Blaze and Boxer's progress

Come out kitty, kitty!

For today's post we are going to flip you over to our cat blog, 36 Claws of Attitude, for the awesome progress going on with Boxer and Blaze.

Blaze having a high prey drive with Boxer her long term target, something we've been working on changing for some time.  Wait until you see what is happening!

You can click HERE to read all about their progress together.

Shake it Zappa! Shake it!

                                  To watch on Youtube go HERE                                 

Out of ten puppies, Zappa was the only one who shook his leg when rubbing his belly.  He still does it.

Interesting fact:  When Brut died, Zappa stopped shaking his leg when getting a belly rub.  It wasn't until 6 months later that he resumed.  When Silver died, it took Zappa 9 months to shake again.

Would you/ Do you own a slobbery dog?

The closest I've come to owning a slobbery dog is having a slobbery cat!  He wipes drool all over my hand when he rubs his head on me. It completely grosses me out.

Our dogs might foam or drool around food or if they are hot. Even though it only happens once in a while and I find it disgusting, it is within reason. 

Some breeds of dogs does drool continuously...I don't think I could handle it.

Could you?

My gag reflexes go on overload when I see a drooling dog.  I don't think it is something I could get used to over time or for my love for a dog.  It is just one of the things that puts me off about dogs and I don't see it changing any time soon.  

So how about you?  Could you live with a breed of dog that slobbers all the time?

 I do not slobber!  It is my love juice.

I Never Thought I Would Grieve Over Dog Poop...

But I did.  I was cleaning up the backyard, when I noticed a pattern in the leaf piles where the dogs do their business.  Three of the leaf piles weren't being used and these three used to be busy spots for Fiona and Zappa (Back Dogs). And there were piles that had never been used now getting some attention.



There has been a definite shift since Brut has been gone almost a year.

I have leaf piles on the outer perimeter of the yard and Brut and Silver used the back part of the yard, while Zappa and Fiona took on the ones closer to the house.  Now the Back Dog Trio, Silver, Zappa and Fiona are all taking to the back of the yard ever since our last snowfall.

And I took it pretty hard.  It was another confirmation that Brut was really gone.

Since Brut died last year at the beginning of the summer nothing much changed.  We were all in shock, but as time has past, the Back Dogs, have been finding their place without their leader and it looks like they have come to terms with their new life as three.

Another sign of the times for the 24 Paws of Love.

"Find It" Game in April Snow

or watch on YouTube

WW-Daddy Dog's Spot

Brut: Oct. 11 2006- June 18, 2015

Until we meet again...

Daddy Dog Brut passed away in our arms last Thursday night.  He was laid to rest next to Alex and across from Luigi (our duck).
We made cast of his paw prints and snipped the tip of his tail.
Heaven has a new warrior in town.  :)

Update: Brut's eye

While we still don't know how Brut injured his eye, it is better than it was.  We have been giving him prescription eye drops 3 to 4 times a day.  The white cloudiness dissappeared and the color of his eye was looking better as a whole.  

The problem is that it hasn't improved anymore in the last 4 to 5 days.  The eye is starting to have a discharge and Brut has begun squinting in that eye.  I'm not sure what to make of it.  The vet said to watch for the color of the iris to come back, a sure sign he was be getting better.   Instead it has stayed bloody looking.  We may be headed to a specialist if we are unable to find an answer.  

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS, POTP, AND ANY GOOD VIBES YOU CAN SEND OUR WAY!

Going to a specialist would mean a 4 hour one way trip in a single cab truck with a hyper Brut who would have no way to lay down and would want to stick his head out the window.  Which I don't think would help his eye situation.  

This whole thing has been like a bad dream that just keeps going on and on.  My husband, Mark has been an emotional wreck over the whole thing from the time we first noticed it.  It was such a relief when we went to the vet to find out it wasn't cataracts.  Then she said it looked like an injury, with the bloodliness of it and we prayed the eye drops would work.  And they did for the first week, but now it doesn't look like they are helping anymore.  

Of course we are afraid of the worse, like Brut losing his eye, or losing some vision or all.  We don't know what we are going to do.  Mark is going to talk to the vet about the situation and see what she advises.  

Keep your paws crossed we find out some good news.  Thank you.   

Calling all Husky and Dog Owners!

There's a rumor going round...

Why do dogs...?

BOL!

 chew a small piece of food, but swallow a large one whole?

Dog Socializing Catch Ups

We've had some great socializing going on around the 24 Paws of Love and I thought I'd catch you up on it.

So proud of this guy!!

First up is Brut.  The bad boy of them all let my friend walk Silver while I walked him and it went great.  We walked a couple of miles and when we went into the garage for treats and undressing their harnesses, Brut was friendly to my friend walking right between her and Silver.  Mr. Territorial didn't pay any attention to the fact that she was on his property, in his garage, he was just ready to go out in the backyard like after every walk!!  It was so awesome!!

And if that wasn't enough, we walked all the dogs that night, my friend walking one while I had the other, in their respective pairs.  So Zappa and Blaze were walked by my friend and did great!  Blaze was a little worried at first, but she got right down the sniffing and didn't look back!

I don't want to be nice!!

Then last night my friend and I walked Silver with her dog Callie.  Silver was pretty ruffled about it for about half of the walk, but eventually started to settle down.  When Silver was able to turn and look at Callie without making a bee line towards her, we were doing good.  

Callie girl

And if it wasn't for my good friend and her nonchalant dog Callie, we'd have never made it this far.  Dogs can sense the difference between a real dog lover and a dog owner and this friend is definitely a dog lover.  It is obvious by the way all the dogs have instantly took to her.  And I want to let her know how valuable her friendship has been to the dogs and I.  She'll never know what a chance she took on that first walk with Fiona, her dog Callie and me.  It's like having a live version of all of you dog lovers out there who have been there for me when I didn't have any dog loving friends and I thank you for that.

Tell me we are not all connected

I knelt down slowly next to the hole in our little part of theEarth.  I was stunned by the depth and shocked at the thought of laying his body in it.  We laid some straw on the bottom and began to lower our little ducky into the grave, it was then that the howls came from the house.  All the dogs singing together for the burial of our little ducky, Luigi.  They had lost a member of the family too.


In rememberance of our ducky, Luigi, who died a last month.

Dogs are AWESOME!!

You know it.  I know it.  We all know it.  Dogs are AWESOME!!

Let me share my doggy awesome moment with you and then you can share one with me!

I woke up.  I had slept in and was late.  The day was off to a horrible start and all I wanted was to turn around and crawl back in bed.

This feeling carried on for a while and I didn't think my day was going to get any better.   Then as soon as I began to visualize my project I was working on for the day...

A one, A two, A three...

All the dogs started singing and howling and carrying on as loud as they could.

Rocking the whole house!

I could feel their voices draining out the negatives ones and my entire day turned around after that great concert.

It was AWESOME!!

My whole day was AWESOME!

My dogs are AWESOME!

Tell me how your dogs are AWESOME??   

Blaze's surgery

I've been spending a little extra time with Blaze as we take her in to be spayed Monday morning.  I can't help but think what could have been, but obviously it wasn't meant for her to have puppies.  We always thought it was in the cards ever since she came back to us.  It's a little sad to lose a dream.

For six years we left the option open for Blaze to have puppies and it was a difficult choice.  Twice a year we went through the heat cycles, which actually follow a year round pattern.  There is a constant flow that follows up and down that the whole pack moved by, especially Brut.  I wonder if he will notice the when that cycle doesn't start up.  When Blaze would go into heat the flow and rhythm would escalate in frantic proportions.  There is part of me that will miss the love that flows when a female was in heat, but I won't miss the whining and pacing of Brut and his heighten aggression.  The drive and strength to reproduce is awesome and powerful and something we never took lightly.  It has been an awesome and beautiful experience to learn and grow from.
  
After Blaze's procedure it will be the first time in 10 years, since getting Silver, that we won't have an intact female in our house.  And now that the decision has been made and we are going to follow through with it, there is relief, peace of mind and some sadness.  We know we are doing the right thing and that is a good feeling.   

I don't know what the future holds, but for now it means the 24 Paws of Love will be just that, 24 Paws of Love.  

Please say a prayer and send your good thoughts for Blaze and us and she has her surgery tomorrow morning.

Thank you and God bless. 

A Love Story in the Making: Blaze and Boxer the cat

On YouTube

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Answered Prayer

 What do we have here?

This bag of bones sits on top of the fridge...

Chance!  Blaze!  
Have you been praying again to the Big Dog in the sky again?

The Mom Cone of Shame

I am a horrible blogger and an even worse dog mom.

We went to Pet Supplies Plus to buy a cone of shame for Zappa who got a scrap on his nose from Brut after they went crazy over a critter.  And that's not the bad part.

The bad part is Zappa went into a store for the first time and I didn't have one photographic device on me to the capture the awesome moment!

I know, I know, what century am I living in?  Minus two points for mother of the year award.

Zappa even wore the cone of shame around the store.  (It was a good blocker for grabbing treats.)  bol! He did really great for his first time, like he'd been doing in all along.  I don't think his nose knew what to do being surrounded by so much food!!  In fact he thought he hit the mother load when he found some spilled food on one of the shelves.  Talk about a bonus!

We were basically the only ones in the store and Zappa was the only dog.  Which was a great first time advantage.  He was digging it.

I've only had to use the cone a few times.  We decided to try one last thing that we hoped would work first and got the cone for a backup.  We used a liquid bandage.  It's a spray on protective and is working really good.  Zappa is finally starting to scab.

So while I don't have photos of Mr. Boo-Boo or our first in-store experience, just imagine a happy dog surrounded by stacks and stacks of dog food, aisles of toys and goodies and being the calm, cool and collective dog that makes Zappa, Zappa.

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Blaze's Side of the Story

Blaze here:

So she leaves me to go to visit those cats without even bothering to ask if I want to play with them too.  The ones I'd love to chase in the yard and hold in my teeth!  But I just want to play with them Mommy!

But what Mommy doesn't know is that I'm peeking under the door and I can hear and see the black and white one going crazy in the middle of the floor after a feather that jingles.  I wanna play too!!  So I start banging on the door and whining a little to get Mommy's attention.  It works!  She tells me "NO"  Doesn't she know what fun the cats and I would have together if she would just let me in???

So I try the silent approach.  Stalk mode.  Waiting.  Watching and waiting.  Then here it comes, my big chance...the door cracks open, I dash in and grab the feathery toy and dash back out.

  Gotcha Mom!

Once Mommy's color came back to her face, she laughed and laughed.  No, I didn't want the cats Mommy...didn't she know I was going crazy for that feathery bell?   And since she wasn't going to let me in, then I had to grab it for myself!  Humph!

And what did Boxer have to say about that crazy cat dog?   Go HERE to find out!  

SLED BRAIN

 Chance and Blaze last winter

I've got dog sledding on the brain.  Once a week I've been walking the dogs in pairs and practicing turn commands and they are coming along.

Well then I got the hair brain idea of taking Chance on my bike, my. two. wheel. mountain. bike, because my three wheeler has a flat.

My husband just looked at me and said, "You did what?  With Chance?  Any dog but Chance."

That's because Chance is the fastest dog and the strongest.

Obviously I made it back in one piece, although I don't have a clue how I stayed upright.  White knuckling it I suppose.  BOL!

It was a hell of rush splashed with terror.  All in one.  But we did it.  AND...we even ran into a family riding bikes and Chance did really good staying on track for the most part.

Chance was pissed when I made him turn around, he wanted to keep going while I had went as far as I was going.  BOL!

It was good practice though.  I can't wait to get on the sled!!

Garden Goodies

So far all we've gotten is cucumbers.

 The dogs don't mind a bit!

To all my gardening friends, Happy Gardening!