It's My Dog's World: I Just Live In It

A Really Great Bad Dog Story

The notorious Dooce has two dogs, Chuck and Coco.  Chuck is a very agreeable dog--just looks what he puts up with.  Chuck even gets his own calendar.  Coco..well, Coco has issues.  Dooce took Chuck and Coco to the vet together (brave woman)...and then they found a gigundous foxtail in Coco's ear. And then, well...  If you think you have a bad or difficult dog, this will make you feel better.

You've Probably Heard of Cute Overload...

Well, this is crapdog overload.  As in "it shouldn't happen to any dog."

Like this:

What does a Michael Vick dog look like?

She looks like this.   When she isn't rolling over for belly rubs.

Pit Bull Video of the Day

Take a page from Roxy.  She knows how to live.

Canine Kisses

Aw.  Seriously.  Aw.  Canine Kisses.

After you're done voting for my husband and my dog:

Read this essay by Arthur Phillips about beagles and life.  How can a writer so unsappy (and a multiple Jeopardy winner) make me blubber so much?

Emergency Dogs

As usual, Gina Spadafori has lots of great stuff on her blog, from her spotting a sports writer's icky 19th century use of the word "pixie" to describe an Olympic-level athlete, to her clear-eyed assessment of the danger (or not) of Greenies, and a link to a fellow pet writer's article on MSNBC.com about when and why to take your dog to the emergency room.  Plus, a slightly cringe-y picture of the aftermath When Two Dogs Collide Over a Tennis Ball.

This ER thing is much on my mind.  When is enough? When is too much? My friend Russ the framemaker lost his Cane Corso Stella last fall. Through careful diet and exercise,  he kept Stella going, and healthy, for 11 years, and then it got bad really fast.  Stella collapsed on the street, and Russ and his brother had to lift her into the van to get her to Animal Medical in New York, which is where she passed on. They could have gotten her up and awake again, but happily mobile?  Probably not.

My friend Cathy has three bulldogs, two of them rescues, the youngest so respirationally-challenged as a puppy that Cathy had to steam Valentine's lungs open four times a day.  Valentine responded beautiful, grew large and lovely...while her older sister Cosette developed numbness in her back legs.  Cathy got Cosette a cart, and began working with HER several times a day to restore function. Cosette got her back legs back, while Cathy's life has pretty much been on hold. Cathy and Russ' dilemmas have made me almost want to start something like Dog-Anon, where we talk about our dogs' illnesses, and what an impact they have on our lives.   

Meanwhile, closer to home, when my mother's dog Odie could no longer go up and down steps, my mom moved everything to one level of the house.  For months.

And here at Chez Faith, we've finally rejoiced in her non-limpy gait, but are still being careful careful careful about the walks. 

There are, of course, other ways to deal with your dog; I just finished reading the essay collection "Dog Culture" by writer/dog rescuer Ken Foster, which includes an essay by Chris Offutt about his dog Pompey, who slept outside his entire life, and finally died from complications of buckshot, left untreated by Offutt's father.  Offutt claims that his never-leashed, never-collared dog experienced unrivalled freedom, but suffering from buckshot wounds doesn't sound like free to me...still, the writing is brutally gorgeous. My father-in-law, who grew up on a farm in Poland in the early 20th century, reports that they had three dogs on the farm, and one of them was named, simply, "Outside Dog."  Guess where he lived, and slept, and ate.

But your average American pet owner is not likely to go that route--they're more likely, as with Jeff and me, to panic  and call our vet too late, which we apologize for, Dr. Kaplan!  Articles like the MSNBC article are really valuable because they remind us, me, to keep mental yardsticks around.  I know, for instance, that Faith will probably get at least one minor skin infection in the summer, because she nearly always does.  Our challenge this summer is to deal with it early, by paying attention, cleaning off her paws and (sob) restricting her swimming just a little.   That's my simple little goal this year: no dermatological crises for the dog, if we can possibly avoid it. 

Enough About Truth: Let's Talk About Dogs!

This sister Typepadder loves her crazy dogs as much as I love my crazy dog.