Termite…a stick is not a bone, my love, so I’m gonna have to “chase” you (he, he). Kenai 2 yrs.
All posts for the month February, 2010
My Little Buckskin…by Lisa Harmon
Posted by greatdaneservicedog on February 24, 2010
http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/my-little-buckskin-by-lisa-harmon/
What Am I Games…by Lisa Harmon
even the threat of snow is marvelous…Kenai all excited, 2 yrs
Kenai’s been on a raw diet for over a week now, which is usually when I’ll start to get signs of if a diet is causing him bone/joint soreness. He’s gaining weight–how much I’ll find out today at the vet. He just feels more “solid”; a first indication of putting on deeper muscle before the surface muscles start to fill out some more.
I was worrying about his ach-hum, (stools, shhh) having had one really scary bad mess of a mess three days after starting raw. He’s going every other day now it seems. The last two were the best scrap piles in months and months–totally firm, small, no awful stink, no soft plop. It set off a human happy dance.
His energy and play levels are up and down, but I think (knock on wood) he’s having less nausea overall. He has to get his doxy twice a day, and that causes a bit of pooky for a time. Tues was his second Imizol shot, so he was Mr Blah all day. Still, I’m really hoping he’s feeling better more often.
And his coat is softer than it’s been since he was a tiny toddles, even as dry as the air is. All the better for cuddling you my dear…I have a new favorite doggie shampoo, which has helped even brillo-pad BB’s coat. Eucerin Calming Oil Body Wash. I know, it’s not a doggie shampoo, but washing an animal this size requires human sized bottles…
The skin is softened, the fur too, and that’s all Kenai needs to be dander free for a week or more in our arid tundra. For really rough dry doggie skin like BB’s I follow it up with Eucerin calming cream over wet fur. Great stuff, wonderful effects, low humidity not withstanding.
It’s really been dry here. Outside the humidity’s running 40%, but inside it’s like subsaharan Africa. Probably why I haven’t succeded with ferns and other fussier houseplants. Not to mention my bleeding sinuses. I have a plan, though, stumbled upon by accident. Mom loves orchids, and came home with one.
I considered breaking out the anointing oil for last rights in advance. But putting the terra cotta pot on top of it’s overturned saucer and sitting in another saucer that holds water has worked wonders. The terra cotta wicks up the moisture and raises humidity. Maybe later this year I’ll try it with a small fern?
Okay, it’s one of those fibro fog days, isn’t it? My blog is meandering. How I got from soft doggie fur to the wicking properties of terra cotta is not all that clear…conversations with me are something of a crooked sleigh ride, and you never know what days will be good and what days will go sideways.
*grin*
Monday was another “almost” snow, where the dusting was bone dry. All the same, white stuff has a narco effect on my dogs–PLAY CRAZY. Kenai is prissy about getting his feet wet and cold, he’s equally as prissy about getting snow on his nose picking up sticks…but he goes ga ga when the ground isn’t brown. Go figure.
Mr Invigorated here had himself an outstanding play time with little bro Monday as the snow blew around, complete with jolly ball battering, cutting horse cornering, and bright boy eyes. Oh they had fun, the Brothers Grin! Kenai even threw in a spurt of “what am I” impressions:
His game of charades started off with a viewer’s choice of Saluki or hyena. Since his animal impressions span the globe, this one we’ll call Middle Eastern.
There are, btw, striped hyenas in the Jordanian desert. He’s be more convincing if he was a brindle, but what’s a guy to do about that?
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His very best drinking giraffe in Africa impression, here. Nice shoulderblades there, quasimoto…
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Of course, the golden grizzly bears in the Kamchatka region of Russia must not be neglected. Kenai was somewhat intense about watching that program–primal drives there.
Like I’ve said, he’s a throwback to the bear and boar hunting Danes of yesteryear. In the argument between nature vs nurture, Kenai’s successfully swung me a bit more to the nature end!
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Not to leave out our down under friends, here’s Kenai’s version of the backside of a kangaroo!
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There weren’t any pics of north american critters this installment of “what am I”, but those long ears are a 24/7 fruit bat thing going on. If you’d prefer, his lounging has the look of a mountain lion, too. So we’ll call this continent covered.
Kenai had gigantic car rides yesterday, dropping Mom’s car off for maintainance etc. Took several hours too long for my parts to hold up. We were all wiped out, me and Brown. That makes today recovery time. Nothing’s on the schedule until next Tues when the dental carnage begins with a pair of filling replacements for moi.
But he had such a lovely time at the puppy store while we waited on the car to be done. Are ya ready for this? He didn’t just go from person to person for companionship–when it was just me, Mom, and the store owner…HE PLAYED like a puppy, picked out a toy, did the peek-at-you around corners.
My Kenai love hasn’t actually played in public like that for over a year! Totally relaxed, totally having his sweet self a good time. Awww, what funs we’s hads. We’re still fighting the nervous puppy and bouts of over-excitement, but he’s having more “good” days lately, where his old happy boy personality re-appears. Yippee!
Posted by greatdaneservicedog on February 18, 2010
http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/what-am-i-games-by-lisa-harmon/
Doggie Valentines and Furry Frogs…by Lisa Harmon
Uh…yeah, ya need better cover than that for hide-n-seek, my love. Kenai 2 yrs
Normally Kenai is unexpectedly good at hide-n-seek games. You wouldn’t think a dog that size could hide with much success, but take it from me: a Dane can “disappear” pretty well. He can fade into the background, and he has such gigantic wide feet that he moves quietly. Bless his heart, though he hasn’t figured out the spock ears give him away from behind desks or tables.
This pic shows one of his less stellar attempts to hide, ambush puppy that he is. He’s pummeled the sacred grass clump so badly over the winter that it just doesn’t camoflage much anymore. Once upon a time it was over 5 feet tall. Not anymore.
‘Course, I wouldn’t be 5 feet tall anymore either if I had a Great Dane plowing through me at full speed every day…parts would fall off, and with my luck, be reattached crooked. I don’t need crooked parts to walk sideways or bump into things. I can do that all on my own thank you very much.
Kenai had his lovely boy self quite the social butterfly Valentines day yesterday. It started off like most other outings–in the car waiting while Mom and I had breakfast, went to the post office, etc. But without warning came a stop at the puppy store! Happy time!
His old curious george personality showed up instead of nervous puppy, and he was so friendly but well mannered that I let him off leash. He trotted between new friends, soaking up the love. He followed them here and there, standing at their elbows and inspecting whatever they picked up with a gentle sniff and wag.
He even kissed a chin or two. (I’m so jealous, the stingy kisser givin it all away). Kenai’s new found appreciation for gentle leans and the cheek to cheek love rub was much enjoyed by all. I think Brown may have made new converts to the Dane-lover ranks, resting his head on the kneeling lady’s shoulder so she could hug him.
He was perfectly polite, and an offered toy was accepted with his typically gentle mouth. My love bud just amazed all by how calm and gentle he was, totally off leash and unsupervised by me. He did his obedience tricks without any enforcement from me. I was looking at the frozen food.
It did my flagging heart good seeing him so much more relaxed than he has been in the recent past. My boy’s still “in there”. My take it all in stride, dignified, calm natured little toddles is still in there, beneath the layers of don’t feel good! That was my “happy pill” for the day.
He’s back on the tick disease treatment, two weeks in, and there’s behavioral indications that it’s helping. It was also worsening his anorexia. Doxycycline causes nausea, unfortunately. But the Imizol shot only makes dogs queasy for the first few hours.
After a 36 hour stretch of turn up his nose if there was any kibble in the bowl, despite nausea medicine, I bit the bullet and put only meat in his bowl. Uncooked. He was even turning up his nose at cooked hamburger. He ate the raw. He readily ate. He ate with enthusiasm. Wow, what a relief…
So for three days in a row now, Kenai is eating raw. It scares me, but he’s eating. I’m not as concerened with bacterial worries in the raw as I am about human error. He is frustratingly prone to nutritional deficiencies from malabsorption. What worried me most was not getting the nutritional content right for him.
His vet doesn’t like the idea of raw, but he dislikes watching him drop pounds per day worse. So we decided to CYA my raw-novice A with a supplement–Palatech–to ensure enough fatty acids, vitamins etc. I spread the budgetary pain of prepackaged (Nature’s variety) raw by going half and half with ground beef. I can get 80 lb cases of ground beef at Sam’s Club for $120.
But he’s eating again. I was even bold enough to give him a raw meaty bone for about 10 minutes yesterday. I think I may have let him have his bone too long or something. He went all blah and lethargic on me a few hours later, around 8:30 pm last night. Ninny that I am, I checked his tum and gums every time I woke up. No bloat, but still not acting normally.
So I’m chewing my own bones waiting to see if he just had too much excitement on top of the recent diet switch. It’d been 3 days so I though we were okay. He does react to stress pretty hard, even good stress, and his Valentines Day at the puppy store was ever so exciting to lover boy.
The next bowel movement should tell. We’ll see.
***
While sorting the pics I took during our last real snow (the most recent was just a dusting), I found a couple worth posting. This one was 3 days after the big dump, and it was starting to melt.The pic didn’t show all the nuances of color in the fading sunlight, but it’s still pretty. There was a gorgeous mix of pinks, yellows, blues and purples reflecting on the snow.
This other one just gave me a snort. How’s this for an advertisment: Get one of these and you can have your own absurd lamp post gnome too…
BB is doing fairly well, considering how he was doing. He’s still getting kibble–Mom’s a chicken–but the majority of his itching is gone. He doesn’t know it yet, but today will bring a full on bath for his bony bottoms. Funny guy is going to get bucketed on the porch. Then he’ll be pitiful pouty boy for an hour or so.
Beebs has thrown us a new curveball. He doesn’t want to walk where there is no snow. He loves his snow. He wants his snow. He won’t pee where there isn’t snow…oy. We have nothing but meager patches here and there now, so he literally hops from place to place like some strange furry frog. Only the white lilly pad will do.
OMG how do you top that? Wait, give him a week and you’ll find out. BB, little bud, you are silly.
Posted by greatdaneservicedog on February 13, 2010
http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/doggie-valentines-and-furry-frogs-by-lisa-harmon/
Cootie Cutie and Big Brother…by Lisa Harmon
the epitome of regal relaxation, Kenai 2 yrs
One of the delicious benefits of being snowed in with a Great Dane is the increased frequency of mono a mono time. This pic here was snapped after an especially satisfying game of blankie monster–the blankets steal his lambie baby there, and it runs around under the covers. Swat, stomp, and nose rummage…
Being quite the opportunist when it comes to snuggem, I had to get into all that lovely loose skin of 
his! He resists a little at first, leaning the other direction and looking away. It doth disrupt the aura, you know.
A man must maintain, it would seem, though I do my best to make him have to work for it! (Nevermind the less than stellar appearance of mine, btw. Snowed in means there’s no reason to worry about looking my best!
Back to boy…He’s always had the idea of “personal space”, my manly love. Even as a tiny toddles, he didn’t like to feel crowded. As he’s gotten older, though, he’s found that hugs, leans, and other close quarters are nice at times.
It doesn’t take too long before he decides to make the most of the unsolicited situation anyway–if we have to cuddle, at least gimme scritchy scratches on my neck. Cheek to cheek love rubbing is also rather nice he thinks.
I’ve also realized he is more cuddlesome when he’s not feeling good, which seems to be alot lately. I have the same problem, not feeling good most of the time. Over time my tendency to crabbiness has gone way down.
But me, when I really really don’t feel good, clear off. I’m happy to have boy leans, though. Kenai is the exception to the leave me alone! How could anyone resist such an abundance of velvety soft jowels?
As aloof as Kenai might seem to observers, there is a softness about him. His touch is soft, his heart is soft, his feelings easily hurt. Kenai is dignified, but ever such a gentle boy (when play or aggravation is not at hand anyway).
After this snuggum session, we had ourselves a nice long nap together. One good bit of news: the butterfly toy is finally out, after 31 days. I was hoping his reflux and anorexia lessened a bit because of it. But the tick disease treatment makes dogs sick to their tums. Poor guy.
His coat is holding, in pretty good shape. And he hasn’t lost precipitous amounts of weight either. Those are good things. He’s hard to get eating, but I’ll take what good I can get! (He’ll take the hamburger and ground lamb).
Monday he laid on the bed and stared out the window nearly all day. I’d told him what the weather man had said–snowmageddon # 8 was going to dump a foot of snow on us. That meant reindeer games were on the docket. Snows on my toes times. But it didn’t happen.
We got the single digit temps, we got a 2o mph wind, but all of that produced a measly 1/4-1/2″ of snow. Dry snow, too, that doesn’t form snowballs, just blows around like sand. Brown and Company were utterly disappointed. They don’t like strong winds, so the didn’t want to go out to play. We had pouty pooches all day.
A trip to a new dentist closer to home brought some good news/bad news for me. It seems my silver fillings are wearing away, one of them cracked a tooth in three places when it was put in (no wonder that tooth has been touchy), and 38 years worth of fillings all have to come out. For all the visits I’d had with the original dentist, you’d think someone would have told me that tooth was cracked.
Good news–we caught it before I wound up needing crowns or root canals, and we’ve scraped together enough money to do it. All the work will take 5 visits, the worst fillings first. So I’ll spend most of spring with sore teeth. But, (am I good with buts or what), but the mercury laced silver fillings will be gone, replaced with tooth colored resins.
Mom and I’ve made a pact to enjoy all the stuff I won’t want to eat during the spring of dental carnage. You can imagine the nutritional content of our immediate future’s diet…Last night we had pizza and brownies. Today I want wonton soup and cashew chicken. None of the above are all that great at room temperature, with the exception of the brownies. So I’m eating them hot now.
Kenai enjoyed the pizza man’s coming–I always give him a taste of cheese, and maybe a little of Grammy’s canadian bacon. I will sometimes give him a bit of the pork in my wonton soup too. He’ll like that. Kenai, btw, doesn’t go in for doggie biscuts; only meat will interest him enough to snack.
BB, who must not be at all like his brother, would eat hardwood flooring if we offered it. Choosy he’s not, nor slow to mooch. His itchies have been less aggravating, now that he’s getting both topical and oral treatments (antibiotics, pala-tech food supplements, OTC allergy pills). The new uber-powerful air cleaner is likely helping too. It has me, anyway.
We’ve settled into a grooming routine for the scratchy stink, fighting staph and fungus-amongus. (I should re-name him Scratch). He has cooties, but he’s such a cutie. Each morning after breakfast he gets a “baby bath”–a wet rag soaped with antibacterial/antifungal doggie soap, and a wet rag rinse. That’s the icky part, over fast though.
Then he gets his “itchy medicine”–a calming lotion that spreads perfectly because the fur is wet. Sometimes the lotion I’ll choose has a touch of tea tree oil or silver for added cootie killing. He likes the rubbing and howdy-pups. Affection of any ilk is manna from heaven for him, even at the cost of being damp for awhile.
Since spraying lysol makes us all want to crawl out of our hides, I put a bit of his doggie soap in a spray bottle with some water and mist all the soft furnishings. I’m a cootie-killing mamma these days, at war with staph germs and mold spores. Just you wait till I get that second monster-air cleaner on backorder. Then I’m going to attack that basement…
Posted by greatdaneservicedog on February 10, 2010
http://greatdaneservicedog.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/cootie-cutie-and-big-brother-by-lisa-harmon/
about.me
lisa harmon
Having become disabled in my 30's, I began a new and unexepected life journey, chronicled on a blog. The need for tenacity, maintaining a stubbornly positive outlook on life, and the determination to focus on what I can do, have been the most important lessons disability has taught me.
I decided that training my own Great Danes to be my assistance dogs was one way I could have a fuller, more independent life. The experience has taught me more about life, love, and respect than any other endeavor of my life. There has been amazing triumphs, and deep sorrows but I wouldn't trade one moment of it!
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