Stumpy

quote out of context

"Help! Now she's using it as a weapon."

Our friend Miller was over last night. Sophie accidentally stepped on her toe, which caused Miller to step away from the dog and eventually run away from the dog. So Miller was running frantically around the house to avoid the peg leg.

Sophie's take: "Play? I love chase"

only sophie

So it took a while to figure out exactly what is wrong with our dog. . . but it's not cancer. Actually they aren't entirely sure what it is but apparently it isn't going to kill her. The black scary mass in her foot that freaked out the surgeon is some sort of bacterial infection in her foot- again not sure how it got there or what caused it but a course of antibiotics should fix it. Still may need to amputate if the joint dislocates again. Just another reason why our dog is "special."


We are still all splinted up- or we were all splinted up. . . until we ate our cast off last night. Now we are wearing a sock and limping.


first trip to the vet: 450
second trip to the vet: 400
watching your dog eat off a very expensive splint in the middle of the night: priceless

No longer worried about losing the toe, as much as losing an arm and a leg

aaargh

says Sophie.

We feel a lot better now that she is home. She is her old goofy self just now with a peg leg. They haven't done anything other than resetting the dislocated toe but the bandaged it with a splint that covers her entire leg. Each step she takes with the splinted leg creates a resounding bang that can be heard across the entire house. I liken it to the sound of a six year old prancing around the house in mom's heels. We are going to keep the splint so that she can dress up as a pirate for Halloween next year.

We will find out on Monday what kind of "mass" popped the joint out of place. We will likely have to either treat the mass- if it is malignant. If it is not, we will probably have to do something to keep the joint from popping out again. Just knowing that we might not have to do anything for a bit makes me feel a LOT better.

We are currently at $900 for vet spending. . . I am trying to find a way to use this fact to guilt her into not using our rugs as a personal 3- ply bathroom site. Only the best for the princess. aaargh says pip.

a pawthetic attempt at a birthday

So let me recap the last day of events.

Brev turned 28. Woo hoo!
Sophie dislocated her paw. Boo hoo!

Puppy is having surgery today to either re-tighten the ligaments in the paw to keep them from popping out again or they are going to just amputate the part that is popped out. (but not the entire paw.)

The funniest part of this journey was how they kept asking if it was okay to take the next step with the dog.
"the x-ray will be $100, is that ok?"
"the x-ray didn't work, we have to sedate her. The quote for that is $70. Is that ok?"
"We forgot to quote you for the blood work for the sedation for the xray. That is $50. Is that ok?"

What did they expect me to say. . . No? The dog can't walk. OF COURSE we will get it fixed!!!

---breaking news---

Surgeon just called. Sophie has a tumor in her foot and they have taken some biopsies throughout her leg and foot to see how much they will have to amputate. Cancer sucks. Sad for Sophie. The surgeon was very nice though and asked us to decide how much financially and emotionally we wanted to invest in the dog. Tough conversations around the cottage today.

Sadly, "shake" was the only trick we did well. Tough for a three legged dog. Updates to come soon.

my day was pretty good, and yours?

a daily conversation.

how many licks

In the wicked spirit of Halloween, I will publicly point and laugh at my dog for eating the treats meant for the kids. The other night I came home to find my house littered with tootsie roll sticks. If there was any doubt that my five-foot-when-standing-on- her-hind-legs dog could reach the kitchen counter; well. . . that doubt has been shattered.

Mad props to Sophie for her ability to differentiate between the chocolatey-fruit goodness and the stick of paper.

This isn't the first time we have witnessed Sophie's rampage. For years I have questioned her ability to pick out the fine difference between crappy cotton underwear and anything that is silk. Finally I understand, it is a matter of class, of quality and of taste. This is a dog with a refined palate. It looks like those many years of culinary training have finally paid off; we can differentiate between silk: cotton and tootsie goodness: wrapper. Yo, save some treats for the kids!

In other news, this weekend was great, super fast, but great indeed. Tonight's post comes from unbelievably warm Austin Texas where I get the proud honor of declaring this my 200th post!

On that, good night y'all.

she prefer the pink collar, thank you very much

So we bit the bullet and installed invisible fencing across the driveway. When I bought the system, I realized that the collar was less than pretty so I bought her a lovely bubble gum pink collar as well. . . with a matching leash. Sophie seems like a dog that would look good in pink.

Now, I know that the dog is collar blind but she really did seem to like the new collar. . . or at least one of them.

For those of you who know Sophie's larger than life personality you will appreciate the fact that she hasn't received a 'correction' yet. She is just scared of the warning noise that the collar makes. The joggers may now pass our house in safety due to the magic power of empty cans of soda and a beeping driveway.

note: Barry, who most frequently walks the dog, was less than thrilled with the new pink accessories.

**2 points for the pun