The Sky Opened and All the Snow Fell Out

Big Snow. Unexpected. Wow. Pictures at last as Roxie decides about snow....

Braving the snow for duty...

Don't eat yellow snow!


A little further......


A long trek to The Way, Way Back. She is brave!

Reward slumber for a Brave Girl!!!

The Pout

You see, Bob wouldn't take her out for a walk. He sat, and she talked and howled and barked and teased. But he wouldn't budge. She showed him! The old 'my back is to you, I'm ignoring you' pose. She pouted for at least 20 minutes. Mad. She was PO'd. Our darling has a temper!

Nope. Don't talk to me. I'm still pouting.

Turkey Day Fixins

A little topper for a Princess... turkey, mash-pos, and green bean casserole. Yummy in her tummy, followed by a nap.

And BTW, it's really easy to clip toenails when a dog is sleeping! No muss, no fuss, no growlies or howlies...........

First Thanksgiving

Snow! Roxie says......... NO!

Sorry, no pictures. She won't go outside.............

Dose Two

Drontal Plus, dose two, down the hatch. Another fecal in two weeks. Such excitement........

If a Tree Falls in the Woods...

Time: lunch, midday on a grey, cloudy Monday

Set: kitchen table, iced tea glass, plate for Bob, apples and burritos, and the ever-present Pile of Junk center table.

Bob, casually munching apple -

"I don't think we really know her yet. I think she's pretty tough."

Gena, sipping tea through a straw -

"What do you mean?"

Roxie, glaring up at Bob -

"What!!! This ain't no piece of meat, it's a lousy chunk of apple... peh-tooey...."

Bob, munch munch -

"Well, we were going cross-country and she attacked another tree.... ripped it right down again. We're forging through the bush and there was this little sapling right in her way and she grabbed it, pulled it and tore it back and forth until it ripped. Then she walks over it."

Gena, puzzled look -

"Why?!"

Bob -

"Maybe she doesn't want to walk around it?... who knows."

Another adventure in the wondrous quest - learning what your new dog is all about.

Rawhide Vomit

Hey, bet that title caught your eye!

Yesterday I found a little pile of bile and tan rubber bits vomited by the back door. First, I have to give Miss Rox credit, she did try to make it outside. I was upstairs and didn't hear her bark or whine, but in fairness, if she had a tummy upset she probably thought calling me was low priority.

The bits in the pile confused me for a few hours. What? Did I paw thru her vomit pile? Of course! I'm a nurse and her mom. Anyhoo, the bits seemed odd; I couldn't figure out what she had eaten: a toy, something she found outside... what? A huge dilemma, and I was certain this had to be a medical/surgical emergency - but Roxie was doing fine! No tenderness, no whining, no pain. What could it be?!

About 8:30 at night I called the emergency vet clinic, and sure 'nuff! The tan rubber bits were pieces of the rawhide chew from last week!!!

We knew they weren't easily digestable, turns out they aren't digestable at all... sigh..... remember when I mentioned they are controversial? Well, this is the reason. Poor Baby Girl had those little bits in her tummy all week, the stomach acids turned the pieces into rubbery bits and turned them from off white to tan. ICK.........

So lucky for Rox we took it away after 30 minutes. Bad on us for giving it to her at all. Bad Mom!

Seems there is an alternative: Booda Bones. I'll try to find the website. They are completely digestable, and she loves them. They come in different flavors, which is great. I think we may have to limit her to 2-3 per month. We are working to get her weight down 3 pounds.

Oh dear, and I guess because I wasn't there when she needed me, she made me a little poop across the room behind the chair. She told me!

A New Look

Roxie has been with us for a while now, and the previous pink blog face just didn't seem to fit her. Rox is feminine, to be sure, but also a little sophisticated. Girly-girl doesn't describe her and I wanted to make her blog look more representative of her personality.

We'll see if this works.

A New Bed All for Me, Just Me?!

Really? All mine? Just for me!!! Oh wow, the red plaid is so cool. I can't believe it - my name and everything! This is the most barkalicious bed ever!

Sweet slumber.

Helping Dad Study.....

Economics is soooo boring.....

Lordy boo, another chapter?! Snoozefest - wake me when dinner's ready.

Uh oh...

Almost two weeks with us and Roxie's personatity is unfolding like a summer flower. She hates it when one of us goes upstairs to bed without the other!

I like to read and Bob hates the lights on when he's trying to get to sleep, hence the room is in darkness. If I stay downstairs to continue reading, Rox wanders purposefully upstairs talking to Bob.

Bob, in turn, yells down to me. Being young-at-heart cool people with old-folks hearing we inevitably end up yelling back and forth. Finally Rox gives up and comes back down to guard me from the bunnies in the back yard. She's concerned they may break into the house and munch me to death as I read my books.

She's also trained Bob to take her for a morning walk around the block, in the dark, before she'll eat her breakfast... sound like any dachshund you know?! She leaves her food on her plate until she walks her 10,000 steps! I wonder if she'll share her secret for loving exercise with me?

From Bathing to Cheesecake

Ya just never know where a journey might take you.......

We decided Rox has been with us long enough to take her to the self-serve bath place at Petco. Why self-serve? Well, we want to be the only ones to handle her until she's been here a while. We're hoping for sort of a later-in-life imprinting. We're family number 5 and we're hoping she will finally "get it" that she is HERE to stay. No more homes, no more families.

So off we go, Bob and I and Little Baby Girl, full of hope for her first bath. We wandered through Petco to the back, and sure 'nuff, she found the cage of kitties. I'm getting smarter - I just turned her little butt so the kitties were on her blind side. Her nose was twitching, but she didn't try for a snack.

The bath went surprisingly well, considering there were two adults and a small dog. The sink was just the right height to break my back, and it only took 10 minutes to figure out how to get the water the right temp. In all fairness, there were two faucets, four knobs and a hose... Roxie took it all in stride and just stood there... the butt wash did garner us a dirty look though.

In case anyone is wondering, there is no picture of Roxie this time. She looks like she stuck a toe into a wall socket! The bath made her hair stand up in all directions - she's the Puff Ball from Hell. In spite of using a conditioner, she is going to need some serious comb and brush time before she will be ready for her public.

How does this lead to cheesecake? Easy. Follow me here, it winds a little bit.

Of course we wanted her to have a treat for her good behavior at the bath place. We got her a rawhide chew bone. And yes, I know they are controversial, but we thought just this once.

When we got home we gave it to her. BAM! as Emeril would say....... she grabbed that treasure and pranced and wiggled to the door to go outside. Thinking she had to pee, we let her out and she RAN to the back of the yard, behind the Pile of Junk, were we couldn't see her ----- the little stinker was hiding from US! Still damp from her bath, with the outside temp in the low 50s we thought "whose idea was this?!"

A kerfuffle. What to do? Not gonna reach down and take it from her, as we are inordinately fond of our fingers. Aha - a trip to Arby's for a roast beef sandwich to tempt her with - throw a piece of meat, grab the chewie when she goes for meat. And it worked like a meat-flavored charm! I threw the bite of meat, she dropped the piece of rawhide and I grabbed it. Bob had my back, he yelled out "she's coming back, look out!" Teamwork...

And so the two pieces of rawhide are safely put away for another day and we are watching her belly to see if it starts to bloat.

And the cheesecake? As I drove to the first window to pay, I saw an ad for "graham cracker dipped cheesecake with raspberry dipping sauce" - and I must say "YUM"...... nothing like fried dipped cheesecake bites from a fast food place to end the day. I suspect they may not be entirely healthy, but 'tough nuts', they taste great!

Roxie is taking her nap. Hard afternoon for her.............

How many kisses in a dog?

We've been pondering the purpose of doggy kisses. In addition to purpose, we are stymied by the number of doggy kisses that are appropriate in public displays of affection.

From a Kissee perspective, more than 16.4 licky kisses gets very wet.

From a Kisser perspective, Roxie thinks 7,428 is the right number. I think her tongue must get dry right about that time.

Laughing while licky kissing leads to french-licky-kisses......... seems sort of gross, but Rox must be a loose woman, because laughing-french-licky-kisses drive her wild. Tart!

We are trying hard not to laugh, but imagine an amazon dachshund leaning into you, hell bent on giving licky kisses......... not much chance of avoiding them!

Learning a New Language

Bah ooo rah = Outside, please.

Warrr ooah = Where's my treat, please?

Ruh roooooo = Hurry up! Put the plate down....

More to come as we become bilingual...... a linquistic journey to be enjoyed and encouraged. Here's cute video about Herbie, a talking Corgi, sort of cousin to Roxie... at least Herbie is short and long too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tvwqTfES3o

10 days home

Sweet, kind, a Licking and Walk Queen. She's figured out the front door means walks and the back door means hunting in the back yard. Either is fine with her.

Once again, our bedtimes are being dictated by a dog! We're trying to decide about letting her sleep where she chooses. Roxie is the first dog in 40 years who is not sleeping in bed with us. She doesn't want to. Alternately, she wants to sleep in the TV room, the dining room or the family room on a Pottery Barn chair.

She is fully housetrained and doesn't have any chewing the furniture problems, so I'm thinking we'll just let her choose her spot. When she is asleep for the night, she does not want to move. We get the tiniest, lady-like growly purring warning. I just tell her "no fussing at Mama" and she stops. But why shouldn't she sleep where she wants? So we'll let it work itself out.....

So far, the settling in period has gone like magic. I don't know what else to say except Roxie is perfect...

OK, this looks like a good spot - sun, soft heather to sleep on.......

Winter sun...... cold earth.......

Ah, this is better... sun and a warm pad. Life is good.

Opera at the Vet Hospital

So, today was our first vet visit.

We had already taken her first Michigan poop for a fecal on Monday. To our surprise, she was "loaded with worms" according to the vet. This was not supposed to be, according to her adoption contract. Rox was started on Drontal Plus on Tuesday, a three dose protocol to get rid of the worms. Whipworms and hookworms - oy! Along with the three doses of meds over a three month period we are scooping her poops almost before they hit the ground (Bob loves this part). Dilute bleach water gets sprayed on the spot, and ......... this is the best part: we have to wipe her hiney after every "evacuation" (vet-speak... we just call 'em poops or boom-booms).

Today's visit was the new dog visit for baseline blood labs, eye check for her blind eye, nail trim (more on that later) and a kennel cough vaccine. She was impressing everyone with her roll-over-pet-my-belly routine. Charmed everyone except the kittens in the cage in the lobby... sigh....

Her right eyeball is shrinking, "normal" for post cat-scratch injury. She has a blink reflex but no tracking movements. So she is blind in the right eye. Left eye is good. Beautiful brown that goes to her beautiful soul. Since this presumably happened in her early years she has accommodated and doesn't really limit herself. She thinks she can see normally.

Blood drawing went easily and well. As a courtesy, they clipped her nails for us. Um. This is where the story gets interesting. She was a little wiggly, and I was rather unsettled so they took her in back to finish the nails. 3-4 minutes later we heard a blood-curdling scream from the back room. It was, of course, our little baby girl. Sure that the vet had ripped out her heart, I almost burst into tears, and had to walk up to the lobby. Dr. Putt, so shocked by the cry, sent someone immediately to tell us Roxie was OK. Uh huh.

Well, it turns out that our little angel might be..... a drama queen. Dr. Putt came out when done to say that there was not even any blood or cutting into the quick. Roxie just decided that she didn't want her nails done anymore. Bob is retired. He is doing all the vet visits from now on. My nerves can't stand it......

So ~ eyes, check; blood, done; nails, oh dear! done; fleas, negative; weight, lose 3 lbs; teeth, dental next year; ears, hairy!; sweet little hiney, wipe it.

Oh yes, the kittens. Seems there were three darling little kittens needing a home. They were in a cage on the floor, looking for all the world like little furry angels. Roxie looked, and sniffed, and looked closer. Then, geez louise, she grabbed the cage blanket in her teeth and tried to eat those precious little kitties. She dragged the cage about 2 feet. Bob says, "look! she's trying to get the kitties". I said (in the nicest, out-in-public-tone-of-voice I could) "get her out of here!"

I wonder if it is a guy thing? He's thinking proudly, "wow, look what a good hunter she is" and I'm thinking "shit, we'll have to find another vet if she eats those cats"....... Finally a cool head prevailed and I scooped her up and carried her to the front door. Ask Bob, he'll proudly relate her hunting prowess.........

And so the story ends. No one got eaten, Roxie got her treat and went to bed for a nap. Bob is at the gym, no doubt telling the person on the next treadmill what a brave hunting dog he has. And I'm already thinking of the next time we go back.

To Share or Not to Share.........

Hey, no fair......Mom's trying to hog my sun spot.

Southside View

Yep, she's pretty at both ends! Although a little Brazilian trim wouldn't hurt the aesthetic.......

Rest for the Weary