wally_doodle

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My big brother Bud, the 4 year old Great Dane, had his family jewels compromised. On June 13, he was taken away in the car, and when he came back that evening, he was not feeling so hot. He was kept in the living room away from me and my sister, Josey, the Great Dane. Bud was not a happy camper for two weeks. Thankfully, he made a full recovery, although he is a lot lighter in his hindquarters. He's such a handsome boy, the Mom says, that she didn't want to have him neutered. She wanted to show him some more in dog shows. But he had been having a chronic prostate infection since October 2010 when it began. It started with a lot of bleeding from his you know what, and after round after round of antibiotics, it would start again. :( It was no fun for Bud or the Mom. She didn't know boy dogs could get this problem and that it is fairly common for intact dogs to have prostate problems. Lesson learned the hard way. Bud is happy and healthy and loving the easy life with lots of love, so don't feel too sorry for him. Heck, I got neutered at 6 months of age and I didn't even notice any thing was missing! I'm still all boy in spite of it.

It's been a while since posting on the blog. It's hot summertime already. The days of a cold house are in the past. Not that I minded the cold. I love cold weather, but then I have a very thick fur coat, inherited from my Aussie lineage, the Mom says.
Well, a couple days ago, the Mom took me and Josey, my big sister Dane, to the vet for checkups. I really do not like going to the vet, and when the girl came towards me to trim my nails, I bared my teeth at her! Later, Dr. Mike listened to my heart with something, and he told the Mom that I have a heart murmur. It is something that was not there last year. I don't know what that is, but it upset the Mom quite a bit. Doc said that the scale he uses for murmurs is 1 thru 6, with 6 being the worst. Mine is a grade 2. So... what next? I don't know, but the Mom sure has been taking me for more walks, and giving me special treats. I kinda like this murmur stuff. The mom doesn't though, and I can tell she is worried. She gets that moony eyed look when she looks at me. >sigh

Wally here, that four legged Professor of dogdom, with an update from Lake Woebegone. It began two weeks ago. The Mom began sniffling, then coughing, then became fairly debilitated with a horrific cold. At times, it seemed like she was going to cough up a lung, it was that bad. I cannot stand it when she sneezes and coughs, and have to leave the room. It simply gives me the creeps when she does that. It's one of my lovable characteristics, the Mom says.

During these past two weeks, us dogs have not been taken for walks. We have a lot of pent up energy. Then there is Bud, whose foot keeps bothering him. At least so far, he has not had blood in his urine since his antibiotic therapy ended. But now the foot problem...The Mom has kept him on a short lead for several days, not letting him run in the backyard with me and Josey. Well, this morning, when the Mom took us to the door and commanded that only I and Josey go out back, Bud had other ideas. He burst thru the open back door with a herculean strength that the Mom could not control! He is about 130 pounds of pure muscle! Bud jumped off the porch, clearing the steps, and took off into the yard, as if his foot was in perfect condition. No amount of cajoling, sternly commanding, or bribing would get him back inside. The Mom cringed as Bud tore around the backyard, releasing his pent up energy. He has missed running with us. Well, he barked, ran in circles (zoomies), and that made him feel better mentally. But not the Mom. She watched helplessly. Finally, his fuel low, and breakfast on the immediate horizon, he decided that he'd come inside after all.

The Mom's energy is at an all time low, with worrying and with being sick for two weeks. So she had to let him do what he had to do. Hopefully, she said, the foot is not damaged further. He was holding it up while waiting for her to fill the food bowls. What's a Mom to do?

She's gonna try to create some art today. It's hard to do, she says with feeling yucky.

The Mom took us all for walks today. She tries to take us every day, individually. There is no way she could even walk two of us at the same time. So, she spends almost an hour walking up our street, and down into a vacant 2 acre field bordered by woods. There are all sorts of scents in the field. After the last snow, she took me into the field and there were fox tracks all over where they had trotted about the night before. Talk about my senses going crazy! The nose knows!
Sadly, today, Bud, my big brother, still has a hurt foot. It's his right front, and it has a cut on the bottom of a pad. It has never bled or anything. But it is obviously painful, although earlier today, the Mom made the mistake of letting the three of us outside in the backyard together. Bud was running like a wildman. They call it zoomies when Great Danes run in wide circles round and round. Kinda scary to me, when I weigh half of what Bud does. Anyway, he ran like a banshee and then later after he was back in the house, he was holding up his paw like it hurts worse. The Mom said today if it isn't any better by Monday, he has to see Doc Andress. She hates to see any of us not feeling well.
Tonight the Mom sold a beautiful painting she did of a Corgi puppy. I'll see if it will fit in here and show ya'll. She wants to thank the kind person who bought the painting and hope it brings joy for many years!
Ya'll please think pawsitive thoughts for Bud's foot.

The Mom's sis has a birthday today! She has two little dogs, smaller than me. I feel gigantic when I stand next to them. Tobie and Tucker are their names. They say that Tobie is something called a Papillon. He has big ears. Tucker is a Pomeranian, whatever that is. They both smell like regular dogs to me. The Mom did a watercolor painting of them a few years ago.



Tobie is getting on in years but he still chases their midnight black cat named Annie.
I can't play with them cause I'm at least 50 pounds and the boyz are probably no more than 20 pounds put together.

Well, he might not really be my daddy.. but some say there is a startling family resemblance. Have a look and see what ya think. This was a pic of me when my Mom first rescued me out of a road.. and the possum is a pic of Opie, a real possum that a friend had for several years as a pet. Opie used to sleep in her bathtub. The cow, well, I don't know him personally, but there is a definite resemblance there too.

I shoulda put a picture of my big sis, Josey on here, but forgot. She's getting kinda gray these days. Back in the day, she was the winner over a bunch of other Great Danes in something called a Dog Show. I've been told she has quite a few champions in her family. I wonder if my Dad was really a possum? Maybe he was a champion possum!
Here's Josey.

This is a picture of my big brother, Bud. Bud is handsome, but don't tell him I said so. His head will get even bigger, and it is plenty big. Why, when he was a pupper, he was as big as his head is now! Our Mom was very upset today. She says she doesn't know what is going on. First Bud gets something wrong, and then Josey, my sister Great Dane has two emergency visits to a vet... I'm lucky so far.. (knocking on wood here.) But Mom says if I keep eating fox poo, I might get a tummy ache myself. Well, each morning, Mom is getting pills out.. 2 for Josey, and one for Bud. None for me so far. And this morning, of all things, Bud started limping on his right front foot. Mom took a look and sure nuff, it looks like a cut or a split pad. geesh.. now, he is on strict NO RUNNING in the backyard orders. That doesn't make him happy.

Josey is getting 4 little meals a day. Poor sis, she thinks she is being starved. She whispered to me if we were running out of food. But nope, Mom is feeding her some fancy canned food for gastric problems, mixed in with her holistic kibble. In fact, Mom is giving us all a little of the canned turkey food.. yum! it's very tasty, and so far so good in that Josey has not had more tummy aches. It's scary when she gets a tummy ache. The night she got one two weeks ago, Mom and her were trotting up and down the street at 10 p.m. trying to make her feel better. They finally rushed to the Carolina Veterinary Services in Greensboro,and didn't get home till 1 a.m. Poor Mom couldn't afford xrays or ultrasounds, but did have the bloodwork done, which came back all normal. Even with just that done, it was close to $400.00!! The Mom and Josey came back home and crashed on the bed for what was left of the night. Now, Bud is limping, and geesh, the Mom doesn't know if her karma is getting sour or what. Just saying...