The Pee and Poo Report Brought To You By...........

I have recently become a connoisseur of Poop.  I look at it, squish it, and bring samples of it to the Vet.  No this isn't some new strange sexual fetish I have developed.  No, no, no.....Nana has Colitis with a dose of Giardia just to add to the fun.  I noticed a couple of days ago that there was blood in Nana's stool.  Not a lot and only in the first stool of the day.  Why she had blood in her stool is really a toss up.  I could be part of the horse hoof she grabbed at the barn and happily chewed on, and no the hoof was not attached to a snorting, four footed equine. It was part of  the trimmings left behind by the farrier.  Then again, it could have been caused by part of the cloth wrapped, piece of scrunchy rubber band I found in the stool, or maybe it was what looked like a hair ball the cat hacked up and Nana ingested.  Really amazing what you can find while rummaging through scat.  At any rate, blood in stool requires a Vet check particularly when it seems to be getting worse.

Nana does not look sick.  She roared into the vet clinic, barked at a couple of dogs, bounced up and down a couple of times, offered the treating Vet a play bow and bark and expressed trained out of there with new drugs to take.  The stool samples I dropped off also showed Giardia.  This she could have gotten anywhere since we walk, hike and hang out in low places - the kind that have interesting things to sniff and streams next to trails that meander under trees.  So who knows where she got this stuff, I watch her closely, but she manages to get into trouble anyway.  Other dogs can eat anything without problems, but my delicate little flower is a regular at the Vet whether it is for pulled muscles, fox tails in the paw, or blood in the stool.  I've kind of decided to just send them really large checks on the first of the month, because I can just about guarantee we will be there for something before the month is over.

Ah yes, the joys of dog ownership.  There are some moments I have to remind myself why I love it, pawing through scat is one of them.

Nana meets Risky the Wonder Dog

Nana met Risky the Wonder Dog a couple of days ago.  Now Risky is a 4 year old intact male Briard with a 300 word vocabulary.  He can accurately fetch a named toy or fetch it by color.  He is good at the old 'go fetch my slippers faithful dog'.   Nana on the other hand is good at the grab, go and rib to shred the slippers.  Though there is some improvement.

Risky is a very busy boy and does not tolerate a locked door, he wants to know where his people are and he wants to keep an eye on them.  Which is why he can open doors, unlock things and get you a beer or a bottle of water out of the fridge.  Joe claims Risky learns much of this on his own by observing, e.g. the newpaper retrieve.  Nana on the other hand does not open doors and is worse than a two year old when mommy is trying to use the bathroom with the door shut.  "What are you doing in there?!?!"  Open this door now!!!  Or I will huff and puff and claw it down.

The above picture of them walking together is a tribute to Risky's owner, Joe and Ceasar Milan.  Risky wasn't sure he wanted to meet Nana.  He is a bit of the "I'll sniff your butt, but your not sniffing mine" side of the street.  Now polite doggies know it is a mutual sniff routine.  However, Joe was able to get them walking together after a bit.  We're thinking sheep herding trials would be a cool thing to do.  I can see Risky herding up the sheep, sorting them by color,  grading their wool and making sure they are all in the proper pens with the gates shut and secure.  Nana on the other hand will be doing a play bow and wondering why the fuzzy white thing doesn't act more like a dog.

You can find Risky the Wonder Dog on YouTube  Risky the Wonder Dog


It was great to meet Risky and I have my friend Barbara Sue to thank for the introduction.  

Take That Anne Klein!

Nana is bored.  Nana is very bored and is looking for all the trouble she can find; my shoe collection will probably not be the same. She is also sneaky.  I once watched her very stealthily reach out and slide a rope toy out from under the nose of her good friend Patsy the Labrador when Patsy looked away for a moment.  Nana didn't want the toy she wanted Patsy to play with her.  When Patsy glanced back, toy was gone, but Nana was there with her best play face on in an effort to entice Patsy to a game of wrestling.

My closet has become the newest attraction with stealth missions being conducted daily for it's treasures.  There is the added attraction of a small, black, hissy toy that resides in there.  This animated toy can sometimes be spotted on the bed, but prefers the closet and refuses to play with Nana no matter how many play barks and bows Nana offers.  The hissy toy only has flattened ears and a yellow glare to offer in the play department unless Nana gets to close in which case the hissy toy has the fastest claw in the West. 

Now the shoe in the picture is one of a pair of Anne Klein loafers that I have had for years and are my "fall back" choice for pants.  I love the ballerina look and these were as close as I could get at the time; ballerina styles shoes being out of fashion at that moment.  This pair of shoes should have been thrown out a year ago, but I have a tendency to "keep" things in the closet of infinite holding far to long.  As much as I am not happy about her eating a pair of my shoes it does force me to pair down - not a bad thing.  Now if I can just bring myself to throw away the hiking boots whose soles are literally separating from the side of the shoe.  Maybe I should let Nana make the decision for me.

  

It Was Going So Well....

It was going so well, until she fell down the stairs this morning.  For those who have been following this blog will know that she had a puppy park injury a couple of weeks ago and has been on an anti-inflammatory and rest for the last week.  This week she got to go back to some light exercise which we did yesterday with nary a limp or gimp.  Well.....in her excitement this morning she missed her footing and tumbled down the stairs landing in a heap on the landing.  She caused some injury to a back leg that she walked out pretty quickly - but light exercise shows a slight hesitation in her front leg again.  I suspect she has slightly re-injured the leg again.  She is on her last anti inflammatory and I am watching her like a hawk hoping it will go away and not get worse through the day. 

It's hard being the owner of a delicate but clumsy princess.

The Doggy Orthopod

Nana is on house rest and anti-inflammatories after her puppy park trauma of a week ago.  I mentioned in my last post that Nana was lame on a front foot. Well....it just didn't seem to get better and my friend Pat, who conveniently is a vet, looked at her and said, "get her to the Orthopod"  or something like that.  Sigh.....fortunately for Loomis Basin Veterinary Hospital's financial sheet, they happen to have one.  So off to the doggie bone doctor on Thursday for a complete exam and treatment plan.  After some discussion, I decided to pass on the $700 worth of x-rays and try the rest, anti-inflammatories for a week then light exercise the following week.

It does seem to be helping, but try telling a 10 month old Briard with lots of energy that they need to rest and not exert themselves - particularly as they are trying to rabbit around the tiny living room I have in an uncontrollable burst of exuberance.  It was a nice stress test however and she wasn't limping after her zoomie moment which is a good thing.  So...I think she is getting better and probably just pulled a muscle playing with the other dogs.  A little rest, a little Ace at night to try and get her to calm down and we will both survive the next few days of house rest.

Someone commented that they couldn't tell what the picture was of in the last blog post.  It is Nana, upside down with her legs over her face.  I thought it looked like an "Oh no...." picture after all the things that she had been through.  :)