Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Multi-tasking in the morning

Bugsy's version anyway.
At 4:30am I was awoken by the dulcet sounds of a gacking, soon-to-be vomiting dog.
I ran downstairs and let him out just slightly too late so I cleaned up the tiny bit that he got on the rug.
I then flipped on all the outside lights, grabbed a flashlight and went out to find him.
Well...... I didn't have to look long. He was flying around the yard HOT on the trail of something.
HOT on the trail and remained so for about 30 minutes.
He covered every corner, shrub, blade of grass with great vigor. Stopping at certain points to look up and try to see the offending critter.
Oh and he briefly stopped to poop and pee but mostly he charged around the acre as if launched.
I was really hoping to just get back to bed but no chance of catching him or calling him off when he is like this, so I waited until he came back to earth a bit and in we went.
So vomiting, pooping and peeing while hunting. That is quite a display of multi-tasking.

When we got up at 6am he immediately went back to psycho hunting mode, found a small box turtle in deep shrubs, and went berserk on that, he even barked at it. Just been out again 7:20am and he of course went right back to hunting, I heard another bark and found him trying to get even deeper into the shrubs where the turtle was. Thankfully he was struggling to get his big body in there!
He's in now and staying in.
I'm exhausted!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

sublime to ridiculous

Bugsy was all serious business this morning hot on the scent of fox.
Very hot on the scent of fox.

He is an impressive beast when he works like that, just saying I don't want to be the fox or any other creature on the wrong side of that intensity.

But then it happened.............

a sprinkler popped up and started spraying water

bwa ha ha ha

apparently the only thing more frightening is a snake skin.

He went flying out of range plus 10 feet, with the wariest face on, completely forgetting about the fox.

No worries though, immediately past the sprinkler range he went right back to Mr Serious.

Completely ridiculous

Sunday, June 19, 2011

If you are wearing a tux

You might as well live up to it :)
Lots of people have commented over the years about Bugsy's coat looking like he is wearing a tux.
I've played this up at times, buying him a white collar, having him wear a bowtie on Halloween; just fun stuff.
We've heard James Bond jokes and jokes about going to the prom. When he was a pup, the children of the home which owned his girlfriend Bella, staged a wedding for them; he wore his tux.
Honestly I've never thought it looked much like a tux but we hear it so often its grown on me.
Well anyway the thing is whether it looks like one or not he often lives up to the image of a tux-wearing gentleman.
He takes a treat ever so gently.
He is fairly prissy and rarely dirty.
He'll refuse to lie down on a dirty surface.
He's fussy about the water he drinks and the places he poops.
But most of all he is a gentleman with all his friends.
Just this Sunday his friend Izzy was here. Izzy doesn't like to share and I had thrown out a ice treat for them to chew on to cool off. Izzy took it over, and sweet Bugsy just laid there with a big smile on his face, watching her tuck into the treat.
He was calm and content and smiling away in a very relaxed pose.
We all smiled.
Way back in the puppy days with Bella he used to let her have his bone or stick or treat. She'd wind up with two bones and he would just watch her.
If he wants it there is no snarling or conflict he just takes it, but by and large he doesn't.
He wants to share his toys and his water bowl and everything he has.
The more the merrier.
Bugsy the gentleman and for that I am appreciative
Does it look like a tux to you?
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

All day, every day

From the moment he gets up to the moment he signs off every evening Bugsy is on. He hunts whatever he can hunt. Vigorously tracking who visited his yard overnight and then throughout the neighborhood too.
He looks for friends, intruders, cars he knows, the mail lady, UPS, hawks, anything that moves through the cul de sac. Should someone enter the drive the frantic search for something to bring them begins; a shoe, a kong, the newspaper, anything in reach. His body wiggling with so much gusto it is hard to imagine.
Late afternoon or early evening the hunt is on again, this time there is an intent to find a rabbit.
In a way it's always the same yet it is always different.
Today was a good day, chasing crows, attempting to chase fox, walking with a pretty lab pup, cars stopping to say hi, fun in his pool, chasing deer, meeting a workman, playing with the cocker pup, chasing a rabbit, plenty of tracking, surveying and some treat ball fun.
Finally flopping on a bed in front of a rare open window in June.
That's all for today, just wait until tomorrow I'm going to catch something, I just know it.

Now if I just knew what you were dreaming about as I watch your feet going, face contorting and odd sounds emanating from you.
Goodnight Bugsy, sleep well bud.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

diagnosis: he has a mind of his own :)

LOL well it doesn't seem to matter where we go Bugsy always, as someone so eloquently put it, always makes an impression.
Today these moments all added to the surgeon's diagnosis:
He excitedly entered(understatement) the waiting area, it amazes me that despite having been here before for surgery he loves everyone and his tail is wagging as he tries to explore each nook and cranny.
Then while outside trying to gait for the doctor he was much more interested in the smells. Not gentle sniffing mind you full on bloodhound-esque tracking. I had to keep taking hold of his collar and try to guide him in the direction I needed him to go. Each time he'd look at me like oh hey what you doing here, sigh.
Then the coup de gras; he discovered something interesting behind one of those big heavy outdoor garbage cans (the ones outside strip malls with the sandy cigarette trays on top)and proceeded to knock it over. The doc and I flinched but not the beast, I could sum up his reaction as 'oh'
Then inside the surgeon took him off for xrays, I literally said good luck with that. After a while I heard heavy sniffing and then the door blew open and it was Bugsy with the 6'3" surgeon in tow.
Lastly we went to the exam room and we left Bugsy in there for a few minutes so we could look at his previous xrays. The doc asked if Bugsy would be OK in there, um sure although he might open the door. Minutes later we heard the door handle rattling so decided to hurry back in to see him.
At that point the diagnosis was sealed
ha ha ha - yup he definitely has a mind of his own.

Now more seriously - his knee is OK for now, it might have had some fluid in it but only a touch, his shoulder joints look excellent but there is some muscular issues on both sides, and sadly the arthritis in his lower back is getting worse.
There isn't much more we can do for him, however we are going to try using Rimadyl every other day or every third day for two weeks and see how much difference that makes.

One last funny - well at least to me was this in his report from the doc:
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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Sigh

Tomorrow morning I will take my happy, crazy boy to the orthopedic surgeon to have his 'good' knee x-rayed.
I know something is bothering him, but I don't know what. So am I hoping it's his knee or do I hope it's fine?
You know, I don't know.
If it's the knee we schedule the tplo and prepare for 8 weeks of hell and another 8 weeks of slow progress. So goodbye summer 2011.

I'll find it hard to take him away from all his buddies, he has a whole new slew of puppies this year and oh how he loves his puppies. They'll be no swimming or bird work or scent work. No neighborhood walks, no downtown patios. No Izzy. No sleeping in our bedroom, no crow chasing, etc.
Sure it is only for 3-4 months (it was 9 months to get back to normal) but going through it twice, sigh.

If it isn't his knee? I can only hope it is easily found and easily treated.
Although he isn't limping he has had this front end lameness on and off, and has signs of pain fairly regularly so it needs to happen.

And so it will

Friday, June 3, 2011

whew it was busy out there

I was a gorgeous morning, the humidity finally dropped and there was a nice breeze. I was looking forward to a peaceful wander through our park-like neighborhood.

Why I think this will ever happen I am not sure

About 100 yds up from our drive Bugsy spotted his girlfriend Izzy, this meant we had to run up to the top of the road to meet her (about 1/4 mile). They immediately broke out into play - now Bugsy usually refuses to play while on leash, ages ago he decided leash= business. So the instant rumble caught me off guard, once we calmed them down we ambled along until something of high interest caught Bugsy's nose and he went diving into a culvert.
He has been very good of late but whatever this was he wasn't too interested in moving on. But we got the message through to him and were able to keep moving.

Izzy headed back home and we kept on moving towards the lake - our hopeful destination.

He was clearly following a scent but it was his normal stuff so I had relaxed again.
I looked up and saw a woman with two dogs, both of which were agitated. Once Bugsy saw them he got agitated,....great.
I spoke to the woman from a distance and said I would wait for them to turn up the road as he seemed worked up - she said, "sorry my two are going nuts we just passed the fox." Great.
The fox was curled up sleeping about 15 yards from the road surface. So I debated - go forward or go the other way?
We'll trot forward and quickly pass the fox - I saw it but dummy's head was down sniffing away so he didn't.

We came around a curve and there was a dog we know to be aggressive/leash reactive.

Great let's turn around and run by the fox again, sigh.

So we did, but this time Mr B 'noticed' sleepy fox. Sigh.

At this point I am bemoaning the detours but still thinking its a lovely day.

I'll make the rest of this short - the rest of our walk included mole hunting, rabbit hunting, turtle spotting and moving, and a snakeskin.
Whew!
So we met 4 dogs, a fox, a turtle, two rabbits, umpteen squirrels, saw hawks and songbirds and a snakeskin.

I suppose there were moments of peacefulness and that is OK. The morning was still a good one and at this point I do know what to expect when we head down the drive. We'll never just sashay, it's business for Bugsy, things must be investigated, greetings made, critters hunted.
And that is just the way it is.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

My new bubbling water bowl

Ah life with Bugsy. We have been putting in a patio and today we put in a bubbling fountain. After spending all day listening to the workers, upon being let out he immediately checked out the new rock area and fountains. Since it was 97-98 degrees the rock was extremely hot.
This didn't phase the beast, he slipped and carefully plotted his way to the water.
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He sniffed and then drank from the fountain.
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And drank and drank and drank.
I thought we would have to refill the basin first time out.
He quite clearly was pleased with this new water source, sigh.
Then he decided that the driftwood was ripe for chewing so he dragged one off the rocks and gnawed away.
DH wasn't impressed with this so went over and took the wood off him and tossed it back to the rocks.
Bugsy stayed in a comfy position until DH turned to head back to the bench. At the moment DH turned, Bugsy got up and got the wood again and laid down to chew it.
This cycle repeated several times with Bugsy's tail wagging more furiously with each intently disobedient move.
There was nothing we could do but laugh.
At some point he was done with the wood (the good part was just taking it when Dad would say no) he went over and had another 5 minute drink from the fountain.
Ah well it's good that we can all enjoy it