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

Appointment Follow Up

Happy Saturday.

Let's get this started.  Yesterday Athena went for her follow up at the vet.  They were EXTREMELY happy with her progress.

She gained another 4 pounds! A dog that weighed 47.7 pounds at the shelter now weights 55 lbs.  The vet noticed it right away. She definitely filled out and appears to be bigger than she was.

She no longer requires her ears to be cleaned daily.  We only need to do it every 3 days.  I can tell you a certain doggy is quite HAPPY to hear that. She hates that part with a passion. 

For her hair & skin, she no longer requires any solution.  Her back is healing very well. She only has a few scabs left and the rest is receding.  She is healing quite nicely.

She still is on some antibiotics for both her ears and back, but it's just to make sure we get it all. Once completed with this round she should not require anymore.  She is now going on heartworm/flea & tick prevention.

Her last round of shots is in two weeks. Once she is finished with her antibiotics and prednisone, we can schedule her spaying.  

Last night, we bought her a bigger bed.  Since she loves her bed so much AND she was a bit big for the one we had, we bought her the canine version of a queen sized bed. She took to it right away and she now may spread out and still be on the bed.

Come back later this weekend and I'll post a bunch of new photos of the girl!

Thanks for checking in on Athena.

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.

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...

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

Days 3 & 4

Athena is adjusting well.
She's doing much better on the stairs. She still looks awkward going up and down, but she's got speed now.

Monday I worked from home, to give her more time to adjust to her surroundings. She slept on her bed right next to my desk the whole day. 
Once I finished, I brought out the puppy puzzle toys for them to play with. She got into them.  She was rather impatient with the one & broke a piece, but nothing major.
She also played a little bit with Duchess.   That made me smile.  


One thing I did notice about her is the possibility she's going into heat. I've never had a dog that was unaltered, so this is new to me.  We're keeping a watch out and we'll definitely find out at the Vet on Friday.

Today, I returned to work.  Today was a real test as this is going to be the schedule she deals with during the week.  9+ hours without the humans.
I was running late, as was my husband, so I was anxious to what I would find when I came in the house.

Three happy excited pups greeted me at the door.   All my girls waiting for me.   While I let them outside, I searched the house for a sign of a mess. Nothing.  Nothing was amiss.  She did so well.

I played with them a bit outside and then brought them back in.   Once inside, Duchess tried to engage her in play.   Athena joined in. They were chasing around the large chair and having a blast.
It warms my heart that they've all started to bond and care for each other. 

Athena's back scabs are falling off. She has healthy looking skin underneath so that is good.   Rich & I both think her teets do not look as big as they did the day we brought her home. Whether that's from us getting use to her or they actually are, remains to be seen.

Right now she & Duchess are at the window right next to me watching the neighborhood.