Home Repair Causes Doggie Disruption

A couple of weeks ago we had the unfortunately experience of having a slab leak in our home. Well, what an experience this has been for our family. At first the cats thought this was very cool, when all of the furniture and items were removed from the room, lots of great stuff to explore and smell. But then, the HazMat team kept coming back and establishing "containment" zones within the house. The icing on the cake was after they had to move out the built in ovens and built in refrigerator which made the normal paths of ingress and egress impossible. The cats were blocked off from their normal eating location and where their litter box is kept. The dogs could not get to their backyard, garage, etc. without a roundabout path that they found extremely confusing. Well, one day of messing with the dogs lives and my dobies started vomiting and have loose stools. By day three, I had just about had it and the containment zone was removed and the loud de-humidifiers were shut off and removed.

The disaster is not yet over but the external stress has been lessened. Dogs and cats are such creatures of habit that this type of problem cannot be explained to them and becomes extremely stressful. Trying to keep two cats and three large dogs out of the way of plumbers, drywalls, general contractors, etc. is practically a full time job. My husband had the right idea and went on a business trip! Oh, well this adventure will keep on growing and we are learning patience (at least the humans in the house).

Avalanche: The Hunter

Even as Avalanche continues to recover from his spinal cord injury, he is so determined to resume his old life. Now that he has some mobility he is trying to get back into his bunny hunting. You should see him trying to scramble through bush trying to catch rabbits. He has bunny on the brain and thinks of nothing other than trying to catch his next rabbit. Good luck my special needs friend!

It is his determination that has gotten him this far, so who knows where he can be in another year!

Watch the Weather With Your Pups

With warmer weather upon is, you really need to remember that your pets can get stressed from the heat. Avalanche, our special needs Siberian Husky definitely slows down on warmer days and enjoys the coolness of our tile floors. Diva and Deon, being Dobermans, with black coats cannot handle the heat either even with a whole lot less fur. My son, not thinking took Diva for a run at 4:30pm the other day while it was still in the upper 80's. Needless to say, the pads on her feet got really sore from the hot pavement, and it took her a long time to cool down. Remember, dogs cannot sweat to cool themselves down. Their only option is to pant to release the carbon dioxide in their bodies, so take it easy with the pups and remember shoes are always on option on those hot days.

Avalanche - Got An Itch and Was Able to Take Care of it Himself

We certainly take things for granted. If we have an itch, we scratch it. Imagine being a dog and not being able to scratch! Well, Avalanche has been in that situation for the past 17 months after recovering from a spinal cord injury. Finally there is some relief for the left side of his body. For the first time since his injury, he was able to connect and actually scratch his own left sided itch. He has learned how to communicate with me when he needs an itch scratched, but I am not with him 24/7 - so the poor guy has to get by. The total look of satisfaction on this dogs face when he was scratching was so awesome. Way to go Avalanche!

Avalanche Keeps On Truckin'

It has now been 17 months since our "special needs" Siberian Husky, Avalanche suffered his spinal cord injury and he continues to make amazing progress. For having been paralyzed from the waist down less than a year and a half ago, he can now walk around the block on his own without any assistance! He sometimes gets going too fast and falls and then often he can get himself back up but sometimes he wants help. He lets me know which way it is going to go. Walking requires a tremendous amount of energy and focus on his part and he often gets excited to see kids or other dogs and just tries to move too fast. Yesterday he headed down the hill and walked all the way into a new neighborhood. I know he headed into this neighborhood because he heard kids out playing. When he was first learning to use his wheelchair or K9 cart this is where he would head. He loves children and the attention he gets from them. He did encounter a big cat in a garage of someone we know. This is one hell of a cat! The cat is very territorial and was stalking my 80 pound dog. Avalanche was so confused! He is used to stalking cats since we have two at home, so he barked at the cat and then tried to play with the cat, but of course, the cat would have nothing to do with this. We were not able to let it play itself out since I had to get my son off to a basketball practice, but it was very funny to watch. We will have to see what he has in store today for his evening walk.

Avalanche Keeping His Eye On Things

Avalanche likes to monitor what is going on with the family. Here he has cruised into the dining room to monitor the family. He really enjoys the newly fought for freedoms he has earned since his spinal cord injury. Being able to move around the house let's him feel more like his old self before he became a "special needs" dog.

Going Away While The Doggies Play

Having a number of pets can create some problems in trying to get away for a vacation. For a long time we had a young woman come into our home and stay, taking care of our 2 cats and 3 dogs. After Avalanche, our Siberian Husky suffered his spinal cord injury, it was impossible to even think about going away for the first eight months or so. Since he does not have bowel control, leaving him at home with someone who has another job to be at all day, just would not work, so I had to start looking when we decided we really needed to get away for a few days.

I then discovered this really awesome place called Paws Pet Resorts here in San Clemente. They have doggie day care and also do boarding. I checked it out with the dogs and then took them to play group for a day. They seemed to have liked it, but how can you tell? I let a week go by and then one day on our daily morning walk I decided to walk in the vicinity of this place to see what they did. Well, a total thumbs up! They all headed straight to Paws. That convinced me and since then they have gone to play group for day care on numerous occasions, and we have boarded them now for the third time. I have told lots of people about this place, since it is really the next best thing to leaving them with a dog sitter.

Some of the dog sitting services are horrible! We had a neighbor who used a service like this and someone would show up for 5 minutes twice a day, and the poor dog barked for the remainder of the time.

It isn't easy having a "special needs" pet, and the staff at Paws treats him wonderfully. My doggie kids are always excited to go and play but when I come to pick them up they are also ready for home. The added benefit is that they are always so exhausted after spending a day or a week there that they (my special needs and older dog in particular) sleep for the next day or two. Diva, my baby was really tired after the last four nights there. Some of their fatigue is due to the strangeness, the noise, the not being at home and anxiety; but alot of their fatigue is the fact that they have been on vacation having their own party. An added benefit is that they have a Webcam, so if you take your laptop, you can watch your doggie kids play.

This is the only place away from home that I have ever left my dogs and we have had dogs for over 20 years. Chris the owner is a wonderful woman and she has employed some fabulously caring staff. Way to go! And it allows you the peace of mind to go away!