It seems unbelievable that it's been one year since Maggie and April were dumped here. Happy anniversary girls!
They've made huge improvements in their behavior.
Taken this evening:
That being said, they have a way to go.
Especially April:
Elewah, visiting stray and mom to Jack and Lily, has fully recovered from being spayed.
playing chase with her pups:
We had Bosha, the neighbor's dog that might as well be a stray, spayed as well. While recovering here, she made herself at home, so we'll see how that goes.
Bosha catches up to Maggie:
As for Ziggy. Ziggy, Ziggy, Ziggy. He had been bullying Archie and Truman (because they are bully-able) and starting fights with the Ernie, Chester and George. Ambitious, but not too bright. Between that and the constant barking we were honestly fed up. Likely due more to his neutering than anything we did, he has taken it down a notch. He's not great, but he's better and not a day too soon. He likes most of the pack, especially the other fuzzy dogs and he's an angel on walks.
Ziggy and Henry pause for a photo:
Overall, things are good. The dogs are bemused by the Easter beach crowd and are enjoying barking at passing cars. I could do with less kids that bark at the dogs. ADORABLE.
The dogs that had heartworm are due to be tested, to see if the treatment worked.
Rabies vaccinations are up, lots of little things to do, poo to rake, the usual.
Walk shot that shows off Lily's pretty coat:
Tito is fat and happy. Literally. We just noticed that the little guy has gotten pudgy. He's a freak about food, to a funny and infuriating degree, so I shouldn't be surprised.
Rub my belly damn it:
She's lost some weight and grown some fur, but she's still our Greta. Short legs,big feet and a curly little tail.
The rare and elusive Gretalope:
Brothers and best pals Otto and Oscar:
Shirley; soft as velvet, sweet as pie. She's heavily represented here, but how can I resist? With that face?
Sleeping with her eyes open:
Awake and wondering what I'm laughing about:
This has been a difficult update to do.
Endlessly conflicted, I am.
Astrologically challenged, I tell ya.
Nicer ring to it than plumb nutters.
Where to start? Is it really still February? Man. Not the best beginning to this year.
It hasn't all been bad, so I should quit my bitching. At least we don't live in Pittsburgh.
That's my little homage to the great tradition of making Pittsburgh the punchline (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you must not watch old movies.). But seriously, they got 22 inches of snow in a day!
Both of our birthdays have come and gone since the last update (hazzah, I'm 40!) and a few of the dog's too.
Good news. Bad news. Ain't it always the way?
First, the bad.
The puppies had parvo, despite having been vaccinated. Sweet Chico died. Nothing else to say.
The good...
-George, after having been unable to even stand for weeks, is healthy and going on runs (unless it's chilly, then he'd rather not). We couldn't be happier!
-Ziggy, the formerly quiet, has been neutered.
-Two puppies survived parvo, after a week at he veterinarian's. We're calling them Jack and Lily. They are predictably cute, but are going to need a lot of work to be socialized.
On their 1st chaperoned walk:
Tiger Lily:
Black Jack:
By weird happenstance, we manage to help the neighbor's dog when she was envenomed or poisoned.
Glad to do it, but we were a little confused. Initially we thought she was Elewah, mom to the pups.
Nope, she's Bosha:
This is Elewah. Obviously. Silly humans:
She and her son are hard to tell apart too:
Elewah is already in heat again and due to be spayed Monday. She doesn't live here, she just visits often, so I hope she comes by this weekend. This was at least her third litter. Her doppelganger Bosha, just lost a litter. We're hoping to get her spayed at the city clinic, the next time one is held. We're awash in black dogs.
Speaking of... Happy 1st Anniversary (with us) Rufus! What a sweet and fun guy!
As for news I'm ambivalent about... Ziggy....I'm glad he's here and happy...but he's driving me freakin' nuts. Seriously. bark bark bark. bark bark bark. His voice is so high pitched it makes my eyes water. bark bark bark. Not a damn yip out of him for the 6? 8? months that he was around outside the yard...now he never stops.
He may be starting to bark a little less, but it's hard to tell because all the barking makes it hard to think. We're working on it. It's just that he's SO HAPPY and he only knows ONE WORD. sigh. If he were a little quieter, he would make a great companion for someone.All in all, the good outweighs the bad. One point for my optimistic side.
Shirley has no complaints:
Many thanks to Lisa and Josh for all their help over the past 6 weeks!
Here's hoping for good health for the pack in the new year.
After we found out that Ernie had heartworm, we tested the whole pack. A bunch of dogs tested positive. It was caught early, so the prognosis is good. Treatments were expensive and rough on the dogs. We wrongly believed they were protected by being on Frontline. Now poorer, but better informed, we will be giving ALL of them a shot of ivermectin EVERY month.
Poor George had a bad reaction to the treatment. The vet thinks that swelling from the shot caused some nerve damage. He hasn't been able to stand or walk. He's a 60b dog and we live on the second floor, so Sean and I are both feeling his pain. Dra. Sandra recommended swimming for therapy. George seems to enjoy it and he's showing some improvement. He stood up today for a moment, for the first time in weeks! Happy new year indeed!
Josh and Lisa swim with George and Ziggy:
The holidays brought some new arrivals. One fuzzy little guy that had been steadfastly resisting warming to us finally gave in. He's been lurking around for at least 6 months and, more recently, had taken to hanging out under our truck. He finally decided to check out life on the other side of the fence. He's a little smaller and darker than Henry and we call him Ziggy. He has a problem with his eye, but is in no distress. He's been vaccinated, deloused, and will soon be going in for a neutering. He is a sweetie, he just gets noisy when overwhelmed with emotion.
In the spirit of the season, we took in a sweet mamacita about as old as Gracie. She has 3 pups and a long story. One of the pups has been here for a month or so.
we call him Chico:
The other 2 had been holed up nearby at an empty property, but were driven out when the owners arrived.
I found them living under a bush about a quarter-mile away from our house. It took a few days of squatting in the mosquito infested shrubs with grub to trick them into a crate. Hallelujah. That sucked.
They're here now and we're working on socializing them. Their brother Chico is outgoing and huge by comparison. They are, as of yet, unnamed. Anybody want a puppy? They'll be vaccinated tomorrow and old enough for neutering in a few weeks. Their mom is a small, friendly girl who has had at least 3 litters. She had been spending a lot of time around our house and occasionally comes on walks with us. We had given her Frontline, ivermectin and vaccinations weeks ago, but had hoped that one of the other beach dwellers would give her a place to live. That, of course, didn't happen. We're hoping to have her spayed before she goes into heat again.
Are we crazy? Maybe. I know that plenty of people think so but we're happy and I don't envy one of those people their life. Age is making me less apologetic (and apoplectic... I say in my best Groucho Marx voice...).
A quote from fellow herbivore George Bernard Shaw springs to mind:
"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."
It's a rainy day and the dogs think I should stay in the hammock with them, so here's an update. Ernie had his follow up blood test and, while his liver and kidneys are fine, he tested positive for heartworm. This happened since his last blood test, so at least we caught it early. We also took a few other dogs in for check-ups. Tito and Lucy tested positive for ehrlichiosis. As they say, bad things happen in 3's. Since I'm not actually superstitious, that brings no consolation. The vet is coming on Sunday to administer blood tests to the whole pack, cats included. Hopefully nothing else shows up, Everyone should be fine, but we've got our hands full at the moment. Along with the antibiotics for Lucy and Tito twice daily for ehrlichiosis, Lucy and Greta are taking glucosamin and Greta and Tito need medicated baths every other day to combat a fungus. Suffice it to say, Greta is not easy to bathe.
Oh well, can't always have blue skies.
Reggie isn't worried (he is however, the biggest dog! how did that happen?):
Most of the dogs like the water.
Shirley loves it:
Henry wades and Gowron is champion in her weight class:
Greta, on the other hand, is not a fan. Despite this, we're making her swim for exercise. She needs to lose weight and she currently can't walk much because of a hip problem. Getting her to swim is about as hard as giving her a bath.
step 1:
step 2:
step 3:
success:
a short video of our little mermaid:
...I chased a fly off her nose as she swam by, in case you were wondering.
Whenever some dogs go for a swim or a run, lots of others stay home.
Otto, Bette and Osita watch the others return:
waiting for the door to open:
any minute now:
my pal Otto in morning light:
