Duke plays hide-n-go seek

Jessica called me at work to tell me she couldn't find Duke. She was already in her car on the way to her job. So now I am worried about Duke!
I called my dog walker, Gina, and told her what was going on. I asked her to search my home and call me when she found Duke.
Gina called to tell me that she found Duke under the blanket on my bed. She opened my bedroom door, said his name and he jumped up.
Jessica had done the same thing earlier in the day. Duke apparently didn't want to get up because she got no response.
Crazy dog.

tags for the dogs

Jessica bought a tag for Raphael today. It has a paw on one side and my name and phone numbers on the other. I have been putting the tags on ribbon and tying it around all my dogs necks. None of my dogs can stand to have a collar on 24/7. I guess I should have started them with the collars when I adopted them. The ribbon doesn't seem to bother them at all.

I bought 12 yards of gross grain ribbon from Target for $1.00. I have chosen a different color for each dog. Except Chloe. She wears a pink collar and it doesn't bother her at all. I tie the medal to the middle of the ribbon and then put it on the dog.

I can't find a medal small enough for Rambo. The smallest one I have seen is the size of a nickel or a little larger. That is too big for him. I am going to try and find a small St. Francis medal and engrave my phone number on the back. He has a collar and it drives him nuts! If I added a medal to it I am not sure what his reaction would be.

I am feeling a little nostalgic today so I added a puppy pic of Rambo. He is 6 or 7 weeks old. So cute!! I love that dog.

Monday evening I decided to let the dogs sleep in my room because Daisy wasn't feeling well. I totally confused them! It was good to see that they expect to be put on the back patio at night to sleep. Obviously I am more upset about that than any of them. Raphi wouldn't go in my room. He kept standing in the doorway waiting to "go to bed" on the patio. Once again my dogs teach me. They have no bad feelings, so what am I worrying about?

Daisy is at it again

Daisy's ear is doing fine. She is still on steroids and wants to eat everything in site. Poor baby!

Jessica and I could not find her this evening. We looked for several tense minutes and finally found her in the laundry room barking this pitiful bark. Right in front of her was a pile of vomit. I know that is gross but what else could I call it? She may have had a seizure. With Petit Mal it is hard to know.

I was watching Animal Planet this afternoon. The show "Underdog to Wonderdog" was telling the story about Faith. She was left in front of a animal shelter in a cardboard box. Unable to move her hind legs. They showed her in physical therapy swimming. It brought tears to my eyes remembering Daisy swimming to strengthen her legs after the knee replacements.

The story for Faith ended beautifully. Just like Daisy's surgery. Daisy is more fortunate. She can walk and Faith must use a wheelchair. Both are very happy dogs!

Daisy's ear

We found a lump on Daisy's ear last night. My dog walker, Gina, took her in to the vet this morning. Daisy had a hematoma on her right ear. The vet drained it and put her on steroids. I hope it won't fill up again. If it does it will mean surgery :(. Poor Daisy.

Jessica runs out of gas.....

My daughter, Jessica, was nearly out of gas in her car so she and Clay decided to take her car and run some errands. Approximately 1 minute after they left the phone rings and it is Jessica. They are out of gas right outside the neighborhood. She asks me to bring them the gas can. I grab my purse and head out to help them. Rambo follows me and squeezes through the small opening in the puppy gate blocking the exit door into our garage. So I grab him.
Next the gate crashes to the floor and Raphael and Duke dash out the door. "Get back here!!!" No response. I try to open the locked door of my car and it won't open. Jessica has my keys!!! (Foul language) I go back into the house and call Clay to locate his keys to my car.
After finally getting keys, I open the door to the garage and there are Raphael and Duke. "Get in the car!"
And off we went to rescue Clay and Jessica. In retrospect I guess Raphi and Duke were good dogs. They did come back to the house.

Rambo and the duck

On Thursday, August 5th, I came home from work feeling great. I had friday off and was going to spend it with Jessica and my niece, Amelia. When I arrived home I let all 5 dogs out in the backyard like always. I went back in the house for a minute, put on my house shoes, and went back on the patio to call the dogs in. Four of them answered my call. Rambo was missing.





Rambo can squeeze through a 2" space and is very good at getting outside of our fence. So I started looking in the usual places and found him in my neighbors yard. He was barking at something but I couldn't see what it was. After closer inspection I realize it is a small duck. He is snapping and jumping at her, biting her tail feathers and she is snapping and leaping at Rambo. I really think he was playing but the duck was not amused.





I run back in the house, put on my shoes, grab the video camera (which was on my way out) and dash into the back yard leaving the other 4 dogs in the house. After making a huge horseshoe-shaped loop, I am in my neighbors fenced yard. I video Rambo with the duck (see attached). I don't linger long because the duck is tiring. She isn't flying and is mouth breathing which concerned me. So then I tell Rambo to "Stay!". Who was I kidding? He takes off and scoots back under the fence and into my yard. I make the horseshoe-shaped loop again and end up in my yard as well. Rambo is waiting for me at the back door looking cute. I was as amused as the duck.





I let Rambo in the house and go into the kitchen to get some ice water. As I am gulping the water down, Daisy and Chloe get into a fight. They are fighting under a chair in the breakfast room and then move under the table where I grab Chloe. I carry her to the baby gate by Jessicas' room and put her behind it. I turn around and see Rambo ~ throwing up on the rug.





I have been home 15 minutes. I love my dogs, well most of the time.

What is that SMELL???!!!!????

My Dear Bloggers I have a stinky story for you. For 2 days we have been smelling something awful whenever we walked by the staircase. There was no visible evidence of anything and we could not understand what the smell was or where it was coming from.
I sent poor Jessica upstairs just to see if there was anything there.....
OMGOSH!!!! All I could hear was "EWWWWW" and she ran down the stairs holding her nose. She then tells me the dogs had opened the door that led to our game room and was using it for a litter box. It was so bad we could smell it downstairs!!!!
I go up armed with a roll of paper towels and a plastic garbage bag. I cannot begin to describe the scene. Well, I'll try. Picture poop of all sizes and shapes everywhere. Not only on the carpet, but on the bed leg, trampoline, canvas ottoman (it went in the garbage), LSU rug, the side of the leather ottoman, oh, I am getting tired of listing all the places.
When you own 5 dogs it is necessary to have tools of the trade. Loads of paper towels, carpet cleaner, brushes, garbage bags and an industrial-size carpet cleaner. (Most of my home is wood and tile. Now you know why.)
I'm in hell. Not always. Just tonight.