Gentle giants (and a gentle pipsqueak)

Posted on January 26, 2012 by John

Sometimes, these monsters just amaze me. I’m not as patient with the dogs as Maggie is. I don’t always think everything that they do is cute. Frequently, I get annoyed with things that they do, even though they’re just being dogs. Granted, the last few weeks have been stressful for me (Maggie, too, I suppose…) and I’ve felt a little stretched at times. But, for all of the barking, the jumping, the messes, the pulling things out of the garbage, the refusal to allow a new toy to survive longer than 20 minutes, every day these guys make me realize just how special and unique dogs really are.

Not once have the jumped on Maggie since all of this has started. Not once have they gotten too pushy with her, or gone after her medications, or the other items associated with her recovery. In fact, they’ve been nothing but gentle with her. I’m amazed that they’re still terrified of the vacuum cleaner while simultaneously realizing that they need to be careful around Maggie.

Any instances like this where your dog seemed to just know?

To update everyone, we got the pathology results back from Maggie’s last surgery. That set of lymph nodes that were removed came back cancer-free, which means that even though the cancer started to spread it didn’t get very far. The past month has sucked, but “cancer-free” did a pretty good job of cheering everyone up.

Posted in Health | 8 Comments

Sometimes this puppy looks like a dog

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Maggie

Is it the wrinkles? The angle? Or is he just growing up?

Posted in Puppy Love: All about my boys | 3 Comments

Guest post: John pinch hits as a dog blogger

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Maggie

Needless to say, things have been a little hectic around here for the past several weeks. In early December, we found out that Maggie had melanoma and would be needing surgery to remove the tumor and the nearby lymph nodes. We got through that and the surgeon got clean margins but found that two of the five lymph nodes that were removed tested positive for cancer cells. While not the best possible outcome, it wasn’t the worst one either. So, she had another surgery last week to go back in and remove the rest of the lymph nodes from the region. It was much more invasive than the first surgery, she’s in a lot more pain, and the recovery period is going to be a bit longer.

Throughout all of this, Emmett, Lucas, and even Cooper have been great. They’ve been careful around Maggie, curling up around her in bed keeping her company, and doing their very best to cheer her up. The support we’ve gotten from friends and family has been amazing as well. Maggie has gotten cards, cookies, flowers, and tons of good wishes. Friends and family have dropped off food, come by to cook for us, and have come in to help take care of Maggie while I deal everything else. Melanoma or not, work still needs to get done, bills still need to be paid, and the house needs to be cleaned.

We’re incredibly grateful for everything that everyone has done and said over the past few weeks. Things should slowly get better over the next few weeks or so, and I’ll do my best to keep everyone updated if Maggie can’t get some posts up (though she’s going to try – she really misses writing about dogs and keeping up with all of you). While Maggie is recovering, I’m going to continue to dote on her continuously and do everything I can for her, although there is seriously no way I can compete with this:

And who would really want to?

Posted in Guest Post | 13 Comments

Pretzels

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Maggie

No, this probably wasn’t the nicest thing to do, but…

Cooper was so tired while I was sitting on the couch eating pretzels. Emmett and Lucas each got a pretzel. Cooper didn’t wake up, so I put one right by his nose. Still didn’t wake up. So I put one under his lip, thinking he’d wake up and be like, YAY! A PRETZEL!

But nothing.

So John said something like, “How many do you think you can stick in there before he wakes up?”

The answer?

Five.

Posted in Puppy Love: All about my boys | 20 Comments

Miscellany

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Maggie
  1. Surgery on Friday went well. No dog walks for two weeks. Boo. I don’t get the results from the lymph node biopsies or the cancer “stage” for a while, so we’re just waiting and hoping right now. I can’t even begin to tell you how much your comments, emails, and messages meant to me. Saying thank you doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the depth of my gratitude, but thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
  2. This is how I spent the weekend.
  3. Lucas hurt his shoulder going bonkers in my parents’ backyard on Christmas. This is how he’s spent the last two days:
  4. Have you seen this Dogs in Cars video? Preciousness. And happiness.
  5. Also, I wanted to remind you that the Ella B Jewelry 20% off coupon for OMD! readers expires on 12/31! You can click from the little box on my right-hand sidebar or just visit Ella B Jewelry and use the coupon code OHMYDOG20. There’s a ton of really cute jewelry, but if you’re looking specifically for the dog bone necklace or paw print charm bracelet that benefit Rescue Ink, click on the Shop for a Cause button. Otherwise, click away!
  6. Thanks for sticking around as I wait for things to return to “normal.” I’m excited to get back to blog reading, writing, and commenting – in the short spurts that John lets me have laptop time!

In the meantime, did you have a nice holiday weekend? How are your dogs faring the winter weather (is anyone getting any snow yet??)?

Posted in Puppy Love: All about my boys | 12 Comments

Last-minute Christmas gifts for dog lovers

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Maggie

I have gotten so far behind on my Christmas shopping. I try to do everything online – I’m not a fan of malls! – but with Christmas a few days away, shipping fees are spiking at a lot of online retailers. I combed through some promo emails and releases I’ve received over the last few weeks and found three great gifts for dog lovers that can still be delivered in time for Christmas! So here goes…

1. A good book. Download an inexpensive ebook with a heartwarming dog story. Instant delivery means you won’t pay more in shipping than you did for the gift! (Hint: You don’t need a Kindle to read these either. You can download them to the free Amazon Cloud app and read them through your web browser.)

2. Good smells! I think this one might be more valuable to pet lovers than anyone else. Environmentally-friendly NOse Offense eliminates pet odors. Ages ago the company sent me a trial size, and we tested it in the worst-smelling place: the car. It worked! We now keep the bottle in our glove compartment so that if we ever have to give some poor, unsuspecting person a ride, we can spray it really fast and eliminate most of our dog odors. And! They’ve offered 15% off your purchase for OMD! The code OHMYDOG15 will be valid until 12/26. 

3. Pet safety. Kind Kollars solve a problem we’ve battled for years. I’m going to write a whole post about this later, once we’ve had a chance to put them to the test. But in the meantime, for last-minute shopping, Kind Kollars is offering a 10% discount PLUS free rabies identification number upgrade if you use the code OhMyDog to buy a gift card. 

How many of you are slackers like me, scrambling to finish up some last-minute shopping? Or do some of you fall in the “finished since June” camp?

Posted in Products and Reviews | Leave a comment

Repurposed t-shirts: What to do with your animal welfare shirts

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Maggie

(Thank you, everyone, for all the kind words on my last post. It’s truly uplifting. We’re totally subscribed to the “one day at a time” mentality right now. And today happens to be a blog updating day!)

Before my schedule derailed into a mess of appointments and tests, I tackled a huge closet clean-out. We bagged up sweaters, pants, and tons of shirts, but for some reason I had a hard time parting with the massive pile of animal welfare t-shirts I’ve accumulated.

You know those shirts you get at events, runs, rescues, walks, conferences, and more? It seems like they never fit. Or you wear them on daily dog walks and they wear out super fast.

My drawer overflowed with those shirts, shirts I never, ever wore. But they all had a fun memory associated with them, so I came up with an alternative use: I repurposed all those old animal welfare t-shirts into a blanket for the boys!

We have this nasty chair:

It’s old. It’s stained. The arms are toothpicks from when Lucas was a pup. It sits in the corner of the office, and the boys take turns sleeping there when I’m working. Instead of replacing it since they love it so much, I wanted to get a blanket to cover it.

I gathered a big stack of animal-related t-shirts.

I cut out the front panel of each shirt. I aimed to get a 14″ x 14″ square from each.

Here is a good place to pause and say that I am not very good at sewing. I can’t measure, and I go too quickly. However, this was a super simple project because it was just straight lines. I started by sewing together four of the shirts, side by side. Then repeated for two more rows of four.

Since my measuring was off, I tried to correct it once I had the rows finished. Then I sewed the three rows together.

For the back, I had this huge piece of fuzzy fabric my mom gave me. Emmett is fond of fuzzy.

I just did straight lines the whole way around to attach the t-shirts to the fuzzy – no fancy quilting or slipstiching for me!

Ta daaa! I tossed it on the chair, and Cooper tested it out.

Then Emmett kicked him off and went right to sleep… I think it’s a sign that he likes it!

Some of the organizations that appear in their repurposed animal welfare t-shirt blanket (that’s a mouthful!) include:

It was an easy project that gave me the perfect way to use those t-shirts instead of having to get rid of them!

Posted in Eco | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

The post that’s only a little bit about dogs

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Maggie

I kept thinking that I wanted to wait until I had something meaningful or insightful to say before I wrote this post, but today it occurred to me: I got nothing.

Two weeks ago I got word that a pink splot on my back is actually malignant melanoma. Hence, only two posts in the last two weeks. Hence, I dropped off the Facebook and Twitter trains. Hence, the dogs are now allowed on the bed.

I entered this bizarro stage of inertia where time slowed to a stop, but I didn’t get a single thing done – other than watching TV and scratching the dogs.

We’re getting doctors and tests and surgeries lined up. Things are moving along, though slower than I would like. My big surgery is on the 23rd, and I realized yesterday that sitting around and waiting just isn’t me.

I’m not the kind of person to do nothing, so now I’m trying to catch up on everything, get ahead on work, maybe/finally post the holiday coupons I have for you guys, and so on.

Honestly, though, it’s times like these that make me realize just how wonderful it is to have dogs in my life. A pile of pups snuggled up in bed with me is just the thing to turn it all around. (Not to mention all the help from my amazing, incredible, fabulous hubby, friends, and family, too!) Right now, in fact, Emmett is splayed across my legs so I have to hold my laptop at an angle. Cooper is snoring right next to me. Lucas is usually here too, but he’s busy barking at the UPS guy right now. Plus, they still need attention, they need food, they need walks, and they need to play, so caring for the dogs has been a huge relief… just to do something normal when nothing else seems normal.

So that’s that! We’re trying our best to keep it light, focus on the positive, all those old cliches. If you know any cancer jokes, please share! Laughing is so super helpful right now!

In the meantime, snuggle your pups! These guys are the best doctors I could ever ask for!

Posted in Health | 39 Comments

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed…

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Maggie

In an unprecedented move, John reversed his ruling yesterday and decided that dogs can now get on the bed!

Emmett spent the morning testing each and every corner. The verdict? He loves them all!

Lucas was unsure, perching on the edge, not really comfortable with the sudden change.

Don’t worry: Cooper’s not missing out. He’s at doggy daycare today, but I’m sure he’ll settle right in this evening!

As for me, I’m not sure I’ll ever work at my desk again now that I can have laptop plus puppies in bed!

Posted in Puppy Love: All about my boys | 6 Comments

Why doggy daycare is worth every penny

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Maggie

When Cooper first started going to daycare, it was hard on all of us. Everyone kept telling us that he’ll love it! He’ll be so excited to go! He’ll learn the word daycare and get all worked up!

Um. Not so much.

He hates the going part. He tucks his tail. He shivers. He whines in the lobby. But the second he gets into the playroom, he has a total blast. They tell us he’s “perfect” (though they have 3 Coopers, so I wonder if they’re talking about the right one…) and that he loves to run. He plays in the big dog room because he’s so high energy.

So the lobby seems to be the bad spot for him. We’re working with a fabulous trainer one-on-one, and she suggested stopping by the daycare on days he’s not going. Walk in, give him some treats, then walk right back out. We’re going to start that routine just to help him feel happier and more confident with the comings and goings.

But it’s awesome he has so much fun playing, and hopefully it’ll help him keep building his confidence.

Plus, on days he goes to daycare he comes home and CRASHES, which shows that he’s getting a lot of exercise, and it means a nice, quiet evening!

 

Posted in Puppy Love: All about my boys | 9 Comments