Glory Byrne 1996 - 2011

December 23, 2011 Glory went to be with Bob in heaven.

We were dogless when Glory came to live with us fourteen and a half years ago.

DH Bob overhead a young man in Paw Paw say he had a six month old lab mix puppy that was tearing things up in his apartment and he had to "get rid of her". She ended up in the cab of Bob's truck.

Upon arrival, Glory jumped out of the truck, ran around the perimeter of our five acres, checked out the pond, checked out the creek and was from that day on a very happy, well-behaved dog who never tore anything up. She was too busy running, swimming, catching frogs, and guarding her new home from rodents, rabbits, deer, and other wildlife.

She was a wonderful, intelligent, faithful dog. She will always be remembered with love.

How Are the Dogs Doing?

People keep asking me, "How are you doing?" I don't have a good answer for that. The truth is that I'm doing OK considering this is only the start of the third week without Bob. But OK doesn't mean I feel anyway near normal. It just means I'm coping and getting the important things accomplished.

Grief has stages, so I may be doing OK today but maybe not so OK tomorrow? What do people want to hear when they ask that question of a new widow?

I'm probably way over analysing that question, so let's chance the subject and talk about how the dogs are doing.

Glory, the 60 pound almost 15 year old lab mix:



Glory used to sleep next to Bob's side of the bed. Since Bob's death she's been sleeping under the kitchen table or under a table in the living room.

The week before Bob died, we though we were going to lose Glory. She wouldn't eat and couldn't walk without help. Bob said the last sad goodby to her before I took her to the vet who diagnosed a urinary tract infection and 25% kidney function.

It only took two days of antibiotics and Glory was back on her feet, hungry and feeling as peppy as an almost fifteen year old lab can feel. It was so wonderful to be able to bring Bob's dog back to him for his final days. She's on a special diet for her kidney function now. Still, I suspect she won't be with me much longer.

Sunny, the 15 pound very mixed breed with advanced osteoarthritis of her spine:


Sunny has been sleeping under the bed instead of in the bed where she used to cuddle up next to Bob. She does occasionally cuddle up next to me at night and when I sit with the laptop. I can tell she misses Bob.

Pappy, the 15 pound very old Papillon rescued nine years ago:



Pappy has always been a needy dog, full of love and wanting to be with his people. He used to sleep on the pillow above my head and follow me around all day to be close whenever I would sit or recline.

Now he sleeps cuddled up next to me, which is a comfort and a blessing. He still follows me around all day and gets very nervous when I leave home. Sometimes he whines at me to settle down and snuggle with him when I am home.

I've read about dogs with separation anxiety, but never experienced it first hand. Dogs have personalities and smart dogs, like all three of mine, know when something is not right. Pappy is the least secure because of his history and sensitive personality.

I'm giving him lots of love and attention whenever possible. He's old, he had a difficult life before he came here to live, and we both need each other right now.

What's In the Downspout?

Why is the little dog so interested in this downspout?


Because the downspout is a favorite spot for the little chipmunk to hid when the dogs come out the door.

The Dogs Take a Short, Hot Walk Out Back

What some old dogs do when the temperature is over 90 and they get taken on a short walk out in the field:



Sunny, the youngest dog at nine years, likes to bask in the sun.

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Pappy is an old male Papillon, but not too old to do his male dog duty marking his yard.

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Glory is checking to see if the blackberries are ripe enough to eat. She loves them and will eat them right off the stalk when they're ready enough to pass her sweetness test.

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Not yet. But almost.

This was taken last week. This week some berries are dark. Glory will be helping herself by the end of the week.

Celebrating Spring

We're all loving spring so much I was even happy to have to mow the lawn yesterday.

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I've been knitting in the evenings. There isn't enough progress on anything to bother with a knitting picture, so here are some apple blossoms instead.

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Mom Bluebird has four eggs and has begun her two week stint of nest sitting.

I took this with the zoom lens so she wouldn't feel the need to leave the nest box.

She peeks out and watches us during dog walks, but she sits tight and we don't go too close. It's a little chilly yet and I want those eggs to stay warm.

Farewell Doggy School

When Sunny and I started doggy school in 2001, I only planned on taking a ten week puppy class so she could learn basic manners. She loved it and I loved it. We ended up going through an Intermediate Class. Then we moved on to Hobby Advanced until her back got too fragile to continue in 2009.

When middle age Pappy joined the family in 2002 he had many "issues". He started doggy school, gradually resolved his issues with the help of dog trainer Gail, and ended up in Hobby Advanced. For many years, I went to to Hobby Advanced class twice a week, once with Sunny, again with Pappy. It was fun and a big part of my life.

That's why I cried last night when Pappy had his last doggy school class. He is just too old to continue.

To mark the occasion and bring back some fond memories, here are a few of my favorite pictures from his doggy school days.



Kalamazoo Do-Dah Parade, June 2004.

Briarwood dogs and owners marched as the Briarwood Beach Bums and won second place.

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I promised Pappy if he would leave the Doggles on for the entire parade he would never had to wear them again. He did and I kept the promise.

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Picnic at Lake Michigan, Summer 2005. Gail is teaching Pappy to swim.

I love the way his tail sticks up above the water.

He did swim in Lake Michigan. He'd rather not. I never made him swim again.

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Christmas Party, 2004.

He wants to, but he didn't.

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Halloween Party 2008.

Pappy the pumpkin.

It's Our Turn For Too Much Snow

Time to stop laughing at the folks out east and get our own shovels to work. Again.

The snow started early this morning. Early enough to make the morning commute into a game of bumper cars. It's been snowing all day and will go on all night.

The dogs had a grooming appointment at noon today, which I called and rescheduled for next week. With some white-knuckle driving I could have delivered them, but I was concerned about being able to pick them up during the evening commute.

That turned out to be good thinking. I-94 was closed down and the interstate traffic, including semis, diverted onto the two lane country road (Red Arrow Highway) I would have needed to take. It was a good day to plea "chicken driver" and just stay home.



All three of the dogs are smart about the weather. It's amazing how long they can go without a trip outdoors when they want to stay in.

We took a walk at ten am and came home covered with snow. All three dogs decided this was a good day to catch up on their napping. Not a single dog asked to go out again until four this afternoon.



Pappy likes to nap cuddled up as close as possible while I sit on the loveseat with my laptop.

This picture explains why I get dog hair in my laptop keys.

More Fun Than Cables in Progress

Christmas Eve Mom pulled out her turquoise More Fun Than Cables, waved them in my face, and told me they were what she meant by "simple" and that these were one of her favorite pair of socks.

Getting the subtle hint, I decided to make her third pair of purple socks using the More Fun Than Cables pattern.


Pattern: More Fun Than Cables.

Yarn: Stalwart Sock from Slackford Studio. 75% Superwash Merino, 25% Nylon 4 Ply Fingering Weight Sock Yarn.

Color: Iced Lilac.

Needles: Options 2.50mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch in stockinette.


Big dog Glory finally understands why the little dogs didn't join us on this walk.

Sunshine and Snores

Yesterday we had some sun, not a common sight in Michigan winter.

It's a little cold to roll around on the snow covered, frozen ground outside, so Pappy just pretended he was outdoors.


Last night I sat down to knit and fell asleep with the knitting in my hands.

Tonight was doggy school so there's been no knitting so far. This is going to be short and sweet so I can get in some knitting time before falling asleep.

A Word From the Dogs About Snow

Just checked the National Weather Service. In the five day forecast there is Light Snow, Wintry Mix, Snow/Sleet, Snow Likely, and Blowing Snow, each on a different day.

I asked the dogs what they think about the onslaught of winter weather. Here are their answers.

Glory
If I plaster my head with snow, I show up better in pictures.


Sunny
It's cold out here. Let me in. NOW!


Pappy

Doggy Updates

From Pappy:
This is how Mom has been feeling the past few days, so it's been pretty boring around here.

I'm hoping she's better enough to take me to doggy school tonight. I know she wants to be better for the doggy school Halloween party tomorrow so she can make me dress up stupid and laugh at me and all the other dogs.

I love her anyway.


From Sunny:
Today is the first time in fifteen days Mom has let me walk in the field with Pappy and Glory. There have been lots of changes since then. Where did all the green go?

I smell deer here. Why didn't Pappy and Glory do a better job of keeping them away? Nobody does anything right when I'm not around to supervise.


From Glory:
Mom takes lots of pictures of me but they don't make the blog because I'm black and usually look more like a shadow than the handsome dog that I am.

I hear Mom and Dad talking about my diet. They think I gained too much weight being inactive last winter. Now that I'm slim again they don't want me to gain it back.

I'm in favor of nothing that cuts back the amount of food that I get. So us older girls get a little plump. So what?

Friday Followup

Sunny
We're holding our breath while reducing the Prednesone and watching her appear to be mostly better for now.

Sunny is eight years old. She first started having back problems when she was five and even then the x-ray showed some disk fusion in her lumbar region. She's way too young for this.

One of the younger vets said it was the worse arthritis of the canine spine she'd ever seen and handed us over to the elder vet of the practice. He's wonderful and will talk to us on the phone anytime we're not sure what to do next. Giving Sunny Xanax was his idea and it has worked great to relax her when she's in pain. It also appears to reduce her muscle spasms better than the muscle relaxant.

Sunny's given name is Sunshine because she brought sunshine into our lives. We always end up calling our dogs something with e-e-e on the end, so she's Sunny except when we're exasperated with her. Then, just like with a kid, we call her SUN..SHINE!

Hearing her name, people assume she's Sonny, male. That's why DH Bob thought it was funny to name our other little dog Pappy - so we'd have a Pappy and a Sonny/Sunny. Plus, of course, because he's a Papillon (the dog, not DH). I don't think anybody gets the joke except Bob. He had to explain it to me.


Pappy
Last week I was wondering if Pappy was getting too old for doggy school because he was getting tired in class and reluctant to do some of the things he likes least.

His class is called "Hobby Advanced", non-formal obedience, agility, tricks, games, and lots of socialising and laughter. Many of us have been working our dogs together for years. The dogs know each other and are excited to see each other every week.

Dog trainer Gail assured me that Pappy was still walking in the door excited to be there and, if it were her dog, she would make adjustments but not keep him away. She said she would help figure out the best way to keep Pappy happy.

When Pappy and I got there last night, Gail had come up with a doggy brain game for Pappy to play while the other dogs chased the dumbbell over the hurdles. On agility nights, we're going to skip obedience. Little changes like that are going allow Pappy (and me) to keep having fun at doggy school for a while longer.

Pappy and I were assured by most of the class that he needed to stay. I feel good about what's happening and can't say enough nice things about Gail who truly loves and understands dogs and their people.


Septic System
One of the highlights of this past week was getting the power restored to the septic system pump.

Living in a wetland requires by law an expensive and complicated septic system with an above ground drain field fed by a dosing chamber with an underground pump. (For septic system nerds who want to know more, go here.)

Something happened to the underground wire providing power to the pump and we had an electrician and helper here on and off for two days digging up the yard and fixing things.

I'm not sure why I consider this blog worthy. Maybe to keep things realistic in noting that living in the middle of nowhere amongst nature is wonderful but not without disadvantages.

More Autumn

This is one of the prettiest autumns we've experienced in a while. I'm soaking up the beauty of the colors in preparation for the drab winter months ahead.


This is the view out the window in front of where I sit with my laptop.


Pappy is eight weeks into letting his amazing fur grow out for the winter.

It's time to sign him up for a new doggy school session and I'm wondering if he's getting too old. He gets tired easy, hesitates before the jumps, and whines under his breath during obedience.

We're not sure how old he is, somewhere in his teens. All that white hair on his face wasn't there in his younger days.

He's had a complete physical and is healthy. Maybe it's time to let him retire. I think I'll miss it more than he does.

Monday Monday

Monday Monday, can't trust that day,
Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be
Oh Monday Monday, how could you leave and not take me.

Six thirty this morning I woke up with a start to DH Bob saying, "I don't think Sunny is OK."

She wasn't. Her back was crippled up and she was walking stiff legged and in pain.

I jumped out of bed and started her on a round of steroids. At 9:00 I called Dr. Baker, her vet, and got instructions for what to do next. More steroids. Lots of steroids for three days, then start to taper off. If she goes back into pain, go back to lots of steroids.

She is looking better this afternoon, so I'm hoping we caught it in time to stop the spinal swelling before her muscles clench up.


The east deck where we keep a ten foot plank full of sunflower seed for the birds is full of possum poop. Way more possum poop than should be possible.

The possum come up on the deck in the middle of the night to eat dropped seed. Evidently they're incapable of putting food into one end of their digestive tract without shooting poop out the other end.

I should be out there cleaning it up instead of inside writing about it.

Because I like my readers, you get a picture of a pretty male Red-bellied woodpecker eating sunflower seed off the plank instead of what's underneath the plank.


Possum (I think the US version is officially named opossum, but nobody calls them that) are slow moving, ugly, dumb acting nocturnal marsupials commonly seen as roadkill in Michigan. In fact, there's a joke about that:

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To show the possum it could be done.

Doggy School Pool Party

Thursday evening Pappy's doggy school class was invited to a pool party.

As usual at this type of event, I was having too much fun to take many pictures and regret it now that it's time to write a blog post.

It all looks so orderly and peaceful in my pictures. In reality there was much coaxing, talking, splashing, and wet-dog shaking. Lots and lots of splashing and wet-dog shaking. Another reason the camera didn't come out more.

Most of the water loving dogs were used to wading out gradually into a lake. Diving off the edge of a pool required some learning.



The most popular activity was to throw a Frisbee or other toy in the water and then convince a dog to go in and fetch it.

Some of the dogs learned to use the pool steps.


Even the good swimmers loved the life vests. It made everything so much easier.

A few of the dogs with non-buoyant rear ends needed life vests to stay up.


There were a few dogs who thought being in the water was not a good idea at all. They were excused to play in the large, fenced in yard or to watch from the sidelines.

Gracie, in the picture, wanted to be as far away from the pool as possible once her quick dip was over.


I knew Pappy's opinion of swimming: Why would any sane dog want to do that?!!!

He enjoyed the agility course set up outside the pool enclosure.

Walking the plank is one of his favorites. In this picture he's not happy with me because I asked him to pause on top for a picture. He does like to please, however, so he did it. We did the course multiple other times so he could run the whole plank without stopping.

I Have A Good Excuse

Note: No knitting or nice nature pictures in this post. My excuse is caring for an ailing dog. Details follow for those who are interested.

Background for those who don't know:

Sunny is a 15 pound Papillon mix with advanced Spondylosis (spinal osteoarthritis,a degenerative disorder that causes loss of normal spinal structure and function). The back third of her spine is fused with calcium deposits. The mid third of her spine is in the process of fusing. Somehow it got jarred which has resulted in severe pain and muscle contractions. She is currently on a steroid, a muscle relaxant, and Xanax. It has been over a week since this started. The vet says it will likely be another week before she's back to as normal as she's going to get.

Sunny is doing better. We have wonderful vets. They are keeping in close contact with us to monitor Sunny's meds and change them as needed as she gets more and more painfree and able to move again.

Last night she only yipped loud enough to wake me up twice. Tomorrow we try cutting the steroid (Prednosolone) down from two a day to one a day, and we're giving her short walks outdoors which she loves. She's even able to throw her tail up over her back and prance a bit.

She's a feisty little girl and tries to carry on with all her important duties - like reminding us when it's time to serve dinner.

Bob and I are stressed out. The main reason is watching Sunny be in pain. When she yips and/or cries, every nerve in our bodies stands on end in sympathy.

Another reason is the amount of work and attention it takes to take care of three dogs when one requires special attention, individual walks, and lots of extra loving although she hurts too much for us to hold her. Our days and nights have been devoted to canine care.

On a practical note, what I really need is newspapers. Do you have any idea how much a 15 pound dog on steroids can pee?

Flashback Friday - Pappy Learns to Play

On the second Friday of each month I go back five years to pick out one of my favorite blog posts for that month and repost it here on Flashback Friday.

This post was originally written in March, 2004.

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Pappy Learns to Play
Autumn 2002, we spotted a little adult Papillon on Petfinder who needed a home. (Warning: Petfinder is one of the saddest sites on the internet. If you're soft hearted for animals, don't go there unless you want to add to your family.)

Pappy was 250 miles away living in a foster home. The details of his history are unknown. Unpleasant things had happened to him as evidenced by his broken ear, the scar across his back, and his tendency to run and hide. He didn't know how to play.

Rescue groups are usually very careful about placing their dogs. I understand. It may be the last chance a dog has to find a stable, loving home.

It took over a month to get approved to adopt Pappy. We had to fill out a seven page application, provide personal references, vet references, and have a home inspection.

Finally the day arrived when we could meet Pappy in person and bring him home. He came into the house and displayed his fear by peeing on at least a dozen upright objects and running under the bed. That night he climbed on top of the bed and slept at our feet. It was a beginning.

Most rescue dogs come with "issues". Pappy was no exception. He didn't know he was safe and loved. He was a long way from being comfortable enough to play.



The first month we loved him when he would allow it. The rest of the time we left him alone to get used to his new home. Then, he started doggy school.

His first homework assignment was an exercise created just for him. He was to be held and petted by person A while person B fed him little pieces of turkey dog. It worked. He started to learn about love and trust and letting us hold him. He still wasn't ready to play.

Whenever we played tug with Sunny, our other dog, Pappy headed under the bed. By the summer of 2003, he would watch the tug game from the far sidelines. When we tried to get him to play, he acted like he didn't know what to do. One day he grabbed a toy snake in his mouth and ran under the table and shook it back and forth. He wouldn't hold onto it when we tried to take the other end, but it was a start. It was almost like playing. Very tentative playing.

Pappy is very intelligent. He excelled at doggy school beginner class and intermediate obedience class, so he was promoted to advanced class where the dogs do agility. Time to play!

Oops! Pappy didn't know how to play. The first week was awful. I dragged him around the agility course three times. He was so upset that I wasn't sure I could bear to bring him back for the second week.

Week two he was excited to go to doggy school. He really wanted to be there, but he was still afraid to do the agility course. I dragged him through again.

The third week was about the same as the second. Gail the trainer coached me to have patience. We could both see that he wanted to do it. I decided to give it a little more time.

Week four was a miracle. It was as though he'd been pep talking himself all week. "Pappy, you know you can do that stuff and it looks like a lot of fun. You have all the love you need and now it's time to play!"

He was very excited to be there. He relaxed and went sailing over the hurdles, through the tunnels, up and down the A-frame, and through the hoops. Pappy was playing and loving it!

Now Pappy will tentatively play tug with his snake. He always acts like he's thrilled to be trying, so we keep working on it.

It's only been sixteen months since he joined the family. He still has more to learn about living in a home where he's loved and where it's OK to play.

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Follow up, March 2009
Pappy is totally relaxed now. He knows he is loved and cared for.

He loves to play, he still does agility, and he never goes under the bed.