The Dog Lover Thread

[Katy Lied]

Louie is an awesome name for a dog.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Louie is an awesome name for a dog.

We hadn't settled on a name when we picked him up although I was leaning toward Louie, with some opposition from the womenfolk. But after I put him in the car, the first song that came up on the radio (I swear this is true) was the 60's classic by The Kingsmen. We all felt the spirit on that one...

[tooblue]

We hadn't settled on a name when we picked him up although I was leaning toward Louie, with some opposition from the womenfolk. But after I put him in the car, the first song that came up on the radio (I swear this is true) was the 60's classic by The Kingsmen. We all felt the spirit on that one...

Our first dog was a massive black lab golden retriever mix named Otis. He got his name in similar fashion to your Louie. My wife and I, young newly weds, put him in the car and as we drove off the first song that came on the radio was The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Our first dog was a massive black lab golden retriever mix named Otis. He got his name in similar fashion to your Louie. My wife and I, young newly weds, put him in the car and as we drove off the first song that came on the radio was The Dock Of The Bay by Otis Redding.

Love that name, too. We may have to get another one...

[happyone]

<Nodding and laughing nervously>

The thing that I've been dreading for the last couple of years happened all too quickly this past week... Rest in peace, Star. You were the best.

Sorry to hear this NWC - my sincere condolences. We've lost a couple of dogs and for us it was like loosing a family member. We were able to bury them out back under the fruit trees (I'm sure it's not approved, but...)

Like I said earlier, Otis is really slowing down. We've had him 10 yrs next week and we were told he was between 2 and 3 when we got him. He has really been a great walking partner and really protects us from those darn cats that dare cross our property line

[Northwestcoug]

This should be in the photography thread. Great pic.

It's a beautiful area. This was taken last year. Straight past those mountains is NFN's place.

Sorry for your loss. Also for Apollo's loss.

Yeah. I've been giving Apollo extra time and treats, kind of hoping his dog brain understands why I'm doing it. He's gotten a few rides, just because. My daughter in Montana sent him a toy. It's all a little silly; he had it pretty good before and now he'll even be more spoiled. But that's what happens when you allow a dog in your family...

Sorry to hear this NWC - my sincere condolences. We've lost a couple of dogs and for us it was like loosing a family member. We were able to bury them out back under the fruit trees (I'm sure it's not approved, but...)

Like I said earlier, Otis is really slowing down. We've had him 10 yrs next week and we were told he was between 2 and 3 when we got him. He has really been a great walking partner and really protects us from those darn cats that dare cross our property line

We will get Star's ashes sometime this week. Not sure what we're going to do with them. But it seemed kind of important to have something for our daughter who wasn't here when she died.

My favorite time with Star was my walks and hikes with her. She was a great trail partner. And even though she ceded the limelight to Apollo at home, she was alpha dog on our walks. It only took one hike for him to copy Star's 'trail etiquette', and he was good to go.

If your time with Otis is limited, I suspect your walks with him will become more meaningful. It did my soul good to see her still enjoy walks, her ears perking up with every animal that scurried away. It was good therapy for the both of us.


Thanks everyone else for your well wishes. They are appreciated.

[Moliere]

<Nodding and laughing nervously>

The thing that I've been dreading for the last couple of years happened all too quickly this past week. For the last few months, we've noticed Star acting a little weird. Every once in a while she would struggle to get up, and just stay in bed all day. One time we were scared enough to bring her to the after-hours vet. An x-ray, lab work, and a few hundred dollars later, nothing seemed abnormal. We just ascribed it to painful joints, and sure enough the next day she was better. She had a few other days like that, but since she seemed to get better with NSAID we thought it all joint-related. She was, after all, a 12-year old dog chasing squirrels and running around with Apollo all the time. She was just overdoing it we reasoned. This also explained the slight tripping that happened on most walks. And the times where she would just stare blankly at the wall for a minute, we had read that dogs can also struggle with senility. We knew she was on the tail end of her existence, but since she was her old self most of the time, we felt no immediate concern.

Last Monday night she was slowing down again, just like all the other times. We gave her NSAID and expected her to be better in the morning. I gave her another one in the morning and noticed that she was really slow, and favoring her right side more than before. I reasoned again, nothing serious, she just overdid it on the Monday walk. That afternoon Mrs. NWC sent me a video of her trying to walk. She was really struggling and started to fall down. That's when I started to worry, but I still hoped for the best. Maybe it was middle ear thing that was giving her balance problems. I got home to Mrs. NWC holding her because she couldn't walk anymore. She took her to the emergency vet clinic. An hour later she called me back in tears; Star was failing most of the neuro exam. Her pupils weren't reacting to light and 3 limbs didn't have normal reflexes. Our options were to hope for meningitis (the 'best' case scenario) and keep her in the clinic to treat her for days, or accept that in all likelihood this was a brain tumor that was rapidly progressing. Reality sunk in. We knew this was a terminal event. The vet gave her muscle relaxant and some fluids that would keep her comfortable for another 24 hours, and she brought her home.

I called our two oldest daughters with the news, which of course went as bad as you would expect. The one in Montana would not see her again, and wasn't ready to accept that. Our daughter in Eugene decided to drive here that night. At some point that night, agonal breathing set in, and we were hoping that she would just hold on until our daughter arrived. She did, but there were only brief flashes of consciousness and recognition once she got here. Mrs. NWC and I went to bed around 2, and the daughter stayed up with Star until her breathing became less labored. I fully expected her to die while we slept.

She didn't, but she was unresponsive to most stimuli. We called the mobile vet service that offered euthanasia at home. They came around 11 that morning. And that of course was terrible. But that service did bring some comfort to a terrible situation. They wrapped Star in a blanket and took her away. And that was that. All told, it was less 24 hours from when we started worrying about her to her death. Our only solace is that she did not suffer long, but man, we were not ready for this.

Apollo is lost. Star was with him since the first day we brought him home. Every single day for the past four years was spent with her. Now when he goes outside, he's a little unsure about what to do. Hell, he would even wait for her to pee so he could pee where she did. Every dinner they would eat half of the food in their bowl, then switch to the other bowl and finish that (a holdover from when Apollo was getting the yummy puppy food). Every walk they were side by side. And now, just him.

Yes, we are prone to anthropomorphizing our pets. Yes, some people go overboard with their relationships with dogs. Yes, Apollo will get over the loss of Star quicker than we will. But you cannot tell me dogs do not have a range of emotions very close to ours. Up until the end, Star was happiest outdoors with us. I know she was happy that we moved to our new place, where she could protect us from all those squirrels and deer. At home, she felt content to be in the same room as we were, not at our feet like Apollo but close enough to feel the attachment to us. And she was sad, in every sense of the word, when she was sick and in pain.

I didn't understand the attachment my brother had to his dog, and the loss they felt when it died, until we got our dogs. The shit shoveling, the thousands of dollars spent on food and vets, the chewed up shoes, the hassle when you go on vacation. Yeah, it's a big downside. But they become family in every sense of the word. We spent 12 years feeding Star, taking turns walking her, caring for her. In return, she gave us unconditional love. And now we feel that void pretty acutely. The humans in the NWC family have pretty much gotten back into the normal routines, but there is still the lingering sense of loss in the house. We've even found ourselves irrationally musing about getting another dog, just so our hearts can get pummeled again in another 12 years. I know it's crazy. But that's what dogs, the one species on earth that should never die, do to you.

Rest in peace, Star. You were the best.

I remember the first time one of our dogs died when I was a kid. My dad stayed up all night holding her until she passed. He skipped work the next day because he didn’t sleep that night.

Caring a lot about a dog isn’t anthropomorphizing it. That’s when you call it your child, dress it up in stupid clothes, getting mad at people for them making their dog sleep outside, spending thousand of dollars on surgery and vet care, and basically elevating the dog to the level of a child. You can love a dog without it becoming another child.

[tooblue]

Sitting answering emails in my bedroom this morning I paused to visit the board and the responses to Norwestcoug's post in this thread. While reading, I noticed Mandi was up on our bed—she is stealthy and spry like a cat.

Mandi is our third dog. The other two were never allowed up on furniture, let alone a bed. The only thing that changed in the time between her and the other two dogs is girlfriends started visiting the home regularly over the past year we have had her. I guess we are a much gentler and forgiving home now that two of those girlfriends are now daughter in-laws.

[BigFatMeanie]

Dog lovers may appreciate this little bit of awesome that just happened a few minutes ago. I suppose it could also be posted in the "Blink, Blink, Blink What" or similar threads:

Neighbors are away for Thanksgiving and my teenage son is supposed to take care of their dog. Dog stays in the neighbor's backyard during the day and son is supposed to get it some food and water and let it inside in the afternoon.

Anyway, son just called me and I could hear the dog barking crazily in the background. Son said, "Umm, Dad, I don't know what to do. The dog is running around with one of those glue rat traps stuck to it and there is a dead rat in the trap. I don't know how to get the rat off the dog".

I said, "Get some scissors and cut the glue trap off the dog's fur. But whatever you do, make sure you get a picture because that is awesome."

I called back a few minutes later to check in and asked if he had got the rat unglued from the dog yet. He said, in a bit of a panic, "I'm going through all their drawers trying to find a pair of scissors! I don't know where they keep them!". I then used my years of parenting experience to send youngest daughter running down the street to the neighbor's house with a pair of scissors (I forgot you're not supposed to run with a pair of scissors, oops). Now youngest daughter is trying to help son cut the rat off the dog.

Hopefully they got a good pic. I'll see if I can post it when he gets back.

[BigFatMeanie]

Update: Apparently there were two dead mice, not a rat, on the trap. One was half-decomposed.

Also, this same dog ate a bouncy ball a few months ago and had to have surgery to get it out.

Resized_20181123_152912_1776 (2).jpg

EDIT: Seems like the video embed thing doesn't work for vimeo, but here is the link:

https://vimeo.com/302516324

[happyone]

Mrs Happy and I spent most of the evening at the Vet ER. Otis was attacked by another dog and had to have surgery. First reports are that he had no significant damage, but did have a wound that penetrated his abdomen that triggered the surgery. He is spending the night at the Vets and we hope to have him back tomorrow.

We were on our evening walk and a couple of dogs escaped out of the front door of a house at the end of our street and came loping towards us as if to say hello and get acquainted. Next thing I know there is fur ball and I and the other owner are trying to get them apart. There were NO tell tale signs of what was about to happen.

Otis ended up with three pretty deep puncture wounds, one on his lower left side that the vet felt might have penetrated his abdomen and caused some internal damage. The vet opened him up and luckily nothing serious. The report is the muscle over that abdomenal wound was shredded and there might be some permanent skin damage.

I'm just glad I didn't have make the decision to put him down or not. I know its silly, but he is almost like one of the kids.

[Northwestcoug]

Hope Otis is on the mend soon, Happy.

[happyone]

UPDATE

We picked him up tonight - he is still fairly drugged up (he has a fentenal (SP) patch, plus he has some other pain meds in him. When the vet examined him, he found an additional wound, so Otis ended up having stitches in 5 different places.

The patch and the drain is supposed to be in 'til Wednesday if all goes well.

We will call our vet tomorrow morning to check on what follow up care they want to do.

To do the surgeries/stitching they shaved him from his shoulders to his tail, so he looks a bit naked However his is dressed in a toddler sized t-shirt. That covers up most of his skin, servers a bandage of sorts and holds his drain in place.

In the spirit of Waup's boil here are some pics of Otis' wounds.

Spoiler for Otis Pics:

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[happyone]

If anyone is interested, Otis is just about recovered. He had the last of his stiches out last Thursday and except for some significant scaring (esp on his left side - their is quite a dent there) he seems to be normal. He is still an avid and enthusiastic walking partner!

[LA Ute]

If anyone is interested, Otis is just about recovered. He had the last of his stiches out last Thursday and except for some significant scaring (esp on his left side - their is quite a dent there) he seems to be normal. He is still an avid and enthusiastic walking partner!

Great to hear!