Archives

Hurricane Michael

Oct12

Hurricane Michael was, for us, nothing more than a heavy rain event.  Thank goodness.

I still had the water and packs from Florence, so it was just a matter of getting a few snacks.  This one wasn’t forecast to do nearly as much damage as Florence, and I’ll admit it was hard to work up much concern.  I did feel a bit bad for the chickens, as I had just moved them to their new temporary home a few days earlier, but it was a good test of the sturdiness of the shelter.

We went outside yesterday after the rain eased off.  I keep meaning to buy a rain gauge, but let’s face it, I just use the puddle in the driveway to estimate how much rain we got (it’s deeper than it looks in this picture).

I was absolutely shocked when Sassy started splashing in the puddle.  Jake is my mud dog and Kodiak doesn’t like to get his toes wet.  Sassy’s never shown any interest in the puddle and has, in fact, screamed at Jake for flopping around in it.  I don’t know why, but today was different.  Sassy wasn’t quite as uninhibited with it as Jake often is, but the fact that she got in the puddle at all was amazing.  Maybe she’ll turn out to be a water dog after all…

It’s That Time

Aug31

When I got another shepherd girl, I decided that this time I would wait until she was a little older to get her spayed.  The research is showing pretty clearly that early spay/neuter is connected to health issues, including hip dysplasia, as the dogs don’t get all the sex hormones they need to grow and develop at a proper rate.  Since I also wanted to get her hips and elbows x-rayed, and it doesn’t make sense to do that before she turns two years old (barring obvious issues), I decided everything would wait until she was old enough and then we’d do it all at the same time.

Today was the day.  I dropped Sassy off at the vet’s this morning, and put in a special request for more sedatives so we can hopefully get through the recovery period without repeating the horrible experience I had several years ago with Reyna.  Sassy is getting spayed, she’s getting a prophylactic gastropexy (I am NOT going through another bloat if there’s a way to prevent it), and hip and elbow x-rays.

Doc said she came through the surgery well, which is wonderful.  She’s got somewhere between 20 and 30 staples running up her belly.  Her elbows look great, which means I won’t have to fret too much about working her over jumps and such (with proper training, of course).  Her hips, though….well, let’s just say I’ve seen better.  Granted, I’ve seen a heck of a lot worse, too.  Reyna’s come to mind, as a matter of fact.  I don’t think her hips are horrible, and OFA would probably rate them as fair, but I’m glad she’s never going to be bred.  I think her hips are solid enough that I can do the work I want to with her, I just need to pay close attention to her conditioning and ease into any activities that could be potentially damaging.  Not the end of the world, by any means.

Although based on this picture, Sassy certainly seems to think life is horrible.  My poor little girl.  She’s so heavily medicated right now that she’s doing good to even sit up.  I think it’s time for a certain someone to toddle off to bed…