Special Needs

Our doggie is a special needs boy.  Tonight he went with me to watch my Little Sister's softball game.  He jumped up on the bleachers and sat right next to me.  He loved being outside.  He's had a rough time adjusting to the new medicines.  Although his itching has decreased drastically, he's been having gastrointestinal issues.  He's woken us up at 4:30 or 5am a few times to go #2 (usually he'd sleep until 8 or 9 if we let him), has thrown up a few times, has had runny stool and bad gas, and has ignored his food a few times.  All of these are unusual, and he's also gone to the potty inside twice.  Very weird behavior for our dog.  We thought maybe he was acting out since Jim's been working, but I don't know that he'd skip his dinner if he was acting out.  I've been coming home at lunch and trying to exercise him every evening.  Poor pup.  Jim called the vet after work and the assistant said to skip his medicine tonight and the vet should call him tomorrow.  So, we have a special needs doggie. 

Happy Holiday Weekend

Eugene received about five hours of sun today!  We jumped on our bikes and took an hour long ride.  I barely wanted to stay inside.  This is a tree we rode by.  It's near Skinner Butte park in the middle of a huge rose garden.  If you can see, there are wires holding up the branches.  There's a plaque, but I don't remember what it said.  Something about being old.  When we came home, I forced Trooper to go to the dog park.  Then I forced him to take a jog.  I couldn't get enough of the warm, sunny, rain free air!  Then he looked like this.....

Tonight I made some awesomely wonderful empanadas.  Jim had been a grill master all weekend, so I figured it was my turn to cook.  We had a great weekend together.  It was so nice to have so much time together.  Now I will just look forward to the Fourth of July!

We Love Grilled Meats

I am making these change purses for a friend who is getting married in July.  She's giving them to her bridesmaids!  I think I'm getting better at it each time.

I made Trooper take a jog in the rain.  Two nights in a row.  He sleeps for about 8 hours while I'm at work, so I make his puppy booty get moving.  Jim made us cheeseburgers on the grill last night and Trooper wanted some ground beef so badly!

"Please give me some ground beef.  I am so cute and such a good dog."

Luckily the rain stopped for Jim to grill.  Trooper wanted out there to be near the meats.

I thought this was cool the way the screen showed up in this picture.  Jim is grilling chicken for friends tonight and steak for me on Sunday.  Hooray for the Grillmaster!

We Miss Our Pal!

After work, I took my doggie and my phone on an hour and a half long walk. It was wonderful! It was 70 and sunny. Some of my favorite memories with Trooper are taking walks in nice weather.


We walked by the stadium, about 10 minutes from our apartment. There's a small canal that is connected to the Willamette River.


I'm not sure what these are, but there are a lot in the woods.


Someone wore himself out.


This is a field that's next to the dog park.


Someone is pooped. He attacked his antler a lot. Jim will like that at 9pm (like clock work), he jumped on the guest bed and tore up the blankets. At 9:05pm, he came in the living room.


Is it possible for a dog to roll his eyes? "Mom, enough with the pictures."

School House Tunic

I finished my tunic!! It is a little big but I think it will be cozy. I am so proud of myself! The sleeves were the hardest part.


It's slightly maternity in the front. But it's the first garment I've ever made. Therefore I love it.

I realized I haven't given a Trooper update lately. He has been on his new medication since Friday (along with the steroids for one more week) and has barely itched at all. His hotspots are gone and his fur is growing back in the bald areas. He is as silly as ever. The only down side is that he seems to have some loose stool lately.

And may I add that this post was written on the Mac Book. Look at me, exploring new technology. Thanks, Jim.

Good Dog

So, I tried to film Trooper's awesome training skills, but he got me. He didn't do stay. He was crazy last night and I had the camera, so maybe that was confusing. Or he really wanted more freeze dried salmon. Enjoy!

Happy Earth Day

I took this picture at 5:30am this morning. When I woke up, I looked for Trooper. And there he was, cute as a bug in a rug (or as a puppy squished between two pillows) in the guest bed. It is amazing how much relief he's had from the steroids.

I celebrated Earth Day by riding my bike to work for the fourth time this week. I really could've ridden all five days, but I was lazy on Wednesday. Both the sun and bike riding have helped my mood greatly this week. It was so nice that we walked Trooper over to the dog park after work and let him run around. Now Jim's making me a pizza and I'm watching the Newshour (really interesting series on Autism which can be seen on Newshour's website). A little while ago, I ran out to get Jim a beer and came home with a giant ham to make on Sunday. I guess that happens.

Legal Beagle

Because I am lazy, I am going to quote my lovely husband the Legal Beagle on Trooper's allergist appointment (sent in email form):

"The hotspots on his back are infected, and this is most likely exacerbating his itchiness. She prescribed him an antibiotic to treat it. Our current plan is to restart him on the remaining steroids we have left over from last time and to keep him on the zyrtec. Dr. Ashley said this will give him the quickest relief, and she also wants to see if he gets the head tremors again -- if he does, then she will prescribe a different type of steroid. Once I am done with finals, she said we should stop the steroids and start cyclosporine as a longer term treatment method. This will probably be about a $60-70 per month cost, initially.

I asked about a food allergy test, and she said that they are ineffective/unreliable. As for an environmental allergy test, the treatment is only about 70% effective, so we decided against that for the time being."

She seems to think it's environmental allergies and we are hoping the Atopica (cyclosporine) will provide him relief for the few years we're in Oregon. I also liked how Jim's finals were included in the long term plan. (His first one being two weeks from today!) Jim was home with him earlier and has already noticed a decrease in pink skin and itchiness.

I'll keep everyone posted!

Happy Birthday, Part II

How did Trooper come into our lives?

I had been looking on Petfinder for many months. I'd wanted a doggie for a long time, but we were worried about how much it would cost, etc. Then, one day in April of last year, I searched for Australian Shepherds in our zipcode. And Trooper's mugshot was the first dog to come up. When Jim came home from work, I said, look at this dog. Usually, he'd say, that's cute, but we should wait. Well, when he saw Trooper's picture, he said, why don't you call about him. I did. The foster mom said he'd be at PetSmart on Sunday at 1pm, but that another man had called about him, so he'd have first dibs. Jim and I arrived at PetSmart at 12:45 and waited. And finally Trooper walked in. A little girl was walking him and he just trotted right in. I introduced myself and he was so happy. I sat and petted his dirty lil self. His foster mom told us that if the other man didn't come by 1:15, he was ours. So we walked around the shopping plaza and came back. Jim said he was ready to bribe her for him! But alas, he was ours. We took him home that day! His foster mom teared up. She'd said her husband had wanted Trooper, but they already had too many dogs. And that's how we met our little love.

We took Troop to the dog park and gave him some salmon for dinner. He LOVED it! He has been playing with his antler nonstop. Sometimes he randomly runs up to it and pounces on it, like he's hunting an elk.

I was able to ride my bike today. In fact, we didn't turn on the Yaris once. The sun felt so good. The sun is up by 6am and it's not dark until after 8pm here. So nice to have spring here!

Oh, and here's the salmon I'm making for us. Panko crusted. (No panko for Trooper!) I'll let you know how it is!

Trooper's Birthday Party

Yep, I had a lil doggie party today. How can you not when you have a sweetie like Trooper?


I made human cupcakes. I use the cake and icing recipe from Better Homes and Gardens. That's one of the best cookbooks around.


And I went to Curious K9 and bought doggie cakes. These drove Trooper NUTS. We caught him getting on the dining room table twice while we were in the living room talking. He ate half of a human cupcake and a few chips. Hopefully he doesn't have a tummy ache tonight.


He had fun playing with his pals. Trooper loves Jack Russell Terriers, so Bailey was a welcome addition to the wolf pack.


After everyone left, I made us Ina's Mexican chicken soup. It's pretty yummy!

And I didn't even blog about muddy kickball. Yep, on Saturday night we played kickball in the rain. I basically stood in the outfield in two raincoats hoping the ball would never come my way. It was slightly like a Subaru commercial.

Hump Day

I think I've blogged before about Jim's love of Giada's Spaghetti Carbonara. On Sunday, when I came home with the groceries, he saw pancetta and got all excited. I told him that I'd actually intended for that to be used in a soup and he looked sad. So, I rearranged our week's menus and made him his fave dish tonight. Giada doesn't call for the pancetta, but I now can't imagine it without it.

I went to snap this picture when Trooper was sleeping, but he woke up. It's still darn cute. That's his elk antler that he fell asleep on. Poor pup is still itchy. I didn't think the Zyrtec was working until he went off of it for a few days. He's back on and I think it's helping again. He'd scratched a spot raw on his back. We heard him whimpering when he was trying to scratch himself. How heartbreaking. Jim's been the best puppy dad and is cleaning it a few times a day. He said that the first time he disinfected it, Trooper snarled at him and looked like, oh I want to bite you, but I won't because I love you. I'm looking forward to his allergist appointment and hoping he'll get some relief. For now, he's sleeping on his doggie pillow. I took him on a short jog after work, and then he was my shadow. Sewing? On the floor at my feet. Walk to the kitchen? Right at my ankles. I said he's the Garfunkel to my Simon.

Does anyone else count down to the weekends? I am trying to make an effort to not do that. I am worried that one day I'll realize, why did I count down to the weekends and not just enjoy every day? We'll see how that goes.

Nature Day

The sun is shining and it's gorgeous out. I woke up and went on a run. Then I took my Little Sister to a program at a park in Eugene. It was called Walk on the Wild Side and was hosted by Nearby Nature. It was so much fun! They had snakes and lizards for kids to see, craft tables, a garden walk, story time, and snacks, for $5 a family. My LS did all of the crafts and even touched one of the snakes. She saw a peacock for the first time in her life. It's interesting to see her compared to other kids. On the way to the park, she didn't know what month comes after April. Then when we were making crafts, this boy that looked no older than four told his mom he was drawing a Phoenix. I tried to give her a healthy lunch by packing tuna sandwiches and apple slices, but she wouldn't eat. She kept saying she wasn't hungry, so I returned her to her mom at 1 with no lunch. I even bought her natural Sierra Mist (no high fructose corn syrup!) but she wouldn't drink it.
After I dropped her off, I took Trooper and his best pal to the dog park. They ran around for about an hour. Now he's pooped and soaking up some sun on the balcony.
The vet has recommended that Trooper goes off the limited diet until we can do allergy tests. He's still itching and the diet doesn't seem to be helping. Yay to eggs and chicken and treats again! There's a wonderful pet store in town, The Healthy Pet, that's owned by a vet. They recommended a few herbal supplements to try to work as a natural antihistamine. I would like to try that for a few months. He's itching a lot and Jim gives him treatments every day of hot spot spray, antihistamine cream, gold bond powder, soaks his paws in salt water, etc. I hope that lil mutt knows how much he's loved around here!
I am hoping to go check out the art museum on campus this afternoon. I'd like to savor this lovely Saturday as much as I can, as I think the rain is back tomorrow. Such is life in the Pacific Northwest.

Cute Pet Contest

How many pictures do I have of my doggie? A local news station is having a Cutest Pet contest. I entered this picture of Trooper. It was taken in our old apartment in Geneva.

It was hard to pick which picture to use. I thought I'd share some good runner-ups with my readers!


Trooper loves his babies.


This one's a little blurry. When he comes in from the rain his hair stands up and we call him Spike.


Thankfully he has his super cute rain coat.


Dogs wearing costumes are always funny.


Look at that little face.


This is one of my favorite pictures of my two favorite guys. Look how happy they look.


Such a good boy.

Trooper Update

Who knew that so many posts would be devoted to my dogs health? Maybe someone will read this and find some helpful things for their doggie. We put Trooper on a three day dewormer. You can buy granules over the counter that you sprinkle on his food. I bought it at a farm supply store in town and the vet sells it as Panacur. Trooper had been off of Heartguard Plus since January as a part of his strict diet test. Heartguard Plus protects against all worms. After his second round of dewormer (vet recommended in two weeks) I want to put him back on HP to avoid this issue in the future. Otherwise we had a great weekend. We had a lovely little dinner party on Friday night, where Jim made Ina's chicken picatta (my favorite thing he makes! You should make it with panko bread crumbs like my wonderful husband does). I took my Little Sister out and about on Saturday and had drinks with people from work. Sunday was Domestics Day: mopping, vacuuming (I seriously feel we could vacuum every day between the dog hair and mud getting tracked in), and cooking. I made a yummy meatloaf and cheesy potatoes for dinner (although my meatloafs don't quite take on the loaf form and are served as more of a meat pile) and prepped Ina's Turkey Lasagna for dinner tonight. (You should make that lasagna. And don't skimp on the goat cheese!) Jim went back to school today. Back to business!

Hookworms

When Trooper went in for his annual shots on Monday, they decided to do a stool sample test. Poor pup now has hookworms! Apparently dogs can get hookworms by sniffing infected dog feces, soil, or water and licking their mouth and ingesting it. As long as it's treated early, there are no long term affects. It may or may not explain his head tremors, as sometimes parasites affect the nervous system. While I had the vet on the phone, I told her about his itching and licking. She was going to get in touch with his allergist and ask what we could do to alleviate that. Our dog is slightly special needs, but we love him dearly.

Poor Poopie Troopie

Well, Trooper had at least four more head tremors while we were watching a movie last night. Poor pup. He hasn't had a steroid in weeks. Maybe it is something else. He's also itching and licking a lot. Weather.com said we're in a high pollen time. Jim has to take him to get his yearly shots tomorrow morning, so hopefully they can talk about what to do. When he has his little tremor he props his head up and looks at me, like, "Mom, what's happening?" And I just pet him and said it's okay and eventually it stops. I'll keep my readers updated.

If Loving My Dog is Wrong, Then I Don't Want to be Right

Look at this little pooper! Sticking out his tongue on graduation day! We love this picture so much. I'm sad that Beginner's Obedience is over. He's learned sit, down, and stay, and we're still working on leave it, drop it, and come. We are going to try to practice every day and eventually move on to Intermediate class. I was very happy with the PetSmart class. So was Trooper!

Trooper seems to be doing better. After being off of the steroids, he hasn't had any shakes, but his itching started again. The allergist recommended Zyrtec, which we started giving him once a day. She said dogs actually metabolize it faster than humans, so he can have it twice a day now. His itching in general has seemed to subside, but before he was getting relief he licked a hot spot on his lil paw. So now he licks and licks it. Jim has been a good puppy dad and disinfects it every day and rubs lotion on it and Gold Bond on Trooper. Once that spot goes away, hopefully he'll be much better. The allergist recommended waiting one full year in this area to complete blood tests. I am hoping we will find out it's not food allergies so I can give him eggs and chicken and less expensive food again, but we're trying to stay on the safe side and limit his diet until we figure it out.

I finished my book club book and you all should read it. I haven't read fiction that I've enjoyed that much in quite awhile. Water for Elephants was a great read! I believe the author has a few more books out that I'll have to check out. I have moved on to a book called McKay's Bees, another piece of fiction that I heard reviewed on NPR. I'm only 12 pages in and it seems okay so far.

I need to get back to being crafty. I have been so busy the last few weeks. My goal is to get back to making and crafting a little every night. We'll see how that goes!

Doggies

Does anyone else like to look at cute pictures of doggies online? Before I had a dog I would sometimes just look up pictures of puppies of breeds I thought I might like to get one day. Now I love to look at the Pioneer Woman blog or Posie Gets Cozy just to see if they've posted pics of their dogs. My love for dogs doesn't stop at mine, although if you could see his little squishy face sleeping right now, you'd love him more than anything too. (He's dreaming right now and he kind of matches our new couch pillows. Double cute!)

Trooper's been feeling better in terms of seizures (we haven't seen one in a week and a half) but his itching has increased since we've completely stopped the steroids. The vet recommended trying Zyrtec, so we started that tonight. We are thinking the shaking must have been related to the steroids. Hopefully we can get some allergy relief so that he doesn't get his "hot spots" back. Poor pup itches and bites at his paws and skin until he gets open wounds.

I'm so happy to only be working a four day work week and counting down the days until my dear, darling, wonderful best friend Vanessa arrives on Friday!! I'm picking her up at 11am on Friday in Portland. We are planning on lunch in PDX and then heading back to Eugene (about a two hour drive.) I can't wait to see her cute little face!

Visit

Tonight I made these Oven Braised Short Ribs that I saw on Martha's website. They were really good! I did turn the oven down to 300 (instead of 350) for quite awhile. We had home made chocolate chip cookies (made with whole wheat flour) after.

We were so happy to have our visitor this weekend. On Saturday morning, I took my Little Sister to the park and let her run around on the jungle gym then went jogging with a friend. Shortly after, our friend Joe arrived with his lovely doggie. We took him on a drive around Eugene and took the dogs on a nature walk. Saturday night we went to Jim's favorite bar, the Bier Stein. It was so much fun to have Joe in town. This morning I made them pancakes and bacon and we took the dogs to the dog park. Before we knew the fun was over and Joe had to head home. Sigh. Trooper LOVED having Debbie here. He woke us up a few times in the night scratching at the door, trying to get to her, and was licking Jim's face at 7am to get up. I think he's sad right now, probably missing her.

Jim hooked up our new Roku, a device that will allow us to phase out cable (except for Internet.) So far it seems neat but confusing and different from the way I'm used to watching tv. I'm sure I'll like it once I figure it out. I signed up for a hulu plus account which will allow me to watch the tv programs I like on the Roku (just a day after they are aired on tv.)

Right now Jim petting Trooper because we think he looks depressed. Trooper: it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

Game Night

Another fun weekend.

On Friday night, it was so cold. I think we woke up on Saturday morning to 19 degrees, which is pretty cold for Eugene. Our apartment complex had signs up saying "turn on your heat" and what not. I made us spaghetti carbonara and I fell asleep watching Curb Your Enthusiasm reruns.

On Saturday, I took my Little Sister to Brush Fire, a paint your own pottery place. It was really fun! We both painted a mug and will pick them up next week. I tried to take her to a deli for lunch, but all she wants are chicken nugget Happy Meals. Even though I'm very anti-McDonald's, I couldn't bring myself to send her home hungry, so got her one.

Last night for dinner, Jim made some Pioneer Woman steak sandwiches. OMG. They were so yummy! I highly suggest that you make them.

After dinner, we hosted a little game night. There were five of us and two doggies. It was really fun! The dogs devoured their toys (a lot of stuffing was picked up!) and we had drinks and played Split Decision, a pretty fun game. I made Ina's macaroons (always a hit, especially since I add chocolate chips) and had some snacks out (including Trader Joe's fried macaroni and cheese bites!)

I am going to work on some sewing and cooking today which will be so nice on a cloudy (with a chance of rain/ snow) day. Trooper and I have puppy class later this afternoon and Jim will be studying away. Otherwise, I hope we all get some relaxing in.

Also, we haven't seen Trooper have any shakes since Friday night. We've stopped giving him the steroids. He's been itching a bit, but we're wondering if it's all thyroid related. He seems healthy and happy otherwise (except when he gets jealous that his dad is playing with other dogs!) Thanks again for all of the concerns for my sweet little doggie.

Also, less than two weeks until my wonderful, darling Vanessa arrives for the weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!