Thursday, February 20, 2014

Dos passed away today

I do not know what to do. I loved Dos more than I have ever loved anything in my life. I know she was happy to have gotten a second chance, and I am glad to have shared her story with everyone. I wish I was able to articulate right now but I am in shock and devastated and my heart has never felt this heavy in my life.

 I cannot find the words right now to describe the sadness in my heart.
rest in peace. 2/20/2014

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

HEARTWORM TREATMENTS-DAY ONE!

Today was Dos' first day of the long awaited heartworm treatments.

I woke up early, at 6 am to take Dos to work with me, because we needed to go directly from there to the APA! clinic to get the heartworm treatment.

She could sense my apprehension, I think, because when I tried to get her out of her bed, she was grumbly and turned herself into dead weight. I had to pull the bed out of the crate with her on it and sweet talk her into standing up. Once she stood up, she didn't want to leave her bed at all, so I had to carry her to the car, where, as usual, she rode with her front paws on my lap.(Maybe she doesn't like my driving).

She hung out with me at work, under the desk or following me around to clean. She was very good, and didn't bark or growl at any of the other dogs, which I was expecting. She wasn't afraid at all.

I administered Dos' pain meds, and we left for the clinic.
We got to the clinic a bit early, and Dos waited patiently, laying on the floor.

When they called her back, she wasn't apprehensive about the vet's office at all, even though she has been poked and prodded so many times.

They shaved the teeny bit of fur on her back and prepared the injection site.  They asked me to pet her head/face and speak loudly to her, to distract her.

She didn't notice the injection (a large needle going very deep) at all. She took it like a champ.
They told me what to look for (labored breathing, blue gums, collapse) and what I should be worried about, and we were on our way! The process itself was easy-what was to come later was difficult.

Dos screamed in the car. She whined and whined and whined. She actually sat in the back seat (well...rolled around on the seat). Once we got home, I got her situated in her favorite spot on the couch with a soft blanket and petted her until she stopped whining enough to fall asleep-but the second she would almost fall asleep, she would start to panic and scoot her body to the edge of the couch, roll off, and drag herself to every corner of the room to lay down to get comfortable.

I tried putting her in her crate, as it is important to keep a dog undergoing heartworm treatments calm, as the worms die and break apart, you don't want to put any undue strain on  their heart/lungs.

In her crate, she was restless, and trying to dig her way out, which was making things worse-so I took her back onto the couch and just cuddled with her, to keep her still.

She didn't like her back or tail being pet, or anywhere near it. She got a bit growly with me when I was too near the back of her, so I just sat with her and petted her little ears until she finally fell asleep.


She slept through the night, and I finally got her into her crate so I could sleep, too. She slept soundly, snoring away all night, as per usual-and this morning, she was thumping her tail against the side of her crate, happy to see me.


I think our girl is going to be alright.


Today, is the second round of the treatment. I'm less nervous about the process..but it's so much poison, and still runs a risk...so I'm just trying to stay positive.



Sunday, December 1, 2013

First Heartworm Treatments Tomorrow..

My sweet girl gets her first heartworm treatment tomorrow, and then the second one 24 hours later.

I know it's practically a routine procedure. I know it's going to be fine. I know that she will be in good hands..but I can't help but be worried sick.

It's going to probably be more stressful to keep her contained while she is undergoing treatments-and to keep her relaxed. . . I'm going to have to keep all paper towels out of sight...if she sees those, she may just lose her mind trying to get to them...(still, after all the delicious dog food she gets, she wants paper towels and she wants them bad).

Right now, Dos is laying in the yard, happy, and farting up a storm. 

Tonight I will be giving her extra cuddles. . She has a long day ahead of her..

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The Daily Dos Has Returned!

Miss Dos has been prospering as a dog since the past update. She has been growing in so much fur in her bald patches, and where she already had fur she is growing in thicker and thicker.


One of the best surprises from Dos Mabel Ploppers has been the heart. She has grown in a heart shaped spot on her side, which has developed as her fur has grown in. It fits her so well.  She has also grown out of a lot of the wrinkles she originally had, which, as I can see now, were mostly from the swelling all over her body.

She has also grown into her personality a lot more in the past month. She is affectionate, and still very clingy. She waits at the door for me to come home, and once I do, she does not leave my side. She has decided that she must be in my lap at all times.

As sweet as she is, she is also a cranky ol' lady. She doesn't like when the other dogs run too fast past her unless she is in the mood to play (which isn't terribly often). She doesn't like when Walter whines at night. If it's bedtime and Walter wants to whine or bark at something, she growls and barks and will give Walter a little nip to quiet him down. She's definitely a mama dog, and if she were a human, she would definitely be telling kids to get off her lawn.

I've found that she's also pretty territorial, and very anxious around dogs she doesn't know. She loves her brothers (when they aren't playing ball in the house) but if a dog approaches our yard, she gets a little aggressive. A friend of mine brought her dogs over recently, and she went immediately on the defensive and got very snarly with one of them. After an hour or so, however, she settled down and she was fine, but I think the initial response is fear based.

I have taken her to work with me a few times, and at work she seems to be more interested in sniffing around -but not with any of the dogs staying here because I am concerned about what could happen.  . I know from working at the kennel that dogs behave SO differently when they aren't around their people-so Im not sure if it's just because I am around-I haven't let her around strange dogs without me at all so I am not sure what her reaction would be.

Thankfully, she's grown fond(er) of the yard, and as long as Francis is out there, she is content with it. But because Francis has been sick, he hasn't spent much time out there lately and I think she is happy about that.


At the end of the month, she will finally get her heartworm treatments. She will need to take a severe painkiller before the injections, because the injections go deep in the muscle.
She will also be seeing my vet soon about the lump in her neck-all signs point to a lipoma, which is just a fatty tumor, but we will see..I'm really hoping for the best. She's already gone through so much.


Now that things have settled down, the updates will be coming more frequently. (I have been doing more updates on Dos Facebook page, which is facebook.com/doschances if anyone is interested in seeing more pictures.)


I love this sweet girl so much-and she loves me more than any living creature probably ever will, ever in my life.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Three month progress!

This is a bit behind (obviously) so I apologize for letting the updates fall by the wayside.

Between working 6 days a week and Francis falling ill, I haven't had much time to update the blog.
(Dos does have a Facebook, for those interested. The address is www.facebook.com/doschances)

But-here is a progress photo of Dos from here THREE MONTH ANNIVERSARY:)
And a video of her 3 month anniversary present-a giant kong, which she was SOOOO interested in.


Dos should be getting her heartworm treatments as soon as APA! gets their medicine back in stock!

But for now, Dos is doing well. She's become so attached to me, Michael and our roommate told me that she waits by the door from the time I leave until the time I get home.


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Halloween!

Tonight, Dos will be helping me pass out candy to the neighborhood kids. She will be in costume.

Considering how much Dos LOVES kids, I'm very excited for tonight!

Pics up asap!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Videos! Sniffing and the Pigwalrus Wiggle.



I want to apologize for the lack of updates recently-our oldest and first baby and Dos' best buddy Francis fell ill and was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and we have been tending to him. It's been a very stressful situation. Dos has been sniffing at him but not bothering him too much. I think she knows.

Anyway, here are a couple of Dos videos, the most important being the Pigwalrus Wiggle, which is is what she does when she doesn't want to do something like go in her crate or go in the house..


She uses that cute factor for sure!