January 2012 Blog Posts (96)

Next month I’ll be turning 59 – my that sounds OLD!  More importantly, my 59^th birthday will mark the 20^th anniversary of my thyroid surgery.  The week before my birthday, AT MY ROUTINE OB / GYN VISIT, my doctor found a thyroid lump.  Even though he assured me that most thyroid lumps are benign, he sent me to a surgeon for a biopsy.  The results came back “inconclusive”, so we decided to do the prudent thing and remove it.  Thank God we did as the post-operative…

http://blog.sfgate.com/jscarlett/2012/01/25/shedding-light-on-animal-hoarding/

I am sorry to tell the people going on the Doodle Cruise that I just bought a bathing suit and plan on wearing it at the pool. I am giving fair warning in case some of you might want to see if you can still get a refund.  When I went in search of my new suit, my only criteria was that it fits and covers as much of my body as possible. I was hoping Lands End acted on my suggestion given in the past years and started a line of stylish wet suits, but no…

My dogs do love marrow bones.  They follow me back and forth from the car when I'm unloading the groceries with hope in their eyes.  They stand by the chest freezer in the basement, whenever i open it up, just hoping for their favorite treat.  Finally I bow under their collective stares and hand out bones.  Oh how I hate bone breath.  Everyone settles down to a good bone chewing session.  It is funny to watch them swap back and forth, always thinking someone else has a better bone then…

http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-pethub-dog-collar?p=2

I have not used it before but excellent price. Includes Tag, GPS monitoring when dog gets lost, and $3000 worth of pet insurance if dog gets hurt while lost.

Only 1 day left to purchase online thru Groupon-I have used Groupon before and they are legitimate.

Six years ago tonight, my mom adopted me! She came to the shelter where I was staying and took me home with her, and I've been here ever since!

It took her three days to decide to adopt me. The first day she met me, she wasn't sure she could take care of a big guy like me. She went home without me, to think it over. She needed some time to be sure we would be compatible, so neither one of us would have to have another heartbreak.

That was the longest three days of my life. Mom…

last week I went into town with DH and the inlaws. We dropped DH off at work, I went to my chiropractor appointment, then the inlaws and I went shopping for materials for the basement reno they (and DH) are doing. I took Cooper and the inlaws dog Abbey out for a run in the snow before we went, to get their sillies out, and in doing so forgot to eat breakfast so was starving by the time we got home mid-afternoon for a late lunch. A good doodle Mom puts her fur-kid first!

Last…

Hi all,

I finally made the decision to get pet Insurance for the Doods.  I went with Presidents Choice, I think its only available in Canada not sure.  The policy for both the Doods $2500 all accidental $2500 all sicknes (no restrictions) and $350 a year for preventative vet care. was $57.00 a month for both dogs together.  I thought that was a pretty good price. It works out to be like $28.00 a month per dog. There was a cheeper one at 17.00 a month limits were $2000 and som sickness…

Right around “quitting time” Friday afternoon, folks in my area were racing to the grocery store for what “they believed” to be the first of many “wintery mixes” of the season. Forecasters touted most of the day that we would be hit with freezing rain late Friday night ending sometime midday Saturday. Just like “everybody else” I too, grabbed my shopping cart and scooted through the aisles of my local supermarket for those “feel good” foods you rarely get to eat (let alone cook) on Saturday…

I took a lI tool a lesson from my groomer, bought all the equipment and groomed them by myself.  Whew!  What a process, but I think they came out ok!  They don't look that much different in these pictures, but I swept up about 5 dogs worth of hair!

Before...

See how skinny I really am...…

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/newpetfoodrecalls/brand_list.cfm?Trade_Name=BLUE+BUFFALO&pet=Dog

After a very long dry spell, we finally got snow here in the mountains in California. This is where Stella has been spending her time most of the day if she wasn't outside playing in it.

My baby girl is 4 already:(

Still has ALL the energy of a puppy, still jumps around like a cat, still loves to lick, lick, lick.

I think Myla will stay the way she is. She came and took over Chloe's house-steals all the toys-takes the best seat during movie time-jumps on top of Chloe to get to where she wants to go and I could go on and on. Chloe is a trooper! It's true that no two dogs are the same! 

Myla came to us with an underbite and the runt of the litter but we…

Like any parents we have to watch as our baby doods grow out of puppyhood and become big doods.  Stuart at 9 months and 65 lbs is no longer a baby.  Now to my alarm he has a stalker girlfriend.  A new family has moved into the neighborhood and they have started coming to "big" dog time, they give "big dog" a whole new meaning!!  It didn't take their Great Dane long to lay claim to my baby Stuart.  She is obsessed with him and although she plays rough and I had to…

Hudson turns 1 today and we couldn't have asked for a better birthday present for him.....a fun romp in the snow!!  I can't believe my little puppy is 1 year old already, the time has sure flown by!!  We couldn't have asked for a better dog and he has brought us so much joy in such a short amount of time.  Happy birthday buddy!!!!…

Today I found out just what Banjo's made of.   Just as I'd suspected...he's completely "opportunistic".   This morning I took him out to the backyard to play in the snow.  After a good 30 minutes of tossing snowballs for him we headed for the back door.  I didn't have a leash on him and so I held his collar and started on to the ice slicked patio to the door.   Well,…

First of all, before I go any farther, I want to say I love Vern.  What we don’t love is Vern’s waking and sleeping patterns.  When I first brought Fudge home, we crated her at night.  In the beginning, I made up her crate like I would have liked it, if I were sleeping in a crate.  She had blankets, cushions and a snuggle puppy inside that crate with her from day one.  All that was missing was a few magazines, the TV remote, and a computer. What I hadn’t banked on was the fact that a…

 I love Brownies with nuts in them!

The bacteria I am culturing that I have been doing IV antibiotics for for five months eight hours a day is growing stronger then it was before I started treatment and they don't know why and that scares me beyond imagination.

I have a friend I have never met before in person but met online through our breeder's fan club I moderate and is coming to see me this weekend and I am so excited!!!!! All the way from Wisconsin, just to see little old…

Well!  Polly's been home 3 weeks now and I can hardly imagine our lives before her!  Thank you all for your support!  I HAVE to say that I was so impressed reading your posts about all your Doodles and how special they are.  Especially when I saw some of you with multiple Doodles! I've known and loved many dogs in my life but Polly is our first Labradoodle (Australian) and reading about them just doesn't prepare you for one!  I've NEVER known a better natured, more lovable, more intelligent…

Yesterday, Kona was limping on his left hind leg. I searched his paw for any obstruction, but nothing was there. He limped through the day by evening was doing better. Late last night he started licking his "knee". Upon further inspection I found a 3/8 inch gash. Because of the wisdom on Doodle Kisses I knew exactly what to do. I cleaned it with Betadyne, put Neosporin on it and wrapped it in a strip of gauze (I didn't have the breathable stick-to-itself-tape. I put a t shirt on him with his…