Beating the Heat

(After a swim in the lake, mama and daddy insisted on washing me--a total waste of a good lake bath, I say.)

Hi, all, Lily the Corgi here.  Once again, I must apologize for the fact that I missed a blog post last week. We are still trying to get things back to normal here following our dog-health issues and mama has just not been able to get my blog done.  Anyway, I'm back this week to let you know how life has been treating us and to pass on a few nuggets of knowledge while I'm at it!

One thing that has been very odd this summer has been the weather.  We've had a lot of rain, but almost no storms, which is quite strange here in tornado alley.  The weirdest thing, though, has been the temperature; for the months of June and July, it has been WAY cooler than usual here at our house.  We dogs have been able to stay outside and play for hours and hours without melting.  Mama, who hates the heat, has even been able to enjoy the outdoors this summer.  But with August, normal summer weather came rolling in...ugh!

Today, our back porch thermometer read a nice even 100 degrees.  Sadie and I only go out when we simply cannot hold in our pee any longer; Lucy is a little more adventurous and wants to go out for a little while, but she barks to come back in pretty quickly.  This past Friday, we had a small disaster here at the house when our air conditioner failed.  Mama had gone to a funeral and my sisters and I were trapped in the house; when mama got home it was over 90 degrees and we were hot--literally as well as figuratively!  Daddy was able to get the A/C going again, but the thermostat still isn't working at its best; we've told mama she is not allowed to leave the house for more than an hour at a time in case we have any more of that super-heat in the house.

Anyway, all this has prompted me to talk to you about getting cool.  Yesterday, mama and daddy loaded us up and we went to the lake.  I'm a big fan of swimming in the lake so I was having a blast.  Lucy swims but she isn't as crazy about it as I am.  Sadie loves the water, but she doesn't want to be in water deep enough to float her--she wants her paws firmly on the bottom of the lake!  It was a great day; we came home all wet and bedraggled and smelling like wet dog and lake water.  Mama and daddy had to go spoil it all when we got home by hosing us all down in the driveway so we didn't "stink up the house."  How rude!  Oh well, even though their unwanted attentions robbed us of our great scent, we were able to retain the coolness of our watery adventure.

I've told you before about my love for ice cubes and mama has been very good to hand me a nice cold cube every time she goes to the kitchen.  That's always a great way to get a quick cool-down.  Probably one of the best ways to cool off in this evil summer weather is to plop down right under a fan.  Our house has a bunch of ceiling fans and Lucy and I love to stretch out under these and let the breeze blow across our ears, bellies, and faces.  There is just nothing better than a nice fan breeze against your tummy on a hot day.

(Mama and daddy's bed is right under a big old fan...Lucy and I enjoy the breeze .)

Wait, maybe there is something better than the fan.  Sadie and I are big fans (fans, get it?) of the tile floor.  Oh, those tiles are so nice and cool against our tummies.  I have no idea why, but Lucy doesn't enjoy the tile flooring...but that's okay and leaves more space for us!

Oh yeah, there is an even better way to cool off, but mama and daddy don't allow it much...ice cream!  Yummy, sweet, creamy, cold and wonderful ice cream is a big favorite at our house.  Mama and daddy never let us have ice cream very often, but now with Sadie's new diabetes diagnosis, we are even less likely to be given an ice cream treat.  Sigh...so sad.  I myself am happy to have ice cubes as a substitute, but the other girls don't like plain ice; mama sometimes gives us frozen chicken broth as a treat and that meets with everyone's approval!  Another pretty good alternative is watermelon.  We all like to gnaw those watermelon rinds to get every speck of that red fruity goodness.

(Sadie partakes of the summery goodness that is watermelon.)

I bet every dog has his/her own method of beating the heat; the important thing is to keep cool.  Heat stroke and heat exhaustion are dangerous to dogs as well as to their humans.  So, stay cool, stay safe, and stay tuned til next time, everyone.

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

The Hits Just Keep A'Comin'

(My neurotic but beautiful sister, Sadie Mae)

Hi all, Lily the Corgi here.  As you can imagine from last week's blog post, life has been a bit rough here at our house this week.  It is strange to look around the house and not see old grouchy Claude anymore.  My sister Lucy the beagle mix seems to be the most upset about his passing--Lucy's sort of sensitive like that.

It was Claude's absence that led us to this past week's adventures.  For the last several months of his life, poor old Claude had been incontinent and he dripped pee on the floor.  Now, all of us girls in the household tend to be bossy, sassy, alpha type girls who always feel the need to overmark, so mama didn't think much of it a couple of weeks ago when Sadie began to pee the floor to overpee Claude's accidents.  But after old Claude was gone, Sadie was still overpeeing.  Our daddy had shampooed the rug several times so surely Sadie wasn't still reacting to Claude's problem.  Mama started to become concerned.  That very night, Sadie peed on the bed!

Mama had also noticed something unusual about Sadie's drinking habits.  As I've mentioned before, Sadie the weirdo is afraid of the water bowl at home--she loves to drink out of the bowl in the truck when we go on trips, but she is scared to death of the bowl in our kitchen.  Don't ask; I have no idea; she's just nuts.  But now, Sadie has been putting aside her fears to drink like a fish, even at home!

(Sadie loves to drink while traveling but has been afraid of the bowl at home--til recently.)

Shortly after that, mama was mentioning Sadie's problems to my Aunt Cathy.  Aunt Cathy is the mom of cousin Quincy the wiener dog who has lots of medical issues; she is also a pharmacy tech and sees lots of prescriptions for sick dogs.  Aunt Cathy still thought Sadie was fat, but mama insisted that she'd lost some weight for no apparent reason, too.  Aunt Cathy agreed with mama that Sadie's behaviors were suspicious as possible symptoms of a large health problem, so daddy took Sadie off to the vet's office for some bloodwork and a full checkup.  The vet found the problem immediately--Sadie's blood glucose read at 555 (normal is about 120 or so.)  Sadie is diabetic.

Diabetes is a fairly common problem in dogs, more so in females than males and in middle-age to older dogs. The treatment for dogs with diabetes is similar to that for humans, diet change and insulin shots.  So, now mama has to give Sadie a shot twice a day.  Sadie doesn't seem to even notice and I've seen that the needles are super small, but I'm glad they're not sticking me!  I had to give Sadie a low five because I like some of the diet changes; since Sadie needs to eat when she takes her shots, we are now getting fed twice a day instead of just once and I like that.  Daddy said the vet is ordering some special food for Sadie and I'm not sure how that may impact me, so that has me a bit apprehensive, however.

Mama says that now poor old Claude is gone it will be easier for us all to go to the dog park and get more exercise.  I like the sound of that because I like to go places; I am hoping they'll remember that it is August in Arkansas--hot and humid--and that I'm pretty short legged, have a double coat and have put on a few pounds.  Mama says exercise will help all of us stay healthier but color me skeptical of too much movement when it feels like a sauna outside!

So, now we have Sadie who has to have an insulin shot twice a day and Lucy who has to take pills for her seizures twice a day.  And there is me--the only thing I need twice a day is a good dog biscuit!  (Unfortunately I don't get that.  Mama does give me a nice ice cube as a treat and I love those, so I'm good.)

If your doggy starts to have changes in her fluid intake, weight, and bladder habits, a trip to the vet is needed. Our vet says it looks like mama and daddy caught Sadie's diabetes before any damage was done to her kidneys and that's great news!  I love my sisters and I don't want anything bad to happen to Sadie.  She's a bit crazy but she's ours.  My mama and daddy have been through too much stress lately but they say petting a dog is the best remedy for stress, so I know I'm being helpful through all this upheaval.  Despite my best efforts, I'm hearing them starting to talk about a vacation.  Hmmmm...

Til next time, everyone.

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

(I'm a little upset that I've not been the center of the universe for the past few weeks, so I'll just lie here and show off my awesome drummies.)

Saying Goodbye

My late brother, Claude Martin Salamon

Hi folks, Lily the Corgi here.  It's been an eventful couple of weeks since I've written, some of it great and some of it horrible.  Let me tell you about it...

My mama and daddy have a whole batch of nieces and nephews ranging in age from 15 months to 29 years old.  My parents have always enjoyed taking some of the kids on vacations, but this year my daddy has a new job and not enough vacation time to take a trip.  So they decided to have a "Staycation" with some of the kids--the ones between 4 and 13 years old.  In fact, they had TWO Staycations--one week for the boys (Joe, Kyle, Connor, and Jake) and one week for the girls (Gabby, Alicia, Kathleen and Isabelle.)  Mama had planned a bunch of great day-trips to the water park, nature center, lake, car races, etc... for the kiddos to enjoy.

Well, right off the bat, there was trouble.  Less than an hour into the boys' Staycation, Connor got sick and threw up in my mama's truck; luckily, the mess landed on Connor and his booster seat and NOT on mama's vehicle.  My Uncle Mike took Connor home since he was sick so there were just 3 boys that week.  One day they saw an ALBINO SQUIRREL!  I wish I'd have been there--I'd have chased that guy until he turned even whiter!

Mama and the boys saw this albino squirrel in a state park!

Having the boys for a week was pretty nice.  They like to watch movies on tv while sitting on the couch, which means they are just in the perfect position to pet me.  At the end of the week, the parents came and took the boys away and left off the girls, plus Connor!  And so we started the whole Staycation routine over again.  The smaller children really like me, because I'm low to the ground and easy to pet and play with.  My sister Lucy is also a favorite since she is also short.  My neurotic sister Sadie allows a little petting sometimes, but she's not really a fan of kids.  And my grouchy brother Claude, who's been having health problems for several months, was just too tired to get up and move so he got more petting than he probably would have liked.

As the week went on, it became apparent that old Claude was having a lot more trouble getting around.  He had pretty much lost complete control of his bladder an bowels.  When mama and the kids came home on Friday evening, poor old Claude was just too tired to get up.  He even had to have his head propped up on mama's chest to eat--as a red-blooded corgi it is difficult for me to imagine being too sick or tired to eat! Our vet had told mama and daddy a few weeks ago that when Claude's problems progressed further, it would probably be the kindest thing to consider euthanasia.  Mama got hold of the parents and my Aunt Jennifer said she'd come get the kids that night.

Mama and daddy explained to the kids what was happening and there was a lot of crying.  All the kids spent the next couple of hours packing and hugging on Claude (and might I add, no one was loving on me!)  Then the kids left and mama and daddy paid extra attention to Claude while they talked and petted and cried.  The next day, Claude wouldn't even try to move his feet when mama would hold them--Claude HATES it when mama messes with his feet--and mama said she knew that was his way of telling her he was ready to go.  Mama and daddy had my sisters and me say goodbye to Claude, then they put us in our room while they gave Claude some ice cream and took him on a ride with the windows down so he could feel the breeze.  Then they went to the vet's office where Dr Lynch got down on the floor with Claude and gave him some medicine that made him feel all peaceful and well and new and healthy, but after that Claude couldn't come home to us; mama said he went to live in a much nicer place with Jesus.  I think his new place sounds pretty cool and mama said we'd all go there someday but right now she needed us girls to stay with her.

As you know, since I'm the head honcho around the house, I had to be responsible for keeping Claude in line through the past several years. Claude and I didn't always get along perfectly but he had his moments.  He and I had some pretty vicious fights over the years, and I know he could have really hurt me since he was so much bigger, but he never did.  Mama said there's a bridge made of rainbows and Claude will meet us there when we are ready to go live with Jesus, too.   I'm glad the old guy isn't hurting anymore and that he can see and hear again.  I wish mama and daddy weren't so sad about him leaving; I know they gave him the best care they could ever since they took him from that old animal shelter and gave him a nice home, good food and WONDERFUL sisters.

The old man just a few days before he died; you could tell he was not feeling well, but he still managed a smile.

Well, that's it for this time, everyone.  Take care of yourselves and give your doggies a little extra hug in memory of my grouchy old brother.  And Claude, I'll see you at that rainbow bridge someday, but for now I'm going to stay here with mama and daddy for a while.

Love ya,

Lily the Corgi

All of us on a squirrel hunt a few months ago.