A Future in Dog Training

A couple of weeks ago, Krista had a school assignment to design a poster about your future career. She wants to be either a veterinarian or an animal trainer, so we took a few photos of her working with our dogs. It was really cute. She was so serious about "training" them (to do tricks they already knew how to do). They were somewhat cooperative, but we never did get Bennett giving her a high-5, which is her best trick.








She got an A on her poster. : )

Easter 2009

It was a beautiful day in Lakeside today. We took advantage and had a picnic in the park. We took the dogs (big mistake), and cooked our Easter dinner out on the grill. Had a great time.

Before we went, the girls had to go on a treasure hunt for their Easter "baskets." Here are a few videos of them finding their clues.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter!

The treasure hunt begins
Clue #1: "Three little buddies on you depend.
For themselves they cannot fend."


Clue #2: "Each day you should have eight of these.
In this drawer you might find zucchini and peas."


Clue #3: "How much did you grow last year?
You will find your next clue here."
(We have measured all our kids on the metal cabinet in the garage since we always rented - until now.)
Clue #4: "Mom needs to get work done.
The dogs want to come in to have some fun."
Clue #5: "Brush your teeth, take a bath.
This is the next stop on the path."



Clue #6 (in our teeny, tiny bathroom): "God gave His Son for us, we know.
John 3:16 tells us so."


Clue #7: It's a beautiful day, go take a peek.
You will find the treasure you seek!"

Bennett

TGIF: Bristow!

I know you're going to think it's silly--and maybe it is--but today I'm thankful for Bristow. She's been bouncing around and barking and stealing chew bones from Bennett and Dakota just like she used to do before her close brush with death a few weeks ago.

She's not out of the woods yet (three small bald patches have mysteriously appeared on her body), but her ornery personality is definitely back, and we are lovin' it!

Here are a few photos of her and Bennett and Dakota last Saturday.

We took this photo to show the difference in her belly area - much fatter!

She loves to drink the water from the corner sprinkler

She really loves it!

All the dogs start barking when Gene blows bubbles in the pool - especially Bristow

And here's a video of the bubble blowing:

Bristow & Bennett

OK, as suggested by Rye, here's a photo of our two Jack Russell Terriers. Bristow is on the left and Bennett, the puppy, on the right. Bennett is about 10 1/2 months old, and Bristow is about 2 1/2 years old. Bennett is the most active of all three of our dogs, but for some reason, she is a little roly poly. She reminds us so much of Babe, the pig. We can almost hear her thinking "Baa Ram Ewe!" sometimes. So funny.

My Sick Puppy

She's usually so lively and perky--always jumping and running. But Bristow had not been herself for a few days. She had been throwing up, and was extremely lethargic and pitiful. It was so sad. We figured it was just a little illness, and that she would be better in a couple of days. But after three days of throwing up and getting thinner and thinner, we had to break down and take her to the vet. The last time we took her to the vet it cost $265. She had gotten into some rat poisoning and had to have her stomach pumped and stay overnight. We really hoped it wasn't going to cost that much this time.

Imagine our SHOCK when they told us they had to keep her for a few days, take X-rays, do some blood work, give her some IV fluids, and monitor her progress, and that it would cost approximately $1400! Now, we love Bristow very much, but that was just out of the question. We told them that there was just no way we could do that, and asked what could be done for under $300 (even that was really going to be difficult to come up with). The guy left the room and came back with some "wonderful news." It was possible that we would only have to spend $1200 and we would only have to put half down and could finance the rest. - What?????

Needless to say, we had to tell them we couldn't do that either. So, we were left with a very difficult decision. Take her home and hope that she would recover from whatever this problem is or go even further into debt to try to find out what the problem was. The vet said that she thought it could be her pancreas, which of course didn't sound good. After a lot of discussion, we decided to let them inject fluid under her skin and take some X-rays to see if there was an obvious obstruction causing the problem. At least we would know something.

The X-rays were inconclusive, showing some gas bubbles, but no obvious obstruction. Somewhat reassuring. They injected fluid under her skin and we took her little limp self home. The vet told us to give her Pedialyte and chicken and rice and that if she wasn't better in a couple of days, we would need to talk about euthanasia. Oh my gosh! I had no idea that it was so serious! Poor Bristow. Anyway, it ended up costing us a little over $200. Here are a couple of photos showing the big lump on her side where the fluid was injected.

We have been giving her Pedialyte with a syringe and feeding her little bits of chicken and a food supplement, and she seems to be slowly getting better. But she did throw up again this morning, which is not good.

And . . . now Bennett is throwing up! Argghhhhh!

So, that's what we've been dealing with here. We love our dogs so much, so this has been an extremely difficult week. Hopefully my next post will have some good news. For now, I'm just going to get back to my sick puppies. Oh yeah, and work.

BENJAMIN DANIEL!

Now that we gave Scout away, we are down to just three dogs, all of them females. We try not to give our dogs people names. I know that Dakota has become a people name, but to me, it's a dog name. Anyway, when we first got Dakota and Bristow, the girls wanted to name them after themselves, so their full names are Dakota Diane Andrews and Bristow Angelina Andrews.

When we got Bennett, we didn't know what to give her as a middle name. When Ryan came home from Japan, we decided to name her Bennett Danielle, after Ryan Daniel. But Ryan thinks she looks like a boy dog, and immediately started calling her Benjamin. So, now we call her Benjamin Daniel, especially when she's in trouble.

Like today . . .

What????

For some reason, Bennett thinks she has to tear a toy to pieces. She isn't satisfied to just sit and chew on a toy, or play with it, she has to dig her teeth into it and systematically pull it apart with her teeth. Seriously, she has torn up EVERY SINGLE dog toy we had. This was the last one, and she obviously had a great time ripping it to shreds. This toy is supposed to be indestructible. But we have learned (the hard way) that there is no such thing.

I was sitting in my chair reading, and I heard her playing with it, but I had no idea she had torn it apart like this. Arrggghhhhh!!!!

BENJAMIN DANIEL!

Bristow

Just a cute picture of Bristow. Couldn't resist.

4 Dogs is 1 Too Many

Unfortunately, we discovered (the hard way) that three dogs is our limit.

I know that you are all thinking, "I could have told her that." And you were right!

We had to make a very difficult decision to find a new home for one. We finally gave our sweet Scout to one of Gene's friends from work. This was so hard for us, but it had to be done. It was not easy breaking the news to Leah and Krista! But even they knew that four was too many to take care of properly. (And four dogs make a lot of poop!)

Scout was the "loner" of the bunch. She is so timid and gentle, and the other three (especially the two Jack Russell Terriers) are very rambunctious and playful. Scout was often the "odd man out" when they played. As much as we loved her (and still do), we really felt that it was best for everyone (including Scout) to give her to Billy.

We miss Scout, but I have to admit that it's a little easier with three. They don't have to fight for a spot on my lap anymore. And, Billy says that Scout is adjusting nicely to her new home. They love her already. Nice to know.

Bennett, Dakota, Bristow, and Scout on my lap

Yes, We're Crazy!

There is no explanation as to why we did this. We're just crazy, I guess. But for some reason, we just HAD to get another puppy. She's a Jack Russell Terrier like Bristow, but with different coloring (mostly black and white). We haven't named her yet (any suggestions?), but we have been brainstorming like crazy around here. In fact, we haven't even brought her home from the pet store because she has kennel cough and can't come home until the vet gives the okay. So, for now, we have to settle for visits at the pet store. Here are some pictures from our visit today (Leah was at the ranch, so she didn't go with us).


Krista and ??Pepper??


??Bella?? sticking her tongue out at me


??Bennett?? trying to get a treat out of the Dixie cup


A side view of ??Oreo??