Weekend With the Kiddies

It's been a busy weekend in our house with 3 doggies running around. Here are a couple of highlights:

There aren't too many evidences that Gunner is a dog, but when it comes to cooking chicken, she certainly is. All 3 of the dogs were very interested in my chicken salad that I was making (and to answer your question, yes, mommee did spare them a piece). At one point, I looked down and here's the sight I saw:

Daddee was having a bit of fun with Gus. He's so patient with us and our sillee human ideas.

With all of the snow and ice that we've been having, our back steps are hard to maneuver. We've cleaned them off the best we can, but the dripping icicles keep the ice a-comin'. We think Waldo slipped off the edge of a step or something, because one of his nails is mostly gone (for reference, this toenail is usually all black):
Any ideas on how to keep this from getting infected? If we try to put tape around it, I think Waldo will just pull it off, or it will stick to the quick. But goodness knows we don't need any more issues with him!!

Video Viernes!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Thought you would enjoy this video. I was at my desk, when I heard a strange, repeating noise. This is what I saw from Waldo. Then, of course Gus had to get in the show, so he shows off his best trick. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!




Oh--our friend Gunner is visiting this weekend. She doesn't really know how to be a dog. I had to call her name several times to even get this picture, since the other dogs were in the room with me. Aah, well. We'll work on her.

Video!

This is the video I kept trying to upload last week!

Wordless Wednesday

Snowy Sunday

After a 40 degree day on Friday (!!!), the snow started again today! Mommee'z sister was here and we went out into the park to show her how awesome we run. We took a video and thought you would like it (this is not the video from our list, but we thought we'd post it anyway).

A List of Things

We has too much to say today, so we makes a list:

1. Do not be mis-led: we are not usually allowed on da cowch. In fact, when daddee sees this picture, he be MAD!!!
2. Our mommee has been away from home during the day these dayz. She is dooing some sub-stooting wif da kidz. We don't know what dat iz, but the mommee iz veree happee dat she is dooing it. So we iz happee, too. We also go on lotz more walkees, because she comes home right after da big yellow busses go by, so it is still daylight!
3. Waldo is not so good on da walkeez. He pullz and pullz, and if he seez da squirrel, he pullz mommee's arm so hard it hurtz! We need some more practice.
   
4. Mommee is thinking bowt changing our foodz. Someting called RAW. But she iz not sure. Can woo tell us what woo doo for da foodz? Just say RAW or KIBBLE. Maybee tell us what kind of kibble too pleez?
5. Mommee is going to start dooing VIDEO VIERNES. Mommee don't know Spanish, but she tinks this means Video Friday! We tried to doo it today, but da Woo-Toob isn't wurking. Mebbe da video is too big. We will try again. Woo all will wuv da video!
6. It is supposed to be cold again dis weekend. Rrgh. We wuz liking dis warm weather!
7. OOPS!! We almost forgetted!! We wantz to thank our good friend Behr Behr for dis award:

We getz the blushies jus thinking abowt it! Thank you for the happee award! We will fink about who to give it to. We might give it too some of our hooman friends, too.

Wordless Wednesday

Waldo = Snow Dog?!?!

So mommee made this jacket for me. I don't like the cold and snow, but mommee thought that if I had a coat to add to my limited coat, then I might like it better. I was unsure.


Mommee was right! Look at my jowls!!
The Gus was also there to play wif me.
I think I might like dis snow stuff!

Gus = Snow Dog

We've been posting a lot about how much Waldo hates the cold. And he does. (though tomorrow we might post a retraction on that statement) But make no mistake about it: Gus is a snow dog. Mommee knows that she hasn't been doing a good job having fun with Gus because Waldo's been so needy lately, but she's doing better now that the snow is out!

COLD Weekend

We've been trying to post a video for a few days, but for some reason it's not working. Rrgh. We'll try again next Friday.

It's COLD here in Ohio. The top temp for the last 5 days has been 10 degrees F. Waldo HATES to go outside when it's so cold. In fact, he only takes a few steps off of the stairs and goes, so every day he walks in it. Rrgh. Gotta get that boy some booties, or something!

Daddee went out of town this weekend, so it's just been mommee and the boys. Since it's so cold, we don't go outside, so we've been watching a lot of TV, and snuggling together. We keep our house pretty low during the day (around 62 degrees), so Waldo likes to be buried in his blankets. Gus doesn't mind the cold quite so much.
We've had a good time watching videos of all of our doggeh friends, too.

Stay warm, friends!

Wordless Wednesday

Awards Night!

We have been blessed with another award! This one comes from Joey and Kealani, our new Golden friends:


Thanks, guys! We are glad to have you as our friends, too!

We all think of friends that are close-by. But friends that are faraway are different. Diana Cortes wrote it this way: "There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other[s] in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound."

When we think of this quote, we think of our many fur friends. It is so hard to pick only 8 to pass the award to, but after careful thought, we'd like to pass this award to:

Trooper

Nala

Saint Lover

Sasha and Max

Norwood

Noah the Airedale

Dozer and Star

and

Abby!

Thanks for following our blog, you guys (and gals)! Pass this award along to 8 of YOUR friends!

"Lap Dog"

I mentioned yesterday that Waldo loves to have his head in my lap for a good neck rub. Thought I'd get a picture to show you just what that looks like. :)

Gus does something similar when he wants to be petted:

Finally, a fun video of the boys playing tennis ball:

A New Friend?

We've seen this guy across a couple of backyards the last few days. Maybe we'll go introduce ourselves soon. Thought our Sibe friends would like him...

Waldo Update - 1/10/09

Waldo was sentenced with mange for the first time in August (if you've ever dealt with mange, you'll understand why I say, "sentenced"). The treatments were probably not what they should have been (and I was very uninformed about what should have been going on), and so the symptoms went away, but the cause did not. In November, his mange came back with a vengeance (you can check out posts in November for more info on that, or see pictures on this site).

After 2 months of treatment, his hair started to return, and he acted like himself again. I started noticing, however, several dry patches on his skin, and the hair started to fall out again. (I'm pointing to one of the spots, but you can see the other blotchy patches)


I took him to the vet on Wednesday for a scraping...and those durn mites are very persistent!! He still has mange. Grr...arrgh. The vet who was there on Wednesday wasn't sure of the next course of action, as he had already been through an entire bottle of Ivomec (the typical mange treatment), so he put in a call to a veterinary dermatologist for advice. We returned to the vet on Thursday for the treatment regimen. Waldo is back on antibiotics for some sores he continues to get occasionally. He will continue treatment with Ivomec, upping the dosage to 2ml. He was also given an immune support supplement, because the base cause of his recurring bouts of mange is an immunodeficiency disorder of some kind. So, here's a pic of Waldo's daily intake:

(from L to R) 2 ml of Ivomec daily, 3 tsp. of Canine Immune Support, 1200 mg of Fish Oil, 1000 mg of Cephalexin, 1000 mg of Vitamin C. Why do I feel like I'm taking care of an old man?

The vet said that she once had a dog that she had on Ivomec her whole life. I'm hoping that we'll be able to treat the problem in a more natural way, because Ivomec is not the cheapest treatment in the world ($75 for the bottle you see in the pic)! We've tightened our belts to the tightest spot already, and I've only been out of work 2 weeks.

I also am trying to get more weight on him. He's just under the "healthy" weight range for Great Danes his age, and he looks painfully thin, as you can see in the picture:

He eats like a horse (7 to 7 1/2 cups a day), and we had him worm-checked at the vets, as well, so he's fine on that front. I just think that his little body is working so hard to fight off this infection that he's not able to put any weight on (he's sitting at 83 lbs, when 85-100 is appropriate for a 9-month Dane). I know several of you Dane owners have some natural ways to put weight on your babies. Any suggestions?

The one consolation is that Waldo is acting fine. He is a joy to have around--in fact, right now he has his head on my lap as I type (seems to be a favorite pastime of his). He and Gus love to wrestle, play bitey-face, tug-of-war, and take naps together. I just want to make sure the outside matches the inside!!

edited to fix the ivomec dosage.

I Love My Boys

Coming tomorrow: an update on Waldo

Semi-Wordless Wednesday (times 2!)

"Mom, there's WHITE STUFF falling from the sky. You don't expect me to go out there, do you?"

Waldo discovered a new trick this week--a very Dane thing to do:

Sorree

We iz sorree dat we iz not posting or comminting. Mommee haz ben bizzy or owt, and she not let us on da compootur by arselvs. Someting abowt drool on da keyboard. We don kno wat she meens.

Tooday we wuz going to catch up, but mommee iz taking us to da park! Woopees! So we will have to catch up laters. Mommee iz bringing her flashy ting, so we may put some piktures up laytr.

Wuv,
Gus and Waldo

PeeEss...Mommee tuk dis piktur uv us a cuple of dayz ago. We tink woo wike it. We iz wayting fur mommee to come and read uz ur posts!