The Mighty Thor

Thor is my little puppy. Well, he is not so little anymore and he really isn't a puppy anymore, but he is my little companion.

I got Thor when I was in a deep funk over the loss of my uncle, my court battle, my arm surgeries, living apart from Bob and stuff going on at work and he was just the thing I needed in my life at the time. I found him when the Humane Society parked themselves outside of Petco one day. He was the cutest puppy on the planet!!

They had told me that he was a Llasa mix. HA! They got that wrong. When he got older his fur changed texture and color, his ears starting standing straight out like Yoda and he started to look like a Terrier. Sure enough, the vet said that he is probably a Cairn Terrier. Sturdy little dogs from Scottland. He was pampered and spoiled when I lived in San Diego. He went to doggie daycare almost every day, got groomed once a week, went to the dog park at least three days a week and had every toy, chew and doggie pad to keep him cool and comfy when I was gone.

Well, we moved here to Oregon and he became a lot less pampered. He started playing with the neighbor dogs and hanging outside a lot. He is inside with me most days unless I leave and he has to hang in the backyard (1/2 acre is enough to run around for a little guy like that) and he can escape the weather in the 3rd car garage. Well, I was feeling that he spent too much time being cold in the garage so I got him a heated dog pad to lay on when I was gone and a heated water dish so his water wouldn't freeze. Now he will be feeling better.

Sunday I noticed that his dew claw was sticking straight out. Upon further inspection I noticed it was totally infected. Poor guy! I took him to the vet yesterday and she fixed him right up. His little leg is all bandaged and when he needs to go outside to use the facilities, I have to tie an old IV bag onto his leg to keep it dry. It should be off by Thursday, but my little heart just breaks seeing his leg all bandaged up. But he is enjoying the treats that I bought him. A giant steer knuckle bone that was basted! That is like cheesecake for us.

Isn't it funny how our pets become members of our family? I love my little Thor! I hope he is with me for many, many more years.

Alexis & Zack

It is funny what kids find facinating. When you combine kids and pets together, the outcome is usually pretty funny.

Zack is my parents bichon. He started out a couple of years ago as a rather high maintenance pooch. He barked constantly, had some house breaking problems and was a bit on the hyper side. Now he is just a love of a dog. He still can be a bit barky and hyper - but all in all he is a great kid dog. He lets the kids pull at him and poke at him and he just tolerates it. He has never once sniped at one of the kids. This is not to say that he won't take their food out of their hand if it happens to be at his level - but usually it is being offered. One thing about toddlers is that they like to share with dogs.

However, Zack has a little problem when it comes to pacifiers. Every time we visit, he loves to take those little things and run around the house with them in his mouth. I am thinking that we are out about 8 pacifiers since we arrived this trip. He started out so well with leaving them alone, but seeing both kids with them stuck in their mouths must have just been too much temptation.

Although Zack has his little pacifier problem, we have discovered that Alexis has a little dog food problem. She was eating his kibble every chance she got and was getting a bit of a tummy problem because of it. We now have the dog food out of her reach and it was just this morning that we caught her trying to eat some more of it. I don't know why she eats the stuff! Not only must it taste putrid, it gives her the worst breath!!

Alexis has also discovered that one of the best places in the whole house to hang out in is Zack's crate. It seems to distress Zack a little to have Alexis crawling in and out of his special place and closing him out. He sits in front of the crate and watches her. She thinks it is lots of fun and does it almost every morning when we go in to hang with Grandma and watch Sesame Street on her bed.

The two of them are getting along pretty well. Zack knocks her down when he gets over zealous sometimes, but all in all they are little buddies. It will be very entertaining to watch Zack next year when Logan is running around too.

Multi-Purpose Bed

Dog bed by night and kid bed by day.

Yup, we do things a bit different in my house I’m guessing. We have our pets and wouldn’t get rid of them for anything, but their “stuff” becomes kid toys when the chitlin’s are around.

I can’t blame Alexis for wanting to hang out on the dog bed. After all, it is nice and cushy. When you throw a pillow on it you can recline and watch Sesame Street in utter relaxation. So… it became inevitable that the dog bed would become kid furniture since it is in the living room. Our solution is to put a blanket or old comforter on it during the day (which gets washed frequently) and we try to remember to put it up every evening so that the dogs (and cats) can lay on it at night.

It has also become Logan’s favorite nap spot in the whole house. When he won’t sleep anywhere else, I can put him there and he will drift off and stay asleep longer than anywhere else in the house. I sure hope that he likes a crib mattress. It would look rather strange to put a dog bed in the crib. (just kidding)

A Hairy Subject

With the onset of Spring comes the shedding of animals.

We have two cats and two dogs and that makes for a lot of fur in the house even in the winter. Can you imagine the tufts of fur that just fly off of them during the Spring and Summer months? It is gross. You can always see where the cats have laid because there is a circle of fur left behind.

Sooooooooooooooooo, long ago I discovered the beauty of shaving your animals. My cats are long haired, so shaving them is actually really good for their skin as well as keeping the fur balls under control (yulk) and the fur tufts as bay. It is just pretty darn funny to look at them right after they get shaved.

Normally, just the cats get shaved but this year I shaved Thor as well. He was itching a lot and the shaving seems to have solved that problem.

The cats are still mortified by their appearance, but they are really frisky so I think they feel better too.