Home Again, Home Again....

So we made the 8+ hr ride home without too many incidences.... We hit some traffic and did what we could to make miss Tink as comfy as possible.

But when we walked into the apartment she made it clear that SHE WAS SO HAPPY TO BE HOME!!!! Initially she was stunned and then she danced and pranced and nested on every bed she owned! And the she would get up and dance a little more! She fell asleep and clearly expressed that not only was she happy to be home, but now she could get along on all the sleep that vacation clearly kept her from! It was absolutely adorable!


Now Jodi, bless her soul, kept Parker for us an extra night and we picked him up today after church.....what a different dog! He has been very quiet and easy going! He went right up to the apartment door and went right into the kitchen area. We went for lots of walks, sat out on the balcony and because he was doing so well, we gave both the dogs a bath. He did well. I used the new lead and Nick helped hold him, but he did just fine : ) Bathing him before dinner with lots of treats was a good idea (too bad it wasn't totally on purpose!)

Jodi shared that he likes to sleep in small spaces (like a cupboard she keeps clothes in in her dressing room area.) So Nick came up with the brilliant idea of putting the travel crate in the kitchen with some blankets rather than a bed. And sure enough he goes in there and chills out...

I wonder if Jodi drugged him or gave us a different dog or something! Whatever the difference, he still remembers the routine and is doing amazingly well so far. He actually licked Tink when I brought her over to greet him again! We'll see how tonight goes as Tink's been waking up between 5 and 6:30 to go out and potty. Being sick has knocked her off her system somewhat.... Anyhoo, we have 2 very tired, quiet and happy dogs right now and that makes me VERY happy!

Here's back to reality....

Beach Photos Cont.

Nick took some pics of Tink and me while we were on the beach. It was so nice that she was feeling better and she appeared up to a nice evening walk along the beach : )

She never seems to look real thrilled...

seriously Mom?

you're cramping my style mom!

As we were leaving the beach, Tink thought the pathway was VERY interesting and kept sniffing and sniffing and of course got sand not only up her nose but in her mouth.....

How do we get it out mom?

Our Last Night at the Beach....

Our last night at the beach was a beautiful one. The beach called our name and we decided to pursue all the amazing beauty of the beach in the evening....

baby steps down to the beach

Tink walked like she owned the world out there

she really enjoyed the wet sand over the soft and dry sand

We came across a couple that stopped us and shared a story about a Boston they know named "maggie." They aren't dog people, but this dog in particular won them over with her playfulness and greetings every time they went to visit. Only a Boston can win people's hearts like that : )

Such beauty...

Sleep Fest Continues....

Tink slept on the comfy red chair while Nick and I played Rummy this afternoon after our dognutz adventure

Assume the position, snuggled up, head propped

oh yeah, that down filled pillow feels just right...

Fabulous Slip Leash Find!

So since Tink is on the mend, we took a short trip to Dog Nutz a dog boutique place in Corolla to visit and get out for a bit. Upon arriving we were greeted by 2 Lab-ish dogs, both laid back and friendly. We looked around at all the neat breed specific gift items and dog treats, fun signs (like "Our dog was allergic so we got rid of the kids" and "A spoiled rotten [insert breed] lives here."

I've been looking for a slip lease for transports and new fosters; they're harder to find than I thought. I asked the lady behind the counter and sure enough she had just gotten some in that day and they hadn't made it to the store front yet! These thing is beautiful. It's a strong yet soft lead rope type material, 6ft with a great handle and stopper towards the collar end. It should serve us well!

Nice handle and leather stopper

Tink my model : )

collar part on Tink-- of course she didn't want to help me out : )

"Seriously" she says

The lady was kind enough to give a 10% discount and throw in some cool pens and note pad when she found out we foster and volunteer with the rescue. If you're interested, her website is dognutz.com and the leash is made by douglas paquette at douglasspaquette.com. Check 'em out!

Tink is on the mend....

Tink slept all day yesterday and kept down 3 small servings of turkey broth yesterday. She slept through the night and woke up ready for the day a new and rejuvenated little girl. She appeared very hungry for some dinner at midnight (when we were on our way to bed) but she held off and did just fine holding down some turkey and rice this morning. She went for a small walk with me this morning and has been wandering the house looking for something to do : )

Here are some pictures I took of her sleeping all comfy cozy on the couch last night.

Sigh, I love this little one so much... continue to get well my darling one.

Not for those who are easily queasy...

Yesterday after dinner Tink developed bad diarrhea; quickly & suddenly.

6:30pm
10:30pm
12pm
2:30am
6am
2pm
4:30pm

As I said before, we went out and grabbed a bunch of stuff to help, but then I realized I was going to fast her at least for 1 meal. After talking with one of the tech's at our vet this afternoon, I'm fasting her dinner tonight too. I heated up a little water and ran it through the turkey to make a make shift broth and she drank that right up. That's the only liquid she's drank in almost 24hrs. Hopefully she'll sleep through the night and I can introduce a small amount of rice and turkey in the morning to her to eat.

Is it stress? Is it the water? Whip-worm? Tail end of kennel cough? Sigh, who knows...just taking one step at a time with her. She doesn't seem to be in pain. I take her out regularly and she sleeps the rest of the time.

It's weird that it was yesterday evening, so quick. Her nose is stuffier then it's been too. Get better little girl, we're doing all we can for you...

When does my girl get a break?

So Tink's been enjoying the rest and relaxation down here very much. However, her tummy is not enjoying the vacation quite as much... She's acting ok, but let's just say her stools are loosy goosy and dangerously urgent.

Kristin and I took a drive to Food Lion tonight to pick up some pedialyte, pumpkin and bottled water. I totally should have gotten the bottled water at the BEGINNING of the week but here we are. The rice is cooking, the ground turkey is all cooked up, and some pedialyte is in her system already. Of course there was no real canned pumpkin, so we picked up some baby food squash, hoping that will help her out.

Sigh, we went for a nice long walk this morning around the immediate neighborhood here. Tink saw lots of sound side lots that she shared she would love to make her summertime home in! Maybe some day Miss Tink : ) Until then we'll have to rent our home of choice during our vacation weeks.

Alright Tink, let's kick the crud once and for all now : )

More Fun Pics of Tink

Between sleeping and coffee drinking we found some time to take more pics of my beautiful lady today : ) Here's the list of "Miss's"

Miss Puggles

Miss Regal

Miss I'm watching you

Miss Sphinx

Miss Annoyed

Miss Giant

Miss Majestic

Miss Star Eater

Miss Cute Butt

Miss Determined

Miss Thanks for Looking : )

Exploring...

Nick, Tink, and I stayed local today and did some exploring around the neighborhood. We walked down to the pool area and spoke with Phil, a local for a bit. He was a kind older man and spent some time sharing about the local area. We read about a path to the sound from the logbook here in the house and when we asked him about it, he was able to share exactly where it was! Midday, the 3 of us wandered towards the walkway, but because of the heat we didn't continue down the actual path. Tink was a hot tamale and ended up catching a ride most of the trip! These pictures are from the first trip out....





This evening after dinner and some puzzling, we wandered out the path and to the sound.... it was a beautiful evening and the sound is amazing! The pathway is like the one in the picture above but without the tall railings. It almost felt like walking through an enchanted forest with the trees towering above us. Of course we realized we forgot our camera once we were on our way. Tink walked the entire way this evening; it must have been about 3 miles round trip. She's a spry little lady!

On our walk their we came across a man who asked "is that a Boston?" And of course that started a whole conversation. Come to find out, he has a BT, Titus and he was in the back of the car. (it was a cool evening, no worries!) We met Titus, a cute, but chunky 5 yr old with a really sweet face. He handled the heat of the day by swimming in the water!

Tinker has been out cold since we've gotten back this evening. We're getting ready for another blissful night of sleep.



We got a Parker update earlier and Jodi is amazed with his progress in 2 weeks. I am so tickled! She says his coat is so much nicer and he is overall a different dog. He even slept until 7:30 for her yesterday morning! He didn't even sleep that late for us straight through yet! Oh well.... I am glad to hear that he is doing well too!

More pictures to come as our blissful week of R & R continues...

The Epitome of Relaxation....

I'm not gonna lie, Tink really has this week of relaxation down pat!

You are getting sleepy.....

...Very sleepy...

Don't worry Tink, I've got it for ya : )

If that smooshy little face isn't perfection, then I don't know what is!

What a trooper!

Tink amazes me! The Benadryl seems to be helping her. She still has a cough, but her breathing seems better. We took the 2 out for a walk tonight; the weather is gorgeous! When we started, I figured we would go for a long walk for Parker and pick Tink up when she showed she was tired. She didn't tire! She led the pack at a good clip for over a mile this evening. She seemed to enjoy it too--getting out in the fresh air and walking along like she owned the place! Now it's time to sit and settle for a bit and then some more packing!!!

Tinker Update

So Tink's sneeze turned into a wheeze and has now turned into a cough in her chest. I called our sweet and dear vet this morning and his recommended 12.5mg of benadryl 2x a day to help cut the symptoms. Of course, I ran out as fast as i could to get get some and get it into her system. It stinks not being able to physically do something for her. I mean, I snuggle with her and pet her, and talk softly to her, but I can't take the cough and mucus away from her... she'll get through this.

We're still packing up for the OBX; just trusting that she is going to feel better soon

All Dogs, All the Time...

I feel like all I do is take care of dogs lately! I came home yesterday and noticed that Parker had already pulled a stitch... an end one of course... So I called the vet and he rather rudely shared that he wasn't going to restitch it. I understood that of course and asked what we could do.... he said "bring the dog in and we can get an antibiotic, ecollar and some zinc oxide between six and seven."
"Ok, Would..." Click. Before I could ask if 6:30 would work, he hung up! So long story not quite as long I brought him over, he looked at him, gave him all the stuff we talked about and we were out of there before 7. Parker weighs 20.6 lbs and the doc thinks he's at a good weight. Parker wanted nothing to do with the ecollar and was rather, um, obnoxious about it...so we haven't messed with it. He was quiet last night actually and slept until 6:45 and then was quiet (after Nick took him out) until we fed him at 7:30.

Tinker was acting much better yesterday, walking around and more perky : ) Last night her wheezing got worse and appeared to have some trouble breathing a few times during the night. I feel so badly for her. I'll see how she does tonight and if no improvement, I'll be calling MY vet and see if we can get some antibiotics for her too.... She is totally loving the homemade chicken broth that is going into her food though!

I must not have latched the gate this morning when I left this morning...Parker was out when I came home. I was gone a full 8 meaning he was out probably almost 7.5? Nothing touched, moved, peed upon, nothing. And he is relatively calm actually....

Parker is beginning to show fear. Initially I thought this was a bad thing, but the more I thought about it I realized this is another layer down from the tough dog that he tries to be. For instance, he was licking a spoon with yogurt on it last night and the slightest movement I made, he ducked and moved like I was going to hit him with it. I think someone hit him and judging by his issues with kitchen items, possibly with them...? While I'm not going to change anything that we're doing, I do know that at least he is being more real with us. I am careful with how I approach him and give him little bits of attention at a time before I overstay my welcome with him. He is a good boy. I keep reminding myself that we've had him a week and a half. We live in an instantaneous society but this will take time. Good things take time and we're willing to put the time into him... He will make someone a good companion sometime soon!

Oh where the heck to begin....

What a day! Last night Parker tried off and on for an hour to get out of the gate that now has a lock on it...he finally settled down until 5:45 when he needed to go out!

Took Parker to the vet for X-rays on his gimpy knee...I had no idea that he was going to go under anesthesia to have the X-rays taken. The vet comes back and says to me "while he's under, why don't I just snip him too?" "He's under?" I asked. "Well I'm not messing with him while he's awake" he said "Sure, let's get it done." So the poor boy lost his man bits today.

His knee has an old fracture that has caused some hardened swelling. He has full range of motion but may have arthritic pain as a result. No surgery needed, no special precautions (aside from common sense I'm guessing.) May need some anti-inflammatory meds to help with the pain at some point.

Ok so this is all before 9:30 this morning. I called Linda from the rescue on my way home because I thought Parker had allergies and I wanted to talk diet with her to get them under control and as we're talking she let's me know she thinks he has kennel cough: sneezy, runny eyes & nose, etc etc. And as I process that I remembered that i was trying to figure out why Tink has been sneezing so much the past 2 days (and kept me up for a good portion of last night.) Dammit, they both have kennel cough I realize. As I walk through the door Tink has boogers on the couch and a runny nose. My baby girl is sick and it's the stupid shelter's fault that Parker came from. They gave him every immunization possible including Bordatella. Combine that with a weakened immune system and a crap diet, he got kennel cough from the vaccine. Parker and Tink exchanged a mucusy nose greeting and now Tink has it too : ( Of course we realize all this after Parker just had surgery...

Ok, so now we're adding vitamin C and A (in appropriate doses) to their diets in an effort to kick this. Clavamox can only treat sympoms and I'm not interested in that at this point. Both seem reasonably comfortable although Tink seems to have it worse than Parker. My little girl is a fighter and she will beat this like she has everything else. She is currently cuddled under a blanket with a t-shirt on and her head and paw on my lap.

And as if all this wasn't enough drama for one day, Parker went after my pant leg last night when I tried to pick up his leash and move him away from the couch last night. So once again Parker will spend the week in the kitchen (Linda spent all morning on the phone with me!) As she said "he doesn't need to sit in the computer room with you!"

I felt like a moron in the waiting room of the vet's office as Parker barked his head off at another dog in the room and he would not listen to me...the others in the room looked at me funny... I just wanted to give up at that point... he had already peed on the floor and now he can't even behave himself. Nick and I was hoping that he would at least be worn out from surgery today, but so is not the case. He has finally settled in the kitchen (good thing as he will be spending lots of time there this week!)

Tinker's packing is going to have to wait until she feels better (hopefully in a day or two...) She's resting up for her beach week!

Parker Flew the Coop....

.... or managed to open the gate at least. We left him in the kitchen as usual when we left for life group this evening. When we returned he was on the couch all comfy cozy.... We thought he had jumped the gate but upon closer inspection he had pushed the gate open (we don't have it latched.) it's possible we didn't close it tightly but we'll see how he does tonight. We may be adding a lock feature to the gate.

Thank God Nick and I thought through the "what if he escapes" scenarios as we made sure Tink was in her crate behind a closed door. We sometimes leave her out on the couch if we're only gone an hour or so and she has settled nicely but we won't when he is gated in the kitchen as it is way too risky for my little one. She was laying down quietly in her crate safe and sound when we returned.

He has layed out in each room we've been in all day today without incident. He showed interest in playing with a stuffy toy but we quickly realized that he doesn't know how to play nice. He was mouthy, not in an aggressive way, just in an unlearned way... so we'll work on that slowly too. I do think he will learn how to play nicely, it's just going to take some time and patience.

Tinker has started packing for her third trip to the Outerbanks...She's super excited to go on another vacation. We'll post pics of her and her adventures hopefully tomorrow : )

Almost a week later....

Well we've had Parker with us for almost a week now... Man, what a difference! He continues to improve each day--- less barking, more comfortable and easy going. He goofy personality continues to emerge! He is earning privileges and now relaxes in whatever room we are settled in once he is quiet and settled in the kitchen of course : ) He found a big comfy bed for the first time last night...Actually he started nesting the carpet and i brought one over to him with one of his blankets on it. He looked at me and slowly put his paws on it and then jumped on and settled in in 2 seconds flat. He looked like he was in heaven last night with the most content little face ever.

He did not go for a vet visit on friday as the vet informed me that he couldn't do X-rays at 6pm. (he wouldn't have all his staff there...?) I called him in the afternoon to check and see if the paperwork had made it over and that's when I learned about what he could and could not do. This particular vet is very curt and abrupt and sometimes the questions he asks me i'm just like "I don't know sir, the dog was a stray, on death row, and I just got him less than a week ago... that's why I'm calling you." But he is a kind soul and gives a fantastic discount to the rescue so we do what we can. Anyways, our appt is now scheduled for 8:30am on Monday. It worked out because I now have all the information from the vet he went to a few weekends ago as the last piece came in the mail today.

He does seem to be afraid/nervous of many household things such as the dishwasher, the vacuum, cleaner, a big cutting board standing up right in the strainer....Yup, I had washed the dishes and came back in to Parker barking rather furiously and nervously at a big cutting board in the strainer. So I put the cutting board on the floor for him to sniff and snort on, talking softly do him and tried it again with it back in the strainer...he still wasn't pleased but at that point company was coming soon so I rewashed it, dried it and put it away. We'll work with it again another time. He just needs to be exposed to all these "normal" things. The vacuum was a bit of an experience ashe may like to chase it...

Kristin and Spencer came over for dinner and Parker definitely was more stand off-ish and less settled. He barked more and was on guard with Spencer getting up every time Spencer stood up.... Spencer is a tall man with facial hair...who knows, maybe he reminded hime of someone in his past? He didn't display any aggression whatsoever, but I did think he was going to pee on his leg at one point (So I promptly took him out...)

Overall doing well. He does remind me why I prefer my girls though. He has peed on his front paw twice now that I've seen. He starts to pee on it and he doesn't stop or move his paw or anything! So Tink and I chant "boys drool and girls rule" as we run up the stairs before him and Nick : ) We have fun.

This will make you smile..

So my mom takes her mini's to nurses homes and rehab facilities for pet assisted therapy and this week is nursing home week.... she sent this pic and I thought it was hysterical : )

Enjoy!

It keeps getting better....

...And I honestly mean that. Parker barks less and less and is getting into the routine around here. He jumps into his crate to eat his meals, he quiets down when we leave the room, and has been sleeping through the night without accidents. Now if only we could get him to stop peeing on our fridge or marking the gate.....

We have been blessed with beautiful weather this week as the 4 of us have been adapting and creating a sense of "normalcy." (whatever the heck that is!) Today we were blessed with some rain and it totally didn't faze him at all. He walked like a trooper and then LOVED getting toweled off after wards.

He keeps chewing on one leg of his and I keep checking for any sort of bugs but I can't find any... He acted like both legs might have been bothering him earlier in the evening. He has a vet appointment tomorrow so we'll see what the Doc says. Nick and I think his body is detoxing itself. His right eye was gunky, his nose has had some clear slime coming out of it and it looks like he might molt his dull coat off and grow in a beautiful smooth and shiny one! (But we shall see!) Other than that he's coming along. He has earned the right to sleep on the floor in the living room or computer room when one of us is in there and he konks out sleeping and chilling. And when we put him back in the kitchen he may not be thrilled but he is generally pretty quiet.

Parker is going to make someone a wonderful companion! Maybe it's you..... : )

The Queen....

...will always reign supreme in this house : )

While Parker may be treated very well here while he's rehabbing,
Tinker will still sleep in late and rule the roost!

Parker Pics

Here are some pics of the little bugger. He's doing better... less barking, more settling....





I took him outside when I came home from work and he rolled and rolled and rolled outside in the grass. We went for a long walk and he slept by my feet all night. I put him back in the kitchen for a bit and he was quiet... so he got to come back out and hang with us : ) He was digging at his back leg (the non-gimpy one...I think his left leg). I couldn't see any bugs or anything goofy, but I sprayed him with neem again just for good measure. We've sent a petfinder bio and hope to have him up by the end of the week! A vet appt on friday should help tell us about his knee.

My Tinker has been particularly snuggly lately....I love bed time with her! I do miss our more relaxed walks that Tink and I usually take. Everything is a bit more hurried with 2 to walk. But it's all good. I'll get in shape and Parker will get a forever home : )