Louie............

My  sweet Louie.

We lost him today. He hadn't been feeling well recently and was at the vet in early December. He took

antibiotics for three weeks and seemed to be feeling better.  A couple days ago I noticed he had

enlarged lymph nodes. 

Today he was struggling, not feeling well, vomiting and he had trouble breathing. Just out of it.

We brought him to the vet knowing it was likely the end of his time with us.

He was a loyal, loving companion.  He turned 13 years old in December.  He had a long and good life.

We will miss him!

Dogs................

We lost our Sophie just a month ago. We have since got a new dog. She's on the right and her name is Sadie. That's my faithful Louie on the left. He likes the new dog too.

A little over a week ago, I spotted Sadie on our local animal shelter site. I have been stalking the site for several weeks, looking for a dog, but not really thinking we would find a dog so quickly. I saw her picture, read her story, and told my husband to take a look at her profile. We visited the shelter that night and put a deposit down on her. The next day, Saturday, we brought our Louie to visit her. They got along, mostly ignoring each other.  My boy and I went back later that same morning and visited with her again, and paid for her.  We could not pick her up until at least Wednesday, since she was being spayed on Monday.

I just wanted to bring her home NOW. I could tell she was stressed and confused and I just wanted her home. But they said no. So she was spayed Monday afternoon. I called several times Tuesday and then picked her up Wednesday at noon, when the shelter opened.

She is a very sweet girl. The shelter told me she was four years old. I brought her to my vet and my vet said she was maybe TWO years old!!! That's ok though. She must have come from a loving home with other dogs and children. She is very well mannered, potty trained, knows how to sleep in a bed, loves to sit in laps, and is just generally a loving dog. I can tell she was well cared for. She is just a sweet dog.

She does not like taking medicine or kennels. I bought a small kennel for her but she would not use it. Thankfully she is well trained so we don't need it.

I never dreamed we would get a dog so quickly after Sophie. But our house was so quiet and then Sadie's profile showed up. Sometimes you just know!

I still miss my Sophie, and still look for her around the house. The ache is getting smaller each day, and I know we did the right thing. Sophie was a faithful companion for me and my family for almost ten years, and I am thankful for that.

I think Sadie will be a faithful companion for us all too.

Mrs. Sophie Toes...

This is Sophie. I called her Sophie toes sometimes because she didn't like her toes being touched.

Sophie was originally my aunts dog. My aunt got Sophie from her neighbor that didn't want Sophie anymore. Sophie was about 6 months old when she went to my Aunts house. I have known Sophie all her life and so have my dogs.

In May of 2004, my Aunt died. I asked her husband if we could have the dogs, there were three of them. At that time he said no, but I let him know that if he ever didn't want the dogs, we would take them. He let us know in December that we could have the dogs. It was December 4th. My sweet husband drove from Minnesota to Maryland in a weekend to retrieve the dogs for me.

So, I always say Sophie was my Aunts dog, which she was, but she was actually my dog in the end. I had her for almost ten years. She surprised us with how well she behaved. We thought we would have issues with her, and she turned out to be a wonderful pet for our family.

Around August I noticed she was drinking a lot of water and brought her to the vet for a check. She had liver issues, so we put her on medicine and started her on a special food for dogs with liver issues. A couple of weeks ago I went to get her more food and spoke with one of the vet techs about Sophie. She wasn't getting any better, and she was actually doing a little worse. She was starting to retain water and she was starting to have problems breathing.

The vet called me the next day and we talked about Sophie, and options. One of them was to drain the fluid, giving Sophie more time, a week, a month, two months--who knows? Once you start draining, you have to keep draining. We talked about quality of life etc for Sophie. I reluctantly decided that Sophie needed to go to her final resting place.  She was 12 years old, and had a wonderful life. It wasn't fair to her to have to suffer just because I wanted her here still. I could she how bloated she was, and hear how difficult it was for her to breath.

She was still feisty and barky though. She was our barky dog. We always knew when someone was here, because she would bark. And when we arrived home, she always greeted us with her bark barking.  I miss that now. Our house is quiet, and our other dog Louie is lonely. He has always been our quiet dog.

My mom was sad about Sophie too. She said it was like one of the last ties to my Aunt.  And she is right. I feel like it was more than just Sophie that we let go.

We brought her in Thursday, and we were all there with her. I held her and comforted her. Her passing went quickly. I was able to spend some time alone with her on Thursday, to tell her she wouldn't be in pain much longer and to tell her what a good girl she was for us. I know she knew, and I know she understood.

So we go through the days, one at a time, missing Sophie and adjusting to our new, quieter house. I miss her more than I ever thought I would.

The other dog

This is my other dog. She is a Jack Russell too. I inherited her from my aunt who got her from the neighbor when she was about seven months old.

Neither of us named her either. Her name is Sophie and she is seven years old. We have had her for almost five years now.

She really didn't want her picture taken so it took about eight shots to get this one.

The Lou

This is my dog Louie. He wanted his picture taken too. He is my Jack Russell and he is seven years old. He's a good little dog!

Lumps, bumps and teeth........

Yeah, this is a dog post. I don't have any lumps or bumps and neither do any of my family.

Several weeks ago, my Louie was very ill. He just wasn't getting any better. I didn't feel the urgency to bring him to the vet like I did his brother Otis last may.

I actually didn't bring Lou to the vet, I made my husband bring him because I didn't want to go to the vet and come home with a dead dog like I did with my Otie.

Come to find out that the vet was actually concerned too and had some of the same thoughts I did about my Lou man. We talked today and I told the vet that I just couldn't bring Lou in after what happened to Otis. He understood perfectly.

The vet ran a bunch of blood work and gave Lou IV fluids and an antibiotic and steroid shots, but never knew what was ailing my Lou. Thankfully the dog recovered and is doing exceptionally well now--for which I am highly relieved. The thought of losing another dog right now is too much.

I know, I know, they are just animals. But you know what?? As pet owners we are obliged to take care of our animals the best we can, otherwise, we shouldn't be pet owners. It's an enormous pet peeve of mine--people that don't properly take care of their pets.

In January I noticed a bump on my female dogs back. I looked at it and it looked like a growth, about the size of a pea. I have kept an eye on it knowing we would be going to the vet in a few months. If it would have changed in any manner I would have brought her in to have it checked. It turns out that with a needle biopsy it is benign and will be removed when she has her teeth cleaned tomorrow.

Earlier this week I noticed that Lou had a bump the size of a marble. I didn't panic knowing we would be going to the vet this week. Turns out his is just a fatty tumor and we will keep an eye on it! YAY.

So, it's that time of year here where our dogs need their shots and heartworm etc. I brought them both in today for their checkups and lump and bump checks. They are healthy (yay) and in good shape. They are both about 7 years old and gray already!

They both need their teeth cleaned and will go in tomorrow for that. Sophie (I didn't name her! She came to us already named and she was 2 yrs old.) will have her growth removed.

Louie also needs more than a teeth cleaning. He has some extra growths on his gums that needs to be removed and the vet will do that while he is cleaning the teeth.

I am glad we have our dogs and both of them are healthy. It's also a good thing we have a vet budget!! Though we have gone way over it with Lou being ill.

Animals

I have always had a cat or a dog. I used to be a huge cat person but when I got married I started to like dogs more.

Then I started visiting my Grandma, who lived with my aunt. You've read about them here.

My aunt had Jack Russells and I told my husband that I had
to get one. The timing wasn't right but it wasn't too long before we got our puppy.

One time vising my aunt, I had a dream about my new dogs name. He would be named Otis.

We found a woman that breeds JRT's and we went to look at puppies. She had some 10 week old puppies that we thought we would be choosing from. Instead, when we got there, there were also three brothers that were about 3 months old. The last of their litter to be chosen.

We visited with each puppy and then husband and I talked and agreed on one dog. That was our Otis. The breeder told us we had chosen the most loving of the three puppies.

We took Otis home and he was my buddy. He went everywhere with me. He even flew out to visit my aunt and grandma!!

When Otis was 7 months old, his mom had another litter of puppies. We also went to get one of those puppies. We named him Louie. He and Otis were the best of friends. They played, ate and slept together. They were like, well the brothers that they were!!

They both were my buddies. They went a lot of places with us and they were the best lap dogs.

Then Otis got sick and died. I still miss him even though it's been 3 months now.

Louie still misses him a lot too. And I can't do anything for Louie.

When my aunt died, about 6 months later my husband drove out to Maryland to get her dogs. She had 2 JRT's and a mixed dog.

We still have the female--her name is Sophie. She is the same age as Louie and Otis. So they are still young at 6 yrs. Louie has known Sophie his whole life so the transition of her living here hasn't been too hard. She's been with us almost 4 years now and is a good fit for us. Plus I think she keeps Louie company now.

I know that one day I will get more dogs, and they will likely be Jack Russells. And I already have names picked out for them.

I also know that another dog can never replace my sweet Otis.

There is a fun animal site that always makes me laugh and smile. It's over on the sidebar and it's called Cute Overload. I promise if you are feeling down it will make you laugh and smile.

Sad eyes...

This is my gentle Louie.

It's been a week since we lost Otis and Louie is sad.

Sometimes he looks for Otis outside. It's very sad.

Otis and Louie were brothers just 7 months apart. Louie had Otis in his life forever and now there is no more Otis.

They slept together and played together and ate together. They were buddies.

I know he's just a dog but he is sad.

I hope he perks up soon.

Dogs..............................

And then there were two. Again.

Dogs. Cats. Pets.

I have always had animals. First it was cats. We always had cats growing up.

Then I got a cat 2 years before I had my daughter. That cat lived about 19 years. She had a cat stroke one Saturday night.

Two of my brothers had dogs. They were Irish Setters and they were beautiful dogs. One was Tommy and the other was Ian.

Ian died and shortly after that Tommy died. They were buddies and I think Tommy was heartbroken when Ian died.

When I first got married my husband had a German Shepard. Her name was Sandee. She was hit by a car on the road we live on.

We also had a Border Collie named Rocky. He was a great dog. After Sandee died we got Maddie. She was Rocky's sister. They were a year apart. So for many years we had Rocky and Maddie.

Then Rocky ran into a tree and broke his back. He was playing with another dog that was a brute. We had to put Rocky to sleep because we couldn't fix his back.

Maddie was very sad. While Rocky was still alive we got Otis. Otis loved Rocky.

Otis and Louie were two when I had my son.

Otis was my special dog. He was a Jack Russell. I treated him like a baby. He went everywhere with me. He even took two plane trips with me! He never said a word, just slept the whole time we were flying.

So Rocky, Maddie and Otis were all friends.

After we put Rocky down, we got Louie. Louie is Otis' brother. They were just 7 months apart--same parents. Louie and Otis were buddies and I think Louie is missing Otis. It makes me sad.

When my son was 3 months old, my Aunt died. She had three dogs. One mixed breed and two Jack Russells. We inherited those three dogs when my boy was 9 months old.

We had to find a new home for one of them. The other one was older and didn't do well around my boy.

So we were down to four dogs.

Then Maddie started getting sick. It was rather sudden. She was 12 when we had to put her down. The little dogs missed her I think.

Then my special Otis died. I miss my Otis.

He loved my son. When we first brought the baby home, Otis stood on his back feet and looked into the carrier and licked my baby!!! Every time my boy would cry, Otis would be right there looking at me. It was almost as if he was telling me to do something for the baby!!!

I really really miss Otis already. And the two dogs miss Otis too. and my boy misses Otis too.

So we went from 2 dogs to 3 dogs. Then 2 dogs again, then 3 dogs again. Then 6 dogs, then 5 dogs, then 4 dogs then 3 dogs.

Now we have 2 dogs again. And we are not getting any more dogs. Two is the limit anymore.

It seems a little more quiet in the house now. Otis used to greet me at the door. Sophie just barks and Louie never comes to the door anymore. He only came to the door if Otis did and he rarely barked. Odd for a JRT, but my two boy JRT's were mellow Jacks.

My dogs

These are my dogs. The one in front and the one on the right are my boys. Otis and Louie. They are brothers born seven months apart.

The one in the back left is Sophie. She is one of the dogs we inherited from my aunt.

They are all short haired, short legged Jack Russells and they are all six years old this year!! Otis and Louie were just puppies when I got them and I chose Louie a week after he was born.

Sophie I knew since she was a puppy also and I have had her for almost 4 years now.

They are good dogs and relatively mild for JRT's!!

One week ago today............

Last week at this time we put our 13 yr old Bordie collie to sleep. She started getting ill and seemed to go downhill very quickly. I picked her out from a newborn pup out on a sheep farm near us. She had plenty of room to run in our yard and she was a very good pet.
That's her in the pic--Maddie, and the little Jack Russell is Otis, one of my other baby's!! They were good freinds and I think Otis and the other 2 dogs miss her.

Seven Things week 10

Sorry for the crappy picture. You can even see the Border collie on the floor!! That's Maddie. She is almost 12 now. Great dog too!
Back to the closet for this weeks seven. I went through two bins and two shelves.
This weeks stuff is all things that I haven't used in ages that was just taking up precious space in my closet.
* One set of burgundy Flannel sheets. Too hot for me and DH. They are almost brand new.
* Brown leather purse
* Black canvas type shoulder back pack. Too small for me since having my son and I have a bigger one I like better. This is very gently used.
* Small, very small white canvas bag. The very small says it all.
* Jean skirt-- wore it a few times, it's too short for me.
* Long sleeve blue shirt, sorta dressy/casual
* Blue hoodie shirt--never wore it
* One pair of jeans--too small
* Three VHS tapes--cartoon type
My closet looks a little neater. My husband wonders why he doesn't have more room though!!
Next project before it gets too cold are my clothes bins out in the shed. I have a habit of hanging on to clothes for some reason. No more!! It's time to let the clothes go now. And I am excited to do it!!

Seven Things week 9

Nothing too exciting this week.
*Safety kit for blinds, pictured
*Green polo shirt
*Pair of leather sandals
*Four Veggie tales placemats
*Eleven (yes eleven!!) Dog bowls
*Eight leather and various other dog leashes and collars
The safety kit I just happened across and I have never used it, maybe someone else can.
The dog stuff--let me explain. Two years ago, we inherited THREE dogs. That is on top of the THREE dogs we already had! But this was a special circumstance. These were my Dear Aunts dogs and she had died suddenly. So my dear husband drove from Minnesota to Maryland in one weekend to pick up these special dogs. Luckily the dogs knew all of us. They came with dog bowls, toys and lots of collars and leashes. We weeded through what was going to work for us and put the rest in the closet in a bag. I am finally getting around to finding a new home for them all. The bowls--well, they came with bowls too, but a lot of the bowls were from me too. But, now they each have two Stainless bowls . And we only have one of the dogs with us now. Sadly, two of them nipped at my son and we found new homes for them.