Lyme Disease Update

Katie is back to her peppy, normal self after almost a week and a half of antibiotics. It was amazing to watch her transformation from a very sad and in-pain dog to teasing her brother Sacha and hiding her chewies all over the house. Being one of the smartest dogs I have ever met makes Katie baffling to figure out sometimes. I know she is trying to tell me something - like play stick, open toliet lid, open refrigerator, feed me - but I frequently get the signals mixed up. I do think she somehow understands that I helped her feel better and even dropped the $10. for Pill Pockets so her massive amounts of medicine are palatable. So far her Lyme Disease has cost $120 for the first vet visit, drugs and the Lyme Titer; $13 for more drugs last week; $33 for more antibiotics this week; the pill pockets and $45 for new Solid Gold dog food to help her lose the 7 pounds she gained by not being so active and me compensating for her pain with food!

She's happy, I'm happy. Still have not mentioned that I took her to the vet though. The bad thing about an omission of truth is that the longer you let it go, the harder it is to bring up. I would not advise it...gives me heartburn.

Walking in the Field

The warm weather has made walking in the winter landscape a dream. Ticks, unfortunately, are still alive and jumping so we have to spend the rest of the day doing tick hunts on all the dogs. On the days when I wonder if I am doing the right thing, I breath in the fresh air and imagine that I could be sitting in project meeting trying to stay awake. I am where I want and need to be right now. Plus I can go home and take an afternoon nap with the dogs.

Spring Time in January

The birds chirping, a happy dog barking next door and the sun peeking out, all at 6:15 this morning, made for a great Monday morning. In the world of poop scooping, the weather could not have been more perfect. I picked up my buddy Luc and we went as a team of two today. Luc likes some of the houses we service and for those that he does not, he sits patiently in the car looking longingly at the biscuit bag. For the most part Luc doesn't like any house where a dog is in the yard. My other dogs are much more social so I take turns everyday. Wednesdays with Willie are wild and we visit a lot of puppy or young dog houses, so he tears about the yard and when we leave 15 minutes later, the client dog is panting and ready for a nap!

Other than great weather for January, easy pickings in the mine field, so to speak, and good company and music in the car, riding with all the windows open, the day was ok.

The House Dogs

Portraits of the very patient and fairly obedient house dogs! Ben and Brownie, both Golden Retrievers, sadly died over the past year of old age - living to be a very healthy 17 and a moderately healthy 14. Spunky, an eight year old Cocker Spaniel rescue, joined us the summer of 2005 and lives for hiking, eating and humping every new dog he meets. Sacha, the golden, is four and a half and used to live down the block, but ended up moving in almost two years ago. He is extremely sweet, very tall and loves to jump on people, although we are finally working on a new training program successfully. And Katie, almost eight, is one of the best dogs in the world. She is a Gollie - German Shepard/Border Collie mix. It is a very intellegent and insightful mix and extremely rare.

Lyme Disease and Lies

In general, if not all the time, I am an honest person. I even try to avoid those little white lies because I always forget what excuse I might have used. And luckily for me my life is such that I don't really have to make up lies or excuses for anything. If I don't feel like working, I just don't - accepting the fact that I won't get paid either. And if I am not losing weight, I don't scratch my head bewildered and wonder why. I know why - ice cream and cookies instead of regular meals. So not only do I avoid lying to others, I am determined to never lie to myself. I think I am moderately successful.

So right now I have an issue with myself over a big lie I committed this week. Actually, I did not lie at all. I just have not mentioned that I did something I was specifically told not to do. I will have to fess up eventually, although I may not.

Here is the admission of truth about my actions - no I didn't have an affair or rob a bank, although one of those actions has a bit of an appeal. I took my boyfriends dog, Katie, to the vet after he said no, certain that her lame leg and lethagic behavior was just a sprain. And guess what? It is Lyme Disease. Her joints were inflammed, she had a high fever and moving at all caused her a lot of pain. Katie is on her third day of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and doing really well. Her eyes aren't bugged out in pain, she can walk on her right leg which she wasn't even using and she is excited about playing stick and hiding bones in the yard. A sprain does not get better that fast. She has even approached the other dogs to play a bit and the past few days she was avoiding them because playing hurt. Now I have to decide if I should just keep giving her the medicine (yes) and pretend like she has had a miraculous recovery. The blood work comes back on Wednesday and I am giving myself until then to decide what to do.

I don't have an issue with what I did because Katie looked like she was really suffering and I could not stand watching her knowing it was worse than a minor sprain. In the past, sprains have not kept her from being interactive and lively. And I really don't want to be an "I told you so" sort of person. I would rather just leave it alone and make sure I am doing all I can to take care of Katie. My boyfriend does not believe in medicine, doctors, any sort of illness, including and especially anything of an "emotional" nature, like depression. Of course he has been hacking like a old truck the past few weeks and refuses to do anything at all.

If I could I would knock him out and infuse him with vitamins and tea until he was better, perhaps cutting his hair in the process.

Hopefully in a few days I will decide the impact of my Lyme Disease omission of action.

Quiet Morning

It's the first morning in three weeks that the house dogs and I all slept until 8:30am. And all of us were in the exact same spots we had originally set our heads down. Spunky was in the new ebay bed I bought for Katie, but it turned out to be too small; Katie was on Sacha's bed next to our bed; and Sacha, never one to sleep on our bed much, was stretched out along side of me, pinning the blankets down so I had just a sliver and shiver all night long. The CD player was getting louder and louder forcing Enya to push her limits and annoy me enough to get up and turn her off, but I put up a good battle and ignored her to the best of my ability, using skills normally reserved for my boyfriend when trying to ignore him. Sleeping in feels so good after a rowdy session of guest dogs, early morning puppy playtimes and frantic, let's get them out the door before they decide the carpets are better than cold mud and grass to pee on.

But now I am up, there is work to be done, coffee to be consumed and INVOICES to be completed! How in the world I expect to get paid without mailing my invoices is a mystery to me, so my mission today is they must be in the mail by 5PM! No more goofing off, recovering from the holiday rush of "abandoned" pets luxurating at Ben's Bed and Biscuit, and using valid excuses like the puppy ate my computer. Of course this will be done after poop scooping, walking the housedogs and one of their friends and who knows what else...oh yes, must finish knitting my girl friends' Christmas present!!!

Luc, My Tuesday Thursday Dog

Luc, an eight year old Springer Spaniel, came into my life over a year ago by accident. I met him and his owner during one of our Saturday morning walks - she with her quiet Luc and me with six dogs, my three and three guests. Luc was not overly fond of my pack, but he was nice to me. Now, a year later, Luc is my constant companion on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I pick him up around 8am, take him for a long walk with my guys, drop everyone else off at home to walk later with Doug, and do my poop scooping with Luc as my co-pilot. Sometimes he gets out of the car, but frequently he just sits and waits. He only like yards where the dogs are never out and very rarely will Luc try to get to know any of the other dogs...except mine. Or someone cute who catches his eye.

So we drive and sometimes I sing to him. I talk to him a lot and feel like we have become good friends on a very non-verbal level...kind of like Doug. The difference is that Luc actually acts like he is listening to me and never acts annoyed. The days I don't see him I feel like I should call and say hey, but I don't.

Puli Puppy Pippin Pulls Plug

The first of the month is always invoice day. I don't understand why I dread it or put it off as it is my income. Today however, as I have been sitting here learning about blogs, IM's and other distractions, a small black Pulli named Pippin has been snuggling quietly by my toes. I am grateful that he is quiet and not pooing somewhere in the house. Or barking at dust bunnies and annoying the house dogs. After 14 days of petsitting, one extra dog seems a luxury and my dogs are ready for peace and quiet too. A customer calls looking for a missed invoice - that never happens, and I go to print a copy for her. My printer acts like it is printing but something is off. Oh well, I tell her, I'll get it out to you with this months invoice - I am finishing them up tonight and will have them in the mail tomorrow.

I get up to grab a soda before I hunker down to get real work done and find a small black wire on the floor. Hmmm. I go up the stairs to the kitchen and find a scuzzy cable in the kitchen. Hmmm I say again. I see a few more black wires scattered about the floor. Still mildly unconcious of the reality I go back to the computer, where Pippin has hardly seemed to move and find half my wires have been chewed off! Damn. Or worse %$*&$#.

It's the kind of situation where you can't get too upset, or you need to really freak out. I just shrugged my shoulders after a silent swearing fit. Let's see, this dog has chewed two holes in my new bedspread, pooed, peed and generally raised hell in every room of the house. He has tormented my dogs, requires daily hour long combing sessions and sleeps on my bed keeping everyone else off. On top of that, I gave his owner a great discount and picked up and will drop off. His, Pippins, saving grace is that he is pretty darn cute and very loveable...however if I can't fix my printer tonight my feelings may change a bit!

MissPoop with the staff.

Me with some of the house dogs posing for an Animal
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