It's ME

HI EVERYBODY!!!!!!!
Athena here.   Boy oh boy do I have a lot to tell you.

So want to hear about the horribleness that we went through?? Mommy & Daddy brought out those....things. The things that carry their people fur and then they leave!   Well yeah, Mommy brings it out a lot and then is gone forever but comes back but this time it was both Mommy & Daddy. OMG.....  I freaked.

When Mommy does it, I'm sad but now both??  THEN ...oh gawd ...then they took us to that doggy smelling place that I don't get to play at.   It smells of dogs and other animals and fear.........and they locked us up and LEFT US!!!!  
IT was horrible.  Duchess was with me but still.. WHY'D THEY LEAVE US????????????

After years and years   (Mommy edit: 5 days), they came and got us.  Oh I was so relieved.

I missed them so much.    

They're home now and no fur carrying things in sight.


Duchess and I did get to go to the play park and had so much fun. I met a puppy that I had so much fun with.  They haven't taken us there in forever (Mommy edit: 1 week) and I think I may die.  I do still play with Master Chief, my bestest boy friend. He's super cool.

ME & MasterChief

 

ME & MC

Except when they leave me, I love my life. Oh and except when they won't let me chase the creatures in the woods behind the house........that makes me mad.......but I love my mommy and daddy and Duchess.


DUCHESS here.....  I need to walk.  I want to go out and walk. Why won't they take me out? Stop ignoring ME!!  I'm bored. Do you understand?! I can't just sit here.    I need to be outside! No, not just out in the back....I need to be walking and sniffing.     How Athena just lays out there and stares at nothing is beyond me......
B O R E D.....come help me......


Mommy Post:
Hello Everyone.  Athena is doing well, for the most part.  She has very sensitive skin so she was at the vet twice for allergy issues.   Additionally, she freaked out a bit when we were packing for our trip and proceeded to chew up some tinsel garland.

NOT GOOD.  The mess was awful and in addition to kennel charges, we had to pay for monitoring and medicines. She threw up and had some bad poopies.  Otherwise, she is quite healthy and happy.

She and Duchess love to go to the Dog Park and play with all the other dogs.  The weather hasn't been too kind to allow much of that. I do not want to deal with muddy dogs.

Duchess and Athena are good pack-mates.   They do keep an eye out for each other and play with one another.   They're not quite as well bonded as Galen & Sheba were, but they're still good together.  
They make working from home a chore because they're very very vocal and it is trying at times.

They love their walks and almost anything that involves being out of the house AND being with us.  




Making sure we don't miss her as we go to leave



Playing at MC's house

just chillin

Our Big Sister

Happy Eat lots of delicious smelling food day. It's me, Duchess.

Don't know about you, but we're POOPED.  Busy day. Mommy took us on a walk this morning and then she was busy cooking all this wonderful smelling food that she won't share with us.

Then all these people came and ate the food and they were annoying and loud-especially the little humans. Then we got locked in the office and it annoyed me.

Besides all that, I'm here to tell you we lost our big sister. About two and a half weeks ago. I miss her. She was a good big sis.  I wish she would have played with me all those times I tried to get her too.  

I lost my big brother and sister all in the same year. That sucks. I love Athena though. I hope I don't lose her.


I just wanted to say Hello and tell you about Sheba.    We'll be back with more info and pictures to share.
We're going to go pass out. In spite of Mommy's attempts to not feed us or have them feed us, we found food.

Turkey coma!!!!!

Big Brother Galen & Big Sis, Sheba



My Big Brother was very handsome

My beautiful big sis

Galen & Sheba, together.

Smile!

My first few hours with my new siblings

Me hanging with the bro

Me & Sheba getting comfy

They were waiting for Daddy

Me & Sheba again

At my favorite place, the dog park. See me in the background?



Here we all are.

Welcome to redesigned site

Hey. If you're here looking for Athena updates, you're at the right place.


don't ignore us

Since Athena has been doing so well and she spends much of her time with her sister, Duchess, this has been changed to focus on the both of them.

Background info:

Duchess was adopted June 14, 2013.  At the time we had Galen, an almost 14 year old Collie/Eskimo mix.  He was pack leader and was on the decline.    We had adopted him in January of 2000 while we lived in Pensacola, Florida.

After moving to the Cleveland area, finding it not as pet friendly as Pensacola had been, we adopted another pup to keep Galen company.

Enter
Sheba, his life mate/sister, was about to turn 13. The two of them had been together since Galen was about a year and a half old and Sheba was 6 months. She's a Dutch Shepherd and a beauty.

  
The two of them bonded and were best friends.

Goldberg, a Lhasa/Terrier mix came into the picture a year later. He had many issues and while he did not bond with them the way they bonded with each other,  the three of them were a happy pack.

Galen watched out for each of them and they wouldn't go anywhere with out the other.

Sadly and suddenly, we lost Goldberg in April of 2012.  We never intended to adopt any more for awhile. We were going to be pet free. 
HOWEVER, with Galen's health on the decline, we worried for Sheba.  She had never been alone and already had separation anxiety issues.  We worried should Galen go first, she would not handle it well.


That's where Duchess came in.  At first she was the perfect addition. Wasn't very reactive to the other two and miraculously was well trained.   However, we soon discovered once she became
comfortable, she came out of her shell.
We soon realized we had a much younger dog than originally thought. Her boundless energy was too much for the other two.  She would try to engage them, but they were not having it.

We talked and knew that when the time came, we would have to adopt another as a companion to Duchess. She would be a handful by herself.



Sheba & Galen in the back, Goldberg in the front

We sadly lost Galen at the end of January this year, 2014.  Sheba mourned, Duchess didn't appear to be affected seeing as her time with him wasn't long.

April, we adopted Athena after seeing her picture in story in a forwarded post on Facebook. Duchess and Athena complement each other well.  They're wonderful together.

Sheba came out of her mourning with renewed vigor in trying to keep up with her much younger sisters.  Her will is there, but old age is winning the race.   Our time with Sheba has come to an end and we will sadly be saying goodbye to the oldest sister in the next few days. 

Duchess and Athena will go on and this is where will share those highlights.


The new family, Duchess, Sheba, Mommy, & Athena

The first group photo with Duchess

Long time.....

Hi! 
Sorry it's been awhile. 
So much has been happening, time got away from us.

First off, Athena Update.

Athena is doing VERY well. She's quite happy and healthy.  She LOVES her life.  Her life includes walks with her sister (s), trips to the dog park (2-3 times a week), and just a general appreciation of life.

She is very well loved.  She's still the sweetest thing and still incredibly cuddly.  Her Daddy & I love her to pieces. 

Our only concerns are she is a little bit territorial with the food bowl and treats.  She growls at Sheba often when she wanders to close.  We've done all we can & still continue to correct that when we can.

Additionally, she's a barker.  An annoying barker.  Good thing our neighbors love us otherwise, she'd get us in trouble.   I've nicknamed her Barky Barky & the Furry Bunch or Sir Barks A lot.   We are addressing this and working on reigning it in. A definite work in progress.

I will upload photos later today. They're either on my phone or tablet and I prefer to write this on my laptop.  I need to download those photos to share.  I'll be generous with the photos when I do.


Secondly, I'm going to rename the blog.  The first part will always be about Athena from the time we rescued her to now.  From this point on, it's going to be about Duchess and Athena.  The two of them are cohorts and deserve their spotlight.  Plus it's going to be more fun.


So when you come back in a few (days? weeks?) Don't be thrown when the name is new and Athena is no longer the sole focus. Besides, two dogs instead of one? Winner!

Thank you for all those who cared enough to follow Athena's adoption and rehabilitation.  WHICH reminds me...back to Athena...


Item#3...
Her healing/rehab.
It looks as those the patch of missing fur is permanent.  That's ok. It's not really noticeable.  It is much healthier and 'black' like the rest of her affected areas are.  It's part of who she is and we really do not get questioned on it.    She is no longer on meds other than Fish Oil.  Her coat is gorgeous. She is so shiny and soft.  A big furry sweetheart.

Her back legs are strengthened. She jumps more easily and runs all over.  She has an awkward gait, but it's just who she is now.   She doesn't appear to have the normal strength in her back legs that a normal dog (gsd) would, but she is stronger than she was.

We're headed to the dog park in a few. It is by far her most favorite place. She gets so excited when we get there. She never stops the whole time.  It's really a joy to see.


Here's one pic of her, her sister, Duchess, & Daddy from July.  I will add more later on when we're back.

Thanks for checking in on her.

 

Finally.

Finally!  Athena was spayed yesterday.   Along with the spaying we had her micro-chipped. 

She's not a fan of the cone. She can't seem to get the gist of how to move with it on. She had surgery along with her sister, Duchess. Duchess had a fatty tumor removed.  Duchess has figured out how to move around with the cone on, but she despises it with her whole being.  

The clinic had great things to say about both girls and that makes me happy. I love the clinic they go to. The techs, the vets, everything about this place is wonderful.  

So, the great news is: Athena is doing very well and is finally spayed. No more puppies for her.  She's micro-chipped, so she should never be truly lost again!

FINALLY comfortable!

 


I HATE THIS!!!



Athena's Update

Hi. Today marks the 2 month mark that she's been with us. 
 
My only complaints:  she still urinates in the house and she barks...a lot.   Other than that she is absolutely wonderful still.   
 
Her surgery is scheduled for Thursday. Both she and her sister, Duchess, are going in. Duchess needs to have a small benign tumor removed.  So yay to that.
 
As far as the physical issues she had when we adopted her:
Both ears were infected. She had a yeast infection on her back & had a strip of hair gone. It was all scabbed over and white. 



First 5 mins we had her. 4/3



Underneath her she was all black. Her underside & her 'elbows'. She had loose skin where it appeared she was underfed.   Her teets were large & distended, possibly over bred.
 
Some pictures (found in an earlier post) for a reminder:

At home getting comfortable

First Hour

See the 'black' underneath her and on her elbows

A back view of the missing hair

 

Close up of her elbow

  



 

Another view of her elbows & her hanging skin underneath
 
 

 
 
 

Her 'hanging" skin & teets

 


Her Back



 So, here she is today. A healthy weight, the scabs gone, the black is slowly fading but it's still there.  Plus she's just happy.

 

Yum! I stole sissy's bone.

 

Filled out.  Nice size girl.

 






Another view of her.

 












 

Her Back today

Her elbow

 

Underneath

 

With Mommy!

 

 

Check in

I apologize it's been a bit since I posted an update. We've been extremely busy here and haven't had much time to just sit down and write.

So Beautiful.

Athena is doing wonderful. We love and adore her so much. She is just a very happy dog.  She loves to watch. She loves looking out windows and loves to sit or lay in the back yard and just observe (or watch for her nemesis: any squirrel.

In all the years that we've had dogs, Athena is by far the sweetest.  She has the hub wrapped around her paw.

She and Duchess play every day, several times a day. She loves Sheba and is always trying to get her engaged in activities.

I'm trying to upload photos from my phone, but am running into issues.  

She's done with all her meds, but the prednisone. As soon as she finishes with that, she'll be able to be spayed.  



SMILE!  with Mommy

She has a VERY healthy appetite. Some of that may be due to the prednisone. 

She's gotten use to our routine and that makes me very happy.  That was one of my hopes, that she assimilate into our routine with ease.  The hub says most of the time the dogs leave him as he's getting ready to leave for work and they go to their respective spots, where they'll stay while we're away.  

Athena has taken over the ottoman in front of the office window that faces out front.   Duchess takes the bed in the office/guestroom and looks out the same windows from there. Sheba tends to sleep on the floor by the door.

 She adores our neighbor Master Chief. They both wish they weren't tied up so they could REALLY run around with each other.  It is quite adorable to watch.   I know if makes Master Chief's day since NONE of the other dogs have ever played with him.  

Next post I'll discuss how she's healing.    Thanks for checking in on her.

Mommy loves to hug me.

With Daddy & Sheba

Pooped!  Ready for bed.

A walk in the park

Hey. Thanks for coming back to check on Ms Athena.

Still going well. We've had some communication issues. We need to work on determining her "I need to go out" whine against the "I just want your attention" whine. Otherwise, she's still charming hearts.

We think we have to cut back on her eating. She loves to eat and while she doesn't look over weight, she definitely has meat on her bones.


Daddy & Athena

 We did take her and her sister Duchess out to the park for a walk. Sister Sheba can not keep up at her age and was left at home. Last year we took Duchess out all the time for walks. Now that the weather is nicer and we're getting healthy again, we're going to start up again.

Athena is just wonderful. Really she is. She's always so happy and sweet and you can't help but just want to hug her when she's around. She and Duchess are really a unit now. Athena has a good life. Her black areas seem to be 'fading'. I think now that she moves around more and there is blood flowing, it'll heal. Her back is looking good. The scabs are practically gone and now it's just skin. Yay.


Duchess, Athena & Daddy



The Girls