PuPdate!

I had to wait… to post…and then other posts got in the way …. can you say Clearance! Yes it is still going on. I still have too many items, so go and check them out! www.ihaveanotion.com 

Goldie and Linzi… in January 2018 (4 months old)

Goldie is 9 months old now and almost that size. Her early difficulties… kind of held her back a little. Since we started down this path to getting her colon cleared she has gained lots of weight and grown to almost the correct size. I took another sample up to the specialists… for testing in late April. For some reason it took more than a week to get the results…. (their tests result timeline is all over the map). I was hoping to say that we got the all clear and on to a normal dog life for her.

Goldie in March 2018

Nope, she is still positive for Cryptosporidium. Doc doesn’t like it, but doesn’t see any reason to do more invasive tests. I’m happy, my wallet is happy and I’m sure Goldie would be happy too, if she knew what we were discussing.

Goldie napping… May 2018

Vet has suggested that we continue with the antibiotic powder for 4-5 months and then retest. Not a difficult issue, except that she has to be dosed with a meal every 8 hours! So no late nights or sleeping in… for at least one of us! This schedule also means no opportunities for both of us (humans) to be away together yet. We got as far as making plans and kennel reservations, and then the idea of counting on others to medicate her on time, scared us ….into…. one of us staying home.

Goldie and Linzi playing…. as you can see Goldie has done some growing… almost as tall as Linzi… and can easily out run her, but that might be more youth than growth!

So there we go… hopefully by her 1st birthday(September) … she will be clear and ready to take up the ‘dog life’… 

More later-     Beth

Sometimes... life makes a LEFT turn

I started to write this post on Tuesday morning, but my heart was just too broken. Every line made me want to start crying all over again. So I erased what I had written leaving just the title.

I am back, not to normal quite yet, but there is a little brighter future and more work, but it will be joyful.

The Heartbreak: We had to give Bandit back to the breeder over the weekend. It was a very difficult decision for us. It was a first for me to abandon a pet. But it is what needed to be done. We had been working with the breeder to bring some of his escalating behaviours under control since late summer. While some things were getting better, the one thing that caused us the most difficulty was not. He wanted to be the dominate figure in the house and was starting to use his size (90 pounds at 10 months) and teeth to push back, we had been trying to work through this. The last straw was when he nearly got me in the face, (his teeth grazed the flesh and left welts) and he did get my hand, I have a few healing holes. 

Monday and Tuesday were difficult and after crying and agonizing I sent the breeder a note, asking how Bandit was doing. If he was adjusting (to living outdoors in a kennel after being a house dog and the new rules). We missed his presence (chaos and all) just like a year or so ago when we had to say goodbye to Axel his predecessor. We do have Lini, and she tries, but her temperament is very laid back and pretty easy going, (unless you are a rabbit or a squirrel in the yard). The breeder called last night to reassure me  us, that Bandit is adjusting, although in some cases not willingly, but he will continue to work with him. 

Bandit with Jeff, the breeder, you can see how big Bandit is!

The joyful part? He offered us another puppy. I don't think that would have been the case if we had not worked so hard to try and bring Bandit around. We drove 5-6 hours round trip to spend an hour or two each week with the breeder and we did all the homework and training he suggested and Bandit was happy to comply -but the Dominant Aggression just would not stop. So we go this weekend to view them and make a selection. I don't know if it will be released or if they plan to keep them a little longer, but I am making preparations! I know a new puppy will not be the same, but it will be close and that will have to be good enough. 

There will still be sadness, as we adjust. Bandit did have a sweet side that he showed us most of the time, but the times he wanted to be boss were scarey and becoming more frequent, not less. We knew he needed more that we could physically give him in terms of control and that was the best thing FOR him.

Stay tuned! Lots more later- Beth