Saturday, August 6, 2005
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Weekdays, while on my lunch, I always try to do something fun with the boys to help break up their day and get them some exercise. Ideally, I like to take them for a walk, but since the it has been so hot and humid outside that is really out of the question. But, the other day the weather was nice and I thought that we could go for a small walk. Turns out that Henry had other plans! As soon as we went outside, Henry found a sunny spot in the yard and wouldn’t budge. So instead of walking we just sat in the front yard and soaked up the rays.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Today the boys and I are anxious and nervous. The boys’ sister, Cupid the cat, is having surgery to remove a stone found in her bladder.
The stone was discovered yesterday after we took her to the vet because we noticed blood in her urine. After doing an ultrasound the Dr. found a 7mm, free floating stone in her bladder.
Once the stone is removed, Cupid should be feeling much better. In the meantime, we are sending her positive energy to help her get through the day.
Friday, July 8, 2005
Henry has really been enjoying swimming lately - I would even say that he is enjoying it a bit too much. He is completely confident in his swimming abilities (over confident in my opinion), so he has moved on to other more difficult water related activities. His latest is jumping in the pool. He loves to belly flop into the pool swim to the other end, climb out of the pool and then jump back in.
His other new favorite activity is going underwater! I have no idea why he likes to do this, but while floating on his raft he will just stick his whole head underwater. I think it first started because he was trying bite and fetch the logo that is silkscreened onto his raft (you know he has a fascination with fetching everything in the water). Ever since then, it seems like he enjoys sticking his head under the water.
I don’t really think that him going under the water is that good of an idea. I fuss at him whenever he does it, but I don’t really think I have gotten my point across to him yet. And I guess if it scared him or if it hurt, he wouldn’t do it so much!
Regardless, it is safe to say that Henry is definitely an odd bird!
(Oh, and incase you can’t tell that orange blob in the picture is Henry in his lifevest completely under the water)
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
It is hard to believe that last week was the two year anniversary of Henry’s knee surgery. When Henry was about six months old and went in to be fixed, the vet discovered that he had hip dysplasia. While hip dysplasia can be debilatating for larger breeds the vet assured us that if we keep Henry at a trim weight that he would never need any type of hip replacement surgery. It was at that point that we became fanatical about watching what both the boys ate because we knew the heavier Henry was the less comfortable he would be and the less he would be able to exercise.
The six months following Henry’s diagnosis were great. He was a happy puppy that loved to run around, go for walks and go to the dog park. Shortly after his first birthday, we went to Florida on a little vacation. While in Florida the boys had so much fun going on walks to new and exciting places, going to the beach and running around the pool. Henry was just as active as usual, but towards the end of the trip he kept holding his left hind leg up. We were very alarmed knowing that he had hip dysplasia. We called our regular vet from Florida and scheduled an appointment for the day after we returned from our trip. The vet examined Henry and quickly determined that he had luxating patella, which basically means that his knee cap was sliding in and out of place. The luxating patella was likely caused by the extra pressure put on his knee from his hip dysplasia. The vet recommended that we take him to a specialist and we were able to get an appointment for the very next day.
The specialist confirmed what our regular vet had diagnosed and recommended that Henry have surgery on his knee as soon as possible. We agreed to have the surgery and talked with the specialist on when the appointment would be. After looking over his calendar the specialist said that he had one spot open for surgery the next day and then after that he did not have a spot open for at least another month. We couldn’t imagine Henry suffering and limping around the house for another month, so we decided to schedule surgery for the very next day.
The specialist was about 40 miles away from home and Henry needed to be back in his office by 7am the next day. It was already 3pm when we finished his appointment and the specialist said that we could leave Henry at his office to save us a trip in the morning. I thanked the specialist for his offer, but politely told him that my boy was going to be home with his family the night before his big surgery.
On the car ride home, I think we were in shock. We had been home from our vacation for less than two days and our baby boy was going into surgery the very next day. It was all happening too quickly.
Surgery day came and we dropped him off at the office with tears in our eyes. We went home to be with Benjamin who was extremely nervous (this was the first time, since he was a pup, that he was not with his brother). Later that evening the specialist finally called and let us know that everything went well with Henry’s surgery and that we could pick him up tomorrow afternoon after a short meeting to discuss his physical therapy requirements.
When we picked up Henry that next day, nothing could prepare me for how he would look. The vet tech walked him into the room and his left leg and thigh was completely shaved. He was holding his leg up and the incision on his knee looked puffy and very sore. His eyes were watery and his nose was runny, I could tell right away that he was in a lot of pain. Despite his pain, he was very happy to see us and gave us a very warm greeting.
The specialist came into the room and then showed us his physical therapy exercises which basically consisted of bending his knee. He hated these exercises and whined the whole time they were performed, but the specialist insisted that they must be done.
When we arrived back home Benjamin was very happy to see his brother and very curious to find out what happened to his leg. We precisely followed the doctor’s orders to make sure Henry would have a complete recovery. It took about ten days for Henry to begin to put weight on his leg. Those ten days were very nerve wracking because the specialist said that many dogs learn how to get along on three legs so well that they never want to put weight on their sore leg again (that is why it was so important to do his physical therapy). After he started putting weight on his leg he was able to go up and down steps again and he was even anxious to go for small walks. Little by little he got back to being his normal self.
Now, two years later, he is completely recovered and never favors his left hind leg. His surgery scar has faded, but is still pretty noticeable and while he sits a little funny due to his hip dysplasia he doesn’t let it slow him down. He is a healthy, happy little boy!
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
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I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home which means that I have two of the best assistants around. As you can see from the picture that I snapped from my desk while I was hard at work, Benjamin & Henry take their work very seriously. They make sure they are at the office everyday and they work excellent together. They are not easily distracted and they stay on task very well. I imagine that this place would just fall a part without them.
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Today, Henry spent some time trying to rescue a frog that had found his way into our pool. The frog was carelessly floating in the pool when Henry first discovered him and whenever the frog would get close to the edge Henry would paw at it to try and get it from the pool. Whenever Henry’s paw touched the water, the frog would dive down under the water and float up to a spot more in the center of the pool out of Henry’s reach. Henry was very upset by this because, as you know, he feels it is his personal duty to rescue anything that is in the pool.
This is the third frog in the pool in two days and I am really starting to wonder how they are making their way in the pool since the pool is completely screened in. I guess we must have a gap somewhere in the enclosure.
Monday, May 30, 2005
This weekend I took a much needed break from work and enjoyed a 4-day, mini vacation. On Sunday, we went to the doggie beach with the boys’ life vests and boogie boards in tow. Since it was Memorial Day Weekend the beach was pretty crowded, but the water was warm and there were plenty of dogs in the water swimming. It was hot, so the boys were very anxious to go for a swim.
The boys splashed around a bit in the area near the shore and then they hopped on their boogie boards so that we could go out a bit further in the water. We got out in the water a little bit above my waist and the boys were having a great time just floating on their boogie boards and going up and down with the waves. At this point, I was really wishing that I had a waterproof camera so that I could get a picture of the boys just relaxing in their life vests on their boards, but I was happy just being out in the water with the boys.
The boys were doing great just floating until Henry caught a glimpse of one of the buoys that was used to mark the swimming lane in the ocean. The buoy was bright orange in color and about the size of a soccer ball. It was a very thick plastic and it was tethered to the bottom of the ocean with a cord. When Henry first spotted the buoy he was about 30 yards away from it. I saw that Henry was fixated on the buoy and knowing Henry I knew exactly what he wanted to do. See, Henry has this thing about fetching in the water. Whenever he is in the pool it is his mission to pull everything out. He pulls all of his water toys out and puts them on the deck. He fetches the pool noodles and brings them out of the pool and he even tries to grab hold of the rafts and pull them out of the water as well. In his mind, he is saving them.
So when I saw him pacing on his board I knew he was about to dive into the water. Sure enough he did and he was headed straight for the buoy (don’t worry he was on his leash and I was swimming with him). After a long swim (for him anyway) we were at the buoy and he was trying to bite it and push it back to shore. I was trying to let him know that the buoy was not a toy and that he could not fetch it, but he wasn’t buying it. I brought him back closer to the shore a bit, but he was still fixated on the buoy and saving it. I was so proud of him for being so brave and swimming so far in the ocean and he was so proud of himself too. While he wasn’t happy about leaving the buoy behind, I managed to convince him that the buoy needed to stay in the water.
When we got back to our spot on the beach I got the camera out to take a picture of the orange buoy, but wouldn’t you know that I didn’t put the battery back in the camera after it was finished charging! I was really kicking myself, but at that point there was really nothing I could do!
So instead of pictures of the boys swimming at the beach, I had to settle for posting pictures of Henry swimming in the pool today.
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