Year of the Dog

It's that time of year again. Our little Scrat Monster is having another birthday today.

As best we can tell, he is 4 years old today. Which means he was born in the Year of the Dog (how's THAT for appropriate?).

Let's see what that should tell us about him.

Those born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders. They are compatible with those born in the Years of the Horse, Tiger, and Rabbit.

Loyalty:
Scrat is very much Slugbo's dog. He's his Little Dude, his Bundle of Energy, his Snuggle Buddy. Then 'Mom' gets done with whatever I'm doing and settles into the living room for the night and he's on my lap in a heartbeat. So much for Loyal to Dad. But I'm the one who snapped the leash on him the first day. I'm the one that wouldn't take him to the shelter after we couldn't find his owner and gave him the chance to show Slugbo just how great of a dog he could be for him. So maybe his loyalty is just fine. ;-)

Selfish, Stubborn, Eccentric:
Give the boy a tennis ball and good luck getting it away from him. He won't share them with the other dogs. If he's on a lap, he growls at any of the other fur babies that try to lay down close by (we curb that tendency as much as possible which is why I usually have three grumbling dogs in my lap at the same time). He knows how to get out of his crate, but doesn't do it when I am home, only when Slug is left to take care of the dogs in the morning.

Those are the primary ones that cover his personality.

We should include the following for him.

Adventurous:
He will follow you anywhere. On the "ruff", in the snow, onto an almost ice covered lake. Into the water. He rides on the Jet skis (yes he has doggles), and he will ride in my off road kart with me. He goes in the basket on the bike. He'll ride on the dashboard of the RV.

Sweet:
When he was so sick at the end of last year, early this year, he wanted nothing more than to just sleep curled up on someone.

It was all the sleeping that got us so worried. The deal with the thyroid has appeared to age him some. He's is going more white on his ears and he has white tufts coming in at weird places. But we will take it. The meds are helping. He has his energy back, but he is still the best snuggle bug we have.

We love you Scrat Monster. Here's to many more birthdays with us baby dog.

Belated Birthday Baby Boy

I'm a bad doggy blogger mom.

Scrat the Brat turned 3 on Wednesday.

It is the day we got him. It is his age as best we can tell.

It is been an eventful two years with this little monster.

Look at that face.

How 12 pounds of compact energy can get into so MUCH trouble is a mystery to me?

He likes to:

• eat rocks
• turn left down the hall instead of right to his room when he is told BED
• eat rocks
  
• chase the cats - though he has stopped trapping them under furniture
• eat rocks
• not give up the tennis ball from the last throw without making the neighbors think we are skinning him alive
• eat rocks - see a pattern here? There is a reason he got a birthday card from the pet insurance company

He redeems himself by:

• loving to curl up behind me in my office chair
• making hubby smile many times a day
• giving his all to whatever you have planned that day whether its sleeping, chasing a ball, hanging out in the office or just wandering around the yard
• learning that playing with teeth (i.e. him biting without thinking) is not acceptable
• no longer attempting to take a chunk out of my girlfriends ankles when they come over
• making certain that every possible IOTA of food is gone from all the dog bowls before he is 'done' with his dinner
• by thinking that a new lap is the perfect place to curl up - you sit down, you get a dog in your lap
• by showing our friends how much for the better he has changed in the past year from the snarling territorial little monster he truly was into a snuggle bug
• never giving up. He KNOWS That ball is out there somewhere okay maybe UP there and has simply not fallen yet. If he could climb that tree he would.
  
• loving my husband completely

You have come a long way Scrat baby. 'Dad' and I cannot believe we have been lucky enough to have had you in our lives these past two years.

Love, 'Mom'

A Boy and his Dog

Definitely felt a need to post something positive for a change.

Mom wanted to see the ocean while she was here. And in January in Northern California, you can do that. Sucks to be me, eh? (Don't answer that)

This was Scrat the Brat's first visit to the beach and my first to this particular beach. The only one in Sonoma County still open to dogs. Gr. I love birds and wildlife, but do NOT tell me they are banning dogs from a beach because they MIGHT disturb a Snowy Plover nest and still allow people on the same beach to walk along and crush the same nests under the sand. The logic totally escapes me.

Anyway. We took the Ball Launcher and slapped Scrat's life jacket on him and it was three hours of dog chasing ball.

The pic to the left is my favorite of hubby and Scrat from that day. Scrat had already been at this for about an hour and showed no signs of letting any balls get away from him.

He had such a good time that he's still recovering from all that running. Granted it's nice to see his version of calm for a change. hehe

Not by any means the last picture I took that day, but it is Scrat's running prints and Oscar the Dog's paw and shadow. It's one of favorite pics too.

Cliff the Mutt was there as well but all he does is wander around and sniff everything.

Muzzle Training...

... you'd think I was beating the little guy with a lead pipe.

Scrat the Brat eats rocks. Any of the people that follow this blog knows this.

I have insurance on him now and that helped with the last episode, but we like there to NOT be a third episode lest it finally be the one that means he has to be cut open. Not a good chance to take.

So Scrat is being 'woeful'. You put the soft mesh nylon muzzle on him and he starts shaking and gets that no one can resist (unless you've been dog owner for a VERY long time) poor poor me look on his face and stops still.

So out comes the leash so I can walk my dog around the yard because he will not go potty with the muzzle on without being on lead.

I guess he thinks that if he has to wear the darn thing, I have to walk him, even though I am always outside with them the entire time they are out in the yard (it's not fully fenced and they believe in walkabouts).

But I'm not caving this time. He's going to get used to the muzzle or rub his nose raw while he's outside trying to get it off. But it will stay on, he will go potty and Mommy will not cave and he will not eat anymore rocks if I can help it.

Scrat Monster is sick again

Hubby took him to the vet this morning around 10:30 with the same symptoms as last time.

Looks like the rock is in his stomach right now and they are leaning towards cutting him open to get it out rather then try to pump it out.

Please send good thoughts.

***Update***

Make that multiple rocks. One in his stomach they are going to try to get out with a scope. Multiples in both large and small intestines.

We are waiting. And I'm scared.

***Update 10:30 PM ***

Scrat Monster is home. They got the rock in his stomach out with a scope. 4 passed the disgusting way. They think one is still in him but they don't think it is big enough to get stuck.

I now have an $800 rock and $1200 rock. Scrat has to be part cat, because he's just used up a second life. He's moping right now because I'm making him get used to his soft muzzle. It will be worn by him whenever he is outside off lead.

Harsh, but necessary and recommended by the vet.

Good Thoughts are Needed

I've been up since 3:45 this morning. What woke me I couldn't tell you. All I know is I sat straight up in bed, wide awake and saw my husband getting dressed and little boy Scrat was on the bed (a BIG no-no in our house) waiting for him.

Turns out Scrat woke Hubby up crying. Scrat's been throwing up lately among other things, but then he just keeps on going. I switched his food and we kept an eye on him.

We thought it might be a reaction to the shots he got last week (Lepto, Rabies and Distemper), but his energy level was fine. He horked dinner again last night and we decided to call our vet this morning to see if she wanted to see him.

Then this morning, as stated, he woke Ken up crying around 3 am. Ken took him out to the office to see if he would settle, but he just kept wandering around the office and crying at random intervals then horked again. So Ken brought him back in to get dressed and take him to the emergency vet that is just around the corner.

I, of course, went with. On the way over, he was in Ken's lap and started crying again. :-( They took him back and couldn't find anything through touch. Gave the vet the history. She gave us some options. We know he will eat anything he can get in his mouth, so she recommended an XRay.

Sure enough, the little bugger has a good sized rock in his small intestine. We don't know if it is stuck, or if it might pass on its own. It is maybe about the size of a robin's egg (not huge, but not small). They have him on fluids and pain meds right now to rehydrate him and to see if it moves any.

We suspect they will probably decide to operate after we talk to them again at 10.

Think good thoughts please. We love the little bugger and would like him back in one piece.

FYI - www.carecredit.com is a lifeline given what we are going to have to drop to pay for this. Approved quickly for more than I asked for, so one less thing to worry about.

::EDIT::

He's OKAY! No surgery. I called at 10 and they said they would do the next X-Ray at noon and then call me.

Pins and needles let me tell you. It had moved but they were not really sure where it still was in the intestinal tract, small intestine or colon. At this point we start to worry about abrasion and possible puncture and subsequent infection, but his blood work as fine.

We made the decision to take the doc's recommendation and inflate the little bugger (poor guy) and take another XRay (he's gonna glow in the dark tonight) to see if they thought it could move further before deciding to cut him open. That was all happening at 12:30 and I went to lunch.

2:30 still no call. Start hounding hubby to call them. He's of the no news is good news. Not she who is hyped on an AMP drink to stay awake (evil stuff stay away from it). So he caved and called them for me.

The rock came out on its own! He is MUCH happier. Hopefully Ken will get to go get him soon. They may monitor him for infection for a little while longer.

I got the little bugger a muzzle at lunch time, so we don't have to go through this again. He's outside unsupervised, he's in the muzzle. Period. First chicken bones (don't ask - they know us well at this place), now this.

And I'm keeping that rock. It cost me about $1000. It's mine.

Happy Birthday Little Dude

It's hard to believe that a year ago today a source of extreme joy came into our life.

Last year March 18th was on a Sunday. It was the day after the funeral for our dear neighbor and hubby and I were on our way to a client to do some server work while no one was in the office.

He and I were headed to the car when I see this little blob of brown fur sitting at the top of the driveway.

I immediately go into doggy alert. Hubby hadn't come through the gate behind me yet and waited to let me do my thing.

I got the little shivering terrified furball kind of trapped between our Buick and the pile of construction stuff at the side of the driveway while DH went and got a leash. I'm down on all fours at this point (this guy is LITTLE and I don't want to scare him) and he slowly hands me the leash.

The minute it's on this little guy, he's an entirely different dog. Happy, bouncing around, like someone flipped a switch letting him know everything is okay and he's with people that won't hurt him.

Well we still have to get to the clients so in the house and into the crate we have for Oscar he goes and off we go.

Later I take a picture and post flyers around the neighborhood and take him for a walk to see if he'll take me to his 'real' home. Little did I know, he'd already found it.

The next week is a week of craigslist ads and pressdemo ads and petco flyers and filling out found dog reports at the local shelters and putting the word out that we have a little guy that might need a new home. We already have two dogs after all. I got heartbreaking phone calls from people looking for their own dog or puppy.

It's also a week of IM conversations with DH like the following:

DH: Guess what?
Me: What?
DH: He plays fetch.
Me: Oh boy.

Couple of days later

DH: He likes the water.
Me: Excuse me?
DH: He likes the water.
Me: How do you know he likes the water?
DH: I threw the ball in the pond
Me: Oh boy.

The next weekend still no real bites on the search for his home and I tell hubby I cannot take him to the shelter. Hubby agrees that we can keep him till we decide if we are keeping him or we find him a new home. Again, little did we know.

He went through three names those first two weeks:

• Ranger ("I want to be an airborne ranger")
  
• Rocket (the little bugger just flies after tennis balls)
  
• landing finally on Scrat (him with a tennis ball is Scrat from Ice Age with an acorn - he even makes the same noises) when we decided to keep him for good.

He is my husband's dog, and hubby hasn't ever been a dog person. Till now. Scrat is his joy and his playmate and his snuggle dude.

They love to play. Scrat loves tennis balls and playing throw more than fetch and he'll ride on the jetskis with the wind in his face.

He has two speeds 0 and 60 and alternates between the two faster then a pretty little Lamborghini.

He's excited about everything and anything you want to try to do with him. He'll sit and wait or sleep while waiting for the next great thing to happen.

He cannot help but bring a smile to your face with his expression of pure joy.

Even if he still has the occasional accident in the house (thankfully NOT on the carpet anymore), he's learning and he's come a long way.

He goes by many monikers:

• Scrat the Gnat - he has the attention span of one after all
  
• Scrat Monster
• Scrat the Brat
• Little Brown Dog
• Little Dude
  

We don't know when his actual birthday is, so the day he came into our life is the day he gets. He's two today (our best guess).

While Cliff the Mutt is and always will be 'My Boy' and Oscar the Dog is my satellite, Scrat the Brat is our joy.

I don't know what fates led him to our driveway, but I'm very glad they did.

Happy Birthday Little Dude.

You'll live to see more if you stop going on walkabout at 7:30 in the morning when Mom's already running late. ::wink::

Get Along Little Doggy

It turns out that being allowed to blow things up and build things that blow up is WAY more fun than I thought.

Hubby and I managed to get out of town Wednesday by 1 pm. I got lucky enough to leave my car in the shop to get the paint job fixed from the Operation Kill that Cul-de-sac last month and hubby left his car with the mechanic for a general checkup.

The wind going down to Lake Havasu City was a nightmare. We had a tail wind down I5, but once we hit the last stretch past Barstow, the wind was trying to rip the ROLLED up living room slide awning off of the side of the RV. Thankfully it didn't, but the awning canvas might have to be replaced.

Either way we got there safely. Turns out the event is held in a state park raceway thing that is VERY dog friendly. There was a dog park right next to the rig parking lot, so Scrat the Brat got to play every morning and most evenings off lead with his tennis balls. He ran so much.

Wanna see how much fun he had?

This is the little bugger while we were heading home yesterday. He was so tuckered out from the morning run and the fact that for the first time ever another dog beat him to a ball. To add insult to injury, it was a little girl poodle. Hehe.

On our way out of town, via my body shop, Ken called and said, go back for my phone headset. Then he called again and said grab Scrat's chew toy - aka that bed he's in - out of the office.

Scrat LOVES to ride on the dash of the RV. No he doesn't block our view. That's a big honking window let me tell you.

So he's zonked out in speed 0 mode. Then he hears the camera shutter. And it's ZOOM! straight to speed 60 with the ears doing really cute things.

He is still a brat, but he was a total angel on this trip. Turns out he's an excellent travel dog, except for the whole wanting to be in the pedal well of the driver seat.

He spent most of the road time curled up in his bed, or in the lap of whomever wasn't driving.

We crated him for the most part when we weren't in the rig, but gave him a chance the last day and he passed with flying colors. That does NOT mean he will be allowed loose in the house when we aren't home. After all the cats still hate him with a passion. But there is hope that one day he'll be as good a house dog as he is a travel dog.

FYI, the fireworks didn't phase him a bit. We took walks before the main shows while the WPA members were setting off their private stash. Let's say they really like the Salutes (I don't, but a lot of them do).

So I had fun building black powder rockets and tourbillions and setting off fireworks.

On V Day, hubby took me to a local Italian restaurant that was quite nice. I got somewhat tipsy. Okay a LOT tipsy and spent the rest of the evening in the recliner with the dog at my side watching - sleeping through - Chocolat. Now I have to rent it. lol

He got me bling for V Day. A lovely White Sapphire (sapphires are my birthstone after all) and White Gold Journey pendant from Kay and diamond solitaires for my top ear piercings. His present was not having to go to the mall and buy them himself. ::very big grin::

I finished his gloves on the trip! Actually I finished them on the way home.

To repeat, they are Regia Silk sock yarn on size 1 needles. I made both together, one row here, one row there, 5 rows at a time on the fingers, each thumb individually. Had to tink back part of the first thumb, but the second one was much better. All fingers end with 5 rows of K1P1 ribbing (could have probably settled for 1 row) and the thumbs only had one row because they actually stop on the thumb joint.

Now I want a pair for myself. But I intend to use a different yarn. More on that later. Oh the pattern is from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. Get your measurements, figure out your gauge, highlight (with the post it removable highlight tape) your rows and columns and jump in. Much easier than I thought.