What?! Two posts in one week?

 Your eyes aren't deceiving you. We've posted twice this week.  The Daddyman is otherwise occupied, leaving time for Momma to play around. That doesn't happen often--so enjoy it. 

Regular visitors may notice a slight change in layout & design.  Having had time, found the settings to make some long wanted modifications.    Once upon a time all I did was update and work on webpages and graphics.   That young lil lady eventually got a job, moved back to her home town and got lots and lots of dogs...  Bye bye free time. 

So yes, I made some updates to the layout and colors.   Hope it makes reading easier.

Secondly, I'm writing to tell you about Volos.    

Truthfully, I forget what I do write about. Throughout the week I often compose blog subjects in my head.  What actually gets posted is often a far cry from what I originally thought about. That being said-- Volos had a biopsy done on one of his growths. It was another mast cell tumor.   We decided to remove it being that it was the 3rd growth since we adopted him.

After the initial appointment we found another spot and another fast growing "growth" next to his eye. Thanks to Galen & Duchess, we recognized the eye one as a fatty tumor.

He had his removal surgery yesterday.  The other 2 are being sent for pathology to make sure we got them all and to find out if the 2nd one is a MCT.  

Poor dude.  Picked him up and he was still drugged out and in the cone.  Cone FREAKED him out. Every time it made a sound or moved, he freaked and tried to escape...causing it to move and freak him out more.

His freaking out caused one of the wounds to seep.  I made a quick online purchase and went to pick up an inflatable collar.   Five minutes later, Dude is acting normal.

What didn't help during this time of being drugged and in a cone that freaked him out, my smoke alarm went off.   THAT WAS FUN.

He can't go to daycare for 2 weeks until his stitches are removed.  He stayed home and slept.  Part of it is because he's recovering and the other is he missed his siblings.    He came to life when they got home.

It will be a long 2 weeks I can tell you that. 

The dogs were away from day care for 6 full days. Longest week of my life.   Wednesday I took them to the farm where snow was EVERYWHERE.   Lada was disappointed because she couldn't play fetch because the ball kept disappearing in the snow and neither she nor I could find it. 

They did end up playing with the tug.    

Volos LOVED IT. Snow and this dude....  He really came alive and wish I had been more ready with the camera.   Here are some pics & Vids from the visit..including 3 way tug!

   

  

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