Pictures

Went on a caching adventure with the puppies yesterday. I was even smart enough to bring the real camera this time... enjoy.

Ace and Nova, in to something on the trail

Nova, acting all pretty

Ace, probably watching the sun go down

Feeling better

Ace seems to be getting back to his normal self. He's back to 'licky monster' mode, and playing lots with Nova. Everything's going well on the digestive front, and he's back to his regular food. I'm hoping it warms up this afternoon so we can go out. I know Nova's been a little pouty with all the attention Ace has been getting, and a good outside romp will be fun for them.

Between husband and I, we managed to get six of Nova's nails clipped yesterday. I did two during the day with him laying on the couch beside me, then husband did a foot after work. Man, did we throw him a party. Happy voices, lots of pats, two cookies... I'm hoping he gets the point. I don't think he's ever going to enjoy it, but at least if we can get him to tolerate it with minimal flailing, I'll be happy. With any luck, they won't ever have to be away from us so long again. Poor puppies.


It's going to be fun watching Alexandra grow up with the boys. They're so gentle with her, it's almost like they understand that she's just a baby. She's grabbed their neck fur a couple of times, and they just sit patiently until I pry her fingers away. They give her a kiss, and then they're off playing again. It's cute. They should be great friends.

Antibiotics

The doggies and I went on a hike on Monday. It was actually more like a caching adventure, but since I only managed to find one cache, it felt more like just a hike. Ace and Nova were both super excited to be out. It's been a little messy with the melting, but I don't really mind the mud as long as they're having fun. I guess it was an odd way to spend Family Day, since husband was at home with Alexandra, but either way, it was fun.

The boys encountered a snowmobile for the first time... fortunately he was wise enough to slow down, as the trail was only about 10 feet wide. I'd thought we'd be pretty safe since the snowmobile trails are supposed to be closed because of the warm weather, but I could be wrong. They took it fine though, and sat with me on the edge of the trail until he passed.

That first trail we were on is actually an old rail bed, so it's raised a bit, and normally there's water on either side. I could see the ice was about 2 inches thick in the spots where it was broken, and there didn't really seem to be any water underneath. Even so, I was a little concerned when Nova jumped the little bank. No need to worry though, I had to laugh at him and wish I'd had the camera out. His four little legs were going everywhere at once until finally he got them steady and he just looked at me like 'what now, Mom?'. He posed for a minute, then jumped the bank again and was off after Ace like nothing had happened. Silly dogs.

Unfortunately, I think Ace must have gotten into something bad while we were out. I woke up yesterday morning to a huge mess in their pen... runny poop everywhere, and a startling number of blood spots. I hurried them outside, where I discovered Ace was covered in bits of poop as he proceeded to make another runny little puddle, while Nova had a regular old poop. I cleaned up as much as I could, and we made our way inside. I cleaned out the pen with a ridiculous amount of spray and paper towels while trying to decide my best course of action.

When I talked to the vet, I explained that we were now living an hour away, and asked if I'd be better off to take them to my mom's vet here. She asked how he was acting, and I told her he was pretty normal, other than not really wanting to play with Nova. Interested in food and water, and following me around. Basic Ace behaviours. She gave me an appointment for right after lunch, and said to call right away if he started acting different or vomiting. He made the poo sample sort of easy for me, except that it was on the carpet and the consistency of a raw egg. It came out of the carpet easily though, and at least I knew it was really fresh.

He was fine on the car ride over, and I waited for a bit outside first to see if he needed to potty, then in the waiting room as we were pretty early. They had two scheduled surgeries in the morning, plus three emergencies, so I was expecting we might have to wait a little but figured if anything changed it was better to be there than still here. Luckily he loves all the girls at the vet, so he wasn't as shy as usual. That's pretty much why we still have the same vet even though we moved - I'm comfortable with everybody there, and more important, the dogs are happy.

After checking Ace out, the vet went to have a look at his sample and found some bacterial growth and some bits of white plastic. Something is bothering his colon, so she put him on some antibiotics. It should go away unless he gets an obstruction, so I've got my fingers crossed. The girls were kind enough to trim up his bum so it'd be easier to clean him up, and they even did his nails which I felt bad about because he struggles so much lately. They really are wonderful.

He's been better since we've come home, playing more and less frequent poops. He doesn't even fuss about taking his pills. It's just nice to have my dog. I was worried they'd have to do surgery, or he'd have to stay overnight or something. I do freak out too much about things, but it was pretty scary. I'm glad Nova's been okay too, because he did have a runny poop after I left yesterday, and husband was sort of wishing I'd taken both dogs, just in case.

Hopefully soon everything will be back to normal!

Out and about

It's been a long couple of weeks (again). I've been alternating taking the dogs out, partly because it's good for them to be separated once in a while, and partly because their differing 'interests' make it difficult for them both to have fun doing the same thing. The dog park is fine for Ace occasionally, but he often decides that he'd rather just hang out by me, and that sort of defeats the purpose of going. Nova, however, loves it, whether there's other dogs there or not. The forest is tough for Nova though, because he wants to be everywhere at once, and I can't let him off leash because I know as soon as he sees someone, he'll take off. Ace runs right back to me, so it's pretty safe for him. So Nova gets the dog park, Ace gets the forest.

The other day, there was nobody else at the dog park, so I had to keep Nova busy. It had gotten cold again, so there was lots of that chunky snow. He'll chase that stuff all day, so I'd toss a piece one way, then as he was running back to me, I'd toss one the opposite way. Kept him running, and he loved it. I felt bad because he really enjoys playing with other dogs, although he does tend to get a little carried away with the barking. It was fun watching him though, he's just so happy when he's running. I wanted to get a picture of him in the snow with his tongue hanging out, but it just didn't work out. This was the best I got (the pictures are kind of crappy today because I only had my phone camera, and it's been acting up lately):


I sometimes think Ace doesn't really care where we are or what we're doing, as long as he's with me. It sounds pretty cheesy, but that's just the way he is. Especially when it's just the two of us, he's extremely attentive and will do pretty much anything I ask of him. Almost. I was trying to get him to put his paws up on the logs, and he did repeatedly, but again, the phone camera was having issues, and he got impatient. Not that I blame him. We've had good times though.


Of course, at the end of the day, there's nothing better than a good snuggle in the people bed with Mom. They're not allowed up very often because of husband's allergies, but as long as they behave, I sometimes let them have a nap with me.


It's not very often that they actually snuggle together like this, I usually end up with Nova warming my feet and Ace against my chest. I'm going to try and get the real camera cleaned up this week so I can get some more decent pictures. The memory cards are pretty full, and I don't like deleting from the cards until I have the pictures backed up off the computer as well. I'm pretty sure I have at least enough for another CD by now. The weather's supposed to be nice the next couple of days, so hopefully we can get out lots.

Back to the blog!

It's been a busy couple of weeks. We randomly decided to go on a road trip, then husband's been sick for a week. It's been interesting trying to both take care of everybody and keep them entertained. All things considered, the dogs have been very well behaved. I took them out to the forest again on Sunday, where they proceeded to almost drag me down the first hill, then when I got to a clearing with some good visibility, I unleashed them and they wouldn't go more than 10 feet from me! Silly dogs.

I did finally get them playing and they got a fairly good run in. I wanted to take them to the dog park, but because it was so nice out, there were a lot of people there and I didn't want to get upset. I enjoy the forest, but because it's a multi use type deal with skiers and snowshoers, people pop up unexpectedly and the last thing I need is for Nova to decide he wants to go home with somebody else. Ace has been much more reserved around people lately, but he tends to express his stress by barking and although I know it's harmless, other people might not see it the same way. At least the dog park and forest are close to each other, so it's not a big deal to drive by the park and scope out the situation before I decide where to go.

I need to find 6 foot leashes... all I can find around here is 5 feet, and although they're fine when I've got the dogs walking next to me, on a single file path I end up tripping on whoever's right in front of me if they stop. I'm hoping to make a trip down to Petsmart in the next week or two, but I can't handle Alexandra and the dogs on that kind of an outing yet, so I'll need husband either to come with me or stay home with her. I want to pick out a couple of new toys... the boys didn't really get anything for Christmas other than finally being able to come home, so most of their old toys are getting pretty worn out, and they especially need some new chewies.

As you can see, both Ace and Nova take their 'protecting' jobs seriously... lol

Ace's barking at home is much better. He does have the occasional random outburst, but it's usually at either a strange loud sound or another dog barking in the hall. He seems to be understanding that if we're not worried about the noise, he probably doesn't need to be either. I had to laugh the one day... we met the superintendants on the way out for a walk, and the wife didn't even realize we had dogs! The husband joked with me that I didn't need to be worried about barking if it took her three weeks to notice they were here. I was rather relieved. It's nice that they have a dog and have dealt with separation anxiety as well, so they understand what we've been through and why I get anxious about it.

I'm going to try and get some fun pictures this week. I had Ace and Nova out in our 'yard' yesterday, which is basically about a 5' by 10' patch of grass (snow at the moment) beyond our porch and they loved it. Normally I just have them out there for potty breaks, but it was nice and I let them play in the snow for a bit. They wrestled and pounced and dove into the snowbank. I know they miss their old yard where I could just let them out to play whenever they wanted, but our little patch is better than nothing I guess. We could live upstairs and only have a balcony.

Nova's been playing with Annie a lot. I'm so glad that when we went to rescue a cat we picked her. She was so patient with them as little puppies, and they learned very quickly that when she's done playing, she's done. They sometimes look rough together, but they both love it. I would be thrilled to get some pictures of the two of them, but it happens so fast that I'd pretty much have to have the camera on and ready. Maybe that'll be my challenge for the next week or so.