Love at First Sight...or?

I am one of those people who goes with a gut feeling, instant reaction - love at first sight..and 99% of the time its a no regrets decision....i have never bought a dog from a breeder...I will one day...but for now it all been adoptees from shelters...
my male dog "Dozer" who is my "butt dog" because he is always under my butt was adopted...in 2007.
In spring of 2007  we had 1 cat and 1 GSD (trained, tattooed, and shelter stressed Misty...who ever dumped her was an idiot..she is a great dog) Anyways..at that time we had no plans to add any dogs I just started a new job and barely had time for current pets..but around my birthday i just hit me to get another dog...i went to shelter everyday for 10 days and even my family was like..if u want one get one, why are you torturing yourself...but all the dogs they had were not it...i thought maybe it's just me, because i did not even know what i was looking for...on 11th day i was driving from work, i remember i had linen white pants and 5 inch heals and silk shirt..I even thought i need to skip shelter today..yet i ended up at the shelter...and to be honest no intentions to adopt at all..but when i walked by 2nd to last cage and saw the only dog who was not barking but was standing and starring at me...he had the most piercings eye contact..even when you turn away you can feel it..
Dozer was 7 months, he was picked up as a stray, his weight was 28 pounds, you can see outline on his hip bones and his spine, saggy neck, dark color, patchy fur, i called my husband and said i found a dog..want to see him?..i waited 15 min. while talking to the worker..who told me that this dog was picked up on a day of my birthday, and had been under quarantine for 10 days....weird was all i said..because 1st time i stopped by shelter was on my birthday..i stood there looking at him and he stared at me, eventually he laid down and stayed down till my husband stopped by...when he saw him first words were "this is the ugliest dog i had ever seen, he looks sick, honey...did you see those lab puppies? they are chubby energetic little things" while he pointed to the cage down the line...i said: "nope i did not see any labs" (i must have walked by them a dozen times in last 10 days..LOL ..I said "i am taking him".... and it was love at first site...
Our journey had not been easy, he was a poop eater, he had food allergies, he chewed all 400+ deck posts within a week...he ate my brand new spring planted trees, he was a roamer, he did not like leash, he did not like cats, he chased everything that moved, he was a barker....i poured sweat, blood and tears into getting this dog in line....and when others said 'get rid of him" it was not an option...4 years later...he is the best dog i have...he gets a little too excited at times before we leave the yard but he is my running partner, he is my "human reader" he has no ball drive and if he ever steals a ball from others he pees on it...but..he reads me like a book..him and i get each other...if i ever need a back up..he is my right wing man..LOOOL..

7 week Post Op Update

So far so good...this past weekend went on a 2 hour slow walk in down town..all 4 legs were used, did do a bunny hop up the stairs in the park. I am little concern for the lack of muscle on her leg, to me it still feels smaller than the other leg, i do realize it only been 7 weeks since surgery. At the end of the 2 hrs she did started lifting her leg every few steps (so that was the reason we wrapped up the walk) but two hours in a busy downtown up and down the street with only 15 min break, i think is a great progress....

Here are few pictures from yesterday... I been so preoccupied with her leg, I at times forget to notice HER..her face, how she is filling out and maturing. :)



You can slightly see where the scar is...fur is slowly filling in...



She does sits awkwardly....not all the time, but at times it almost looks twisted.


Can you say BALL CRAZY??? she was told to "wait"..LOL




WHO LOVES YOU BABY???

:)

Butt Biting Disciplinarian

I came out in the morning and Frankie (ridgeback/boxer mix) was chewing on my shoe…I came out took out the shoe, she sat up looking at me, I am waving shoe in front of her saying “No, Frankie, bad girl!” as I am doing that Bailey my 13 month old GSD runs up and bites Frankie in the butt and runs off…I yelled “Bailey leave it, I got it”..
Same evening Frankie (I guess was bored) ripped off my pumpkin off the wine (pumpkin was a size of a soccer ball) and was biting chunks out of it…I came out “Frankie, leave it..” and as I am saying that Bailey runs by and bites Frankie in the butt again and keeps running its like a “run by butt bite”, Frankie turns around to get her but she is long gone…I came over to Frankie, she sits down looking at me Bailey does it again… I didn’t even had time to react…I called Bailey over made her sit than down next to Frankie…I tell Frankie no, tell Bailey "leave it" and walk away..as I walk away I see those two playing Bailey (who can practically walk under Frankie) sticks her head under Frankie pretending to bite her hind feet, Frankie jumps on hind legs and proceeds to hop sideways…typical play time…
This morning I was trying to put Frankies collar on and she kept putting her head down, so I said.. ‘Frankie, LOOK at me” which she did..and sure sh*t once again Bailey did her “run by butt bite”….its not a hard bite, not aggressive bite…it’s a mouth open wide bite that does not close shut..almost like a bite - squeeze…it does not even hurt Frankie because she reacts in surprise, not aggressive because she looks and focuses back on me...at least its not agressive looking....

I guess i will see what happens, i think order of the pack should be determined by the pack..as long as they fall in line after owners...

Post - Op Week 3: swimming and sitting

I finally got Bailey into the pool…this was her first time in deep water versus kiddy pool where she plucks down….she had her life vest on (I will defenatley get some pictures of that) and everything was going good till she panicked, she saw stairs and that’s the only place she wanted to go…I was afraid she was going to scratch the pool so I got in front of her to steer her back towards me…I had my arms under her but when I got in front I ended up lifting her front legs and she went into doggy paddle versus under water paddle and scratched the cr@p out of me…I helped her out by lifting her up and out….few minutes later got her back in and it went a lot smoother, she did use her hind leg while in the water kicking..so thats a good sign, she is also using it more to stay on it..when she plays with our cat she uses leg more often to keep her balance while they are wrestling..so I think more cat play is in order J

pool 15 x 48"



Life vest bought it in academy for $17.00 (i think)

I had also noticed the sitting position...

Clearly you can see her L hip (normal hip) folded and sticking out..where her R one is almost folded lower under her…it does not seem to effect her and she does look straight but when compared there is an obvious difference....

Post - Op Week 2: stitches out

Day 13 post surgery...
no weight on her leg yet..tries to sit normally but unable to completely squat down, may keep half way sitting position for a few seconds than leans sideways and stretches leg out...we been doing stretches and while laying down i been folding her leg up...i suspect stitches may be pulling a bit on her skin, fur is coming in slowly but surely...



on the way to vet's office to have stitches removed..


Day 14..stitches removed on her hip and dew claws




Day 15..no more CONE...I was holding her cone in my hand and she was looking at me like.."and this is going where?"
she is finally able to sit normally w/o having to stretch her leg out sideways...she does not put all of her weight on but does stand on it...i have to remind her "use your leg" and she brings it down....

Freaking Hell!

 I went to my local butcher and he had a new guy working there from across the border, I usually know what I am getting and prices but this time I saw beef tails with nice amount of meat on them, so I asked “how much” he mumbled something and I caught ninety cents ….I thought, “ok, great price for a pound!” I bought  4…they are about 2 +/- pounds each. So about 60 pounds of meat and bones later I am walking out and wondering about the price..where did I go wrong on my calculation…got home…gave dogs tails pulled out a bad and looked at the sticker…and FREAKING HELL! Tails are $3.90 a pound NOT $0.90 totaling over $35.00 for just 4 tails….

Having non English speaker tell you price will make a difference between $8.00 and $35.00.

Watching my dogs close their eyes and enjoy every second of some beef organic certified some sort of overpriced “special” beef tails..PRICELESS!

11 days Post-Op

11 days post surgery, Bailey can sit now without much of discomfort, she does not use her leg while moving but she does uses toes of her right leg to keep her balance while standing. I can put her foot down and she will keep it down and toes flat for a few seconds. We are continuing with basic stretches, I been able to fold her leg (like in sitting position) for days now, but unable to stretch it out back without her disagreeing with the process.
Tomorrow her stitches will be removed, cone will come off and pain meds will be discontinued...I know she hates that cone...
Yesterday she was outside in the evening and she went into her kennel and laid next to her dog house in grass that is over 1 foot tall...she looked so pathetic, as weird as it may sound I think she is actually missing her kennel...here is picture from last night..

This one from this morning when I left the house.

FHO Surgery and a week after..

Bailey Frost diagnosed with HD March 18, 2011
original X-Rays


FHO Surgery was recommended and selected
http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/fho.htm

Surgery was completed on Wednesday May 25th.
Post Surgery X-Rays


When I came to pick Bailey up it was suggested by a vet I leave her overnight...
So I picked her up Thursday morning...she had some drainage and she was too sore to be wiped/cleaned up.

Her temp. was good, minimal swelling...
Here is the incision day after surgery..




after getting to her bed she stayed in it for most of the day, i applied some ice packs to the area....


She also had her dewclaws removed....

everything was going well....she was getting around even went off leash outside on a sunny Saturday...



and than Sunday came....
I decided that her bandages needed to be changed, so left the house to pick them up....when i came home some 40 min later..

she pulled all of her stitches out.....at first it did not look so bad, skin was actually holding shut, she pulled them 4 days too early...but as she tried getting up top part came apart....when she hopped around the gap kept getting bigger and within 5-10 min from time i came home we were back out heading towards animal hospital....i actually did panic...thank god for my husband who lifted her up and put her in a Jeep and off we went....spending our Sunday evening in a waiting room..


some 4 hours later.....and a lot less $ in the bank account...Bailey got "zipped" up...


hours after anesthesia...and with a "permanent" E collar now on her neck...she was very goofy....she wanted to go play with other dogs, she wanted her ball, she wanted to run on hardwood floors...so after stern "BED" command, she finally lied down..



She was restless most of the night.....so i did not get much sleep either....i do think that her new bandages look great on her..LOL..

so, how did you guys spend your memorial day weekend?

Fear - Bailey

I did not think i would be having fear issue but here it is....

just discovered that my dog is fear aggressive towards: skinny, tall guys  (discovered this at SAR training/introduction/orientation on Saturday)....WTF? it was the worst time for her to show that......never had issues with her...she has been everywhere with me,  kids can approach, women, chunky man - no problem what so ever...but tall skinny man and she becomes a fear biter (two man at the training were disliked by her as soon as they approached, ears back, tail straight, feet wide apart, whites in her eyes and she kind of lunges towards stretched out hand)...has not bit yet...i am just taken back...and very surprised (mildly put)....

k-9 handler on site said she is scared of these type of man, and not to correct her because if she is corrected when i can tell she is getting nervous she will know not to show her fear but lunge and bite without warning....

since this is my first time dealing with fear biter who is also handler sensitive (which i can and been working with), and i guess somewhat nervous dog in new areas/locations, where should i start? any suggestions?..more exposure to public?

few key points...she is okay in crowds, down towns, around people, in stores, around most dogs, around kids, good with women....it looks like once someone focuses on her and come up face to face with only 2-3 people around she gets nervous, direct eye contact with a stranger makes her unsure, with me and anyone she knows she has no issues with eye contact and holds eye contact very well...if she approaches them (strangers) she is okay ...tail wag, sniff, not totally comfortable, little shy but still comes forward and greets....

also, I been warned by a vet that her being in constant even low level of pain would make her self consious or nervous...could that be true? but than why is it selective few not every stranger?....

I swear this dog will be the death of me she is like a treasure chest of bad surprises...between health issues, personality and now temperament...

Liver vs Me

So, on Friday I stopped by a butcher and bought 10 pounds of LIVER..beautiful looking liver:


I cut it into chunks and rinsed one bowl at a time till it was clean looking....


Each dog got about 2 pounds ......took me forever to get it cut, rinsed, and be ready to be served.....

NONE of my dogs would eat it!!!!! Bailey licked it...Misty picked it up and spit it out...Dozer would not even touch it and Frankie looked at me like...are you freaking kidding me?



So....i brought bowls back in rinsed them

....and cooked each bowl separately...



they ate it.......Dinner of Friday night...


Saturday morning.....vomit everywhere.....
So I pulled my knuckle bones out of the freezer...


defrosted them...


and served....








and I cleaned/rinsed vomit off the patio and picked it up all over back yard while they enjoyed their bones.....

I am never doing liver again.......

Bailey vs. Hailey (American Idol)

Ok, so I been watching American idol...not every time but every few weeks, I noticed that some times my dog would get out of comfortable positions and would leave living room, than come back...never really paid much attention when or why....until yesterday...

So here is my dog watching American idol.

...as comfortable as she can be....until Hailey started singing....


she started rolling, rubbing her head on the rug..grunting...




and than tucked her face under my foot....ear folded up and everything...and did not look out till Hailey stopped singing...





i could not stop laughing....i thought, NO WAY..there is just NO WAY! so when Hailey started singing again...she did it again....tucked her head under my foot....so by the time 3rd song came around..I muted TV and sure enough she laid there watching


until i turned the sound on...so she got up and left....and went to her bed..LOOOOL...