I am in command

I have taken over the computer from my adopted mom. I may have trouble with words as my paws are not very reliable for typing. I hear there is a way to talk into the computer and have the words come, but I do not think it has translations from Dog to English. I am sure you would not like to hear: woof woof yip yip bark bark, so I will type. You do know that dogs are the smartest at translations, just the other day my human started trying to speak Spanish, OMG, I tried to help but she just did not understand me puttin my ears down and my tail between my legs.

I think my human is trying to tire me out so that she can run around the house like a crazy person. I tried to help when she picked up the pile of stinky things on the floor. I grabbed the stinkiest thing, my human calls it a sock and followed her in the room with the loud box. I dropped the sock at her feet and she said "Good Dog." Usually she hates it when I pick them up to run around the house. Just to be sure I grabbed another one, but she was not as enthusiastic about it. I was trying to take it outside to bury it like I do all the other stinky things. I do not know why she puts it into the box, it does smell different when it comes out, but she still won't let me play with it.

I do have a system though, when I want a treat or her attention I grab a sock and pretend I am going to eat it. This gets me a good run when I am bored and I treat when I am in need of a snack. I think I have trained her well. I like being in command.

Seizure

I think this is the scariest thing I have ever witnessed, a dog having a seizure. I have seen a person having a seizure, I have seen a person with a BBQ fork stuck out of his back after the attack. I have seen a child that needed medical attention after being beat up. I used to work in a hospital. But those were emergencies that I was prepared to deal with and except wanting to find the person who hurt the child and put the child into sickle cell shock, I can be calm. But being woken up by your husband at 5:30 AM, running into the room and shouting get up there is something wrong with the dog, starts the adrenaline going. I walked out to my dog being unable to stand, trying to crawl across the porch disoriented, drooling, and looking like she was about to die. My husband told me that she started thrashing about in her crate and he thought she wanted out. SO he opened the crate she came out, ran into the wall, ran into the door and he let her out, which is when he got me and I found her crawling on the ground. Immediately, ran to get dressed, called the emergency vet, woke up my son and went to find Kai who had manage to crawl under her favorite Japanese maple tree and would not move. Sent my son in to retrieve her, Kai managed to stagger away from him. We finally got her out from under the bush, she was stumbling but walking. We took her to the vet, where she proceeded to drool a river onto their floor. Eventually, she started to move a bit more. She has not had this happen before and not since that morning.

The vet told me that she may have had an epileptic seizure, that she is at the right age for this to happen. She also said that it may never happen again or it could happen and we would not know when, but to look for these signs:
1. Overly affectionate a few hours prior to the seizure- I had remarked to Jim the night before that Kai was acting like she wanted to crawl into my skin. She usually does not try to get in my lap, let alone want me to continuously pat her and rub her back.
2. Uninterested in her food.
3. They usually happen after they have been sleeping, because their brain starts sending out lots of energy while they sleep and there is nothing to distract the messages. I wonder if this is why they seem to run in their sleep.

So now every time Kai cuddles next to me I wonder, will there be another episode. Just now as she was napping with her head close to my leg she started to tremble. I talked to her and rubbed her back. Maybe she was just chasing rabbits.

My protector

I have figured out what my sweet pup is barking so fiercely at during the evening hours, a bunny. Yes that ferocious beast with big ears and giant teeth. It was about 8 in the evening and the sky was not even showing signs of evening. When Kai started parking at the front door. This was a different bark, like an intruder was about to enter the house. My husband got up to see what the fuss was about, we have had ding dong ditchers in the past, but that is usually in the cover of darkness. No one had knocked so not someone we knew. My husband was gone for a few minutes, so I asked what the problem was, dun dun dah, a bunny. Kai was itching to chase that thing off our front porch, but we knew if Kai got out then she would chase the bunny forever. So we let her observe it through the door and tried to calm her down about it being okay.

Let's be honest, the bunny is okay in the front yard, but it keeps eating the flowers in my back yard. I do not mind  if it eats the clover, but not my lilies. Anyway, I think that is who Kai is barking at in the evenings when I look out the back door and see nothing. She runs to the fence and I am pretty sure little bunny foo foo is flying through the slats when I let Kai out. What would she do with an intruder? Would the bark be different? Or am I going to have to discern bunny from foe? Good questions, me thinks. Right now we are protected from the evil bunny.

Another new trick

Kai has a new trick that involves doors. I told you about her ability to open the back door to get inside the house. Also, she figured out how to get the garage door open, both are lever systems that cause the door to swing inward. This allows her to jump up on the handle at the same time she pushes with her body. She has escaped out of the garage on several occasions using this system. So now we have to lock the garage door every time we leave, or she will escape as we are pulling into the garage. Well yesterday she figured out how to open the door from the inside of the house. We are not sure how she does it. I only know that my son was off loading stuff from his car and had put her in the house so that we could have the gate open. He heard two clicks, and then saw the dog dart out of the house, out the fence, and up the street. Chase ensues and once again, I am winded from running up hills. Finally, she is corralled and picked up by my son, who has bologna in his hands. One of these days I am not going to be able to catch her and will have to rely on the good graces of others to get her home.

Saaaaad

I came back from substituting to find a sad pup. Even our walk did not make her happy. Well maybe a little happy with the walk. Instead of sitting with me she has curled up into her crate to sleep. I hope she did not eat something bad for her. Maybe she is just tired from being outside all day, it was 75 degrees, but there are lots of cool spots outside. She will probably perk up when my husband comes home.

Spring 2015

Kai, my poor pup has allergies. I thought maybe she had a cold after I picked her up from boarding, but nope as soon as she spent more time indoors the runny eyes and sneezing have stopped. When she has been outside all day, she wakes up the next morning congested. Kai is paralleling me in her allergies. Things have calmed down a bit since the trees are in full flower and my honey bees are grabbing the pollen. I am hoping that when I leave her outside while I am substituting that she will be able to handle being outside with the pollen.

Food Allergies

My pup may have possible food allergies, so I have to wean her off the chicken and beef, and give her lamb and fish food. Yes, my dog is now a guppy. She has had this rash that goes away briefly and then comes back. The vet said lets try modifying her diet. She also has to eat veggie treats, or nylon bones, anything but pigs ears, cow hide, and well anything that dogs tend to eat. Now I just have to convince my husband that he cannot feed her off the table. Maybe this will help. She was so sweet at the vet, I do not know what he did but, he relaxed her so much that she actually laid down on the table. She never does that. He was an older vet, so maybe he is well trained in calming dogs. I will keep you posted.