Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Happy New Year!!!

2019 is here!     Sheesh, so hard to believe we're done with 2018.
For those of you who have been following Athena's progress, I apologize for the delay in updates. I'll get to her in a moment or so.

The fur kids are doing well overall.  Happy, mostly healthy, and full of energy.   And absolutely annoying.....

Peryn & Lada -hyper and happy as ever. These 2 will never stop.  They're regulars to play care. With Duchess only going once a week and Athena no longer going, we have been able to squeeze in an extra day here and there for these 2 crazy kids.   

Duchess--she's been holding back on going to play care. We don't know if it's her age creeping up on her, she thinks she's missing out on something by not staying home, or that she misses her sister...she just stays home most of the time on days it's time to go to play care.

Athena--- I guess overall there is vast improvement to those initial days and weeks. However she is no longer walking "normally" .  She has issues that change daily. Whether it be from her hips or her knees or even her knuckles rolling under--something keeps her from walking normal.   Some days it is barely noticeable and other days it is painfully obvious.  
She'll steal the spot the fire --EVERY TIME!

Athena hanging out in her favorite bed
EVERYTHING else about her is the same.  She still tries to play with the younger 2, she still will take off to visit with another dog or person.....  Her legs are the only real issue.

We also have noticed an increase of upset stomach issues. We've added pumpkin to her diet to try and straighten her out


We're still planning on getting her wheels. It's been pushed back due to some funding issues out of our control.   
Once that is straightened out....we're getting her them ! 

She'll be unstoppable..    I can't wait to see that!

I am beautiful

What a year!!!!






Saturday, May 19, 2018

May 2018--sorry we've been away!

HI!!!! Hi. Hi. Hi. HI!!!!   Thanks for checking in!  We're sooooooo happy you're here. Well I know I am.  For those of you who are new- I'm going to introduce me.  I'm Lada. I'm the youngest and happiest and the one who loves my Mommy the mostest. I have the bestest Mommy in the whole wide world. 
I have 2 big sisters and 1 big brother. I love my sissies and my big brother.    They are the funnest and awesomest brother and sisters any dog has ever had.
Uhmmm my Mommy says that I'm supposed to tell you all about what we've been doing in all these months and months.  My Mommy is the bestest person ever.

Duchess had an owwwie and had to go to the doctor and he got rid of it.  She was all whooo whooo and then she got better. She looks better now.

Many times a week Mommy takes us to play care. It's this awesome place with other doggies and these really awesome ladies who love on me ...well some of the time.

Also we all go to this big park that is just sooo awesome cause we gets to play with our ball. Peryn and I go all nuts-o.  We love it soo much and can't wait to get there. We know the way and we just get so so so happy.

Athena- i love my sister. She wasn't allowed to go with us to play care for a little while.  She was hurting and her leg bothered her.  She's feeling better and was at play care with us again. Yay.

Duchess tries to have fun without me when we're there.   I mean you can't have any fun without me. I get yelled at when I try to bug Duchess when she plays with her friends.   Why?  I"m fun.  I love my big sissy.

I have a pretty good life though. Me n Mommy go on car rides a lot. The really really really long type. We usually end up with Gwamma and Gwampa when we go on those rides.  I love Gwamma. Jack-my uncle is ok. Uncle Davey is cool. Gwampa ...makes me nervous. But we're getting better at coming to an understanding.

I have cool friends at play care and at home. There's Master Chief and Bridger. Then there are my hooman friends like Kara and Emily and Jennifer and Marlo.

And always Peryn is my best-est friend (after Mommy).   I love my Daddy too.   Don't get me wrong, after Mommy he's pretty darn awesome.

HI!! I'm back. Momma says I have a bad attention span.   This is ....Mommy says 3 ...This is taking me three days to write cause I have to keep my eye out on Momma. When momma leaves, I do too.

Today Momma took me to the store with her.  We went to that big place with all the stuff... I have been there a lot and they usually give me treats and love on me.

OH! OH! OH!. Mommy gots this machine for us. It throws balls.  IT's like the awesomest.  I stand right there and wait till I hear it get ready to throw the ball and then I catch it really quick.   Peryn gets mad cause he can't chase it then.    It really is awesome but takes forever between throwing balls. 

so anyways I think that's all ...if not I"m sure Momma will tell you all about it.

BYE BYE
 Hello Everyone.    Thanks to Lada for giving everyone a quick rundown. 

It's been a busy /crazy few months for both the humans and the canines. 
Let's begin with Ms Duchess..She continues to thrive. Playcare has done wonders and she is more interactive all around. 
She's still a bit stand offish in not wanting to give any affection, but she's willingly coming to get said affection.

She landed in the vet's office twice for injuries/surgery.   In January, Duchess was "sliced" on the side -in two places- by what we believe to be a frayed steel tie out cord.  She required stitches and had to take it easy for a bit. 

Her hair is still growing back from where they shaved it, but she's good to go otherwise.

In March, we had a skin tag that was growing by her eye removed.  She healed quickly from that and is her normal demanding self. 

She still has a thing for her Boyfriend Oscar and often plays with another dog Kavik (Husky--her peeps).  We really believe she's blossomed into a wonderful dog the past year and a half. 

She unfortunately still gets picked on quite a bit by her baby sister (Lada), sometime full on body slams, but she never bites her or hurts her.  She's a sweet soul and we both adore her. 

She's very demanding about getting treats. She expects them in the morning, when we come home, when we get up, and anytime we're in the kitchen.  She doesn't always get them, but she tries.

Sunbathing
She loves 2 of our neighbors..well 3.  She adores our neighbors Lissette and Mike. Anytime she's out she's always over trying to check out if they're out.  She will always say Hello. 
Then there's Kara. Duchess loves her (all the kids do).  She helps us out with checking in on them when our schedule gets wonky and she spoils them.   Therefore, they love her.

I see her age creeping up in small ways.  Her jumping up on things these days is more cautious. Her zoomies around the yard aren't really a thing anymore because of little sister, but when she's not around, Duchess tries to do them.

We started taking the kids to a  new dog park this year. Duchess loves it to death. It's large enough that she can do her perimeter sweep, run -run-run, and not be too bothered by other dogs.  She is a beautiful dog when she is there. Happy and free.    There is nothing like it.

She still loves to sunbathe and when I can, I make sure I let her out to do so.


Ms Athena

The whole reason this blog was even started.   For the most part, she is a happy dog.   Loves her pack and loves going to the park and day care.

However, her history and her age are catching up to her.
She frequently is over doing it or getting beat up.  Watching her limp or run awkwardly at the park is heartbreaking.
She tries so hard.

Recently she over did it at Play Care and a few days later we were at the park where her 2 younger siblings knocked her down.  Then she went down playing with other dogs.

We limited her activities for 2 weeks-which included not going to play care.  She healed and is back to having fun.

Now either she is ignoring me or she's starting to lose her hearing.   I have to nearly scream for her when she's outside.   Even in the house you need to speak loudly to her.   
She looks healthy and has a glow to her, so you can't tell how old she is other than watching her.

She really is a sweet and happy dog.   That being said, she's always been a barker.   She vocalizes her emotions and has since day one.  Whines and barks depending on the circumstances.
Lately it's all bark bark bark.   It is high pitched and annoying. She gets yelled at by her dad a lot because she just barks away and makes it difficult to have a conversation.   
And Lord if the little ones start playing with anything or anyone, the barking starts.   It is VERY VERY ANNOYING.

However she never takes our yelling at her to calm down to heart.   She just continues to be a happy girl.

The dog bed pictured was won in at a fundraiser.  ALL the dogs love it and they often lose their spot if they get up..but Athena enjoys it the most.  She will lie next to it if it is occupied.  In fact, she's on it as I type..

Peryn. Peryn. Peryn.   Lord do I love this boy.  He's such a handsome dude.   HOWEVER now that he's older, I can tell you more about his personality.

First, he's not overtly affectionate.  He does not want you to cuddle with him or pet him unless he deems it.   Its on HIS terms not yours.   We try to cuddle up with him when he's lying on the couch and he'll get up and leave.   However there are days where he will climb up on you and pin you there while he licks you to death.   Only then may you pet and cuddle.

His first love is his toys. Balls and tugs.   He will ignore food, dogs, and people if you have one of those items in your hand and are playing with him.     There are times at the dog park we won't bring one of his toys because we want him to play with other dogs.   He does like playing with other dogs, but he HAS TO have a ball in his mouth if he does.

He and Lada love to play with their herding ball at the dog park.  They go nuts with it.  They've destroyed all of our landscaping and landscaping lights playing with that dang ball.

We have a drawer of confiscated toys because he DOESN'T LET UP!!!!  Don't worry he has a tub full of more toys.  The little devil has even broken into drawers and storage cubes to pull out the new and unopened toys.   Dude is serious about his toys.

I finally took the plunge and purchased a automatic ball thrower.   HE LOVES IT.  Outside I got him to drop the ball into the machine after he returns from fetching it.   Inside he becomes an idiot and I am the one to load the balls. 

Lada loves it too.  She irritates him by staying right at the opening and getting the ball as soon as it comes out of the machine.

He still loves his family and kind of acts like the protector of the pack. He waits till they're all in or going up stairs or whatever they're doing as a pack.   He reminds me of Galen when he does that.

He definitely keeps Lada in line.  If he doesn't like what she's doing or we're yelling at her, he snaps at her to stop.

He and Lada are still BFFs.   Lada ADORES him.  He adores her.

 Here they are playing with his tether tug.   He loves that thing and has since he was a pup.
She won't touch it unless he's playing with it.

They do have a lot of fun together. 

He really is such a good dog. He's also extremely sensitive.  If I yell at him, he takes it to heart. If I yell at the other dogs, he takes it to heart.   He does not want to disappoint us and it breaks my heart when he gets bent out of shape when I'm yelling at another dog.

The other half -Lada.   As you read up there, Lada is a bit high-strung. She doesn't do anything in moderation.She is go-go-go-go. all the time.

I call her Psycho or Wild Child.  She has a big prey drive.   Where we used to allow her off leash so she could play with her neighbor pals, she's now on leash.   She tends to take off into the woods  and runs fast and wild.  She comes back muddy, wet, missing tags, etc... She ALWAYS comes back, but it's irritating when it's crappy out and we can't go after her. 

She does NOT like to be ignored and she DOES NOT like to share her Mommy....especially in bed. 

Peryn loves to climb up me when I'm in bed and lie right on top of me to lick me while I love on him.   Lada gets all up in arms and starts making these sounds--whiny low pitched sounds when this happens. Sometimes it's nothing more than the whining. Other times she will crawl in between him and my face to prevent him from getting any more loving.   Cracks me up.

She's now 25.5 lbs.   So she's grown a bit.  She's ALL muscle.   She defies gravity and she loves hard. She is a big brat to Duchess and her and Athena got their own bond.     She often will find a toy and play by herself and it looks like she's having a blast. 

She is a sweet girl , but again VERY HIGH STRUNG.  I've given up on training with her because she can not concentrate to do it. 
 

She's super stealthy, so she tends to sneak out when we aren't careful. 

She is a WONDERFUL travel companion and made several more trips to Tenn with me. When she's down there, she is the perfect dog.

She is a lot of work, but I adore her.
At play care she's made some new friends of her own size.   She looks like she's having a blast in all the pics they post.   Makes me happy.

So that's what's what with the pups.   Will have more pictures soon as we're heading to the 4th Annual Cattle Dog Campout and meet up!!






Thursday, May 15, 2014

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.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

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


Tuesday, April 22, 2014

WWE all the time

Yeah, it's safe to say Athena is L-O-V-I-N-G her new life.   No doubt about that.

Her life now consists of:

--her place in front of the window in the upstairs office.   We have an ottoman placed in front of one of the windows in the guest room/office.  Athena has taken this spot over and can be seen at the window when we come home from anywhere.

--her bed in the bedroom.  She walks in the master bedroom and plops right down on it. She stays there until she decides to look out the back window, jump up on the bed to cuddle with Mommy, or if we decide to move to another room.   She is quite comfortable on her bed.

--wrestling with her sister.  The WWE has moved to our house. What once started as an occasional thing has turned into a 24/7 thing.   It MOSTLY starts when Duchess gets jealous and uses it to get Athena away from us.  Athena occasionally starts it.  The girls seem to love playing with one another.   What was once very very cute is bordering on annoying as they tend to get loud and interrupt Rich's TV time.    Over all I'm very happy that they're there for one another.

--A family that loves her.  Athena has melded into the family quite easily.   She gets along with both of her sisters. She is very gentle with Sheba. She is affectionate with Duchess. She is super affectionate with the both of us.  She is a very sweet girl.

--Loves her walks. She loves her walks with Mommy/Daddy & Duchess.  She gets her additional exercise in that way.   Between the wrestling and the walks, she appears to be very content.

--Loves the outdoors.  She can sit outside for hours.  She loves to bark at nothing, squirrels, cats, dogs, etc.   She's also content to just sit out in the back and watch.

--She loves to eat.  She doesn't have to fight with anyone to eat. She doesn't have to starve, food is provided and she loves to just settle down and just chow away.  The increased activity I think keeps her appetite healthy.  She's put on some pounds but looks fabulous now that she is filling out.


Really, she's been very easy to incorporate into our home.  

Another very obvious sign that she is doing well is how she holds herself.   Before she use to fold in on herself.  Her tails was tucked under and close to the body, she walked like she was slinking away, moved gingerly up and down the stairs, and tended to stay in one area like she was trying to avoid being noticed.   Now she walks around like she belongs. Tail no longer tucked under.  She moves pretty quickly up and down the stairs (awkwardly though), and she moves about where she wants. From onto her perch to the floor to into one of our laps, she has no hesitation.  

She is such a pleasure and so easy to love.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Completing week 2

Hello Again.

Athena is doing well.  She's definitely gotten some meat on her bones and is looking healthy (aside from the obvious issues). Her coat glows & she appears to be very happy.

She LOVES her bed.  She sleeps there when we are at work.  She loves her sister Duchess.  When we adopted Athena it was our hope that they would be playmates.   We've definitely achieved that.

I'll get to that again in a minute.   Athena also LOVES being outdoors.   She loves to sit or lay out there and just watch or bark at whatever she sees.   Yesterday I worked from home and it was in-out. In-out. In-out. 

She does whine a lot.  I do not know the reason but she'll just be lying there and start the whining.  It makes me sad as I do not know what the issue is yet.

Duchess and Athena definitely are bonding. We adopted Duchess 10 months ago and from day 1, sleeping in bed with Mommy has been her thing.  No one sleeps next to Mommy except her.  No one gets Mommy's attention except her.

That has changed over the past week.   Duchess has now taken to sleeping on the floor right next to Athena at night.   It makes me sad, but it warms my heart that they're getting close.  

They play with each other once a day.  That relieves me.  Finally Duchess has a way to burn off some of that excess energy and she and Athena bond even more.

Athena is definitely not afraid to get what she wants.  For example, just a few seconds ago Duchess was on the throne looking out the window. That is normally Athena's spot. Athena wanted it and just went over to get on it.  Duchess chose to leave.

One thing Duchess still has issues with is that with Athena being so affectionate, she just crawls on your lap or snuggles in next to you.  Duchess does not like that, sharing attention.  In fact she is sitting next to me pushing at my hands because they're not rubbing her.

Overall-Athena is doing very well.  
Below is a video I shot this morning as I was trying to work.  It started with Athena cuddling into me...

Monday, April 14, 2014

One Week Later

Sorry to make you wait for another part.  I had to go out of town for a wedding.   Athena was left home with her sisters and Daddy.
 
She's doing extremely well.  Had her first round of shots and was given more medication.
 
The vet thinks she'll do well. The patch of skin on her back is 'healing'. We're still not sure if hair will grow back or not, but everything is healing nicely.
 
Her spaying is being put on hold for awhile. They really would like to see the ear infection & her skin heal more before we get to that point.
 
She has bonded well with her sisters.   She is very sweet with them and she and Duchess play with each other often.   It was exactly what we hoped.   

Athena loves to sit out side and be on guard (to protect us from all those squirrels and cats that roam
Athena watching for local wildlife.
out there).  She's very gentle with kids and adults.   Very sweet.  

She's navigating the stairs better.  She still looks a bit awkward climbing stairs, but she has picked up speed and confidence in climbing them.  She also doesn't crouch low to the stairs as she originally was.  She still is no Duchess when climbing (or running in Duchess' case), but there is obvious improvement.

She loves looking out the window.  She has taken over Galen's old thrown. It's very bittersweet to watch.  

The "throne" was Galen's for the entire time he lived here and it was very saddening to see it empty as his body wouldn't allow him to climb on it anymore.  I think he might approve of her taking it over.


Galen on HIS throne
 
Athena, taking over Galen's spot

Actually, both Galen & Goldberg both use to love looking out the window. They could sit there for hours. Only Galen had claimed the spot and no one was allowed to sit there when he wanted it. Not even Mommy.  

 He would make you get up so he could rest upon it and watch outside if that's what he wanted.    I really think Athena and Galen would have gotten along.   We're just glad she's enjoying it.

I was sidetracked! Let's get back to the vet visit. Athena has gained approximately 4 pounds since she was weighed in at the shelter.   We're glad that she's putting on the pounds.  She has a very healthy appetite.   I have yet to see a sign of any food aggression and that makes me happy. After dealing with it for years with Goldberg and Sheba (no one tried with Galen), it is nice to see a dog eat with a healthy appetite and no issues.

Unless the hub failed to tell me, we haven't had any more incidences of her going in the house.  She's very good with holding it.

I'm extremely happy with the progress she's made.  I also love that she is extremely affectionate.  The other dogs, not so much. I haven't had an affectionate dog since we lost Goldberg 2 years ago.    Athena definitely wins the title of most affectionate ever though.

We're very happy to have brought her into our lives and I think it's safe to say, she's happy too.
Say cheese!

Close up of Athena in the back yard