Thinking About…

The dreaded day came and went this week. Gen’s medical conditions got the better of her, and we decided that we didn’t want to keep fixing one thing to just have another pop up. So we put her to sleep on Monday afternoon. We miss her sweet face SO MUCH. She was such a good girl, and we love her so much, and we’re so sad. But we know that she’s not suffering now, and that making sure she didn’t suffer was our responsibility. Damn it.

I keep thinking, I want my dog back. But when I think that, I don’t mean the dog that paced the house for hours at a time, unable to settle down. Not the dog that couldn’t see and spent her time bonking into things. Not the dog who was losing her fur and had a big bump on her back from injections. Not the dog who was beginning to suffer from seizures. I want the dog back in that picture up there. The dog with the big smile on her face who used to run down the stairs to greet us when we came home. The dog who would lick our toes when we went barefoot. Who would spin around and around and dig up the condo complex dirt when she was excited. The dog who went for long walks with me and slept by our beds. That’s the dog I want back. Goodbye sweet baby girl. We miss you horribly.

(Ted wrote a lovely post, with a nice picture montage that shows what a pretty girl she was, here.)

There’s no two ways about it…Genevieve is an old lady. She takes 8 pills a day to keep her from having diarrhea, which sometimes works. She take 1 pill a day to help keep her from peeing uncontrollably. She takes 1 pill a day to help her appetite and cognitive function. She’s blind. She doesn’t leave the house anymore, except to go in the back yard to do her business. We take her out front sometimes, but after 2 1/2 years of being blind, I think it’s scary for her. I can’t leave her in the back yard, because she might get stuck behind the air conditioner unit or tangled up in the rose bushes.

I’ll admit, I miss my walking buddy. I miss the days when she was thrilled to go for a 3 to 4 mile walk with me, trotting the whole way, happy to be home to her water and a nap. I miss the days when she would follow me around during the day, especially after I came home to work. She stopped coming upstairs about 6 months ago, after almost falling down the stairs a couple of times. I think up is fine, down is dangerous.

But now we’re in this new time, a time when we have to watch her and make sure she’s not suffering, make sure she’s content and comfortable. Sometimes difficult when a previously piggish pooch suddenly becomes a presently picky pooch, turning her nose up at many of my attempts to get her to eat. Sometimes she’ll go on a strike and not eat for 2 or 3 days. Once this happened, and we made an appointment to have her put to sleep the following Monday. But then she rallied and started eating over the weekend, and the vet said it was up to us, there was no immediate need to put her down. Ugh. What a horrid decision. Do we put her to sleep now, to avoid any future suffering? Or do we wait, promise ourselves that we’ll watch and do our best, but try to enjoy our last days with her. We decided we weren’t ready to let her go, as she was still comfortable and content. But we’re on alert, watching for that time when she won’t be OK anymore. We’ve talked to Maya, who says she’s not happy about it, but she understands. Ugh.

We love our baby dog. We try to give her all of the attention and love we can, though like an old person, she’s not always interested or engaged. At least she’s not grumpy. For now, it’s about trying to get her to eat. Trying to get all of those damn pills down her throat. Trying to keep perspective, and know that we don’t want her to suffer, but at the same time, we don’t need to let her go before her time. Not easy.

Hi Everyone, this is Genevieve! Guess what I figured out? After all of these years with my pack, eating that stupid kibble they give me, being grateful for every day, I finally decided I had had enough. I just couldn’t take it anymore! I mean, they make all of this delicious smelling shash (J’s note…Gen calls food ‘shash’), and the best I can hope for is to smell it, and once in awhile I get a bite, and one scoop of stupid kibble in my dish. Not fair! So I went on a hunger strike. Oh my goodness, did I scare the bosses! They would coax and beg me to eat. Big boss would hand feed me, which sometimes worked. I felt sorry for him. But then I’d remember my plan, and spit out the kibble. Smart, huh? Then they would put a little bit of chicken juice or milk in my food, to tempt me. I wasn’t falling for it. No way! Stupid kibble. Then they said, “blah blah blah, afraid to change her diet, blah blah blah, sensitive tummy, blah blah blah, carpet cleaner, poop, mess, blah blah.” I’ll tell you, they talked about it a LOT. Whatever. I don’t want that stupid kibble any more! This went on for a few weeks. I would have to give in and eat once in awhile, because I was really hungry! But for the most part, I got good at not eating. Sure, I was tired. I was weak. I didn’t have any energy. HA! That scared them.

And you know what? My hunger strike paid off! Medium boss mixed me up some food that tastes a lot like what they eat! Maybe they’ve finally accepted me as one of the pack! All I can say is, it’s about time! I have a very sensitive nose (we dogs are known for that), and I smell (and taste!) chicken, rice, chicken juice (J’s note, I cooked the rice with low sodium chicken broth), carrots, and cottage cheese in the new food! Medium boss mixes it with my stupid kibble, and you know what? My stupid kibble tastes kind of good with all of that mixed in! The only part I don’t like is that they mix in something bitter tasting at the last minute. It tastes like the milk from Mommy’s last boo boo, which as everyone knows, is not the best milk. Medium boss says something like, “eat the medicine, blah blah blah, no poop in the house, blah blah blah, carpet cleaner, blah blah”. Whatever. I wish I had thought of this YEARS ago! I could have been eating people shash all of this time, if only I had gone on strike sooner! Pay attention, doggy friends! You too can have a home cooked meal, rather than that stupid kibble!

In other news, I’m a baby! Really, I’m the cutest dog that ever was or will be. The only thing cuter than me is me as a puppy. Can you imagine what a cute little ball of fluff I was? Sometimes I like to lie there, napping, and think about how cute I am, and how cute I was as a puppy. Let me tell you, it’s pretty cute, and I have good dreams.

Other news, Medium Boss has started making me wear stupid scarfs around my neck. I’m not sure I like them. I mean, I can’t see them, because it’s still dark here (is it dark where you are?), but I can feel them. She said something like, “blah blah blah, thyroid issue, hair loss, blah blah blah, cover it up, blah blah”. Whatever. Hey, if it makes her happy, I guess it’s OK. Sometimes you have to throw the bosses a bone, you know? Remember that. Those are words of wisdom from my Mommy to me, and I’m passing them on to you.

Talk to you soon I hope! Bye! Remember, no more stupid kibble!

Hi Everyone, it’s Genevieve! Guess what? Today’s my birthday! I’m 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 today! Medium Boss keeps saying I’m 13, and that I’m no longer a tween and had better start acting my age, but that just goes to show that she doesn’t understand dog time AT ALL.

Last week, Medium Boss took me to a new place to have a bath. It was kind of scary, and I’m sorry to say that I dug in my heels a bit and didn’t let her guide me to the car. But it was kind of loud! And there were so many interesting smells! And you know, since the lights went out and the world got dark, I’m a lot more careful. My mommy always said, “If it’s dark, Genevieve, you have to be careful, or you might start bonking into things and you might hurt your pretty face!” My mommy is the smartest, nicest dog ever. I wish you could meet her. I wish I could see her…it’s been almost 13 years since I’ve seen her, and that’s not fair! Anyway, I try to be very careful wherever I go, even in my own den, but still, I bonk my pretty face on things, and I don’t like it. So of course when she took me to the bath place, with all of those busy loud sounds, it was scary! And then do you know what happened? I smelled my neighbor, Barbara, come out of another place near the dog wash! What’s Barbara doing there? Was my nose lying to me? That would be HORRIBLE. I trust my nose. But then I heard her voice, and she was petting me, and I knew my nose was telling the truth. Whew.

So then the day after that was a party for Little Boss’s birthday. Hey, how come I don’t have a party? What? So it was loud and crowded and there was my friend dog, Piper, who came over too. I like the noise and busy, though, because among all of those feet and voices, someone always drops something on the floor for me to eat. Yummy!

Then a few days after that, Medium Boss was giving me my pee pill, which she wraps in meat because otherwise I’ll spit it out, she accidentally gave me one of Little Boss’s vitamins! It tasted funny, but mostly like meat, so I swallowed it. Then Medium Boss realized what she had done (she was still in her groggy morning mode), and she said “Oh NO!” She called the vet and the vet said one vitamin probably wouldn’t hurt me, so she relaxed a bit. She watched me all day, and I felt a little funny, but mostly it was OK.

I still like going for walks, but sometimes I get scared!  It’s so dark outside, and it makes me worry.  So my bosses have been taking me for very short walks, maybe 10 minutes at the most.  I miss walking with Medium Boss for 3 or 4 miles, but crappicola, there’s no way I’m going that far now!  You have no idea what might be out there waiting for you.

On the poop front, I’ve been a very good girl.  I only poop in the den once every week or two!  Good girl Genevieve.  The thing is, I always feel very guilty for pooping in the den.  I know I’m not supposed to.  Medium boss just makes disappointed sounds and cleans it up.  Which is worse, getting your nose rubbed in it, or disappointed tsk tsk?  I’m not sure.  Either way, I don’t like it.  So I try to hold it in.  But hello!  I’m 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13!  I’m no longer a tween!  What do you expect?

Anyway, if you’re thinking of getting me a gift, what I want for my birthday is real au jus!  And meat!  Chicken, beef, or lamb, please!  Maybe a nice bowl of milk would be nice to wash it down.  Please?  Happy my birthday, everyone!

(famous black cat image, which I found here)

I’m sorry, little blog, for neglecting you so.  It’s not that I don’t care about you, it’s just that I don’t care about you as much as I used to.  Harsh?  Indeed.  And I’ve noticed that many of my friends’ blogs are similarly neglected.  Not sure what to do about it, but one option might be to, perhaps, come visit once in awhile, write here, and make more of an effort to go visit my blog friends.  Sigh. So, aside from pancakes I made weeks ago, what’s new around here? Let’s see…

Today is St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas was known for (amongst other things) secret gift giving, thus being the predecessor of our Santa Claus. And no, he didn’t live at the North Pole. He lived in what is now Turkey. We celebrate by having some Stollen (meant to represent the Baby Jesus, of all things), though we get the more Dutch version, filled with almond paste. Also, dried fruit. Ted says that dried fruit is a work of the devil, and I can’t imagine that Baby Jesus wants anything to do with Satan, can you? We’ll see what happens there. I wonder what Baby Jesus might think of the Dutch celebration, with Sinterklaus being followed around by his slaves, who might take naughty children away to Spain.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCUHTDrca4s[/youtube]

My birthday is at the end of this month, on New Year’s Eve. Cherry and I went out for an early celebration on Saturday. She took me to the best crab restaurant around, Thanh Long, which makes an amazing roast dungeness crab, and some mean garlic noodles. It’s a special treat kind of place, because the crab is quite expensive, and also because there’s enough butter and oil in the crab to clog up your arteries for good, and that’s without the garlic noodles, which come in a close second. Finish it off with a deep fried banana with rich vanilla ice cream, and yeah, you might want to have salad for a few days after that. Not that I’m going to. We’re having steak tonight, ala Ina Garten, with Provencal butter. YUM.

My friend Aimee over at Greeblemonkey has got me hooked on Florence + The Machine, specifically their song “The Dog Days are Over”. One inexpensive and hopefully thoughtful gift I like to give my friends for Christmas is a ‘mix tape’ type CD, and this is definitely going to be included. I’m wondering about the rest of the album. Anyone know if it’s good? Any other songs you’re into right now that I might want to consider including?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU[/youtube]
Time for a Genevieve update? She’s doing well. She has a bump on the inside of her eyelid that should be removed, but we’re very hesitant to have it done, because she’d have to go under for the procedure. And the thing is, she’s been reacting differently to medications this last year than she did in the past. A pro-biotic she was on for a bit had her totally strung out, pacing the house all night long. An antibiotic she had been on several times before with no issues suddenly had her vomiting. Her vet says she doesn’t want to put her under if we can avoid it, and we’re in agreement. So who knows how that will turn out. But she’s been enjoying the cool winter weather, and while she doesn’t want to go for long walks, once in awhile she’ll start galloping, which is never wise if you’re blind. But on the leash, we let her run a bit, and she seems to really like it.

V-Grrrl mentioned on Facebook how in love she is with SmartWool socks, and everyone who commented on her post said ‘gosh they’re expensive, but I love them so much I’m asking for them for Christmas’, so I bought some for gifts. Anyone else in love with SmartWool? Anyone tried the REI brand, and know if they’re comparable? They looked like they were the same quality of merino wool, but maybe not padded.

Last but certainly not least, today is Richard’s birthday. Wish we lived closer so we could go to dinner with him and Kathy tonight, but since I’m in California, and he’s in Alaska, it’s unlikely. Bummer. Happy Birthday, Richard…I miss you. We’re having steak in your honor. And because we like steak.

Richard and Julie, early 1970s

Back before Gen went blind, this is the kind of playful she was. She loved to run around and sometimes spin. Now I know where she gets it…she’s half Sheltie! Watch some doggie and baby fun. Genevieve would say that maybe this dog is Mommy, since she says that about all Shelties. But I’m thinking this dog might be too young to be Mommy.

Hi everyone, it’s Genevieve!  It’s been a LONG time since I’ve been around here, huh?  I’ve missed your smell.  (I can’t really smell you, you’re too far away, but that’s something that polite dogs say to each other.  And my mommy taught me to be polite.)

So guess what?  I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the lights went out!  It’s dark!  It’s always dark!  So I keep bumping into things, which is sometimes OK, and sometimes hurts.  Like yesterday, I was really excited because it was time for my shash (J’s note…that’s Gen’s word for food), and I turned fast and bashed my face on the coffee table!  Ouch!  I cried a bit, but as soon as Medium Boss gave me my shash, all pain was forgotten, and I ate it as fast I could.  You never know when someone else might try to steal your food!  Really people, watch out for your food!  Now I’ve always been a fast eater, but since the lights went out, I eat even faster.  I have found that if I don’t chew my food, I can get it all down in my tummy really fast, and there’s no danger of some other dog (or person…you never know) coming and eating my food.  I would hate that!

My bosses are brave, because even though it’s dark outside, and you can’t see a thing, they still take me for walks.  The walks are much shorter than they used to be, because it’s scary out there in the dark!   My bosses try to warn me of a step up or down on a sidewalk, or a tree that I might bump into, that sort of thing.  They’re very sweet that way.  But my question is, how can they see those things, with the lights out?  Hey boss, be careful, it’s DARK!!!  Mostly I’m used to living in the dark now, though I do miss running around when I get excited.  I used to like to run back and forth and dig and spin in circles to get my ya-yas out, but every time I get a little excited now, I bash into something and it hurts!  So I’m learning to be careful.  Crapicola.  Careful isn’t much fun.

Oh, so last week, my friend Katie Beat came to visit for a whole week!  I like Katie!  She’s a good girl, just like me.  She is VERY brave (or very stupid), because she runs around, even though it’s DARK!  I admire her for that, but gosh, one day she’s going to bash into something pretty hard.  Katie Beat is a little older than me.  I’m 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11.  I think she’s 12.  She has achy bones, she says, and so she doesn’t like climbing up and down the stairs.  That’s fine with me, because that means at night I get to sleep in my bosses room, and she sleeps downstairs.  I like Katie!  But I don’t need to sleep with her right there, you know?  I’ll admit I get a little jealous when she gets attention.   So she slept downstairs, and she never tried to eat my food, and she even shared her cookies with me.  Thanks Katie!  Then her bosses came home from wherever they had been, and she went home.  Bye Katie Beat!  Come again soon.

So that’s what’s new with me.  If you were here, and barefoot, I’d lick your toes for you.  I promise!  I’m polite, remember?

Regular readers will know that our beautiful doggie, Genevieve has been feeling poorly for awhile now. She isn’t her regular perky self, and we’ve been experimenting with different treatments to try to help her. We’ve had a ton of tests done, put her on pain meds, thyroid meds, and meds to help keep her from peeing on the floor. The thyroid seems the most likely to me, and she was on the meds for about 5 days, but we pulled her off this weekend.

Why, you may ask? Well, yesterday Ted woke up to discover dog vomit at the top of the stairs. He cleaned it up, but later I took Gen out, and she was vomiting some more. She wouldn’t eat, seemed extremely lethargic, and had really bad diarrhea. Off to the vet for Gen. The vet ran some blood tests, gave her an IV to rehydrate her, gave her a shot and some pills to help with the nausea, and sent her home, telling us that the results would be in on Monday. We couldn’t think of anything she might have eaten that would make her THAT sick, although Maya had dropped a bowl of cereal on the floor on Friday morning, and Gen might have gotten some spoiled milk by licking walls and so on. There was no glass on the floor. Quite the mystery, right? All part of the same problem that’s been plaguing her for about 2 months now, or something new? She didn’t seem well, but she seemed a bit better, so we went to Ted’s company party, the biggest party of the year around there, an hour away. A couple of hours later, Lura (Ted’s sister, who lives in our complex), came to check on her, and she was not doing well AT ALL. She was foaming at the mouth, twitching, unresponsive, having trouble breathing, all of that really scary stuff. Lura called us and said, “Come home now”, so we did, fully expecting that we might find a dead dog when we got here.

Lura said that she had turned a corner about 10 minutes before we got home, though she was still not doing well. But no more frothing, no more twitching, that sort of thing. She wasn’t vomiting any more, but we discovered a spot where she had had diarrhea the night before…behind the TV, on top of all of our fancy wiring. (No poop in this picture, don’t worry…but that’s where she did the deed, and yeah, that was NOT fun to clean up)

She also had diarrhea two more times last night, but did consent to eat a bite or two of chicken and rice. This morning, she’s feeling better, though certainly not her normal self. Not even her normal self as of late.

So this afternoon, I was in the kitchen making pasta sauce out of some tomatoes that I got from the farmers’ market, and I decided to make some lemonade. Went into the freezer to get the frozen concentrate, and saw the plastic bag of tulip bulbs, and some connections finally met together in my brain. Here are the facts, that I had neglected to share with you until now, because I hadn’t thought of them myself until much further in Gen’s illness.

1. Thursday, I did a bit of gardening. We have containers of flowers on our front patio. I went out and bought some flowers to plant, and one of the pots I was using used to house some lovely yellow tulips. I dug up the bulbs and put them in a bag in the freezer. I remember hearing that you could freeze them and plant them again next year. Don’t know if it will work if you’ve left your bulbs in the dirt until July, but heck, it’s worth a try, right?
2. Thursday evening, I noticed a wasp nest on our fence. Very small. 4 busy wasps starting it up. So on Friday, we moved the plants away from that area, and sprayed some wasp foam on the nest. End of that story. We put the metal plant stand in front of that area though, so I know she didn’t eat any poison.
3. Saturday, when Gen was so sick, she just wanted to sit out front. At one point, I found a bit of tulip bulb, which I didn’t think anything of, and threw away. Later, I found the papery covering from one of them. Again, didn’t think anything about it.
4. Back in 1944, the Nazis tried to starve the Dutch, and many people died from eating tulip bulbs.
5. Genevieve is a piggish dog who will eat anything, including licking the floor and cabinets for random grease or whatever, and she often picks things up off of the ground and eats them before we can stop her.

So…putting these factors together in my mind, a light bulb went off that said, “I’ll bet that she ate a tulip bulb that I missed…they were small and kind of mealy from being in the ground all spring…” Crap. So I looked online, and yes indeed, tulips are toxic for dogs to eat, and she had every single symptom.

I have no proof. Didn’t see her eat a bulb. But gosh, it sure as heck looks like my lazy gardening skills and her piggish nature almost killed our sweet dog. Crap. Thank goodness Ted took her to the vet, because I kinda think that the IV they gave her, plus the water Lura was able to get her to take, probably saved her.

You will be very happy to know that she is MUCH better today, enjoying the chicken and rice I cooked for her, and the extra love. She’s not well yet, but much better. Scary weekend, huh? (I asked Gen if she wanted to write this up for you as a “Genevieve’s Corner”, but she’s not getting up for anyone.)

Updated thought…LaToya says M.J. was murdered. Anyone, besides Genevieve, think maybe he ate a tulip bulb?

Hi Everyone, it’s Genevieve!  I have to tell you about the craptastic time I’ve had lately!  You know how Medium Boss posted a video of me running around like a puppy?  Well, that was about a month ago, and I haven’t done it since.  So the bosses are worried.  And what do they do when they worry about me?  They take me to the vet!  BAD BOSSES!  Why can’t they just give me steak and see if I feel better?  Sigh.

So they first took me to the vet for my peeing, to see if I had something wrong like an infection (?What’s that?).  Well, I could have told them that I didn’t, but they never listen to me.  So OK, no infection, but now I get a little pill hidden in a bite of chicken every morning, which they call “Magic Meat”, because it helps keep me from peeing myself accidentaly.  I’m glad about that, because I LOVE magic meat, and I do NOT like peeing on myself.

But I’m still not running around like I was just a little while ago, so they took me BACK to the vet.  NO!  They took blood from me to test my thyroid.  What’s a thyroid?  I don’t know.  Anyway, the doctor said my thyroid was lower than it used to be, but still within the normal range, whatever the heck that means.

So BACK I went to the vet, where they made me lay down on this weird thing and take X-Rays.  Weird, huh?  The vet said my spine shows some signs of pain, that might be pinching nerves.  So they’re going to give me more Magic Meat, which is supposed to be a painkiller.  What?  If they would just LISTEN TO ME, I would tell them what is wrong.

But they don’t listen, so here we are.  They’ve spent about $800 to say maybe I’m in pain, and perhaps they’ll start me on some thyroid medication if the pain killers don’t help.  I swear, they drive me crazy.  1. Don’t take me to the vet anymore!  They’re nice, but I don’t like it there!  2.  Just listen to me, and I’ll tell you what’s wrong!  Why can’t my bosses speak dog language, that’s what I want to know.  We could save a lot of time and effort, I’ll tell you that much.

I’ll keep you updated as to whether the new Magic Meat helps or not, OK?  In the meantime, listen to your doggies, OK?

Hi Everyone, this is Genevieve! I haven’t written to you in awhile, because I’ve been busy. Busy doing what? Well, sniffing, pooping (in the house yesterday…my bad!), licking the floor, napping, eating, rubbing my face on the furniture, wondering why I can’t sleep on the bosses’ beds, sneaking up to sleep on the bosses’ beds, having a few baths (which takes away my fierce smell and leaves me smelling like sham’s poo! The humiliation!), thinking about my mommy, and taking walks.

It’s the walks I wanted to tell you about today. You see, I am a very lucky girl, and I am grateful for every day. I get a nice walk every day, and I often get two nice walks in a day. But lately, the bosses have been complaining about me, which sounds a lot like “blah blah blah blah, come ON Genevieve, keep UP Genevieve, blah blah blah blah”, which is accompanied by some tugging on the leash, which I will admit, I do not enjoy. I try to keep up, but you know what? There are a lot of things to smell on the ground! There is pee-mail to read, and information to process about raccoons and ‘possums and sometimes even deer, right there under my nose, and they want me to keep up and ignore that information. Medium Boss sometimes says, “Heel, Genevieve”, and I almost know what that means, but mostly I ignore her so I can sniff. She says she gets tired of walking with her arm twisted behind her.

You know where this is going, don’t you? Pretty soon I won’t be getting my walks, which I adore and need. And it will be blamed on me getting “old”. Hey, I’m 5! Wait, I’m 2! I was born! (J’s note: Not sure why Gen says these things. She’s 11.) Anyway, as proof that I am in NO WAY old, and that I have plenty of energy, and that I’m cute and adorable and a baby, I present to the jury this little video that Medium Boss made of me one day this week. Sorry about the shaky camera work, she says, and she hopes it doesn’t make you barf like a Pokemon movie. What?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-723wTkdsHw[/youtube]

You wouldn’t believe the week I’m having!  Sorry, I forgot to say, “Hi Everyone, this is Genevieve”, but I was distracted by the week I’m having!  It started on Wednesday, which was a very bad day.  First off, I didn’t get any breakfast.  Medium Boss usually feeds me, but I think she forgot or something!  Then when we went for our walk, we stopped at the vet’s office!  I hate that!  Why should we stop there?  Usually when we stop there, whichever boss is with me stays in a little room.  The doctor takes me into another room and tells me what a pretty girl I am, and feels my soft fur and looks in my ears and mouth and weird things like that.  Then she brings me out, and I go back home with the boss.  I don’t like it, but it’s OK.

Not this time, though.  This time, Medium Boss brought me in, and left me there!  She walked right out the door, without me!  She looked so sad and worried, and I felt sad and worried, and I tried to tell her that if she would just bring me with her, neither one of us would have to feel sad or worried, but she was gone.  Then, they took me into a little room and made me stay there.  Did I mention I didn’t have any breakfast?  I was hungry!  Then I went into another room, and I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I felt really weird!  My eye itched, and my tummy felt all gross, and I really wanted some water and to go home!

Finally, a couple of hours later, my bosses came to pick me up.  I was so relieved to see them!  But guess what?  The doctor put a stupid plastic thing on my head, and tied it there!  And the bosses don’t seem to understand that I want them to take it off!  How dopey can you get?  Anyway, we walked home (we live really close to the vet…I wonder if we should move?), and they wouldn’t give me any food or water for a little while!  I was so sad!  I cried and cried, and finally Big Boss gave me some water, and then a little while later, I had some food.  Like maybe HALF of what I usually get, after not even having any breakfast!  But that’s OK, because my tummy felt weird (Medium Boss said it was probably the drugs they gave me to help me sleep…what?) and I wasn’t very hungry.  Then Big Boss gave me some sweet liquid in my mouth, which he said was to kill pain.  What?  Why kill?  Oh, pain.  OK.  Well, the liquid helped me feel really calm and sleepy, but then I didn’t want to eat any more.  Big Boss was feeling sorry for me, so he gave me the other half of my dinner, and I took one look at that and said, No thank you.  Anyone who knows me in person knows my tummy is feeling BAD if I don’t eat my dinner.  Here’s a picture of me on my bed after I had my medicine, ignoring my food.  See the cone?  Isn’t that humiliating!  Please bosses, don’t take me to the dog park with the cone!  The other dogs will laugh at me!

I had a hard night, and can’t really remember much.  I went outside and peed on other dogs pee, but I can’t really smell stuff with the cone on my head.  Frustrating!  Yesterday was a little bit better, though no matter how much I walked around talking to the bosses, they didn’t seem to understand that they should remove the cone. I hate the cone!  I wish my mommy were here.  She’d take the cone off for me.  Or maybe she’d take advantage of the fact that I’m slower with it on, and eat my food.  She’s doggish that way.  I love her anyway.  I don’t think I could drink milk from her boo boos with the cone on, though.  Stupid cone.  Medium Boss took this picture yesterday, to show how much better I was feeling. Better doesn’t mean good, though.  I still feel icky, and my eye itches, and the cone gets in my way so I can’t scratch!  I heard her say that I have to wear this thing for 10 days to two weeks!  Crapicola!

Send help.  Please.

Hi Everyone!  This is Genevieve, and I thought you might like to hear about the stressful week I’ve been having!

So my Big Boss got the dopey idea this week that I might enjoy a trip to a very strange place called the ‘dog park’.  Have you heard of these places?  Scary!  What happens is, they take you in, take you off of your leash (how am I to feel secure if I’m not on my leash???  HELLO!), and then try to get you to join a wild pack of dogs that are running around like they might be insane.  What’s to like about that?  So I told him, using the best body language I could, that I did NOT like it there, and I would like to please go for a nice walk.  I mean, these dogs are crazy!  They run run run all the time, they’re really big, and they like to wrestle and fight like my dog-cousins Piper and Sam.  Well, Piper and Sam are very small dogs, and they’re both just puppies (they’re sisters!), so I can ignore them and let them fight each other.  But these dogs are full grown, and by that I mean BIG!  And scary!  I may LOOK kinda big, but I’m mostly fur, and these dogs are NOT.  They look like they might be willing to break rules, poop on my poop, that kind of thing!  And sometimes they bite!

So then Big Boss comes home and talks to Medium Boss and tells her, “Blah blah blah, Genevieve is like the kid at school that won’t play with anyone, blah blah blah, maybe she’s a loner dog, blah blah blah, is she a loser dog? blah blah blah”.  I mean, didn’t he understand my body language?  I put my tail down.  I walked away from the other dogs.  I tried to not let them sniff my butt.  I did everything I could think of!  Look at these pictures that big boss took of our THIRD DAY IN A ROW at the stupid dog park.  Look at my body language.  Could it be any clearer that I am not interested in being near these scary dogs?

Look at this.  There’s another dog in the far background of this picture, and there are many others wandering around getting all rowdy with each other, and am I interested?  No.  Just sniffing.  I love sniffing.  You smell the most interesting things!  You can tell what these other dogs have eaten!  This one ate chicken!  Not fair!

Here I am, waaaaayyyy over by the fence, about as far away from the other dogs as I can get.  I’m not scared over here.  Look at my tail.  It’s up and pom pom-ish (that’s what Medium Boss says), so I’m not scared.  This dog ate generic dog food!  That’s abuse!  Call the authorities!

Last picture.  This is me when they tell me it’s time to get the heck out of the stupid ‘dog park’ and go for a nice walk around the stinky lake.  I love the stinky lake!  It smells so interesting!  Lots of smells. Fish. Ducks.  Duck poop.  Geese.  Goose poop.  Other dogs.  Raccoons.  Possums.  I have a sensitive nose, I know what all these smells are!  I try to tell my bosses to not be in such a hurry, stop and smell the duck poop, but they don’t understand.  They both have colds and their noses are all stuffy.  Maybe that’s why they won’t stop and smell.  I feel bad for them.

Big boss didn’t take any pictures of me in the ‘little dog’ area.  It’s better!  Not so scary!  You’re supposed to be under 30 pounds, but hey, I’m only 36 lbs, and the dogs in there are MUCH nicer!  Of course, none of them wanted to play, but that’s a good thing, because playing is a stupid waste of time when you could be sniffing!  Maybe we can go back to the little dog park again someday soon!

Bye!

Genevieve thought she might help me out with blogging today…the rules say that you have to blog every day during NaBloPoMo, but they don’t say you can’t have your dog blog for you, do they? No, they don’t. Gen has blogged over at Ted’s place before, so she thought she’d throw me a bone and come over here.

Hi! I’m Genevive! I’m a baby. I’m 5. No, wait, I’m 12. I’m 2! (J’s note: Gen talks about her age a lot. She’s really 10.) I have three bosses: Big Boss, Medium Boss, and Little Boss. Big Boss is the Biggest, and Little Boss is the smallest, and Medium Boss? Well, she’s not the biggest OR the smallest. I’m kind of confused, though, because lately, Little Boss is looking like she might be bigger than Medium Boss soon. So I wonder, will they switch? Wait, my paw itches! Let me bite it!

Here’s a sample of my regular cycle:

Morning. Get up with Medium Boss. Eat shash. (J’s note: Gen calls food shash) Sometimes, go for a walk. Other days, Medium Boss goes for a walk without me, which is just RUDE. Why the heck would someone want to go for a walk without their dog? Is she stupid? She says something that sounds like “blah blah blah, you’re too slow Genevieve, blah blah blah, heart rate, blah blah”. Does that sound right to you? NO. If I don’t go for a walk with Medium Boss, I take a short nap. Then I go with Big Boss and Little Boss to school. Then I come home. Time for a mid-morning nap.

Afternoon. I’m hungry! Big Boss and Medium Boss just say, “blah blah blah, it’s not time yet, Genevieve, go sit down Genevieve, relax Genevieve!” It’s not fair! They get to eat whenever, whatever, and however much they want to eat! Where’s the justice in that? FINALLY, they say, “It’s 2:00 Genevieve, you can have your dinner.” Then I eat. Whew. Now I can nap again. Mid-afternoon nap.

Evening. They’re eating, and I’m not. Unfair. Once in awhile, someone puts some food in my bowl, and I swallow it FAST, to keep them from snatching it away. You never know when they might change their minds! Other times, I like to lick the front of the cabinets in the kitchen. Sometimes they taste kinda yummy. I also like to lick the floor. Wait, my face itches…I’m going to rub it against the furniture. Be right back.

Later evening, WALK TIME!!! YAY!!! I love walk time. Sometimes, I get so excited about walk time that I start spinning and running up and down the walkway and digging in my favorite spots. It’s fun. Usually Big Boss takes me for a walk, and I get to sniff things and pee on the pee of other dogs. Did you know that it’s important to pee on other dogs’ pee, so they know that you’ve been there? It’s called “Pee Mail”. I write letters to my mommy. I love my mommy. She used to let me drink milk from her boo boos. I was the third one out. I was the prettiest one. Shhhh. Don’t tell big brother. Or big sister. Or little brother. Or little sister. Anyway, you have to pee on other dogs’ pee, but you MUST NOT poop on other dogs’ poop. If you do, they’ll think you’re showing off, and trying to make people think your poop is bigger than it is. That would be lying. Dogs do not lie. We lay, but we don’t lie. Sometimes in the evening, Little Boss does something to me called “T Touch”, that she learned volunteering at an animal shelter. It’s basically a little massage, and it makes me feel very relaxed and tired. I like it when she goes to the animal shelter, because she comes home smelling REALLY interesting. I keep hoping she’ll bring me with her, but they just say, “blah blah blah, you have to STAY Genevieve, blah blah blah”, and I go sit down on my bed. It’s a nice bed.

Bed time. Everyone goes to bed, and I basically shut down, hoping to survive until morning, when I can have more food. So far, I’ve been lucky. I’m thankful for every day, let me tell you that.

So, that’s my cycle. Sometimes, my cycle gets all weird, and my bosses don’t get up when they’re supposed to. I’ve learned that they do not want me to come over and wake them up. If I come over and cry because it’s getting late, and time for me to be fed, I get yelled at. Not only that, I still don’t get fed. Not worth it. The only time it’s ok to wake up the bosses is if something smells dangerous, or if I really really have to go to the bathroom.

Medium Boss tells me that the First Family Elect is looking for a puppy. I have some advice for them! First, get a rescue dog. If my bosses hadn’t rescued me when my old boss couldn’t care for me any more, who knows what would have happened! Besides, if you get a dog that’s not a puppy, you don’t have to train them to only pee and poop outside, or to stay off of the furniture (you hope). I’ve heard that they have fancy things in the White House. Secondly, regarding breed, I happen to think that a Keeshond/Sheltie mix is the way to go. We’re sweet, friendly, and funny. We smile a lot, and our tails look like pom-poms! You can’t lose!

Time to sleepy now. Bye!

DoSoEvAyMo

Today, I plan to take a walk, eat some shash, poop, pee, sniff, nap, eat more, nap more, poop and pee more. It promises to be a very good day.

Thanks Gen, you’re a good girl. I enjoyed your post. What a baby.