Bubble Wrap?? General Chat

I've never seen a tile like that! How thick is it? Is it stone or a photographic effect?
It sounds as if you will have a spectacular bathroom.

My neither. It's just dezcribed as a ceramic or porcelain tile. I have no idea how they make it under all the high gloss. But the result looks very much like a tiger eye gemstone with a really really deep shine.

I think it will look gorgeous in that room with the natural light coming in.

Tornado-dog is such a beast. We had that discussion about barking at me when I'm "occupied" and he's been good about it ever since.

Now he waits until he hears the water running in the sink to bark at me "hurry up hurry up hurry up". He does only bark until I come out of the bathroom. Then he waits at the back door for me mostly quietly.

He's always got to figure out a way to get around the rules...

Tornado-dog and I have been in peace talks.

He does not like that I ignore him when he barks at me to hurry up. He says that I am being bad and intentionally stubborn and he's had enough.

He is willing to acknowledge that being a human I cannot be expected to obey as fast as a dog could, but he says I need to make it clear that I am moving as fast as my person can manage.

We are now testing a new training method.

He barks a command at me and I am to immediately reply with my intended compliance. If I fail to comply within an appropriate time frame, he will bark to three. I had better be complying before he reaches three.

I just told him I was tattling on him and asked if he had anything to add. He says he still loves me even if I am disobedient.

Meanwhile, Looney 2 goes for his limited echo this Thursday to see if his meds are working. He does seem to feel better and is more active and doesn't nurse on his faux fur pillow as much during cuddle time. He does still require his tummy rub. I always did notice that he nursed more after a stressful day, so I'm taking this as a good sign.

Looney1 and Tornado-dog are having "I get mom" competitions. They both try to get as close to my face as possible. So far Looney1 is winning.

Panther is getting braver and more social every day. She spends a lot more time in the living room - mostly when the wildebeest and his sister are outside - and visitsfor pets on the bed for longer at night. Unfortunately, Looney2 gets upset when she interrupts his cuddle time and will growl at her. It's very rude of him because she looks to him for guidance and she loves him. When it happens, I take her side and tell him to knock it off and then he gets made and leaves. But by then poor Panther has already left. So he comes back for more cuddle time. It really is good I didn't keep Hobbes. He was destined to be a cuddle time cat and that would have driven Looney2 crazy. At least Panther just walks back and forth on the bed wanting pets - Hobbes would wanted to share Looney2's faux fur pillow.

Cat-dog is doing great. She has decided to help Tornado-dog train me so she not only does the shepherd whine at me but she will arr-roo me!

And then we come to Punx. She has been more outgoing lately. She won't run straight under the day bed when I come into the cats' room but will glare at me from under the cat tree. She's also been starting to demand neck scratches when I'm in the upstairs bathroom under very specific rules. It's not that it's much better, it's just that it's less worse.

Tonight I organized pills for the month. First, I did mine. Then I broke down pill pockets for Cat-dog's prozac and Tornado-dog's don't be a pain in the butt pills (aka just a bit of pill pocket). Then I broke down pill pockets for Looney2's pills. Then I added the appropriate pills to each pill pocket. The dogs' go in a plastic sandwich container that stays in a drawer in my bedside table. Looney2 has his own monthly pill organizer with the days on it. It took a while to do. Looney1 micromanaged me - checking every thing as I did it. Looney2 watched me do it all and just put his paw out if I made a mistake. Panther came when I was just finishing to check over my work. Punx is a supreme overseer and can't be bothered with such trivial matters.

Sometimes I think my life would be a lot easier if I didn't have pets...

Sorry I haven't had much to say lately. Had I mentioned that I had bashed my leg?
I was getting rid of my husbands bed - single handed of course. The easy part was getting the mattress into the garage. Next to take out the heavy drawers, then turn the base on it's side and manoeuver it onto the drive. Of course it snagged against the wardrobe and I tried to step over a drawer to release it. Bad move - my step wasn't sufficient to clear the drawer, and down I came. I still got the base out though, and broke it up with a saw and lump hammer!
This was a month ago and it has been an uncomfortable month! It left a hard lump on the side of my shin, but quite bad bruising and swelling to the foot and ankle too. i can't wear a sock and some days have trouble getting into shoes. I gave it a fortnight of applying arnica, then saw the GP practice nurse - leave it alone, rest it, and don't put anything on it.
This week I went to the hospital walk-in unit - a 20 minute wait for triage, then 2.5 hours wait for consultation. She said it is a haematoma and it will take time to disperse. Recommended elevation, rest, and massage.
It hasn't stopped me doing much. I have tried to walk Tally on more level ground, but we have kept moving. A couple of times I have swapped Tally for my friend's dog as he is reactive and he does pull her around. On Sunday I found that he can pull me around too! He started barking at a dog about 20 yards away, I gave him a firm, 'Stop', turned him away and marched him 10 paces. Asked for a, 'Sit', and rewarded him for doing that. This usually works, and once he is calm I can usually turn him back towards the dog that he was swearing at and praise him for steadiness. Not this time. He suddenly shot towards the dog, and I went full length, face down. He even dragged me for a couple of feet. Kept hold of that lead though! No injuries, just a bruise on the hip, but I'll admit to feeling a wee bit humiliated. I feel capable of doing these things, but am I overestimating my abilities?

Ouch! You've had a couple bad crashes. They sound painful. It must have been therapeutic to smash up the bed frame after that.

A friend of mine had been walking his sister in law's dog out in his front lawn for her. The husband pulled up and when the dog saw the car, he took off towards it. My friend went down and over a concrete retaining wall. His one side was just a raw mess afterwards. He's a big man and the dog was maybe 20-30 pounds. But he went down like a stone.

So don't feel bad. They can catch us unawares like that.

I did use his fall as a warning to Aunt C. She is always wrapping the leash around her wrist when she walks Tornado-dog and I keep telling her to stop doing it. She will undo it when we're together but immediately does it again. I sent his photo of his arm, left side and leg all scraped up and swollen to her and texted "THIS is why you don't wrap the leash around your wrist".

That was one of my dad's few words of advice that have stuck with me - never wrap the leash around your wrist. Not only can't you drop the leash if needed, but you will get your wrist broken by it.

I used to walk Moose-dog and Bat-dog together all the time without any hesitation. Now I find I won't walk Tornado-dog and Cat-dog together at all. Part is due to her dog fear, but it's mostly that I just don't feel confident walking two large dogs together anymore.

He's a Beagle who has never been allowed off lead without being in a secure area. No way I was going to let go!
The trouble is that we think of ourselves as having professional standards. I bet you have walked several dogs at a time in the past. It is hard having to recognise that you just aren't up to it any more.
Two more of the light oak (finish) windows went in this weekend. It seems awfully wasteful to scrap the existing solid mahogany wooden frames - they must be 50 years old and are still 100% sound. Just a nuisance to maintain, and glazing insulation standards have been improved over the years. I should be warmer and have less condensation this winter.

I get it. It's easy to tell yourself "let go of the leash", it's another to actually do it when you don't trust the dog.

Yeah, there are a lot of things as I age that I have to convince myself that I just don't have the X to do it anymore. I have the know-how and the background to do it, but my body just isn't able to handle the physical demands anymore. It kind of sucks.

Today, we got up early to take Looney2 in for his brief echo recheck. Got up, gave him his pill, fed the cats, let the dogs out, saw Looney1 and Panther come downstairs and then Punx came downstairs. Now she always waits for everyone one else to come downstairs so that means that Looney2 came downstairs and I didn't see him.

But I knew... He was upstairs hiding under a dresser.

On the way to the vet, I explained to him that making a deal with Punx was clever but it didn't work and that he IS NOT to help her avoid her appointment this winter. I came home and told her the same thing.

I pick up Looney2 later today and we find out if his meds are helping with his OHCM. Fingers crossed.

Got a call just before noon from the vet. First thing said was "Looney2's fine".

It seems that he did not want to be good for his echo and even rubbing his tummy didn't help. So he had to have a light sedation.

Just picked him up and his results are good. The medication is stopping the obstruction as desired.

The vet will call tomorrow with the full results, but this is what we were hoping.

He has lost weight - it could be from being more active due to feeling better. So I'm sure the vet will discuss that.

He is home and happy now. And no more vet visits until December.

Pleased to hear that all is well with Looney2. Very clever of him to try hiding to avoid his vet appointment. One advantage of being down to one dog is having fewer visits to the vet. i just wish that I could shift that extra .5k from Tally's waistline.

The vet visits do add up. I used to never take cats for annuals - just got them rabies vaccinations every 3 years.

But when I just had the one cat, Looney1, I decided to start doing annuals for the shots thinking it'd be every 3 years.

But the 3-year cat rabies vaccine is harder on the cats and Looney2 had tested positive for FeLV (still not certain with that) so it's been every year for Looney1 and Looney2. And if it's every year for them, it's got to be the same for the girls...

So, March (Looney2), April (the dogs), May (Looney1), August (Panther) and December (Punx) are vet months.