our Memorial Day Weekend

I have had such a good Memorial Day weekend and it's not even Memorial Day yet.

Friday night after work I went out to dinner with a great friend. Much needed girl time! Then John and I tried to watch a movie together but both ended up falling asleep in the middle of it. Ooops.

Saturday we woke up, lounged for a little bit, I skyped Lizzie Doll, took Duke to the dog park for a while, brought him back home then John and I went out to lunch, then it was off to a mini golf date. Mini golf brought back so many memories of when we started dating. I was working at a mini golf course at the time, John would come visit me at work and I'd let him have free games.....sometimes I'd get off work and we'd play a round together. We used to go mini golfing quite a bit but haven't been since we moved out here. I loved it! I had a blast :) We made a bet on who would win....if I won I got a massage (a legit massage) and if he won he got...well, something else. Let's just say we both won in the end hahaha

Today we did some house work, I worked out, we went and looked at a daycare (that's not going to work out), then went out to lunch, came home and went on a walk with Duke, and then we went to a dinner at Tina's with the boys and our cousin Chelsea who is in town from New York.

I feel like I've been so busy this weekend and so active, I love that feeling!

We'll see what tomorrow has in store! :)

Happy Memorial Day everyone! And thank you troops for all of your sacrifices!! <3

Puppy Birthdays

Today is Duke's second birthday.

Here's how we celebrated:

birthday boy bandana...super cute!!

 

  puppy safe cupcakes with yogurt frosting and carob cookies

 new toy- the everlasting treat ball

And lots of loves from mom!

Happy birthday baby boy!!

Today is a Good Day

Today has been a really good day.

John and I got some good news today :o) I can't share it just yet, but hopefully I'll be able to tell you more in a couple weeks (no, I do not have a bun in the oven although that would make this a super, fabulous day). The day started off great, and then this afternoon we got the previously mentioned good news, and Duke is doing a whole lot better today! Did I tell you guys about his newest accident? I swear that boy is an accident waiting to happen. I don't know how many times he's been hurt in some random way in the year and a half that we've had him. But here's the newest injury....

Friday night Duke was outside like usual, I opened the door for him to come in from the backyard and he ran in for a treat (yes, we bribe him with treats to get him to come inside it's whatev). While he was patiently waiting for his treat I looked down at the floor and there was a trail of blood following him. After taking a closer look at him I saw blood all over his paws, and then I started to panic. He could tell that something was wrong with me, so he started freaking out and started running all over the house not letting me anywhere near him all the while more blood is trailing behind. I finally got him to sit and shake, but that didn't last too long once he realized why I wanted him to shake. I had blood all over my pants and my arms and he took off running again. Not knowing what to do I called John while at work (in hysterics) and he told me to wrap it in a wet towel. He clearly didn't realize that Duke wouldn't let me near his paw. Then I called my mom who knows tons about dogs and she told me that I would need to clean it to see what exactly was going on with his paw. Pretty logical, right? You'd think I could come up with that all on my own but I was too busy freaking out to think things through. Even then that would take him actually holding still and letting me near it. After a half hour of this I started to cry. I got myself together and called Tina and asked her to come over and help me. Thank goodness she's only 5 minutes away and was willing to come over so late. Her and Dave showed up a few minutes later and Dave held him still so I could look at the paw. I rinsed it in a bowl of warm water and then I could see it, somehow Duke had slashed open the pad of his paw. It wasn't terribly deep so it doesn't need stitches. Tina and I got neosporin, put that on a band-aid, then padded his paw with napkins and wrapped it. We made due with what we had at the time. After that Duke was pretty tired and slept the rest of the night.

The next morning John came home from work and we took a closer look at it. Part of his pad looked like dangling skin...but it wasn't bleeding as much so that was a good sign. John bought some gauze and more bandage wrap and we put more neosporin on it to keep it from infecting. We've been changing it at least once a day since. Poor boy is pretty sore, he's hopping on three legs right now and won't put any pressure on his paw, but maybe that's a good thing? It looks like the cut is slowly starting to heel and it's not bleeding at all anymore (at least not since his newest bandage). Yesterday he slept all day, but today his energy is back and he's acting like his normal, hyper self...just with a little hobble. I've been calling him Hop Along...I laugh, but it actually makes me pretty sad to see him hopping on three legs :/. Anyway, all that to say that he's doing much better today, which makes our day better too.

I'm in a really good mood today and can't wait to see what's in store for us in the next few months!

Friday night. Poor boy's worn out

Apologies For My Absence

Whoa guys, I'm incredibly sorry for my absence. You see, I've been pretty busy lately with the flood, and health issues, and dog training, and that whole job promotion thing I was going for. Let's recap shall we?

First of all, as you've probably already guessed, I didn't get washed away from the flood. But it got close! Corvallis (where I work and where John parents/grandparents live) got completely flooded . Look at this

those used to be roads

yeah that really happened

it was madness. They're still recovering, but luckily the rains have stopped. The river behind our house never came up on land, surprisingly, because it got way too close for my liking.

Then I got really sick. Not to get into all the gory details but I was having some, erm, women issues, and it was making me really sick. I went into urgent care and they did a bunch of tests, one of those tests was a blood test and they said my liver enzymes were high and my white blood cell count was low; they wanted me to go to my doctor a couple weeks later for a check up. I went for my check up and they're still worried about my liver because it shouldn't be as out of whack as it is, they're having me come back in a couple weeks to get more blood drawn and if it's still high then I'll be sent to a specialist. The weird thing is, that isn't even why I went to the doctor in the first place. They just happened to find this in the midst of everything else. The reason I was having problems initially is because the doctors think (but can't be sure) that I had an early miscarriage. I'm not sure how accurate that is, I mean...the doctors aren't even sure how accurate that is because they simply can't tell. So I'm not really sure how to feel about it.

Well the day I went in for my check up I got sick again. But with something totally different from any of the things above. I felt like I was getting the flu- my body ached, my throat was sore, I just felt crappy. By the end of the day I had a fever, my throat was so sore my ears were hurting, my body hurt.....that's lasted for about 5 days and now here I am. Most of it's gone, my throat still hurts a little, but that's about it. I should be back to work tomorrow.

Speaking of work. I was going for a promotion (I'm sure I told you about it); it was a full time, lead day care position at work. Our last lady quit unexpectedly and the position opened up. I was working my butt off for it too, but in the end I didn't get it. My boss decided to hire outside and they found someone "more qualified". I'd be lying if I said I was fine with their decision. I hate that excuse about not having enough experience. I may not have manager or supervisor experience, but if companies only  hire people who've held those positions how are we expected to gain that experience? Oh well. Such is life.

But on the bright side, we started Duke's obedience training. In 5 weeks he'll be one obedient pup...hopefully. All I really want out of it is to be able to walk him down the street without it feeling like he's going to pull my arm out of the socket. That'd be grand.

Until next time guys.

Duke Vs. The Racccoon

We took Duke to the vet this morning.

I noticed that he kept licking a certain spot on his body, it was a spot on his right front leg that he kept gently licking over and over again. The vet took a look at him and I showed her the spot where he kept licking; she took a closer look and saw something. She shaved part of his fur (his beautiful fur) and sure enough, a bite mark. It was very red and (sorry for the grossness) very pussy. It was already infected. She took a syringe filled with an antibiotic and put it into the wound. He was obviously in a lot of pain because he was crying, which he never does.

John and Duke at the vet. My poor baby :( I feel so bad for him

She gave us some more antibiotic to give him twice daily until it's gone, and she gave us a general antibiotic pill that he needs to take twice daily for a week. We  also need to take a warm washcloth and hold it to his wound twice a day. My poor baby :(

That damn raccoon obviously had some kind of disease because the bite mark became infected very quickly. Like I said before, luckily Duke is caught up on all of his vaccines (rabies, distemper, etc) so he'll be okay as far as that goes. I'm just hoping that we started the antibiotics in time. If it's working we'll see improvement in a week. If not, the infection will create an abscess and we'll need to take him in for surgery.

Duke seems to be doing okay. He's really exhausted (it's been a long 30 hours for him). He doesn't want to go outside (which is super weird, usually it's hard to get him to come back in from being outside), I don't know if he's scared or if it's part of the exhaustion. He hasn't tried to play all day (also extremely unlike him, he's usually very playful and really hyper), but all he's done is slept or if he is awake he just lays on his blankets or at our feet and chews on a bone. He is eating and keeping hydrated which is good. I just really hope he's back to his normal self soon and that the antibiotics kick in and beat the infection.

I'll Keep You Posted

Today John and I went to look at a couple houses. We've been looking for a few months now and I think today we may have found one that we're going to try to put an offer on. I'm hoping it works out, but we need to discuss it a bit more before any action is taken.

I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

Later today John was exercising Duke and Duke got loose and ran into our neighbors tree grove. Yes, our neighbors have a tree grove that is filled with hundreds of trees (no idea what kind though). Anyway, Duke got lost in there, John ran in after him and called me and told me to come out to help. I ran in there and tried to find them but the sun was setting and it was getting really dark. Finally I heard a yelp/cry and I ran over to where it was. Duke was fighting with a raccoon- a nasty, diseased, filthy, mean raccoon and my baby was fighting it!

I don't know if the cry was from the raccoon or from Duke. When I got there Duke had jumped off of it and was standing a few inches away from it just starring down at it. The raccoon wasn't moving. It was hissing, but it wasn't moving. Duke pounced on it again and the raccoon still didn't move. I mean, it moved in the sense that it was scratching, but it didn't get up at all. Every time I tried to take a step closer to get Duke the raccoon turned to me and hissed. Finally after about half an hour John and I got Duke. I'm pretty sure the raccoon was dead. By then it was dark and I couldn't really see, all I could see was a black figure on the ground but after a while it stopped hissing and it still wasn't moving.

Well, knowing how filthy and disease ridden they are I'm freaking out about Duke. Our pet clinic was closed so we have to wait until morning to get him in, and animal control was closed too so I couldn't have them come and get the nasty critter. Duke seems to be ok. I'm sure that the raccoon did something to him (scratch, bite) and that's worrying me. We can't see anything- he's not bleeding, he's not acting like anything hurts, he has so much fur we can't see any scratches or bite marks...but there's no way that Duke left that fight unscathed. He is all caught up on his vaccines (rabies included) so I'm hoping that prevents anything like that from setting in, but God only knows what other diseases that thing had and if they were transferred to Duke through a scratch or bite.

Do you see why I'm freaking out?

I'll have to keep you posted on this too.

I was going through some old pictures tonight though and found some puppy pictures of Duke.

Look at that face, guys.We had had him for about 2 minutes when this was taken

My itty-bitty baby :o) too freakin' cute

Yes, bask in the cuteness of my baby boy <3

Must Love Dogs

I took this guy to the vet today. He's gained 7 pounds since our last visit about 2 months ago so he's now 51 pounds. 51 pounds and very "fit" according to my vet. He's fit, but he's also skinny. I was talking to her about switching him from puppy food to adult dog food; I asked when she recommends switching over and she said she usually recommends it at 6 months (oops). But she said even though he's 1, she thinks the fattiness from the puppy food would be good for him. Looks like he'll be on it for a little bit longer. Also, she said that Duke is the "sweetest" husky she's ever met. Apparently Huskies don't like being handled by vets (the shots, the sprays, the etceteras), but Duke handles it like a champ every time and gives them kisses. I love hearing how good of a boy my puppy is and how healthy he is, even if he is on the skinny side.

 look at that face. I can't even stand his cuteness right now :o)

Dog Safe Cake Recipe

For those of you who love your puppy as much as I do and would like to bake a birthday cake for them, here’s the recipe I used for Duke’s cake (thanks Lizzie for sharing!):

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup shredded carrots

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup honey

1 egg

Mix flour and baking soda together

Add remaining ingredients

Pour into an 8″ round cake pan, bake at 350 for 30 minutes and let cool

Now for the frosting: Lizzie made her dog a cake with cream cheese icing, but since Duke goes crazy over peanut butter I used peanut butter to ice it. Then I used strawberry yogurt to write out his name. I also put pupperonie treats on top of it. Lizzie put a bone on top of her puppies cake, but Duke is pretty picky when it comes to treats so pupperonie sticks it was.

I cut it in half and gave him half of the cake, just because I didn’t know how his stomach would handle it (he has a sensitive tummy). So far so good! He devoured the cake and tried to “hide” some to save for later, but he went back and ate the rest of it a couple minutes after hiding it haha.

There ya have it dog lovers! Enjoy!

A Lack of Responsibility Has Severe Consequences

In the past two days I’ve heard two awful stories about dogs not being controlled on a leash or really controlled at all. Both stories have resulted in two dogs dying, actually, most likely three….but we’ll get to that in a minute.

I love my dog, he’s not just a dog to me, he’s my baby,  but I know his limits and I know his temperament. I know what he’s capable of even if I think he won’t act on what he’s capable of. That being said, I always have Duke on a leash (a short leash) when there are small children, small animals, or anything that would be left vulnerable to him if something went array. That’s what a responsible owner does. Owners, you need to be responsible for your pet. You need to be aware of your surroundings and be cautious, don’t think “my Frou Frou wouldn’t do that” because your Frou Frou just might.

The first story has to do with my friend Chloe and her baby boy. Basically, her and her son went over to her parent’s house and she told her parents to keep them outside because she didn’t trust them around her son. Her parents didn’t listen. Her phone rang and in the 10 seconds she had turned her back, the dog had bit her son in the face. Yes, he bit a one year old  in the face. That is not okay. And could have been easily avoided, but because it wasn’t the dog was put down.  Landry (the baby) wasn’t seriously hurt, but in my opinion that was a lose-lose for everyone. And all because her parents wouldn’t keep the dogs outside during their visit.
Although that story is sad and scary, this second one has been haunting me since I heard about it this morning. John’s best friend Zac was house/pet sitting for his parents while they were out of town. His mom has this adorable little Yorkie named Zoey. I’ve known Zoey since they brought her home, she’s the cutest little dog and she’s Zac’s mom’s baby.  Zac was out walking Zoey last night around their house (they live in Morgan, Utah. For those of you who don’t  know about Morgan, there isn’t much up there but there’s a lot of land). Zac’s aunt and uncle live next door to his parent’s and have a German Shepherd. Their aunt didn’t realize Zac was out walking Zoey and let her dog off his leash. Within seconds the German Shepherd had little Zoey in his mouth. Zac tried everything to get Zo out, and to make the other dog let go, he even shot at the German Shepherd, but it was too late. Zoey was dead. All because the owner wasn’t aware of it’s surroundings. I don’t know for certain if the German Shepherd was put down after what happened, but I think it’s pretty safe to assume that it was.

You might say that it’s harsh for me to blame the aunt in the last situation, because she couldn’t have known they were outside, but you know what- when you have a pet, especially a big dog, you need to be extra aware of what’s going on around you. And if your going to take your dog off his leash, you’d better be 110% certain about your surroundings. You might also think that it’s not fair to blame the parent’s of my friend, but if you’re asked specifically to put your dogs outside because a vulnerable baby is around, do it. What will it hurt if you put your dogs outside for an hour? And what will it hurt if you don’t?  Weigh the consequences because too many things can go wrong, guys. I don’t want to believe that Duke would ever attack a child or anyone for that matter, but I know that it’s a possibility because as much as I consider him to be a family member he’s still an animal and they still have moments when they act like animals and not necessarily pets.