Prayers for Rocky

Please pray for Rocky, my parents' black Lab. He's 10, and has been diagnosed with pancreatis. He is currently an inpatient in the "doggie hospital", and will probably be there for another day or so. He'll hopefully be fine (although my parents' bank account may not!), but it's still kind of worrisome. We got Rocky when he was a puppy and I was in college, so he's sort of been "my" dog, too.

I really hope he gets better, because I don't think I can handle losing two dogs in three months.

Look Who's Growing!!

It's been a while since I posted a pic of Simon. He's still growing, although not as fast as he was at first. We had him weighed about two weeks ago, and he weighed 37.5 lbs. He's still quite a bit smaller than Woody, but catching up fast! Woody weighs 58.7 lbs, so Simon only has 20 lbs to go! Here's a pic of our growing boy:

Simon's Dietary Regimen...

...is not limited to Purina One Large Breed Puppy Formula. Nor is it limited to his brother's food, Purina One Lifelong Health. No, Simon enjoys a wide range of gastrointestinal delights, such as: leather shoes (two pairs so far), bonded leather hymnals, library books, Annual Conference Journals, and yarn (he chewed a hole in an afghan).

Can you tell that he's teething? The sad thing is, we've been very careful about "supervising" him so he doesn't chew everything in sight. We've also provided him with tons of rawhide treats and bones so he has "approved chewing material." However, he goes through his approved material like it's going out of style, and then moves onto contraband material.

Anyone want a cute, adorable, black Lab puppy? Five months old, with all his shots and neutered to boot!

Hysterical cat video

You have to check out this video from YouTube. It features a cat getting a bath in a "PetSpa" machine-sort of like a washing machine for pets. James and I were dying of laughter while we were watching it. I wouldn't consider it animal cruelty, but it's obvious that the kitty didn't enjoy it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smwh1_XbnLo

In other news, Simon had an "orchiectomy" on Tuesday. That is, he got neutered. They sent him home with a list of admonitions for the next week or so. My favorite, "no strenuous play, running, or jumping." Great...he's a four month old puppy with a canine brother, and I'm supposed to prevent him from strenuous play? Sigh...

Santa picture

Last Wednesday, our local mall had a "Paws and Claus" event. We were able to bring our dogs into the mall to meet Santa. So, of course James and I took Woody and Simon! Here's a picture.

Yes, I know Woody's eyes make him look posessed. Oh, well. But aren't they cute?

Happy Birthday, Woody!

Today is Woody's birthday! He's seven (7) years old, which (because of his size) means that he is now a "senior dog." However, he's in such great health that we're expecting him to be around for another seven years!

Happy Birthday to our "big boy." Tonight we'll have some cake (hey, any excuse) and he'll be professionally groomed either today or this weekend.

On Wednesday, the local mall had a "Claus and Paws" event, where they allowed dogs to come and see Santa. We took Woody and Simon, and it was lots of fun. I'll post a picture as soon as I get them downloaded!

Thanksgiving Report and pics

Simon gets to know his Grandpa Bill

Woody crawled underneath Bill and Nina's deck. Don't ask us how he did it!

We survived the trip to Indiana and back. Simon was fine in the car; he slept most of the drive. He had some issues in the crate that James' parents got for him (I think he was hyper after the trip) so they got up with him about three times on Wednesday night. The other two nights, Simon slept in between them and did just fine.

Simon reminds me more and more of my parents' dog, Rocky. They got Rocky when he was six weeks old, and I can see a definite resemblance. Simon is a sweet puppy and fairly good, but he's still a baby. He gets separation anxiety, occasionally has accidents in the house (thank God for pet stain remover!), and has boundless amounts of energy. He will be starting "school" soon; we're going to take him to a trainer for some initial training. Then he'll start "puppy kindergarten" after the New Year.

Oh! And Simon is growing with leaps and bounds. He weighed 7.9 lbs at his first vet visit on the 14th. We've taken him to get weighed twice since then. On the 21st, he weighed 10 lbs. Yesterday, he weighed 11.3 lbs. If he keeps this up, I won't be able to lift him by New Year's!

New Puppy Pics

Above picture: Simon and Woody together in our living room. Notice the size difference.

Below picture: Simon in his crate. See how little space he takes?

We took Simon to the vet on Tuesday. Everyone oohed and ahhed over how cute he was, and they told him that he was lucky to get such a great family. :) He got his first set of shots, a flea treatment, a pill to prevent heartworm, and some de-worming medicine. The vet said that he's a healthy puppy. Yay! He currently weighs 7.9 lbs, and she (our vet) expects him to be around Woody's size when he's full-grown.

Simon is sleeping better at night, and will even sleep/play in his crate during the day. This is good, because while he is adorable, I have sermons to prepare, services to plan, people to call, etc. There's only so much work you can do with a puppy in your arms/lap. Thank God for the crate!

Simon Update

Simon is still adorable and sweet. We're also noticing that he's very intelligent. He's already figured out which one of us is female (obviously he was recently weaned), where the dog/puppy food is kept, and what his name is. He grabs and holds things with his paws, which I've been told is a sign of intelligence.

Last night we got Simon a crate, collar, puppy food, and a few toys. He goes into the crate willingly, but doesn't like being alone, even if we stay in the room. When we went to bed last night, we put him in his crate (with a blanket and a few toys) in the kitchen and then went to bed. Now, the master bedroom is on the other side of the house from the kitchen. And since the bedrooms are in their own sort of "wing", we had several doors closed between us and Simon. Including the bedroom door. WE COULD STILL HEAR HIM CRYING. He cried for a while (probably 45 mins or so), then went to sleep. He woke both of us up at 3:30, so we took him out, fed him, let him drink, took him out again, and put him back to bed. Thankfully, this time we went to sleep fairly quickly. This puppy has major separation anxiety. I hope it will improve over time. Maybe it's just because he's in a new place without his doggie mother.

I am SO exhausted, since we didn't get much sleep Saturday night, either. Someone told me that placing a ticking clock in with a puppy will lull it to sleep. Apparently it mimics the mother's heartbeat. So I think I'll head to Wal-Mart and see if they still sell clocks that tick.

Meet Simon!

There's a new member of the Money family. His name is Simon, he is six weeks old, and he is a black Lab mix. We have been looking for a playmate for Woody, but didn't expect to get a puppy. This happened kind of suddenly...

The St. John's Fishermen's Club held a stew today at church. Around 11:30, this woman walks in with an adorable black puppy. I gush over him and ask what his name is. She says that he doesn't have a name yet, and is free to a good home. I held him, looked into his eyes, and fell in love. She said that I could take him home to meet James and Woody and see how they liked him. So I did...and about three hours later I called her and told her we were keeping the puppy. By then we had decided to name him Simon.

Woody seems to really like Simon, and I think they'll become good friends in the next few months. Simon is very sweet, and fairly calm, given his age. He likes to be held and cuddled. The next few weeks will be spent housebreaking him and beginning his training. On Tuesday I'll take him to the vet to make sure he's healthy and get his shots.

Stay tuned to see how Simon grows. And maybe I'll get a picture of Woody and Simon together...

Simon eating

Simon eating dinner. Isn't he tiny?

Bad Mommy!

OK, I am a bad pet parent. Thanks to me, Woody has two sores on his neck where the skin has rubbed off and become raw. He has some ointment and wound sealant (some kind of spray), and he'll be just fine. I'm feeling guilty, though. Here's the story...

About six weeks ago, we installed an electric "radio fence" for Woody. There's a wire buried around the edge of our yard that's connected to a power supply in the house. Woody has a special collar that gives him (small, humane) shocks if he goes too close to the fence border. On the collar are two small prongs that deliver the shocks.

So, a few weeks ago I glanced out the front window and nearly had a heart attack. There was Woody saying "hi" to some yellow dog (Lab or Golden Retriever, maybe). That's not what made my heart stop. It was the fact that they were IN THE ROAD. Now, we live on a fairly busy road. Both the local high school and middle school are a 1/2 mile down the road from the parsonage. The traffic on the road is the main reason we installed the fence in the first place. We don't want our dog to be hit by a car and killed!

I called Woody in, and he came. I checked, and the power to the fence was on. The collar still had plenty of battery juice. So I figured that the collar wasn't tight enough against Woody's neck; he hadn't felt the shock, and was able to go through the fence. I simply tightened the collar a little, and sent Woody on his merry way.

This Saturday, I had to go to Richmond (about a 3 1/2 hour drive), so I was gone all day (left at 5:45 am and came back at 7:00 p.m.). When I got home, James showed me Woody's neck. It was gross. The fur was matted in places, and we could see at least one prong-sized sore that was oozing. I guess I put Woody's collar on a little too tight, and it rubbed his neck raw.

I'm sorry, Woody! The moral to this story: if you get an underground fence for your pet, check their neck and collar every night!

Woody Update 3

Good news! Woody is back to his cheerful, energetic, and healthy self again. The vet sent us home on Monday afternoon with two medications, some anti-parasite powder to mix in his food, and six cans of prescription dog food. After three days of this regimen, I think it's safe to say that Woody is "cured." He'll be on the medications for another four days or so, and we'll slowly wean him back onto his dry Purina One food. Right now we're excited that he's eating normally (for Woody, that is) again.*

*For those of you who don't know, Woody has interesting eating patterns. We joke that he alternates between being anorexic or binge eating. Several days will pass, and Woody may eat 2 cups of food...total. Then, all of a sudden, he'll start eating anything you put in front of him. I guess it all evens out in the end. He's at a healthy weight, so we don't worry too much.

Woody Update 2

Woody is home from the vet's office. His bloodwork came back OK and they gave us some medication and a special prescription dog food. They also gave us some de-worming stuff for any parasites in his system. Now the challenge will be to make him eat!

We've had a "pet insurance" policy for him since we adopted him in 2004, but haven't had to file a claim on it. Part of the reason is that the deductible in $75/per illness. Now we're glad that we have it, and PetCare will be receiving our first claim!

Woody Update

Poor Woody is still sick. I took him to the vet, and they said he probably has colitis (they found blood in his stool), but they don't know why yet. He's there right now; they're running some tests on him. He's also somewhat dehydrated, so they may have to give him some fluids. I'm supposed to call at 3:30 p.m. to find out what's what. Hopefully I'll be able to pick him up and take him home!

The poor thing was so lethargic on Saturday night and all day yesterday. He seems to be feeling slightly better now, but he refuses to eat anything. I have confidence in this vet, though. She and the other vet in the practice have both been highly recommended by several people in my church.

Sick Puppy

Poor Woody has a sick tummy. Last night we took him to Sonic, because it's his favorite restaurant (I think he just likes getting a car ride and eating with us). He always gets a corn dog and James often gives him a couple fries and a bite of hamburger. Anyway, this morning around 5am he woke me up, whimpering. I let him out for a few minutes, and then we went back to bed. Same drill again at 7am. He seemed OK after we woke up this morning, so I thought he was better. Wrong. James and I went to town to do some errands. When we came home two hours later, Woody streaked out the door before we had it halfway open. Turns out, poor boy had an accident on the kitchen floor. Guess the corn dog didn't agree with him...

Now, Woody is so well-trained that we know he must have been really miserable for an accident to have happened. I can count on one hand the number of times that's happened since we've had him. We appreciate his thoughtfulness, though. Instead of going on the beautiful hardwood floors, the lovely rugs in the living and dining rooms, or even our bargain rug in the T.V. room, he chose the vinyl floor in the kitchen. That's by far the easiest spot in clean up. Good job, boy! Thank for making Mommy's job easier.

Woody should be on the mend now. I gave him some doggie medicine and will fix him a gourmet meal of rice and cottage cheese tonight. I'll follow the same drill tomorrow. Just to be on the safe side, I'm giving him a few days off from his job as my "bodyguard." Normally he comes to the church office with me, but that's not happening until he's 100% better. No way, Jose. It's not like the Stony Mill area is high-crime, anyway. It's a very safe area; I just like having Woody with me when I'm at church alone.

Happy Adoption Day, Woody!!!

Two years ago today, Woody became an official member of the Money family. He has brought so much joy and love into our lives; we know he was a gift from God.

The story: Our friend Mike was visiting from Virginia, and on Sunday July 18 we drove him out to Versailles to a railroad museum. On the way back to Lexington, we saw a sign for the Woodford Humane Society. Someone (either James or Mike) said, "wanna go look at dogs?" We decided to stop at WHS. James and I knew we wanted a dog, but were planning on waiting until fall to adopt one. However, we felt it couldn't hurt to "just look around." We went around the kennel, looking at dogs. There was a male lab mix in a corner cage. We took a second look at him, and while we were doing so, a staff member started talking to us. We told her what kind of dog we wanted: medium-large sized, over 1 year old, intelligent, and quiet. She pointed to the Lab mix we were looking at and said, "Woody is the perfect dog for you! He's 4 years old, well-trained, and hasn't barked in the month that he's been here!" We agreed to take him on a walk, since he did seem kinda cute. At one point, he looked up at me, and I fell in love. James liked him, too. However, we didn't want to make a spur of the moment decision and weren't sure that we were ready for a dog yet. So we left, planning to think it over.

James and I talked, and decided that we should probably wait until fall to adopt a dog. We had just moved a month ago, and had some bills to pay. It would cost a lot to buy dog food, toys, a bed, and other supplies. Still, I couldn't help but think of poor Woody alone in that kennel...On Monday July 19, James turned to me in bed and said, "you really like Woody, don't you." I said yes, but that I understood we had to wait before getting a dog.

On Tuesday afternoon, James called me on my cell phone as I was running errands and told me to come home. When I opened the door, a furry black thing rushed at me. It was Woody! James had gone out to Versailles that morning and adopted Woody as a surprise for me. It was my anniversary and birthday present rolled into one. Don't I have a great husband??

Woody and Daddy

Woody and "Dr. Daddy" at James' graduation party this spring.

Woody and Mommy

Woody and Patti on her last day of seminary in May 2005!

Woody swimming

Woody swimming at the "Pool Party for Pooches" last year! He's a great swimmer!