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!



Reviving the Bullblog

So, I've committed one of the most atrocious sins of social media. It's a simple, reasonable rule that you would think I'd follow after consistently blogging for months.

Never, ever, under any circumstances, abandon your blog.

I realize that because my last blog was posted in the middle of July, any "followers" who might have fancied our stories or put us on their online radar may have since lost interest. And I humbly take the blame, but invite everyone back. Lord knows I've thrown my audience for a loop before (thanks to Uncle Noah!). But, blog abandonment is not an easily forgiveable sin. It's detrimental to readership. I can imagine visiting my abandoned blog was like attempting to shop at a boutique that's always closed because of its weird hours or going to a restaurant that was always out of your favorite item on the menu. A series of letdowns only leads to disappointment, and ultimately, distrust. But I hope, if you've ventured to the blog to read this post, you'll be persuaded to stay. And, maybe, we can rebuild that trust.

First off, it's not Linus' fault that Mommy abandoned the blog. So, if you're simply a fan of Linus the character (and don't really care about me), staying tuned would be worth your while. Because Linus has accomplished some extraordinary feats while we've been away the past few months. Here's just a few developments we'll be blogging about in the near (EXTREMELY NEAR) future:

Paging Dr. Linus. Linus has passed an evaluation to become an official trainee for Love on a Leash, the Bluegrass Chapter. This means in the future we will be providing "pet therapy" in the community, visiting hospitals, retirement homes and other venues where people can benefit from Linus' jovial presence. I expect the most heart-felt and warm blogs to come out of these experiences. For more information on Love on a Leash, click here.

Wedding bells. This fall, Linus will become the unlawfully wedded husband of a yet-to-be-named female Frenchie. My sister, who is moving back to Kentucky from New York, has been promised a female Frenchie by her loving husband (who is desperately hoping this pup will appease her desire to have a real baby). Laura Marie (the sis) suggested this little girl become Linus' cousin (which would make sense), but I think he needs a wife. It will, however, have to be a childless marriage due to Linus' lack of... potential. I like to think of them as a hip, new age couple that doesn't want to pollute the earth with more creatures and are so in love they don't need children to distract them from each other. How romantic! However, talking to Laura Marie about her new baby girl kinda makes me feel like a creepy mother fixing an arranged marriage.

New stuff. From nutritional supplements to clothes, we're trying out some great new stuff to make life Linus' as a dog much more groovy. We've grown out of our old UK jersey and bought a shiny new one for football season. We're taking a supplement that a pet store owner swears will take away all the goop in our eyes (still trying that). We've tried another medicine out that is proven to eliminate your dog's desire to eat some less than delectable items left in the yard - would love to write a blog explaining my thoughts on that stuff. What's more exciting, we've got a brand new doggie specialty store that opened in our neighborhood, we're just dying to "review!"

New friends. Linus has several new friends to speak of. We've made doggie friends through LOAL, including a Cocker Spaniel named Tucker and my boss' dog, Jake, an English Setter. We met a fellow brindle Frenchie a couple weeks ago at the Farmers' market, who was named after some wizard who turns into a dog from the Harry Potter books (does anybody know this name?). We met the biggest guy we've ever encountered, a Great Dane, at the Woodland Arts Fair. We've become good friends with our English bulldog friend Matilda, who welcomed Linus to her Dad's birthday party.

New tricks. In preparation for LOAL, we've been working on our behavior. This process has led me several conclusions about Linus: he is, infact, smart. He is adaptable. He learns quickly, but not easily. He really does need formal training. I've learned he doesn't like to heel, but he picked up on "high five" like he was born to raise that awkward little paw. We're going to continue to learn together, and will be sharing these struggles with you on the blog.

So, perhaps those reasons are enough to convince you to stick around and see what happens. Life is never dull with Linus. And I've had so much fun raising him, teaching him and enduring the trials of life with him at my side, that I owe it to him to share our experiences. And I hope, occassionally, we can touch your heart, make you laugh, reveal something about your relationship with your pet you never knew or at the very least help you burn a idle hour at work. Thanks for reading.

Love,
Linus and Elizabeth