Hobbling Toward The Holidays

The countdown has started. Only 15 more days till Christmas. That means things that have to be mailed need to be out about now, but I have the flu.

I haven't written my Christmas cards yet. I'm hoping to tackle them tonight and get them in the mail by this weekend.

There is no wreath hanging on the door. There may not be one this year.
I did manage to sit at the computer long enough to get my shopping done. I do most of my shopping online. The gifts are arriving daily, but so far none are wrapped.

Christmas tree? I don't know. I don't feel like trimming it.

My dogs have been keeping me company as I nap and sniffle around the house. Samba is feeling pretty well, though we have to make numerous trips outside, steroids make one pee a lot. Morgan is sporting her festive plastic cone to remind her not to chew on herself and Tsar has stopped pulling the hair out of his tail, thanks to Benedryl and some soothing lotion.


We're all looking after each other until we're all well again.


Dogs don't really mind taking lots of naps and when I've had chills with my illness, I can call a bunch of them to cuddle with me on the bed. It beats a hot water bottle anytime.


We hope you don't get the flu for Christmas. Stay healthy and warm and dry and you'll be hearing from us soon.

You're It

Over the weekend it suddenly turned cold. Really cold!! The dogs don't seem to even notice the temperature. They race around outside and chase each other up and down the hill.


When the pups were little they developed a game. One of them would get in front of the others and face them. The one in front was 'It' and would suddenly start running with the others giving chase.


If the one that was 'It' needed a rest, he or she wold run under the trampoline. The others could get on top of the trampoline or stand around it barking, but they couldn't touch the one resting underneath. Those were the rules they made up.


When 'It' was rested, he or she would come out and start running again. At some point in the game, someone else would become 'It' and the chase would start up again.


Eventually they all got too big to crawl under the trampoline. When that happened, they chose the swing to be the safe place. 'It' could run under the swing and although he or she was fully exposed, the others would wait till 'It was ready to run some more.


Last week Rob raised the legs on the trampoline and once again the dogs can fit under it. They noticed right away and suddenly they had their safe place back again. Now they use both the trampoline and the swing. After a good game of 'You're It' the panting begins.

A visit From Old Friends

A few months ago we hid toys around the yard for the dogs to find. When they were finished playing we put the toys away in a bag and kept them in the garage.


When we were having some gray, drizzly weather last week Rob got the toys and set them around the living room. I had the dogs outside until he was ready, then we all came in.


We just watched to see how they would react.


It took a few minutes for them to notice that there were some new additions to the room.


They're used to seeing their toys in the room, so it didn't register at first that there were some new things mixed in with the regular toys.


Tsar, as usual, was the first to notice.


Suddenly the others realized that there were some new things to play with.


At first they were sniffing, but didn't move anything.


They didn't seem to realize these were for them.


Then Fudge decided he wanted the duck.


Once Fudge took a toy, they knew it was ok for them to each take one.


Morgan is wearing a neck wrap to keep her from chewing on herself.


Sky liked the tiger and sat next to it.


Even with her neck wrap, Morgan managed to gather two toys.


She took one onto the couch to get comfortable.


Tsar laid claim to the duck. He's been tossing it around the room ever since.


Doesn't Morgan look like some creature from Star Wars?

They've all been playing with the toys ever since. Fudge drags a huge teddy bear around the house by one leg and Tsar curls up with his duck for naps. It's fun to play with toys they'd forgotten about. Alternating toys makes it interesting when they find an old favorite.

The Deck

Our deck was never dog friendly. Although it runs halfway around the house and the dogs would have loved to join us relaxing on the porch or deck, there were no gates, so they could run out into the neighborhood. Also the spindles on the deck were too far apart and a dog could squeeze thru. Tsar once took a header off the deck by squeezing between the bars. Luckily, he landed in the flower bed and was unhurt.

When Rob repaired the deck this fall he changed all the spindles moving them closer together. We had already put a gate at the foot of the steps preventing the dogs from leaving the yard, but now we have a gate at the top of the steps and another across the front entrance, so we decided to see what the dogs thought about the new and improved deck.


We opened the gate at the bottom of the steps and they happily ran up and down the steps several times.


Then Rob decided to open the gate at the top of the steps.


They all looked at me urging me to hurry up and open the gate.


They were all waiting somewhat impatiently.


Finally we decided it was time.


They raced from one end of the deck to the other. This was a first for most of them. Only Morgan has been allowed to run free. The others were always leashed when up here.


This was great exercise.


As you can see there's lots of room to build up speed.


On the back of the house they discovered some low bird feeders and raided them. They also liked barking thru the rail at Tsar who was in the yard below.


After some biscuits to celebrate, we started back toward the steps.


Again the raced up and down several times.


Finally Rob called to them to come into the yard.


The last few stragglers went along with the others.


After such a good run they needed a drink so we filled some outside bowls for them.


Everyone crowded around for a drink and when the others were finished I looked over just in time to see Norma Jean stick her feet in the water to splash. They approved of the deck and the new gate system. Now if I go outside to read they can join me.

Where's My Soapbox ?

Yes, I know this is supposed to be about dogs and crafts and fun, happy stuff, but sometimes something annoys me so much that I have to share it with as many people as I can. Lately I've been talking with everyone I know about a couple of television commercials that truly annoy me.


The first, and worst, is for Tyson Anytizers, some sort of microwaveable breaded chicken finger food. The commercial shows a band of teenage thugs ransacking a woman's kitchen, going thru the cupboards and refrigerator looking for a snack. They make disgusting remarks about the content of her cupboards and throw food around the room. Then the microwave bell rings and a smiling woman comes in and hands the delinquents a platter of these Tyson treats and smiles lovingly as they devour them.

What is wrong with this woman. Why hasn't she thrown the band of future felons out of her house and made her son clean up the mess they made before being grounded for the next five years? What are we supposed to take away from this commercial and what's worse, what are young children supposed to take away from it? That it's OK and a good thing to act like wild animals in someone else's home? That women are supposed to just smile and wait on the male sex at any age no matter how disgusting their behavior?


I wanted to e-mail Tyson and let them know my feeling about this miserable excuse for an ad, but of course, their web site is not set up for complaints.


The second ad is along the same lines, only the boys are younger. Perhaps it's the same group of boys a few years earlier. In this one a group of young boys are gathered around a table, presumably a birthday celebration. They are all pounding their fists on the table and chanting "cupcakes, cupcakes".

Mom is in the kitchen worrying that the cupcakes won't be pretty enough for the little brats and they will continue to pound the table and chant. PAM to the rescue. The cupcakes turn out beautiful and the brats happily grab them off the plate. Mom smiles and is so pleased.

Will someone please tell me what is happening here. Haven't women gotten beyond worrying about whether the males in their lives will be pleased by their cooking? Has society completely forgotten all about civility and manners. Is it OK for children to behave like Attilla The Hun and his gang while visiting in someone's home?

Are these really the images we want children exposed to day in and day out? Is this how we want children to behave? It's time to start talking back. If necessary, it's time to stop buying from these companies until they listen.

OK, speech over for today.

MMM

As you all know, Samba is fighting a miserable disease called Masticatory Muscle Myositis. In easy non-technical terms, her immune system is attacking her jaw muscles.

Until two weeks ago I had never heard of this disease, so I thought I'd share our battle with you as we go thru the treatment.



The muscles of the jaw and temple are made of different matter than any of the other muscles in the body. For some reason, no one knows why, her immune system has decided that these muscles are foreign invaders and need to be wiped out, so it has started destroying them.

The treatment is high doses of steroids over a long period of time. Samba started off at 60 mg of Prednisone a day for two weeks. That's a high dose and we're seeing some nasty side effects. She has been having highly explosive diarrhea for several days and we're having trouble getting it under control. We're giving her special food and some drugs and hoping that when we start tapering her dosage, we can get it under control.

Samba's voice has changed. She used to snore loudly and growl frequently. Now she does neither of those. She had a deep bark, but her bark is now quite high pitched. These are a result of the steroid use.

The muscles in her jaw and temple have deteriorated to the point where she has deep indentations in her skull. Those will probably remain even after treatment. The muscle is destroyed and the surrounding muscles must pick up the slack.

At first Samba was unable to open her mouth and when she tried was in severe pain. With the treatment so far, she has regained some ability to use her mouth. She may never have full range of motion back, but seems to be pain free at this time.


I'm sure we'll go thru a lot more changes during the next six months as we continue treatment, but we'll face them as they come along.