A Halloween Preview

For those of us who are too old to break out a flagrant costume and not yet blessed with children to decorate on Halloween, our remaining pleasure is dressing up our creatures.

My creature is a little bit less enthusiastic about the holiday of swapping identities than, say, the average four-year old. Most grade school kids are eager to tell you what they are going to be for Halloween: a vampire, a ghost, Batman or a puppy dog. As the parent of a dog, not a child, I am in the advantageous (and marginally abusive) position of having the ablity to select the most demoralizing costume possible with no "child" input. Although, with Linus, I'm convinced that any costume that he can detect touching his fur gets a doggie frown face.

Yesterday we were running some errands, and we stopped by a couple doggie shops looking for doggie costumes. I've had an idea for Linus' first Halloween costume for months, but I wanted to scope out the simple costume-in-a-bag options. I was impressed with the Petsmart selection. Our options included ghost, lobster, pig, dracula, bumble bee, pumpkin, hot dog and shark. Martha Stewart also offer these ridiculously cute "pajama" style costumes of a skeleton and a zombie. I was sold on the skeleton, but they were sold out of mediums. So, we tried on a sparkling blue "alien" costume right there in the store. With costumes at 50 percent off, this wouldn't be a bad trial costume.

The smirks, giggles and sneers from fellow shoppers gave me enough motivation to fork out the $3.70 for the alien costume. C'mon, we're not laughing at him, but with him! Although I am not sure this will be the final costume, it's a great back-up if my other idea doesn't pan out. Here's some great photos of Linus "trying on" Costume No. 1 for the family. As you can see, Linus is thrilled with his alien costume.




ALIEN INVASION!



Me, Dad and Linus... a Papaw Halloween photo!

Angry about this costume thing.

With UNCLE NOAH AND PAPAW!

Still angry... "please take this off, I look ridiculous!"

Stomach in a Knot

I've already had my fair share of doggie health scares. Doggie eats paint, doggie has upset stomach, doggie falls out of a tree house, doggie gets attacked by another aggressive dog, doggie gets slashed in the face by the cat, doggie runs out in front of a car, doggie tears ACL (darned bouncing boxers...). The these heart-stopping mini-disasters are lurking everywhere, waiting to pounce on new dog owners and catch experienced dog owners by surprise. We can prep ourselves with all veterinary advice in the world, but sometimes these emergencies just happen.

There are right and wrong ways to respond when something scary happens to your dog, such as sickness.

Sometimes we overreact. For instance, about nine months ago, my little baby Linus gobbled up some black acrylic paint during an art session. Despite the fact that the tube was labeled clearly as "non-toxic," my hysteria costs me a needless $75 poison control caller fee (and likely a couple grey hairs down the road). The worst outcome was that Linus' catfish mouth remained black for a couple days.

Sometimes we get angry. I remember the time my sneaky first boxer, Socks, snatched a bag of hershey dark chocolate kisses off our kitchen counter top. When we found the silver remnants of wrapper streaked with chocolate across our hallway carpet, I was immediately infruriated. "That idiot dog!" Nevermind that dark chocolate injestion is a huge health hazard dogs and can cause death. It was moments later that anger turned to worry, and we were on the phone with the vet. (Don't worry, Socks paid the terrible price of a lengthy stomach ache for her indulgence, but she survived her chocolate consumption).

Sometimes we find someone to blame (even if that someone is ourselves). The first time Linus started hung out with my Dad's dogs, he contracted fleas. While he was treated regularly for fleas, my Dad's dogs were not being treated at the time, and Linus consequently pick them up. When we made this discovery, I marched to my Dad, accused him of being an irresponsible dog owner and hinted at the fact that he was to blame for my trouble ridding all the dogs of their fleas. But we should all note, the blame game leads to nowhere and is ultimately a waste of time.

And, sometimes we have to go with our gut. After several days moping around the house and a precautionary vet visit, my aunt's laborador retreiver Jake started burrowing away in the backyard last week. His breathing was labored and he was out of energy. One night, when his breathing had gotten to a horrific point, my aunt called her vet begging to bring him in. The vet advised that she should "watch him" overnight and revisit his condition in the morning, but Amy refused. She demanded to take him to the clinic right away.

They hauled Jake into the car and helped him into the clinic, where he immediately collapsed on the floor of the lobby. X-rays revealed that he had a knot in his intestines, which the veterinarian had only seen a couple times before. They operated on Jake the next morning, extracting some of the intestine that has essentially "died." Today, with the exception of sporadic itching sprees where the stitches had been, he's doing fine.

Your response to a doggie health scare can make a huge difference in the outcome of the situation and your own sanity. The best way to respond to a doggie health scare is to:

• Stay calm (nothing ever gets resolved in the midst of hysteria)
• Contact your vet's emergency office immediately (depending on the nature of the scare) and always have your vet's contact readily available
• Ask for assistance from a neighbor, trusted friend or family member (having someone around to support you during a scare makes a world of difference!)
• Focus on the solution, rather than the problem (never get caught up in the shoulda-coulda-woulda mentality)

And try to prevent doggie scares by knowing your doggie's vulnerabilities (ie. escaping the yard, attacking other dogs, eating unhealthy foods) and taking steps to make sure worst-case scenarios are unlikely.

Bed Bugs

I am gaining a renewed understanding of why my dog is intrinsically a bully, despite his outward friendly demeanor.

It has to do with the fact that lately I've allowed him to share some snoozes with me. He's such a nice little snuggler, and I rarely allow him to lay under the covers. Most of the time, he'll situate himself somewhere up by the mass of pillows at the top of the bed, curl up in a ball with his back to me and rest peacefully. He knows when it's time to go to bed and will sit up politely at the foot of the bed until I've brushed my teeth and washed my face in the adjacent bathroom. Once I lie down to go to sleep, he'll trudge up the covers beside me and with a big human-like sigh, he'll plop down for a night's rest.


Linus is becoming a pest at bedtime - a little bed bug!


Let's face it: when he's sleeping, he's at his sweetest. But after a couple weeks letting this go on, I am second guessing the "peaceful" nature of this scenario. With his increased confidence, Linus has begun pushing his way to the dead center of the bed. Often I will wake up in the early morning hours to literally find myself tettering on the edge of the bed - and without covers! The little man will be found in the dead center of the bed, cozily curled like a fat rolly polly. And I will have to remove him from the spot, replace him at the top of the bed and remind him that he's not the boss here.



Linus and I can now only take naps together.

Over the past few weeks, my explanations for his relocation on the bed have digressed from simply, "No, Linus, this is mommy's spot" to "Ughghg... you little turd." They are especially curt when I have only a few hours a sleep to go. While I am somewhat impressed at his ability to steadily push me to the edge of my own bed, his bed bullying is starting to rub me the wrong way. As in, off my own bed.

Last night, before I went to brush my teeth, I courted my little bed bug to his old kennel in the dining room. Before submitting, he peered up at me with apprehension. Those bulb-like eyes pleading to me, "You're not really going to do this, are you?"

Yes, I did. And when I woke up this morning, instead of finding a cream rolly polly in the middle of MY space, he was curled up in the corner of his kennel. Bed bug problem relieved!