The Brat Pack

Sad, sad news.

2011-12-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

Edited to add:

Our friends over at the Houston Pittie Pack have suffered a terrible tragedy. Last night their house caught on fire and five of her pack members were killed. Thankfully everyone else got out ok but it sounds like the house is a total loss.

They're going to need help so if anyone is interested in helping out I'm trying to find out where to send mail to. She will need basics to get back on her feet, take care of the family and remaining pups (Brinks & Bella) so possibly Walmart or Target

gift cards, etc would help plus the donation account is above.

Rest in Peace, Sweet Ones...

Coco Chanel

Guero

Lucky

Shelby

Tiger

Many of you might remember Shelby's story when she was first found...so happy she had a wonderful life after that.

Maryann & The Brat Pack

Care Bear

2011-12-02T08:55:00.000-08:00

My big Bear crossed the Bridge this morning. He has been having issues with his Laryngeal Paralysis and things had gotten to the point where he was struggling too much to breathe easily anymore. Thanks to our friends through the years who have followed his stories and life since he came to live with me. A huge thank you to Dr. Becky and Marie for taking

care of him this past year.

I want to post some pictures of him, but will need a bit first.

We love you, big boy.

Balls!

2011-11-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

Check it out!

We hate balls, too.
http://www.ihateballs.com

Presents!

2011-11-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

Dr. Becky brought me a WHOLE BOX of presents!! She even said FOR OTIS when she was here and I was all OH YEA and BACK OFF to squatty boy Conrad.

Guess what was in the box....

You'll never guess....

TOWELS!! MY FAVORITE!

Thank you, Dr. Becky...I know I'm your favorite Brat,

you don't have to say it.

xoxo - Otis

Samantha Jane

2011-11-18T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sad to tell our friends that Samantha Jane crossed the Bridge today. She fought the Bone Cancer since March, was as tough as nails but it finally was just too much for her. She was happy to the end and enjoyed a buffet this morning of a 4-egg cheese omelet, 8 strips of turkey bacon, a chicken breast, several pieces of beef jerky, a heap of liver treats and an entire container of Cool Whip. Thanks to everyone who loved her, followed her blog adventures and supported us through the years.

We haven't been keeping up with the blog (and that's going to change) but I wanted to share some pictures from the Basset Hound Shuffle a month or so ago plus pics of Sam last night and today. (That's her thermal underwear shirt she slept in so the hot water bottles weren't against her skin)

She will be sorely missed around here, the boys won't have anyone to boss them around and be scared of anymore. A couple of my favorite pics from the past....such a sweet, sweet (and stubborn) girl.

We love you...

I won! I won! I'm official!

2011-09-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

It tooks loads longer than I thought it would, but finally Mom understood that I wasn't leaving. Now I'm an official BRAT! Mom thinks that Thrawn had a very special hand in making me show up because he was totally a troublemaker and she said I'm following in his paw prints. My legs are also made out of springs and I'm bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, full of fun, fun like that Tigger guy. Ok so she didn't exactly say FULL of fun, I mean she doesn't look like she's having fun when she cleans up dirt after I dug a hole or the insides of babies once I ripped their heads off....but maybe that means SHE is just no fun while I really am. Wow, that was a lot of thoughts at once.

I LOVE my new brothers and even Samantha the Grouch. Otis beat me up three times because he's a bully but I forgive him, I also don't snap at him anymore though because he's a little scary when he's mad.

So here I am in my new life as....

CONRAD

The SUPER Brat

Talk at ya soon....

-C

I'm in trouble.

2011-09-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

You might have to click to make it big...she Photoshopped me in these pictures, I didn't do it.

Pupcakes!

2011-09-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Rulon-Mooch here! Otis left today and we were all NO WAY and Conrad was all YES WAY HE DID and I was all WHAT A PUNK!!!

Then we all went to sleep.

When we woke up Big O was back, we were all going to kick his butt but then he had a box that smelled like heaven, so we let him live.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...good thing I posted instead of Sam the Ham because she'd be describing every pic until you were all KILL ME NOW.

PS The scale starting screaming when Otis stepped on it and yelled YOU'RE a FATTY so he's on a diet. This is like his last supper before living on carrots and green beans.

PS again. OK, the scale didn't say that, but if I had been there I would have yelled it.

The last PS...These are Wheat Free Pupcakes from Three Dog Bakery in Southlake. Four paws UP! Well, Bear just said technically that's 20 paws up since there are 5 of us. What-evah - they ROCKED!

Don't worry, Mom is cleaning the floors today. She says we're giant slop pigs.

-Mooch OUT

A stroll down memory lane...

2011-09-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

Bear here...Mom is feeling sentimental and is organizing our 26,392 pictures from the last few years into her new SmugMug account. Yea, don't ask me, it's something you take all the pictures that are trapped in the camera then you must trap them in a mug somehow. People are weirdos. In other words I don't really get to blog, just do this intro. Robbed.

Oh and you might notice we look much younger and thinner in some of these. It's a trick of the light, at least for me. Sam's always been a lard butt. If you don't recognize somedogs here it's cuz they're family or fosters of days long ago. Of course most fosters never leave here, we're like the Foster Dog Black Hole. I'd complain, but I was a foster once too.

Wow, I'm like drop dead gorgeous in that last shot. Wonder why Mom didn't let me model. Anyway, there's a lot more but I had my meds already and I'm kinda sleepy. Maybe tomorrow. -Care Bear

Remembering Tucker-Doodle

2011-08-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Maryann here....

I know we've made a lot of new friends this past year that never knew Tucker, but on my birthday last year he passed away. (the 31st) It was a hard blow for me especially since he was just the second Brat in the pack, he was very rarely ill and just seemed like he had so much time left. It was sudden, which I still haven't decided if that's a gift or a curse.

Anyway...here's the story of how Tucker became a Brat from way back when the blog started in 2007 Click here...

My ex-husband and I adopted him out of the blue one day as a puppy years ago. Although I wanted a big hairy beast of a dog he convinced me Tucker was the one and that he was correct about. He was one of the best dogs ever.

Here's the story of what happened last year... Click here

Between those stories are years of Tucker's life that I'm relieved I blogged about so I would always have the different memories. I wish I had started blogging for them sooner.

While it's hard for me to even go back and read, I do want to say that the Brats have visited the Airport Freeway Animal Emergency Clinic WAY more times than I like to admit. They've always been great so if you're in the area always keep them in mind.

So anyway...just thought I'd share some of my favorite pics of him through the years. He was always a ham for the camera and very rarely would you see him without a baby. I think about him everyday.

And last but not least....The Duck. Tucker had this duck for over a year, he carried him everywhere, slept with him, ate with him, you name it.

Miss you, buddy....everyday.

PS...Just a re-post, several pics of Tucker-Doodle in here. :)

America's Most Wanted

2011-08-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

The heinous* crime:

(This crime is particularly heinous as all Brats in Brat history have never inflicted furniture damage)

The Suspect:

Other Dogs of Interest wanted for questioning:

The Informant aka NARC:

Testifying for the Defense:

If you have any information about this crime, please call 1-800-BAD-DOGS.

Frozen Blueberry Bombs!

2011-08-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

It's Samantha. You probably don't remember me because I'm always forgotten. Here I am in case you don't:

OK, I don't really know if they are BOMBS but that's what we decided to call them because the flavor EXPLODES in your mouth! It's true. We almost fell over in shock when Mom actually made them though since we've been waiting an e-turn-i-tee.

It's a good thing our fruitables come from the freezer and not the ground because they'd be all moldy and maggot-y by now. Bear says that some dog's Mom actually grows their fruitables, but our Mom says that's an old wives tale and everything comes in a frozen bag.

First we piled up everything to make them...and picked our fruit fresh from the freezer.

Here's what ya need if you wanna make...a tub of yogurt, we like vanilla around here. A bag of, uh, fresh blueberries and some honey. Ours is heavenly since it came from the church, but you can use naughty honey if you want. It probably tastes the same.

Throw it all in a bowl and mix and mix and mix. We just throw a bunch of honey in there without measuring because that's how we roll. All of the yogurt and berries go in though.

Next you plop them in these ice cube holder things that go in the freezer...if I were making them they'd be all nice and neat but she's kind of messy and impatient.

Now they're cooking in the freezer so we haven't been able to chow down yet. Soon though. While we're waiting we got to lick the bowl and the flat mixer thingy, it was so good. I'm only showing you Bear and I because the other three always have their pictures everywhere because they're camera ho's.

I'll try to post a BOMB review but you know I hardly can fight my way to the computer these days. Everydog else is always on it.

xoxo - Samantha

Big Drama

2011-08-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Care Bear here. I guess I'm not important because I've gone through a traumatic experience this past week and do you see anything on this blog about it? NO. I'm having to come here myself and tell you my troubles.

First off, I've had this little, uh, problem for a while. I'd post a pic but it's kind of embarrassing, not that my mother cared when she posted it all over Facebook. I had some weird nipple thing going on, it started to look like an alien and was all inside out then Dr. Becky poked it with a needle and ooky stuff came out. It would be ok for a while then it filled back up and I was all who cares, I don't even use nipples but they said no more draining it, I'm going under the knife. Just like that, like I was a Thanksgiving turkey to be carved.

It was a surprise blitz, I thought I was going to work with Mom that morning and next thing I knew I was HERE:

I still looked happy at this point because my friends Dr. Becky and Marie were there. I was kind of getting suspicious though, I mean I'm behind bars and all.

Next thing I knew I was seeing rainbow colored unicorns flying over my head throwing down steaks like those people throw out candy at a human parade. When I woke up I was all confused and looked like THIS:

I thought maybe it was all a dream until they took that blanket off and I saw it. It was like I had been shanked, only with a straight cut and a nice stitch job.

To add insult to injury I was just supposed to have my teeth cleaned I guess and now I'm missing three. It's a good thing those unicorns were a dream since I couldn't chew the steaks anyways.

I decided I had enough with being manhandled and forced into surgeries like I lived in a communist country, I was about to protest but Mom gave me illegally drugged peanut butter and I was all:

Now I have even bigger problems because my stupid brothers are making fun of me behind my back. They think I don't hear it but they're saying stuff like how I'm not cool because I'm nippleless. I don't even know how many I'm supposed to have, I can't bend my head down far enough to count them. I tried googling it but that was a bad idea since it brought up all kinds of weird stuff.

So that's my story. I thought I was going to the office, instead was doped up, cut open, my teeth yanked out, doped up again and now I'm half naked and missing a nipple.

Bear

PS Marie said the ball of stuff they took out was pretty big and weird. I guess that part is kind of manly.

I really wanna stay.

2011-07-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hi. It's Conrad. I've never blogged but am gonna try it out.

I don't wanna leave and go live with someone else. I like it here with all my brothers. I even have a big sister that hates me. Doesn't that mean she wants me to stay? I've tried really hard to be good. I guess I messed up eating the window sill and some other stuff, but I'm still a dumb puppy so I should be forgiven right?

I even had surgery on my privates so I could be in the cool dog club. It kinda hurt but not really. Felt a little funny after though, like being naked down there. At least they don't bounce when I run anymore and no dog can bite them.

They have burger night here. I don't know if I could find another house that has burger night and that would make me cry.

I didn't even know this, but you can eat these things called MOO TUBES. They're the throats from cows. Isn't that cool but kinda gross? They're crunchy and crack when you bite them like chips.

Wait till I tell you what part of the bull we get to chew on...it's gnarly and totally rad. Shhh....it's their....WEENIES! Can you believe it??? They're chewy and long (freakishly long actually) and are kinda greasy. Otis says not to compare mine to theirs because they're obviously freaks of nature and must be on "the juice" like that guy Vin Diesel that Mom thinks is hot . The humans call them pizzle or bully sticks so they're not completely grossed out about bull ding-dongs being in their house. Mom freezes them so they're kinda like Penis-Popsicles. Man I love it here so much.

The other night we had mail and it was a bag of ANTLERS. I thought it was kinda sad that they made deer give up their antlers, but then Mom said they left them in the forest for us so that's ok then. They're humane antlers. I wonder if that's how the bulls give us their bully sticks too. Hmm. I'll ask Rulon, he knows everything and is very smart. He tells me so everyday. Here's me chewin' a Bambi-friendly antler.

The magic mailman brought us this big bed, it's like a poofball that never goes flat and we can wrestle on it too. I sleep on it sometimes when my brothers let me. (This came from the phone so it's kinda fuzzy) Wow, Otis has a big butt here.

I don't have a picture yet, but Bear told me a story about how to really be an official Brat you have to have a scar and I HAVE ONE! It's on my cheek and it's totally a hole because Otis beat me up!! (Uh, that's another story for another day and I kinda let him) I have to get Mom to take a pic of it, it didn't really bleed but it's still a scar so that counts for sure!

Most of all I don't wanna leave because my big brother Bear is my best friend in the whole entire world. I want to be just like him when I grow up.

He loves me too. A lot. I just know it.

So these are some of the reasons I should stay. I have more though but Sister Sam says I have to go and she's the boss of me.

- Conrad (I'll have a nickname soon and I hope it ROCKS)

Antlers!!!

2011-07-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Mom brought us home a package tonight and LOOK!!

OMD! Antlers! We haven't had them in like a gajillion years!

Oh and Care Bear is having surgery Thursday, cross your paws for him.

It's hot.

2011-07-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Otis here.

It's really, really hot here. Like I don't wanna go out and poop kind of hot. Don't worry, I still go but I hate it. Rulon says I'm a wimp but Mom says because my snooter is short I'm special needs and can't take much heat. Rulon is a butthead and doesn't know what he's talking about.

I've kinda been in a little trouble lately because of the new squatty dog. He keeps sticking his nose in my business and being all "Woohoo, look at me, I'm Conrad and I can run SO fast and I LOVE the heat and I can jump on the bed all by myself". A dog can only take so much before cracking so I beat him up. Well, kinda. I didn't make him bleed but I let him know that I didn't give a :::bleeped out word::: about his stupid puppy skills. Sure he can jump all around, but he's like 50 pounds and I'm like, well, a lot more. If he had my weight on his stumpy legs he wouldn't be jumping anywhere. I think he got the message because he's been all sucking up to me since then.

We did get a pool, but I was the only one brave enough to use it. Sam the Ham wouldn't even come out of the house when she saw it, what a looooser. Bear had a drink out of it but my other brothers were wimpy sissy dogs. I think I look like one of the Baywatch lifeguards. Not the chicks though.

Anon-e-mus Post

2011-06-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you who this becuz, well, I don't want to be smooshed by his giant butt.
We're starting a pee-tition and there are four signatures so far.

Care Bear
Rulon-Mooch
Sam the Ham
Conrad. Just Conrad cuz we can't think of anything else but Dingleberry.

BTW, he's losing his dingleberries tomorrow. Mom said it will make him smarter because they suck the brains right out of boyz. She said this is the same with human men but for some reason they can't have theirs chopped off so I guess that's why they act stupid a lot. This must be true because all the boyz in our house are super-genius dogs and we're dingleberry free. He doesn't know what's happenin' so we're gonna have a boy to boy talk later and read this book.

Uh, anyway. Our pee-tition is that we don't want to share a water bowl with Otis anymore. It's disgusting and slimy and gross. It's like an oil slick after he drinks in there and there's goober strings everywhere and it should have caution tape around it. We'd show you a picture but the flash glares off the slick water surface. I shudder just thinking about the germ pit that it is.

We'll let you know what happens and maybe post a pic of Conrad's stitches. See, there's always a reason to come back to our blog.

Conrad ~ Our Foster Brother ~ Looking for Love

2011-06-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's happened again. Somehow we have a new Foster Brother and his name is Conrad. We knew it was just a matter of time, but Mom sprung this on us out of the blue. He ended up at the very awesome Irving Animal Care Campus around the middle of May as a stray. He waited and waited but nobody came to pick him up.

Sooo the shelter kept getting more dogs in and pretty soon his time there was coming to an end. So Mom talked to some awesome ladies at BC Pitbull & Bully Breed and Rescue and they decided to get him out of the shelter about an hour before his time was up. Here is his pic from the shelter:

Looks pretty unhappy, huh? Yea, we thought so too. Here he was once he got home:

Can you see the resemblance to our very own Tucker-Doodle?? Crazy, huh?

So anyways, Mr. Conrad is looking for his forever home. He'd like to stay here with us but Mom said the inn is closed to permanent guests these days sooooo we're here to tell you all the reasons Conrad would make a pawsome new family member.

You probably can't tell from the pics above, but Conrad is a bit on the squatty size but with a big dog head. Cool, huh? He's like a hybrid ninja dog. He looks small but can play like a big dog. This also is helpful if there's maybe a home who likes the attitude of a big dog, but in a compact body. To give you an idea, he's about Samantha the Basset Hound's height, maybe an inch or two taller. Uh, don't look at his boy bits, those are going away as soon as his kennel cough clears up.

Conrad LOVES toys, especially stuffed ones. He also is very good at playing fetch although sometimes he'd rather you chase him and play tug-of-war to get the toy back. He also likes to chase his Pittie brother around the backyard and wrestle like a crazy dog. He's not much of a barker except sometimes when he's playing with the other dogs.

You might notice from the picture above that Conrad believes he is a giant among dogs.

For those of you that might be reading and don't know us, Conrad has four foster-siblings. Three boys and one very grumpy girl. Samantha is a senior Basset Hound, Bear is a senior Lab, Rulon is a spastic energy filled Pittie and Otis is a goofball Dogue de Bordeaux. At around 30 lbs or so Conrad is greatly outweighed but you'd never know it. He gets along with everyone and the only time there is an issue has been a few occasions that he was grumpy after being stepped on or "trapped" under somedog. We're working on this though and things are going well. We kinda think this might be improved after he loses his dangly parts, we all know how they make boys dumb sometimes.

You might be wondering what Conrad is made up of...the shelter listed him as a Basset mix, but personally we think he's part Corgi. He has some killer herding skills too. Here are a few more pics, what do you think? Maybe he needs a DNA test! He's definitely one of a kind though.

Some of these are cell pics, sorry for poor quality.

(Uh, we know he's not supposed to be on the furniture but he seems to like it a lot there...)

So here are some random things about Conrad you might be interested in...

*He was an intact stray when he came into the shelter. He is finishing up treatment for Kennel Cough and as soon as he does he will be neutered as well as updated on all vaccinations.

*Since he is being treated for Kennel Cough, we've learned that he's a champ at taking medicine in a Pill Pocket or in cheese. He even was a good boy when having cough meds shot down his throat with a syringe (uh, and even sweet when Mom shot it in his eye by accident). Bonus!

*As posted above, we're working on his random grumpiness with Otis. Otis is kind of a big oaf and steps on him a lot which makes Conrad unhappy. Otis does not react to his grumpiness, but we feel that although Conrad LOVES having siblings he might need to be the alpha dog or at minimum be with other non-reactive dogs. He does love to play chase and wrestle like a wild dog though so please don't think he doesn't get along with others! He even lets crazy Rulon drag him around by the neck when they are wrestling. (Again, see our note above about things improving once he's testosterone-free)

*Conrad has not been cat tested yet. If you are interested in him and want to know we will be happy to test him for you. On a side note, he does watch the squirrels eat right outside his window and doesn't react at all. His foster brothers chase them in the backyard so he does too, but we think that's more because it's fun than seeing them as prey.

*Conrad lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area, but we can arrange transport to his new home nationwide. Nothing is impossible for the right family!! Remember our Foster Brother Walter?

He lives in California now!

*Since he was a stray we're not sure of what he's experienced in life but we have noticed that he becomes very stressed/fearful in an "angry" situation. For example, Mom was yelling on the phone (hard to believe, right??) and she noticed Conrad hiding in the corner. Also if anything is raised around him like he might be hit he cowers down and cringes. Makes us sad, but he has a new life now and no more worrying for him!

*He was crated his first night at home, but has slept free in the house every night since. He has not had an accident since coming home and has not chewed or destroyed anything so we would definitely call him housebroken and well mannered. He does adore a good bully stick though! During the day he has his "suite" of two bedrooms to hang out in and he spends a lot of time sleeping in front of and patrolling the yard from the window.

*You might have noticed various pics of him on the furniture and bed...while he does love being on there he will comply with directions to get down. He's a cuddler for sure and has figured out if he waits till Mom is asleep he can get on the bed and sleep next to her until morning. He's smart that way.

*He's underweight and has been fattening up a little since coming home. During this he has learned to get in line and wait his turn for treats, etc next to the rest of us. (Same for pill time) He does very well and tends to pick up on directions quickly. He would probably love agility and/or training classes as well. He does know how to give you his paw already. (video coming soon)

*If you think Conrad might be a great fit for you or any of your friends or family please let us know! If you have more questions about him email our Mom anytime (maryann @ puchelli . com) and she can also send you more pics of him. We add a lot of photos to her Facebook too, friend us on there.

*If your inn is full like ours, you can still help Conrad by sharing this link on your Facebook or Twitter and by emailing it out to your friends. Once Conrad finds a home it will open up our foster spot at the house so we can help another dog...so by helping out you've helped save two homeless pups!

It's a win-win!
***Please DO NOT post this to Craigslist!!!

Thanks for reading and sharing Conrad...

hopefully his new forever family is out there and they will find each other soon!

xoxo

The Brat Pack

Bear, Sam, Otis and Rulon

(and our Mom)

I'm a WINNER!

2011-06-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

Check me out at http://www.chobani.com/real-love...I LOVE my Chobani Greek Yogurt!

Goober in Motion

2011-05-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

PSA: Tampons are not your friend.

2011-05-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

My name is Otis and I'm in trouble. Again.

I don't know how it keeps happenin'...maybe I'm being framed. I was also convicted without a jury of my peers or even a chance to explain my side. As part of my community service I have to blog and tell my other dog friends how not to get in trouble like me. Sigh.

The first lesson is not to take THESE :::see photo below::: off of the counter. You're not supposed to do this even if the bag that they were in smelled like something tasty...like a candy bar (or three, but who am I to judge). I guess it also doesn't matter if it was within 2 feet of the counter edge, they're still an OTIS-NO!!! item.

However. If you accidentally DO take them off the counter and the box accidentally DOES fall open, then you're not supposed to EAT them. I don't know why either, but just go with me here. They appear to be cottony-light morsels of goodness, but according to what happened here they are evil cotton monsters. Seriously. I almost had a heart attack when Mom found me, it's a good thing I'm on the leaky-tinkle medicine or it could have been ugly.

She came running out of the bathtub (I won't give you the visual on THAT one), saw the box, saw me, saw the snacks scattered all over the floor and FREAKED. I mean totally freaked, people. She's gotten weirded out when I ate the socks and panties, but boy that was nothing compared to this. All of a sudden she's hysterically screaming about strings wrapping around my insides and cotton explosions in my belly. I admit it, I started to get worried a little bit when I heard the part about the cotton monsters sucking up all my guts.

Next thing I knew she grabbed me in a strangle hold, threw me on the ground all Hulk Hogan like and had stuck this giant funnel down my throat and dumped what had to be two gallons of that nasty foamy peroxide stuff in my tummy. Rulon was standing there laughing and since she couldn't be sure he didn't have a snack with me, she body slammed him on the ground and force fed him that disgusting stuff too. That part was kinda funny, but I started heaving so I couldn't really enjoy the moment.

Next she started crawling all over the floor looking for all the cotton snacks so she could count them but since she was all freaking and stuff forgot to put us out so we started projectile yakking all over the kitchen. She was too busy counting to care though so what did I care if I puked all over the window? She counted seventeen snacks left (what a waste) and I kept spewing until the other three snacks came back up. I'm not good at math, but since she started breathing again I guess that was the rest of the box. Since I swallowed the snacks whole (packaging and all) she's not making me call Dr. Becky to tell her I was bad or go to the ER so they could probably stick something up my butt.

So take my word for it friends, Tampons are not your friends. They're also not snacks...unless you can get away with it.

I'm the only one not grounded.

2011-05-02T09:05:00.000-07:00

It's Bear and you read that title correctly. Otis, Samantha and Rulon are in a TON of trouble. I'm not. At all. Mostly because I'm perfect.

Here's what happened....

Earlier this morning Mom was super tired, so she opened the back door like usual so we could go in and out. She started snoring and next thing she knew the doorbell rang, but nobody was barking. She shot out of bed looking very scary and saw some kids with Otis on the front porch. She panicked (never a pretty site) and ran to the front door, the kids said the gate was open and the other dogs were out. She threw Otis in the house and ran to put shoes on (also not a pretty site with her pajamas). After sprinting back out one of the kids comes running up with Rulon behind her and says her friends have gone to get Samantha.

When they broke free Otis and Rulon ran across the street to the Crawfish Boil party the neighbors were having. I'm not sure what they thought when giant head Otis and a pit bull ran up to them, but I guess it was ok because they said Otis ate a sausage. Samantha took off on her own down the street to where a bunch of kids were playing in their yard.

When our poop guy came on Friday he locked the gate, but not before the latch was pulled securely. So basically the lock didn't actually lock anything, we had a lot of wind and the gate finally blew open. To say Mom is upset would be an understatement. More like psycho crazy woman would be more fitting.

There are no pictures of this adventure because it was chaos, but I would like to go on record that I did NOT leave the yard. I just sat on the back porch when they ran away then watched the drama unfold. So in my honor I'm posting a dashing picture of myself.

Signed, Bear. The only good Brat.

Our 700th post (a couple late)...Through the Years

2011-04-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

Lots of love to all of our friends we have met through this blog since 2007...
you're like our family.

Thank you for letting us all be a part of yours.

xoxo,

Maryann, Samantha, Bear, Rulon and Otis

Our Angels: Dakota, Tucker, Thrawn, Durango, Millie & Dot

OK so not post 701 either. Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

Easter is extra special because that's the day

Care Bear came to live with us in 2007.

We're pretending this isn't post 700. Care Bear Drama.

2011-04-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

I had this grand plan of celebrating our 700th post with a fun photo laden trip down memory lane. We are now declaring that post 701 will be our big celebration post. Stay tuned.

So all was well last night, I was in bed watching movies when Bear popped up from a dead sleep crying and banging against the wood on the bed close to 1 am. He was falling to the side, screaming if you touched him, etc. So in my general fashion I run to the laptop where I mentally deduce he either has had a stroke, a brain tumor or some other disease I've never heard of but need to read more about. (Canine Vestibular Disease) He was panting like he was going to hyperventilate and was frantic. Sooooo I loaded him in the Mini, picked up my sister Jan who happened to be at Mom's and off to the ER we go.

He has a double ear infection, severe of course. One canal was almost completely closed and he was in a ton of pain. They shot him up with some morphine laden drug, cleaned everything out, medicated them, shaved the hot spot he started yesterday and conveniently clipped his nails. They had warned us that he might be out of it after the shot, but didn't expect him to be wheeled back into the exam room completely passed out.

Sooo...he has ear cream, ear wash, a bump in his usual pain meds, stuff for the big raw spot on his butt and so on. Needs to see Dr. Becky tomorrow for a follow-up. Jan and I had to get him in the house and into the crate (Thank you Otis for the crate) which was a disaster in itself. I stayed up the rest of the night and stared at him to which he probably didn't realize or appreciate at all. He still can't really walk this morning but the panting and crying has stopped as of an hour ago so hopefully that means he's feeling better.

Soooo....I do believe our quota of emergencies, vet bills and anxiety has been filled for the month of April. I'm hoping that we don't have anymore Spring storms here this year as I'm sure the house will be lifted away by a tornado. Or maybe a Pox outbreak. Possibly rabid monkeys staging a coup and taking us all hostage.

So I feel like I've said this 1,492 times this week...but thank you everyone for the support and caring. Can't say it enough and we really mean it.

Maryann & Care Bear

My Dot-Spot

2011-04-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

Dot crossed the Bridge this afternoon, we want to say thank you to everyone for the support this week with her illness. She was a fighter till the end and it broke my heart to let her go.

We love you, pretty girl.

Dot Update - Fri AM

2011-04-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is short and thanks everyone for checking in this morning. Not a good day so far, she started having diarrhea in the middle of the night which is a huge problem w/ kidney issues. Ate a tiny bit, but won't touch anything else...drinking a ton of water. Per Becky gave her Immodium, will try to get more down her then add her Pepcid. If she really starts to go downhill or the diarrhea continues will start her fluids early and text the emergency vet contact to come here. :-(

In the meantime I think Rulon is feeling neglected and is acting out. Besides chewing the door jamb last night he has also chewed through the line to the router and ruined my flip flops.

Dot Update - Thurs AM

2011-04-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

Miss Dot was standing at the door before I left for work this morning so I took it as a sign she wanted to go. Soooo she's hanging out at the office with me and looking relatively perky. She's had about half a slice of bacon (in teeny tiny bites) and a ton of water. She wouldn't eat anything at home this am so I'm hoping that's a good sign that she'll eat here. Now the trick is to get her to sleep for a bit so she doesn't wear herself out. Her breath does smell a bit better today, if you've never smelled the breath of a dog with kidney issues you're not missing out, ugh. I won't even describe the in and out of the car process since she can't help at all, let's just say it wasn't graceful.

I guess even if she's not better physically at least she looks happier today and that's what is important. Dr. Becky will be over this evening for evaluation, if she's still ok by then we're going to attempt 2 liters of SubQ fluids. If that works then I'll be on my own tomorrow through Monday in giving her 2 liters daily (ugh) until Dr. Becky gets back in town. I'm just hoping we make it through the weekend without incident. Fingers crossed.

Maryann (& Dot)

Dot Update (a better one) - Weds PM

2011-04-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

First let me say...this isn't full of bad news.

When I pulled up to the house I saw Dot looking through the front window curtains and barking a little. To say I was shocked would be putting it mildly, especially after how she was this morning. We spent about 20 minutes together in the "vet room" here, she was pretty clingy but not as out of it as she has been. She was moving around much more than yesterday so I thought maybe it would perk her up to hang out in the front yard. She had different ideas and headed down the sidewalk so we took two very slow trips up and down the street (just a few houses long). You could tell she was pretty tired on the last trip back to the house, but she was still interested in sniffing around and such. We sat on the front porch and waited for Dr. Becky, Dot sniffed around and watched the squirrels.

Her gums are still very pale and dry, she's still extremely dehydrated and she's not interested in food. That said, we took into consideration the upswing in her mood and activity so decided to continue treatment. Monday night she rec'd half a liter of SubQ fluids, last night 1 liter and today we did 1.5 liters. The goal tomorrow if she's stable is 2 liters (two iv bags full) and to continue that amount indefinitely. She did really well today during treatment and she also had another injection of anti-nausea meds.

A few of our medical detail oriented friends were asking what her blood work levels are so here you go:

BUN - normal to high range is 6 to 31, Dot is at 184
Creatinine - normal is 1.6, Dot is at 9
Calcium - normal is 11.4, Dot is at 11.5 (yay, not off much)
Phosphorous - normal is 6, Dot is at 18.7

I thought we'd share a few pics of our time walking around...

We made it back and she was pretty thirsty which was good since she drank quite a bit.

When we were waiting for Dr. Becky we were just hanging out and I was goofing off with the camera with her. Friends, do this and do it before you're facing a time restriction...take pics of you and your pups together. They don't need to be professional pics, posed or whatever...use your cell if you want. Just do it, don't let the time pass then regret not having them. Yes, these aren't the prettiest, I look like tired hell but I'm happy to look at us together.

So where we stand is the same as yesterday...I'm going to try to entice her to eat tonight, she'll get another Pepcid before bed and we'll see how she is tomorrow. If she is looking at least the same or better we'll do 2 liters of fluids then I'll continue this through the weekend...then pretty much forever if it works. Unfortunately Dr. Becky will be gone Fri-Sun so if something happens we'll be headed to the emergency room. I'm hoping she's going to beat the odds but I'm trying not to get my hopes up because she's having a good couple hours.

Thank you all again for checking in on us and the good wishes. I'm relieved a bit today, but not TOO relieved if that makes sense. It's all uphill from here and I'm not going to be delusional and think it's all turned around. Her age and her numbers definitely show that's not the case. I'm just hoping for the best for her.

xoxo
Maryann & Dot-Spot

ETA...She just ate almost 2 oz of some stinky dog entree...it's not much but more than she has in days!!

Dot Update - Weds AM

2011-04-13T07:08:00.000-07:00

I laid in bed for 15 minutes this morning and just didn't want to face the day. Dot was still asleep so I just let her sleep a bit more as my excuse.

She was waggy when I got her up, although very slow. For the first ten minutes or so she participated with the other Brats and did eat one slice of cheese. After that she wouldn't even sniff anything, went to her bed in the living room and stared at the fireplace. She's snippy with Samantha which is very unusual. I sat with her and she pushed her head in my chest for about 15 minutes before I left for work.

I don't think she's going to make it. Dr. Becky is coming mid-afternoon to re-evaluate like planned and go from there.

Thanks again for the support. I feel like a crazy person constantly updating, but there's been so many times I've gone back through others blogs that were in the same situation and it's proved very helpful. So here it all is and unfortunately I don't think this is going to have a happy ending. I just want to hide with my head under a pillow and that's chicken-shit I know but I think I've hit my wall.

M

PS Thank you everyone for your emails, texts, FB messages, etc. I promise I will get back to everyone when I can. I really appreciate them all.

Dot Update - Tues PM

2011-04-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

I figured this was the easiest way to get the word out, sorry I haven't been able to reply to everyone yet. It's been crazy here.

Dot's blood work came back and she has won the title of the absolute worst numbers the vet has ever seen on a dog still alive. The levels are absolutely insane. That said, she said Dot didn't match the numbers as she shouldn't be functioning, much less alive. So on that note we decided together to give her another 24 hours to see if she could be stabilized. She rec'd a liter of SubQ fluids and a huge dose of strong anti-nausea meds. She is also on two Pepcid AC a day to try to control the acid/ulcers so she'll maybe want to eat.

After about 11:30 tonight the nausea meds should be in full effect, if she continues to vomit then it's a sign that she is not going to stabilize. Same with diarrhea. Dr. Becky will be back over here around 3 tomorrow to reevaluate her and again we will make a decision to either stop treatment or continue until Thursday. (Unless I wake up tomorrow and she's crashed already) If she does not show signs of significant change by Thursday then I'm going to let her go. I don't know what else to do, I can't continue to drag it on for her if she's not improving and feeling horrible. This entire situation is terrible.

If she DOES start to improve and show signs that the treatment is helping then we'll go into a daily routine of the Pepcid, anti-nausea meds and I will inject a liter of fluids on a daily basis for essentially as long as she lives. If during this she slides back downhill then essentially her kidneys are past the point and there will be nothing else to do. Another problem we will have if we can get her stabilized is that she won't be able to be on her arthritis meds so it's going to be a fine line of quality of life.

Everything she ate this morning (a piece of lunch meat and a treat) she vomited up this afternoon. After she rec'd the fluids tonight I got her to eat a piece of bologna and half a piece of cheese. It's still down an hour later so I have hopes it will stay down all night.

I'm in a terrible place right now, she's in very bad shape but still shows signs that she could be better. It's not like she's down and staying down all the time which would make the decision clear. If someone comes in she still gets up, wags and looks for attention. If the other dogs bark she's interested and maybe barks too. On the other hand I catch her six inches from the wall just staring like she doesn't know where she is. I really don't know what to do at this point and I have no crystal clear sign. I don't want her to suffer, I don't want to drag it on for her if she's not going to recover but where's the line that enough is enough and let her go? I don't know. We set the Wednesday and Thursday deadlines and I'm relying heavily on Dr Becky's experience and expertise, I trust her opinion. To be honest, I thought tonight was going to be the night and it was her idea to give her another day to look for change so I feel that's justified, that I'm not dragging it out just for myself.

My instinct is telling me she's at the end, the heart says to try something else and my mind just wants to shut down and make me run away. On top of that I haven't even started to address losing Millie in my head and I feel horribly guilty like her dying has been discounted or not as important. I can't deal with actually dealing with losing her when I'm on the verge of losing Dot too. I guess that makes no sense, I can't think anymore.

Thank you to everyone. You guys are the best. I will update in the morning. Sorry for these impersonal posts but I can't figure out another way of doing it.

Maryann

Millie...Part 2 & Dot Update

2011-04-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

I want to post some of my favorite pics of Millie through the last three years, but can't get to that point yet. Hopefully soon because I don't want to trivialize losing her because I'm stressed out about Dot.

Yesterday I got home to meet our vet for Dot but Millie wouldn't get up to go out. I carried her out and she did her business as usual but didn't want to move much. Her abdomen was HUGE, round and super hard. As soon as Dr. Becky got there we weighed her and she had over 4 pounds of fluids in her, she had gone from 17 pounds a couple weeks ago to over 21 lbs yesterday. I'm sure you can imagine what 25% weight gain suddenly did to her body. She did a quick needle aspiration of her abdomen which showed it was all fluids. We rushed her to the ER (Dr. Becky has use of the facility for her own practice), I helped hold her down while she took her x-rays. I can't even explain how big her middle was an how much fluid was in there, it was pressing all of her organs especially her heart. She had been heavy panting since I got home, it was partially due to her heart and lungs being essentially squeezed. Just horrible.

The option was to needle drain her stomach, inject diuretics then seen if we could see more in another x-ray as the fluids were blocking the view of much of her insides. Chances are it was either heart failure or a cancer issue (flashback to Tucker). When we did the needle aspiration at the house it really hurt her and I was torn about draining her abdomen as it's not a pleasant process. We talked more about it, we could do this but whatever was causing it would just build the fluids back up in her and she'd have to continually have to be needle drained. She was too old and frail to "fix" whatever was wrong as she couldn't make it through surgery.

I didn't know what else to do. I promised myself after Thrawn I wouldn't prolong because I couldn't let go. I still did to an extent with Tucker that night and still regret it. Part of me feels guilty that I didn't go ahead w/ the draining and more x-rays but I don't know what I would have even done after putting her through that. I just don't know what the right answer was and I sure as hell don't know if I made it.

In the meantime Dot's kidneys are failing. It was probably looming anyway and my decision to try the Meloxicam pushed it over the edge. I can't even deal with that fact right now. We loaded her with subcutaneous fluids last night and I managed to get a piece of bread with peanut butter down her but that was it. I will be giving her daily injections of fluids to see if it improves her condition and her blood values will be back either tonight or in the morning. If she doesn't show improvement in the next 48-72 hours and depending on what the blood work says then I'm going to have to make a decision for her. Dr. Becky stressed that kidney failure is not a peaceful way to pass away and I don't want to make her go through that.

If she does show improvement and start eating again then I will continue the fluids on a daily basis, then eventually move to every other day. I hope this is the case, I don't care if I have to administer fluids multiple times a day if it improves her condition. I will admit I'm very nervous about doing it for the first time after work today as I do NOT do well with anything medical/needle related but will just suck it up and do it.

ETA: She woke up this morning, drank a ton of water then vomited it all back up. I finally got her to eat a little lunch meat and another piece of bread w/ pb on it. I waited 20 minutes before leaving and she still had it down.

ETA after lunch: Went home and tried everything under the moon to get her to eat. She wouldn't touch a thing and then I noticed she had vomited everything from this morning plus a ton of fluid. She's listless, just staring into space or at the wall. Dr. Becky is coming back this afternoon to evaluate her and make a decision on what to do.

Thank you again for all the support and love.
-Maryann

Miss Millie

2011-04-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let our friends know that Millie crossed the Bridge this evening. I will post details later, just not up to it right now. It was three years ago to the day, April 11th, 2008, that I picked up Millie from a shelter volunteer in Oklahoma. She was 17 then and although I always knew she wouldn't have a lot of time left I still can't believe she's so suddenly gone. I love you little girl.

We are asking for good thoughts for Dot, she's in possible kidney failure and the next few days will be crucial.

Thank you for being our friends. We love you all.

Maryann & The Brats

Nobody asked me if I wanted a new brother.

2011-04-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is humiliating.

Trooper (an honorary Brat), Jennifer & the Dumb Friends League

2011-04-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Retro Pic with Trooper

Hi Pals

We try not to post here often looking for donations, but we think this is a great cause and it's close to our hearts. Some of you might remember Trooper, one of our foster dogs from waaaay back. Here's his story...

Through the years we've posted some updates on his great life with his dad, Jim. He lives where there is lots of snow, he's really lucky. He also gets to hike a lot, he's like a total athlete while we're more like couch dogs.

Anyways...Jim has always been a rockin' Dad to Trooper and we love him sooo much for taking a chance on him. Now Trooper's life is even better because he has a Mom, too. (Big congrats on the wedding!) Jennifer loves Trooper as much as Jim and is a pawsome Mom, we'd trade ours in if we could. Trooper and Jennifer are walking in the Dumb Friends League 2011 Furry Scurry to raise money for homeless pets. The Dumb Friends League does HUGE good work for the animals, we definitely need more organizations like them around!

So we're asking our pals to help support them, even a $5 donation helps and it's tax deductible. We don't know what that means, but Mom says it's a good thing.

If you can help out please visit this link...

Show Trooper & Jennifer some love! <----Click here!

We know not everyone can donate so we're asking if you could do something just as important and share this with anyone who might be interested. Thank you!!

Love to all our friends!

The Brats (& Maryann)

Flashback: Christmas 2010. Yes, Christmas.

2011-04-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

Mostly because our Mom sucks, we're having to go back months and months to post pics. We woulda skipped this, but it WAS Goobers first Christmas so here we are catching up. It was a good time, even if it was last year. How embarrassing.
-Miss Millie

Not much happenin' here...

2011-04-06T18:07:00.000-07:00

We've just been hanging out this week...not too much goin' on. Sam's been sleeping a lot, we guess from her new meds. Since she posted the last two times PLUS had a video we don't feel bad that there aren't pics of her this time. So HA, stinky Hound.
-Signed, Anonymous Dog
PS Giant goober head dog is in a lot of pictures, that's because he shoves the rest of us out of the way. He has NO manners.

I'm clean!

2011-04-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

I hate the bath part, but looooooove not stinkin' like a butt! Oh and check out my smooth moooooves, my pain pills are kicking boootay! xoxo, Sam-an-THA!

MMM...peanut butter.

2011-03-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

Millie's not around because she thinks there are pills hidden in it...oh and sorry about Mom's cruddy video skills. She can't juggle the camera, the spoon and the PB jar at once I guess.

-Samantha

A surprise came!!!

2011-03-24T17:51:00.000-07:00

We've been nagging Mom FOREVER to get these....FINALLY they're here! Maybe our other wishes will come true, I'll check the yard for the Steak Tree next. -Bear

PS Check here if you want some...$22 from the Animal Friendly plates goes to the Texas Department of State Health Services to make grants to eligible organizations that sterilize animals owned by the general public at minimal or no cost.

Flashback...Snow Day 2011

2011-03-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

We are trying to catch up with the last few months of our lives so here are our snow pics! Sorry for all our friends who are on our Mom's Facebook, she scooped us and posted these months ago.

Whassssup!?! I'm OtIS!

2011-03-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

So Rooooolon said I needed to get my big butt on the blog and intro myself so here I am! I've really lived here since December, but the other Brats said my new Mom is a slacker and so I didn't even KNOW we had a blog till now. Actually I didn't even know WHAT a blog was till now. I was hopin' it was like a steak but I guess not. All these new things happenin' to me. I came with the name Otis and I'm keepin' it...I like it plus now I'm like total blood-brother with the other Otis.

So anyhoos. I used to live with these other people that I don't think about anymore because, well, I think they sucked cuz they dumped me off at the shelter. Mom thinks they suck too cuz I'm a rock star and they were all no he's not. Well I don't know if they said that but they must have been thinking it cuz why else would they leave me???

I'm happy they left me cuz now I'm a Brat and I live with all my new brothers and sisters. Sometimes my sisters aren't very nice to me but I forgive them cuz they are just probably jealous that I'm so freaking cool and all the women are all oohing and aaahing over me and wanting to squeeze my jowls. Ladies, ladies, there's plenty of Otis to go around.

Just for the record Mom wanted me to tell ya she's been volunteering at DFW Humane since last April and she didn't adopt anydog till December so she beat all the bets that you DWB peeps had going. She couldn't resist me though, my goober is like that Love Potion #9.

This is Mom and I on our way home from the shelter...check my slobber all over her hand. Cool, huh?It's like the glue that holds us together. (Ok Millie said that was really stupid. What-EVAH old lady.)

We stopped by Petsmart to get some Otis-size goodies for me and Santa was there. He was a little scared I think but I was totally cool with it. Mom said it's good I have a giant square head cuz the hat just sits there on top like it's a shelf.

Here's me my first coupla days home with my homegirl cuzn Ginger-Snap. She's da bomb.

I gotta run, Dot said I'm hoggin' all the internets and it's been at least a million days since she's been able to post. Since she's a bully I better go. Oh and I had my first Christmas here too, maybe I can post some pics even though it's almost Easter. I wonder if I will get to color eggs. Or eat them. They make my toots smell like blue cheese.

Otis.

I don't really have a cool nickname yet, unless you count Otis-OUT or Otis-DROP or

Otis-DON'T-SWALLOW-THAT.

A Brat Pack Update

2011-03-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

Maryann here. The Brats will be taking back control soon.

First, I'm SO excited about our new blog layout that we owe two of our great friends HUGE for...but don't want it to be lost in this post. Soooo...it's coming soon. We can't thank you enough.

What I did NOT want to do is kick off our return to blogging with a negative post, but I don't know how else to go about this so here I am. Today we had a three hour vet appointment here at the house, we now have a great vet who makes house calls. It's a lot less stress on the seniors so it works out perfectly.

I guess first though I should make an announcement for those of you not on my Facebook...we have had a new pack member since December! His name is Otis and he's a rescued Dogue de Bordeaux. I'll post his story and pics soon, but suffice it to say he's a great addition and I love him to pieces. (You can see his pic on our side menu)

So here's a breakdown of what's going on here in the Brat House...

Rulon (79 lbs)
Great report, just had necessary vaccinations and we made a group attempt to trim his nails. It looks like he's doomed to sedation for any further nail clippings. Other than that he's his usual happy self. :) Thank DOG.

Otis (approx 120 lbs)
Big boy Otis has had an incontinence problem since I adopted him. He's been on meds that have helped some but he's still having a lot of issues at night so he's going to start a higher dose of Phenylpropanolamine to see if it helps. If it doesn't then we'll have to go from there, in the meantime he's wearing a diaper at night...yes, a diaper.

He has a hernia that is pretty prominent that will need to be removed relatively soon. In addition, his two upper canines have actually grown back towards the back/roof of his mouth, almost like they are growing into the roof/upper gum line. It's hard to explain, but I'll post a picture. This is causing food and anything else to get caught in the tiny area left between his canines and roof and will lead to all kinds of other health issues. It's apparently not going to be an easy job to get them out and once she started talking about having to drill into the upper mouth area I zoned out. His mouth is pretty much a poster child of bad breeding. SOOOO...he will be having one surgery to remove the canines and the hernia at the same time. If the meds do not solve the incontinence problem then I'm guessing we'll also be addressing that during surgery as well.

Bear (107 lbs)
My big sweet Bear has been having some joint issues lately, having a hard time getting up and moving around at times but nothing horrible. He did roll off my (very high) bed last night and landed hard on his hind end so I know that was hurting him today. Long story short, he's got arthritis problems and he's really slowing down. He's starting a new medicine regime tomorrow which includes Tramadol and Meloxicam multiple times a day.

He has a few different fatty cysts throughout that weren't a big concern, but I found another lump yesterday that I just had a bad feeling about. We did needle aspiration today and it just doesn't look good. I am supposed to apply a hot compress four times a day for the issue at the top of the skin and will wait on word on the tumor below the surface. I just have a gut feeling and it's not good. If it's Cancer we'll have immediate surgery to remove the area and I don't know what will happen from there depending on what they find. In the meantime he will also be on two weeks of Cephalexin to clear up any infection he has going on and will recheck the surface in two weeks.

Millie (17 lbs)
When I adopted Millie about 4 years ago the people who dumped her said she was 17. As time has gone on I've been less inclined to believe that since she's still around but the vet today said she easily believes she is 20+ years old. Ironically, her heart sounded great so that was good news.

She is pretty much full of cysts/tumors and due to her age I'm choosing not to address any of them. The real problem is that she has quite a bit of arthritis in her back/along spine plus her legs which is causing her pain. She screams if you pick her up or if anything is coming towards her that she can't get away from. So she's starting a regime of Tramadol and Rimadyl twice a day to help her with the pain. As expected in a dog her age, her teeth are in poor shape but she's just too old to sedate her for any kind of surgery or cleaning. However, this can be causing infection in other organs so she is starting on Clavamox to hopefully fend off any further infections anywhere. Fingers are crossed. I find hope in that she still plays with Rulon a few minutes a day.

On top of the above...her persistent cough that she has had since I adopted her has become increasingly worse. Since her heart sounds great she's leaning more towards it being a collapsing trachea issue. SO in hopes of controlling her cough and giving her trachea and such a break, she's starting Hydrocodone syrup twice a day. She will be on this for the remainder of her life to help control this problem.

Samantha (70 something lbs, she wouldn't hold still)
I dread writing this.
Samantha has advanced bone cancer in her back leg. At her age and in her condition I (and the vet) do not think it would be fair or smart to put her through amputation and chemo. It's not an easy decision but I just don't think it's the right thing to do for her situation. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know but I'm just trying to do what is best for her quality of life. So we are going to manage her pain as best as possible for as long as she is comfortable and happy. She is going to start a hefty mix of Tramadol and Meloxicam tomorrow and hopefully that will make her more comfortable. I guess I'll just take it day by day.

She also has another ear issue so we're starting TrizUltra Keto as well.

Dot (she won't let me post her weight)
THANKFULLY all of Dot's cysts around her abdomen are just fatty harmless cysts. Huge, but harmless. Unfortunately she does have two spots on her front legs that could very well be bone cancer and if so I will take the same course as Samantha. Waiting on more info but again, I have a gut feeling and it's not good. Her arthritis is bad and she's having a hard time moving around, getting up, etc. She can NOT have Rimadyl as she almost died from it earlier in life. So she's starting a mix of Tramadol and Meloxicam so hopefully that will make her more comfortable. Her spirits are good, but her body just can't keep up. :(

So.

I guess in a nutshell I am going to choose quality of life over quantity. I still look back on the last three years of Thrawn's life and a part of me hates myself for putting himself through it because I couldn't let go. I flat out asked THE question today about my four seniors. She feels maybe six months for Samantha, very doubtful for longer than that. With the other three my best hope is probably 1-2 years at most in a best case scenario.

I really don't know what to say about it all. I knew the situation I was getting into when I adopted each one of these dogs, I knew that having 4 seniors here was eventually going to be a very hard situation. It just always seemed far off but here it is staring me in the face. I am thankful that I brought Otis in for Rulon, they've become the best of friends and to face facts at some point in the not too far future they'll be the last of the pack left.

It's funny, when Tucker and Dakota died suddenly I said I was at least happy that it wasn't some long drawn out process for them. Now I'm in the opposite situation with four of the Brats, it's just looming "someday" soon. I know "someday" comes for everyone, but I guess I just would have rather lived in denial. Not very adult of me I know.

I guess the new rules of the house here is anything goes...treats, toys, exciting food, outings, whatever makes these guys happy for as long as they have left with me is what will happen. I am thankful I have this blog as a living scrapbook of their lives, I just wish I hadn't missed the last six months. Hopefully our friends will stick around with us as we work on blogging again on a regular basis.

Thanks to everyone again for being the best of friends to us all.

We are alive!!!

2011-01-20T11:13:00.001-08:00

We've had loads of changes around here...Mom is finally back in the right frame of mind to help us blog so we're coming back to the blogging world!!!

Finally!

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-12-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

Deep Thoughts by Dot

2010-10-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

I was pondering my life the other day and have wondered if I have fulfilled my destiny yet. The more I think about it the more I think maybe not. I am thinking that I should have pursued my career as Squirrel Tracker because it's what I excel at. I can spot a squirrel in a thickly wooded forest from 40 yards, I'm quite remarkable. Sam can't spot a squirrel through clean glass at 4 yards, I'm just saying.

Maybe I should have some business cards made and start marketing my new business. I could hire Rulon as an employee and he could actually be my gopher...I find the squirrels and he catches them. Well maybe. He would definitely need to practice. Come to think of it, what would I do with them once he retrieves them? Hmm, I better think more on that. -Dot

Blog Construction

2010-10-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

Friends...

We're doing some blog construction the next week so if you visit and everything looks wonky that's why. We are making a new header and moving Tucker to the "Angel Brat" section. :(

We miss him terribly.

Love to you ALL!

The Brats

PS Rulon was a super-model this weekend and now his head is so big he can barely fit through the door. We're sure he'll be posting 938 pics of himself soon.

Craziness

2010-10-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

HEY!! It's ME, Rooooooooolon-Mooooooooooch! Have you missed me like horribly terribly since I never get to blog anymore because I live in a total dictatorship here!?!?!?!?

First let me say, Samantha is a WACKADOO!!! Here's some proof::::

That's not new news though, she's been showing she's a wackadoo on this blog for years now. The BIG NEWS is that I FINALLY got a new toy!!! It's been like 4,385 days since the last one and I've ALMOST forgotten what to do with them but then I remembered and I was all HELLS YEA!! Game ON!! Notice how puppy-like I look in these shots!!!

Totally pawsome, right?!?!?

MOOOOOOCH OUT!

PS Here's Millie. She said she'd beat me up if I didn't post it. Poor me.

This doesn't taste like pie!!

2010-10-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

Oh and we are making some new cookies, they smell like coconut heaven!! Here's the recipe, get your pawrent off the couch to make them for you!!

Coconut Cremes

1.5c oat flour

1.5c brown rice flour

1c unsweetened shredded coconut (we put extra)

1tsp cinnamon

1 egg

1c milk or coconut milk

1tsp vanilla

Preheat to 350, mix everything and roll into 1" balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. You can smoosh them down some with your finger, they won't spread while cooking. Bake 18-22 minutes or till golden brown. (It took us like 28 mins for the first batch though). Store in airtight container in fridge.

Makes about 35 cookies

Please help us.

2010-10-07T07:55:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: CLANCY WAS ADOPTED!!
(Not by us!)

This is Clancy and he's at Irving Animal Services in Irving, Texas. Some person applied to adopt him so the shelter gave him all his shots and neutered him but then they never came to pick him up. Now his time has run out and he's on "the" list. He is mojo-ing our Mom through this picture and we need someone to step up and rescue or adopt him before he comes to live with us. For the love of Dog, PLEASE.

Mom will help get him from DFW to anywhere in the country if there's a rescue or responsible family who would take him in. You can write her at maryann@puchelli.com if you can help out! THANKS!!

-Dot

PS RULON-MOOCH here....it's ok if he comes to live with us, think of how much FUN we could have together!! It's like SUPER-PITTIE-POWER!!

Big Dog Special at DFW Humane!

2010-10-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hey DFW buddies...

DFW Humane is having a "Big Dog Special" this month...only $50 for dogs over 40 pounds PLUS you get a brand new dog bed to take home too. Us big dogs have to stick together and that's why I'm here to tell you that we ROCK. You totally want to adopt a big dog because we have lots of perks little dogs don't have, like...

1. You don't have to bend down to pet us.

2. We can be used as a body pillow in bed, try doing that with a rat terrier. (Uh, no offense Millie)

3. It's easier to clip our nails, you don't have to go searching for itty-bitty-dainty-nails.

4. Yes, our poop might be bigger, but it's easier to see meaning you have less chance of stepping in it.

There are a lot more reasons, but I don't want to turn off you little-dog people too much. So seriously, check out the Big Dog Special here and visit some of the big-uns at DFW Humane.

Oh and meet Garo...he's one of Mom's faves.

So stop reading this and GO GO GO!!! -Big Bear

OMD. Get your pawrents to make these.

2010-10-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin-Banana Split Bars

1.5c oat flour

1.5c brown rice flour

1c rolled oats (old fashioned, not instant)

1tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1/4c safflower oil

1/2c molasses (blackstrap or regular)

2c pumpkin (canned or fresh)

2c bananas (mashed & pureed)

Preheat to 350, mash & puree the bananas

Combine all together until thoroughly mixed

Lightly grease a 9" square baking pan, pour mixture into it

Bake 30-35 mins or until top appears golden brown and sides begin to slightly loosen from the pan. Remove from oven, cool on wire rack. Once cool slice into individual sized squares. Store in an airtight container in fridge.

ETA..These took more like 45 minutes to cook all the way through.

Basset Style

2010-09-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

It was finally time for the Basset Hound Shuffle again! I couldn't go naked so Nana made me a skirt for the occasion...

Since butt-head Rulon went to work that day, they made him try it on! Bwwaaahahahahahahaha!

Nana even made me a new collar...

I was ready to go!! The shuffle was tons o' fun, I'd show you more pictures but they are still trapped in the camera. I'm lucky to even be posting this only a week late.

They attacked me and held me down to have my nails trimmed....yuck. A princess shouldn't go through that!!

Finally done with that then I cruised around the park with Nana...

Can't wait till next year!!!

xoxo - Samantha

WALLYMELON!

2010-09-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

No need for words really...

Send good thoughts to Mo (not for faint of heart)

2010-09-19T08:28:00.000-07:00

Our Cuzn Mo hasn't been formally introduced on here yet, but she's Aunt Sandi's kinda-new pittie (and Lehttie's new sister). She had a giant lump come up on the back of her neck and had to have surgery last week. Once they started surgery it turned out to be much bigger than they thought so they had to do some massive extraction and, well, you can see the scar. She has three layers of stitches and is on lots of sleepy pain meds. Test results should be back next week, testing for the bad stuff just in case but they think it was a reaction to having her vaccinations there before Aunt Sandi adopted her.

So Mo is stuck in time-out for two weeks while she heals, cross your paws it was just a reaction to the icky shots and nothing else. -Dot

MMMMM....Pumpkin

2010-09-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

It's me, Samantha. Try not to fall of your seat in shock, but Mom actually baked for us!!! Pumpkin Muttins, they are DA BOMB!!! First we got to lick the bowl...

Then these heavenly morsels of goodness came out of the cooking machine...

OMD, I almost passed out they smelled so good. Uh, that's why I might have snatched mine out of her hand before she could take a picture. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

Gotta scoot, gonna convince the Pittie to take one for the team and pull the plate off the counter.

PS In case anydog wants to give the recipe to your pawrents...
(from the "Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook" by Bubba Roses Biscuit Company)

2c oat flour
2tsp baking powder
2tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp ground cloves
3 eggs
3/4c honey
1/4c safflower oil
1 15oz can of pumpkin

Preheat to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients. Use muffin liners or grease muffin pan, spoon mixture evenly into the pan as close to the top of the cup as possible.

Mini muffin pan - 10-15 mins
Regular muffin pan - 22-27 mins
Done when toothpick comes out clean, cool on wire rack
Store in fridge in airtight container

Cats. Yuck.

2010-09-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

The evil felines have left the building!! They're at DFW Humane waiting for adoption if anyone is interested. We're just happy they're gone.

Their Mom, Trixie, still needs a forever home too. I wouldn't have minded
her living here, but Bear wanted to eat her. -Dot

PS What is wrong with you humans?!?! This just isn't right.
http://www.reargearstore.com/

Trouble

2010-09-09T07:39:00.001-07:00

Tucker

2010-09-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

I know that our blog friends on my Facebook have probably already this on my personal blog, but to be honest I'm just not up to writing the story out again. So I'm cheating and stealing the post from the other blog since several of you have written asking what happened. I'm sorry for the shortcut.

Thanks for all the support and love this week...love you guys.
Maryann

****************

Well, the day I get on here rambling about how great my life was going quickly became hell on earth last night. I don't even know where to start and I need to be posting on the Brat's blog but I'm just not up to it yet. Plus I'm angry. I don't know who exactly I'm angry at, but I am. It's not fair. Why did this have to happen? Why do I continue to adopt more and more dogs, therefore putting me in this position again and again and again?

Tucker was fine when I got home, running around with the others, ate dinner, etc. Not more than two hours later I noticed he was having a hard time walking and was hesitant to lie down. Thinking he had gotten knocked around or something with his bad hips, I gave him a pain pill and decided to take him to Whataburger so I could be sure he would eat something. He had a hard time getting in the car, but still had his head stuck out the window enjoying the breeze. We picked up a burger and sat in the parking lot while he ate it, seemed to be fine.

Once we got home it became evident he was having a lot of abdomen discomfort. Deciding that something was definitely wrong, we headed for the emergency vet where they started with abdomen xrays and needle aspiration of what appeared to be a large tumor showing up on the xray. Between the xrays and needle it was apparent he was bleeding quite heavily internally, but there was no way to tell from exactly where. The emergency doctor came in to talk to me about the options, I'm standing there listening to him and he basically gives me what he sees as the scenarios. This guy has been doing this for years, I've seen him the numerous other times I've been there, I trust his advice.

1. The mass we are seeing on the xray has ruptured, causing the bleeding. This could be attached to the spleen or the liver and appropriate surgery would have to be done to remove the damaged areas. Prognosis is pretty good but of course long term would depend if tumor was malignant.

2. Same as above, but once we start poking around in there we notice that there are other tumors/nodules in other organs. He recommends at this point that I consider euthanization because there just isn't anything more that could be done. He could come home and live a few days, a few weeks, but would probably be in rapidly declining health.

3. Go without surgery but chances are great he would go into organ failure in a matter of hours or days.

So I'm trying not to both vomit and pass out at the same time while hearing this and this is where I'm going to veer off the story for a minute.

As you're standing there holding the fate of what is essentially your child, you are then presented with the "estimate" of services. $4,600 and this would cover the surgery and care until 8 am, when I would then have to transfer him to the regular vet for continued care. (This place is only open nights) Now, I live a decent life, not extravagant but don't really want for a lot..I can't describe the horrible feeling it is to be faced with what is essentially a life changing decision that does partially have to be based on money. That's a horrible, horrible feeling. It makes me wonder how many animals aren't given a second chance because of the cost and people just don't have the option. It's just wrong. Absolutely wrong.

Rant over. Kind of.

Faced with the estimate and a "do not resuscitate" order form I can't help but wonder what the hell has happened. Six hours ago I had a happy, healthy acting dog and now I'm looking at essentially having to make the decision to end his life. I can't believe it. So I sign all the paperwork and give them the go ahead because what else am I supposed to do? I'm not taking him home to die a slow painful death. I have to at least give him a chance of some kind. I feel helpless and hopeless and sick.

First they do chest xrays to make sure there's not another tumor. If these came back negative they wouldn't perform surgery as it had already spread too far. They come back clear, I'm feeling a little bit of hope at this point. Maybe it hasn't spread, maybe it's just this one mass and can easily be removed and all will be ok again. Blood work comes back fine, he's clotting great and no red flags so he can go under anesthesia. A little more hope.

We are able to go to the back to visit with him for a few minutes because it's just a total unknown if he will come out of surgery. He seems scared and lost in the cage, he's hooked up to an iv and heart monitor and I'm starting to panic. I didn't want this to be the last time I saw him but there just wasn't anything I could do. Horrid feeling.

Surgery started and within 20 minutes they asked us to come to the operating room to talk about what they had found. He had essentially a tennis ball sized mass in his spleen that ruptured, this was the cause of all the blood. While this could be removed and the area sutured, they found other tumors and nodules throughout his liver and abdomen. There just wasn't anything I felt I could do. The selfish part of me wanted to say remove what you can and I'll hold on to him as long as I can, anything to keep him alive. If this had been years ago, before Thrawn, that is what I probably would have done. After going through the last two years of Thrawn's life and the gift of hindsight, I just couldn't do it to Tucker.

They said they could close the surgery and wake him so I could say goodbye, but I just didn't think it was best for him. He would be confused and probably in pain and it just wasn't worth it. I said my goodbyes to him while he was unconscious on the operating table and it is a picture I will never, ever forget. I couldn't believe my little old man, my Tucker-Doodle Bug, was going to be gone in a matter of minutes. It's just not fair.

The next thirty minutes are a blur, I vaguely remember picking out his urn and making his final arrangements. I know I should be thankful, he lead a happy and healthy life up to the very end. He didn't suffer. We didn't go through a long drawn out and painful process. All that and I really don't feel better. I feel selfish and angry and bitter and hostile about why he's gone when I honestly thought we still had a couple more years together. Dakota went so early and although Tucker was 12, I just didn't think it was going to be his time anytime soon.

The first thing I said to Sandi when she got to the ER last night was that this was it. I have the Pack now, but once they are gone I'm not doing this again. I'll foster but no more adoptions, it's horrible pain and I just can't continue to deal with it. Then I got home and crawled into bed, Bear curled up against my stomach with his head on the pillow and I wrapped my arms around him. I realized that nothing else could have made me feel better at that very moment. The hole left behind in the Pack is huge and can never be filled, but hopefully I can get to the point where I can help another dog again. I just don't know. -Maryann

Tucker-Doodle Bug

2010-09-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

I'm heartbroken to tell our friends that my sweet Tucker suddenly crossed the Bridge at 2:30 this morning. I will write a proper post when I'm feeling a bit more up to it. Thanks to everyone for always being such good friends and loving my dogs like their own. I love you, buddy...so, so much.

-Maryann and The Brats

It was 107 today.

2010-08-23T17:39:00.000-07:00

We don't like the Summer much. We hang out in the house most of the time and it's so boring I can barely stay awake. The sidewalk is too hot for my sensitive paws, too. I've been catching up on my reading...

The Pit Bull has been in a lot of trouble. Mom woke up to a weird sound and he was hanging off the end of the bed...

He keeps telling her at least her Blackberry doesn't look like this...

Aunt Sandi's two pitties ate Uncle Brian's cell phone. Kinda funny I think.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, had to take them all with the phone. Our secretary has been too lazy lately to even take real pics of us with the camera. I guess I should just be happy I get to blog for once. Poor us.

Care-Bear

PS We understand you Facebook addict-friends-of-Mom see all our pictures before we have time to blog them. It's just not right we don't have priority so I'm not apologizing for recycling pics.

We are ALIVE!!!!

2010-08-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Finally it was brought to our Mom's attention that we hadn't blogged in like 32,048 days and then she felt guilty so HERE WE ARE!

We have tons to catch up with....Aunt Sandi adopted a new pittie! Somedog ate a bag of Cheetos and pooped orange for days!!! And yes....THEY are still here...

So we're taking a vow to be better dog bloggers from now on....but we need a better secretary.

NYC Betrayal, Chapter II

2010-07-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

Told you there were more pics. Hard to believe, we know.

OK, phew. We're tired. There are like 1 million more on our ape's Facebook page if you're interested...We DID get something from NYC and we'll post that next.

NYC Betrayal, Chapter I

2010-07-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

Well, she left us for like an eternity to go to NYC to meet all of OUR friends. We still can't figure out why this happened, if anything we should be going but after seeing some of the crazy pictures we're wondering if we were the lucky ones.

More to come....

INTRUDERS!!

2010-07-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

Can you believe what is living in our house?!?!?!?!?

That's right, our ape has lost her mind and brought home not one, not two, but FIVE CATS. Sure, sure, she gave us the whole sob story about being abandoned at the shelter and then she had babies, it's only temporary.....yea, yea.

We're a D-O-G house. There is no C-A-T in D-O-G. The worst part is we can't even SEE them. We've even been blocked out of the hallway GOING to them. It's just wrong on so many levels.

WHAT is going on?!?!

2010-07-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

It's SAmanTHA!

Mom's been keeping a huge giganto Mango-sized secret from us!! She's LEAVING us next week....and not just going somewhere boring. She's meeting ALL (Ok, well not ALL but still) our DWB friends in the BIG APPLE!! Yep, she's going to New York City and we don't get to go. Can you believe it?!?!?!?!?! Even Opy, Benson and Angel Charlie's peeps are going to be there from down under. (Down under what!?!?) We're just STUNNED that we've been left out.

Our Aunt Michele (Ruby's Mom) even had to step in and make Flat Brats because our Mom is a total slacker. I hope she takes a picture of me at the Statue of Liberty.

She's rooming with Aunt Jen (Sherman, Lola and Penny's Mom)...they already went to Best Friends & Vegas together, now New York?!!? We didn't get to go on that trip either in case you don't remember. What's next, Paris?????

I think Wally and Sophie's apes are going too....I haven't seen the list of who else is going to be there but I know there's some big pawty at Asta's house. Asta is the luckiest dog EVER!

Disgruntled,
Sam the Hound

Yack-Fest 2010

2010-06-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

It's me, MOOCH! Again! Twice in two days, can you believe it!?!?!? I just wanted to say in honor of OTIS - I DIDN'T DO IT! Now Dot says I have to let her blog or she'll sit her fat butt on me and smoosh me to a PANCAKE!

Sigh, it's me, Dot-Spot. We've had a long 12 hours here at the Brat House and it's all because of YOU KNOW WHO. Picture it, about 11:30 last night, Mom gets in the tub (I don't know why anyone would WANT to take a bath) and is all "Calgon, Take Me Away!" and relaxing all the rest of us were just hanging being good. She gets out, crawls into bed and here comes RULON bursting into the room like Santa on Christmas carrying Mom's bag of trail mix. It's been torn open and LOTS was missing.

Since Mom was having a date with Mr. Bubbles, dip-dong-pittie took the bag off the counter and ripped it open and ate TONS. It had raisins and chocolate and some other weirdo nuts on the DO NOT EAT list so Mom FREAKS out.
Now, how we live in a home without the one magic ingredient to make us puke is beyond me. I mean, hasn't she ever heard of a first-aid kit???? So Mom throws the Pittie in the Mini (ha, rhymes) and speeds (really) over to Aunt Sandi's house, who meets them in the driveway, shoves like a gallon of peroxide down his throat and he spews everywhere. Then she started thinking, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... Do you see where this is going???

Next thing we knew we were lined up on the back porch (by now it's like 12:30 am) and being literally gagged with that nasty peroxide stuff. She said since she didn't know who all helped Mooch eat the trail mix that we ALL had to yack. It was horrible!!! All of us starting puking everywhere on the back porch and in the yard, then she ran from one pile to another in the rain with a flashlight to check it for contraband trail mix and to scoop before somedog ate it. (Yech, I don't do that) Don't forget Ginger-Snap is staying with us too so that made SEVEN yacking dogs all at once. Good thing the neighbors weren't outside or the Haz-Mat teams would have shown up, especially cuz Bear and Sam make sounds like a dying walrus when they heave.

Finally we were sent to bed, but when Mom woke up this morning there were like 7 more piles of yack to clean up around the house. Serves her right for making us pay for Rulon being bad!!!

Dot-Spot OUT

PS. Mom says I have a gut of steel, it took two doses of that nasty stuff to make me even look like I might blow chunks.

Company!!

2010-06-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Nana is on a great big ship cruisin' somewhere and probably all runing Girls Gone Wild on a naked beach, but while she's gone GINGER-SNAP gets to stay with me!!! WOOOHOOO!! I :::heart::: her. Our other two cuzns, Buddy & Shadow, stay at Aunt Sandi's so they can swim all the time.

We're having so much fun doing zoomies at 2 am, jumping from place to place and being CRAZY!! (Oh, and being on the furniture we're not supposed to be on - see above)

-Rulon-MOOCH...and my sidekick, GINGER

(Mom says my partner-in-crime, but I say WHATEVAH!)

WHAT is this???

2010-06-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

It was dark in the room so we snuck the Blackberry and snapped THIS!

Is he SNUGGLING with Bear's BUTT?????

Bwwwaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaa!

What a total WEIRDO!!!

Dot-Spot (the only normal one here)

Edited to Add...

This sweet senior guy was dumped at the Carrollton (Tx) shelter by his owner. I'm sure he's wondering what he did wrong to end up there. :( D-Day is 6-23 so not a lot of time left. If anyone is interested or could take him into their rescue I'll gladly help however I can.

We're alive and well...

2010-06-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Our Mom is just a giant slacker and hasn't been helping us blog. She doesn't even have any new shelter pics to share, she's really stinking the place up.

We've been doing a lot of this...

It's already sooo hot outside so we just do our business and come back to the air conditioning. No reason to stay out there and roast you know.

We're going to try to be better blogging dogs, maybe we'll do something exciting this week to report on. (I wouldn't hold your breath though) We did start eating a new food that has these yummy meaty parts in it. Mom's not too happy with it because we pick all the meaty parts out and spread the other pieces all over the floor. Humans always have one issue or another you know.

Gotta snooze,

Care Bear

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Clarissa at DFW Humane

Elsie at DFW Humane

What the H-E-double hockey sticks?!?!?

2010-05-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

WHY is there a cat on our DOG BLOG???? Our Ape wants us to showcase this FELINE on OUR BLOG. I don't even know what to say. Well, yea, I do. It's been WEEKS since she has helped us blog and we know she hasn't been doing anything else important because I think we've watched every Criminal Minds/Law & Order SVU/NCIS Marathon known to man on TV. We loan her out to the shelter to visit DOGS and she comes home with THIS! We've gotta take control of our peeps, this is out of hand. It's a good thing I want to eat cats or we'd have another mouth to feed in the house.

A VERY disgruntled Bear.

PS OK, OK, I give. I'll do it out of the goodness of my heart. This is Bonzo the Cat at the DFW Humane Society. He's apparently the bees knees since she won't stop talking about him. He crawled up on her chest and rubbed his face all over hers (the HORROR) and was all, "love me forever" and she was all "I want to but I can't, Bear will eat you" (ha ha). So if there's any of you dogs out there that don't mind sharing your casa with FELINES you should go meet Bonzo. At least if he goes home with you then she won't be spending time with him instead of us. -Big Bear

DFW Humane ~ Trinity

2010-05-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

Meet Trinity, she's one of the pups up at DFW Humane that Mom's been spending time with. We wanted to highlight her on our blog because we think she's been looked over for too long!

She's young, only a few years old and is super loving. She'll wrap her legs around your waist to give you a hug and is a superb kisser. We know this because we smell her kisses all over Mom when she comes home. If you sit with her she will crawl into your lap and loves to be cuddled. She'd be great sister material, but as you all know our casa is FULL!

If you know anyone who needs a perfectly lovely new family member please pass on this info about Trinity. We'd like to see her with her new family soon!

Unappreciated

2010-05-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

It's Bear and I feel unappreciated. I've started a new habit to help out Mom, once she falls asleep I cram myself on her pillow for protection. It works out pretty well, she ends up moving down so I have the whole pillow and she's just asleep on the mattress. I'm still a little cramped but I can deal with it.

Well, since that was working out so well and I knew how grateful she was I decided to help a little more. Now when she falls asleep I spread out across her back so she doesn't accidently sleepwalk or something. Thing is she woke up at like 5 this morning freaked out that she was having a heart attack from all the pressure, but really it was just Bear love holding her down. She also moans and groans a lot in the morning saying she can barely stand up and move around after all my Bear love.

When will she realize I'm doing this for her own good???

-A misunderstood Bear

Sister for Sale. Cheap.

2010-04-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Aunt Sandi told us our blog didn't have enough CONTENT. I don't know what she means, we're all perfectly CONTENT.

Sigh. Everyone is a critic. Let's see her blog without opposable thumbs.

SO in an attempt to make her happy, let's try this for CONTENT, it would certainly make the rest of us more CONTENT.

SISTER FOR SALE!

CHEAP!

PROS:

Apes think she's cute. This might score you more attention that's left over after they realize she's really slobbery and smelly.

She sleeps like 21 hours a day. For her other 3 hours please see below.

NOT SO PROS: (You should never say CON when you're trying to sell something!! -Sales 101)

She whines. A lot. For example, she whines at the door. If somedog is on a bed she wants. If somedog is blocking the room she wants to come into or leave. For attention. For treats. Sometimes we don't even know why, maybe just to hear her own voice.

Her gullet (see it in the picture) picks up every scent she happens to wander by. I think she sneaks away and visits the cow pasture sometimes. I'm just saying.

Signed,

Anonymous

(No way am I signing my name, she might sit on me. That end doesn't smell any better than her gullet.)

EXTREME Makeover...BELLE Style!!

2010-04-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Our Great Pyr friend, Belle, at DFW Humane BEFORE...a big matted hairy, unhappy mess....

And VOILA! A refreshing Spring cut!

SUCH a pretty and happy girl!

Belle and her friend Esme (that's her fluffy butt) came in together because their pawrents lost their home. The hope is that they can be adopted to a new family together. Belle needs heartworm treatment before adoption and DFW Humane is trying to raise $235 to cover the expenses. Cross your paws that these two sweethearts can find the perfect family together, they deserve it!

Humiliating Wordless Wednesday (from the archives...)

2010-04-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

MMM, treats.

2010-04-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

We had a surprise on Saturday from Three Dog Bakery, Vanilla Rollovers! They were delish...

Tucker and I weren't sure what to think of them at first...

Here's a random fact...our piggy sister Dot doesn't smell ANYTHING before she eats it. Just sticks stuff in her mouth willy-nilly without knowing if it's gross. Weirdo. -Bear

Oh, I'm a LADY....

2010-04-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

Go ahead, play the video below and jam to the music....

...while gazing on this beee-yooooootiful view.

Hot, eh??? I know.
--xoxo
Samantha

Happily Ever After

2010-04-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

We're happy to report that Mr. Max is finally home with his forever family. Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible and for all the good wishes. He will have more love and attention there than he's had his entire life and we're so, so happy for him!

(Well, and happy she didn't bring him back here to live!!!)

-Tucker and the Brats

Update on Max the Husky

2010-04-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

We have a vet update on Max. He has two fractures in his front leg. :(

His leg is being splinted for the next 10 days then he'll be assessed. Chances are he'll be splinted again after the assessment. He's being cleaned up and spending the night at the vet's office tonight before going to a temporary foster home tomorrow. This guy deserves a great home and a family that will keep him forever.

To read about Max...

http://www.fivehappyhounds.com/2010/04/max-husky.html

Thoughtful Thursday

2010-04-15T12:27:00.001-07:00

Max the Husky

2010-04-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

Our Aunt Janice was driving to school this morning when she saw a stray husky on the side of the road. She pulled over and he happily crawled in the car with her. He was microchipped so the vet contacted the person who was listed.

Come to find out she had given him to a relative about 4 months ago because he "chewed, dug and was a runner". A little more investigation and we found out that he had been passed through several families these last four months until he ended up with this last one who left him outside. They told Aunt Janice that they didn't want him anymore and to find him a good home.

Sooooo....here we are. Here's the 4-1-1 on him. He's here in the DFW area but we'll always make a road trip for an exceptional home. According to the original adopter....

-Adopted from the SPCA at 1.5 years old, he's almost 3 years old now. He was originally an owner surrender to the SPCA. He's apparently been bumped around a lot and we need to find his forever home now. No more bouncing from house to house.

-Name was Max, no idea what he's been called the last 4 months :(

-House trained

-Neutered

-Good with kids

-Good with other dogs

-Enjoys being brushed

-Was "almost" leash trained when she had him, now she doesn't know how he is on a leash

-Will bolt when given the opportunity, typical Husky

-Digs and hides toys, has a chewing problem (guessing from boredom)

-He has a hurt leg, he is at the vet and will have tests ran in the morning. Will update with news...

Not great pics, but we'll get glamour shots once he's sprung from the vet's office tomorrow.

As you might of guessed he really reminds us of Thrawn. We're hoping that we can help find his forever family so please pass this on to anyone you know who might fit the bill.

Thanks...
Maryann & The Brats
maryann @ fivehappyhounds . com

We missed Bear's barkday!

2010-04-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

This was Care Bear on his very first day home...isn't he just the bomb?!?! That was in 2007, we can't believe it's been that long.

We love ya, buddy!

Sunny Days at DFW Humane!

2010-04-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Hiya pals, it's Samantha.

While we were locked up in prison today you-know-who went to play at the shelter for lunch.

This pretty girl has fur like silk, at least that's what I heard. She was so excited to have company that it was hard to get a good picture! She adored attention and let you love all over her. I would let someone love all over me too if I weren't locked up in prison. I'm just saying.

This little ball of dynomite is Paul and WOW is that some energy. He was wiggling all over the place being excited and tried to give our Ape puppy-mojo eyes but no way was that working.

Geez, gotta be careful. Never know what dog is going to try to weasle their way into our house. Speaking of weasles....here's that Roxie dog again. Now she was doing bar tricks with her tongue to be irresistable. Can you believe the gall of some dogs?!?

Today was the first day that Mom was able to play with the gorgeous Great Pyr lady that was there. She's more my speed....slow and laid back. Isn't she gorgeous??? (also like me...)

Last but not least, here's Hank. Good ole' Hank has bookoos energy and is DEFINITELY not my speed. I'm surprised the camera even caught a picture of him. Hopefully some super active family will find him and he'll live happily ever after.

So that about wraps up this edition of cheating Apes and shelter dogs. I have lots of important things to do...like sleep and eat. Catch ya on the flip side.

...Sam

PS Oh yea, Mom saw someone carrying Mini-me Basset at the shelter, hopefully she found herself a perfect new family!! I love happy endings.
PS AGAIN...Oops, forgot... http://www.dfwhumane.com/

We're crazy for coconut!!

2010-04-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

OMD, this is like my favorite treat ever....it's so yummy and liplicking good plus Mom said it's good for us. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Nom Nom Nom, this stuff is sooo good!

I wish we could have it more than once a day!

Hugs and kisses....Dot-Spot

Our Sunday PSA

2010-04-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Mom met this guy yesterday at the City of Irving shelter and she fell in love. (yes, again) He's in bad need of a spa day, but has a pawsome personality and is sooo lovable. He really needs a family of his own, so if you know anyone who might be able to love him forever send them his way. We can always help with getting him to you. :)

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/16108121?recno=14

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

2010-04-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

RIP Polar Bear

Now we only have your carcass to play with.

More Toys!

2010-04-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

I know the white polar bear is supposed to be MINE but stupid Rulon won't leave it alone. Does anyone want a new brother because he's FOR SALE!!!! CHEAP!

Doofus got another "tough toy". I don't know why such a WIMP needs TOUGH toys!

Hahahahahahahaha!

xoxo
Tucker-Doodle Bug

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

We call this post "Some kinda crazy"

While we're stuck at home...

2010-04-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

Our Mom went to the shelter for lunch, she never comes HOME for lunch because she doesn't "have time" but she has time to go to the shelter?!!? Sounds fishy.

This is Whoopi G. She's a hoot.

She's got a bit of a hair issue. Talk about bedhead.

This is Jillian. Mom said she's so super sweet and loveable. Kinda like me.

She forgot this guy's name, but he was a lover for sure. He's so tiny and frail looking, I'm just happy she didn't accidently smoosh him. She's used to manly, macho dogs.

(Again like me, Bear)

What$!? It's Cowboy AGAIN. It seems like he's looking for greener pastures.

This little guy is a wild one, I think he's gettin' jiggy with it here...

Who is THIS jowly looking thing?!!??

Her name is Roxie and she looks like she's full on trying to seduce our Mom into loving her!!

We're going to have to be careful about this shelter visiting thing I think...

Oh NO! It's "THE ONE"! What is she doing in this picture??!? Trying to be irresistable?!?!? Trying to talk our weak-hearted Ape for a trip home with her?!?!

I think she's using that Bully smile as a deadly weapon. How is anyone supposed to resist that!?

Gotta go work on my charm...

Care Bear

PS Don't forget... http://www.dfwhumane.com/

Puppy-Sitting!!

2010-04-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHAT!?!?!?

We're PUPPY-SITTING! My girly girl cuzn GINGERSNAPPY is staying with us for a few nights!! I'm so excited I almost peed on myself when I heard the news!

We have soooo much fun together. I :::heart::: her. In a cool cuzn kinda way, nothing freaky, k?

I wish she could live with us FOREVER but Nana would be sad I guess. Maybe Nana wants me to come live WITH her then she'd be double happy to have us BOTH!!!

-Mooch OUT

DFW Humane Society

2010-04-03T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hey pals!

We have a couple announcements. First off, let's just make sure we're all clear that NODOG is coming home with our Ape. No way, not going to happen....NO.

The new shelter right by our Mom's office is now open, we posted pics of the grand opening last week. Pawsomely cool, let me tell ya. Today she went to training to learn how to be a better dog mom. Oh wait, that's not right, that's next week. Ha ha ha ha. Seriously, she went to volunteer training.

We have allowed this in the name of WALLY TAMALE. He motivated us by allowing his ape to go to the SPCA and report back in on his blog. SOOOOO...just for Wally we're following his big paw prints and letting the shelter dogs INVADE our blog.

So, with no further ado, I present you with today's selection of OTHER dogs who rubbed and kissed all over our Mother. (Surely we should get an award for this....)

Oh wait, before you look we have something else to say. Our ape USED to be really great at taking rescue pictures and for some reason she lost this talent. Now she's like an 8 year old with their first camera and I can't tell you how many butt shots we had to delete already. So please excuse the poor photography, it will be better next time, we're sure of it. Oh, and she'll do better on names next time too, she was an all around slacker today. We can't even guarantee if most are boys or girls. Sheesh.

If any of these guys float your boat, you can find out all the 4-1-1 on them at http://www.dfwhumane.com.

So in honor of Wally and the Peppy Sheps, here is a miniature version if they were cosmically fused all together. This little guy had a ton of energy and was so excited to be on the leash almost wiggled right out of his cage.

This is Cowboy....that's right. COWBOY. He doesn't look much like a Cowboy to me but I'm going with it. He was all quiet and meek in his cage but then was a wild dog looking for love once he was free to run around. Seriously sweet and like all over trying to be a lap dog.

This is THE ONE. You know THE ONE, right??? THE ONE is the dog that if your pawrents didn't already have YOU then she'd be coming home for sure. This is SUGAR BEAR and she immediately used her giant head to push her way into Mom's heart. I know, I know, thank dog she's already got all of us, right???

A few random shots of some other pawsome guys that were there...she probably doesn't remember names because she was all googly eyed over THE ONE. The quality of these shots are, well, bad. She'll have to do better next time.

This is BEAR. Not like our BEAR exactly, but giant like him. Super duper sweet and very hairy, he was seriously looking for love. We can't believe Bear is still there after even a day. Surely some smart human is going to come in and be all "I can't live without Bear". Right??

This guy looked pretty worried, he's there with his other Great Pyr friend. His family lost their house to foreclosure and these guys need a new family. Soooo pretty, hopefully the right family will show up soon to take them home together.

This guys ears ROCK! Rulon-Mooch is like totally jealous.

It's Mini-Sam that they saw last week at the grand opening!! She sat in Mom's lap and hugged her for a long time. She's seriously like a quarter the size of Tubby, it's crazy. She's got a howl just as loud though.

This little girl was sooo sweet. All she wanted was love but she was stuck in a run with that cute psycho puppy below...doesn't that crazy look remind you of our cuzn Lehttie?!?!?

So that's it....we smelled CATS on her too, but there was no evidence on the camera. She better not be spending this loaned-out time with CATS or there is going to be TROUBLE.

Phew, this is a long post, we hope none of you fall over in shock since we've been such blog slackers lately.

Gotta go eat and take a nap now....
Tucker-Doodle

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-31T12:36:00.001-07:00

Giraffes ROCK

2010-03-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

Mom and Aunt Sandi flew away from us (yes, AGAIN) to go to this place...I dunno what it's called but I think it's HEAVEN. It's like every dog treat place EVER MADE!!!

ANYWAYS, all I got was this GIGANTO GIRAFFE. The tag says his name is GIRARD but I think it's MUD!! I'll RIP HIS HEAD OFF!!!! (OK, tried that and it didn't work. He must be made of KRYPTONITE!!!!.) Look at Mr. Oh-I'm-So-Sweet Tucker ATTACKING ME like a savage beast!!!! Not so sweet now, HUH?!?!

There's a bag of other toys and I don't know why she's a big meanie and won't give them ALL to ME NOW!!!! As soon as I get hold of that bag I'm freeing them all from PRISON!

-Rulon MOOOOOOOOOOOOOCH OUT!