I wish that I could stop feeling so tired so much of the time. I wrote another post about our puppy a few days ago, but didn't have the energy or drive to proof read and post it. I may later, if I can get out of this gloomy mood. We'll see. The post was about how we have had project after project to do in relation to our new puppy.
The reason why I'm so tired, though, is because our new puppy, Shasta, has returned to his habit of not sleeping through the night. My husband, Ray, just recently built him a box out of Masonite for him to sleep in. He was sleeping in a card board box, but that wasn't working after awhile because he was beginning to eat the cardboard. I'm wondering if the Masonite bottom is not as comfortable for him as the cardboard was. He is restless at night and sometimes doesn't get to sleep until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning.
It really does seem that Shasta is mostly potty trained, yet he did pee in the house Yesterday. He tried to hide it under the table this time, which is a good sign because it shows that he is genuinely ashamed and knows he did wrong.
I didn't think that we had a problem with this thing called "Submissive Peeing", which is when a dog pees when the "Pack Leader" either arrives home, yells at him or her or is too rough with him or her. I didn't recognize this because apparently, even though I've probably been spending more time with Shasta than Ray has, I'm not the one that Shasta considers the Pack Leader. Though Shasta is difficult for either of us to control, he does appear to respond more at times to Ray's deeper, more masculine and authoritative voice, than to my more feminine, higher pitched voice. He doesn't pee when we arrive home, nor even when we yell at him, but Ray thinks he does it when he plays too rough with him. Apparently, he gets too excited and it scares him a little.
When I play with him and get him all excited by throwing the ball across the floor, Shasta handles this fine and doesn't pee, so I disregarded the "too excited" idea, yet I'm not the trigger. Ray is. Apparently, I'm not the pack leader according to Shasta. Figures. Our previous dog, Casper, favored me, but I guess I can't always be the one chosen. Oh well.
Interestingly, I thought I was going to write about feeling discouraged, but I wrote about the dog again instead. One day, I hope to be past all this puppy stuff and actually have a dog. Maybe one day I'll actually have a life again. Oh well.
Showing posts with label Our Dogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Our Dogs. Show all posts
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Impossible Dogs & Puppies/Play Biting & Jumping
When we arrived back from our trip, late Saturday afternoon, we actually decided not to pick up our dog from the boarding facility. This is when I realized how much I was enjoying our break from him. He is a Samoyed. We named him Shasta and he is the most difficult puppy that either my husband or I have ever owned. We were driving past the facility prior to 5:00 PM and could have picked Shasta up. If it had been our previous dog, Casper (a Samoyed Mix), we would have eagerly picked him up, but when my husband, Ray, suggested picking Shasta up, I told him that I was feeling very tired and needed a break from him. He agreed. The following day, we were both feeling sick, so we left Shasta at the boarding place until Monday afternoon. The first day, he was eager to see us, obnoxiously energetic and demanding of our constant attention.
Shasta has been a very difficult puppy for several reasons. He still play bites too hard, he needs two to three walks a day, he can be quite destructive, he wants to be with us constantly and he still, even to this day, is not yet potty trained.
When I first started this post, I thought I was going to tell you everything about our problems training Shasta, yet it appears that I have more to talk about than can be expressed in one post, so perhaps this is going to be another series. Shasta is getting better, but BOY, has this ever been a long hard struggle!!
Play Biting
There are several trains of thought on Play Biting. Some people say that a puppy should not be allowed to bite at all and others say that they just need to learn "Bite Control", which means that they need to learn not to bite too hard.
"Bite Control" is learned by watching the reaction of the victim. It was suggested that we just yell out "No Bite!", "Stop it!" or even just "Ouch!". With our previous dog, Casper, all that was required was the soft command "Easy". Shasta, however, is another matter. He doesn't respond to any matter of yelling. It is really hard to get him to quit. When he gets all excited, he doesn't seem to be able to help himself. He's gotten better, but is still bad at times.
"Don't bite at all"? I've read at least one comment on the subject that says that this isn't even possible. Play biting is just something that puppies do. This resource suggested that "Bite Control", needs to be established prior to 4 months of age. Oophs! Too late! He was 4 1/2 months old by the time I read that.
I've heard two ideas on trying to get the biting to actually stop. Some people say that all you have to do is hold the mouth closed and say "No Bite!". We tried this too no avail. Occasionally, he would bite softer for awhile, yet in a short time, the biting got hard again. Then I watched the vet use this approach. She held his mouth shut for what must have been a full minute and even lightly snapped his nose once in order to get his attention. She said that you have to keep holding him still until he calms down and stops struggling. This actually worked for her, so I concluded that I just wasn't holding the mouth shut long enough. In order to hold the mouth shut effectively, you have to get a hold of the back of the dogs neck and hold him still. The vet had the advantage of my husband, Ray, also holding the dog. When I tried to duplicate what the vet did, this is when the real battle began.
By 4 1/2 months old, Shasta was already big enough and strong enough to put up a big fight. He thought the whole thing was a game. He would jump up and bite my hands and arms and than jump away so that I couldn't grab his neck. This practice would occasionally rip my cloths, so I couldn't ever wear anything nice in his presence. Once I finally did grab him, I had to push him down to the ground and hold his mouth shut. It was a considerable struggle to do so. Once, I had to pin his head down to the ground with my arm around his neck and even so, he would struggle significantly before he would stop. You would think after all this, it would be enough, yet believe it or not, when he finally did calm down and I let go of him, he jumped up and bit me again, as if very eager and willing for round two in our "fun little dog fight". I was not having fun and you would think that he would know that by the very angry tone in my voice.
The other approach to the play biting problem is to ignore and turn your back to the dog. There were times in which this actually worked, yet even this did not stop the biting at the heels while walking away from him. After awhile, I had to ignore him every time he bit me and never pet him or touch him in any way until he licks my hand. Even this did not produce immediate results, but he has gotten better.
Jumping
As to the jumping and biting, sometimes I focus more on the jumping than the biting and when he does jump, he gets a knee in his stomach.
In relation to the jumping, aside from the knee in the stomach, another approach is to step on the back paws. Shasta is usually at an angle, though, that makes this approach difficult. Some other approaches are to teach the dog to come and than sit, or to refuse to pet the dog unless he has all four feet on the ground.
I'm considering something else too. What I like is when Shasta stands next to me and leans against me so I can pet him. He doesn't do this near often enough, so what I'm considering doing now is adding this to his treat training routing. He already knows sit, stay, come and lay down. He won't do any of this without a treat, though. Whether than teaching him to come and sit, what I'd like to teach him is the command "Come Here", while emphasizing the word "Here" because it sounds sort of like "Heel". I've just barely started adding this to the training routine. He has to sit, stay, come and then I say "come Here", while patting my legs and when he doesn't respond, I pull him over into the desired position and pet him while saying "Good Boy!" and giving him his treat. Even this position is different than jumping. I'll let you know later whether or not this works.
Like I said before, when I first started this post, I thought I was going to tell you everything about our problems training Shasta, yet it appears that I have more to talk about than can be expressed in one post, so perhaps this is going to be another series. Shasta is getting better, but BOY, has this ever been a long hard struggle!!
Shasta has been a very difficult puppy for several reasons. He still play bites too hard, he needs two to three walks a day, he can be quite destructive, he wants to be with us constantly and he still, even to this day, is not yet potty trained.
When I first started this post, I thought I was going to tell you everything about our problems training Shasta, yet it appears that I have more to talk about than can be expressed in one post, so perhaps this is going to be another series. Shasta is getting better, but BOY, has this ever been a long hard struggle!!
Play Biting
There are several trains of thought on Play Biting. Some people say that a puppy should not be allowed to bite at all and others say that they just need to learn "Bite Control", which means that they need to learn not to bite too hard.
"Bite Control" is learned by watching the reaction of the victim. It was suggested that we just yell out "No Bite!", "Stop it!" or even just "Ouch!". With our previous dog, Casper, all that was required was the soft command "Easy". Shasta, however, is another matter. He doesn't respond to any matter of yelling. It is really hard to get him to quit. When he gets all excited, he doesn't seem to be able to help himself. He's gotten better, but is still bad at times.
"Don't bite at all"? I've read at least one comment on the subject that says that this isn't even possible. Play biting is just something that puppies do. This resource suggested that "Bite Control", needs to be established prior to 4 months of age. Oophs! Too late! He was 4 1/2 months old by the time I read that.
I've heard two ideas on trying to get the biting to actually stop. Some people say that all you have to do is hold the mouth closed and say "No Bite!". We tried this too no avail. Occasionally, he would bite softer for awhile, yet in a short time, the biting got hard again. Then I watched the vet use this approach. She held his mouth shut for what must have been a full minute and even lightly snapped his nose once in order to get his attention. She said that you have to keep holding him still until he calms down and stops struggling. This actually worked for her, so I concluded that I just wasn't holding the mouth shut long enough. In order to hold the mouth shut effectively, you have to get a hold of the back of the dogs neck and hold him still. The vet had the advantage of my husband, Ray, also holding the dog. When I tried to duplicate what the vet did, this is when the real battle began.
By 4 1/2 months old, Shasta was already big enough and strong enough to put up a big fight. He thought the whole thing was a game. He would jump up and bite my hands and arms and than jump away so that I couldn't grab his neck. This practice would occasionally rip my cloths, so I couldn't ever wear anything nice in his presence. Once I finally did grab him, I had to push him down to the ground and hold his mouth shut. It was a considerable struggle to do so. Once, I had to pin his head down to the ground with my arm around his neck and even so, he would struggle significantly before he would stop. You would think after all this, it would be enough, yet believe it or not, when he finally did calm down and I let go of him, he jumped up and bit me again, as if very eager and willing for round two in our "fun little dog fight". I was not having fun and you would think that he would know that by the very angry tone in my voice.
The other approach to the play biting problem is to ignore and turn your back to the dog. There were times in which this actually worked, yet even this did not stop the biting at the heels while walking away from him. After awhile, I had to ignore him every time he bit me and never pet him or touch him in any way until he licks my hand. Even this did not produce immediate results, but he has gotten better.
Jumping
As to the jumping and biting, sometimes I focus more on the jumping than the biting and when he does jump, he gets a knee in his stomach.
In relation to the jumping, aside from the knee in the stomach, another approach is to step on the back paws. Shasta is usually at an angle, though, that makes this approach difficult. Some other approaches are to teach the dog to come and than sit, or to refuse to pet the dog unless he has all four feet on the ground.
I'm considering something else too. What I like is when Shasta stands next to me and leans against me so I can pet him. He doesn't do this near often enough, so what I'm considering doing now is adding this to his treat training routing. He already knows sit, stay, come and lay down. He won't do any of this without a treat, though. Whether than teaching him to come and sit, what I'd like to teach him is the command "Come Here", while emphasizing the word "Here" because it sounds sort of like "Heel". I've just barely started adding this to the training routine. He has to sit, stay, come and then I say "come Here", while patting my legs and when he doesn't respond, I pull him over into the desired position and pet him while saying "Good Boy!" and giving him his treat. Even this position is different than jumping. I'll let you know later whether or not this works.
Like I said before, when I first started this post, I thought I was going to tell you everything about our problems training Shasta, yet it appears that I have more to talk about than can be expressed in one post, so perhaps this is going to be another series. Shasta is getting better, but BOY, has this ever been a long hard struggle!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Lessons During Worship
In a way, I feel as if I've allowed my heart and mind to fall into a little bit of a back log in relation to things that I want to share on my blog. I sat down just a few minutes prior to writing this post and began to write down a few titles relating to things that I could share with you and in doing so, came up with 4 titles, or actually it ended up being 5. Three of them have to do with lessons I've learned from our Samoyed Dog, Shasta. One other one has to do with what I remember from a book entitled "Lessons from a Sheep Dog" and than there is this one, which is just some things that the Lord was speaking to me about during worship this Sunday. I considered submitting all of these all at once so that you can read them in the order in which I wrote them, whether than in the reverse order as the computer likes to stack them, but than as I've been reading through some of what I've already written, I've decided that maybe the order in which they are read doesn't matter so much. Perhaps I'll just submit one a day for awhile. That will be different for me.
As to the subject of this post, the Lord was speaking to me in relation to two of the songs that we sang this Sunday. The first was "Come, Now is the Time to Worship". The words of this song go like this...
As to the subject of this post, the Lord was speaking to me in relation to two of the songs that we sang this Sunday. The first was "Come, Now is the Time to Worship". The words of this song go like this...
Come, Now is the time to Worship.
Come, Now is the time to Give your Heart.
Come, Just as you are to Worship.
Come, Just as you are before your God. Come.
One day every tongue will confess you are God.
One day every knee will bow.
Still the greatest treasure remains for those,
who gladly choose You now.
This, by itself, probably could have been enough of a post, yet God spoke to me again during worship in relation to another one of the songs. This time it was in relation to the song entitled "More Love, More Power". This one goes like this...
Come, Now is the time to Give your Heart.
Come, Just as you are to Worship.
Come, Just as you are before your God. Come.
One day every tongue will confess you are God.
One day every knee will bow.
Still the greatest treasure remains for those,
who gladly choose You now.
During rehearsal, I was so greatly touched by the song, that I actually requested from my singing partner the chance to share something. What I shared was in relation to our dog, Shasta. Since he is a Samoyed, he struggles a little with the command to "Come". As his owner, I so desire him to want to come to me and basically what I shared at Church on Sunday, just prior to singing this song, is that this is how God feels about us. He wants so badly for us to "Come" to Him.
I also explained what that coming means. God wants us to come and sit at His feet. Not only does He want us to "Come" and Worship Him, as the song suggests, but He also wants us to come and spend time with Him in the form of Private Devotional Time, involving the Reading of Scripture and also Prayer. To truly "Come", we also need to be willing to listen to what He has to say.
I also explained what that coming means. God wants us to come and sit at His feet. Not only does He want us to "Come" and Worship Him, as the song suggests, but He also wants us to come and spend time with Him in the form of Private Devotional Time, involving the Reading of Scripture and also Prayer. To truly "Come", we also need to be willing to listen to what He has to say.
When we "Come" to Him in Prayer, if we come only with requests, than this is more like asking Him to come to us and to do it on our terms, yet if we "Come" in order to also listen to Him, this is a form of truly "Coming" and being willing to do so on His terms, whether than on ours. Instead of just telling Him what we want, we need to "Come" and listen to what He wants and be respectful of what He desires from us in our lives.
This, by itself, probably could have been enough of a post, yet God spoke to me again during worship in relation to another one of the songs. This time it was in relation to the song entitled "More Love, More Power". This one goes like this...
(Chorus)
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
(Repeat)
(Verse)
And I will Worship You, with all of my Heart.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Mind.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.
(Verse)
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Heart.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Mind.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
More Love; More Power; More of You in my Life.
(Repeat)
(Verse)
And I will Worship You, with all of my Heart.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Mind.
And I will Worship You, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.
(Verse)
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Heart.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Mind.
And I will Seek Your face, with all of my Strength.
You are my Lord. You are my Lord.
What the Lord spoke to me about during this song was that if we want "More Love" and "More Power", than we need to do our part by "Worshiping", "Seeking His Face" and also "Coming" to Him in all the ways that I mentioned earlier.
Too often our Relationship with God is a one sided Relationship, in which we just want God to do for us, but we are not willing to also do for Him. No Relationship should be so one sided and especially not our Relationship with God.
Too often our Relationship with God is a one sided Relationship, in which we just want God to do for us, but we are not willing to also do for Him. No Relationship should be so one sided and especially not our Relationship with God.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Gaining Control over One's Life & One's Puppy
I know that Samoyeds, just like any other Alaskan or Siberian breed, are stubborn and difficult to train, but I had forgotten the full extent of the battle. It's just like battling with a 2 year old child. I tell our puppy, Shasta, "No!" and he rebels and complains and barks at me. I keep telling him, "Now look! You are not the boss. I am.", or in doggy terms, "You are not the head dog. I am and you WILL obey me!"
The potty training seems to be taking awhile, we've had Shasta now since a week prior to Yesterday and he still occasionally peas in the house, but I've noticed that he sort of does it when he's excited, so I guess it's not such a good idea to get him too wound up while in the house. The problem is that he has lots of energy to burn off. During the day, we can take him for walks and let him run in the yard, yet we keep him in at night because of the animals (Raccoon, Bear and Mountain Lion). He's way too small yet and thus, could be a target for such animals, so at night, we have a real problem. He can't run outside cause of the animals and he can't run too much inside cause it might make him pea in the house. If we discipline him and insist that he remain still, he may sleep too much during the day and than be too hyper at night, when it's time for bed. I'm not sure what the solution is. Oh well. I know it'll get better in time.
If you want to read more about our adventures with our dog, Shasta, there is more in the comment section of the next post down, as I'm sure there will also be in the comment section of this one. One of the things I was writing in one of my comments below the next post down, though, was about how the beauty of Alaskan and Siberian breeds (sled dog types) does not come without a cost. The long hair requires brushing. The floors require vacuuming. The high energy requires exercise and the stubbornness requires a lot of patience and persistence. I personally think that it is worth it, but there are some people I know that do not agree.
When I wrote out the title of this post, I was thinking about how the dog training books claim that puppies feel best when they are on some sort of a schedule. This probably is true. If the puppy has a normal "scheduled" play time, maybe we would be able to plan our lives better around his more quiet nap times, for he does sleep a lot. I just need to learn how to make use of the times in which he does.
The potty training seems to be taking awhile, we've had Shasta now since a week prior to Yesterday and he still occasionally peas in the house, but I've noticed that he sort of does it when he's excited, so I guess it's not such a good idea to get him too wound up while in the house. The problem is that he has lots of energy to burn off. During the day, we can take him for walks and let him run in the yard, yet we keep him in at night because of the animals (Raccoon, Bear and Mountain Lion). He's way too small yet and thus, could be a target for such animals, so at night, we have a real problem. He can't run outside cause of the animals and he can't run too much inside cause it might make him pea in the house. If we discipline him and insist that he remain still, he may sleep too much during the day and than be too hyper at night, when it's time for bed. I'm not sure what the solution is. Oh well. I know it'll get better in time.
If you want to read more about our adventures with our dog, Shasta, there is more in the comment section of the next post down, as I'm sure there will also be in the comment section of this one. One of the things I was writing in one of my comments below the next post down, though, was about how the beauty of Alaskan and Siberian breeds (sled dog types) does not come without a cost. The long hair requires brushing. The floors require vacuuming. The high energy requires exercise and the stubbornness requires a lot of patience and persistence. I personally think that it is worth it, but there are some people I know that do not agree.
When I wrote out the title of this post, I was thinking about how the dog training books claim that puppies feel best when they are on some sort of a schedule. This probably is true. If the puppy has a normal "scheduled" play time, maybe we would be able to plan our lives better around his more quiet nap times, for he does sleep a lot. I just need to learn how to make use of the times in which he does.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Now, Isn't that the Cutest? (Our New Samoyed Puppy)
Now, isn't that the cutest and the prettiest thing that you have ever seen?
His name is Shasta. He is nine weeks old today. He has been so much fun.
We picked him up from the airport around 11:00 AM on Friday. He was a little scared and reluctant to come out of the travel cage at first, but once he did, he took to us really fast. In fact, he followed us everywhere.
At least one of our first impressions of him was "Imagine that! A Samoyed that actually comes when called!", for that was quite a contrast from our earlier Samoyed, Casper, that was so scared when we first got him that he ran away from us and we had to earn his trust. Casper turned out to be a very good dog, yet he was such an independent sort and wouldn't always come when called.
Shasta, the new one pictured above, was just the opposite at first and came across as a little clingy, yet as time has passed, and he has gotten more used to us, he is already becoming more and more independent, has began to take off on his own and explore and as he does that, I am beginning to see that typical Samoyed stubbornness emerge. Samoyeds are a little independent, stubborn and difficult to train, but that's part of their charm. They are very gentle and friendly and would never hurt a fly, as I can see, this one will be as well.
The other first impression that we had was that he didn't seem to have quite the energy level that we expected. Our other dog, Casper, just loved to run and was so incredibly fast it was unbelievable. Samoyeds are sled dogs and love to run. I guess Shasta was tired and a little shy around such a new environment, but that is changing as well.
When we first got him, we had to teach him how to go up and down these two small steps over a retaining wall in our yard and also up into the house. He liked it outside and didn't really want to come inside, though he is going to have to be a house dog because of the warmer climate in California. We are up in the mountains, making the weather cooler than in the valley's, yet it is still quite often in the 90s and it even breaks 100 degrees 2 or 3 days out of the year. Samoyeds are winter sled dogs and have very thick fur.
Friday and Saturday, Shasta mainly just trotted and only occasionally broke into a run when he was chasing us, yet yesterday, he was picking up speed and ran without needing to have anything to chase. Yep, he's a Samoyed alright. He was just taking his time getting started. He slipped on the dirt a few times, he's still just a puppy. He runs much better on the grass. I'm sure he will pick up both his energy and speed as he grows. It's so fun watching him learn.
This is so much fun and we are so in love with our new little friend.
His name is Shasta. He is nine weeks old today. He has been so much fun.
We picked him up from the airport around 11:00 AM on Friday. He was a little scared and reluctant to come out of the travel cage at first, but once he did, he took to us really fast. In fact, he followed us everywhere.
At least one of our first impressions of him was "Imagine that! A Samoyed that actually comes when called!", for that was quite a contrast from our earlier Samoyed, Casper, that was so scared when we first got him that he ran away from us and we had to earn his trust. Casper turned out to be a very good dog, yet he was such an independent sort and wouldn't always come when called.
Shasta, the new one pictured above, was just the opposite at first and came across as a little clingy, yet as time has passed, and he has gotten more used to us, he is already becoming more and more independent, has began to take off on his own and explore and as he does that, I am beginning to see that typical Samoyed stubbornness emerge. Samoyeds are a little independent, stubborn and difficult to train, but that's part of their charm. They are very gentle and friendly and would never hurt a fly, as I can see, this one will be as well.
The other first impression that we had was that he didn't seem to have quite the energy level that we expected. Our other dog, Casper, just loved to run and was so incredibly fast it was unbelievable. Samoyeds are sled dogs and love to run. I guess Shasta was tired and a little shy around such a new environment, but that is changing as well.
When we first got him, we had to teach him how to go up and down these two small steps over a retaining wall in our yard and also up into the house. He liked it outside and didn't really want to come inside, though he is going to have to be a house dog because of the warmer climate in California. We are up in the mountains, making the weather cooler than in the valley's, yet it is still quite often in the 90s and it even breaks 100 degrees 2 or 3 days out of the year. Samoyeds are winter sled dogs and have very thick fur.
Friday and Saturday, Shasta mainly just trotted and only occasionally broke into a run when he was chasing us, yet yesterday, he was picking up speed and ran without needing to have anything to chase. Yep, he's a Samoyed alright. He was just taking his time getting started. He slipped on the dirt a few times, he's still just a puppy. He runs much better on the grass. I'm sure he will pick up both his energy and speed as he grows. It's so fun watching him learn.
This is so much fun and we are so in love with our new little friend.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Northern California Fire Stress & Our Lost Friend
Well, I thought this post was going to be about the fires, yet once I got going, I ended up talking about our dog Casper again. Hopefully, you guys will not be too tired of the subject. It seems that I have to work my way through it somehow before I can move on.
You see, as these fires were burning, we were stressing over our sick dog, Casper, that had lung cancer.
Starting from the beginning, on June 11, Casper had what appeared to be a seizure, so we took him to the vet on the 12th. Due to the fires, the power was out during our first trip to the vet, so we couldn't get any x-ray's done, but they did do a blood test. Later that evening, Casper had another seizure, so we called the vet back on the 13th and she prescribed a seizure medication and we also scheduled some X-rays for Monday, June 16.
Meanwhile, the fires were burning and they evacuated part of a town near by. They did not evacuate our area, yet there was enough of a scare that there were gas lines at the pump, to fill up with all this wonderful expensive gas, just in case of an evacuation. I think that I might have written about this in one of my comments somewhere. A lot of the streets were closed to everyone but fire trucks and the ones that weren't were congested with people trying to evacuate. A lot of the gas stations were actually running out of gas and the gas trucks were having trouble getting in in order to deliver more gas to the stations. What a mess!!
We packed up our car, just in case we would have a need to evacuate, yet I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to because I wasn't sure that our sick dog would make it through such an experience and anyway, how are we supposed to get those x-rays done if we are required to leave town? I was so unbelievably stressed.
Well, luckily, we didn't have to evacuate, yet the x-rays that were done on Monday did not bring us good news. Casper was diagnosed with lung cancer and was not expected to live too much longer.
The following week was really hard. As the fires kept burning, Casper was having trouble breathing and after awhile he stopped eating.
By the end of the week, they appeared to have the fires under control and since we were expecting company on the weekend of the 21rst and 22nd, we decided to unpack our car and put our house back in order. In the hope that Casper might decide to eat something, we cut back on the dose of the seizure medication that we were giving Casper because it was making him sort of groggy and depressed, unfortunately, he still wouldn't eat.
On Friday, the 20th, Casper did something sort of interesting. He walked through every room in our house and just stood there and stared at each room as if saying good bye to his house. He also walked over to some of the furniture that he used to actually sit on when he was strong enough to jump up onto it and laid his head down on each of his favorite spots. It was sort of sad to watch.
Saturday morning, June 21, at 9:40 AM, Casper passed away. I heard a thud in the hallway next to the front door and when I went to check on him, he was gone, so we put his body in a box and took him to the vet for cremation. When we got home, I had to finish cleaning the house for our company that arrived later that evening.
In the afternoon of that day, there was the most horrible thunder storm and I was thinking of how it was sort of a blessing that Casper had passed away in the morning, early enough to miss experiencing this storm. Casper always hated thunder and this storm was so loud that it even made me shutter. I don't think I've even heard one quite so close and loud as this one. It would have killed Casper for sure and I felt grateful that the thunder storm was not his last memory.
Our company admitted to not being really strong dog lovers, yet they were quite supportive anyway and it was really nice to have the company.
Well, wouldn't you know it, the thunder storm started more fires and before long, we had our car all packed up again for possible evacuation. I've been wondering all this past week, if this is ever going to end. I've been feeling really tired of feeling stressed and I really would like to return to normal life soon. On one day, it seemed like the fire might be coming our way and we actually packed up our travel trailer and moved it to the property of some friends of ours, just in case we might decide to use it later. Well, we are still here and no evacuation has been announced for our area.
I want to thank you all again for your kind words of condolence and sympathy that you've put on my previous posts about our dog. I was telling Gayle in one of the comments that perhaps "the mourning process wouldn't be taking quite so long if they could just get these fires under control." This seems to just go on for days and even weeks.
"I praise God that, so far, they have been able to keep the fire from coming our way, yet I'm so tied of the smoke. I'm tired of wondering and stressing and I even miss some of the family pictures that have been removed from our wall. If they would just get these fires under control, we would be able to move on with our lives in relation to both the fire and the loss of our dog."
On a more positive note, the smoke did clear a little later yesterday afternoon and I was so glad to hear the sound of the helicopters flying over head. The smoke has been so bad that they have not been able to fly their aircraft over the fire and without the air support, the fire fighters have not been able to make much head way in getting these fires under control. As the air cleared and I begin to hear the helicopters, I was really praising God!!
It is even getting easier for me to look at the pictures that I've posted below of Casper without crying, so I can tell that there will be better days. Praise God!!
If you want to see some pictures of Casper and read more about him, than skip over the next post and go on down to where the pictures are and than read the post below the pictures. He was really quite a pretty and also special dog. Enjoy.
You see, as these fires were burning, we were stressing over our sick dog, Casper, that had lung cancer.
Starting from the beginning, on June 11, Casper had what appeared to be a seizure, so we took him to the vet on the 12th. Due to the fires, the power was out during our first trip to the vet, so we couldn't get any x-ray's done, but they did do a blood test. Later that evening, Casper had another seizure, so we called the vet back on the 13th and she prescribed a seizure medication and we also scheduled some X-rays for Monday, June 16.
Meanwhile, the fires were burning and they evacuated part of a town near by. They did not evacuate our area, yet there was enough of a scare that there were gas lines at the pump, to fill up with all this wonderful expensive gas, just in case of an evacuation. I think that I might have written about this in one of my comments somewhere. A lot of the streets were closed to everyone but fire trucks and the ones that weren't were congested with people trying to evacuate. A lot of the gas stations were actually running out of gas and the gas trucks were having trouble getting in in order to deliver more gas to the stations. What a mess!!
We packed up our car, just in case we would have a need to evacuate, yet I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to because I wasn't sure that our sick dog would make it through such an experience and anyway, how are we supposed to get those x-rays done if we are required to leave town? I was so unbelievably stressed.
Well, luckily, we didn't have to evacuate, yet the x-rays that were done on Monday did not bring us good news. Casper was diagnosed with lung cancer and was not expected to live too much longer.
The following week was really hard. As the fires kept burning, Casper was having trouble breathing and after awhile he stopped eating.
By the end of the week, they appeared to have the fires under control and since we were expecting company on the weekend of the 21rst and 22nd, we decided to unpack our car and put our house back in order. In the hope that Casper might decide to eat something, we cut back on the dose of the seizure medication that we were giving Casper because it was making him sort of groggy and depressed, unfortunately, he still wouldn't eat.
On Friday, the 20th, Casper did something sort of interesting. He walked through every room in our house and just stood there and stared at each room as if saying good bye to his house. He also walked over to some of the furniture that he used to actually sit on when he was strong enough to jump up onto it and laid his head down on each of his favorite spots. It was sort of sad to watch.
Saturday morning, June 21, at 9:40 AM, Casper passed away. I heard a thud in the hallway next to the front door and when I went to check on him, he was gone, so we put his body in a box and took him to the vet for cremation. When we got home, I had to finish cleaning the house for our company that arrived later that evening.
In the afternoon of that day, there was the most horrible thunder storm and I was thinking of how it was sort of a blessing that Casper had passed away in the morning, early enough to miss experiencing this storm. Casper always hated thunder and this storm was so loud that it even made me shutter. I don't think I've even heard one quite so close and loud as this one. It would have killed Casper for sure and I felt grateful that the thunder storm was not his last memory.
Our company admitted to not being really strong dog lovers, yet they were quite supportive anyway and it was really nice to have the company.
Well, wouldn't you know it, the thunder storm started more fires and before long, we had our car all packed up again for possible evacuation. I've been wondering all this past week, if this is ever going to end. I've been feeling really tired of feeling stressed and I really would like to return to normal life soon. On one day, it seemed like the fire might be coming our way and we actually packed up our travel trailer and moved it to the property of some friends of ours, just in case we might decide to use it later. Well, we are still here and no evacuation has been announced for our area.
I want to thank you all again for your kind words of condolence and sympathy that you've put on my previous posts about our dog. I was telling Gayle in one of the comments that perhaps "the mourning process wouldn't be taking quite so long if they could just get these fires under control." This seems to just go on for days and even weeks.
"I praise God that, so far, they have been able to keep the fire from coming our way, yet I'm so tied of the smoke. I'm tired of wondering and stressing and I even miss some of the family pictures that have been removed from our wall. If they would just get these fires under control, we would be able to move on with our lives in relation to both the fire and the loss of our dog."
On a more positive note, the smoke did clear a little later yesterday afternoon and I was so glad to hear the sound of the helicopters flying over head. The smoke has been so bad that they have not been able to fly their aircraft over the fire and without the air support, the fire fighters have not been able to make much head way in getting these fires under control. As the air cleared and I begin to hear the helicopters, I was really praising God!!
It is even getting easier for me to look at the pictures that I've posted below of Casper without crying, so I can tell that there will be better days. Praise God!!
If you want to see some pictures of Casper and read more about him, than skip over the next post and go on down to where the pictures are and than read the post below the pictures. He was really quite a pretty and also special dog. Enjoy.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Our Dog Casper - Photos - Samoyed
Well, eventually I'd like to do a tribute to our dog, Casper, that died Saturday morning at 9:40 AM, including a lot of details about his life, yet for now I think I'm just going to post some photos, so that you all can know what he looks like. So here they are.
If you would like to read more about him, you can read the next post down and/or click on the label on the right entitled "Our Dog - Casper".
If you would like to read more about him, you can read the next post down and/or click on the label on the right entitled "Our Dog - Casper".
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The Gradual Loss of Man's Best Friend
I wonder how hard it's going to be for me to do a post about our most precious dog, Casper. Eventually, I would like to do a full tribute to my dear friend, including pictures and the like. For now, I'm just going to say something brief to help my commenters realize why my heart aches and why I may or may not respond fully to every comment.
Our dog has lung cancer. I imagine that we are going to eventually have to put him down, yet for now, he seems to have his good and bad days. We have him on some anti-seizure medicine, Phenobarbital, which seems to have calmed him way down and even helped to stop his coughing spells. When he gets to breathing really hard or coughing, we just set him next to the fan and he calms down and sleeps and than perks up a little. It's hard to watch him breathing hard like that, so when he gets to the point in which he is like that a lot of the time, we will be putting him down.
This is so hard and I've already been crying over it.
We also have some out of town company coming on Friday, so I'm going to spend some time cleaning up and getting ready for them.
Please do feel free to continue commenting on my blog. I'm going to check the computer daily and post the comments, but I may or may not respond. Thanks for your understanding. I love ya' all. Take care.
Our dog has lung cancer. I imagine that we are going to eventually have to put him down, yet for now, he seems to have his good and bad days. We have him on some anti-seizure medicine, Phenobarbital, which seems to have calmed him way down and even helped to stop his coughing spells. When he gets to breathing really hard or coughing, we just set him next to the fan and he calms down and sleeps and than perks up a little. It's hard to watch him breathing hard like that, so when he gets to the point in which he is like that a lot of the time, we will be putting him down.
This is so hard and I've already been crying over it.
We also have some out of town company coming on Friday, so I'm going to spend some time cleaning up and getting ready for them.
Please do feel free to continue commenting on my blog. I'm going to check the computer daily and post the comments, but I may or may not respond. Thanks for your understanding. I love ya' all. Take care.
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