Tag Archives: dogs

animals, food, information, life

WoRMS and walks and ribs

Was reading an article about the WoRMS catalog (World Register of Marine Species) (http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-31851525) on the BBC, and while I am quite happy about their achievement (finally sorting it all and finding out what was duplication and what really is extinct) I was quite sad that the catalog dropped nearly 50%. I personally do not think that that is everything to find in the oceans. There are still so many places they’ve not gone, because at the moment it’s just not feasible (pressure/depth/light/etc) that I think there’s still so much out there still to discover. Humans need to keep exploring.  Space. The oceans. We are a curious species.

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We also need to TAKE CARE of what we have already discovered :/ But that’s a whole different rant.

This morning was another awesome walk in the gorgeous German countryside. We walked with our buddy Ciara and her pooches and it was ICY cold to start. We had a rant, a chat, some conversations about things that only _we_ get. Dogs were brilliant – well behaved. I think they enjoyed themselves – the company. Their “mini-pack” of awesome. Sun shining, with a few clouds every now and then, crunchy frosted ground, an ice cold breeze, a good brisk hike.

and now – my weird totally NON-body-dismorphic-disorder moment (I don’t have issues, seriously) this morning: I found that, finally, after this latest (HEALTHY) weight loss… I can feel/see my ribs along the BACK of my body now as well. This might seem like a weird triumph, but when you’ve been “just slightly overweight” for a year or more it’s quite a warm and fuzzy moment. And I can see my vertebrae too, at the top of my spine. It’s not skeletal, it’s just there now, when I stretch or bend. It makes me feel like all the hard work is finally paying off and is becoming “visible” and that makes me feel good. This is how I _used_ to look – when I was fit and thin. I’m not bulimic, anorexic or anything else up that alley – I love food, i have a healthy relationship with it. I’m neither scared of it nor angry with it. It fuels me, fills me and keeps me going. Sure, I sometimes eat too much chocolate and pasta is STILL (and always will be) my food-nemesis, but I’m in control and I will never “give up” food. 🙂

 

Have a nice day!

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animals, life, people

What do people do?

This question has flitted into my brain quite a lot during my life.

When I was at school – I wondered what people did during the day, while we were all at school.

When I began working – I wondered what people did on weekends when they weren’t working.

And moving here, being a “house wife” – I wonder what people (other stay at homes like me) _do_ inside their homes during the day. And on the weekends, when everyone is inside and I walk by with my dogs… what are they doing? Do they have hobbies? Are they watching tv? Sitting at their computers? Studying? Playing games? Sleeping? Eating? What do they DO?

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I know I am not what you would call a “normal” example of what people do behind closed doors, so I’ve always wondered. Pondered and thought and tried to catch a glimpse of people through their windows. Not out of voyeurism, but simply to see what “normal” people do with their lives when out of sight of other people.

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What do YOU do?

 

On other topics: The dogs and I had a lovely walk – if a little bit anxious for  Azzie, as there was range fire coming over the hill, but she persevered and while she had an anxious demeanor, with a lowered tail and a worried expression, she did have a lot more moments of happy running around and rolling in the ever dwindling snow drifts left over on the path. Between kabooms, anyway.

 

animals, life

the quiet afternoon

Finally, the range fire stopped and Azzie could breathe normally, and relax enough on the walk to poop! Poor girl. She was also finally hungry enough to eat something. G ate as well. I thought they would want more when we got back from our second walk of the afternoon, but neither was particularly enthused by the bowls I put out 🙂

So nice to see Azzie relaxing – able to sleep! She’s relaxing on the balcony with Gina, as well. Much happier. I feel very relieved.

A friend of mine also talked me into starting up the Javascript course on codecademy.com again. I logged in (actually remembered my login after all this time) and saw that I was actually quite far into the course. But I remembered nothing so I started all over again from the start. First part is pretty easy, so I got far quite quickly. Left my friend behind and he’s been on it for months!

And I’m also still busy with my Linux courses – going well!

animals, life, relationships

fear phases

All dogs go through what’s called “fear phases” – where one day they’re fine with something, but the next day the same thing could cause them to be incredibly upset and scared.

Unfortunately, Azzie was going through one of those when the fighter jets started their dog fights over the town. Too loud, too low and I now have a terrified dog. We tried to have a nice walk this morning, but the range fire coming from across the valley had Azzie in absolute conniptions. Frothing, panting heavily, tail clamped flat down, wide eyes and MOTORING forward to get back to the car where she felt “safe” but still carried on panting heavily.

She hasn’t eaten her food today (she did have her piece of chicken and her tablets this morning, and she’s still eating treats – but that’s it) and she’s listening and waiting for the next kaboom from the range. I’ve closed the balcony door (despite Gina’s annoyance) I’ve tried to remain calm and unaffected by the noise (as I did before) but now every time there’s so much as a thump nearby or from the range, she’s up and panting and restlessly pacing around the apartment. She comes to me, goes to Gina, goes to the kitchen, comes back to me. Then she relaxes and lies down… until the next thump or kawumpf. It’s just so unlike my brave girl, that it’s quite concerning. Even Gina was unphased by the noises on our most recent walk ( thought Azzie might need to poop, but she’s still too scared to! G pooped and it was good and she’s fine and had her tail up on the walk, despite the noises)

So I gave her two benedryl (they seem to help her relax – plus she’s been scratching because she’s been rolling in the grass) and hopefully they help her.

My poor girl. I’m trying to act like nothing is wrong, but this is so unlike her that I am feeling a little icky in my stomach. This is NOT how I wanted her to “grow up” and I feel so sorry for her. But I know you mustn’t coddle them when they go through these phases, so I’m just acting normal. Put some tv on, loudly, so it might cover the noises coming from outside, and I’m going on with my day. I was GOING to go out and do some errands, but I don’t want to leave her in a state of unhappiness, so we’re just going to chill today. Hopefully she will be ok tomorrow. That’s one thing I won’t miss about this place – the noises from the range and the STUPID FIGHTER JETS!

animals, life, people, photography, relationships

Early morning walks

I might as well start getting used to getting up early to walk the dogs, as it seems the weather is starting to slowly change and we’re heading into spring.

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Pretty soon the places we walk will look like this again!

The girls and I headed off for a lovely morning walk with our friend Ciara and her pooches, Django and Luca. We did a kind of a loop, and some return walking, but it was a good walk and the dogs were all good. It was crisp and the sun was out. I look forward to some more of these hikes together.

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This was the road we took this morning, but now there is no snow.

The fighter jets are at it again today, and at one point it was SO LOUD it made the windows rattle and was even audible with all the doors and windows closed. It got so loud that Azzie was _terrified_ and she came and hid behind me on the couch and shook and shivered uncontrollably 🙁 I distracted her by giving her the toy she’d found the other day on our walk – nice and clean now after a good scrub. It seemed to help, except that of course now she’s obsessed with it!

 

animals, food, life, people, relationships

another long walk

Dogs and I decided to head out in a new direction this afternoon, thinking of exploring some areas we’ve not been yet.

So we headed down into the industrial area, and out the back of  it onto the grass/forested area there. The path I’d found on google maps was covered in downed trees and was very muddy so we had to figure out a new path, but we ended up walking along a nice single lane/bicycle path which headed into our tiny village from another side. It was lovely. Dogs were awesome, super well behaved.

G’s tummy was very good, but Azzie’s wasn’t the greatest. It’s ok, they’re still 90% better and improving every day.

A day of silence, it seems.

Yay, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D has started up again! All cued up and ready to go! Now I’m making some killer dinner to go with it, and then I’m going to start watching!

animals, life

a weight lifted

emotional weights have been lifted

stress levels are slowly returning to a more manageable level

dogs started their medicine dose last night, and this morning when i took them down for their toilet break, G pooped and it was 99% better! I was SO SO SO happy, and so was she – she did her little happy dance and bounced around 🙂

Azzie didn’t go when i took her down, but she went on our walk, and hers was also 99% better! G also went again on the walk and it was good as well.

I am relieved, so happy. I am going to call the vet who helped us and thank him, profusely. And thank Iain too, for being so kind and helpful in setting up the appointment outside appointment hours.

 

Feels like an enormous weight has been lifted.

G also feels less stressed now that she is feeling better, and i walked them both on their street leads (short ones) and Azzie in her harness. I had more control, and Azzie didn’t go nuts and didn’t eat bad things. I kept my manner/body language as calm as I could the whole time, even when I had to correct Azzie’s behaviour. Just a couple of times G had an “uh oh, what now?!” moment and her tail went down, but 90% of the time she was happy, relaxed.

animals, information, life, people, relationships

updates

So this morning Azzie was sick as well. It came on suddenly and I had no idea why it happened.

So initially I was just going to get some more sucralfate but after their dose this morning proved no help at all to either of them, I called the vet to see if they had any appointments. My friend Iain at the reception (we have a special relationship thanks to all my visits to the vet with my dogs) clearly picked up on my mental state (I was at my last thread, my wit’s end) and he went and spoke to the vet on duty. They made a special arrangement just for me, so I could bring in my girls today. I was touched, deeply, by this.

The vet and I (military vet this time, I’ve seen just once before) had a long chat, after he checked out the girls, and going on timelines and every other detail I could muster, we worked out a plan and a possible reason behind these new bouts of illness. To say I was relieved would be putting far too mildly.

He let me know that I had done the right thing and this was not my fault – just a pile of nasty things that had led to both the dogs getting sick like this. Including the now thawed and muddy and slushy and shit covered dog park Sunday play dates. He said they would have to wait until a nice heavy snow fall and/or next winter. I agreed. He said Azzie had clearly picked up a nasty bacteria from some other dog’s poop. He said the dog park was GREAT socialisation, but terrible medically. Too true.

I spoke to my friend Ciara (it’s her dogs that we meet every Sunday for our play date – Django and Luca) and while not ideal for Django (as he has to stay on lead all the time when not in an enclosed space) initially, we agreed that the dog park was not “safe” right now and we decided to go on nice long Sunday hikes instead. More exercise for the dogs, anyway, as they had recently been very lackluster in terms of chase games and fetching toys so their dog park dates were quite quiet and they were certainly not tired after them.

As for Azzie’s behaviour issues, a few lovely kind and positive words from my friend Nicole (dog behaviourist/psychologist) have put me in a better frame of mind when it comes to dealing with Azzie’s bullshit. She’s a difficult dog, and she won’t change (maybe mellow a LITTLE bit with age) and I just have to learn that it’s not ME that’s causing it, it’s just the way she is. Still going to start some individual walks for the girls, to help with Gina’s stress levels, but I’m going to try very hard to just let the behaviour be checked, but not overwhelm me.

It’s been a crappy couple of weeks, I have to say, but today has boosted me up  bit and that’s no bad thing.

I also bought another Adaptil diffuser for the room. It might help Gina as well.

 

animals, life, travel

Another morning, another walk

I was cautiously optimistic this morning, after our early morning toilet break – Gina’s poop was… better… showed improvement. But then Azzie went and it started out good, and ended up terrible.

So both got their sucralfate tablets (thankfully G ate hers without too much nose turning) with breakfast.

*sigh*

No idea why Azzie’s tummy is bad now. Hopefully just a blip on her otherwise excellent tummy health.

Let’s hope G’s tummy starts coming right. I’ve started adding more of her dry food in with the chicken (much to her disgust… she eyes it, sniffs it, looks at me, starts to walk away in rebellion, and then decides that she’s actually hungry enough to eat it anyway) which seemed to help last time she had a problem (which was months and months ago! come on! can’t this come right now? 🙁 i’m having a hard time. I really am. )

I was going to post on google+ again and then I remembered my deal with myself to post here instead and opened my meta.

Our morning walk started out great – Azzie behaving (generally) and listening (quite well) and then as it went on and we got closer to pumpkin time (it’s around 40 to 45 minutes into the walk) her ears turned off and she Did What Azzie Wanted To Do And There’s Nothing You Can Do About It. Including drinking from three separate DISGUSTINGLY dirty puddles, DESPITE me offering her nice CLEAN water from a bottle in their little travel cup, which I lug around with me (and the water too, which weighs quite a lot, lemme tell ya) in my little backpack (thanks to my dear friend from Wiesbaden) everywhere we go. The pack also has a small first aid kit, wet wipes, a toy (blue no-longer-squeaky elephant) sometimes a brush (for when burrs are prevalent, as Azzie goes and zoomies through them and comes out looking like a hedgehog) and a plastic bag, spare poop bags, some chicken jerky (for the dogs) a dog whistle, and of course my keys, my ID cards and my lipice (chapstick to other people)

We got rained on, hailed on, snowed on, the sun came out and the wind blew for a bit, and then it rained some more, hailed while the sun was shining and then it rained some more. Cold, windy, weird weather.

Azzie clearly had a blast, but Gina’s nerves were shot by the time we headed up the long path back to the car. I really try and remain calm and cool with Azzie, for Gina’s sake, but sometimes it’s just IMPOSSIBLE! I ask NICELY and she just IGNORES me completely. I have to shout – sometimes she doesn’t even pay any attention to me then (or very deliberately does what she was doing ANYWAY, WHILE staring at me – as if to say f**k you, you can’t stop me) and I have stamp my feet or make a move toward her quickly and then she thinks it’s a big game and races off in great excitement to the NEXT spot to cause trouble. I really, REALLY hope she grows up when she reaches 3 – it’s in a couple of months. Because I am losing my temper a LOT more than I used to, and it’s affecting G now as well.

So I’ve had to put off the DRP paperwork again, because I’ve been taking care of Gina. was going to go last week, Thursday, after our walk, but we ended up at the vet for 2 hours instead. Then Friday she was too sick to leave alone at home. Saturday and Sunday they are not open. Monday (today) once again, she’s not well enough to leave alone for more than 30 minutes and I know it will take longer to get this done, as the trip to Birkenfeld is 20 minutes by itself. I’m hoping she will start getting better this week, so I can try go see Mr Kupke this week some time! I need to get this done.

Oh and I find out my stupid credit card expires this month and I haven’t seen any renewed card in the mail yet 🙁

I’m screwed if I don’t have any access to my money – husband is away for quite a bit still.

*shakes head*

Trying so hard to remain positive, but I’m struggling.

Why can’t things be simple again?

Why can’t my dogs be healthy?

I know I’m whining and feeling sorry for myself, but I don’t do it often so I think I’m allowed to drop the walls every now and then.