Revenge of the Smoke Detectors

A couple years ago we posted about our smoke detectors going NUTS!  It happened again during the holidays.  Mommy came home to chaos as Daddy tried to determine which smoke detector's batteries were going dead.  She found me and my sister in the laundry room.  Dixie was desperately trying to make her escape.  I was just keeping Dixie company until Mommy could provide the comforting Dixie needed. 

We stayed in there until Daddy made the terrible noise stop.  The next day when Mommy got out of the shower, she couldn't find us and started looking around the house.  Once again, she found us in the laundry room! 

Another smoke detector was beeping to let us know it wasn't long for this world.  As Mommy started trying to figure out its location, Ruger disappeared.  Can you spot him??

Ruger didn't seem to be bothered by the noise the night before, but he sure was this time.  Maybe because Daddy wasn't home??  He tried to hide out in the bathroom behind the door. 

It took Mommy several tries before the noises stopped.  Actually, they'd stop for a minute or five . . . long enough for Mommy to contemplate putting the ladder away and then they'd start again!

Thankfully, we haven't had any issues with the annoying beeping life saving machines since January.  Crossing our paws we don't have to hear them again any time soon!

Jenna

Snow Much Fun

In the three winters we've lived where we are now, we've only seen snow flurries a couple times and only once did they stick . . . for about thirty minutes.  This is a BIG difference from where we lived prior to this location.  Being a teacher, Mommy is a HUGE fan of snow days, but fears she'll never experience another one!

Late on Friday, December 7th, the snow started falling in huge flakes!  Ruger had only seen tee tiny snowflakes up until this point in his young life, so naturally he did what any snow newbie would do: he BARKED at it!  He wasn't sure what that white stuff was falling from the sky.  We northern natives knew exactly what to do . . . wait to see if it was going to stick!  And boy, did it stick!  Mommy was totally surprised when we went out the next morning at 6AM and we had several inches already.  It continued to snow most of Saturday morning and we wound up with almost EIGHT inches of snow!  Usually, Mommy thinks snow on a Saturday is a waste of a snow day, but she's so desperate for snow, she'll take it anytime!  And it did result in a two hour delay Monday morning!  Yippee!

Naturally, Mommy saw this snow day as a photo opportunity!  We had recently ordered flannel bandanas from one of our favorite Etsy shops L and E Boutique, but thought for sure we wouldn't need to wear them until the new year.  Mommy broke out the new bandanas because they have snowflakes on one side and snowmen on the other.  We looked great in them!

 Jenna

 Dixie

Ruger

We had snoooooow much fun playing outside!  Ruger especially since this was his first big snow!  He ran around like a mad man while we just stood and watched him.

You can see how excited he was by the grin on his face below!

Mommy enjoyed playing in the snow too!  She said she thought she might cry from the excitement of breaking out her snow boots again!

Once we came inside, we all crashed!

We're hoping this won't be our last snow of  the winter, but chances are it is!

Dixie & Jenna

Blessed Y'all

It's Thanksgiving week and we've started making a list of the people and items we count as blessings.  You'll have to wait until Thursday to see the official list, but you can probably guess some of our favorites.

We Are Blessed, Y'all!

On the other paw, you can probably also guess wearing bandanas for Mommy's never ending photo shoots will NOT make the list!  Here's a behind-the-scenes look at this session!

Have a great week!
Dixie and Jenna

Labsolutely Pawfect

Recently Mommy became paranoid again and took me to the vet.  (Hopefully this is the last time for a while since it seems she's been doing this regularly lately!)  She thought I was drinking a lot of water.  It's kind of hard for her to tell which of us is drinking more since there are three of us, but in her heart she seemed to know it was me.  I could have told her it was me if she'd only asked!  Silly Mommy.

Mommy suspected a urinary tract infection and took a urine sample with us to the vet so we wouldn't have to waste time waiting on me to feel the urge to potty.  We saw a new vet at our usual animal hospital who seemed impressed with Mommy's preparedness.  This vet was new to us, but who knows, she seemed much younger than Mommy so maybe she actually is a new vet!?!?  The urine sample showed I did not have a UTI, but it did indicate I was drinking an awful lot of water.

I made friends with Snowy while waiting to see the vet.

To be on the safe side, the vet wanted to run a full bloodwork panel to make sure there was nothing wrong with my kidneys.  Mommy agreed immediately, but it put her on edge.  Her first dawg, Charlie died at the age of eight (my age) from kidney failure.  Mommy and Poppa learned how to give Charlie fluids through an IV and it was very disturbing for both of them and for Charlie.  Apparently Grandma used to go take a shower when it was time for fluids so she didn't have to hear any of this process. Mommy swore she would never, ever do that to a dawg again no matter how much she loved the dawg.  There is a fine line between being selfish and being helpful when it comes to healthcare for dawgs.

Mommy said some serious prayers while waiting for the test results.  She was so worried that my kidneys were failing and she was going to have to tell Daddy that his Number One was in trouble.  I spent this time chilling on the floor, looking out the window, and hoping the door would open to aid me in my escape!

Thankfully, the lab results proved I was labsolutely pawfect.  (Was there any doubt?)  Technically, my thyroid is a tiny bit low, but I'm not showing any signs of that disease.  Mommy has been instructed to keep an eye out for any symptoms of hypothyroidism.  Since she's personally had experience with both hypo- and hyperthyroidism, that shouldn't be difficult!

We also learned there's a weird disease called psychogenic polydipsia that causes dawgs to drink lots of water for no apparent reason.  The only cure for that is to remove access to water during the night and while the humans are away from home to prevent accidents.  Mommy doesn't really think this fits me either.

The bottom line from our visit was summed up pawfectly by the vet tech who said: 

Jenna is best dawg I've ever seen! 

Yes, I completely concur!

Once my appointment was over, I rode with Mommy to the pharmacy to pick up her prescriptions.  The line was long and one of the medications was not quite ready for pick up.

I was a little bit impatient in the car.  Probably because we finally had to get out of line and just park and wait. While waiting, my nose got the best of me.  Look at what was just sitting next door . . .

Chick-fil-A!

Unfortunately, Mommy did not pick up dinner or even a little snack for me while we waited.  Instead, we drove home where she fixed me "The Usual."  [sigh]  At least she knows what I like.

Have you noticed what my bandana says?  Blessed Y'all!  That is so true.  I'm blessed to have a paranoid Mommy who just knows when something isn't quite right.  Despite not being treated to Chick-fil-A, I'm blessed in so many ways.

I hope you also have a paranoid Mommy!  ( I know my Mommy does . . . you know who I'm talking about Grandma!  Ha!)

Jenna

To Each Their Own

Mommy was feeling rather adventurous during her last week of summer vacation.  She decided to take ALL THREE of us to the dawg park all by herself.  She says unloading at the park was the worst part of the whole adventure.  We were rearing to go!

She was recovering from the exhausting walk from the car to the park gate (maybe a whopping 30 yards??) and didn't have her camera out to capture the great picture of all three of us running together.  Instead, you'll have to settle for just me and Ruger running wild!

Once again Ruger's tongue was flapping in the breeze.  This was the best picture Mommy could grab of it!

This little guy is Dozier.  He's quite a chunky bulldog and tried to keep up with us at the park!

He also tried to run with the other big dawgs there.  He got a little nip on the nose at one point!  But that didn't stop him from waddling around with us.  (He even tried to make an escape with us as we were leaving!)

It was rare to see all three of us together this day.  We were all doing our own thing all over the park. 

Mommy learned that each of our personalities stood out while at the park.  Dixie was all about the tennis balls!  She only wanted to retrieve the ball over and over and over and  . . .

She played until she finally had to collapse at Mommy's feet from exhaustion.  

Ruger liked to be where the action was.  He spent a good bit of the time running from one pack of dawgs to another trying to play with them.  If someone threw a ball, he'd run after the dawg trying to retrieve it.  He likes to try to steal the ball from others.  That may be how he ended up with slobber all over his nose!

I used my time more wisely.  I went from person to person trying to nab some FOOD!  The rules of the park say no people food or dawg food allowed in the park, but you know how people are; they don't follow the rules!  Unfortunately, the only "food" I found that day was a man with coffee.  That wasn't quite what I was looking for and he wasn't sharing!

We played until we couldn't play any more.  We finally settled in the shade together and Mommy asked if we were ready to go home.   I was forced into the backseat on the way to the park, but I called shotgun for the ride home.  I don't know why Dixie just doesn't let me ride up front all the time.  She knows I prefer it and she doesn't seem to mind where she rides.  Ruger proved to be a good car rider too.  He and Dixie each took a rear window and enjoyed the views.

I enjoyed my ride home in the front seat.  I can relax and have Mommy all to myself! She enjoys having me up here too because I tend to lie down and sleep.  (Dixie prefers to sit up and look around.)

Hopefully we'll all get to go to the park again soon!
Jenna

Paranoid Mommy and Pawfect Jenna

Mommy has been super paranoid about my knee this summer.  She always watches to see how I'm walking, if I'm putting all my weight on my paw, if  I'm limping or favoring my leg.  It's been over a year since I had my knee surgery and I've technically made a full recovery, but . . .

Mommy still worries!  Don't all Mommies?  

About mid July, I had a fun morning of playing in the water with my siblings and then playing hard with Ruger in the yard.  Later that day when I hopped up from a nap, HOP was the operative word.  I wasn't putting any weight on my leg at all.  It was the same leg I'd had surgery on.  Mommy went back to this photo above to double check.  Dawgs who have knee surgery have a FIFTY percent chance of having the other knee operated on eventually, so she wanted to make sure.  

She watched me for a few days and gave me buffered aspirin in case I was in any pain.  She also restricted me to super short walks and began taking Ruger and Dixie on long walks together (instead of me and Dixie together).  After a week of this, Mommy went on her trip to Santa Fe and so I had a second week of restrictions . . . Daddy doesn't walk us!  Ha!

After Mommy's return, she still wasn't one hundred percent convinced that I was okay.  She had mentioned me to Dr. Clary when she had Ruger at the vet for his check up.  He said if I was improving any at all then it wasn't my knee.  I was definitely improving.  

Mommy started taking me by myself on longer walks and even let me swim one morning.  Here I am showing off my supermodel figure.  You're picturing Bo Derek shaking the water out of her braids here, aren't you??

 I'm Daddy's girl (or so he likes to think), but I can be Mommy's girl too!

After a weekend of swimming in the pond and a trip to the dawg park (I was the last to get to go because of my knee), Mommy took me to see Dr. Clary.  She told our family that she was going to take me to the vet just to double check or to have him tell her she was paranoid.

Dr. Clary couldn't even tell which leg he had operated on without the vet tech reminding him!  I was walking normally and not showing any issues.  The vet checked me out thoroughly and told Mommy to GO HOME!  He didn't even charge her for the visit.  (Apparently she IS paranoid!)  Mommy felt encouraged and relieved.  She still keeps an eye on my leg from time to time, but I've been running and playing with no issues.

I guess I'm still a supermodel!
Jenna