MONDAY MAY 14 2001 Puppy Penny goes to be spayed/ We have problems with Silver

Taking six-month-old Penny to the clinic for her "operation" this morning was the first thing on the To-Do List today, and I had her at the clinic by 8:00 a.m.

The second most important thing is to figure out what we can do to make Silver (the beautiful, six-year-old Shepherd/Malamute mix) happy!

SILVER NEEDS A MOM OR DAD TO ADOPT HER AND LOVE HER FOREVER

Can you Please help us find a wonderful home for Silver?

We need help to find Silver her forever family. She is a wonderful, wonderful dog and needs to be a house pet with a loving mom or dad or a family with grown kids to play with.

Silver is a Shepherd/Malamute mix with beautiful, soft, silver-gray fur, and she's about six years old. Silver weighs approximately 75 pounds, and she is spayed, vaccinated and on heartworm preventive. Silver is housetrained and needs to be a house pet. She loves people, she is affectionate and is a gentle dog.

The nice family who adopts Silver doesn't have to have a big house; she just wants her new mom or dad to love her and take good care of her. Silver wants to be able to sit close to her mom and/or dad as they watch TV in the evening, and she wants to lie at the foot of their bed at night to feel close to them as they sleep. She would be very content to nap on the living room floor while her new mom or dad work during the day, and she'd love going for daily walks with them, or just to play with her master(s) in their secure fenced yard would be a real treat for her too. A more loyal companion they will never find.

Unfortunately Silver will need to be the only pet in the household. She is a wonderful dog, but she does not like cats and is not especially dog friendly. Also young, active children make her nervous.

Certainly there must be some loving person (or family) who has no other pets and who is looking for a loyal companion for life, and this is just what Silver wants too--a forever family to take care of her and love her just as much as she will love her new mom or dad.

Dusty pup moved in with Silver, but Silver wants him out

Silver was adopted May 27, 2000, and she was a pampered house pet for eight months, and then her "owner" returned her to us due to the owner's lifestyle change. Now Silver is not very happy, and lately she has been trying to dig out of her kennel.

We thought that if she did have a companion dog as a kennel mate, she would be happier, and although she does not like most dogs (we've tried giving her a companion before and it hasn't worked) she seemed to tolerate pup Dusty (the black Lab/mix ).

Silver accepted Dusty in her kennel for the first day, but now Silver is showing signs of wanting nothing to do with this little fellow. Today she nipped him on the ear in a scuffle, and Silver also shows a lot of jealousy when we are in the kennel with the two of them. We all think it is best to move Dusty back with his little brother, Jay-Jay. So Dusty moved out today.

TUESDAY MAY 15 2001 Silver's constant trying to dig out is doing me in!

Silver's nightly ritual of trying to dig out has gone on for several days now. She is fine during the day when lots of action is going on all around her, but around 6:00 p.m. when all the busy dog care of the day has ended and the activity has quieted down, her nightly digging-to-get-out begins, and she and I go through the same routine--every single night. The dogs in the kennels near Silver's alert me when Silver starts to dig out.

Usually I'm in the shower when the barking alert begins. I've learned to keep my robe handy to throw on as I hurry from the shower and rush outside to Silver's kennel to plop another heavy concrete block in her newly dug hole. Then I tell her firmly "No Digging!" and come back in the house to dry off!

Then we go through the second dog-digging/hole-filling routine as I fix dinner, and the third and final try-to-dig out hits about 8:30 p.m. after I am sound asleep. This is the most annoying time to have to go outside to Silver's kennel to again find another heavy concrete block to fill yet another hole. But strangely enough after this third try at digging out she always settles down for the night, and there are no more problems.

Poor Silver. I feel so sorry for her. She just wants so much love and attention! I wish I could bring her in the house with me, but because she is dog aggressive toward our house dogs, Toby and Blackie, this is just not possible.

I can't go into visit her at these digging out times because this would just encourage her to dig more. She would quickly learn that when she digs, I come out to pet and love on her, so she'd dig more to get more attention.

Joel lines Silver's kennel with heavy concrete blocks

To try to discourage Silver's digging we had Joel line her entire kennel fence line with heavy concrete blocks this morning. This turned out to be quite a job because the wheel barrow has a near flat tire, so Joel had to end up carrying most all of the heavy blocks to her kennel. When the job was finished the heavy blocks neatly lined the bottom of the fence, and now I'm hoping that this will put an end to her digging.

TUESDAY MAY 15 2001 Penny comes home from the clinic

Six-month-old Puppy Penny was spayed yesterday, and I picked her up from the clinic first thing this morning. She was really happy to be back "home" with her playmate, Scooter.

Silver's digging continues, so she will be moved to the kennel by house tomorrow!

Silver's attempted dig-outs have gone on too long! All the work that Joel did yesterday lining Silver's fence line with blocks did no good. She just began digging under the heavy blocks, and she and I went through the same hole-digging, hole-filling routine again last night. Tomorrow we'll move Silver to Katie's kennel close to the house and switch Katie to Silver's kennel. Then I'll be able keep a close watch on Silver--and I won't have so far to go to fill the holes!

WEDNESDAY MAY 15 2001 Silver and sweet old, sassie dog Katie switch kennels; Saint Bernard Rescue person comes to see Tootsie

The switch with Silver to Katie's kennel close to the house seemed the only thing left to try, and hopefully this may make Silver happier too--being closer to the house so I can visit even more with her during the early evening.

Joel moves all the heavy blocks--again!

"Do What?!" Joel said with an odd expression on his face when I told him Silver and Katie would be switching kennels, which meant we (Joel) would also have to move all 30 heavy concrete blocks one more time!

Several hours later, with the help of Gary and Ginnie too, the blocks were moved and the switching of dogs was finished. Sweet old, Sassie Dog Katie was happy in her new kennel (Silver's old kennel) and Silver appeared to be happy in the kennel close to the house (Katie's old kennel).

At 6:00 p.m. Saint Bernard rescue person comes to see Saint Bernard Tootsie

Helen from a Saint Bernard Rescue group spent about a half hour visiting with Tootsie tonight, and now Helen knows first hand what a wonderful dog Tootsie is. Helen will put the information about Tootsie on their Saint Bernard website, and we're all hoping this will help us find Tootsie her forever home.

Silver is Happy in her new kennel!

Before coming in the house for the night I spent lots of extra time with Silver in her new kennel, and she seems very content. And now at 7:30 p.m. she hasn't shown even the slightest sign of wanting to dig out--which is a first! (We probably didn't even need to move those heavy blocks to this kennel after all!)

So, this has been a good move for Silver. She seems very happy being close to the house, and I can just peek out the door to look in on her to make sure all is okay, and I can visit with her much more often now too.

THURSDAY MAY 17 2001 A Bad Day! But it ends up okay ... sort of

Big Boy is rushed to clinic

It was 12:30 p.m., and I was in the Park (the big play yard) with Danny Boy, waiting for him to take care of business. There are four kennels facing the north side of the Park, one of which belongs to Big Boy and Lisa, and as I glanced toward Big Boy and Lisa's kennel, I could see something was terribly wrong with Big Boy! He had been lying in a shady corner, and he seemed to be having trouble trying to get up, and there was vomit nearby him.

As I ran to Big Boy's kennel I called out to Randy, who had just begun feeding the dogs in this north section of kennels, and Randy came hurrying to the kennel too. By the time we got in the kennel, Big Boy had struggled to his feet and was staggering badly as he walked across the lawn before flopping down again. He seemed very disoriented. I thought he maybe was having a stroke, so while Randy stayed with him, I hurried to pull the van around to the front of the security fence gate so I could take Big Boy right to our vet.

As I hurriedly drove out the gate, I cut the corner too close and bashed the side door of the van! Geesh!

The dog van is usually parked inside the security fence, and thinking Big Boy might be dying, I hurriedly opened the gate so I could drive the van out and to the front of the kennels where Randy was waiting with Big Boy in his arms.

In my rush to drive through the open gate I cut the corner way too close and heard a crunching sound as the side door of the van hit the wood fence post. Man! How could I have done that! Geesh!

I drove the van to Randy, and we quickly put Big Boy in the large travel crate in the van. I spent only a second looking at the smashed in side door, which seemed to shut securely (which is all I cared about at that moment), and I was off to the clinic with Big Boy, much more focused now on driving carefully.

Arriving at the Clinic, Big Boy hops out of the van in fine condition!

As soon as we got to the clinic, I hurried inside to tell the technicians that this was an emergency and that Big Boy might have had a stroke and could not walk, so I'd need help to get him inside the clinic.

Two vet techs followed me right out to the van, and when we opened the door and got Big Boy out of his traveling crate and leashed, he hopped down from the van and went trotting into the clinic as though there was nothing in the world wrong with him! (And the thought that instantly crossed my mind as Big Boy marched along into the clinic, sturdy on his feet, was that I had bashed the van door in my hurry to get him here thinking he was dying!)

Big Boy had probably had an epileptic seizure, said the doctor

Big Boy seemed absolutely fine and dandy as the vet gave him a thorough examination, including a blood test, which the doctor had to take to the back of the clinic to examin. When the doctor came back into the examining room, he said that Big Boy apparently had had an epileptic seizure. There is a good possibility that Big Boy won't have many more seizures, the doctor said, but there is always the chance that the problem could get worse, in which case we would treat the problem if it should come up again.This is just something we will have to watch closely.

After the doctor visit was over, Big Boy walked happily beside me as I took him to the van for the trip home. I was so relieved that this precious big fellow was okay--at least for now. As I put Big Boy back in the van for the ride home, I got a really good look at the smashed-in side door. Unbelievable!

FRIDAY MAY 18 2001 Silver loves her kennel--no more problems so far, and Sassie Katie is silly as ever in her new kennel

SATURDAY MAY 19 2001 Adoption Day is canceled due to having no driver for the trip to Petsmart and being short handed at the shelter

SUNDAY MAY 20 2001 Happy 39th birthday to our son, Bill, Jr.!