Life with the Three Crazy Dogs

DB thinks Ranger is and angel….because of his calm disposition, no whine, no demands compare to the other two C’s. No doubt he is calm but when it comes to food, he is not, he will hound you till he gets it! And another thing is it sure seem like he knows we are doing something to him. Last week I saw blood in his pee while we out in the trails….so I had to call DB to make an appointment with the vet that evening and brought him in soon after. Sure enough he had bladder infection….that was my initial guess besides kidney infection since that fella only drinks twice a day and pees only once in the morning and a few times in the evening…..nothing in the afternoon. He was prescribed antibiotics and DB brought home a urine sample kit to collect Ranger’s urine!

One glove, a plastic vile, liquid squeezer (not sure what to call that thing), tray and instructions. I thought collecting urine is as easy as using the oximeter, and so I thought! :(

After 8 days of treatment with the prescribed antibiotics, we need to collect Ranger’s urine to send it back to the vet for analysis. Take a look at the instructions:

Read it? I laughed so hard the moment I saw the EQUIPMENT….a soup ladle! OMG, I was floored. DB tried in the morning with a ladle in his gloved hand walking out with Ranger, but DB said Ranger knew something was not right…coz DB never come out of the house when sending them out for potty. Ranger walked to the middle of the yard, heavy snow and took his time….DB didn’t go….he said it was a pain…my thinking, DB is just lazy to walk out there! :(

So my turn to try get the urine sample. I took him to the trials with my own collection kit:

That plastic bottle is a used medication bottle….cleaned and dried it and off we went. I didn’t bring a ladle with me! Goodness what people out in the trails would think when they see me holding the ladle with the dog peeing!!! I can just imagine it. So I put the glove on and the moment we got the truck, Ranger peed but that fella had to pee at an angle where I couldn’t catch the pee in the bottle. …Now I know why the ladle!!!!!! And the glove absolutely helped!!!! So after 3 tries, I gave up. He was too quick and impromptu, plus my hands were already freezing.

We took him back to the vet and they collected his urine….they must had insert something to his urethra coz it was so quick he came out from the room. Still waiting for the results. But the urine collection was just too hillarious….but i hope he is free from infection…

This is Chase, the crazy fetching nut. Any stick on sight, he will pick it up and run it to me to throw for him.  But what I want to say is….

….I still think he is on the heavy side…in other words, fat. But the master said he is just nice for the winter. He needs the extra fat to keep warm, he said. I think the temperature is not that cold now.  20’s Fahrenheit is decent.   I understand if the temp is in the teens and single digits but when it reaches 20’s I find it kinda warm too when I go for my walks with a jacket on.

The last we weigh him he was 92 pounds and that was probably 6 – 7 months ago. I once cut his food down to 2.5 cups a day his ribs were sticking out and he was constantly begging for food and the master said he was too thin. I forgot to ask the vet what his ideal weight should be which i assume he will tell “as long as you can feel his ribs”. Well, I can sorta feel his ribs but can’t see them now.  Honestly I have to walk them twice a day but it’s tiring to walk 4 times a day – I still walk Chase and Cooper separate from Ranger.

The fetching fool

Since it got so cold in the house, I noticed the dogs were laying only on the rugs and not the carpets. So I brought out the two old dog beds and right away Chase and Cooper booked them as theirs. Poor Ranger being the old mellow fella, continued to lay and sleep on the rugs which i stack them up to make it thicker. Then I got a brilliant idea, I thought so. I brought out two of our spare pillows in the closet, one a feather and the other a don’t know what poly-thing-filled using one of the boys’ old fleece throw to cover the pillows. Ranger sorta laid on it but he itched like mad. Duh, then the light bulb went on!!! He is allergic to feathers except cotton and don’t know what other fiber.

Last Saturday, I bought a new dog bed for Ranger at Sams Club. Cheap for the price of an xtra large bed. Brought it home they didn’t even bother to lay on it. Just gave a sniff and walked away, but when evening came when dinner and snacks were all done, I saw one of the boys were not with me. Went looking around and saw this fella there:  Cooper

 
Two days later, Chase was smart….he went in there right away after his snack. Sleeping like a baby after an hour of fetching.

This was where Chase suppose to sleep, on the blue bed. Red bed is Cooper’s. So now since Chase sleeps on the big ass bed, Cooper sleeps on the red one, leaves the blue one left but Ranger is so nice. When he sees Cooper sleeping on the red bed, he will not walk past Cooper’s bed to the empty bed. So considerate of him!!! Hahahaha!

Anyways, I do bring the blue bed out closer to the door and he will sleep there.

Happy belated New Year! 

2010, start of another decade. It does sound kinda weird have to say “twenty-ten” or ” two thousand ten” or to write 2010 on checks and while saving my reports that I had generated this morning with “2010″ at the end of each file name. 

New year with new medical insurance carrier too. I didn’t get instant life insurance quote from my insurance company since I opted out of it this year.  It’s lighter on the paycheck, definitely.

If only I can get insurance for this dog. Unfortunately, I can’t even when we first adopted him 10 years ago.

The collar around him was to prevent him from licking his very bad paw (the one that is bend) which he injured when we went for a walk.  He must have stepped on broken ice and also probably salt on the roads and our driveway.  The paw was so bad he actually yelped when I washed it and applied antibiotic cream on it.  Ranger never ever yelps or whines unless he is in real pain.  Poor boy. 

He is doing better now but it’s just his hind leg is still giving him the limp after each walk.  Right now the vet said no walk for him till this Thursday, but yesterday I caved in after seeing his sad eyes staring back at me.  Was a very short walk and yet he limps and hopped around on three legs after the walk.

The two C’s, Cooper and Chase, waiting for me to putz around taking pictures of the tee I picked up from the book signing for their walks

They look kinda pathetic, don’t they? BORED!

Ranger, too limpy to follow me around, so he hung near the room instead of all the way in.  See the scar on his back leg?  The fur is slowly growing back.

It’s funny how they sense that they will be going for a walk….once I change into my sweatpants, they know. Any other days when I change to my jeans or house jammies, they don’t really bother. How do they differentiate other clothings and sweatpants? I gather it’s the time of the day too…usually around 2:30ish – 3, their bodyclock is so “chun” (punctual) for about every thing – meal times, treats, walks and bedtime. Talking about clock work!