River’s tough day

Breakfast is an early affair for River, mostly because his sister, Ocean, is full of beans and won’t sleep past 6 am no matter how many times you explain to her that it’s the weekend.

Breakfast! Yum!

Breakfast is gone in under a minute and this morning, since it included rice, it didn’t last past the 30 second mark.

Time for a nap

Afterwards, of course, it’s time for a much needed nap. Eating so early takes a lot out of poor, sadly-neglected River. But mom doesn’t think he should spend the day sleeping, and she’s insisting on a walk. Sheesh.

A walk? At this hour? Well, make it a short one, will you?

One walk later, it’s definitely time to rest…except River sees mom cooking and that means scavenging for what little crumbs might fall to the ground in the kitchen.

If you give me a little treat, I won’t tell Ocean

Obviously, that’s a full day for his fluffiness and a rest is well deserved. Once mommy is done in the kitchen, it’s time for that nap. Better still, a nap by her feet, so he’s within petting distance.

What a day!

Thankfully, supper is next, so that he can replenish his strength…but what’s this? Mom decided to have two walks today! Ocean is over the moon, of course, but she’s always been a little nutty. Two walks is exhausting for poor River and it’ll take him days to recuperate from the ordeal.

At least there’s supper! Phew!

Finally, finally, he can rest and take it easy from his very tough day.

Zzzz

Where my dog is crazy

This was today’s lunch. It’s hummus on toast with slices of every veggie I could find in the fridge. I had beets, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers…

Then, River comes over begging for a bit of cucumber. I tried to explain to him that he’s a carnivore, I tried bribing him with another more doggie-friendly treat but there was no reasoning with his fluffiness. It had to be cucumber and it had to be now.

I never thought of my dogs as mental giants, but shouldn’t they know what to eat? How do I instill a healthy dislike for vegetables in them?

A tale of two dog beds

Once upon a time there were two dog owners who were…well, a little nuts. They meant well, in their crazy little minds, but they were two raisins short of a fruit cake. So, when they went out to get their dogs new beds, they…well, they lost what little sanity they had left.

First, they already had two dogs beds. But they were old and getting lumpy, so they had to go.

Then they got two new dog beds.

Since their dogs weren’t too keen on them. Our two little loonie birds decided higher quality was needed and the beds went back to the store.

They got new, orthopaedic beds made with special foam. It seemed that since the dogs spent all day doing absolutely nothing, they needed to rest in special comfort at night.

Since, these were greeted with delight by the doggies, our two heroes finally could put their quest to rest.

Feel free to roll your eyes and shake your heads in exasperation now.

 

Where I go hunting

I’m going hunting.

Yeap.

No. Not animals…something more sneaky and foul.

That’s right. I’m hunting dog hair.

Ocean has decided this is the best time to shed her coat and she’s doing so all over the house. It comes off of her in literal puffs of hair like the one below.

The enemy

Once off her body, the hairs decide to have a party and we get tumble-weeds.

Some of them are veritable mammoths that must be dealt with swiftly and without mercy.

I have weapons at my disposal just for this purpose.

My weapons of choice

And patience because her fluffiness can take weeks to completely shed her coat.

Her Royal Fluffiness Ocean.

 

The only thing to do is to go hunting.

Sunday Funnies

Life with one-person dogs

River is our second akita. We adopted him after we had Ocean because, according to my hubby the therapist, she was lonely. So, instead of one furry, fluffy dog, we now have two.

Akitas are an unusual breed. You don’t see them running about too often. They’re not eskimo dogs and they’re not labs…they’re a different sort of dog. And we knew basically nothing about them when we got them.

One thing the breeder warned us about is that akitas are ‘one-person’ dogs. Not knowing what she meant, we ignored her and headed home. It was only after we had the dogs that we started to understand.

Ocean is madly in love with my hubby. She cares for me, don’t get me wrong, but the love she has for Hubby knows no bounds. She cries when he leaves, can identify the sound of his car coming home and will smile if he so much as looks at her from across the room.

On the other hand, River is my dog. He follows me around the house like a shadow, gazes adoringly at me from the floor and hates it when I leave the house. He also has to be near me no matter where I go. That means that if I’m not quick and close the door, he’ll follow me into the shower.

We don’t have the largest bathroom in the world. It’s meant to contain a human being, not a massive akita. So, in the weekends, when I’m lazy and relaxed, River finds his way inside and I have to shower with him. As a result, my short shower routine turns into a long, drawn out ballet where I try to get clean while avoiding stepping on dog paws, tails and other bits.

Don’t feel too sorry for me. I usually also stop to kiss his furry head, pat him and explain to him what I’m doing with the blow dryer (River doesn’t like the blowdryer). This usually makes Ocean jealous and, if I’m not careful, she will also slip inside the bathroom, love for hubby notwithstanding.

Now two akitas in the bathroom is not a shower routine, it’s a disaster. It’s one of those things that we should have learned about before we got two of these fluff-balls. Still, we’re not complaining.

(credit:The funny place.net)

Akitas don’t follow commands unless they feel like it, they can’t swim and they won’t chase a ball; but if you want a dog who’ll be your shadow, these guys are great.

Saturday Morning at the Akita House

It’s early morning here and we’re up. After a breakfast with a bit of broth and their usual kibble, my two fluffy dogs have settled to watch things outside the window. There’s a cutie-patootie rabbit that comes to our grass to eat breakfast on a regular basis and my two akitas are fascinated by his every move.

Oohhh That rabbit!

They’re both at it right now, faces against the window, trying to get to the little rabbit while I sip on my breakfast cup of coffee.

(credit:Church Designer Magazine)

Breakfast and a show, aren’t Saturday mornings the best?

Where we have a structure

It started as a big hole and then it had bricks but it was still a big mess with no actual coherent shape. Now, this week, suddenly there is wood and panels and…well a structure has appeared.

It has a roof and walls and everything.

It’s super exciting and not just because it’s starting to look like an actual garage, but also because there is less of this:

We had tons of dirt. Not just outside either. It managed to sneak into the house and join the dog hair that we already have. The results weren’t pretty.

So, now we have a structure. And it’s super exciting.

Update on Ocean…

A little while ago, I rambled on about our doggie Ocean who wasn’t acting like herself. One mental breakdown on my part later, we were at the vets’ inside an incredibly tiny and stuffy office. After much poking, prodding of Ocean and sweating like overcooked noodles from ourselves, the vet recommended switching her food (she might have allergies to it) and doing blood work and stool analysis.

River, super-serious as usual

I’m not one to leave things to chance. We had just switched our doggies’ food thinking this new brand might be a better quality for them but, since Ocean was obviously poisoned not reacting well to it, it had to go. Without further ado, we threw out the old and went shopping for new. Meanwhile, I cooked some oatmeal, eggs and tuna (we’re vegan but our doggies are not and they love tuna) and I made her a little get-better meal for her…though River thought it was awesome as well.

My lovely girl, not feeling her best

Since our last vet visit Ocean, who has always been on the thin side, has lost over 4 kilograms. Translated, that’s about 9 lbs…a huge percentage of her already tiny weight. It might very well be due to allergies over food, but my overactive mind created all sorts of other horrific diseases that could also be responsible for this issue. Terrified, I waited on pins and needles for the blood work and analysis results.

Finally, after calling the vet so many times I memorized the number, they came in.

This is where it can’t be easy to be a vet, but it’s also super challenging to be a patient. While the stool revealed nothing wrong, the blood work was inconclusive. Ocean has slightly elevated kidney numbers which might indicate an infection, might indicate something as dire as kidney disease (incurable, by the way), might just be a reaction to her food or might not be anything at all. I banged my head against the wall while the vet tried to calmly explain all the possible scenarios. I have to give her credit because, while I freaked out, she patiently explained everything from Leptospirosis to cancer. I wanted symptoms, outcomes (bad and good) and prognosis…and I wasn’t exactly mellow while she explained all the dire consequences that my poor, fluffy Ocean could be facing. Worse, if possible, she could be contagious and be giving some of these terrible diseases to River.

At some point, I started to bawl and became incomprehensible, so lovely hubby had to take over. I know they’re only dogs, but my silly heart doesn’t listen to reason or logic. It’s head over heels with these two fluff balls and nothing but happiness on their side will do.

Our gorgeous boy

So, what’s the prognosis? Well, unfortunately, medicine with animals is challenging mostly because they can’t talk to us. Ocean can’t tell us what hurts. The good news is that, since the last time we weighed her, she’s put on about 3lbs (that’s great news in only 7 days) and that she had almost clear results on the blood work and stool sample. But the truth is, gentle reader, that we don’t know for certain. I’m really hoping that it’s just a bad reaction to her food and things will keep getting better but we won’t know until a few weeks go by and she gets really better.

Meanwhile, I will give her extra cuddles and kisses…and River as well so he won’t feel left out.

Beautiful girl

 

Where I judge others

I’m going to be honest here, I judge people. I know I should not make passing judgements, but the truth is, I judge them. Worse, I have criteria.

1. You have a pet.

If you have a pet, you’re already my friend. We might not know each other, but you’re already in my circle of people I like and trust. Everything counts in my book, from a mouse to an exotic bearded dragon, if you have a pet at home, I like you–even if I don’t know you.

2. You have a dog.

Of course, if that pet should happen to be a dog, you’re among the few and friendly best. There’s no logical reason for this discrimination, but I find that dog owners (and cat owners are included in this category) are super kind, friendly people who happen to know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night because your best furry friend just puked up their dinner.

3. Your dog is massive, drools or you have several dogs.

These are a rare kind of people that must be cherished. They know what it’s like to have drool everywhere, to have many, many towels to hand to a guest as soon as they walk in the door. They understand what it’s like to try to pet your dog but your arms don’t reach around his girth. They know what it’s like to have such dog try to get on your lap because they don’t understand that they’re not a puppy and weigh around 150 lbs. They understand about being outnumbered at walk-time and know that the couch is theirs only for periods of time.

 

I find these are rare, precious individuals who have loving, warm hearts and aren’t afraid of a little dirt. They may not keep up with current fashion trends, but they know everything about trying to keep a house from smelling of dog and giving up during spring when said dog (or dogs) are perpetually wet.

Dog people understand like few can.

So, if you find yourself watching the beautiful parabolic arch of drool going from your furry friend’s mouth through the air into your cup of tea…don’t scream in frustration. Come and tell me all about it.

Trust me. I’ve been there.