were getting too big and would need to be taken care of and things were looking grim.  a few weeks ago along with our vet we decided we had to take the chance of sedating him to remove the growths.  fortunately he made it through the surgery fine and after a week of recuperating something magical happened and he experienced a murray renaissance.  it’s like he rewound his life back a few months and seems vital again.  whether the surgery actually awoke some healing vibes or his amazing spirit took over i don’t know but i thank whatever it was wholeheartedly.  i don’t know how much time i have with him but you can be sure i will savor it…at this point i’ve gotten to spend 15 years with this amazing spirit and he’s broken a horrible streak so i’m thankful.  i imagine years from now after he’s gone my heart will remain in the shape of him.  i hope you’ll indulge me in a little photographic murray retrospective:

celebrating his 15th!

happy all hallows eve

hope you're enjoying a wonderful halloween.  once again it's time for our annual treat (see 2009 here & 2010 here):

row 1 (l to r):  murray, simon, jewel

row 2 (l to r):  wilson, indi, phineus

row 3 (l to r):  fletcher, watson, reilley

row 4 (l to r):  zander, flanagan, speck

row 5 (l to r):  carley, dooley, benny

(in case you're wondering this is the official order the dogs came into our lives)