The %&#$! Computer

We're having some issues with the computer and are unable to post.  It's not an internet issue (we don't have that) it is the ancient laptop. All is good other than that!

The summer-like weather is here and we are out and about enjoying it. Not enjoying the computer right now.

Be back soon!

Doing Good...For An Old Girl

As our blog post title states, she is doing good...for an old girl.  No, no, this isn't a post written by somebody about the acdMom!  It's all about Callie.

Callie was in to the vet for her annual check-up, also known as her annual poke and prod.  At one point, when the vet was listening to her heart he asked if she had ever had any heart problems. Well, as you can imagine, that made mine about stop.  I answered no, she has never had any issues.  It turns out that her heart rate was 72 and the vet said he usually has dogs with heart rates around 80-90. Nothing to worry about, she must be more relaxed than most. (Really? As she stands there with a muzzle on.)

By the time we left, the vet assured me she was fine and that for an older girl, Callie was doing good.  

A Walk In The Field

The last few days blind Hiker has been "asking" to go somewhere.  She will sit and wiggle with her tail frantically wagging as I get ready to leave. I haven't been able to take her so I decided that we would go for a walk in our field. 

We've done this before (all the dogs have been) and it is great fun since there are lots of holes to stick noses in and sniff.

As you can see, Hiker continues to wear the (detested by me) harness for walks.  Since the veterinarian who does her acupuncture insisted that Hiker not wear a collar ever again, we use the harness.  I think that Hiker likes it and she certainly knows that when it is put on we're going somewhere.

I'm looking forward to all that brown grass turning green!

Just Relaxing

Sometimes there just isn't much going on...

(Alice the cat is fine, she's a bit of an attention seeker sometimes)

Surrounded!

There wasn't much going on, it was cold and damp outside, the woodstove was on.  

I was making supper when I noticed something.

Trail was surrounded.  By the cats.

Darby, Loretta (both from the barn), Arthur, Trail and Alice.

Yes, he was falling asleep. Not concerned at all.

Spring Has Arrived!

It seems as though we are finally done with winter!

Sunshine and temperatures that feel like spring so of course that means laying in the sunshine outside.  (all I can see is the amount of outside work that needs doing since we moved in at the start of winter)

Looking forward to all that brown grass turning green!

We Might Need An Intervention

On Wednesday, our post was our blind girl Hiker in her crate.

In her crate with her "things".  

If you look closely you will see three slippers, a pair of shoes, a small stuffie and a nylon bone.

Me: "Hiker, where is my shoe/sock/slipper?"
Hiker: "I dunno, I haven't seen it."  (BOL!)

As I am sure we've mentioned previously, this is nothing new.  It apparently is common for dogs that are handicapped/special needs to develop some obsessive type behaviours.  Hiker has done this since she was adopted and never gets upset when all of "her things" are removed.  She will calmly wander the house and gather up other things and stuff them in her crate. She has never damaged anything, she just...well...hoards them.

Do you think maybe we need an intervention?  (somebody said there is a television show...)

Our former veterinarian (from a few years ago before we moved across country) said, "Of course your dogs have issues. They live with you."  (We miss Dr. R)

Wordless Wednesday

Monday Mischief

You are probably very familiar with the advice of not making a big thing out of coming or going so that your dog(s) don't mind if you leave and likely won't have any separation anxiety issues.  

Well, I discovered quite quickly after adopting Trail that he is one of those exceptions to that rule.  He needs to be snuggled and fussed over for a minute before being left alone (with the other dogs) in the house.

One day last week, in his excitement to get on the couch in the kitchen before I left, he spilled the big water dish.  I quickly mopped it up, gave him a quick pat on the head and left.

I came home to a bit of a mess. 

Trail chewed up a block of note paper and a pen.

Maybe he was trying to leave a note to say Sorry I spilled the water dish and almost made you late for work.

Oh well, no harm done and now I know what the leaving procedure must be, even if I am a minute or two late leaving.

Snow Personalities

There was another period of snow yesterday and it was interesting to see the differences in opinion of it.

Here is what Callie thought of it.

Typical Callie - she loves winter.

Bill had a different opinion. Notice the look of slight panic.

"Don't take my picture, let me in. It's snowing out here!"

Perhaps Alice the cat has the right idea, looks like she is dreaming of getting away from winter.

A Sign of Spring!

After all the snowstorms lately, we have finally seen a sign of spring!  

Can you see it?

Here's a close-up.

Hooray, it must be spring - Callie is blowing her coat!

Tasty Tuesday...maybe

"Hey, what are you cooking?"

"Bill...go see what there is. Maybe its something for us."

"Are you going to share that with us?"

Later, there was hard cooked egg shared on their dinners.  

Shadows

With the recent change in the weather, most of the snow is gone and we're seeing grass (and mud).

A few days ago it was sunny.

Bill

Trail

Callie

Even though it was cold, the sun was nice and we can just imagine how wonderful spring will be!

Photobomb!

Trail was laying on the couch and starting to fall asleep while holding his favourite ball so I got the camera to take his photo.  

As I crouched down in front of him, he opened his eyes and then...

along came that darn cat....

Keeping Brook Dry

Our blind and mostly deaf girl Brook has a little problem.  We know you won't judge so we'll share it with you.  

Brook pees the bed.  Well, actually her crate. 

It seems that she cannot go longer than three or four hours without having to pee.  This means that we are up and outside twice a night, every night. (The acdMom feels like there is a newborn baby in the house with all this interrupted sleep)  Brook will whine as an indicator that she needs out.

During the days when Brook has to be crated due to work she has layers of newspaper on the bottom of her crate then a homemade pee pad.  A Google search for homemade diapers gave the idea of using polar fleece and an inside layer (or two) of towel.  The "puppy training pads" that can be bought are not an option due to the fact that Brook likes to fuss up her bedding and would shred them.

During a recent trip to town and a thrift store for more supplies I found this: 

It made us think of our blog friends Bella, Dui and Roxy also known as Downunder Daisy at http://scotsmad.blogspot.com/    

I don't think that we'll use it for a pee pad, we'll just use it for regular bedding instead.

The Big Melt

It was only a week ago that we told you about all the snow we received and the trenches and the snow maze in the fenced area.

This is what that looks like today.

It is actually a little more confusing for the blind dogs Hiker and Brook as the piles of snow disappear but of course they are adapting.  With the forecast of cold temperatures but no snow we'll at least avoid the dreaded season of mud for a few weeks yet.

Playing in the Snow

With all the recent snow, we had to get a bit creative for play time.  Trail loves to chase a ball but with the maze in the yard, there isn't much space to run. So, best solution was to throw it over the huge piles of snow but sometimes the person throwing the ball didn't do such a good job of it.

Brook would wander aimlessly and then head for the door to go inside. Since it was such a beautiful (and warm) sunny day she was better off outside. Hmmm...how about a snowball?

I knew she wouldn't play with it much but maybe she'd paw at it and break it down.  Nope. She decided to eat it. 

In The Trenches

We recently had four winter storms over eight days.  Lots of snow, cold temperatures and high winds.  As a result there was so much snow that the dogs could not get beyond the door without sinking in the snow to their chests.

So I grabbed the shovel and started digging.  After clearing an area outside the door I thought that they needed more space than that.  So, I decided to dig out some trenches.

Brook

As you can see, the level of snow is above Brook's shoulders and also the same thing with Bill.

Bill

This is what part of the yard looks like with the big piles of snow.

The main problem with this is that I can't see where they are most of the time!  I can't even see the tips of their tails most times so I have to walk around and find them.

There is still lots of room for rolling around and you can see the circular impressions from the Jolly Ball being tossed.

Callie

As you can imagine, navigating these trenches and big piles of snow is a bit of a challenge for the two blind dogs.  The good thing is that it is a great mental challenge for them to figure where to go.  If they miss a trench, they bump into snow which is mainly soft so they won't hurt themselves.  It was interesting to watch how quickly they figured out the maze.

Can You See Me?

We've been having some cold weather the past few days, daytime highs of -16C/3F with wind chills around -27C/-16C.  

The dogs are enjoying the wood stove but blind and mostly deaf Brook prefers to be tucked in on the couch for extra warmth.  I couldn't help but wonder if she thinks she is hiding by "wearing" her camouflage. 

I was telling a co-worker about this and he suggested that Brook might enjoy having her camo warmed by the wood stove first.  He went on to say that they warm a blanket for their (very spoiled!) dog every winter night at bedtime.

Falling Down

When we moved into our new home a few months ago, both of the blind girls, Brook and Hiker adjusted well.  They had very little difficulty with the stairs which were painted instead of carpeted as they had been used to. 

There was one incident with Hiker who slid down after losing her footing while turning around at the top but that was it until Brook developed a problem. Over the course of three days, little blind and mostly deaf Brook fell down the stairs seven times.  In fairness to Brook, the stairs are a bit steep and narrow. Now, you'd think that after the first or second time she would perhaps stay away from the stairs. Not our Brook.  She kept trying.  Luckily she never hurt herself.

Although it is not the most eye-pleasing, we now have sections of carpet runner stapled on the stairs for safety.  It works very well and no more falling.

Tied Out and Unhappy

The other day, the weather was mild (for January) and sunny so I decided to get outside and beyond the fenced area to stack some firewood.  Since it was so nice, I thought Callie would like to be out there too.  I grabbed a collar and two tie outs, giving her around forty feet of "freedom" to explore.

I thought it was a good idea.  This is what Callie thought of it.

Here is a close-up of that miserable face.

When Callie was coaxed into walking around she walked very stiff with her tail down.  For almost an hour she sat and did nothing. No, there was nothing wrong with her other than be very annoyed at the fact that she was tied out.

I thought it was a good idea, but apparently she did not.

Little Critters

Here at our new home there have been little critters around.  When the weather is warmer, blind Hiker is especially interested in sniffing around the fence perimeter.

There was a mishap with a bag of cat kibble one day.  Then the next day while driving, I could smell something, like something was cooking.  When I arrived at my destination and opened the hood (or as they often say here on the east coast the engine bonnet)...

Yup, that is a collection of cat kibble.  Baked on cat kibble.

Yesterday there was heavy rain and most of the snow melted.  Further proof of the little critters was seen outside.

Are you wondering why the cats haven't caught these little critters yet?  The cats are too lazy and laying on the dog beds by the wood stove.

If we can convince blind Hiker to get out of bed, we'll send her hunting.

Wordless Wednesday

Play Ball!

Trail's foster Mom sent us a ball recently. (Thanks again D!)  This will be primarily an outside ball for playing fetch and chasing around.  While working on the woodpile, the big deaf guy seemed to think that perhaps the human's eyesight wasn't that good.  Maybe by placing the ball in with the wood it would be thrown?

Well, that didn't get very good results.  So, let's try the other one.

Not to worry, we played ball and got wood inside too.  

It is a bit challenging carrying an armload of wood while trying to not trip over two blind dogs and making sure that the deaf dog gets out of the way!

A Warm Nose

All of us have heard that dogs should have a cool wet nose, right?

Trail sometimes prefers to have a warm nose.

More Snow!

We had another snowstorm and I was able to get some pictures of (camera-shy) Callie.  She typically turns away when she sees the camera, unlike the others who tend to pose.

Jolly Ball fun

After a session of Jolly Ball, it was off to run the paths through the fenced area and chase a smaller ball.

That is one advantage of creating paths for the blind girls, they double as runways for playing fetch.

Callie may be getting older but she still enjoys playing in the snow!