Another Christmas Treat

Well, another Christmas has come and gone and Rowdy got a stocking full of treats.  He had fun playing with his buddy Wrigley on Christmas day, but the two dogs kind of got inconspicuous, when the paper wrapping started flying an piling up all over the floor.  They tried to stay out of the way by lying on a couch or beside it and were inactive until things (un) wrapped up and got cleaned up.  Rowdy sure is enjoying his treats though!

He Brought Me The Ball

I thought this was so cute;

I started playing ball with Rowdy, which entails me throwing a tennis ball down the hallway and he retrieves it, brings it back to me and sets it down by my feet to throw again.  Well today, when I started to play with him, after a couple of throws the phone rang and I had to take the call.  I walked outside to my shop to discuss the situation with the caller and when I hung up and started to go back into the house, there was the ball on the floor by the back door.  I got a little chuckle and thought it was so cute that he left the ball at the door like he was saying, 'When you are through, come play with me again.'

Well, when I got back inside, he got a good dose of fetching the ball and I even threw in a little tug of war with his rope toy, for which both are always followed by a nice treat!

Another Trip To The Vet

Last time I took rowdy to the vet, he was having some problems and not feeling well.  So more recently, I have been more in tuned with the way he has been acting or behaving.  He had been showing some signs of a possible problem that I thought might been linked to heartworms. 

Since his last vet visit, he mostly regained his ornery self and was back to the playful dog he was before he got sick, but a couple of times he had got worn out too soon after just a little exercise, by either lying down frequently or excessive panting.  Also he had a skin rash that looked like it could have been mange or ringworm and I wanted to get it checked out.

So, I took him to the vet yesterday and got him checked out.  The vet thought the rash was probably fleas and that he gnawed the spots raw.  I had been treating him for fleas and would check him for them every time I caught him gnawing on himself, but never spotted a flea till the other day.  While he was on my lap and on his back getting a tummy rub, I spotted one flea which quickly disappeared into his fur before I could get it.  It was almost time for his monthly treatment, so I gave it to him the next day.  By the time I got him to the vet, some hair had already started growing back in the spots and it looked like they were healing up.

As for the heartworms, he tested negative, which was a relief.  The vet thought his problems was from a lack of exercise, as I have not been able to take him out for walks very much recently.  He has also gained a few pounds, even though his appetite has decreased some.  Now that I know his heart is okay and strong, I will try to take him for more walks, weather permitting! 

The Perfect Dog!

I can't believe I started this post in February of 2012 and never finished it.  I have had to deal with a lot of turmoil in my life the last three years, so my postings have been haphazard at best.  It's now November of 2014 and I guess I will complete it.

I have considered Rowdy to be the perfect dog for me.  He has required very little training and is easy to train.  He must have been previously house broken, so I didn't need to train for that.  He doesn't excessively bark at things or people.  He's not aggressive in a mean way, but he is standoffish to strangers if I am not around.  If I leave the gate open, he doesn't run off and usually won't leave the backyard unless I okay it, but excitement, when I am gone and return home, sometimes overrides his judgement and he will shoot out to greet me.  For the most part he is not a problem dog and I seldom have to get on to him for any reason.  He's always eager to go for a walk or ride in the car and he makes a great companion.  He is a very sweet and loving dog and usually likes everybody.  This is why I think he is the perfect dog!

I Missed My Doggie!

In the middle of October, we took a trip that lasted 13 days.  We had to leave our dogs behind and Sarah's daughter and son-in-law took care of them, while we were gone.

This was the first time Rowdy got to see his pal Niely in over a year or so.  They had bought a new house a couple of years ago and when they moved out of Sarah's home, Niely went with them.  I  had only taken Rowdy over there a couple of times, just after they bought it and not again since.

Now for the time we were gone, Rowdy, Wrigley and Niely got to play together.  Unfortunately, I wasn't around to see the reunion of the dogs, but I heard that all went well.  Rowdy seemed to like Sarah's new grand-baby and I was surprised to hear that they got along well.  I wasn't sure how Niely would react to Rowdy being around the baby either, because he is very protective of him, but that turned out alright too.

Though we had a great time on out trip, I sure missed my doggie while we were gone.  The day we were returning, the kids dropped Rowdy and Wrigley off at Sarah's house and they were waiting for us when we got back.  Rowdy was so overexcited to see me, that he whined while jumping up on me and ran around the room with excitement.  I was just as happy to see him too!  

Buffalo'd!

Last week we were at the consignment auction and somebody had consigned a full size buffalo statue, which was probably used in front of a steak house or something for advertising.  As Rowdy and I approached the statue, I wondered why he hadn't noticed it, so I pretended to make low barking noises and focused my attention at it, to alert his attention to it.  It didn't work and we walked up within 3 feet of it and stood there for a few seconds. 

All the sudden Rowdy low barked and took off to the end of the 25 foot retractable leash with a strip of hair standing up on his back.  He had finally looked up and noticed the buffalo!  He didn't want to come close to it and proceeded to make a large circle half way around it, till I pulled him back up to it.  Though we were away from the crowd at that moment, a few others along with myself got a little laugh out of it.  Silly dog!

"No, That Way, You Duffas!"

As sweet as Rowdy is, he is not necessarily the highest dog on the food chain.  The other morning, I peeked out the front door and saw a squirrel.  Of course all I had to do, was whisper,"Squirrel!" and he comes running.  So I open the door up wider and said, "Get-em!" and he shot out the door and ran the other direction, looking for the squirrel as it scurried off the other way and up a tree!  Then Rowdy comes back and looks at me, like he was saying, "What squirrel?"

Did You Just Burp?

You know I've seen dogs gulp and hiccup before, but never known one to burp.  Well I swear Rowdy did!  He had come up to me while I was sitting down and sat beside my leg, holding his head up against me and all the sudden I hear a burrrrrpp!  Then he looked up at me as innocently as he always does.

Gots The Shivers

We've recently had a few days that have been unseasonably cool lately, that is instead of the mid 90's, the high has been in the mid 70's.  When I was gone for a few hours and got home, Rowdy greeted me in the usual fashion, but I was surprised to notice that he was shivering.  Feeling of his extremities, I fount they were cold with very little body heat.  He must have been inactive for that part of the day and got cold.  I just held him in my arms to warm him up and gave him the 'Awh Poor Doggie' chant, as I felt the shivers slowly subside.

Crafty Little Butt!

At the beginning of this blog I told how Rowdy was a stray that showed up on the farm.  Well the farm was his home for several months before I decided to take him, so he knows it well.

About a month and a half ago, when I was bringing my mother home from a weekend visit down to Sarah's and Wrigley's, we were about a quarter mile from the farm and Rowdy started getting excited.  He was in the back seat this time and he got up on the door panel to look out.  Well, he hit the window button with his paw, rolled the window down and stuck his head out.  It was hilarious to see him roll that window down, like a little kid arriving at an amusement park, who cant wait to ride the rides.  When we pulled up to the house, he had to wait for us to open the door, but he was out in a flash, exploring his old stomping grounds!

Another Damn Trip To The Vet

After taking Rowdy to the Vet last week, I had to take him again this Saturday.  He kept us up half the night acting like he was choking.  We were all in bed and he got up and ran down to the back door.  I got up and went down to let him out, because he was scratching frantically at the glass and whining. 

Thinking he really had to go, or possibly throw up, instead he tore out into the yard and started chomping on grass.  After a minute he came back to the door and upchucked a little of the grass he ingested and waited at the door panting, gulping and slobbering. 

I let him in and he immediately started begging up against me as to say, 'Help Me, Daddy!'  I tried to check his throat and petted him till he calmed down some and after the gulping slowed considerably, we tried to go back to bed.  Shortly we were back up with him making more choking and hacking noises and I finally shoved my finger down his throat to see if I could feel anything.  Though I did feel something, the vet said it was probably part of his larynx.  But after I did that, he finally calmed down enough for all of us to get a little sleep at 3AM.

The next morning I observed him for a while and when he started feeling really hot and obviously not feeling well, we took him to the Vet and they x-rayed him and checked his throat.  There were no obstructions in his throat or stomach, but there was some redness and irritation back in his throat to indicate that there may have been something lodged there for a while.  The Vet gave him some Prednisone for the inflammation and some Sucralfate to settle his stomach.  Though tired, he seems to be back to normal right now!    

Might Have Got Poisned!?!?

Last Wednesday, Rowdy was exposed to rat poison, antifreeze and brush killer, none in any large quantity, neither was he seen ingesting any of the substances.  Thursday evening, he threw up his entire dinner just after eating it.  That in itself did not indicate a potential poisoning, because he has thrown up several times in the past and I could chock it up to an upset stomach.  But, shortly after that, there was a spot of fresh blood on the floor, so I checked his mouth and his gums had been bleeding.

I took him to the Vet first thing Friday morning and he did a full blood work up, which showed everything to be normal and in good ranges.  Mainly he wanted to check for his liver and kidney count, because each one would indicate if he ingested either antifreeze or brush killer.  I don't remember which is which without looking it up, but those are the indicators and both were normal.  His exam showed nothing wrong, but the bleeding gums that I reported to him, was of concern and is an indicator of poisoning, possibly the rat poison.  If Rowdy ingested any of it, it would have been a small amount because the bait trap was still pretty full.  The Vet gave him a vitamin K shot and some vitamin K pills for him to take, to counteract the poison if in fact he ate some of it.

The rat poison has been dealt with, so he won't be exposed to that again.  Usually he is not around when I am spraying the brush killer and I will take extra precautions, if I should have him with me when I need to spray the next time.  The antifreeze exposure would have come from leaking tractors and rain runoff at an auction site that I took him too when it rained that day.  His exposure would have been limited and diluted.  I tried to keep him from drinking the ground water and provided my own water for him, but my eyes were not on him 100% of the time.

Crisis averted!

Google Sucks

This rant is not about Rowdy, but about the way Google wants to link accounts and why I haven't made very many posts for a while!

Because Google downloads cookies that automatically tries to link accounts, it makes it difficult to go from one Google owned site to another.  Between Facebook, Youtube, Blogger, Yahoo email and Google email, I have different usernames and accounts.  I DO NOT want to link the accounts with one another and wish to keep them separate.  And when I log-out the wrong username for that site and log-in with the correct one, Google's cookies change all of my log-ins to that one and now I have to go through the process over and over again, sometimes with difficulity!

I don't mind Google offering a link to link sites together, if other people wish to do that, but I don't want them to assume that I want to do that and automatically do it.  If I wish to link an account with another or provide a link in my blog, that's my business, not Google's. 

So, even though I have had some interesting and funny things to post about Rowdy, they have gone unposted, thanks to Google!

My message to Google; How about you keep things simple and stay out of other peoples business!