Archive for March, 2011

Hop Along Pony

Post chemo take two

This bout of chemo has been much nicer to Romeo. He is nowhere near as pathetic as he was after his last treatment. Last time he was only sick for about 24 hours, but he was pretty miserable.

This time his energy has stayed up and he seems pretty happy. While he hasn’t had diarrhea, he has had the world’s worst gas. He is generally a fairly gassy dog anyway, but now he can clear a room with the greatest of ease.

Today I was able to get a lot of work done in my office since no one dared bother me for fear of the odor.

Here’s Mr Stinky trying to fit on a normal sized dog bed.

Chemo Round Two

It’s been three weeks, which means that it was time for another trip to OSU for Romeo’s second chemo treatment.

Apparently he was a good patient again. He has a newly shaved leg to show for his outing today.

We’re loading him up on meds starting tomorrow to hopefully avoid the 24 hours of diarrhea and crumminess. Crossing our fingers. So far he’s just his normal, sleepy self.

BAD RAP

One of the organizations I love is BAD RAP, Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls. They are an amazing group of owners, trainers, rescuers, and educators in Oakland, CA, working to secure the future of the American Pit Bull Terrier as a cherished family companion.

After borrowing a video they posted on facebook yesterday, I spent some time on their website to see what’s new. They have great info about pitbulls and their history and lots of resources for owners. Of course I ended up on their adoptable dog page.

Their pictures, videos and descriptions were so engaging that I read the entire page this morning. As intended, they made me want to bring another dog home.

Here’s one of their adoption candidates, Bouncer: (on the bench)

A little closer to home, Willamette Humane Society has some great pibbles up for adoption. I am in love with Barkley’s face.

Apparently he’s also a silly boy.

Our house is full, but as usual, these pics and videos made me think the “just one more” thoughts. I’ll just have to wait until my parents go on vacation and we pit-sit their girls to get my house full of pibbles.

Today’s trick

Here’s another fun trick. Found this on Bad Rap’s facebook page today:

Not something we’ll be teaching Romeo.

Amputation rehabilitation – incision edition

If you hadn’t guessed from the title of this post, we are gathered here today to talk about incisions. Not just any incisions, but Romeo’s amputation incision. Since he’s such a large dog, the incision from his amputation was massive – 83 staples worth of hugeness.

It has been amazing to watch his healing process. His amputation was on February 3rd, so is has just been a little over four weeks since surgery. I am so impressed at how good he has looked through the whole process.

Here’s a pictorial record of Romeo’s progress. I’m starting with the pictures from right after surgery, so

if

you

don’t

want

to

see,

stop

scrolling

down

:)

February 5th - 2 days post op

February 6th - 3 days post op

February 7th - 4 days post op

February 8th - 5 days post op

February 11th - 8 days post op

February 15th - 12 days post op

February 18th - 15 days post op

February 20th - 17 days post op

February 23rd - 20 days post op

February 25th - 22 days post op

March 3rd - 28 days post op

Who needs sheep?

Today I learned about a new dog sport – Treibball.

From the American Treibball Association’s facebook page:

Treibball, or driving ball, is a new, competitive sport for dogs of all ages, and sizes, who love to play chase games or who just love to herd. Invented in Germany a few years ago by Dutchman Jan Nijboer, the first competitive match was held in 2007. It’s great fun for any energetic dog who works well off-leash and needs a job, or one who doesn’t have sheep!

The game consists of the dog working off-leash and obeying the handler’s commands (verbal cues, whistles or hand signals) to use his nose or shoulders to drive eight balls into a net within 15 minutes. Eight fitness/gymnastic-type balls are arranged in a triangle, 20 feet out from the goal, with the point of the triangle towards the net (like in billiards).

The handler stands to the right of the goal/net, and does not step into the field. At the sound of a whistle to start timing, the owner/handler directs the dog to the farthermost ball on the right, and the dog drives that ball into the net first. Then the handler chooses which balls to bring in, in what order. The game stops when all eight balls are in the net/goal and the dog lies down in front of the goal (like penning sheep!)

Have a look…

Thinking of Julio learning this game, I imagine a smaller, bouncier version of this dog…

Maybe we have a new hobby.

Saturday slideshow

Each week one of our amazing volunteers blogs about our adoptable dogs and other shelter events. On Saturday she chronicled Victoria Stilwell’s visit to Willamette Humane Society. Victoria met staff and volunteers, toured the shelter, visited our adoptable dogs, and selected dogs to perform on stage at that evening’s show.

5 years ago…

While trying to figure out what to write about today, I finally decided I wanted to include more pictures of Romeo. Since I didn’t take any today, I thought I’d look through my old pics and see what I could find. When I sat down at the computer though, I remembered that I have even older pictures that I haven’t shared before.

When we adopted Romeo, we got some pictures from his foster family who did so much work to socialize this big baby. As I looked through the pictures, I was surprised to find that the first ones are from exactly five years ago – March 1st, 2006 – when he was about 4 months old and not long after he and his sister had been rescued from a neglectful home.

Romeo with his sister

Sweet puppies

Amazing to see how un-gray his face is

Don't you just want to kiss him?