Random Thoughts with Random Photos

Roxie's one year anniversary with us quietly came and went on October 30. Bob and I feel so lucky to have this sweet little girl living with us. She has settled into our life as if she was always here. We wonder if she still remembers her life before us...

We've taken great pains to make sure she never thought she was just here temporarily. No out of town trips or overnights at a kennel. And I think she finally knows this is her home forever. She certainly thinks this is HER home - she's carefully trained us to know what she needs and wants.

The pictures below are just random ones over the past couple of months. We just yesterday had a major snowstorm with 12-13 inches of snow. Rox is not sure what to think... she went out the garage and into a blowing snowstorm. Stopped and returned to the kitchen forthwith. She told Bob she wanted to go out the front door where the weather was sure to be sunny. Makes sense in a perverse doggy-world way, I think. Each door has it's own weather?

At any rate, she is firm that her walks continue; we just have to pick the snowballs out of her face and feet when she comes in. She's comfortable with this - she gets wrapped in a warm blanket while we pick off the snowberries, then she rests there for about 20 minutes until she warms up. See the picture of Bob holding her post-walk.

This is a picture out our sun room of the snow from BEFORE the 12-14 inches we got yesterday. I may be repeating myself, but I do feel a tad better when I say I HATE MICHIGAN IN THE WINTER.... sigh........... there see, I do feel a bit better.

As I'm writing Rox is curled up in her bed with two quilts. She does know how to snuggle, that's for sure.

Gratuitous Pictures of Beauty

One must forgive the gratuitous use of photos when they are posted out of love.... there are days when I just cannot help myself.

Fall is here, one of my most favorite times of the year. Cool, but not cold yet; the sun remains although thoughts of grey skies temper my smiles. Soon the Grey Skies will arrive and joy will hibernate until next March. I hate Michigan winters....

The picture above is classified. It is Roxie's secret path to the back yard. A hard left turn out of the sunporch puts her on this path to the way back. Bob's such a good daddy - he keeps the path clear when the snow comes and when the hostas overgrow.

If she makes another left turn at the stones, she heads directly under the bushes along the north side of the sunroom. This is her foul-weather potty area. She can do her bidness under the bushes and avoid the snow and rain. Always good to have a "sheltered sh*t spot".

Cute butt. Can't help it. She's my baby....... the River Otter Boo-Boo area is growing back hair, hopefully in time for cold weather.

As if she's deliberately forcing growth of her hair for winter, Rox has gone in and out today, hoping the cool weather will stimulate her follicles. Here she is checking west for ... well, for something.

Bob and Rox continue their walks each day, now wearing Hunter Orange. When they walk in the state land areas, hunters might mistake the upright, two-legged animal for dinner, so Bob carefully dons his orange hat. Sadly, his orange vest from 30 years ago doesn't fit anymore.... I'm working on an orange vest for Rox so she won't be mistaken for a wild turkey on a leash.

Pepe Le Pew on a Recon Visit

Poor Baby Girl got only one trip out tonight, although she still got her three treats.

Most of the year we leave the outer screen door open about 8 inches in our sun room, making it easier for Rox to go in and out. The cooler weather has just made us change our minds.

Bob let Rox out for her first trip and she immediately did the circle and sniff bloodhound maneuver. Bob says he smelled skunk! Could Pepe have come into the sun room and left without causing a problem?

Another call to arms - we rushed for the Flashlight-That-Shines-To-China (now also called the Flashlight-For-Coshing-River-Otters, or just "weapon" for short) and searched the porch for the sniffee. Rox had no luck finding Pepe on the porch so we assume his visit was just a recon trip. If so, he'll be sorely disappointed to find the camp has closed the gate.

She made it out and back without getting sprayed, so we decided to maintain our good luck and keep her in. Hope she did her bidness in the first trip tonight....

Remembering Gilda Radner...

For those of you who are about my age, you might remember Gilda's phrase "if it's not one thing, it's another"........ and my trite response is "truer words were never spoken".

Rox was incontinent of urine twice. Once Wednesday night and once Thursday night. In our bed. After a session of Humpy Humpy.

Sound icky? Bob thought so.

So it went like this: Rox and Bob were in bed (the old story about her not sleeping with us ---- well, that's a story for another time). Rox likes to show she's the boss once in a while by doing the Humpy Humpy. In general, we ignore it, giving her a bit of freedom to "show us who's boss", as it were. After she laid down to sleep she made a pee-pee.

The first night Bob found the wet spot but didn't know how it happened. Thursday night he saw her lay down, pee, then jump up like she'd ... well, just pee'd in bed! She was surprised and ashamed. We know she was ashamed because she hid under the bed.

Urinating while sleeping is one symptom of urinary tract infection in dogs so we saw Dr. Putt today. Turns out Baby Girl has lots of bacteria in her urine, not as many white cells as expected, and tons of struvite crystals. What does this all mean?

Rox has a bladder infection that we caught early and the crystals in her urine are precursors to bladder stones. An xray showed no stones yet, and they may never develop. Some dogs have crystals and never get stones. But most do. So....

Antibiotics for bladder infection and a change in diet for Crystal Girl. And mom has a new project researching crystals and stones and high urine pH and etc......

Rox may not have any pain right now, although we have seen one instance of "scooting" that looked like she might be trying to "scratch her pootie". For those of you who are unfamiliar with canine anatomy, the pootie is where the urine comes out on a female. It's a much more fun word to say than "urethral opening". For a male dog, the urine comes out of his winkie. Life is so much more fun if you know the secret language!

Off to research --- Rox is sleeping dry as I type.

"Sleeping dry" = code for no pee-pee.

The Dark Side Prevails

Seems our girl can tell time... or can she?! She has always gone out for her 3-times, 3-treats bedtime potty break at 9 PM. Sometimes it's 8:50 or so, but never later than 9...

So now the days are shorter, fall has arrived. And Baby Girl comes to get us at...... 8 PM !!!! She's shifted a whole hour now that it's getting darker sooner.

I have to wonder how she does it - it is exactly one hour earlier.... the only thing that hasn't changed is the 3 trips, 3 treats ~

We're pretty sure she thinks she's pulling one over on us.... she always looks so proud of herself accepting the third treat.

Sshhh, don't tell her --- we break one treat up into three pieces!

Folks peeping in our windows will scratch their heads at two people laughing hysterically and one dog smiling smugly.....

No harm, no foul.......... We all three go to bed happy...... :-)

Boo-Boos Healing Nicely

The title says it all. No infection or long term effects from the River Otter Adventure. Tomorrow is the last day of antibiotics.

Bob is concerned about her hair growing back in time for winter. He doesn't want her to get cold on their walks.....

I smell a new doggy coat in the wind. Perhaps wool or fleece, and definitely red. Would matching boots be too much?

A Mystery For Your Viewing Pleasure

Remember the red plaid bed Rox got when she came to live with us? Remember the red chairs and the blue chairs and the laps?

Somehow, for some reason, Rox decided to try out less commodious accommodations this summer. Who can figure what goes on in her sweet little mind?!

Behind things and underneath things seemed to be the order of the day. Sleep comes in strange places.....

It Just Doesn't Stop.... Rabbit? No, Thank You.

Bob and Rox were in Bob's car on the way to the park for a walk. Bob looks over to see Rox's head down near the floor. No sound, no gagging, no retching....... just a big pile of regurgitated rabbit guts.

Yes, the visual is as bad as the real thing. I tossed 4 times....

Not knowing what "it" was, and worried about some relationship to the otter incident or meds resulting therefrom, Bob bagged the barf and I headed off to the vet's office to let THEM look at it. My thinking was why not share the adventure?!

Dr. Plein, the only male vet in the practice took a look and declared "rabbit guts".

I wasn't surprised because half way to the vet my cell rang and it was Bob telling me he'd found a rabbit 4 feet from the patio door. It was missing some hair and it's insides. Ah, a clue.....

So here's the upside: Rox may have thrown up all there is to throw up. The downside is she may still throw up some more.....

Rabbits carry tapeworms so we have to take her back in 1 month to get a shot for tapeworm after any possible tapes go thru one life cycle.

Dr. Plein was concerned that Rox was being exposed to all this wild critter stuff. I assured him she is always on a leash (otter attacked her) and always in a fenced, locked-gate back yard in a subdivision (rabbit).

So we think Rox must have been pretty proud, she had dragged the dead half-eaten rabbit up to the patio to either show it off, or bring it in the house. The only thing that saved us was Bob calling her to go for a walk. She drops everything for walks.

She's only got one eye! How does she do this stuff?

And she's not kissing me for a long time !!!!

Icky poo and gag-city-to-the-max!

Sorry, we decided not to photograph either the gag bag or the empty-in-the-middle-bunny. I'm sure you understand..........

Follow the Scent Home

An interesting note to all the otter attack hysteria...

When Rox slipped her collar and ran after the otters bit her butt, her instinct was to run for safety and/or home. She ran right past Bob and turned in at the sidewalk to John and Diane's condo. Bob found her panting at their door.

We had been to their condo the night before and Bob figures Rox smelled our scent on the path, and chose it as the way to safety.

I guess scents linger. I suppose that's how bloodhounds track their quarry.

I guess that makes Roxie a bloodhound dachshund.

Good to know that her instinct was to "go home"....

The Dreaded Cadillac Crate That Made Roxie Cry

This is the crate that made Roxie cry. This thing is HUGE. It takes up the entire back seat of an SUV. It's made for car safety. Roxie didn't see it that way.

There is a foam pad on the bottom, two pillows at one end (one of them is mine, by the way, with my scent on it - although it is now hers, with HER scent on it...) and her favorite quilt.

I'm proud I got her the biggest one that would fit. I'm proud I got one to fit in the middle seat so she could be by us and not get hurt in a rear-end collision. Putting her in the way back seemed to be too much like cargo, so she made the middle.

We petted her with our fingers through the cage bars. She was not impressed. We talked to her almost all the way. She was not impressed. We fluffed up her pillows. She was not impressed. We told her we loved her enough to keep her safe. She was not impressed.

I feel like a bad mom putting her "in a cage" but it really and truly is the most safe way to travel. If I could have sat in the back and held her I would have, but she would have tried to get into the front seat and would have cried until she got there. So we opted to put up with the crying (which broke our hearts) to keep her safe.

She is not impressed.