Life: March 3 - 8

Tally exhausted after an intense play session with herself. 

Figaro peers down from his perch on my  table. 

Paddington sits beside me and watches Tally run around like a nut job

Paddington thinking about challenging Tally for the toy

Us Lately ...

Hi!

Just dropping by to say, YES we are still alive ... all six of us!

Yes we've added YET ANOTHER DOG to the family.

Super cute and full of teeth!

His name is Paddington, but he won't be here super long hope.ful.ly!

Yeah... back at ya real soon!

but don't hold your breath.

 

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Month 1

Aside from still looking rough, we're 100% back to our normal self. 

Funny how little things like jumping into bed, and burying under the covers, were so big during the past month. I'm just happy to have my dog back.

Getting back to Normal...

Whatever that is... Tuesday July 30, 2013 our month plus ordeal came to an end. With the final sutures out Texas was once again free to dog be used to be; though I think this ordeal had changed him. He's more accepting of strangers, and a lot more needy. Yes I have created as monster. In other ways he's much more subdued. But at the same time you can tell he's happy to be able to do "normal" things like sleep under covers without getting an e-collar caught on something, or even be able to get on the couch by himself.  Mostly he's just happy I'm no longer constantly yelling at him for licking himself. :-/ 

The Reaction

It's hard to tell, but the shiny is where his skin was dying

It's been a harrowing two weeks and a days.

It all started simply enough. Its summer time and with warm weather comes longer time spent out of of doors. With more time spent out of doors, comes more time to roll and play in things like garbage and poop; to put it bluntly.  On this particular Saturday Texas did both. Roll in poop and play in the garbage. So I did what any indoor dog mom does, and promptly bathed him. Both times.

It wasn't until early Sunday morning I realized something was very odd about Texas' fur. It was almost wavy ... as if perhaps the skin underneath was wavy.. but that couldn't be right. He must have gotten some grease on his fur, and if I rinse it of perhaps that will do the trick.

Fast forward to Monday night, when it finally came home to me that my dog's fur wasn't stuck together with grease, but something more serious was going on. This wasn't going away on its own. Tuesday morning dawned with Texas barely walking and his leg had swollen over night.

By the time I got to work I was hoping beyond hope that this was something simple, but when the doctor rushed to the front, telling me auctioneer style what was going on, before rushing back to the treatment area. My heart sank. I think I sat with my mouth open for ... a really long time.

What shampoo did you use? Don't ever use that stuff again! Your dog has a temperature of 105 that skin is (to paraphrase as I don't remember the exact words) dying and we're going to try and save it. HOwever I think we may actually have to remove that skin ok? I'm going to give him an steroid injection and some antibiotics to help his fever go down and we'll go from there.

We went home, sorrowful but with some hope. But by the time our scheduled recheck on Thursday appeared, we were grasping at straws. Wednesday had seen Texas trying to chew [the skin on] his leg off, which he almost did, prompting me to make a mad dash to Pets Supplies Plus for an e-collar and some gauze. Though I was afraid of that being the wrong course of action, I saw no choice.

The screaming on Thursday afternoon found me cringing behind the reception desk. Please don't let that be because of me? It was. Dr. R suggested we try soaking the skin in <insert technical term here> on a daily basis to see if that would help. However go ahead and prepare for surgery Monday morning.

Monday dawned with a very hungry and annoyed Texas as we made the 15 minute drive to work. Shortly there after I walk into treatment and see him out cold on the wet table, with his fur being shaved off. :(

Good news is, he doesn't look to bad without some of his fur ...Bad news his skin had to be removed. At that point the Dr. took about six inches total off his left side and sutured him back together with the remain skin. Since he didn't have enough to completely close the wounds, there were some holes. Monday we'd due to surgery again to close those holes, once the skin had some time to grow.

Since then we've been in for a bandage change on Thursday, in which they removed the sutures as that skin had died, and took some skin off the right side. Thus ensconcing him in bandages.

I now affectionately call him my little tootsie roll.
I don't think he enjoys it much.

Needless to say we've got a long road ahead of us.

He's can walk around, though doesn't like to do it much; and is eating and drinking regularly enough that I know he'll be fine. He's just miserable. He's struggled for about the last 20 minutes with his itchy bandages and not being able to itch himself; and it just breaks my heart.


So if you think about Mr. Texas, please pray that his skin grows back quickly and he can be back to his normal bouncy self!

Thanks So much.

Erin

Shampoo Used: Oster's Oatmeal Shed Control - 99% Natural

Puppy Diaries: Adopted!

Jack-Jack has been adopted, and is moving to his new home in a few weeks. The only thing I can say is "HALLELUJAH. Having the two of them together gets harder everyday, as they are extremely smart, and plot on a daily basis how best to get into as much as possible.

One on one they are great. Together? Not so much.

They can spend very little time on their own, even blocked into a "puppy proof" room.  As they can make a mess out of almost nothing. It's mind boggling! I warn anyone thinking of getting two puppies, that are the same age. JUST DON'T.

When I get my next guide dog puppy, I'm positive it will feel like a breeze. One puppy, that can stay behind baby gate and doesn't have mad climbing skills? NO PROBLEM.

He'll hopefully be moving on in a few weeks and then we can focus on working on Mulan's (aka Moo-Moo) behavioral issues that have started to arise.

Here's to hoping I don't kill them in the next week or so! (Just kidding!) 

Also (RIP a few month old Converse Sneakers. You were the most expensive pair of shoes I bought. I'll miss you.) 

~Erin

Puppy Diaries: Sleeeeep

Day 36 

May 27, 2013 

Mulan & Jack-Jack 

There is no such thing as relaxing in a house full of puppies.
Its like having kids, except you can't really communicate. Well .... you know what I mean.
I woke up on this lovely memorial day with a stomach ache that has persisted throughout my six hours of work, and on into the afternoon. Side Note: I'm currently baby-sitting Paris my friends 6-month-old Yorkie, on top of Things 1 & 2; so I mean it when I say I have a house FULL of puppies.

Upon arriving home, all I want to do is take a nap. I spent an hour with them in the yard, completely focused on getting a nap. As soon as my timer went off,  I managed to corral M & JJ into the Kitchen, complete with PB cover toys, and a double-gated doorway and took Paris, Bubbles & Texas with me.

Paris is not a huge fan of the moster mutts and prefers to have nothing to do with them, so she was stuck with me. I soon found out why that wasn't the best idea for someone who was looking for rest.

She, like most puppies, doesn't like to be still. Like at all. In the minutes its taken me to write these paragraphs she's climbed over me at least 20 times.  Maybe more. She's climbed over the dachshunds, then over my keyboard, over me again, walked over my pillows now down to the end of the bed.

Now back onto the bed, stopped for a moment to sit and watch me type, before making her rounds yet again.

Is a nap really too much to ask????

Between a screaming puppy from the kitchen, (Thing 1 & 2 don't share very well) and a dancing puppy on my bed, I barely squeezed in an hours worth of shut eye.

Once I realized a nap was no longer an I option, I loaded up the puppies (M & JJ) and took them to my friends house for dinner. Both puppies are hitting adolescents and have deemed all dogs bigger than them the enemy... Despite the fact that Mulan has met and had no problem with Snowy in the past; Today she chased Snowy around the house several times before I corralled her. Snowy thought it was a big game, and wasn't at all deterred by Mulan's "wrath". So they were regulated to being outside or crated. But there were some moments when they could get out. So I let the kids walk them, it was good for the to interact with the kids, and get to do something they wanted.

 Disclaimer: Both puppies were completely supervised with the kids and given lots of treats! :) 

Puppy Diaries: New Food

Day 35
May 26, 2013

New Foodies 

Mulan models the new bags of food

My dogs typically eat a smorgashboard of kibbles. I'm not one to commit to one particular brand when it comes to my dachshunds. Variety is the spice of life IMO; and it keeps them from getting picky. I tend to keep my food standard at brands that can't be purchased at Walmart, and have had them on Natural Balance, Purina Pro Plan, Wellness, Back to the Basic's etc. However I have noticed Bubbles' digestive system was having a rough time on Natural Balance, and the puppies who were on Science Diet have been itching and scratching non-stop lately. So I've decided to go back to Wellness for the next few months and see if we can all get back on track.

I'm a fan of Wellness as its what I first changed my dogs to back when I realized what a big role food played in my dogs behavior. Bubbles lost weight and had a lot more energy, Texas stayed at a good weight and I think the puppies will benefit from not having so much grains in their diet.

Wellness we're back! :)

$$$$$$$$

Puppy Diaries: Houdini's

Day 34 
May 25, 2013 
Too Smart for their Own Good

Everyone liked to make fun of dumb dogs, and they make. Easy to do so. I know I because I just sent back one, that I made lots of fun of. I loved that dog to death, but he was a dog that would run full tilt forward while looking backwards. He's a dog that regularly tripped over his own feet.  Regularly. 

Now these puppies on the other hand, are INCREDIBLY smart. Too smart.  Hard to live with smart. What could they possibly think of next smart. 

Over the last 35 days I've been able to learn more about these guys and the more I live with them the smarter they seem.

Mulan seems to be the "thinking" pup. The decisions she makes seems as if she's evaluated the situation, and found the simplest solution.  

For instance I decided to baby gate them onto my front porch. Its about 8x8 with wooden slats about four inches apart. It's about 2 feet off the ground with steps leading down.  Since its higher than my back porch they haven't seemed inclined to leap off it. Yet. 

Well I needed to clean my house and so I decided to see if they would be cool with hanging on the porch with some toys. I put up the baby gate, and let Mulan onto the porch. She immediately walks onto the porch, walks to the open slat BESIDE the baby-gate, stretches her tiny self to the step that's being blocked by the gate, and is in the yard using the bathroom. 

I think I stood with my mouth open for at least five minutes. Sure I expected her to get out, but within seconds of seeing she was barricaded?! 

Jack, on the other hand, tends to attack things with his body first, before utilizing his brain. Its a method that tends to work for him. 

But what inspired this post was this: Since the puppies seem to have learned to control their bladders a bit more, they are given a BIT more freedom in the house. They have used that freedom to climb on every surface possible. Mulan QUICKLY figured out, that she could get from the couch, to the side table, to the little window leading to my kitchen and within seconds she was on the counter. 

Its official guys. 

NOTHING. IS SAFE.