Tuc the Helper

When Daddy Don heads to the backyard for poop patrol (as in doggie-deposit-clean-up after the winter thaw), the canine kids have to help, of course ("help" being the operative word - hehe).

Especially Tuc. While the rest of the gang becomes distracted or finds other things of interest to investigate, Tuc stays with Don. Like a bear cub following his mama, Tuc follows Don to and fro as DH works the clean-up grid.

Here are a few shots of the happy helper shadowing DH.






Kenya, Pinot, and Elsie all like to help, too.


But Tuc never wavers in attending to Don. All that work makes for one thirsty puppy!



Such a happy boy! If only I could muster even half his enthusiasm.

By the way, can someone please tell me when Tuc grew up? I seemed to have missed it along the way.

'Til next time,
Joan

A Few Fab Faces - Just for Fun

Here's to a day of celebrating those we love and who love us, no matter who they are. Happy Celebration-of-Love day!

'Til next time,
Joan

Honesty, the Best Policy (Honest Scrap Award)

Good morning all!

Zack, Sassy, and Buddy from over at Dog Daze tagged us here at LabTails with the Honest Scrap Award! Say "Honest Scrap" five times fast and you'll get the idea...hehe!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Zack, Sassy, and Buddy. We're honored.


Now here's the skivvy on the award:

"When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven (7) friends. Show the seven (7) random victims’ names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog”. Well, there’s no prize, really, but they can keep the nifty icon. Next, in your blog, list at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!"

Okay, from what I gather, I'm supposed list a few honest facts (scraps -- short truths) about us here at Labtails. To be fair to the kiddos, I'll list just one scrap per canine critter and the rest about me. Here goes:

1. Ridge, who came to us as a three year old, was once fearful, anxious, and intimidating to strangers; now he's a big baby who loves strangers to give him butt rubs.

2. Elsie is a sneaky thief (she quietly, on the sly, takes the other kids' toys and bones and trots away with them when they're not looking).

3. Kenya always, and I mean always, carries something in her mouth (like Charlie Brown's Linus with his blanket). If she's not eating, drinking, or sleeping, she's carrying something. She is not, however, a chewer. Nor is she a lap dog. Go figure.

4. Pinot carries something in her mouth only when she's teasing the Tuc and Rudy, retrieving, or when she's showing us she wants us to throw for her. She'll carry a Kong or rope over to us and drop it at our feet. If we ignore her, she'll pick it up again and drop it more obviously at our feet. If we still ignore her, she'll pick up the same object again and throw it at our feet (hint, hint). You get the idea.

5. Tuc is one smart boy disguised as klutzy, block-headed puppy. In addition to the back door, he can now open his crate door. And if left alone in the laundry/kennel room, he'll open the snap-lid dog food bins to enjoy a few moments of gluttony (head buried in the bin, lid down on the back of his head). When I caught him chowing down again after dinner last night, he looked like a pot-bellied pig (poor boy!).

6. Rudy has a shoe fetish (hehe... the little imp).

7. I absolutely, unquestionably love my canine gang, but I do on occasion get tired of the routine and work required to care for and invest in them properly.

8. Without my canine gang, I may have thrown in the towel a long time ago. Life gets ugly sometimes, but there's isn't a smidgen of ugliness anywhere in a Lab (body or soul). They never fail to thaw my heart when it grows cold.

9. I'd love to be showing Kenya and competing Pinot, and doing a boatload more training with the rest. But there's no way I can in this season of people-care-giving I find myself in.

10. I have bruises all over my thighs and tummy from all the lovins I get from the canine crew when I share the sofa with them. When they climb on me (which they are allowed to do on the couch) their paws become pressure points on my bruise-prone body. :o) I really don't care, and it doesn't hurt, and DH doesn't mind... so what's a few bruises compared to a face-wash of kisses from my gang? Does that make me a masochist?

Okay, that's it for us at Labtails. Now, we're going to tag:

1. Theresa at Labs and Life

2. Charlie the Golden Retriever

3. Jamie and her gang at Landis Family Farm

4. Cheryl over at Richardson's Zoo

5. L^2 over at Dog's Eye View

6. Thoughts Fur Paws

7. Karen Shanley's blog, Author Mom with Dogs


Additional instructions include "have fun" and "keep it real." :o)

'Til next time,
Joan

Technical Note -- Comment Moderation

Last evening some spammer snuck a lengthy, rambling, in-your-face comment into yesterday's post. BFF called to tell me it was there, and I'm so glad she did -- I found the comment offensive and completely irrelevant to LabTails.

Because I didn't have my comment moderation feature turned on, I had to pull the entire post (so sorry, Kayceebeecee, that I lost your comment doing so), and then I just re-posted it anew.

All that is to say two things:

1. I'm so sorry if anyone viewed the comment and found it offensive. Please know that that comment in no way reflects what I feel or believe.

2. I've enabled comment moderation again. Just this morning I received another questionable comment (it sounded suspiciously inappropriate and was from someone I'd never heard of), so I rejected it, and didn't allow it to be posted.

I really don't like using comment moderation -- I want you all to feel free to comment honestly about anything anytime (even if we disagree). But the spammers and porn folks out there are making it difficult enough that people like me have to resort to moderating what's posted on our sites to prevent offensive material from creeping in.

I do hope comment moderation won't keep you all from commenting. All moderation means is that I read the comments first and approve them before they show up publicly. The process of commenting remains the same; it's just that the comments go through me now first instead of going directly to the blog.

Again, I'm so sorry about yesterday's spam comment. And I hope you'll understand about the moderation thing.

Don't you just hate this spam stuff?! I just don't get it.

'Til next time,
Joan

The Gift of Sleep (and Medications) - Reposted

I had a great night's sleep last night (these are all photos of Rudy sleeping btw) -- perhaps because I got so little sleep the night before, or perhaps because I knew Ridge, though still at the vet's, was doing okay, or perhaps because Ridge wasn't here to bark all night (something he does when Elsie is in the most fertile stage of her heat cycle). Perhaps it was just that I was feeling better.

Or maybe, just maybe (hehe), Ambien had something to with it (hehe). Yes, I do occasionally take Ambien to help me sleep. Though I once took it only to help with time-zone transitions when I traveled, now I take it on average a couple times a month -- not too often, but often enough to give me a really good night's sleep when I need one.


I never appreciated how precious being able to sleep soundly and long enough was until I couldn't do so. I'd heard people complain about insomnia, but only gave it half-ear because I didn't really understand. Then I started having trouble sleeping.


It's amazing how much more we value something when it's become lost to us.

Ridge has been at the vet's since Friday, and he, quite frankly, worried me. He's almost 8 years old, and for the first time had blood in his tummy contents. And this morning, he had blood in his stool. I was dreading the possibility of something ominous being wrong with him. In my head, he had the potential for being "lost" to us.


But Dr. Wagner sent Ridge home today on two meds: sucralate to coat Ridge's tummy irritation and pepsid to reduce his stomach acid. For now we're still thinking Ridge has an ulcer or a gastritis that's become inflamed because of his stress over Elsie's heat.

Ridge, once lost (or potentially lost in my head), is ours again. And I'm appreciating him more than ever. Even his non-stop barking and nutsness over Elsie's estrus isn't bothering me. He's my Ridgers. And he's come back to us.

I'm glad to have him home.

I'm glad there are meds and people out there and available to us that can help him.

I'm glad there are meds and people out there and available to us that can help me and other loved ones.

I'm glad, because of so many things, that I can look forward to a good night's sleep tonight.

Here's to appreciating what we have, what we've been given, and all there is to be grateful for before those things change or are taken away.

'Til next time,
Joan

Still Home, And Ridge is at the Vet's

Well, I'm still here. A GI flu effectively kept me home for the weekend (lots of nasty stuff flitting around in our neck of the woods).

And poor Ridge may have contracted something similar, though were still not sure. He started vomiting on Thursday -- something which is not unusual for him when Elsie is in heat. His norm is to lose a breakfast and maybe a dinner, and then to not eat during the several days that Elsie is prime. Normally it's one or two tummy-contents-clean-ups for us, and then he's fine on the GI plain; he just barks like crazy for the remaining five or six days.

This round, however was different. Ridge vomited seven or eight times in less than 24 hours (he started Thursday). Then yesterday at lunchtime he vomited again, but the contents this time were clearly bloody, clotted, and foul-smelling. So, off to the vet we went.

Though after examination it seemed clear Ridge did not have any kind of obstruction, Dr. Wagner kept Ridge there overnight for observation, suspecting that perhaps Ridge had an ulcer or a gastritis related to his stress over Elsie's heat. We thought we'd pick him up this morning.

But apparently Ridge vomited more blood overnight. So he's staying at the vet's again today and tonight. We're waiting to talk to Dr. Wagner this afternoon to see what's happening.

Lest you become too concerned, Ridge was acting just fine (barking, drinking like crazy, his temp was normal, his capillary refill was still good, he was not dehydrated, etc.). He just had this awful tummy stuff the nature and frequency of which was not typical for him (or any of our Labs). Hopefully it's just an acidic stomach.

In the meantime, he's hanging out at the vet's, and I'm here sipping Ginger Ale and nibbling on toast after my Queen-of-the-Porcelain-Throne experience overnight last night.

It's just as well I'm here. Though I'd love to be enjoying my girl's weekend away, between Ridge and my own GI stuff, there's no question I'm where I should be. And there will always be other opportunities for weekends away. Besides, I'd rather not get anyone else sick, and I'd like to be here in case anything more serious comes up with Ridge.

I'll let you know when we hear anything.

'Til next time,
Joan

While Mom's Away...(a note from the gang)

Momma Joan is gone this weekend for a girls-only weekend away with her DTS to see DTS's daughter act in a stage play at PSU.

You humans have heard it said, "when the cat's away, the mice will play" (cats? who said cats?). Well, we have our own saying: "When Momma Joan's gone, we get Daddy Don!!!!! Ohboyohboyohboy!!!!"

And we love our Daddy Don.

He's our "Forward, ho!" Daddy Don (think Saturday afternoon westerns):


Our "there's always room on my lap for more" Daddy Don:


Our "oh boy, just a little to the left, ahhhhhh" Daddy Don:


Our "everybody gets lovin's, young and old" Daddy Don:


Our "that's enough, Rudy" Daddy Don:


Our always-ready-to-throw-the-dummy-with-us Daddy Don:


Our "he's gotta be under here somewhere" Daddy Don:


Our "yummmmm, you smell good!" Daddy Don:


Our "ah...we better listen to him or we're in trouble" Daddy Don:


Our "yes, you can help me refill the bird feeders" Daddy Don:


That's our Daddy Don. He's our broad-shouldered, strong-armed, make-us-feel-secure Daddy Don:


And he's so much more than just these (we have a bunch more we'll tell you about another time). Yeah...he's a pretty good Daddy Don.

We took a vote, and we've decided: we think we'll keep him (hehe).

So it's really okay that Mom's away.

'Til next time,

Ridge, Elsie, Kenya, Pinot, Tuc, & Rudy :o)