Goodbye My Girl

You came into our life 5 years ago.  Ryan picked you.  I wanted a hyper young dog but he wanted you.  He could tell you were super sweet.  He wasn't wrong.

You were already old.  You used to be a breeder.  We have no idea how many puppies you had.  You were sold for a price because you were no longer wanted.  But we wanted you. 

You were sweet and you filled a void in my life.  You were my baby.  You followed me everywhere. 

You barked at people you didn't know.  Strangers never liked you.  But people who got to know you, loved you so. 

When you got sick, you never left my side.  You loved me and I loved you.  It was unconditional.

Then you got better

And we took you on vacation and you had the time of your life.  You had never been happier. 

And then we came home.  And you got worse again.  And we have watched as you started to struggle. 

And tonight we couldn't let you struggle anymore.  You were too good of a dog to go through the pain you were going through. 

And so I bid you farewell, my sweet Libby girl.  You will definitely be missed.  You will never be forgotten.

Are Miracles for Dogs Too?

We have 2 dogs.  Both of them are pugs.  We weren't looking for a pug when we set out to find a dog during our second year of marriage.  We went looking for a shelter dog.  Tucker was the first dog we saw and he was so cute.  I didn't even know what kind of dog he was or anything about pugs.  We picked him out and took him home and thus we became pug people.

He definitely looks older now than he did 10 years ago but he's still adorable

After we moved to our current home 5 years ago I was ready to start our family.  Unfortunately I had a health issue that delayed that process by a year or so.  So what does one do when you want a baby and are told to wait....Get another dog.  This time we went looking for a pug but still went looking for a rescue.  We found a rescue organization about 2 hours away and went down to pick out our new pug.  I wanted the playful one and Ryan wanted the one that just looked sweet.  She had been used as a breeder for the Amish and was sold at the farmers market like produce to someone who gave her to the rescue.  She was six years old and we knew she had lived a hard life already.  We didn't care and we brought home Libby 5 years ago.

Who couldn't love that face?

She doesn't like strangers too much but she loves people she knows.  She's much more typical pug in look and behavior.  She's about the sweetest thing ever and she became my baby.

Well, until we had a baby.  Then Libby and Tucker took their place on their beds and have been living out their lazy comfortable life like good dogs do.  That is until this spring.  We took them in for physicals and the vet said that Libby's stomach seemed tender.  2 weeks later I took her back to the vet because her abdomen had swollen to twice the size.  An x-ray clearly showed a tumor the size of a football growing from her liver.  The vet said that it would be quick since it was a rapid growing tumor and gave us signs to look for that it was "time".

I went home devastated.  I texted my family that we were going to lose her within weeks or maybe days.  We tried to prep Ainsley for the loss of another animal (chicken deaths have been plenty this summer!)  And the tumor did grow.  It stretched her loose skin to the point we thought she might rip open.  She struggled to climb the stairs but that was the only sign of discomfort.  We were just watching and waiting.

We went to the beach and had 2 different people split the week watching her.  She did great at the first but by the time we came home and picked her up from the second I thought I was going to have to take her right to the vet.  She had gone WAY down hill.  Her stomach looked like she was a snake that had swallowed a mongoose.  She couldn't breath.  She was throwing up every time she ate.  But I brought her home so Ainsley and Ryan could say goodbye. 

3 hours passed and she seemed to perk up.  So we decided against any decisions.  Then about a week later Ryan asked me if her stomach was smaller.  Sure enough it was.  It was shrinking daily.  And about 2 days ago we really looked at her.  The tumor is GONE.  COMPLETELY GONE!  I called the vet.  She stammered through a conversation telling me she was shocked and happy and yet had not even an inkling of a guess to what had happened.  She assured me it could not have ruptured or she would have died almost immediately. 

So today we sit amazed at our little miracle dog.  She's fine.  She's eating.  She's happy.  She's climbing stairs.  She's very much alive.

Miracles can happen and not just to people.

Toy Confusion

There is mass toy confusion happening at our house.

My dogs love their toys. They have a basket of both soft toys and bones in the family room. They usually tear all the stuffing out of the soft toys. They don't leave much of the toy intact.

Libby will gladly play with any toy that is around. Tucker is very picky about his toys. He is partial to the pink bears and the frogs. Sometimes he mixes it up and goes for a bone. He always searches the basket for the toy he is looking for. Last night he even climbed through the handle of the basket to get to the toy that had fallen out on the other side of the basket.

Tucker is fully aware of what toys are his and what toys are Ainsley's. No problems there. Libby, as usual, is the problem dog. She thinks that every toy in the house is hers. Ainsley has a pink bunny with long ears that Libby likes to steal. Today I caught Libby with a large teddy bear that was just given to Ainsley on Saturday. It was still in the gift bag on the floor. Libby pulled it out of the gift bag and started to play with it. I had limited time to get it away from her before it lost its stuffing.

My real question is, how much of a problem is this going to be when Ainsley starts thinking the dog toys are hers?