3 years now...

Today marks the 3rd year I've had Sheli. Let's look back on the day Sheli joined our home from the breeder. It was on Father's Day when she came here. When the breeder entered my front yard with her in her arms, she put Sheli down on the grass, and immediately after, Sheli ran right to me and stood between my legs. It was like she remembered me, or somehow just knew that I was going to be her mama. It was such a special bonding moment for me.


And here is my girl today, taking a moment to lie on my pillow while I was getting ready for work one morning. Ah, she's my comfort. I love her so!

First Allergy Injection

Sheli had her first allergy injection today. We went to the vet to discuss this 'immunology' phase and the vet showed me how to give her the injection. I knew how to give shots because I already give Sheli shots for her bone dysplasia (every 3 weeks), but that one is given in the muscles just above her hind legs, while the allergy shots is topically done. The vet showed me how to pull up her skin above her neck and inject right into the skin without touching her muscles. She has three vials. The first one is very mild and the second one increases with more allergen, and the last one is really strong. She started with vial #1 at 0.1ml and with every 2-3 days, the ml is to increase. Our goal is to get Sheli to become immune to the allergens, but we have to take small steps at first and gradually increase with time. I am to observe her reaction for an hour after the injection and document them because common reactions can range from almost nothing to a severe hive outbreak. The worst could be lethargy and vomiting. About 45 minutes after her first one, she started to itch at the location of the shot. She tried to scratch it with her hind leg, but couldn't reach it and it wasn't too bad. I just helped her by scratching her back and gave her Benadryl to relieve her from the itching. As the dosage increase, she might need Temaril-P or Predisone as a stronger antihistamine medication prescribed by the vet. I'm hoping not. The vet says that some dogs develop immunity rather fast and is on injections just as a maintenance, but some dogs have more reaction to it than others and a longer time developing immunity. I'm hoping Sheli is the former. Her next due shot is on Monday, November 5th. We'll see how that goes at 0.2ml. Keeping my fingers crossed for a mild to nothing reaction.

Oh, yeah and I also got rid of all of her beddings in the house that was cedar-based because that was one of the things she was tested positive for. So now I have to replace all of them with foam based beddings. I have a cedar chest to store things in, but that's in the garage and not within reach, so it should be ok. I also threw out all of the cedar wood strips I had in the closet to fend off moths. That's okay. I can adjust my life to make my little girl's life better. Isn't that what a good Momma is supposed to do?

Now I know...

...what Sheli is allergic to. A couple weeks ago, she had a Rast blood test to determine if she was positive to allergens. She's been suffering like crazy for a long time with itching of her belly, chin, underside legs and paws, and rash inside her ears. She scratches herself using her hind legs, chews on her paws, rubs on the floor and grass constantly (more in the spring, summer and fall). She has been on on-going antibiotics for skin bacteria the past year and she also has been taking allergy pills to relieve her itching, which didn't seem to help much. I had enough and requested further testing. At first, a year and half ago when her allergy symptoms started, the vet suspected food allergy and she was put on a strict diet for a long time. After a long time of evaluation, it turns out it is not food that she's allergic to, which I'm very thankful because I've just started cooking their foods a couple months ago and I am glad I don't have to limit the kinds of food I give her.

The things that Sheli was definitely positive for are in 5 categories (based on the Rast test): *WEEDS: ragweed, goldenrod, russian thistle & lamb's quarter; *TREES: walnut, cottonwood, mulberry, orange, cedar, juniper, acacia, alder, & palm; *GRASS: johnson; *MOLDS (various species) and *MITES (housedust). These results reflect what her white blood cells were most reactive to. That doesn't mean that these are the absolute only things that she is allergic to, but are just a guideline to base the vet's treatment on. Her reaction was about the same in each category. The test was done by this company that my vet is associated with is called the Greer Labs. http://www.greerlabs.com/vet/vet.index.php.

I am to give her allergy injections. As of today, I just ordered the shots and it will take approximately two weeks before it comes in. When it does, I will first start the injections, they are given every 3-4 days. These eventually get spaced out until the maintenance phase which is one injection every 2-4 weeks. The most common side effect is an allergic reaction to the injection, which is usually mild, says the vet. I'm hoping she won't have any reaction at all.

Well, that's the update on Sheli. Poor girl.

I just HAD to post this. I was looking back at my videos of my dogs and came across several when Sheli first arrived to the house. It is just so cute. I miss it when they both were puppies. Such good memories. This was their second day together since Sheli joined the family. I can't believe she's going on 3 and Chance's going on 4 already! They were under the bench that is in the front yard. Sheli can't fit under there anymore, naturally.

Diet Alteration

For a long time now, I've been considering changing my dogs' diet. One reason is for Sheli. She continues to have allergic reaction to something unknown most notably in the spring and summer. It's probably something in the air such as ragweed or whatnots. Second reason is for Chance. He has had episodic bouts of heavy vomiting ranging from 3 to 5 months in between. I never knew what caused it because he had no other symptoms that might have pointed to a specific ailment. I've had to take him into the ER a couple of times already and both times, he was x-rayed to see if he had a blockage in his intestines. Blessedly, he wasn't. He probably just had an upset stomach, but he did not have diarrhea to go with his vomiting. The last episode which was in July, he became very picky with his food that I've been giving him all this time (dry food mixed with canned food). I didn't know which it was, the dry or wet food that he wasn't interested in anymore and he didn't seem to like either, but ate anyway because he was so hungry. The vet prescribed a special dry food for Chance, but Sheli could eat it too as it doesn't affect her. Another reason is it is much cheaper to prepare your own food rather than buy commercial foods, which I'm a bit apprehensive of these days since the pet food recall. A friend of mine feeds her dog raw food and her dog seems to have the best health condition.

A while back, I started to subscribe a monthly guide called The Whole Dog Journal. In it covers a wide variety of features relating to just dogs, but probably half of each guide covers food preparation, whether that be raw or partially-, or fully-cooked homemade foods for dogs. It also includes wonderful and rich information on ailments and homeopathic or natural remedies/supplements to utilize with dogs. I grew more and more fascinated with the testimonies that I've read in each guide. After several months, I've decided that I was going to try cooked food mixed with 8 0z. of dry food that I bought from the vet. My goal was to eventually feed them wholly homemade foods, but I figured I'd stay with dry food because when we go out of town or if I'm out of town and I have a dog-sitter stay at my house with my dogs, they need to still be accustomed to their dry food. I'll just have the sitter add canned salmon or chicken to it. No more commercial canned pet food for my dogs.

It's been about 2 1/2 weeks now since I've started cooking their foods. They literally drool with anticipation. They enjoy sitting patiently by my side in the kitchen every time I begin to cook. And when they are given the green light with an "Okay," they deliriously gulp up their food. I even cook them eggs and turkey bacon (not of pork) or cottage cheese and apple sauce mixed with their 8 oz. dry food for breakfast. They love it! I'm noticing a big change in both of my dogs. Sheli continues to have allergy, but I think it has lessened. I need more time to determine whether the change in her diet helps. I just know it doesn't make it worse. Chance hasn't had another episode since.

I enjoy cooking, period. I enjoy it even more when I'm cooking for my dogs. I can even eat what I make for them. The only difference would be if I wanted to add in onions or bell pepper and I'd just make a separated portion for that. So far, I've cooked lamb, chicken, ground beef and turkey, steak, brisket, salmon (canned), and liver mixed with legumes, grains, vegetables, and some fruit. It's been fun. Tomorrow, I'm making meatloaf for all of us, one with all the fixings except for onions and bell pepper. Yes, I even give them cheese.

Try it. You never know how it might change your dog's lives, as well as yours. Doubts?? Check The Whole Dog Journal and a few other pamphlets on feeding raw or homemade foods to your dogs. It's interesting...

3 years now...

Today marks the 3rd year I've had Chance. Let's look back on the day after I brought Chance home from the breeder. It was just a month after Nicky's passing and Chance came into my life at the right time.

And here's my boy today, lounging on my chair in the living room. Ah, I just want to inhale all of him! I love him so!


*If you're wondering about Sheli...wait until Father's Day of next June (08), which marks her 3rd year of being with me. I'll put up a post like this one.

My Folk's New Puppy

My parents just got a 4 month old pure bred white Pointer Bird Dog. It belonged to my cousin who lived in Tennessee, but when he moved back to Southern California, he moved into a place that couldn't have dogs.

My parents just had their toy poodle, Baby, of 10 years euthanized a couple weeks ago. Baby was actually about 13 or 14 years old as she was a "hand-me-down" dog from an old family friend. The house has been empty and my father wanted to get a new dog that would perform as a guard dog this time. What he really wanted was a big dog that would bark at the door or back gate, but not actually attack, so people would know that they had a "big" dog and get them running in the opposite direction. He has a lot of stuff in the shed and garage for his business. He didn't want a toy dog anymore. My mom agreed and have been looking online for different breeds that would suit both of their preferences and needs. She's found a few and my dad didn't like them. The kinds he wanted, my mom didn't. They had to go back and forth on which dogs that they wanted to get together. My mom really wanted to rescue or adopt a dog from the shelter so they could have a chance in having a good and fulfilled life. My father didn't want a dog that was older than a year and preferred young puppy so he could train the dog himself. My mom didn't want to have to train a dog, but one that was older and already trained. The debate continues...

While the search... I tried to convince them to rescue a young Labrador Retriever from the Fetching Companions, Inc., a rescue organization that specializes only in Labradors. They had a list of Labs that were in need of homes, young and old. My mom was interested and even looked at a few possibilities, but...

She was in China at the time when my cousin came to California for a visit and told my dad that he had a puppy he'd give to him because he knew the place he would be moving into didn't take dogs. My father was elated and before taking his first inhalation of filled-with-carbon-dioxide-cigarette-smoke-congested oxygen, he quickly said YES! He couldn't wait to tell my mom, who had no idea of what was going on. When she returned and found out that they were going to get this Pointer puppy, she was a bit taken aback. But, she also knew there weren't any talking my dad out of this, so she just let him have his way. And she, later, saw a somewhat blurred forwarded photo of him in her cell-phone and sort of liked the way he looked. He looked like a white Lab only with bigger ears in the photo.

A couple weeks later... Jake arrives. He's a cute, but very hyper-active and a very skinny pup. Jake was 4 months at the time of arrival and have been living outside in Tennessee. Luckily, he was already house broken and learned how to use the doggy door at my parent's house in a flash. He hasn't made an accident in the house (which I'm very impressed with). My mom went right back out of town for a couple of weeks and my dad stayed home with Jake, except for only 4 days to join her in Idaho at my youngest sister's house. During those 4 days, I stayed at their house with my dogs, of course, and Jake, so I could care for him. It was the busiest 4 days of my life. Jake is like having ten puppies in one. He's quite an active one. I tried to teach him a few obedience lessons during my stay there and he picked up pretty well. He loves birds and would chase them if he could. Go figure. He's a Pointer, alright.

How did my dogs like meeting him? My dogs are having a little bit of a hard time getting accustomed to Jake. First of all, because he's just a baby and his play bites hurt and he just doesn't seem to stop playing. When my dogs wanted to rest, they couldn't because Jake was constantly nipping away at them. It didn't take Chance long to establish his rank with Jake. He gave Jake a stern scold-like bite, which left a slight wound on his face, and now Jake leaves him alone. Sheli lets him jump and crawl all over her to a point and when she's had enough, she'd gently warn him with a soft snap. But, she's never "told him off."

One day while Chance, Sheli and I stayed at the house with Jake, I decided to take all three dogs to the park that I normally go to with my dogs and let them run free. It is an enclosed park so they couldn't escape if they tried. My bad. I was totally wrong... Jake really did! He saw a bird fly over us and past the fence at the very end of the park and tried to follow it. But, when he got to the fence and realized he couldn't follow it anymore, he snooped around looking for a way to get through it and to my dismay, he found a tiny weeny hole under the fence and crawled through it and started to run away! I was aghast. I ran as fast as I could across the field to the fence and jumped over it without hesitation. The fence is about 4 feet tall. I was wearing my summer sandals at that time. I didn't care if I got hurt. I wanted to get to Jake before he found his way to the busy streets. Luckily he was a curious puppy sniffing around when I caught up to him. I carried him all the way back up to the park. It was a steep hill full of prickly bushes and water-run dirt. By the time I got up there I was out of breath and put Jake on his leash so he wouldn't try to escape again because he kept trying to go back to the hole. Whew... *inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...*

I'm a bit worried that my parents are going to have a handful when they get settled in after their summer travels. Jake needs a lot of training (just like any other pup). But, he's an active breed, needing a lot of exercise and I worry my parents won't give that to him. Oh well, it's my dad that made this decision. Hopefully he'll follow through with what he told my mom by being the responsible one to train him.

Happy Birthday to you, Chance!

Chancey turns T H R E E today! He's my precious baby boy.

Today, we will take a long walk through the huge Northrop airbase center in Redondo Beach. It is like about 4 or 5 miles in diameter and all over is plenty of neatly groomed landscape. A lot of grass to walk on and it's very open and spacious. It's also a very quiet place with just about no one around during the weekend. It's supposed to be a private property, but it is open for anyone to go through. There are side streets that people drive as a thoroughfare to the main streets. There are large parking lots that people park their cars and take buses to nearby fairgrounds, etc. It's also right next to the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center where almost every single weekend, there are some sort of performing going on. Also there is a building right behind the performing arts center that have beautiful and clean indoor basketball courts. During the city's basketball season, many children of all ages have tournaments there. Within a walking distance, on the main street, is a large soccer and track field where there are constantly people walking, jogging, playing on. All of those are on one side and adjacent to the Northrop facility, so I don't feel exactly as if I am trepassing on the other end where there is usually no one around, maybe one person or two with their dogs walking. It will be nice walking with Chance and Sheli there today.

It's supposed to be really hot today, so I'll probably wait until later in the late afternoon when it's cooler. Meanwhile, we will go visit my sister, who is moving out of state in a few weeks. She'd want to say good bye to my dogs too.

Now, I'm off to be with Chance on his special day. See you later...

Dog Owner's Rights Under Attack!!!

I got an email this afternoon from American Kennel Club, which I do pretty often when they have news to share, explaining something really terrible. I don't know how many people still come in here and read this blog, but I sure hope a lot people still do. And if you read this....please please, I beg you, do something. Read below the excerpt from the email I got. American Kennel Club wrote,

We need your help to fight Assembly Bill 1634!

This proposed legislation will require that all cats and dogs over the age of four months must be spayed or neutered unless the owner qualifies for and acquires an intact animal permit. Failure to comply with the provisions of the bill carries a civil penalty of $500 for each animal for which a violation occurs.

This legislation will dramatically affect your rights to own, breed and purchase purebred dogs in California. Please immediately register your opposition with your Assemblymember and help us defeat AB 1634!

We are asking that all responsible and concerned dog owners in California send a written letter to their Assemblymember and we are encouraging you to visit your representative’s office and educate them about the negative impacts of AB 1634.

For information on how to contact your legislator, a sample letter and talking points please visit our California Action Center.

The site to California Action Center is in case the link above is unaccessible from in here: http://www.akc.org/canine_legislation/CA_action_center.cfm. Please do take some time to read the article and take action. Or, at least send this article and link to all of your animal lover friends.

Thanks.

Happy Birthday to you, Sheli!

Today, Sheli turns T-W-O! She's still as fiesty as she's always been. No sign of aging has been indicated in her yet. However, she has been diagnosed with elbow dysplasia and early stages of arthritis already. She must've been the one to inherit it at such a young age. She's currently on injections for 6 weeks and the vet said after the 6-weeks long series, she'll have to have an injection every 2 weeks indefinitely! I feel so bad for her. She's been limping for a while, especially after a long walk or hard play. I've noticed that since she first came to my "nest" at 10 weeks old. I thought it was because she's quite the athlete one and becomes sore after hard play. But, it began to worsen after time and finally after one time she couldn't get up from her bed, I decided to take her in for x-rays. That was when I found out she had defective bones. My heart just broke!

Nevertheless, she's my spunky one. She still shows love for balls and water. She continues to play, but naturally, I'm to minimize as much hard play as possible so she can, hopefully, begin to heal with the high dosages of glucosamine-chondrition (sp?)/MSM injections.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to you, Sheli, once again! I look forward to many more years with you, sweetie.

Poor Sheli!

I was visiting my mother at her house this afternoon. At one point, I was standing outside the front door while both of my dogs inside looking out the door. It was pretty windy outside. As I turned to look at the street, suddenly I heard this loud "Boom!" and both dogs ran out. The heavy wooden front door slammed shut with the wind. I immediately grabbed my dogs and told them to go inside. It wasn't until a few seconds after we got inside that I saw what looked like splash paint or spray paint that was running out of its container leaving dallops of paintdrops all over the couch, hardwood floor, rug, door, and themselves. It took me a few more seconds to register that it was blood that was being sprayed all over the place. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until Sheli kept wagging her tail and blood just sprayed all over me and my clothes. It was the stupid monster door that slammed on the tip of her tail. Looking around on the floor by the door, while trying to hold Sheli still, I saw the edge of her tail, so I picked it up. I yelped for my mom to come immediately and help me get a rag so I could hold it tight. As I made Sheli sit down to remain calm, it just bled into a pool, literally. I told my mom we had to go to the animal hospital and get her looked at.

It seemed like FOREVER before we finally got to the vet. Traffic was pretty bad. My mom's car's gas light came on. She was out of gas. We were worried we wouldn't have made it to the vet. I sat in the back with Sheli on my lap, unbuckled, praying that nothing would happen or that an officier would see me. It wasn't intentional. I just jumped into the car and we left like a lightning bolt. Thank God we got there safely.

The vet looked at her and said she would be fine. I showed her the part of her tail I found on the flloor. It was only the skin part of her tail at the very end broke off leaving the last part of her tailbone sticking out. Imagine your pinky finger being slammed by the door and just your skin part at the first line it bends at scraped off, but your fingerbone was still intact. (This actually happened to my sister when she was a toddler!) Now, it happened to Sheli. I felt so bad because I was looking at the opposite direction and I was close enough to the door that I could've stopped it from slamming. But, it beat me to it. My heart just sank for her becuase she was bleeding and appeared a little bit uncomfortable, but she didn't cry or anything like that. The vet shaved parts of her tail and cleaned her up, wrapped her in ace bandages.

It was hard to keep her from trying to chew on the bandages, but she finally realized that she wasn't allowed to, so every time I told her to "leave it," she would. We are to leave it on there for at least 3 days. I'm so glad it happened on a Friday because now I will be home all weekend with her to monitor her. By Monday, she'll be used to it and hopefully it'd have started to heal.

I'm just sooooooo thankful that it wasn't any worse than this. I can just only imagine her tail being broken or cut off in the middle. She'd be in excruciating pain. But, still...my heart breaks for my babies.

Returned from our Trip

We just got back from our trip late last night (around 9pm). It was the worst driving trip I've had to do in my life. I was sick with the chill fever and had to drive from Mesquite, NV (our half-way stop from SLC) back to Los Angeles. It wasn't an 6-hour drive, but rather a 10-hour drive! Going through Las Vegas and entering California, and especially into Los Angeles, we were hit with horribly congested traffic. And I was alone. My mother had joined the other car coming back. That was ok because all I wanted to do was to just get home. Well, my goal of arriving home around 5pm ended up around 9. I was just so sick and tired of it. I think my dogs were too. They seemed to be cramped up in the car too long. Oh, don't worry, we stopped every two hours to release ourselves, stretch, eat, get coffee, water, whatever we had to do. It wasn't like a straight drive all the way. I'm just so glad to be home!

I stayed home from work today because I was just too sick when I woke up. I was aching all over and felt chilly. I decided to call in sick and take an extra day to recuperate from the long trip and to be with my dogs before going back to work, hopefully tomorrow.

Well, here goes about our trip. It was really a wonderful and cherished time for all of us. We all had a blessed time together as a family. I stayed with my deaf sister and her family and had the best of time in a long time! We drove up to East Canyon towards Park City and played in the snow, took pictures, went down to Dell Lake where Sheli jumped into the freezing lake gleefully to swim a brief lap before deciding to get out after she realized she was cold, and then chomped on a dead deer down the trail. No, she didn’t get sick and no, she didn’t eat a lot. She only nibbled, okay! My brother in law thinks she did. :-) My pups had a so much fun with Mistie’s little Chihuahua-mix, Layne’s huge rare black Weimariner, and Layne’s brother’s Golden Retriever (whose coloring and love for swimming reminded me a lot of my late Lab, Nicky). Had Thanksgiving with my brother in law's side of family (wonderful and warm folks!). Shopped a little bit. Before we knew it, it was time to go back to yucky L.A. I was disappointed to have to leave, but I had work the following Monday.

I think I might go back up there for the week of July 4th because both of my dogs do not do well with fireworks and my neighborhood does a lot of them. It sort of bothers me because they go on and on until like around 2:00 in the wee hours! So, maybe going back on a long drive with my dogs to Salt Lake would be fun. Or...perhaps we could just drive up the coast to Washington State and back during that week. Hmm...hmm...decisions...decisions.

Thanksgiving Trip to Utah

This morning, Chance, Sheli, & I are leaving for our road trip to Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving week. My sister and her family lives up there (just recently relocated), and we are going to be spending the holiday together. My father, nephew (sister's eldest son who lives with me now) and his girlfriend will be coming behind us a day later. My mom will be accompanying me and my doggies on the way up there. We are going to stop at a pet-friendly hotel in Mesquite, NV, then hit the rest of the way to Utah tomorrow morning. It'd give us a chance to really stretch and rest before another 6-hour drive. It's a 12 hour drive total. I'm anticipating a long day today. But, it'll be a fun one (I hope).

I'll write more about our trip later, so come back to read all about it.

Back to work!

I know I haven't been writing the whole summer. I've been home and on the computer, but I just never got to come in here and jot down some thoughts. I've been too lazy. I've been really enjoying my summer break from work. Spent all of it with my dogs mostly. If I wasn't with them, I'd be running errands in the midst of the day (didn't want to leave my dogs in the hot car in midday) or I'd be visiting a few people. But, other than that, my dogs went just about every single where with me! They were my companions over the summer and we had a blast!

Unfortunately, today I have to go back to work. Today and tomorrow is the staff orientation days and on Wednesday, the students return to school. I am so not looking forward to having to leave my dogs at home all day long again. I just become so attached to them that it's really hard to have to separate myself from them for a long period of time. I hate the feeling! They sense something is going on. They just know. They are following me all around the house watching me get ready. In a few minutes, I'll have to leave and I'm already reluctant about it.

Other than that, my dogs are wonderful. They are healthy and have not had any weird episodes over the summer that required vet attention. Thankfully!

"Woof...woof...wuv, arf," they interject saying hi before I sign off.

Birthday party for Chance & Sheli

Today my babies had their first birthday party! We had so much fun! Several of their friends came (a few didn't and it was a bummer that they couldn't come). The dogs had cake and plenty of munchies. We, humans, had turkey dogs and chips/salsa, and salad. Oh, and some fresh watermelon to accompany that. My nephew, AJ, did all of the cooking and cleaning up. He was such a servant today! He's such a great guy. The party lasted for 3 hours.

Thank you guys for coming and making this a great party! It was all you, doggies.

Look below for some pictures. :-)

Look at that cake!

Birthday boy and girl

Group picture

Chance

Hugs for Toby

Kathy, Margaret (& Lola) and AJ

Want a cookie?

Eat cake!

Merlot (Patsy's dog)

Debbie & Carmel