A Hailey Update

While I was at the clinic with Phod, I was able to discuss how Lee was doing with our vet. At the time, he said we keep Lee on her 30 mg of prozac, even if she seems a bit stoned, for at least another week and we would talk about it then. He also prescribed Xanax, to be used when we can't be home, but a storm is coming. 

I did ask him about cannabis, and he said that there are no products designed for dogs, and no studies on use in dogs. While he is interested, he can't recommend it. He has had clients try and and they report success. He said if I was interested "I was on my own." So for the time being, we will not be exploring this for Lee. We will try things that are vet approved.

While our Xanax is meant for emergencies, I did not feel comfortable giving Lee a new drug and leaving her alone all day. Saturday night, while we were home, a huge storm rolled in (the type that takes the power out for a short period of time). It was the perfect time to test it. After a few minutes, she was able to go to her fortress of solitude (aka our downstairs bathroom) and curl up on the bed there and ride out the storm. While texting with my vet the next day (I don't know what I will do when he retires), he said that is probably the best we can hope for.

He also wants us to keep her on the 30mg for at least another week, so we will. Probably a good idea as we have 3 days of thunderstorms in the forecast. The wall repair should be done this week, we don't need to add another hole.

So that is where we are with our girl. I hope this will all help!

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As a pet owner, the best thing I have done is teach my dogs to tolerate me "shoving" pills down their throats. It all started with our Loki ,who at the height of his disease needed 15 pills a day. We had tried all the other methods, and he would spit them out. These were drugs that were keeping him alive. I recommend to everyone, to teach your dogs to tolerate it because it will help you assure they are getting medication they need. 

Mischief Monday -The Annual Day of Torture - by Zaphod

Dear pals,

You know I am a very good boy, so I don't understand why sometimes the Lady does the most horrible things to me. Last week, I was excited to go in the car with just her! But then I realized, no good was coming from this.

I had only thrown up a little, when we arrived at our first destination, Day Camp. I showed Lady my displeasure by peeing on a post in the store (even after she had me pee on 100 things outside of it). I tried to jump into her arms before being led to the back.

When Lady returned 87 million hours later., I was in a playroom, standing by the door. I was so excited to see her. Camp gave me a good report, so Lady was pleased I was not embarrassing, but is sure I just spent most of the day standing by the door. I don't really play with other dogs. 

This is when the day got worse. Lady took me to the V-E-T for my annual checkup. While waiting for my turn, a stranger with a cane approached. I did my best guard duties by moving between my Lady and her and trying to push my Lady away. As you know, I don't like walking sticks or canes. I don't remember why. Lady thinks it is because I was hit when I lived with the dragons, before my brave escape. At any rate, Lady told the stranger I didn't like sticks, so she hid it and kept petting me (which I tolerated). Lots of people were interested in me in the clinic, which Lady thought was weird because clearly I was stressed. Most of them were cat owners, so you would think they would understand pets being stressed at the clinic. 

Checking the peemail outside

Finally, it was my turn. I weigh just over 78 lbs. It is perfect. I seem in good health. At about age 8, I have another year or two before I have to move to senior food. Dr. W, swabbed my ear and looked at it under a microscope. My ear wax is yeasty.  He diagnosed "allergy ear" and gave Lady a heavy duty cleaner with cortisol. I have to clean my ears 2 times a day for a week, then once a day. Dr. W. said he hopes we can get to cleaning them every 2-3 days, and that may be the best we can do. I tolerate the cleaning and hate to admit but my ears are much better. I was brave for my shots too.

Waiting my turn

Lady was talking to one of the vet techs who she had not met (or didn't remember meeting), but had been at the clinic for 13 years. Lady said, "you must remember my first dog, Loki." She said "Of course I do." Loki had immune mediated hepatitis that caused psoriasis of the liver. He had 11 months of intense treatment before going to the bridge at age 8. They still talk about his case and his file still exists. He died over 9 years ago.  That is how weird a thing he had. 

So in the end, I got treats, and shots, and pets, had to protect my Lady and then we got to come home.

It was a very tiring day. I don't look forward to it next year.

Your healthy pal, Phod

Nature Friday - A Walk

This is the post Lady had planned to put together last week, but she was melting so didn't get to it.

For Canada Day weekend our human cousins (aged 3 and 5) came for 2 nights without their parents. Lady and Man are proud of how we did with them. We were very good puppy cousins, even if they acted afraid of us.

On Canada Day, we all went for a nature walk. Man and Lady were worried this may be chaos, but were very happy with how it went! The biggest problem we had is that we found the kids slow and were often miles ahead of them. 

Us with the Man way down the driveway

One of the coolest things we saw on this walk (which is not as cool as the porcupine we chased of a tree this week or the skunk we saw across a field that Lady did not have pictures of because she needed 2 hands to hold us) were all the butterflies. The little girl human was very interested in the dead one we found. She carried it for a long time.

We walked all the way to the pond where we saw no frogs (we saw some later in a ditch). We did see minnows. Turns out, Hailey is scared of minnows!

That is a little of the walk we took, we hope you enjoyed walking with us. 

Help Our Lady - by Phod

Hi, everyone's favourite Phody is here, with my sidekick Precious, to share some important news.

If you don't know our Lady well, she is organized, dedicated, headstrong and independent, which makes her current endeavour sort of her personal hell. She told me she feels about it like I feel about having to have my ears cleaned every day, twice a day (so that is terrible).

Lady is on a fundraising mission. If you don't know, she works with individuals with autism. She has volunteered her time to abandon us forever travel to Tanzania in February of 2020 with the Global Autism Project. The Global Autism Project is on a mission to create sustainable treatment for autism worldwide using a train the trainer method. Lady is going to use the skills and talents she has obtained during her career and her love of  travel to help others (and maybe see a giraffe too. I don't know what that is, but Lee says it is something I would love to chase - I think she would love chasing it more). One of the requirements is for her to fundraise a minimum of $5000 USD. This covers some of her expenses while she is away. She will be paying for her flight, food and non-work related travel. We will be stuck here with the Man for like 2.5 weeks, while she is living her dream. (She told me the only thing that would make it better would be for her to be able to take us).

If you happen to have any extra treat money laying around that you could spare, please consider making a donation to her CrowdRise page  HERE. If you do go, please click on Kristen's (that is her name - it isn't actually Lady) Tanzania so the money goes to her account and the charity sees she has raised it and let her go on the trip.

For those of you who saw it on Facebook etc. and have been able to make a donation, Lady gives her most heartfelt thanks. She is humbled by the generosity of others.

Thanks for considering this, even if it means she is not spending time with us. She made our dreams come true when she rescued us, so we can repay the kindness by helping her have hers come true too.

Your pal, Phod (and Precious and probably Hailey if she wasn't so medicated, and Emma who is being pretty good this trip).

Wordless Wednesday - Staying Cool

Project Hailey - An Update

This is how she seems a lot of the time

It has been a week since Lee's prozac was increased. At this time we are unsure if we are happy with how she is doing. It is a bit challenging to know what is the drug and what may have been the extreme heat last week. 

We have noticed some changes in her. She remains anxious, especially in the evening (not helped by the fireworks that continue as they are allowed all year here and we live in cottage country).   However, she is able to just go and hide. She is less pacy.  She has not destroyed anything. She does seem more drowsy/wanting to sleep more. But again, could some of that have been the heat? Finally, she is eating so slow she would not finish her food in her Slo-Bowl. We have put her food in a regular bowl and she is eating at a regular speed. This is a first.  One night, she was nervous of the thunder and refused to eat dinner. She just hid. 

We are going to give it another week or so and see if she adjusts. Our goal has always been to let her be a calmer version of herself, not a stoned out pup. 

The contractor comes to start fixing our wall today! He is doing it in the evenings after his other jobs so it will take some time. We are just happy he is fitting us in.

This is where we are today. 

Mischief Monday - We Thought We Would Melt

As we write this, we are celebrating a drastic drop in temperature. It is about 17C/62F which feels almost cold after last weeks high of 39C/102F. Yep, you read that right, it got to the 100s here! We bet this is not what you think of as Canadian temperatures, but it happened.

It presents a different challenge for us because our house does not have air conditioning. Yep, you also read that right (we swear, it is not April Fool's Day!). We don't even have a window unit. We do have fans and a great system of closing all the windows in the morning and opening them all in the evening. It helps. At the worst, our house reached about 28C/82F. It was warm, but livable. 

This is about how we spent our days!

The tile is cool!

We have a few more reasonable days in the mid 20s/70s before we hit the 30s/high 80s again. 

In other news, look who has stopped by for a visit . . .

Yep, it is cousin Emma. She is with us for a week while Uncle Chris is in San Diego for work. We hope to not have too much mischief to report next week.

Stay cool dear friends!