Moving: With Dogs!

     In about a week, the Hubbs, Annie, Paul, and I will be moving!  We're only going about 50 miles, so it's not a huge move, however, it's still nuts!  Our square footage is being cut in half.  And, for the first time in years, we'll be living in an apartment.

Annie, nose on, ears off.  She'd be gone in 10 seconds.

     I've been reading back posts of Two Pitties in the City trying to "hack" how to live in a small place.  The dogs are loosing their dog room, and the Hubbs is loosing his "man cave."  We'll have about 700 square feet.

Paul may be nice and calm here, but all I need is a squirrel and we'd be in trouble.

     However, in all of this, I'm trying to figure out how to actually move with the dogs.  I realize the obvious: They will hop into the Prius and off we'll go!  However, with unloading the truck, the car, and moving everything in, I don't want to worry about one of them escaping and getting lost.
 
     Any one have any suggestions as to how to move Annie and Paul?

Real Life: It's Not As Easy As We Make It Look

     The first month we had Paul, he ate through the car's seatbelt on the way to the dog park.  We got the $300 estimate, and decided not to repair the seat belt.  I told The Hubbs after he watched a winning football game and was drunk.

     Annie, for the first 2 years we had her, peed everywhere in the house and it smelled like dog urine year round.  I finally got to the point I just tour up all of the carpet in the house.  Luckily, we had 30 year old hardwood underneath.  Unluckily, she had already soaked it and it had warped in her 2 favorite pee places.
     I hate walking A&P at the same time on my own.  When I do, I've been bitten, dragged down with a concussion, and stopped by the police for raising "vicious dogs"
     Just tonight, I discovered Annie has been snacking on my leftovers that I left on the counter top.  I found the container in her room, empty.
     At different points in the past 7 years of dog ownership, we've contemplated getting rid of either Annie, Paul, or both.
     Why am I saying all of this?  What's the point in "airing my dirty laundry in public"?  For the same reason Marly and Me by John Grogan is one of my favorite books.  Marly is far from perfect.  At times, he's a holy terror.  But time and time again, the family can't help but love him.
     I can't help but love Annie and Paul, for all their good times and bad.  They are still my puppies, and now 7 years with them, I can't imagine my life without them.  To anyone reading this blog who has just adopted a new pet and is going through an adjustment period with them, remember this.  There are good times and bad, it won't always be easy, but good times will come.  You just have to hang on for them.

The Hubbs and the Pups

     With the Hubbs being a grad student for one more semester, this is the time of year he loves sitting still and hanging out.  Grad school is still easier than what he used to do (power plant worker with 12 hours on and 12 hours off switching between days and nights), but you get the idea.  Annie and Paul love the fact that they have 3 walks a day right now and free time all day with Dad to nap and lounge around the house as they please.

     Today, I had to laugh though.  I'm sitting on the couch in the living room listen to the Hubbs talk to Annie.  "You've bugged me all day to pet you.  Come up here (onto the bed) to be petted.  Annie nudges his arm again.  "No, up here!"  Annie nudges arm.  Hubbs gets up and picks up Annie and puts her onto the bed, and stretches back out.  "I"ll pet you up here."  I hear Annie jump down off of the bed.  She walks around and must have nudged his arm again.  "No, up here.  I"ll pet you on the bed."  
     Something tells me this will be tonights entertainment.

Obviously, this draft is a few months old, but it's things like this that I still enjoy reading.....

Woopps! We disappeared!

     Wow, yea, we disappeared there.  The last post on the blog is March 17th.  Where the heck have we been?  On a long strange trip, that's defiantly not as cool as the Grateful Dead would have you believe.

The day after out last post we were both running late this morning.  In an attempt to get a short walk in, the Hubbs took Annie and Paul out on retractible leashes for a quick romp in the yard.  Overnight, we thought it had rained. The Hubbs goes out the door, the door shuts, and I hear a strange noise.  I walked to the door to find the Hubbs lying on his back with blood coming from his mouth.  We thought it had rained, but it had iced.  The Hubbs hit the steps, his legs went out from under him, and he smacked his face on the steps.  I came out at the weird noise and slipped myself with a beautiful bruise on my backside.  We both missed a day of classes dealing with bruises, cuts, and the front steps winning a round.

     The rest of March dealing with the after effects of this: soar back, bruised ribs, stitch removal, and dealing with an idiot neurologist.  The steps defiantly won that round.  Luckily, the Hubbs glasses were ok.  

April, May, and June were spent with the Hubbs graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Masters in Financial Economics (So ridiculously proud of him for this) and job interviews.
 
  In July, we got the official job offer and we're excited to announce that we're moving!  Grant it, it's not far, but we now have to pack up the house and move into an apartment half the size.   I keep wishing I lived closer to 2 Pitties in the City just so we could hand off some of our furniture to A & E who just moved from an apartment to a house!

   So ready or not, here comes another ride on the roller coaster, hold on tight. 

Bedtime Stories for Puppies

     At 23:45, 1:00, and 2:30 the other night, Annie and Paul needed to go outside.  Not just to take care of business either, the last 2 trips seemed to just be for standing in the yard and smelling the cold front that was coming in.

     At 2:45, they came into our room and stared at me from the floor with waging tails.  I thought before they woke up The Hubbs, I should get them out of our room.  Out to the couch we went where I sat in the middle, Annie climbed up to my left and Paul to my right.  

And for about 20 minutes I sat there petting them, wishing I had a book of Dog Bed Time stories to read to them.  

What Annie Ate: Holiday edition

     I'm one of those people who bakes in December.  And I'm now at the point that about half of the baking is for dogs and half is for people.  New on my list this year is nut roll.  Both my mother and grandmother make it and there are even special pans my grandmother has for making them.
     The last roll we sliced up this morning for breakfast with our coffee.  The Hubbs and I had eaten most of it and left 1 piece on the plate.  He went to grab a shower, I went to put dog beds into the car to go to the dog mall.  When we came back to the room, this is what we found:

Notice the empty plate and the crumbs on the bed.

And at the foot of the bed, Annie sniffing for the last of the nut roll crumbs.

Sunday with the Pups

     This was another weekend in the saga of the upset tummies.  Long story made very short, it was also a weekend of odd sleeping times for me.  Luckily, it was the weekend.  So, on Sunday, I spent several hours curled up in bed napping with the pups.

Annie's Tummy: again

     I was all set to do a post about Annie and Paul eating skim milk right from the Hubbs cereal bowl.  We laughed, took pics, and let them clean out the bowl at the end of the cereal.  And it was funny, until 5:30 this morning.
     That's when Paul did the, "MOM!  WAKE UP!! NOW!!!!!!" bark.  Out of bed, into my wellies, collars, leashes, into the front yard just in time for Annie's upset tummy.
     Yep, it's all fun and games until Mom's making bland diet again. …….. 

Wordless wednesday: Annie says Feed me

     We often joke at home that Annie could care less about us, she's just interested in our food.  As a piece of this proof, here's Annie on a typical night.

I know you have food up there that you're not sharing with me!!!

Itchy Annie: Part, I've lost count

     Remember a month ago when Annie and Paul were put on Comfortis to keep fleas off of them?  (City dwellers who are jealous of yards, be happy you don't have to worry about fleas in said yard)  Well, a month later, we're still on Comfortis.  Annie is also on 2 other anti itch, antihistamine meds that have her consuming water like crazy.

     She's not horribly sick by any means, but wow, can she itch when she's not on these.  The amazing thing is, once we've cut back from teh 3 pills twice a day to 1 pill once a day with a plane Clariton, she almost totally stops itching.  She still nibbles on her paws, so we wipe them down with baby wipes.
     However, for the first time ever, Annie's not itching and scratching like crazy.  And before anyone lights my ears up (so to speak) please know she was our first dog.  I just always assumed that all dogs itched this much.

     What we are down to now: 1 pill of an antihistamine with a steroid once a day, 1 Clariton, wiping down paws after each trip into the yard, and cleaning out her ears each week (with gauze pads instead of  cotton balls)
   

The Saga of the Itchy Annie: Flees

Monday Night

     On Monday, I had to go to my first training of the school year (CPI certified!).  By the time I got home that night, Annie had removed 2 square inches from her backside.  She's always been itchy since we first got her, but she's never removed her own fur.  Upon closer examination, we noticed a bug bite on her back.  I did our monthly treatment of K9 Advantix.  Benadryl and some calamine lotion was all we thought we needed to help Annie out.

    On Tuesday, I went in for my 2nd day of training and once again returned home to find Annie had taken another square inch of fur off her backside.  Now the anxiety set in hard core.  Benadryl had usually done the trick in the past for taking the edge off, but this was a new one on me.  I started the hardcore freak out of thinking of everything that could be wrong with my dog.  Mange, separation anxiety, flee infestation, and allergy testing started rolling in my head and into my search results, knowing we didn't have the money for anything major to treat.  Melvin's Mom calmed me by telling me stories of what she's had to do for Melvin.

Wednesday Morning.

     Wednesday morning, while lying in bed with Annie scratching her, I found another flee.  "Great!" I thought, "The flees are laughing at me!"  I quickly got Annie off of our bed, closed the door, and called the vet.  I only wanted to know if I put Advantix on Annie on Monday night, if it was too soon to do another round of it.  I only got half way through the question when Gina the receptionist/vet teck stopped me and said that they were being overrun by flees this year.  (If you live in Virginia, here's another reason to hate all of the rain.  The flees are having a field day right now!)  She said that there was a prescription for a pill that would kill the flees as soon as they bit Annie or Paul.  And for the same price I pay for their monthly does of Advantix!  Since we had been in for Paul's yearly exam just a few weeks ago, we didn't need an appointment!  The anxiety stopped and I started the search for how to get rid of flees.

     I started the cleaning process.  Dog blankets, linens, our bed stuff, area rugs, and anything else I could wash was tossed into the wash and then the dryer.  All mattresses and box springs have been encased in vinyl.  I vacuumed the couch, recliners, and office chair.  Anything that can't be washed that Annie and Paul adore has been double bagged and is now sitting in the garage for a month just waiting (dog beds too big to be washed, toys, and pillows).    Aunt Karen stopped by to confirm that it was a flee bite, and noticed that Annie had a bit of a rash where she was taking the fur out.  Annie's skin is actulay black and white spotted (think Dalmatian fur as her skin.) so trying to see any abnormalities on her skin can get tricky.

     When we went into the vet, I brought Annie and Paul along.  (Double trouble as they're called) Gina pulled up our charts, took out the meds and patiently waited while I pointed out the fur that Annie had removed and commented on how she had never done that.  I also commented how 3 tabs of Benadryl twice a day wasn't helping either.  Dr Bunting was consulted and Annie got a mini vet visit in the lobby (free!) along with a steroid/antihistamine combo prescription.  She also said to switch from Benadryl to Claritin.  (60lbs dog get's 10 mg once a day).  For the first time ever, we got out of the vet paying less than $100!

     We got home, dug 2 spoons into the peanut butter, broke down the Comfortis (the big pills above), added in a vitamin e supplement,  Annie got her new prescription and within 20 minutes, both were both fast asleep on the couch.  Annie snored blissfully.  It's now Friday, and for the most part, Annie hasn't itched since Wednesday.  She normally does the lizard Anne when she get's her back scratched.  That's not even happening now.  Slowly, the fur is starting to grow back in on her butt.  Life is returning to normal.

Wednesday Video: Annie Itches

     If you're like me, you don't need to see the video to see Annie chewing on her paws.  You know what it looks like when a pup chews on their paws to deal with itches.  But still, it highlights nicely what these are like and why I'm going nuts!

Wednesday: July 24

Annie on her "balance beam".  She does this everyday.  

Itchy Annie

     Yep, it's that time of year again.  The sun is out, I'm away from school, the grass is growing, the humidity is through the roof, and Annie is allergic to whatever the heck is in the air.

     The food we fed her had to be switched around because the Purina Pro Plan we were feeding them has been discontinued.  So the switch has been made to:

   With no corn, wheat, soy, artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, it's a good alternative to what we had been feeding her.  We're pretty sure she's not allergic to chicken on it's own because she doesn't seem to have any problems when she gets chicken with a bland diet.  But still in the summer time, she continues to itch.  

     Annie and Paul get 2 bathroom breaks and 2 walks a day.  After each one, Annie has her paws and legs wiped down with baby wipes.  I've washed both collars, leashes, bedding, and vacuumed.  Annie and Paul are both being bathed about once a month (trying not to dry out their skin.)  

     And the itch goes on.....

     Anyone out there have any more ideas of how to slow down the itch?

Thunder Shirts: Annie's version

     I've written before about Thundershirts [Here].  We love the pups thundershirts for anything that freaks them out, or as an added layer when it's cold out.  But the one thing that kind of drives me nuts is that both Annie and Paul's shirts are dark gray.  It's hard to figure out quickly who's shirt is who's.  In the interest of Annie no longer giving me the stink eye when I dress she and Paul the same, I decided to dye the shirt a dark purple.

Paul's got the shirt, his hat, his pack, and is happily ready to go!

Annie, because she's dressed like Paul gives me the stink eye and is less than thrilled.

     So I bought deep purple dye at JoAnn Fabric and craft (yea teacher discount!)  I followed the directions in how to prepare both the dye and the Thundershirt.

Honestly, I have to admit that I let this soak for 48 hours instead of the time it said on the package.  I also dyed Annie's hat while I was at it.  

   The color of her shirt turned out very well, I think.  Even a couple months after I did this, the purple is still bright on her shirt and it's much easier to toss the shirt on her now.  The hat, unfortunately, didn't turn out as well.  

Annie v. Rain

     I posted on our Facebook page on Saturday, Annie standing inside the doorway of Tiffany's at Stoney Point Fashion Park trying to stay dry from the rain.  I've got to brag about the people who work at Tiffany's.  They saw me, dripping wet, with a back pack that was dripping wet, and 2 dogs who were soaked and not one of them was rude about it.  As a matter of fact, each new person from Tiffany's who came over to see what was going on in the doorway started to giggle when told that Annie was taking shelter from the rain.  (and from someone who can't afford Tiffany's, that's an amazing reaction.)  I finally had to pick her up to get her out of the store.  (Yes, they were really nice, but I was still embarrassed of my wet dog taking refuge in Tiffany's.)

     We've gone into Tiffany's before when visiting the dog mall (Annie and Paul love to smell the carpeting for some reason.)  and they've always been friendly to us!

Annie Itches: the Ahha! Moment

      When I started this blog, almost a year ago, one of the things I commented on was that Annie itches.  We were just coming out of the winter of 2011-12 where it was really mild.  Annie had been itching for over a year straight.  We had tried several different foods, switched to raw, switched back to no grain dry kibble.  Nothing seemed to help.
   

I'm itchy, so I'm getting a bath.  Woe is me.

     And then, this past winter, I had my "AHHA!!!"  moment.  We finally got snow.  Not enough to cancel school, but enough that we had snow (about an inch).  We took Annie and Paul on a walk like we always do, and it dawned on me at the end of the walk: Annie's not itching.

Cold paws, but not itching!

     And it suddenly didn't matter that we were feeding Annie all sorts of stuff with wheat in it Milk Bone any one?), she wasn't scratching at all.  Her ears weren't full of brown ear wax, and she was generally happier.

     Now that spring is here in VA, we're back to an itchy Anne.  Back to the Benadryl, but at least now we have a clue as to what's causing Annie to itch.

Wordless Wednesday: May 1st

Hey Mom, whatcha doin' outside with Paul and not Me?

Wordless Wednesday: April 17th

Vintage Annie.

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Spring Break: Annie's View

     I enjoy spring break with Mom.  She spent the first day walking around the house collecting all the soft spots to lay on and she washed them.  It’s not soo bad, the house doesn’t smell as much of Paul now. 

    I spend most of my days chilling on the couch watching the neighborhood and enjoying naps (I love naps!) 

    She took us to the mall the other night.  And we got to walk around a lot!  We did 2 laps with our friends Foster and Lola!  Lola’s still a puppy (she’s only a year old) but it was nice to have another girl on the walk.  She’s tall like me, so while our brothers are closer to the ground, we get first dibs on the treats!!  She’s like me where she just wants to play all the time.